IS ... (drumroll)... my most dreaded HAND FOOT AND MOUTH disease..Sigh..
It is unbelieveable!
Madison returns to school for ONE week after our holiday and manages to catch HFMD in time for the school holidays! How do kids do that?
Unfortunately there is an outbreak at her school at the moment, and even though the school did try their best to contain it Madison managed to catch it. I have to say it's probably about time, since she managed to escape the past few times.
The funny thing is that Annika was the first to come down with symptoms. She was perfectly fine when she woke Saturday morning, then when I came back from work Warni was asking me why she had some weird rash on her butt. She wasn't doing too badly but I had my suspicions already.
By Sunday the mouth ulcers appeared and boy WAS SHE GROUCHY. I think Madison had similar symptoms but she's been very good.
Today has been the worst so far, and I'm hoping it'll not get any worse. It was a really BAD screamy crying tantrumy morning. I'm stressed.Of course Annika didn't want to eat today so that made it worse. And of course there's some trouble at work with an unhappy patient. And to top it off my sister calls me in the middle of clinic just to confirm that my kids have HFMD and so do the maids need to repeatedly wipe the toys after my kids have been through them!!! I lost it at her.. so we had an argument.
Sigh.. of course now I probably have to apologize and work it out with her..
Monday, December 19, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Melbourne trip 2011
We survived the trip!
It was pretty good actually.. despite being quite tired when we got back I felt somewhat rejuvenated. Like a good break from the monotony of life at home.
We left on Wednesday night for a midnight flight. I was sneaky.. I doped Annika prior to the flight so she slept like a log throughout most of the flight. Unfortunately I had to carry her for most of it so by the end I was a little numb and sore. BUT.. worth it.
We arrived Thursday morning and checkout at the immigration department was horrible. Snaking long queues. Well, Annika yelled her head off and I think that got us to the front pretty quickly. Once we cleared that the rest was amazingly breezy. Chris' mum and Anthony were waiting outside so we drove straight home.
The first few days we spent just chilling out. Went to the playground next door, took the kids to the fantastic Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre and did a little shopping. The kids really loved the warm swimming pool at MSAC. And of course the playground, which perpetually had kids around. It was nice having a home there so the kids didn't have to eat out every meal.
On Saturday our travelling companions arrived. They kept themselves occupied during the day so we only met for dinner. The next day we picked up our 12 seater Commuter bus and drove down to Phillip Island to see the penguins.
Despite being summer it was chilly and downright FREEZING at the penguin parade. We had to be seated at a platform 1 hour before the birds came out and it felt really long. When the sun set the penguins FINALLY started waddling out of the water and they were quite cute. The kids had a ball watching them, but thank goodness that's done. I don't fancy doing that one again.
We stayed at the Silverwater resort at San Remo, just across the bridge from Phillip island. It was a pretty nice place. We had a 3 bedroom apartment and a studio. Chris' mum and Anthony came as well so we took the 3 bedroom unit. The resort had an indoor heated pool as well, which we used the next morning.
The second day at Phillip Island we spent checking out the various attractions. There was the Amaze and things ( crap ), Koala conservatory ( not bad, got to see quite a few koalas ), and the chocolate factory ( crap, crap and waste of $$! We paid $24 a head expecting to sample heaps of chocolate but there were a grand total of 2 samples!!)
We headed back to Melbourne after the chocolate factory because my parents had arrived that morning and were making us dinner. And an impressive dinner it was! Chai made his signature beef rendang with coconut rice, sambal kangkong, Pa made his chicken soup, we had some steak that we bought from Phillip island and there was chocolate fondue for dessert.
The next few days were spent shopping, eating, drinking coffee and more playground time. Chai's graduation ceremony was on Thursday the 8th of December. That took 2 hours and we had our celebratory dinner at Number 8 at Crown Casino afterward. That dinner took 2 hours. It was midnight by the time we were home.
Friday was exciting.. we were off to the Mornington Peninsula. This time with an even bigger group. There were 9 adults and 3 kids in the first group that left on Friday morning. Then 4 more joined in the next day, Saturday. We stayed at a rental house fairly near the beach. It had 3 main rooms, 2 with queen beds and 1 with bunkers. There was also a "guest room" which was more like an outside shack with bunkers. For all that many people it only had 1 bathroom!
The first day we went cherry and strawberry picking. Since we didn't want to spend over $100 picking fruit at each location we sent in 3 adult representatives to accompany the 3 kids each time. The others waited outside and ate fruit that had been pre picked. Everyone was famished and tired by the time dinner rolled around so we ate charcoal chicken and fried noodles for dinner.
The second day we had grand plans to go to the farmer's market, and after the hassle of getting everyone ready turns out it wasn't even on. Anyway... it was fortunate that a party shop opened next door so the kids got free face painting and balloons. We wound up going to Sorrento for lunch and then it started to POUR the rest of the day. So that ended the plans for going to the spa in the afternoon. We did have our steamboat dinner though, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed that.
We finally did go to the spa on Sunday, on the way back to Melbourne. We managed to get into a small argument with the reception staff. They were RUDE. Actually one was RUDE. The spa itself wasn't too bad. All the kids got to go into the kiddy version of hotsprings, one pool that was heated to 36C.
I think the best part of the trip would've been our last dinner with our friends. We left the kids at home to be babysat and just the 2 of us drove out to a friend's home for pizza dinner. I guess it felt like a relief the entire trip went without a hitch and we could call it a success.
All too soon the trip was over and we were on the flight back home on Monday. Again.. not too bad really... Annika complained at the start with the bad immigration queue, during parts of the flight, BUT she did sleep ( sans antihistamine) so I actually got to watch part of a movie ( then I fell asleep so can't blame her for not finishing the movie!) The service on Singapore Airlines was EXCELLENT. So nice, compared to the below average service that we received from the Aussies during the trip.
I think as the kids get older the Melbourne trip should get easier, and I'm actually looking forward to next years' trip already! We were harbouring thoughts of moving back to live there, but I think it'll probably not happen right now... I'm quite spoilt by the help and ease of life here in Singapore!
It was pretty good actually.. despite being quite tired when we got back I felt somewhat rejuvenated. Like a good break from the monotony of life at home.
We left on Wednesday night for a midnight flight. I was sneaky.. I doped Annika prior to the flight so she slept like a log throughout most of the flight. Unfortunately I had to carry her for most of it so by the end I was a little numb and sore. BUT.. worth it.
We arrived Thursday morning and checkout at the immigration department was horrible. Snaking long queues. Well, Annika yelled her head off and I think that got us to the front pretty quickly. Once we cleared that the rest was amazingly breezy. Chris' mum and Anthony were waiting outside so we drove straight home.
The first few days we spent just chilling out. Went to the playground next door, took the kids to the fantastic Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre and did a little shopping. The kids really loved the warm swimming pool at MSAC. And of course the playground, which perpetually had kids around. It was nice having a home there so the kids didn't have to eat out every meal.
On Saturday our travelling companions arrived. They kept themselves occupied during the day so we only met for dinner. The next day we picked up our 12 seater Commuter bus and drove down to Phillip Island to see the penguins.
Despite being summer it was chilly and downright FREEZING at the penguin parade. We had to be seated at a platform 1 hour before the birds came out and it felt really long. When the sun set the penguins FINALLY started waddling out of the water and they were quite cute. The kids had a ball watching them, but thank goodness that's done. I don't fancy doing that one again.
We stayed at the Silverwater resort at San Remo, just across the bridge from Phillip island. It was a pretty nice place. We had a 3 bedroom apartment and a studio. Chris' mum and Anthony came as well so we took the 3 bedroom unit. The resort had an indoor heated pool as well, which we used the next morning.
The second day at Phillip Island we spent checking out the various attractions. There was the Amaze and things ( crap ), Koala conservatory ( not bad, got to see quite a few koalas ), and the chocolate factory ( crap, crap and waste of $$! We paid $24 a head expecting to sample heaps of chocolate but there were a grand total of 2 samples!!)
We headed back to Melbourne after the chocolate factory because my parents had arrived that morning and were making us dinner. And an impressive dinner it was! Chai made his signature beef rendang with coconut rice, sambal kangkong, Pa made his chicken soup, we had some steak that we bought from Phillip island and there was chocolate fondue for dessert.
The next few days were spent shopping, eating, drinking coffee and more playground time. Chai's graduation ceremony was on Thursday the 8th of December. That took 2 hours and we had our celebratory dinner at Number 8 at Crown Casino afterward. That dinner took 2 hours. It was midnight by the time we were home.
Friday was exciting.. we were off to the Mornington Peninsula. This time with an even bigger group. There were 9 adults and 3 kids in the first group that left on Friday morning. Then 4 more joined in the next day, Saturday. We stayed at a rental house fairly near the beach. It had 3 main rooms, 2 with queen beds and 1 with bunkers. There was also a "guest room" which was more like an outside shack with bunkers. For all that many people it only had 1 bathroom!
The first day we went cherry and strawberry picking. Since we didn't want to spend over $100 picking fruit at each location we sent in 3 adult representatives to accompany the 3 kids each time. The others waited outside and ate fruit that had been pre picked. Everyone was famished and tired by the time dinner rolled around so we ate charcoal chicken and fried noodles for dinner.
The second day we had grand plans to go to the farmer's market, and after the hassle of getting everyone ready turns out it wasn't even on. Anyway... it was fortunate that a party shop opened next door so the kids got free face painting and balloons. We wound up going to Sorrento for lunch and then it started to POUR the rest of the day. So that ended the plans for going to the spa in the afternoon. We did have our steamboat dinner though, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed that.
We finally did go to the spa on Sunday, on the way back to Melbourne. We managed to get into a small argument with the reception staff. They were RUDE. Actually one was RUDE. The spa itself wasn't too bad. All the kids got to go into the kiddy version of hotsprings, one pool that was heated to 36C.
I think the best part of the trip would've been our last dinner with our friends. We left the kids at home to be babysat and just the 2 of us drove out to a friend's home for pizza dinner. I guess it felt like a relief the entire trip went without a hitch and we could call it a success.
All too soon the trip was over and we were on the flight back home on Monday. Again.. not too bad really... Annika complained at the start with the bad immigration queue, during parts of the flight, BUT she did sleep ( sans antihistamine) so I actually got to watch part of a movie ( then I fell asleep so can't blame her for not finishing the movie!) The service on Singapore Airlines was EXCELLENT. So nice, compared to the below average service that we received from the Aussies during the trip.
I think as the kids get older the Melbourne trip should get easier, and I'm actually looking forward to next years' trip already! We were harbouring thoughts of moving back to live there, but I think it'll probably not happen right now... I'm quite spoilt by the help and ease of life here in Singapore!
Monday, November 21, 2011
Food battles
Why do kids engage in food battles with their parents!!
Annika is now stressing me out majorly with her stubborn refusal to eat properly.
She was born a good sized 3.5kg, but by 1 year old managed to be lighter than her sister by over 1 kg!!
I remember food battles with Madison as well, but somehow they were not AS BAD.
Elizabeth, on the other hand seems to eat really well! She can down an entire bottle of milk, then go on to eat her full meal immediately afterwards! Amazing. And the irony? Geok doesn't particularly like to cook. While I would go on dreaming up various meal for my 2 and they would then proceed to p*** me off by making the meal seem like poison.
This morning Annika wouldn't eat her breakfast. Then I had to rush Madison with hers because today is a school day. Between the 2 of them I nearly lost it. Eventually I took Annika out of her high chair because she.just.wouldn't. eat. And I GAVE UP.
On the bright side though, last night was the first night in a week that Annika finally slept through. Maybe it was the antihistamine I gave her before bed but WHATEVER! I feel so much better with the sleep.
Of course I know as a doctor that kids eat when they are hungry, but somehow when it's YOUR OWN refusing food and looking somewhat skinny it makes me panic. Like it makes me a lousy parent who couldn't stay home and make my child healthier/eat better. Seriously, my heart actually twinges when I look at Annika and remember what Madison looked like at the same age.
I hope this is just a stage and she will eventually eat better, but there are some kids that never go on to be great eaters. My fear is of course her growth, that it will be stunted by the relative lack of nutrition, but WHAT CAN WE DO! I'm not very patient with this kind of thing.
Annika is now stressing me out majorly with her stubborn refusal to eat properly.
She was born a good sized 3.5kg, but by 1 year old managed to be lighter than her sister by over 1 kg!!
I remember food battles with Madison as well, but somehow they were not AS BAD.
Elizabeth, on the other hand seems to eat really well! She can down an entire bottle of milk, then go on to eat her full meal immediately afterwards! Amazing. And the irony? Geok doesn't particularly like to cook. While I would go on dreaming up various meal for my 2 and they would then proceed to p*** me off by making the meal seem like poison.
This morning Annika wouldn't eat her breakfast. Then I had to rush Madison with hers because today is a school day. Between the 2 of them I nearly lost it. Eventually I took Annika out of her high chair because she.just.wouldn't. eat. And I GAVE UP.
On the bright side though, last night was the first night in a week that Annika finally slept through. Maybe it was the antihistamine I gave her before bed but WHATEVER! I feel so much better with the sleep.
Of course I know as a doctor that kids eat when they are hungry, but somehow when it's YOUR OWN refusing food and looking somewhat skinny it makes me panic. Like it makes me a lousy parent who couldn't stay home and make my child healthier/eat better. Seriously, my heart actually twinges when I look at Annika and remember what Madison looked like at the same age.
I hope this is just a stage and she will eventually eat better, but there are some kids that never go on to be great eaters. My fear is of course her growth, that it will be stunted by the relative lack of nutrition, but WHAT CAN WE DO! I'm not very patient with this kind of thing.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Visitors from Down Under
This was supposed to be our fun weekend.
Our good friend, A, from med school was enroute to the Maldives with his partner so we were meeting them for dinner.
OF COURSE one of the kids had to make sure they had SOMETHING just so we could be super tired.
Friday night we took the couple to Prive for dinner. Unfortunately we weren't aware that our friend's partner suffers from severe vertigo/motion sickness and we JUST had to take them on a rushed drive winding through Friday night traffic ALL THE WAY to Keppel Island for a "romantic double date" dinner. Just enough to make the poor gal sick the WHOLE TIME. Otherwise we had a great meal, great conversation and a good time.(the rest of us)
Saturday went rather well. Chris was supposed to "operate" on some animals for his research project but fortunately(for me) they died on Friday so he was free(hooray!!). That gave him the ENTIRE morning with the kids because I had work.
Speaking of which... argh... had a run in with a patient this weekend. She had a known complication which I had warned her about, but I guess she became anxious and defensive about it. Which of course made me MAD...
Madison had her tennis lesson, which according to Chris went pretty well. He took the 2 girls swimming afterwards and apparently Madison can swim a short distance without floats!! Hooray.. the first step towards water safety!!
We met the couple again for dinner, and this time we WALKED to get dinner. Turned out pretty well! Satay and prata at Makansutra by the bay, then dessert at Marina bay Sands. The night skyline at the Marina Bay is really pretty! The new additions to the area have perked the place up.
Saturday night was TERRIBLE. Thank goodness we let Madison sleep over with my mom. Annika went to sleep ok, but within 30 minutes was up crying. At first we let her "CIO"then she must have walked to the door and shut herself in. I felt really bad so I went in and she was trying to put herself back to sleep but she seemed to be really uncomfortable. Eventually I turned the lights back on and OMG.
She was covered in hives! WTH??! Insects? I felt so guilty and bad for even trying to let her cry it out. The poor girl was suffering.. .screaming and trying to scratch..
Eventually I managed to settle her with antihistamines and topical steroids... and she wound up in our bed because SHE WOULD NOT SLEEP.
She had some more hives today and was really miserable. And had no appetite. I really don't know what it's due to. The MMR vaccine? The flu shot?
Turns out Elizabeth and Madison had some hives too, but much less. ?flu shot? some viral thing?
Argh.. I'm hoping this thing blows over soon... does this count towards November's illness? Am I done for this month?
Our good friend, A, from med school was enroute to the Maldives with his partner so we were meeting them for dinner.
OF COURSE one of the kids had to make sure they had SOMETHING just so we could be super tired.
Friday night we took the couple to Prive for dinner. Unfortunately we weren't aware that our friend's partner suffers from severe vertigo/motion sickness and we JUST had to take them on a rushed drive winding through Friday night traffic ALL THE WAY to Keppel Island for a "romantic double date" dinner. Just enough to make the poor gal sick the WHOLE TIME. Otherwise we had a great meal, great conversation and a good time.(the rest of us)
Saturday went rather well. Chris was supposed to "operate" on some animals for his research project but fortunately(for me) they died on Friday so he was free(hooray!!). That gave him the ENTIRE morning with the kids because I had work.
Speaking of which... argh... had a run in with a patient this weekend. She had a known complication which I had warned her about, but I guess she became anxious and defensive about it. Which of course made me MAD...
Madison had her tennis lesson, which according to Chris went pretty well. He took the 2 girls swimming afterwards and apparently Madison can swim a short distance without floats!! Hooray.. the first step towards water safety!!
We met the couple again for dinner, and this time we WALKED to get dinner. Turned out pretty well! Satay and prata at Makansutra by the bay, then dessert at Marina bay Sands. The night skyline at the Marina Bay is really pretty! The new additions to the area have perked the place up.
Saturday night was TERRIBLE. Thank goodness we let Madison sleep over with my mom. Annika went to sleep ok, but within 30 minutes was up crying. At first we let her "CIO"then she must have walked to the door and shut herself in. I felt really bad so I went in and she was trying to put herself back to sleep but she seemed to be really uncomfortable. Eventually I turned the lights back on and OMG.
She was covered in hives! WTH??! Insects? I felt so guilty and bad for even trying to let her cry it out. The poor girl was suffering.. .screaming and trying to scratch..
Eventually I managed to settle her with antihistamines and topical steroids... and she wound up in our bed because SHE WOULD NOT SLEEP.
She had some more hives today and was really miserable. And had no appetite. I really don't know what it's due to. The MMR vaccine? The flu shot?
Turns out Elizabeth and Madison had some hives too, but much less. ?flu shot? some viral thing?
Argh.. I'm hoping this thing blows over soon... does this count towards November's illness? Am I done for this month?
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Flu Shots, sleeping badly
After the last BAD round of illnesses, I am still waiting for this month's round. An average of 12 illnesses per year for pre-schoolers .. makes it roughly one per month.
And of course to start it off, one of Madison's classmates came down with INFLUENZA. As in the REAL stuff, confirmed with an oropharyngeal swab. ARGH! 4 days of 40 degree fevers, coughing and refusing to eat or drink. She was admitted to hospital. Her mother ALSO came down with the same thing. Horrendous.
Of course my germ phobia and panic set in. I cursed myself for not giving the kids the flu shot already. Of course it had to be Saturday night that I hear about this so I had to patiently wait till Monday to order the vaccines in.
Now I feel a little bit better that the shots have been given to EVERYONE at home. Quite amazing that the family alone required 15 vaccines!
As for the sleeping badly.. it's now Annika's turn to do it!
Now that she's sleeping on the single mattress on the floor, I think she's discovered she can actually LEAVE the room whenever she wants and come get me. In the middle of the night.
She was sleeping quite well through the night for awhile, but since she had the MMR I don't know why her sleep is so disrupted. She goes down quite well, then around 11 or midnight she starts getting distressed. She was crying on and off from 10Pm to 11Pm last night, then settled till 1am. At which point she got up from bed and came to get me. I took her back to bed and she went to sleep pretty quickly. Then at 4am she walked over AGAIN! This time she kept asking to feed but I didn't let her. Figured I didn't want her to get into the habit of night feeds again. She complained for awhile. It was so funny. When she whined, Madison would wake momentarily and say :'What! What! " or "ok, ok" and then fall right back asleep. IF it weren't for the fact that it was 4 am it would be hilarious.
Anyway, eventually she did go back to sleep, at which point Madison woke up! Of course the day started.
Maybe it's the injection? Pain? Hunger? Teething?
I just tell myself, she'll get there one day. One day the 2 of them will finally sleep past 7am.
And of course to start it off, one of Madison's classmates came down with INFLUENZA. As in the REAL stuff, confirmed with an oropharyngeal swab. ARGH! 4 days of 40 degree fevers, coughing and refusing to eat or drink. She was admitted to hospital. Her mother ALSO came down with the same thing. Horrendous.
Of course my germ phobia and panic set in. I cursed myself for not giving the kids the flu shot already. Of course it had to be Saturday night that I hear about this so I had to patiently wait till Monday to order the vaccines in.
Now I feel a little bit better that the shots have been given to EVERYONE at home. Quite amazing that the family alone required 15 vaccines!
As for the sleeping badly.. it's now Annika's turn to do it!
Now that she's sleeping on the single mattress on the floor, I think she's discovered she can actually LEAVE the room whenever she wants and come get me. In the middle of the night.
She was sleeping quite well through the night for awhile, but since she had the MMR I don't know why her sleep is so disrupted. She goes down quite well, then around 11 or midnight she starts getting distressed. She was crying on and off from 10Pm to 11Pm last night, then settled till 1am. At which point she got up from bed and came to get me. I took her back to bed and she went to sleep pretty quickly. Then at 4am she walked over AGAIN! This time she kept asking to feed but I didn't let her. Figured I didn't want her to get into the habit of night feeds again. She complained for awhile. It was so funny. When she whined, Madison would wake momentarily and say :'What! What! " or "ok, ok" and then fall right back asleep. IF it weren't for the fact that it was 4 am it would be hilarious.
Anyway, eventually she did go back to sleep, at which point Madison woke up! Of course the day started.
Maybe it's the injection? Pain? Hunger? Teething?
I just tell myself, she'll get there one day. One day the 2 of them will finally sleep past 7am.
Friday, November 11, 2011
MMR, school for Annika
I finally did it..
Annika got her MMR yesterday. She was a champ! Took the shot without protest! Granted, it was her grandfather that gave it to her, with me carrying and distracting her. It was over so quickly no one believed she just had her shot!
Actually the reason why I finally did it was because I had to sign her up for playgroup next year. I'm still not sure if I really want to send her to a drop off class at 18 months but I was a little pressured.
The school is the same one that Elizabeth is currently attending, it's a purely Mandarin based classroom. I looked up their website and was actually interested in their weekly accompanied classes, but when I called them up I was told that it was discontinued.
Then when I enquired about starting playgroup for Annika next year I was told there were only 5 spots left! Crap. It's the only Mandarin based preschool that is logistically good for me. So I panicked ( as usual ) and went down stat to look at the school. It looked ok and I guess E is doing ok in that school so I signed her up. I only want her to go maybe twice a week? to start with, and three times a week at most. BUT.. the teacher/?principal was quite insistent that she should go everyday once she was settled down ( in 1 month!) ... hm... I'm not so sure... and I don't take being pressurised very well...
So we shall see how it goes.. on one hand it's useful for Annika to be exposed to the Mandarin environment, but it goes along with BUGS BUGS BUGS... in the worst case scenario I can go back to good ol' Bibinogs. Bibinogs would actually still be my first choice, if not for the distance. It feels CLEANER. And smells BETTER.
Anyway.. it was a non refundable $100 registration fee and a $320 deposit(supposedly refundable). I booked her to start in February, for Tuesdays and Fridays.
I can't believe my baby is growing up so quickly!
Annika got her MMR yesterday. She was a champ! Took the shot without protest! Granted, it was her grandfather that gave it to her, with me carrying and distracting her. It was over so quickly no one believed she just had her shot!
Actually the reason why I finally did it was because I had to sign her up for playgroup next year. I'm still not sure if I really want to send her to a drop off class at 18 months but I was a little pressured.
The school is the same one that Elizabeth is currently attending, it's a purely Mandarin based classroom. I looked up their website and was actually interested in their weekly accompanied classes, but when I called them up I was told that it was discontinued.
Then when I enquired about starting playgroup for Annika next year I was told there were only 5 spots left! Crap. It's the only Mandarin based preschool that is logistically good for me. So I panicked ( as usual ) and went down stat to look at the school. It looked ok and I guess E is doing ok in that school so I signed her up. I only want her to go maybe twice a week? to start with, and three times a week at most. BUT.. the teacher/?principal was quite insistent that she should go everyday once she was settled down ( in 1 month!) ... hm... I'm not so sure... and I don't take being pressurised very well...
So we shall see how it goes.. on one hand it's useful for Annika to be exposed to the Mandarin environment, but it goes along with BUGS BUGS BUGS... in the worst case scenario I can go back to good ol' Bibinogs. Bibinogs would actually still be my first choice, if not for the distance. It feels CLEANER. And smells BETTER.
Anyway.. it was a non refundable $100 registration fee and a $320 deposit(supposedly refundable). I booked her to start in February, for Tuesdays and Fridays.
I can't believe my baby is growing up so quickly!
Friday, November 4, 2011
Back to normal
I'm really glad that Chris is back from his trip to Taiwan.
I took the 2 girls and Elizabeth to the airport to pick him up and boy, did they have fun! Madison and Elizabeth sat right at the back of the Stream, Annika and Warni sat in the 2nd row. Of course I did dole out the lollipops to keep them occupied during the 20minute ride. At the airport they went mad running around, it was quite difficult to keep them reined in!
Chris went back to work the next day, but the good thing is that he's now at KKH, so that means a slightly later start! Yeah! He gets to entertain the kids while I'm getting breakfast ready in the morning, and when he leaves Warni gets in. It's getting hard leaving them unsupervised; takes 5 minutes before they start fighting over something.
Madison is thankfully back at school again after last week's protracted home stay from illness. Her school is pretty fun! They've organised a zoo trip on the 15th so I think she's pretty excited about it. They get to go in this huge school bus, see the sights and then have lunch there.
Annika is starting to talk. Her babbles actually make sense now. It's quite strange, to realize that she can understand and respond appropriately. ( of course she could have probably understood a while back but still.. she's a baby!!) I still feel guilty that she gets less one on one time than her sister, but on the upside she does learn quickly just by observing the older one. I'm also not sure when to start her in class. Madison was 15 months when we started her on hourly accompanied Mandarin classes. I'm not really sure if it made a difference or not. She seems to have picked up more Mandarin being at her current bilingual school than at her previous Mandarin only school.
I'm thinking that I might just wait till Annika is closer to 2 then start her directly in a drop off Mandarin speaking playgroup? Although when I ask her if she wants to go to school she actually nods her head.
The clinic has been really quite quiet recently.. sigh.. nothing really new.. There's been the issue of an enbloc being raised for the clinic property... part of me hopes it will go through, then I would have the option of quitting? But I would feel bad towards the few loyal patients that I have. Maybe be part time employed and see my patients by appointment? But I suppose that would defeat the purpose of starting out on my own anyway.. to have time for the kids... it's really quite frustrating. I wish someone could tell me what to do.
One last thing.. Annika is due for her measles/rubella/mumps vaccine. We missed the appointment last month because of the never ending series of illness... but now I have to give it to her myself ( because the silly paeds clinic at KKH is FULLY booked till the end of the year! how silly is that! ). ARGH... she won't get autism from that, right... I know it's not true but still... it's a fear..
I took the 2 girls and Elizabeth to the airport to pick him up and boy, did they have fun! Madison and Elizabeth sat right at the back of the Stream, Annika and Warni sat in the 2nd row. Of course I did dole out the lollipops to keep them occupied during the 20minute ride. At the airport they went mad running around, it was quite difficult to keep them reined in!
Chris went back to work the next day, but the good thing is that he's now at KKH, so that means a slightly later start! Yeah! He gets to entertain the kids while I'm getting breakfast ready in the morning, and when he leaves Warni gets in. It's getting hard leaving them unsupervised; takes 5 minutes before they start fighting over something.
Madison is thankfully back at school again after last week's protracted home stay from illness. Her school is pretty fun! They've organised a zoo trip on the 15th so I think she's pretty excited about it. They get to go in this huge school bus, see the sights and then have lunch there.
Annika is starting to talk. Her babbles actually make sense now. It's quite strange, to realize that she can understand and respond appropriately. ( of course she could have probably understood a while back but still.. she's a baby!!) I still feel guilty that she gets less one on one time than her sister, but on the upside she does learn quickly just by observing the older one. I'm also not sure when to start her in class. Madison was 15 months when we started her on hourly accompanied Mandarin classes. I'm not really sure if it made a difference or not. She seems to have picked up more Mandarin being at her current bilingual school than at her previous Mandarin only school.
I'm thinking that I might just wait till Annika is closer to 2 then start her directly in a drop off Mandarin speaking playgroup? Although when I ask her if she wants to go to school she actually nods her head.
The clinic has been really quite quiet recently.. sigh.. nothing really new.. There's been the issue of an enbloc being raised for the clinic property... part of me hopes it will go through, then I would have the option of quitting? But I would feel bad towards the few loyal patients that I have. Maybe be part time employed and see my patients by appointment? But I suppose that would defeat the purpose of starting out on my own anyway.. to have time for the kids... it's really quite frustrating. I wish someone could tell me what to do.
One last thing.. Annika is due for her measles/rubella/mumps vaccine. We missed the appointment last month because of the never ending series of illness... but now I have to give it to her myself ( because the silly paeds clinic at KKH is FULLY booked till the end of the year! how silly is that! ). ARGH... she won't get autism from that, right... I know it's not true but still... it's a fear..
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