Withdraw

We have withdraw Zethan from JG effective on Term 2 and have secured a place in Zoophonics with plans to start in April thus having a short break in between.

We joined a new class at a new timeslot for JG this week and vast differences were observed as compared to our previous class. Previous class' parents are much more pro active in terms of participation especially that of the theme of the week but not for this class. Perhaps the children in this class appear to be younger than the previous thus parents are overly protective of their child.

Recall this few incidents where Zethan go around hugging his friend over this particular lesson. Somehow uncertain of the reason why, he turn particular loving and friendly that he went around hugging his friends from behind. The mummies are so protective that I caught them shot a look of disapproval when Zethan does it. The look on their face is clearly shocking and perceive Zethan to be dangerous. Why did I say that? Apparently after the incident, whenever Zethan go near their child, they will switch on their 'beware' mood and move their child away.

Now the problem with me is that I tend to be very observant always and caught sights of these parents displaying the weird looks on their face. Apparently caught another daddy watching Zethan in disgust just because he is always on the move, walking around the classroom during storytime. Seriously speaking I feel disgusted at the behaviour of these parents. I would have thought it is quite normal for a child's refusal to be seated even though all the children are and yes Zethan could be overly active in this aspect.

Of course these are not the main factors for withdrawing out of JG. I mean I am not very much bothered by them and not so that I have to consider withdrawing Zethan. The main reasons are Zethan appear to be very bored and restless with the acitivities in class and we would like to try out other classes as well otherwise no basis of comparison to judge which might benefits him. Having said that we are going to miss JG, the outdoor activities and the teachers. Who knows we might be back sooner than expected.

End of CNY

The kiddos had a CNY gathering on 13th of Feb at Aunt Ophe's. We had a popiah party and KFC for lunch. Yumz, a fresh new lunch idea from the usual steamboat. The kiddos had a great time with bowling game, forming their very 1st band while the adults had a game of Black Jack, Casino style.

Of course not to forget our buddy in the States, we had a gathering online and was shown around the nice house. We were glad to bring some joy to Aunty Sue Lin whom is nursing a cough. Spent a whopping 5 hours having lotsa fun and the only thing missing is Lo Hei!

Zethan hit the sack in comfort of his car seat and we decide to make our way to River Ang Bao since it is going to be last day. Nothing fantastic but the whole idea is to for Zethan to take a look at the CNY decor and he is so fascinated at the carnival especially that of bumper car. We had to grab hold of him lest he made the dash which resulted in a meltdown.

The last day of CNY was spent by having a simple dinner at Taste of Thailand with mum. Had the usual dishes of Thai sauce fried fish, baby kailan and sweet sour pork with claypot toufu for Zethan.

There goes the festive holiday which is over, sooner and faster than the wait.

Appetite

Most probably it is due to the aftermath of the serious flu & cough that Zethan's appetite is not doing very well lately. In actual fact, he have not fully recovered from his cough which is weird as there will usually be just 1-2 burst of consistent coughing throughout the day and everything else appear normal after which.

I have decide to stop feeding him medication as apparently the medication did not ease these occasional burst of cough and his cough did not worsen because of the break in medication. Meanwhile I am just monitoring him for any signs of worsening cough for fear of developing phelgm in the lungs and feed him lots of water, hopefully to fight off the cough real soon.

oh, anyway back to the topic of his appetite. I have started him on Pediasure yestersday with the intention to bring back his appetite as well as to make up for the nutrients lost during the period he is unwell which we kept quite a range of food at bay. Previously he had some adverse reaction on the pre mixed pediasure especially the strawbeery flavour. Uncertain if it is coincidental but after he down a bottle of the milk, he puked 3 times through the day and it is the strawberry milk that was removed from his system. As for chocolate pediasure, even though diluted slightly with water, he rejected it totally after taking a few sips.

So this time round we have decided to try him on the vanilla flavour in powder form. So far he has taken 2 feeds yesterday and all appear to be good. No intention to feed constantly but once in a while to boost his appetite thus acting as a form of supplement.

On a side note, Zethan has developed an accquired taste since some months back. He love to munch on raw cucumber and even though it can taste bitter at times, he still love them to bits. Weird huh..

Close shave

Never in my life have I been so frightened before and throughout the 14 years of driving experience, I have not experienced such strong wind and rain.

It happened in a flash, sudden gush of strong wind and rain coupled with darting twigs and branches. Visibility was closed to zero and it was a matter of slowing down or accelerate to dash through. Luckily I have chose to follow the taxi uncle in the next lane to slow down.

5 seconds later when visibility resume, we witness the tree falling across the 3 lane carriage right in front of our car. Moments later, more trees fell everywhere including one that landed right next to my rear passenger door. I was praying hard and trying not to imagine if there might be one which could land on my roof. Called the police and can do nothing except to sit and wait for help to come.

30mins later when rain lighten, few workers working on the opp road came over to help with electric chainsaw, sawing small parts of the tree and manually dragged to the side of the road. It took a good 10mins before the letf lane is passable, grateful to the foreign workers. But the happiness was not for long as there is another built up less than 2m away. More trees fallen, bigger trees. We had no idea how bad the situation is and there are hardly any help rendered except for an ambulance on the opp road ensuring all drivers are fine.

After having been stuck in the car for more than an hour and not sure how long more it can be, many drivers decide to off their engine and step out of the car. I am not exception as any longer staying in the car, gonna get leg cramps. Can't imagine that I can be out in the open talking to 2 taxi uncles trying to assess how bad the situation is. We got too know from kind motorists on the opp road that the situation is very bad and the whole stretch of road is full of fallen trees. End up the wait is a full 2hrs and amazingly caught no glimpse of any civil defence personnel. All I saw was more foreign workers (look like those involved in road works) with more chainsaws, manually sawing and dragging. 1 TP directing the traffic after clearance and 2 policemen who left after 1hr.

When I am safe and sound at home, started to break down and crying non stop, still in a state of shock apparently. A lot of thoughts went through my mind, all the what ifs. What if I have accelerate, what if the tree fell on my roof, what will happen to me, what will happen to Zethan, what if I am paralysed, what if I became a victim of this rare act of god....so on and on forth. The scenes keep playing repeatedly in my mind which made me felt as though I am reborn, had a close shave from death.

Fatigue

I am seriously suffering from post festive fatigue for the whole week.

No amount of additional sleep help. Constantly feeling tired and fatigue peak during mid day, so difficult trying to keep awake.

Hope I can get over it real soon as next week will be extremely busy and stressful with the upcoming event. argh..