I had always been curious about the local wild cherry tree. There used to be a big tree growing in the small field just opposite my childhood home in Batu Gajah. Back then, I dared not eat the fruit as I was not sure whether it was edible.
It was only recently that I learned that the fruits from the Muntigia calabura tree or ceri kampung (village cherry) tree were edible.
We came across many Muntingia trees along Pantai Bersih in Butterworth that had lots of ripe fruits. We decided to pluck some. The children enjoyed reaching and plucking the fruits.
The ripe fruits tasted very sweet and in some sense overpowering after eating more than a few. We made some jam and this was also difficult to eat to the extent that it was nauseating. Perhaps it's an acquired taste.
[Muntingia fruits]
[Muntingia jam]
On 8 May 2014 we welcome our Yamaha U3 upright piano.
The kids were extremely fascinated with the hammer action and frequently asked to open the top to see the hammers move as the piano is being played.
Julian practises his pieces quite often on the piano, Justin occasionally, and Jianna hammers her own version whenever she feels like it. Daddy and Mummy are also happy to hammer a few tunes every now and then :-)
[Music machine]
Before Jianna came along, come bedtime, Justin is Mummy's charge while Daddy handles Julian. Now that we have Jianna, this is our current bedtime routine, especially during the weekdays:- 8.50pm: The boys change into their pyjamas. Jianna would have been changed earlier.
- 9.05pm: The boys drink milk.
- 9.25pm: Go to bed! Boys would be herded to brush their teeth. Then, all five of us would go into the boys' room. Jianna is usually still awake.
- 9.35pm: Night prayer. Boys told to sleep. Jianna usually wants a feed. Justin waits for Jianna to finish while tossing pillows off the bed. Daddy is with Julian, often needing to scratch a few attention-seeking itchy spots and to hold Julian's "insecure" leg. When Jianna finishes, Mummy tucks Justin in to bed while Daddy takes over charge of Jianna and cradles her. Jianna falls asleep in Daddy's arms and Daddy continues reassuring Julian's leg.
- 10.15pm: Julian normally dozes off first.
- 10.30pm: Justin dozes off. Daddy deposits a sleeping Jianna on the masterbed. Mummy & Daddy can now breathe...
Recently, Justin objected to Mummy feeding Jianna at bedtime. The following conversation ensued:
Mummy: Mummy has to feed Jianna because Daddy cannot feed Jianna.
Justin: Is too small.
Mummy: What's too small?
Justin: Daddy's breast.
Mummmy & Daddy: ?!?!
On 25 April 2012 we noticed spots on Julian's hands and legs! Oh, no! We didn't need a doctor's confirmation to know Julian is now down with HFMD as well!
Thankfully, his symptoms were not as severe as Justin's. He didn't have fever on the onset and had just a few ulcers in the mouth. He could eat and drink quite normally. Periodically, he did complain of pain in the mouth. For Julian there were more lesions on the palms and feet compared to Justin.
[Small blisters on Julian's palm]
It took about a week for the 'spots' to clear completely.
School reopened on 30 April 2012, but the boys only went back to school on 3 May 2012. With that we moved back to some 'normalcy' in our lives...
Justin caught hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) on 20 April 2012 (a Friday).
Days 2, 3, and 4 were the worst as he hardly drank or ate anything. When coaxed, he drank some water and "cold Milo". He was interested in taking some solids but end up wailing because of the painful ulcers in his mouth. He did not sleep well either and threw terrible tantrums.
By Day 5 (24 April 2012, Tuesday) afternoon, he felt better and took some food. Day 6 (25 April 2012, Wednesday) saw him almost his usual self. When we picked him up at the baby sitter's, he was even chasing Julian around.
He was practically free from any HFMD symptoms by Day 8 (27 April 2012, Friday).
During the fourth week of our "flu fest", and as the boys were recovering, the boys' kindergarten informed all parents on 17 April 2012 regarding cases of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) amongst the children. The centre would be closed for the rest of the week.
On 20 April 2012, the day Justin last saw the doctor for his cough, he had fever and had one or two small white dots on the inside of his left cheek. We asked for the doctor's opinion but it was difficult to confirm HFMD due to the lack of tell-tale signs on his hands and feet. Moreover, he was active and still eating reasonably well. One other thing he fussed over was a small oval mosquito bite-looking patch on his right elbow.
On the morning of 21 April 2012, we suspected something was not right when Justin complained of pain in the mouth after taking a few sips of his morning milk. Later that morning, we saw ulcers on his tongue. In the afternoon, the doctor confirmed HFMD. She saw spots on the back of his mouth, the mosquito bite-looking patch on this elbow had a cluster of small blisters, and his knees and left elbow had small red pimple-looking dots. So far, his palms and feet did not have any blisters. Treatment was symptomatic: mouth spray/cream for the mouth ulcers, antibiotic cream for the blisters, and fever medication.
He has since been feeling irritable and clingy, frequently wanting to drink water, and has difficulty eating or drinking anything else despite using the mouth spray.
We are now thinking of ways to prevent the kids from getting too close to one another. We hope and pray for a speedy end to our month of madness.
[Blisters on Justin's elbow]
25 March 2012 saw the beginning of a season of sickness for us. The boys started coughing and were prescribed the usual cough medication. Coughing during the day was one thing but coughing during the night was really miserable because they coughed so hard that they vomit.
By 31 March 2012, there was no improvement and they were prescribed antibiotics. Their condition improved after about 5 days.
On 8 April 2012, Justin developed fever. Then on 12 April 2012, when Julian developed fever, they were both put on the second course of antibiotics.
When things couldn't seem to get any worse, Justin developed rashes all over his body. So, on the next day (13 April 2012), a visit to the peadiatician confirmed that he had a case of urticaria, but the cuase of it remains a mystery becuase it wasn't caused by the antibiotic. Fortunately, it lasted only 2 days after increasing his dosage of anti-histamine and applying some steroid cream.
During the fourth week, after their antibiotics ran out, they seemed to be coughing much less but the cough lingered on. Since Justin was more prone to coughing, we took him for yet another visit to the doctor on 20 April 2012. Since he was having fever, and had already had two courses of antibiotics, he was "reluctantly" put on a third course of antibiotics in view that the weekend was approaching,
While all these happened to the boys in the last four weeks, Angie and I were also nursing our own cough starting from around the second week. Jianna seemed to be unaffected, probably benefitting from antibodies from breast milk.
We were hoping the "flu fest" would end soon, but the situation just became worse.
During our Malacca trip, Julian had a fright of his life. He got trapped in the lift at the apartment!
First, let me state that there are two lifts servicing the apartment. We were going upstairs after dinner one night when it happened. Julian always wants to press the button to call for the lift - no problem. But the lift doors opened before the rest of us were ready to get in and instead of waiting for the rest of us, he walked straight into the lift by himself and the doors shut! We pressed the button outside the lift but the door to the other lift, which was also parked on the ground floor, opened instead. So, we asked him to press 'G' hoping the doors would open but it didn't either. We suspect that it's because the other lift was also parked at the ground floor.
Then we asked him to press '3'. Meanwhile, dad got into the other lift and headed for the 3rd floor. When we heard the lift stop at the 3rd floor we called out asking him to get out of the lift. But he didn't. By the time dad's lift arrived a little later, Julian's lift door had shut again. On the ground floor, we pressed the button to call for the lift and also perhaps since Julian had already pressed 'G' earlier (which presumably did not 'reset'), the lift came down to the ground floor again. Now that the other lift was no longer at the ground floor, Julian's lift doors opened - revealing a very frightened little boy in tears!
I'm laughing as I recall the incident, but it was far from funny (especially for Julian) at that time! :-)
Mom and Dad went on an 8D5N trip to Italy (5-12 November 2011). They brought back lots of goodies such as big sausages, wooden Pinocchio toys, pasta, pasta sauces, chocolates, coffee, T-shirt, and rosaries. During their transit at Abu Dhabi, they bought some pistachio nuts. Thanks, Mom and Dad!
[Italian stuff]
Read about their trip: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
Julian had his first movie experience on 7 September 2011. We took him for an early afternoon screening of The Smurfs at TGV 1st Avenue.We booked a couple seat which was wide enough for the three of us. He was generally well-behaved except for some fidgeting because the contours of the seat was not exactly designed for small children. He sometimes wanted to be in a sleeping position across our laps. He also ended up wanting to sit on the stairs just beside the seats towards the end of the show.We think he quite liked the experience. In the beginning, when the trailers were played, he was rather frightened by the loud sound effects and scary horror clips. When the Smurfs started making their appearance, he seemed to warm up to the movie. He was most amused in the posh restaurant scene when Gargamel repeatedly threw Azreal off the table.He made 4 visits to the gents before, during, and after the show.
[My Smurfy Day!]
We boarded Logos Hope on 4 September 2011 at Swettenham Pier in Penang. It was a Sunday, hence it was crowded. Nevertheless, the boys had fun playing the make-believe steering wheel, and eating ice-cream and popcorn. However, with the crowd and the boys, it was impossible to browse through the books on sale.
[The view of the stern of Logos Hope]
[Let's head that way!]
On 16 April 2011, the sole survivor from the pair of fish Julian had as his first pet died. It lived approximately 4 months with us.
We moved into the robotic era on 21 January 2011. We bought ourselves a Samsung Navibot which came with a free Samsung microwave oven. Price: RM2,399. We waited to put up this post so we could really run the bot before giving our review.
Review: Does about 80% of the job. You've got to make sure your floor is free of 'traps'. It may get stuck on bath mats, bag straps or carpet tassles. It may miss a whole area if the 'entrance' is obstructed in such a way that it cannot navigate well. It works best for homes with little clutter. Therefore, our dining area seem to be less thoroughly cleaned due to the dining chair and table legs. Overall, we are happy with our purchase as we now have one less chore to do :-)
Julian calls the Navibot "robot Noo-Noo" (Noo-noo is the vacuum cleaner from the TV show Teletubbies). However, he is not so fond of the robot Noo-Noo, preferring it switched off :-).
The microwave is a real bonus :-) A really fun cooking toy for us to experiment :-) :-).
[Our Robot Noo-Noo: The Samsung Navibot]
Julian went on a school excursion to the CTY Aquarium on Burmah Road on 15 December 2010. Each child was entitled to bring home either a pair of fish or a tortoise. We opted for the fish as they have a shorter life-span.
After the excursion, while at the baby-sitter's, Julian had already subjected the poor creatures to a great deal of stress (read: fish tank tsunami). On the third day, one died. The better half is still alive today, tolerating Daddy's meagre maintenance, and bearing the brunt of the boys' force-feeding.
But credit is due to the fish... because feeding it is enough incentive for the boys to rush straight home instead of dilly-dallying at the apartment lift lobby.
[Julian's first pet]
[Behold the lop-sided one...]
We finally replaced our desktop of more than 10 years on 1 December 2010.
The Intel Pentium III 667MHz machine served us well. It had since had its hardisk, CD drive, keyboard and mouse replaced, and its RAM upgraded from 128MB to 192MB courtesy of a good friend.
Our new machine is a Dell Inspiron 580 with an Intel Core i3 550 (3.2GHz) processor, 4GB RAM, 456GB hardisk, and 20-inch LCD monitor.
[The old Pentium III machine]
[Our new Core i3 machine]
