Two bottles of wine, some food, One FUN Fund Manager, Two Doctors, Three Engineers, One Pharmacist, One Teacher, Two babies and Two rowdy toddlers.

One night of Video Watching, Chatting, Playing.

One meaningful little get-together.     

 

Due to the genetic condition affecting Yihang, he does not have a full set of teeth. In fact he only has two cone shape front incisors, two molars on the upper gum and no teeth on the lower gum. He requires dentures soon and implants when he’s older. Hence we have taken great effort to record this traumatic episode where he lost his precious front incisor, due to mischief. And as usual, such emergencies almost always happen on a SUNDAY when the clinics are closed!

 24th April 2005, Sunday

  

As told by Papa

Now is my turn to tell my portion of the story. The Yih Hang’s tooth episode.

As usual, every Sun, I’ll try to bring my eldest son to swim in my parents-in-law condo’s swimming pool. He just simply loves the place! With the yellow slides, playground in the middle of the kid’s pool and the Jacuzzi, the swimming pool area is a heaven to him!

This Sunday, after I tried to piggy back him around the adult pool. He suggested we try out the Jacuzzi Pool. Well my son’s wish is my command! And while I was waiting for him to come into the side pool beside the Jacuzzi, my two eyeballs tracked him jumping up and down along the pavement.

Jump, jump, jump, splat! Scream! (of course is him, not me!) He missed a step and fell down with his face hitting the granite floor!
Damn! I quickly jumped out of the water and rushed to his aid! When I was just beside him, kneeling down to pick him up, the first thing I saw, beckoning at me, was a white shining incisor

Holy Mackerel! My heart immediately sank to the lowest pit followed by a crushing pain! However, with a sobbing child crying out in pain, I’ve not much time to waste to come in terms with what happened.

My left hand clenched his tooth, my right hand scooped him up and my mouth whispering words of comfort, trying to calm him down. Luckily, there was not much blood flowing out of his mouth. He was really a brave boy, as through out the whole incident he did not ever once howled out with pain but was just whimpering with fear and sobbing quietly.

The swimming pool then was definitely not a place to stay and therefore, I carried him in my right arm, holding the swimming bag and suits in my right hand, and clenching his dropped-out incisor with care in my left fist. I hurriedly went up to my parents-in-law’s house. Luckily my sis-in-law (SIL) was there together with her boyfriend and everyone went into a frenzy.

Got my SIL to clean him up, and her boyfriend managed to link me up with his dentist uncle. His uncle recommended to preserve the tooth either in saline or milk in case we decide to rush him down to A&E to fix back his tooth. But the end advice was that nothing much could be done to save the tooth.

As I was in the midst of trying to resolve the tooth episode, the decision on whether to tell my Dear Wife over the phone was also playing in my mind. After much deliberation, I decided against it as she would just turn hysterical and there was also nothing much she could do. It was better to bring my disobedient, naughty son with his broken tooth home so that my son could break the story to his mummy. Nothing beats from thehorse mouth! However, my SIL was getting worried! Not that she was worrying for my son but was worrying for me that I would get an earful from my Dear Wife for not taking care of him!

As for what happened next upon reaching home, it was all in my Dear Wife entry. But .. but …. My SIL’s worst fear didn’t come true !!!

Hahahahahaha!

Hey! How can anybody fault me??? When I am already expecting that my
son’s tooth would be knocked out sooner or later for he acts like a
monkey, jumping around without any care of his safety!!

*****

As told by YiYi (姨姨) 

I SWEAR I AM SUFFERING FROM PREMATURE MOTHERHOOD.

And I am not too keen on having kids of my own anytime soon. Why?
Here’s why – one naughty nephew and a missing tooth.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon and I was in the room with my boyfriend, Vernon, when we heard a frantic knock on my door. I could hear some soft murmurs and I thought, oh the naughty boy is back already. Suddenly, Tian How, my bro-in-law, called out urgently ‘It’s an emergency!’. Uh oh…I shot up from my chair and rushed to the door.

YH was murmuring in pain, dried tears streaked his face, when my BIL just handed me something. My eyes widened in disbelief. It’s a BLOODY TOOTH (no pun intended). “Preserve it” my BIL urged with increasing concern. I quickly got Vernon to call his dentist uncle for some advice while my trembling hands got some ice and tissue to wrap this precious cargo.

I got back to YH who was still whimpering away with soft sobs and murmurs. The sight pierced my soul and broke my heart into million pieces. There’s nothing I can do to make him feel better. I just squatted there in the shower room and hugged him, holding back my tears. I quickly cleaned him up, put on some clean clothes and settled him on my bed. I turned on the cartoon channel for him and Vernon accompanied him.

Throughout this whole episode, we were also worried for my BIL. The poor guy is going to get it from my sister. Sigh.

Even though we pre-empted that Yihang will sooner or later break his tooth, I never expected it to happen this way. Luckily, he’s a strong boy. He didn’t wail till the roof dropped, nor make things difficult.

After our nerves calmed a little, we kinda saw the humorous side of this exciting event. Still, I’ll think twice before having kids. You can say, I am still suffering from the aftershocks.

 

As told by Mummy

I just spent a night in the hospital with YiXiang. I was tired and needed rest hence hubby took Yihang for a swim. At noon, Yihang came back from swimming with Papa. He was unusually quiet but with the usual cheeky grin on his face, he showed me a little plastic cup. I saw a white sharp, long object immersed in water saline. I took a closer look.

OH MY GOD!!!!

It was Yihang’s TOOTH!

SHOCKED. TRAUMATIZED. SPEECHLESS.

Hubby related the whole incident to me. I urged him to call his dentist uncle, whom he failed to reach earlier, for a second opinion. We rushed all the way to Jurong to see if we could ‘fix’ his tooth back. In the car, I prepared Yihang for the pain. He was willing to go through it. If he had chosen otherwise, we would not force him. We believe the need to help our kids make certain decisions on their own, even at such tender age. After all, he will be needing dentures soon. And having the incisor back in place is more for the cosmetic aspect.

The dentist pushed the tooth back into the gums. Yihang bore the pain. Yihang had to bite gauze to keep the tooth in place. We were hoping that the surrounding tissues will help the tooth reattach. He could not talk. He could not eat. He did not have his lunch and could hardly manage dinner. Yihang bore the discomfort.

Unfortunately, the tooth detached an hour before bed time.

He looks funny with one tooth. We taught him how to ‘laugh it off’ and were glad that it found it funny too.

After all, its only a tooth – a precious front incisor.

 

**********

Brief Update 

On Tuesday, 26^th April, We brought him to National Dental Center for his scheduled consultation. An x-ray revealed that there will be a permanent tooth replacing the one he had lost. There will also be another permanent molar which has yet to erupt, in the lower gum. That’s about all he will have – 2 front inciors, 2 molars in the upper gum and 1 molar in the lower gum.

He’s been referred to an orthodontist. The appointment is scheduled next Friday, 6^th May. Hopefully Yihang will get his dentures soon.

 

**********

Latest Update   

6th May, 2005 

Tian How took leave from work.

It’s a big day.

An important day.

Yihang will get his dentures made.

W’ve briefed him.

We’ve spoken to him.

We’ve explained that its going to be uncomfortable.

And he has agreed bravely that he’s going for it!

Unfortunately, the orthodontist is not very keen to do the dentures for Yihang. “He’s not ready” we were told. He explained that kids at his age will not keep the dentures. I spend a good 20 minutes convincing him that MY SON is DIFFERENT. He’s READY. He’s very mature and sensible. I even brought reports to show him that in the States, kids with HED had their dentures made as young as 2 years old and the results were great. Elaborated on how I could be there for him and help him cope with the discomfort because I am currently not  working …..

The orthodontist finally relented.

YiHang sat on the chair and have his gums examined

Suddenly, we sat up and said

“I think I will WAIT. Wait for my tooth to grow again. I don’t want dentures.”

*GWAP*

We will wait till he’s ready. But the next time I will make doubly, triply, quadruply sure that he’s REALLY READY to save myself from such embarrassment! 

At the ripe old age of 32, I am learning, for the very first time, about the kiddos’ all time favourite extinct species – the DINOSAURS. That’s because the school will be talking about dinosaurs soon. And being the typical, kiasu Singaporean mom who wanted her precious one to have a little background knowledge about the topic, I’ve done enough research to write a thesis!

 

 

Years of working with kids had taught me that tots are not going to sit still for hours on end to listen to lectures, even though it might be their favourite topic. We need to create opportunities to engage them and help them learn in an interesting and gratifying way.

 

 

Thus we built a Dinosaur Diorama. It’s a simple craft where we created a prehistoric dinosaur scene in a box. Simply, print out the dinosaurs, color, cut, and arrange them in the box

 

 

We did the Print, Colour, Cut and Paste first. As Yihang was coloring the dinosaurs, I grabbed these opportunities for teachable moments. For example, when Yihang was coloring the T-rex, I told him about T-Rex’s anatomy, diet, behaviors, etc

 

It took us three days to make the dinosaurs.

 

 

As a teacher, I’ve always been appalled by ‘perfect’ projects churned out by pupils with COMPLETE parental aid.

 

Hence I encourage Yihang to do most of the coloring himself. I helped him with the baby T-rex, Triceratop and Ankylosaurus and the rest was done by him.

 

I make it a point not to ‘improve’ his work (I tied my hands to the chair!), as this is essential in helping him develop self confidence.

 

 

We printed the template on the usual 80g printing papers hence too flimsy for the dinosaurs to stand. So we pasted the dinosaurs onto thicker cardboards and cut them out when they were dried.

 

 

 

The fun and exciting part is creating the stage containing the dinosaur scene. Hence this was left to the last, to sustain his interest.

 

We used a keyboard box for the stage. Yihang tore strips of light green and dark green construction paper for the ground.

 

 

The Cretaceous period was a time of very high volcanism thus we placed two volcanoes in the background. The highlight of the whole project was sprinkling glitter to create the effects of volcanic eruptions.

 

Dap a little glue (Glue sticks proved to be less messy options) on the background and pour the glitters all over. Remove the excess glitters

 

We bought glitters from Popular Bookstore. We got a packet containing Yellow, Orange and Red glitters for approximately S $1.50

 

 

Finally, we arranged the dinosaurs and secured them into the box with double sided tapes.

 

 

Papa who probably never held a needle in his life, helped to hang the flying animal by securing it with thread and sticky tape to the top of the box.

 

VIOLA! we were teleported to the Mesozoic Era – the “Age of Dinosaurs”.

 

It does not matter that our little masterpiece is now chucked in one corner of our study collecting dust. It has served its purpose. Yihang could name T-Rex and Triceratops. He describes them as meat eaters and veggie eaters. And to my greatest delight, he drew the conclusion that the dinosaurs went extinct because of volcanic eruptions.

 

Frankly, what matter most is the quality time that I’ve spent with my precious bun, and the fun we had in creating the diorama.

 

**********

 

Dinosaur Resources from

Enchanted Learning

 

**********

YiXiang was running a fever since Tuesday. The fever hovered between 38^oC to 39^oC. He was irritable, otherwise, alert. It was a day of temperature taking, sponging, carrying, slinging, crying – simply agonizing!

On Wednesday afternoon, I realised that YiXiang ‘shakes’ his head when he nurse. By Thursday night, we were certain that the ‘shaking’ was involuntary; some sort of inconsistent, sudden but mild convulsions lasting several seconds. We called the emergency hotline but the pediatrician did not get back to us so we assumed that there was no cause for concern. That was STUPID! We should have called again.

Friday morning, more convulsions observed. In fact I saw four in a minute!  I called the clinic. The pead called us the moment she stepped into her office. Apparently she was trying to reach us the night before but the operator mending the emergency line recorded our telephone number incorrectly! The pead recommended that we bring YiXiang to KK Children’s Hospital for immediate medical attention since any mild or major seizures is caused by sudden abnormal function of the brain. There was a possibility that the virus had attacked the brain.  I could not make up what was told to me after that as my mind was numb. My hands and feet turned clammy. I felt my heart crumpled like a paper ball. The nagging heart ache turned into a sharp pain almost immediately. I was overwhelmed by uncertainty, engulfed by a sense of helplessness and paralysed by fear. The feeling was too familiar – the exact one that I had when I realised that YiHang was not reaching his milestones, that his weight fell below the third percentile and the doctors’ every word, every action and every gesture seemed to suggest that there was something wrong with my child … but no diagnosis, no answers. I fought back my tears and said a silent prayer. YiXiang’s gurgles, alertness and playfulness were my assurance that he was alright – mentally. I held him snugly in the sling, constantly kissing him, stroking his checks, telling him that we love and will be by his side no matter what happens. Tian How cancelled an important luncheon with a perspective employer and rushed down to the hospital.

Fortunately, the doctors diagnosed the convulsions as fever rigors, seizures which occurred as a response to high fever. We did not know what to observed for during a seizure but we were certain that YiXiang did not display symptoms such as loss of consciousness, biting of check or tongue, rolling of eyes, foaming at the mouth and loss of bowel control. Hence the doctors ruled out the fits as well as the possibility of meningitis.

The blood and urine test came back negative. However, YiXiang was warded for observation. By evening, the fever subsided. My body was aching. I was exhausted and fall asleep almost immediately, to be waken up every other hour for temperature taking and nursing.

By Saturday morning, the fever was gone. The rigors were not noticeable.  The red rash appeared. It was after all Roseola or ‘false measles’. We heaved a sigh of relieve and kept our fingers crossed that the convulsions will not recur as we headed home, with our polka dots baby.

**********

What is Roseola?

Excerpt

 An acute disease of infants and young children that is characterized by a fever and skin rash. The disease is common in children 6 months to 2 years old. It has recently been found to be caused by a virus, called human herpesvirus 6. It occurs most often in the spring and fall. The incubation period is 5 to 15 days. A fever may become as high as 105 degrees Fahrenheit and may persist for 3 to 5 days. Convulsions may occur when the fever is high.
Roseola typically begins with a high fever that responds well to acetaminophen. When the temperature is down the infant or child may behave as if well. Between the 2nd and 4th day the fever falls dramatically and a rash appears on the trunk and spreads to the limbs, neck, and face. The rash lasts from a few hours to a day.

            Read more : Health Central

  

What is Febrile seizure (children)?

Excerpt

A generalized convulsion, caused by abnormal electrical activity in the nerve cells of the brain, associated with fever. A febrile seizure is a generalized tonic-clonic (grand mal) seizure that occurs in some children as a response to a fever. It most commonly occurs in children 3 months to 5 years old. Approximately 2 to 5% of children will have a seizure associated with fevers. Transmission of information from nerve cell to nerve cell within the brain occurs because of an electrochemical process. This process can be read as electrical activity by an electroencephalograph (EEG). If the electrical activity in the brain becomes disorganized, a seizure occurs. The exact cause of febrile seizures in unknown.
Susceptibility to febrile seizure may run in families. Occasionally, febrile seizures may be a symptom of poisoning or brain infections such as meningitis or encephalitis. Roseola, or infection with Human herpesvirus-6, is also a frequent cause of febrile convulsions in children. A child who has a febrile seizure may not necessarily have further seizures in response to a fever.

 Read more : Health Central

  

 

What to look out for during a seizure

Excerpt

When witnessing a seizure, try to remember what happened such as:

• Did limbs twitch? If so, which ones and on which side.

• Did the head twist, neck go rigid, eyes turn or roll?

• Was there drooling or foaming at the mouth?

• Was there a chewing motion or smacking of the lips?

• Was there any change in consciousness?

• Did the victim bite the inside of the cheek, tongue or lips?

• Was there loss of bladder or bowel control?

Read more : Health Central 

 

**********

Other sites

KidsHealth

Ask Dr Sears

Dr Greene

**********

 

Disclaimer

None of the information in this website is meant to provide medical or legal advice. All medical decisions should be discussed with your health care provider.

 

  Yihang was advised not to kiss his little brother because didi (弟弟) is having a fever and might pass on the virus to him.

 

Yihang :

Virus!? Never mind. Just scan him [with the latest antivirus software!]

 

Other signs that he might be spending too much time on the computer:

Using DELETE to mean remove, HANG to mean stuck

His name is spelt y∙i∙h SPACEBAR h∙a∙n∙g

 

And PINGU screensaver greeted us out of nowhere when we’ve got no idea  such malformed penguin ever existed.

 

  Look what we found at our void deck. Not the KIDDO! The CAR. Yeah a real treasure. In working condition. You bet, Yihang is having a zooooming good time.

 ‘There is nothing quite like the delight that comes from seeing your baby thrive and grow on your milk. As his arms and legs fill out and his cheeks turn plump and rosy, you can’t help but glow with pride … and marvel at how perfectly your body is continuing to provide for all of his nutritional needs.’

- The Womanly Art of Breasfeeding -

 

   Yihang’s classmate, Benjamin celebrated his birthday last Saturday. The planning and preparation, from food down to games and decorations were all done by Benjamin’s parents. Truly heart warming.

The event was held in an award wining shop house along the quiet and attractive Emerald hill area. The party started with the kids lending a helping hand in making their own pretzels and apple truffles. It was a carnival, thus there were many games such as clown race, clothespin drop, spray away, ball toss, etc. Yihang’s favorite was ‘Fish out of Water’. The tots, obviously lacking in any other fishing techniques, employed the ‘swirl and swirl with net’ method to catch their prize. Eventually the fish gave up and decided that it was better and probably safer to be in the plastic bag than the whirlpool! When the tots (as well as parents) were finally tuckered out, they were treated to cold lemonade and hot finger food, followed by the deliciously sinful chocolate birthday cake topped with vanilla ice cream. Just when we were wondering what to do with Yihang’s prize catch, the host handed us a small fish aquarium complete with pump, bottled distilled water and fish food.

Apple truffles, hot buns, lemonade, fun, joy and laughter – it’s all too familiar. It’s the party which I have attended more than ten thousand times as a kid when I read Enid Blyton’s books which became a reality at Benjamin’s party. I don’t know about the kids, but I was completely mesmerized in the enchanted and truly magical evening. 

 

  

I was told, breast milk is best

But feeding on demand is a real test

Zaps my energy. lack of rest

Oh my Gosh! My aching breasts

　

No time to catch up with fashion

Sex is out of the question

Movies, shopping – Please don’t mention

I’ve given my life to this little tyrant

　

My milk I have to pump

‘Cos I am a working mom

Feeling like a cow in a farm

Sagging breasts – Gone is my charm!

　

But, nursing moments I really treasure

A calm and contented baby brings me pleasure

My love for him, nothing could measure

All sacrifices worthwhile, I assure

　

If you are a nursing mama you would understood

I am not only giving him milk and food

But a bond that would last through adulthood

I am giving him the best that I could

 

-Copyright © 2005 by Janice Chuah-

Yihang loves Aunty Anne’s pretzels. As usual, he wanted to buy some when we were out shopping. I was busy breastfeeding YiXiang but promised to get some for him afterwards. To my utmost surprise he said:

 “I will buy on my own. Give me the money. I want Cheese. What you want?”

For someone who’s afraid of monsters under his bed, I was rather taken aback by his courage. I watched him from a distance (of less than 20 meters actually) as he trot over to the counter, mumbled something and handed the two dollar note and a dollar coin to the ‘aunty’.

While he waited for his pretzels, I noticed some shoppers observed him from behind, trying to spot his mummy – astounded by this little boy’s independence. Moment like this, I feel like going up to shake their hands and tell them

“Yes! Yes! He’s my boy! He’s MY boy”

Usually weekends are spent on shopping and dining. Our recent austerity drive has impelled us to crack our heads for cheap and enjoyable ideas to humour ourselves, which explains our sudden love for outdoor picnics.

This evening, we went to Botanic Gardens for picnic with my 好姐妹, Jenny, and her family.  Free entrance, space, fresh air, tree barks and dead leaves for our kids’ torturous rubbings and today’s visit was even bundled with free music. We completely soaked up the atmosphere of the enchanting park, with a leisurely drink of 1995 Cabernet Franc apple juice by the lakeside. However, by sun set, we were completely soaked through with perspiration and left feeling sticky and smelly but happy that yet another weekend was spent meaningfully with the kids and friends.

  **********

Photo Album : Picnic @ Botanic Gardens 

 **********

 Stuffs we brought for our picnic.

Sandwiches

Biscuits

Tit-Bits

Apple Juice

Plain water

Groundsheet

Tissue / Wet Tissues (grossly inadequate)

Spray mist (for Yihang to help him stay cool)

Crayons & Paper for bark rubbings

Camera

 *******

 Stuffs we saw others brought and would consider bringing

Sparkling Wine (Sipping wine – Damn cool sia!)

Ice box / Cold drinks

Pillow (Cold pillow for Yihang)

Extra clothes for kids

Story Books / Newspaper

Insect repellent / Sun Block lotion

 *******

Naturally mummy is proud when her little bun acquires new knowledge.

Tell us hunnybun, who invented the light bulb.

 

 

The ingenious answer

 

Thomas

Edison 

.

.

 the

TANK

ENGINE 

 

            Remind me to test him several times before showing off!

 

Yihang’s past three birthday celebrations were simple affairs involving only family members. After attending numerous birthday parties since he started school, our little bun grasped the concept of birthday celebration and has been looking forward to his own. Thus we have decided throw a more elaborated celebration for him this year. He had a celebration at school as well as a barbeque with family members and some close friends.

 **********

 Birthday Celebration at school

Thursday 30^th March 2005, 10:30am

  

The celebration at school was a simple yet meaningful one. His classmates sat in a circle. In the middle, the teacher placed a small mat with a globe on it. Twelve cards with the months of the year neatly written were placed around the globe. The birthday boy held the globe and walked round the mat as the children sang:

The Earth move round the sun

The Earth moves round the sun

Twelve months passed by and Yihang turns one

 

 

Use Apple Quicktime to view this 1.99 MB clip

View with Mozilla Firefox (Could not view with IE)

 

Mummy was invited to tell the class what Yihang could do when he was one year old. The activity repeated. I spotted the familiar smug grin on our little devil’s face when I briefly describe his milestones at each stage.

The celebration ended with the usual singing of the birthday song and cutting of the birthday cake. And of course, Rachel, whom Yihang has been speaking of EVRYDAY, presented the birthday card to him.

  

 **********

 Barbecue with Family and Friends

1^st April 2005, 6:30pm

After reading the article ‘Throwing a Birthday Party can be Fun’ by Michelle Paulus, I was ‘inspired’ to plan and organize Yihang’s party. Ok .. OK … To save myself from the already long confession before Christmas, the naked truth being saving a pile compared to hiring an event manager, getting a clown, etc as initially planned … since we moved on from economic to austerity drive!

To ensure that our party remains a ‘sane experience’ for the parents, we decided to hold it outdoors and only three of his friends were invited.

The barbecue pit next to the children’s playground was chosen so that the kids have enough space to run around and to save us the trouble of coming up with games to entertain the kids.

Thomas and Friends were chosen as the theme as they were Yihang’s favorite characters.  After hundreds of minutes and thousand of seconds slogging till the wee hours into the nights, drawing and painting Tomas and his friends, we vowed to outsource the decoration bit for future parties. It’s really amazing to see how the usually ‘bo-chap’ father switched to the ‘perfectionist’ mode when it involves his precious son. He even checked the internet to ensure that the trains get their right coats of paint.

Apart from fun, involving Yihang in the preparation for his party provided opportunities to teach important values such as sharing and appreciation. Yihang filled the ‘goody bags’ with his favorite chocolates. He shared these with kids at the playground (who were ‘regulars’ at the playground but not our guests). Thank you notes are also important social skill builders, hence Yihang helped to personalized tags. He helped to wrap the party favours for the guests so that his friends who have brought him presents could ‘go home with a trinket or two of their own’.

His papa took half day off as we had to collect the cakes, prepare the food and put up the decorations. Papa was also the one who went back to clear and wash the pit after the party. KongKong (公公)canceled a meeting to attend the party while PoPo (婆婆), as usual busied herself with food preparation. YiYi (姨姨) and Uncle Vernon were the ‘extras’ who lend a hand in everything, from barbequing to humoring baby YiXiang. GuGu (姑姑) was appointed the official photographer to cover the event.

We have all put in quite a bit of effort in planning and organizing our precious bun’s party and we were glad that he thoroughly enjoyed himself.

**********

I don’t know if Yihang will remember his 4^th birthday celebration. I doubted that he understood the effort that we put into making this day a special one for him. His laughter is our affirmation that all our efforts are well worth it. To our greatest surprise, just before he climbed into bed, Yihang gave us a hug and whispered

‘Thank You’.

 

********** Photo Album : YiHang’s 4th Birthday