Learning to lose the small battles to win the war

Lately, the stress levels at the Zoo has been escalating due partly to this being the final term exams period. My temper levels have also being soaring from having to deal with a variety of service issues involving the outsourcing of my domestic cleaning services to my Personal Assistant. My hectic schedule juggling jobs as a personal chauffeur, kitchen stockist, personal tutor and managing my lunch catering business for my two exclusive young clients coupled with my "I-can-do-it-all-don't-want-to-let-go-attitude", has meant that ME TIME and lunch outings with friends have been put way down the bottom of my To Do list, until recently.

It was therefore a much welcomed breath of fresh air when I went out on two lunch dates for two consecutive weeks with a mixture of old friends. I particularly enjoyed my first lunch date with a good friend of mine; our boys share the exact same birth date, less than 12 hours apart. We exchanged stories of our little menaces, their individual milestones and their missions to test their Mummy's boundaries! Though she raised an eye-brow or two when I told her of the corporal punishments that I mete out on my Zoo inhabitants ranging from the ages of 3 to 13, she could feel my exasperation at the various battles that I have to deal with on a daily basis with my four beloved monkeys. My friend, Gin, specialises in people development.

Her word of advice to me, which I constantly remind myself, is :
"Lose the small battles, to win the war".

This is sometimes easier said than done, especially when one is hovering around like a little dynamite with a short fuse!

~ Written by an exasperated Mother-of-Four-Little-Darlings
that-can-be-angels-one-minute,-and-little-monsters-the-next
and who is constantly working at lengthening her infamous short fuse!

Nails Falling Out - The Aftermath of A Blistering Time

28 October 2013

Just as we thought that the entire Hand, Foot & Mouth episode was history, our first HFM patient, Kid 2, suddenly discovered that her nails were about to create another nightmare a month after recovering from HFM rashes and blisters! Two of her fingernails on her right hand slowly dislodged itself from the the cuticles literally overnight and started falling out! I had briefly read about this happening to some Mat Salleh children when I first googled HFM on the internet during our first HFM attack. The mother of that blog warned of severe peeling of the skin as well as fingernails falling out!

It happened sometime after K2 shed her skin, so to think that the HFM virus was still creating havoc to their little bodies was rather upsetting! K3 was the next to have peeling nails. K1 had just slight peeling of the outer nail on one or two of her fingernails. K4's peeling was relatively minor too. As for me, a couple of my nails especially on those fingers that were badly blistered, started to split and dropped off too.

~ Jottings by an Exhausted Mother of Four
who continues to have horror flashbacks when she hears of the three letter words H-F-M.

Ewww....

Ouch!

YUCKS!

NO Welcome!

The Little Man and his Loyal Slave recently battled it out in the car on the drive home from play-school last Friday. When I saw that he had drunk less than a third of his water bottle for the entire morning (which really was very little), I immediately blurted out "No more mooncakes, no more goodies!".

When no absolutely remorse was shown, it was time to inflict a more painful punishment. I checked his tupperware at the traffic lights and found his goodies that his friends had given him; there was a half-eaten Japanese rice cracker and about 13 Honey Stars. His favourites! (You see, the Little Man tends to savour his goodies slowly. After finishing the food that I give him to eat at school, he would very often take the little fish biscuits or other biscuits that the school dishes out to the students during breaktime. He would eat half at school and take the rest home to eat after lunch or at tea time.)

Without hesitation, I popped his precious rice cracker in my mouth. Suddenly, there WAS a reaction. He struggled to break free from his safety belt. I had to do a double take of the wretched look on his face as at that very moment, I actually had visions of Hulk Junior (minus the green colour) breaking free in my car! I then popped a mouthful of Honey Stars and told him "If you don't drink your water, you don't get to eat your goodies...". At that moment, I could not rationalise with a 44 months old kiddo that not enough water + mooncake every night + very hot weather = a very sore throat/fever/cough.

As soon as I took the last mouthful of Honey Stars, I very politely said "Hmm...that was delicious. Thank you very much." .
His immediate reply astounded me "NO Welcome!!"
I continued on... " Don't finish your water again tomorrow, ok? ... then, Mummy will have some more goodies to eat tomorrow."
Clearly upset and not about to be further defeated, Hulk Junior answered back with tears glistening in his eyes "NO! I will eat all my goodies in school!"

I have had no further visions of Hulk Junior since that incident.
It is however interesting to note that since that day, I have noticed that the Little Man's tupperware has come back completely empty, devoid of even crumbs, for the last 5 school days! When I recently saw evidence of seaweed (coatings from the rice cracker) on the tupperware cover, I questioned him and he admitted gobbling up the goodies his friends had given him at school before I picked him up. As we are best friends once again, he says he will share the goodies with me again. I am still waiting...

~Jottings from the Loyal Slave.

Post-publication Note:

On a lighter note....

As the girls are revising for their upcoming exams, I was busy testing No. 2 on her synonyms when No. 3, the Little Genius decided to contribute her two cents worth.

Question: What is the synonym of "Dull"?

Before No. 2 could even answer, the Little Genius in all her eagerness shouted out "CURRY!"

She looked a little disturbed and embarrassed when we told her the answer was "Boring". The poor gal had thought I meant "Dhal"!!

A Blistering Time

We have just been through eleven long and tiring blistering days!

It all started on a routine school morning. The girls were getting ready for school when Kiddo 2 started whining that she was feeling very tired. Upon checking, we found that she was running a slight temperature. So Kiddo 2, with her big, dark, eye-bags, was immediately ordered to get back into bed and stay home for the day. Of course, this only made her whined even more. Little did we know then that, that would only be the start of the blistering time that lay ahead of us. By the end of Day 1, Kiddo 2’s temperature had begun to get more aggressive and she lost her appetite. Not one to waste food, Mr T ate up all her leftovers without hesitation even after receiving dirty looks from his wife, as eating off a sick person’s plate is never a good idea.

As the next day was a weekend, Mr T and I took turns to check on Kiddo 2’s aggressive fever almost every hourly, throughout the night. Whilst Kiddo 2 was having her breakfast on Day 2, we noticed that her feet and hands were covered in rashes. My first thought … argh!! .... chicken pox! But then, I reasoned to myself that it looked more like rashes, rather than little poxes AND she already had her chicken pox vaccine years ago. It couldn’t be measles either, as she too, had already been given her vaccine for measles. Then suddenly it dawned on me ..... rashes on hands, rashes on feet…

As Mr was away at the office, I quickly delegated the preparation of lunch to my personal assistant and dashed Kiddo 2 to the paediatrician’s clinic for a formal diagnosis. As soon as the Doc shone her torch light into Kiddo 2’s throat, we saw the red spots and ulcers in her throat. It was confirmed. We had our first ever case of Hand, Foot and Mouth (HFM) in either sides of our family. As HFM is caused by any one of a variety of viruses, there is no medication for it; just paracetamol to control the high fever. We just have to let the virus run its course and make sure the patient take in lots of fluid and have total rest. Doc said it would normally take about 7 days for the virus to totally clear. She also told us to look out for warning signals like severe lethargy, headache and vomiting as in very severe cases, certain virus strains could cause viral meningitis. If Kiddo 2 had any of those symptoms, we were told to immediately send her to hospital.

My immediate thought was to quarantine Kiddo 2 away from the other kids. Mr T spoke to Yeh-yeh and Nai Nai who agreed that Kiddo 2 should be put into quarantine at their house. I dropped her at the Quarantine House before dashing home to pack her things into an overnight bag. As soon as I had cooked the kids’ favourite fishball noodles, I brought it over to Kiddo 2 at the Quarantine House, who by then was complaining of a very sore throat due to the numerous ulcers sprouting inside her mouth. I was literally drenched in sweat by the time I picked up Kiddo 1 and 3 from their Art Class.

At the end of Day 2, Kiddo 2 was covered in a combination of rashes and blisters on her fingers, toes, feet and lips as well as ulcers in her mouth. On Day 3, the Chief Matron at the Quarantine House reported that Kiddo 2 tossed in bed the entire night and constantly complained of her hands and feet being extremely itchy and uncomfortable. The rashes had spread sporadically through her body too. She struggled through her meals and obediently swallowed her food (soft food, obviously) through all that pain. On Day 3 night, the Chief Matron had to soak Kiddo 2’s feet in hot water to try and ease the itch and discomfort. When we left the Quarantine House on Day 3 night, Kiddo 2 looked rather down as her eyes averted our gaze and I could see little water droplets on the table at which she was sat at. The Chief Matron and her helpers (i.e. Mr T’s sisters) did their best to cheer her up in our absence. She understood the reasons why she had to stay at the Quarantine House.

On the home front, we pumped the other kiddos with endless rounds of Vitamin C, Echinacea, Manuka honey, Propolis, cooling Chinese herbal drinks and honey lemon, in an attempt to pump up their immune system. As the incubation period for the HFM virus is generally between 3 to 5 days, I started doing simple mathematics. The day before Day 1, in my haste to leave the house to pick the girls from school, I grabbed a bottle of Chinese herbal drink for the girls, but dispensed with the need to take 2 extra cups which I normally do, as I thought that they were all in the pink of health. Just 13 hours after they had shared that same drinking bottle, Kiddo 2 was ill. So I reasoned to myself that the probability of Kiddo 3 getting HFM was pretty high, as she has a weaker immune system, whilst Kiddo 1 should hopefully escape as she was stronger and much older. After all, we normally hear that it is the playschools and kindergartens that get closed down due to HFM.

At the end of Day 3, I noticed Kiddo 3 looking rather more tired than usual in the evening despite her having a rather long nap in the afternoon. My gut instincts told me that Kiddo 3 was the next HFM patient. I checked her temperature and suffered the beginnings of an anxiety attack! After giving Kiddo 3 a dose of Paracetamol and putting her to bed, I quickly chewed onto my Gaviscon Double Action tablets and had a cup of Anlene milk to as I could feel the gastric juices churning inside my stomach. It was another night of constant checking on Kiddo 3’s temperature as the fever was aggressive, constantly reaching 103 degrees, and even after inserting the suppository, the fever still hovered around 100 degrees for some time before returning with a vengeance well before the 8 hour mark. Kiddo 3 was asked to stay only in her room and to pack her quarantine bag in the morning.

Once Kiddo 4 came home from school on Day 4, showered and had his lunch, I quickly put him to sleep for his afternoon nap, before rushing Kiddo 3 off to our Preferred Paediatrician. On the way to Pantai Hospital, I receive 2 text messages on my phone from Kiddo 1 informing me that she too was running a high fever at school. Arghhhh! To prevent another anxiety attack, I did the easiest and most logical thing I could think of at that moment. I clicked the forward button on my phone and sent her message on to Mr T as soon as my car stopped at the traffic light. Coincidentally, as soon as I reached the hospital, Mr T called to say that he was about to leave the office to pick Kiddo 1 from school .

By the time I sat down at our Paediatrician’s waiting room, my nerves had calmed down and I strategised with Mr T on switching our home to be the Patients’ Home and the Quarantine Home to be the Safe Home. I would be in charge of the Patients’ Home whilst Mr T would take care of Kiddo 4 at the Safe Home with his parents and sisters to help him out. The Paediatrician prescribed Ponstan for kids as well as oral gels to numb the pain of the mouth sores. He warned that some patient may also get rashes in the bum-bum as well as the private area and joked that HFM really should be re-named Hand, Foot, Mouth and Buttocks disease. As soon as he said that, I had an instant flashback of my attack with chicken pox when I was 16. I literally had chicken pox everywhere where one could think of! No spot left untouched!

For the next 3 nights, I checked Kiddos 1 and 3’s temperature on auto pilot. Alarm ring, drag self out of bed, open room doors, plop thermometer into patient’s ears, repeat same for 2nd patient; if necessary, give medicine. Once done, scrub hands with Dettol hand wash, dry on Mummy’s exclusive hand towel, drink water, reset alarm clock and crawl back into bed.

During the day on Days 5 and 6, Granddad chauffeured Kiddo 4 to and from school. After making sure that the girls were fine, I would scrub myself clean from head to toe and have a total change of clothes before heading over to the Safe Home with Kiddo 4’s lunch. I spent precious time with him, reading to him before putting him to sleep for his afternoon nap. Once the Little Man was asleep, I drove off to the girls’ schools to collect their school books so that they could still catch up with their school work during their week's absence.

I was totally knackered but I still religiously gargled my throat with salt water and scrubbed my hands with Dettol after touching my patients, before I ate, before I touched my face, etc. Mr T diligently prepared the Chinese Herbal drinks with the help of our personal assistant on a daily basis to pump up everyone’s immune system.

By the morning of Day 6, Kiddo 2 was well on the road to recovery. Her rashes had almost disappeared, and the blisters were almost dried out. She started sleeping well again as soon as she got home. Kiddo 3 who I had thought would be badly hit due to her generally weaker immune system, had surprisingly only broken out in some sporadic rashes on her hands and feet, with just a couple of blisters here and there. Her mouth had quite a few red spots, but only a couple of small ulcers. Perhaps it was due to the combined effect of her better water intake compared to Kiddo 2 and the large doses of Manuka, Propolis, Vitamin C and sheer luck.

Whilst Kiddo 3 only had a mild case of HFM, Kiddo 1 was continuously breaking out in mouth sores. The poor gal had huge ulcers filling up every conceivable space in her mouth as a result of HFM and perhaps in part, due to her still adjusting with her new braces. She dreaded meal times as she had great difficulty eating, taking over an hour for each small meal. Before going to bed on Day 6, she complained of discomfort “right down there” and asked me to check it out. The poor little darling had like a dozen little pimples growing there. Not wanting to make it too big a deal so as not to frighten her off, I told her that the Paediatrician did warn that the rashes and blisters could break out in those areas too, and asked her to just ignore the discomfort (easier said than done, I know, but what else could I do?) and continue to keep that area as clean as possible. Thankfully it cleared off in just over a day.

On Day 7, I woke up with a funny feeling in my throat. It was not painful, but the throat just felt tight and constricted. I took my torch light and nervously shone it into my throat. Lo and behold, I saw two tiny little red dots at the top of my throat. I thought my eyes were playing tricks with me from the lack of sleep. So I had my breakfast and went to check again. Yup, the two tiny little red dots were still there. No temperature though. Just before sending lunch over to Kiddo 4 at the Safe House, I decided to call Mr T to break the bad news that despite all the precautions taken, I was under possible attack from the HFM virus – most likely as a result of a weaker immune system due to the sheer lack of rest.

By the time I reached the Safe House ten minutes later, GrandDad and SIL were standing at the main entrance guarding the doors…essentially preventing me from having any contact with the Little Man. Mr T undoubtedly works very efficiently as he must have made that call to the Safe House to bar my entry immediately after my call. Having only been able to spend a little over 2 hours with the Little Man since he went to stay at the Safe House, it just broke my heart when I saw him running the opposite direction as he saw me approaching the main door to the Safe House. I passed the food over to GrandDad before turning around to walk home, feeling shattered at the prospect of being in seclusion for the next week, whilst my body battles it out with HFM.

By late afternoon, my soldiers were battling it out as evidenced by my high temperatures. Though exhausted, I tried to sleep but could not. I had been having trouble sleeping since Day 4 when my two favourite men moved over to the Safe House. Guess I am just not used to being in the big room all by my lonely self. The recovering patients were very sweet in that they volunteered to set their alarm clocks in the middle of the night to check on the latest patient. Everyone was sent to bed early on Day 7; it was one of those rare times when Mummy was ready for bed before her girls. But alas, Mummy could not sleep as she was shivering in bed despite having taken her medication earlier. She was also filled with worry that the Little Man could have been exposed to the virus as the Little Man had been with her, though only for a short period of time, the past two days.

The entire saga worsened in the wee hours of Day 8 when I received a call at 3.00 a.m. from Mr T asking me to switch the house alarm off as he had to come home to get the Little Man’s fever medication and thermometer as he suspected that the Little Man was running a fever. By afternoon of Day 8, we were all pretty sure that the Little Man too had been hit by the HFM virus. Mr T had taken the day off work to care for the Little Man who had by that time become very whiny due to his general feeling of un-wellness.

I blamed myself for not being able to stay away from the Little Man’s magnetic pull. Mr T keeps telling me that I should “LET GO” more. Then I consoled myself that the exposure could also have been from Kiddo 1 and 3 as the general incubation period was 3-5 days. Mr T and his capable helpers did a great job in nursing the Little Man’s aggressive fever which lasted over two days. Thankfully my prayers were answered in that he primarily had rashes, and not too many blisters. Also, Mr T reported that his appetite seemed to be unaffected though he complained of pain in his throat and had to be continuously coaxed to drink water.

On the evening of Day 8 at the Quarantine House, we had to deal with an unexpected after-effect of the HFM. After Kiddo 2 had her shower, she came running over to me to show me that the skin on the upper part of her ring finger of her right hand had peeled right off as she was showering. My knees got all soft on me when I saw the crinkled up skin dangling off the tip of her finger. Kiddo 2 kept her cool whilst my body squirmed on the inside as I cut off a couple of centimetres of dead skin! To console Kiddo 2 (and myself!), I showed her the new baby soft skin under the crinkled up dead skin. The raw pink colour of that new skin was very akin to that raw pink colour that all new-born babies enter the world with! In the heat of the moment, it did not dawn on me to snap a picture for memento’s sake before snipping it off. By bedtime, the skin around her toes had also begun to peel off. This time, I did take a picture of it.

Since then, the skin around all her fingers and toes have begun peeling too. A quick check with our Doc confirms that it is quite common for skin to peel after the rashes have gone away. A subsequent check on the internet reveals that in certain cases the fingernails toenails can fall off too! Oh, gosh!! I doubt if I could stomach that!! Let’s just pray we just get blessed with new skin; don’t quite fancy seeing finger nails dangling off any of our fingers!

Going back to moi’, Just like Kiddo 1, I struggled through my meals on Day 9, taking over an hour to eat just half of the quantity of my usual meal. Huge ulcers had developed deep in the throat, and by the sides of my tongue as well as under the upper lips. Chewing each bite of food felt like a knife sawing through my tongue and the burning sensation in my throat just made it worse. It was exactly like how Kiddo 1 had described it. Each of my fingers was filled with an average of 15 bumps, pimples and blisters of varying sizes. Pointer and Tall Man were the most badly hit on both hands with each having well over 20 blisters. This made washing hair a torturous affair as I had just cut my nails a few days ago; hence my blistered fingers had to do the scrubbing. I was also still having trouble sleeping alone at night; either I kept automatically waking up ever so often, or the blisters would mysteriously start to itch up in the night, or I just simply could not sleep though I was tired. My usual sleeping partner was also having trouble getting a good night’s rest as his new sleeping partner would be twitching and tossing here and there and making all sorts of noises throughout the night.

The girls happily returned to school on Day 11. Not too sure about Kiddo 3, but Kiddo 1 and 3 were very eager to return to school, to their friends and to normalcy. With the girls back at school and with me still being ordered to rest at Quarantine House whilst my Little Kutu was under the care of his grandparents, the house was strangely quiet and with no school runs to do and with lunchtime catering services suspended, I was given that rare luxury of doing anything I wanted for most of the day. The sound of my favourite classical music filled the house whilst I got my faithful computer out and began typing my thoughts away. I must admit that it was simply wonderful to just have that pleasure of typing away without anyone going "Mummy, Mummy".... to distract my thoughts away; instead I just had Vivaldi's Four Seasons accompanying me for two entire days!

Now on Day 12, my skin feels all tight where it had stretched due to the blister attack and rough, hardened bumps are everywhere as the blisters have dried out leaving me with wrinkly, hardened two-toned (original colour plus the darkened red colour caused by the blisters) skin. I comfort myself in that there is a possible silver lining behind this whole episode. At thirty plus years of age, I may well be getting new baby-soft skin once the skin starts to peel off like Kiddo 2’s.

I have also learnt my lesson the hard way.

No sharing bottles.

Don't try to be superwoman.

And learn to let go of Little Kutu more.

Perhaps all those vitamins, supplements, grapefruits, virgin coconut oil that Mr T so religiously pumps into his body each and every day, as well as his healthy lifestyle worked wonders for him after all, as apart from the lack of sleep for the last week, he has emerged unscathed from this blistering time. I joked with Mr T a couple of nights ago that if he really emerges unscathed, I will buy him Superman’s outfit and he would have to wear that distinctly red underwear on the outside!

~ Written by an exhaused Mother-of-Four

who is looking forward to baby-soft hands in the future,

but who now has to live through having immensely

rough, sand-paper like fingers with skin peeling off everywhere.

The Untold Perks of The Job

Although my current multi-tasking job as a chauffeur, personal chef, food stockist, tutor and disciplinarian brings me zero income compared to what I used to earn in the corporate pressure cooker, this current job does bring me many moments of unexpected joy and laughter, and precious memories of my Little Man hitting his various milestones. I would not have been able to share and enjoy these milestones on a daily basis if I was still stuck in that horrid pressure cooker.  In fact, I missed many of those daily moments of pure laughter, joy and mini milestones with my older two princesses. Those moments were limited to the evenings and the weekends when I would be trying to recuperate and rejuvenate my knackered self.

Let me share the recent moments of pure laughter with the Little Man...

1. Sometime in October 2012, the Little Man [LM] at 33 months' old calmly declared:
"I don't like this".  Here's the story.
LM was sitting down at the shower room whilst his Loyal Slave [LS] was busy soaping his body.
 LM: Out of the blue, he points his finger down at his private area and firmly declares "I DON'T LIKE THIS". 
LS: Trying to maintain my composure, I calmly asked what it was that he did not like.
 LM: He started pushing and inspecting his "balls" around left and right, left and right and said "THIS ONE, I DON'T LIKE THIS. See..."
LS: I calmly replied "Why don't you like it? That is your testicles...it is for making babies next time" whilst cracking up inside. I didn't make it a big deal and continued scrubbing him clean. [I don't encourage calling a boy's genitalia birdie and balls, hence without any hesitation, I decided to teach him the correct name.]
LM: The Little Man just responded with an "Ohhhhh......." and he never raised the subject again of not liking his testicles!

2. A couple of months after the above exchange. I was waiting for him to pee before dinner at his grandparents home one day, when he suddenly declared "I LIKE MY TESTICLES" to the utter shock of his Loyal Slave, who was quietly amazed that he could still remember what the organ was called after just being taught that one time. I just stood there in shocked silence, whilst trying not to smile, so as not to illicit any further reaction from him. With the Little Man, the more you smile or laugh, the more he will repeat that same line or behaviour again and again. Heavens forbid, I wouldn't want him telling that to anyone else! A professional entertainer in the making.

Moving on from the reproductive organs to matters of the heart.....

3. Just recently, As I pick the Little Man from school one day, he suddenly blurts out "Mummy, she pretty right?". I quickly looked at who my little darling was staring at. Her name is Isabelle, his classmate in the Smart Reader playgroup that he was in. The teacher and staff there immediately remarked "Comel, lah, mereka dua!" (translated to mean, the two of them are really adorable) and told me that the Little Man often hangs out with Isabelle, they would queue up and go to the toilet together and then hang out with each other after school whilst waiting for their transport home, etc. Not sure who is more obsessed.... the Little Man or his teachers with this notion of "Ohhhh, so sweet."

As for the Loyal Slave, it was another of the Little Man's classmates that had me curled round her little finger. Her name is Avery. She had huge, big round eyes with the chubbiest cheek ever! She would always save her sweetest smile for me.

One day, her beautiful, round eyes suddenly noticed the abnormality in the physical appearance of my toes. You see, I was born with brachymetartasis which means that my fourth toe stopped growing and looks stunted as compared to the taller pinkie toe. This used to embarrass me a great deal and I would hide my toes in public; I would never be seen in flip-flops. In recent years, I realised that there are far bigger problems facing people in the world, so it has stopped bothering me as much now, though i am still very conscious of it when out barefoot in public. This innocent little girl asked me, "Why are your toes like that?". I feigned shock, horror! and uttered "Oh no, Avery....what happened? You must have stepped on Aunty's toes earlier, then they became broken like this!".
Silence.
Just the big, round eyes staring back at me until the Little Man exclaimed "Huh, Mummy? Really, ah? Avery stepped then become like that?"
I looked at the Little Man and responded, "Or was it you JF, did you step on Mummy's toes?"

The poor little darlings. I never did explain to them why my toes look the way it does.
Hope i didn't traumatise these two adorable 3 year olds!


~ Written by a blessed Mother of a little boy who is growing to slowly show appreciation for his human anatomy!
;-)

Author's Note: The Little Man still occasionally looks at my toes and asks "Huh, Mummy....really, ah? Avery step on your toes?" Muhahaha!

The Little Menace and The Joker!

The Little Man has a new name.  The moniker Little Menace fits him perfectly.

He really is one non-stop action three year old boy from the moment he wakes up till the moment he is forced to go to Dreamland to recharge and re-energise! He is forever prancing around up and down the sofa, weaving in and out of furniture, head banging up and down and his voice box going "tong-chiang, tong-chiang"... as he lives out his current dream of being the latest recruit of the Lion Dance troupe. He idolises everything about the Lion Dance [which the Little Man affectionately calls the Tong-Tong-Chiang]. He has watched the Lion Dance 2012 World Competition CD a zillion times...he can even tell you when the Lion is going to fall from the poles and get back up on their feet again. He'll grab any towel that he can find and place it on top of his head and over his back to mimic the Lion troupe before he starts prancing around the house and up and down the sofa, which obviously makes his poor Mummy's heart miss a couple of beats! If he only knew that those Lions' Heads can be bought from Chinatown, he would surely place it on top of his birthday present list! That would result in total havoc at home, as if our home was not noisy & chaotic enough!

Baby Samseng at 13 months

Aside from the Tong-Tong-Chiang, his other passion is mimicking the actions of his favourite contestants in the popular Japanese sports entertainment program "Ninja Warrior" (or Sasuke) where competitors have to complete an extremely challenging four stage obstacle course. All the furniture in our house is somehow visualised and transformed into the many obstacles of the Ninja Warrior obstacle course in the eyes of the Little Menace! Just like in the show, he would bounce off the small indoor trampoline and jump onto the back of sofa and then climb over the cushions to get over the sofa. Except that unlike in the show when the audiences going ooh and aah... and applauding in encouraging the participants, the scene here in KL is different as this little warrior's mother would be screaming her lungs out to "be careful...stop before you hurt yourself ..." His many bruises on his legs are proof of his determination to get through those "obstacles" just like his heroes. The Little Menace has on many occasions proudly told me that "When I big boy, I going to go Ninja Warrior, ok Mummy? I won't fall down in the water, one!"

For those who have never watched Ninja Warrior, tune in to Astro Channel 617 at 1.30...that is his treat for finishing his lunch fast. [Alternatively, click onto www.youtube.com/watch?v=oco3lPfokaU&feature=youtube_gdata_player]. Apart from watching his Lion Dance CD and the National Geographic Wild channel, Ninja Warrior is one of the only other programmes that the Little Menace is allowed to watch. Mr T does not agree, but then he has not really watched the entire program to see how exciting and addictive it can be.

Cheeky Me
(26 months)

 


My Crinkled Nose
(26 months)

The Ninja Warrior Addict
Performing his Balancing Act

      













The Little Menace seems to have an answer to everything. Of late, he is getting rather quick witted with his one-liners! Judge for yourself and let me have your vote if you think the Little Menace deserves his moniker, or would the term Joker be more fitting?!

ACT #1:

Looks can be so, so deceiving!
(at 28 months)

As always, his Loyal Slave has to pretend to snooze with the Little Menace when it comes to his Highness' afternoon nap. He would toss here and there, kick around his cot and make lots of noises just to test his Loyal Slave's patience level. His Loyal Slave has a track record for low tolerance level for nonsense, impatience and quick temperedness. Many a day, I would have to give a little smack on his bottom, or raise my voice, before the Little Menance would realise just how tired he really is, after a hard morning of playing, be it at home or at his playschool. Recently, those little smacks have got harder and harder, and sadly yes, the cane has made quite a few appearances of late.

Sometime last week, the Little Menace once again came up with his tricks.  Whilst trying to keep my cool, I calmly said, "Do you think you can please just close your eyes and sleep without Mummy having to scold you to sleep?". The response that the Little Menace's alter ego, The Joker, shot back with his cheekiest look was: "CANNOT! I want everybody to scold me, Mummy, Daddy, everybody to scold me, then only I sleep!!"

ACT#2:

Come...I kiss you...
(at 30 months)

 Knowing how enticing and tempting one's own bed can be and to prevent my eye-lids from experiencing an involuntary shutdown, I would often bring my handphone with me to bed in the afternoon and hide it beside my bolster from those prying young eyes and position myself on the bed in such a way that it would look like I was sleeping but actually the corners of my eyes were straining itself to have a quick read of the world news and of course, my daily dose of Hollywood gossip. Needless to say, I was caught red-handed a few times. I was too engrossed with my reading to realise that a little boy had slowly creeped up from his cot and saw me rendezvousing with the little gadget!

Fast forward to one recent afternoon, when instead of the Little Menace commanding me to "CLOSE YOUR EYES, MUMMY", he very cheekily said with his most bewildered look: "Eh, Mummy....where is your handphone?!", knowing very well that my handphone was most likely stucked somewhere under my bolster.

ACT#3:


Born Joker!
(at 30 months)

One hot, sweltering night, I came out of the shower dressed
in my pyjamas shorts and a spaghetti-strapped t-shirt. As I sat at the edge of my bed, the sneeky Joker scrutinised me from my head to my mid-section and whilst slipping his little fingers to do a quick check under the straps of my t-shirt, he exclaimed: "Eh, Mummy! Why you not wearing bra, one?!".
here's the making of a young Casanova.


ACT#4:
On another afternoon, The Joker started crawling on all fours in our bathroom ......
The Loyal Slave: "Please get up and stop crawling on the bathroom floor. Are you a dog?
The Joker retorted back with just ONE word: "WOOF!"
The Loyal Slave could not help but break out in a smile and a giggle under the comforts of her towel which was quickly placed over her face.


ACT#5:

The Joker with his Enlarged Nostrils!
(at 40 months)

In the past, there have been certain external parties referring to the Little Man's boyhood as "Ku-Ku-Bird" when talking to the Little Man. I have never understood why people call it Ku-Ku-Bird, which is a direct translation from the Hokkien name ("ku-ku-chiau") for that organ [I have never understood the origins of the word ku-ku-chiau either!]. So began my constant educating the Little Man that IT is not called Ku-Ku-Bird and "NO, there is no bird between your legs!"

I knew he had passed the grade as I was changing him one day after his shower as he proudly announced "This one [while pointing to that all important male organ] not Ku-ku-bird, right? Bird fly outside right? This one "ku-ku-chiau.". That all important announcement that he made was greeted with thunderous applause and a round of laughter from his proud Mum. This proud Mother is pleased to note that since then, The Little Man has not made any further mention of the phrase "Ku-Ku-Bird".


ACT#6:
During one of my intelligent chit-chats with the Little Man as I was changing him after his shower one afternoon, he raised the all important question..."Mummy is a girl right? And Jing Fong is a boy.". 
To make it clear to him, I then replied "Yes, that's right. Only girls put lipstick, boys don't. Girls have long hair, boys have short hair."
The Little Man became rather defensive and quickly retorted back: "No, mummy has short hair.  Mummy is a girl. Right?"
My mistake.
I quickly calmed the Little Man with a big hug and an even bigger kiss.

I'm Sulking



Kiss Me Quick!



Okay...I'm happy again!

The Joker has the Last Laugh!
(April 2013)

ACT#7:

On one of the many school day mornings when the Loyal Slave had to drag the Little Man out of bed and hurry him through his usual morning routine before going to school, it was The Joker who greeted her!
The Loyal Slave: "Do you want to eat hard-boiled egg for your breakfast?"
The Joker merely nodded.
The Loyal Slave: "If you want, say "Yes, I want to eat egg", or "Yes, Mummy". Don't just nod your head like that."
The Joker retorted back with his ultimate one liner:
"Yes, Humpty Dumpty!!!!"
The Loyal Slave had little choice but to break out in a spontaneous laughter!

The Little Botak and his Polo
(May 2013)

ACT#8:
To date, I have been informed by the teachers and members of staff of his playschool that over 6 of them have been queried by the Joker each time they fail to respond to his early morning greetings. Sometimes when the Little Joker greets them upon reaching school, the teachers are busy or distracted, can't hear him or just inadvertently forget to respond to him. When that happens, the Little Joker with his 39 months of wisdom and all 88cm of him would apparently file his complain to the relevant teacher/staff by asking: "Why you never say Good Morning and High-Five to me today?"

His teachers and staff at his playschool have now learnt to be on high alert when The Joker arrives at school for his good morning rounds!




ACT#9:

Dr Menace
(at 33 months)

Recently whilst I was sending Princess No. 3 to her art class with the Little Man in tow, the Little Man asked for some water which I promptly got for him from the water cooler station at the Music cum Art school.  I warned the Little Man not to touch the water outlet with the red button so as not to scald his finger as the water there would be very hot . With that wise piece of advice, I went off to talk to the art teacher leaving the Little Man to drink his cup of water there.

A couple of minutes later, the Little Man walks over to the other end of the corridor where I was talking to the art teacher, still happily holding on to his cup of water. As soon as I had finished talking to the teacher and said goodbye to Princess No. 3, the Little Man gave me a very smug look and in his softest yet audible voice, he says "Hmmm.....the water so nice and cold!". Sensing something amiss, I immediately took a sip of the water .... it was ICE COLD!!!



I immediately questioned the Little Man, "I thought I told you not to touch the buttons for the water?!"

My politically correct Joker calmly replied, "No, Mummy said cannot touch the red button. I only touch the blue button!!". 

I SURRENDER!!!

ACT#10:
This Little Joker has a really sharp mind as well as ears.  I have been trying to teach him good manners and to speak proper English over the months. For example, it is a BIG NO-NO to say "Nah!" when you want to pass something to someone. The proper way is to say "There you go" and gently pass the thing over to that other person. He has been so good at it, that he has even been correcting his Grand Ma everytime she uses the offending word "NAH!". Another example of Manglish that too many of us use is "Wait, ah!".  I am proud to say that the Little Joker has been well trained to say "Please wait". Of late, the Little Joker has been telling me "It's not 'Please wait', Mummy. You must say 'Please wait, Darling', ok?".


**STARS** all over

Here comes the ultimate one.
How many of us are guilty of saying "Neh-mind" instead of "NEVERMIND"?
Ever since teaching the Little Joker that there is no such word as "Neh-mind", the Little Joker has made it his mission in life to point out and correct anyone and everyone (including his teachers!) who uses the word "Neh-mind". I only had to teach him once before his brain registered it. Unfortunately, old habits die hard for some of us, including his Loyal Slave.  So everytime the word "Neh-mind" accidentally comes out from my mouth even if I am talking to someone else, the Little Joker will somehow be able to catch me using it and come over to give me a little slap on my hand whilst reprimanding me "Hor, Mummy! You said "Neh-mind"!". Of course, the Loyal Slave is rather intelligent herself! So to save face, she convinces the Little Joker that she really did say NEVERMIND but that she said it so fast that it sounded like Neh-Mind! It is the truth. REALLY.
   

He has caught his Big Sister, his Daddy and his teachers saying "Neh-mind" and he has even faulted the Radio DJs. We were listening to Richard and Sarah on the Lite Breakfast show on the way to school this morning when Richard was relating a story and he used the offending word "Neh-mind". Before I even realised it myself, the Little Joker had already highlighted it to me "Mummy, the Uncle said "Neh-mind", but the Aunty very good...she didn't say "Neh-mind"!!"
 


 So vain!
(March 2013)

   

Party Animal
(April 2013)



With One of My Babes
(April 2012)

    

Squashed by the Ladies
(Nov 2012)

 

Completing my 1st puzzle - solo
(1 May 2013)





Recharging for my next Adventure



On my best behaviour with Grand Dad!

Returning the favour ... my turn to spoil Grand Dad
(Grand Dad's birthday, 2013)



Help Me, MUM!
(27 months)



MUM, I'm Being Tortured!

              

Torture Session is Over....
Handsome d!





 

The Joker on his 3rd Birthday!

 


All that Fooling Around has Tired Me Out!

 

Another Grooming Session with Dad
... being cute sure is hard work! (32 months old)

Overgrown Bush ...... I Need Grooming BADLY!

Who Can Resist Me?
MOOOOOO....ACKKK!

Chick Magnet!

 

Looking Cool and Suave!

  ~ Treasures of  a blessed stay-home Mum-of-Four

who despite the challenges thrown daily at her by the Little People,

truly is thankful for being able to experience the day-to-day joy of being

humoured, challenged and entertained by her Little Joker cum Menace,

and who reminisces about the younger days of her Three Princesses,

when she was unable to devote as much time to them as she was
still stuck in the pressure-cooker of the corporate world then.

Wu Yue Wu, Xiang Ching Chu

Wu Yue Wu, Xiang Ching Chu...
In English, this translates to come 5 May, think thoroughly....

This is the day that Malaysians, whatever their race and religious beliefs, decide on their future for the next 5 years, and dare I say, for the next generation.

My hope is for a fair and peaceful election.
There is so much anxiety and excitement in the air for the votes to be counted and the results announced.
It was rather sad and disgusting to read about the money politics out there and seeing videos on the internet of what appeared like foreigners going to voting stations...if it is true, it really is sad to see that one has to resort to such tactics to win the race.

Out of curiousity, Mr T and I decided to venture out to the DAP Finale at the Kelana Jaya stadium last night. The euphoria there was simply unbelievable. Mr T likens the atmosphere to a Football World Cup atmosphere with the crowd going wild as the various speakers took to the mic. My personal estimates of the crowd was between 20,000 - 25,000 as I could only see people wherever I looked. It was heartening to hear the DAP and PKR candidates speak...especially the newer candidates who really were rather impressive. There was Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, a PKR candidate who spoke really well and who is a law graduate from King's College, London (King's College was my dream university, but sadly my grades were not good enough).
There really is hope out there for a new generation of promising leaders.

We left after about 30 minutes as the crowd began to build up even further filling up every available space of the stadium grounds (both the seating and standing areas). According to internet reports, there were an estimated 50,000 people. WOW!

Proud to have performed my National Service

Mr T and his carefully manicured finger

Whoever wins this hotly contested election, let's all pray for a peaceful Malaysia,
today, tomorrow & always.

And let's hope that after nearly a week of partial insomnia and restless nights, I can sleep better tonight.