My exploration in life… (diary for baby!)

We were very happy yesterday when FELIX finally took his first baby steps - standing and walking a few steps on his own.  It was about time, before he turned fourteen months old!  It could have come sooner, but it had finally happened!

On the other hand, RACHEL fell ill again.  It was a continuation from her diarrhoea in the past weekend, and it just went on to her fever these couple of days.  Medication had helped bring down the temperature, but it seemed only for a couple of hours as her temperature would rise again, after the effect of the medicine wears off.  Her fever has not completely been cured, and we are keeping her away from play-school these couple of days…

My own fever is peaking.  No, not my illness, I mean the climax of the shool year - the examinations have began with their composition writings today.  I have began marking some of the P4 students’ work and will be going to mark some of my class’ students’ work later.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed…

The recent Children’s Day turned out to be a not very happy one for us at home when RACHEL had a bout of bad cough and some difficulties in breathing.  That gave us a scare as the hopital wanted to admit her.  This is what happened…

Thinking that it would be a good rest for me and that we could take a much needed one, we were glad when the holiday came.  But at night, RACHEL was coughing quite badly and we sent her to NUH’s Children’s Emergency Department to have a look by the doctor.

It turned out that they gave her some treatment on the spot - letting RACHEL breathe in some medication via a gas mask.  Our princess was, of course, not receptive to it and cried big time whenever the mask was to be put in front of her face for the medication to be administered.

It went on for a few times (the mask-thing) and when the doctor checked on her again, found that she was breathing very fast and there was a ‘wheezing’ sound in her lungs when she breathed.  He recommended that we admit her for the night, possibly longer if she was not going to be well enough soon.

At this point, like any parent would normally, I was very reluctant to let her stay.  Though I wanted my girl to recover, I could just anticipate the tantrum she would be throwing and that it would take a struggle for her to get settled down.  As parents, we would need to be by her side (though only one is needed) and I could just see the inconvenience as YEN is pregnant and needs rest; I could ill-afford to take leave as the examinations are nearing.

While we were waiting for them to settle the administrative portion of admitting her, we played with RACHEL, who was by then more settled into the place (of course she was oblivious of her impending admission), and started to play with us.  She somehow just didn’t feel tired at three in the morning though she did not sleep at all on the way to the hospital.

Luckily for us, her running around and playing with us actually improved her condition that when the doctor listened to her, her breathing seemed fine and there was no more ‘wheezing’ sound in her lungs.  The doctor then cancelled the instruction for admission and told us that we could go, giving RACHEL a review in a week.  It was nearing half-an-hour past four when we reached home, and RACHEL fell asleep only at five-plus…

YEN went for a scan yesterday after her fourth month into her pregnancy - and the doctor found no indication that the baby’s male.  YEN asked me earlier if I had a preference to the gender of our third child - I told her ‘long as the baby’s born healthy, I have no preferences’.  I mean, the child is a gift, long as health is given to the baby, what more can we ask for??

We can start name-hunting for her now.  Noting that RACHEL and FELIX both have the letters ‘E’ and ‘L’ in their names, YEN suggested ‘ELIZABETH’ or along that line…  Well, it definately was not on purpose that it turned out their names bore those two letters, so I told her that it was fine even if the name bore no resemblance to anyone’s in our family.  I mean - RACHEL and FELIX was not meant for anything else other than their meanings too…

RACHEL developed a bad cough today.  She had been coughing every other minute.  =(  Not sure how to stop it.  Sigh…

RACHEL has learnt how to address YEN.  Instead of ‘Mummy’ which we had been trying to get her to say, she is addressing YEN as ‘Ma1 ma’.  She does so forcefully sometimes, and is extremely adorable when she does that.  Her understandable vocabulary has grown substantially since she started play-school.  We are thinking of sending FELIX via the same route RACHEL took.

Our concern is that at thirteen months, FELIX is yet to be able to stand for a prolonged period on his own and is not able to really chew and swallow solid food to well.  Hopefully, he will do all that and walk / run in the coming few months.  In February, YEN’s expected to deliver our third child then and we look at sending FELIX to play school about then.

I really must take my hat off to YEN.  Not only is she juggling work and other areas, but she is almost always there for our children.  This is especially evident every night as our two precious ones have to be cuddled to sleep and they do not want me to do that - they’ll only cry harder if I tried to.  I count my blessings that I have known and married this extremely capable lady who is very forgiving and loving too, among her other good characteristics.  I am glad she chose me.  =)

Work is piling, as usual.  I am currently trying to take a few students from my class to give them a crash course on the basics of the English language.  They are willing to learn, but just not motivated enough to do so on their own, I guess.  I’m trying to see if it will bring any change in their results later.  While teaching them the basics, I have been able to pick up some useful things which I have forgotten too.  So it is good that I’m spending these times with them.

Our new nickname for RACHEL is ‘Tantrum girl’.  She throws tantrums very frequently nowadays, whenever she doesn’t get what she wants.  She goes to the extent of doing so in public places, lying on the floor in foodcourts and kicking her legs, all these while wailing at the top of her lungs.

Sigh.  We’ve witnessed many a fights between our two children too.  FELIX would move towards whatever new that makes sounds and catches his attention, mostly when his sister is playing with the toy.  When this happens, our princess would start crying even before FELIX touches her or her toy.  Sometimes, FELIX gets near enough and is too fast for her, and she would scream while pushing him away.  Looking after them and separating them when they play is sure tiring.

On their own, they are adorable angels.  I have spent time alone with either child and have fell in love with them further.  But when they are together, it’s a different story…  gosh.  I can hear RACHEL’s piercing screams now.  My mum brought the two children downstairs to the playground and from home at the fourteenth floor, the screams are sure audible…

I brought my class on a social studies field trip today to Kampong Glam in the Beach Road / Arab Street area.  It was a trip with few incidents, quite enjoyable and I really learnt quite a little too, due to the knowledgeable tour guide we had to our group.  The biggest incident must be this boy from my class not getting to the washroom in time and ’s**ting’ in his pants.  Being his form teacher, I had to help him wash them off his shorts.

I was glad the empathy shown by the class that after I told them in their small groups of the situatuon faced by their unfortunate classmate, they listened and did not laugh at him, nor did they mention that he was ’smelly’.  I’m really heartened by this.  =)  Looks like the children can be taught if they want to learn.

This week is supposed to be the school holidays.  Many would think that teachers and children alike are taking a week’s rest.  Nope, not our school.  Other than Monday, which was Teachers’ Day anyway, teachers had to go back for the rest of the weekdays.  Staff meeting was on Tuesday, and we had to conduct extra remediation classes for the next three days to weak students.

Not that I think it is not required, but how much can we do in the three days, I wonder?  Also, it is just for three hours a day, with a twenty-minute recess embedded into the timetable each day.  Students who come without the correct attitude will learn nothing at all, I feel.

And that’s not all.  The management feels that results for the past five years have dipped yearly.  They want all teachers to help make a difference, whether we are teaching primary six classes or not.  So we were made to commit for the next month until their PSLE examinations, our time, be it weekday nights or weekends.  We will be rostered to teach weaker students.

Not that I am complaining.  But again, I say, they will waste our time if their attitude is wrong in the first place!  I hope very much that results will take a turn, for everyone’s sake.

At home, RACHEL is showing more of what she had learnt in play-school.  She was ‘caught’ singing rhymes quite a few times, but stopped short when she discovered that we knew sometimes.  She is able to recognise more letters and numbers, and can tell us the ’R', ‘A’ and ‘C’ of her name when we write them to her.  She recognises ‘apple’ when she sees it on the telly.

FELIX is learning how to walk.  He is still not as strong in the legs and needs to hold onto things or people.  Somehow, he sometimes ‘irks’ RACHEL and ’scares’ her with his screams at her.  And poor RACHEL cries when she is being screamed at!  =(

Ever since I met and got married with YEN, I felt that my life had changed for the better, somewhat.  Sure, my father passed away then, and that was one of the biggest lows in my life so far, but we started dating after that and I definitely cannot blame her for that!

I feel this way as many good things have came our way since we have got together.  I had never won any money in 4D, Totos and such, and I had a close brush after we collected our MARCH three years back.  We were advised to buy its registration number and we did so for the fun of it.  However, I did not persevere and stopped after a couple of luckless weeks.  Needless to say, as cruel as life is, my previous registration plate number opened as first prize in the one of the next weeks that followed.

Of course, I attribute the fact that my family has been holding out happily till this day, with many thanks to my lovely wife.  She has given me two lovely children, with a third one on the way.  Last night was another example of good luck, probably brought about because of my lucky star.

I had never won anything in lucky draws in life.  Not top prizes, not consolation prizes, not mini-consolation prizes, zilch.  Nothing.  My lucky is a blank when it comes to winning of prizes due to luck.  But it is probably changing, starting last night, at the Teachers’ Day Appreciation Dinner.

Last year, I won a prize as one of the five best-dressed teachers, based on the theme of ‘Retro’.  That part was partly my wife’s work too, giving me suggestions on what to wear and things like that.  Lucky draw-wise, think I didn’t win anything.  Not last night.  The theme for last night was ‘Hollywood / Bollywood night’.  I dressed as ‘Dick Tracy’ (from the fame of the same titled movie in 1990) and wowed my colleagues.

I won as the best-dressed male teacher.  Other than that, I won, by luck, the second prize of the lucky draw.  The prize was a diamond pendant that I had not seen, and will collect next week as I return to school for meeting during the one-week break.  This is going to spur me on to buy my new registration car plate number until we win something.  Hey, perhaps I should just continue to buy it for as long as we have the car!  =)

RACHEL seems to understand more and more of our language as we communicate with her.  This past week, she surprised us with the word ‘apple’ as she was watching te VCD on ‘Paddington Bear and his alphabet treasure hunt’.  She is just a joy to watch most times.  FELIX is still learning things that he should know, slowly, and hopefully surely.  YEN is into the fourth month of her pregnancy.  It’ll be a month more until we know the gender of our third child.  =)

This is my second Teachers’ Day since I started teaching.  I did not feel too ‘involved’ in the last one as I barely started teaching a couple of months then, and was not a form teacher.  It’s different this time round as I had kind of ‘bonded’ with my class for the past eight months.

I had received cards and gifts from students whom I teach PE too.  Even from students whom I taught PE for the first six months of the year, and am not teaching anymore due to some reshuffling after the mid-year break.

As of past years, students who graduated from the school would return to their primary school to meet their teachers and ex-classmates.  Some went to the extent of playing games too.  There was an incident because of this where an ex-student tried to slam the ball into the hoop and lost his balance.  I did not witness his fall, but from the condition of him later, I gather that he fell awkwardly.

I helped him on a stetcher and to the porch.  My Vice Principal made the decision to send him to SGH, a stone’s throw from our school, by his car and not pay for an ambulance, which would cost $60.

The boy was in some pain, understandable, but his only concern then was that he could not play basketball again, and that he wanted to play for another three years.  Sigh - I thought what his concerns of breaking his hand was!

On a happier note and at home, I think RACHEL knows how to answer our simple questions by nodding her head to the question.  I had asked her if she wanted milk this afternoon, and she nodded in reply.  She finished the bottle after that.  It was confirmed tonight when the same thing happened again in the night.

However, I think she had learnt to lick some kind of food in play-school this week.  Not that it’s not good, but she has been doing that for almost all kinds of food and not opening her mouth to bite them.  She would then refuse us when we offered her the food later.  I’m not sure if she has been having enough food this way… =(

I think FELIX is too used to being carried by YEN and my mother that he can hardly do without being carried every time he is not engaged in some play activity. He has this habit, nowadays, of screaming on top of his voice - whether he is happy or not. Adorable and amusing at the beginning, but it does get on my nerves when I long for a little peace and quiet. He has not been able to start walking without aid too. His feet seem ‘weak’ and goes wobbly after just standing whilst holding onto something for a short while.

FELIX has yet to learn tht he needs to share toys and playthings with others - his sister in this case. Being a child (and a young one at that!), he would be interested with whatever others seem to be having fun, sights and sounds, with. He would immediately drop whatever he has on hand and ‘join in’ with the fun, snatching it into his possession.

Poor RACHEL does have this possessiveness too in things that she is playing with, and scream (cry, at worst) when her things are snatched away, even if FELIX takes just one of the many pieces of building bloks she is playing with, of presses one button of the piece of toy. Our little girl can go into tantrums, I tell you, and we would witness our next national team backstroke champion as she lie on the floor, screaming and crying, propelling herself forwards with her feet, ala backstroke swimming!

Just yesterday, when we were returnng home from my mother-in-law’s in BEDOK, that I commented to YEN I cannot imagine at this point of time how we can handle thre children just a few months later when we need to bring three of our children on our visits…

We celebrated FELIX’s first birthday two days earlier to catch the convenience of the weekend.  We invited family (EDDIE and HUIJUN, MUM-IN-LAW and JASON), relatives (my Uncle’s wife and children - KAILIN and JUNHAO on my side; YEN’s uncles and aunty, their spouses and children) and close friends (SHIRLEY and my long-time pals from Shaoerzu).  All in all, over 40 of them were invited.

RACHEL really surprised me during the few hours of the celebration - she hardly cried or threw a tantrum.  We had expected her to.  The nap the children had just before the guests started turning up must have helped (kudos by a good move from YEN).  Or perhaps her being at the play-school really did let her improve on her social skills and she is not as afraid of strangers now then much earlier before.

We are thinking of sending FELIX to play-school when he turns 18 months, just like we did to RACHEL, so that my mother can look after our new child and third baby in the day just like how she is looking after FELIX now.  YEN and I had a long discussion earlier as to whether we should get external help in the form of a domestic helper, but it died a natural death along the way.  I’m sure this topic will be surfaced again later.  It is just whether we can afford it with our current way of spending.  Really have to look at the suggestion in detail before anyone breaks down due to fatigue.

YEN is cautious about sending FELIX to play school now as he is almost one and has yet to show that he can swallow solid food.  At this age, RACHEL had started walking too.  Though FELIX can stand with the aid of items by his side, he needs to learn more before we can rest our minds sending them away.  Hope that he learns soon enough!