Lake Gardens

Last Saturday, we decided to visit the Lake gardens. I've heard about it often but we've never managed to go there. When we arrived, I was amazed at the orderliness of the garden. There was a HUGE playground just nearby the entrance, where lots of kids were really enjoying themselves. Many parents seem to bring their children here on a regular basis and I can understand why. It's a huge and well maintained playground.


Sean is rather too small to really appreciate the playground, so after we spend a bit of time there, we went for a walk. We passed by a charming pond with stones walkway. It was a really nice walk. Then we entered the Kancil and Deer sanctuary, which was free entry. I just love free stuff! Don't you? =D

By this time Sean was already tired and insisted on being carried, and only wanted to be carried by me. I left my sling in the car, thinking that it was a rather flat at the Garden so Sean should have no problem. But the walk to see the deer was uphill with lots of stairs!

So, up we went to see the deers. It was worth it! There were so many deers within the sanctuary and they were well cared. That was really fun, but it was very tiring of me because Sean wanted to be carried all the way back! By the time we reached the playground again, I was totally exhausted and refused to carry him anymore. So Sam carried a struggling Sean back to the car.

We only managed to see a section of the garden and I was told that there is a butterfly garden, as well as an aviary. But they aren't free. We'll see them the next time we decide to visit the garden, but next time, I'll be sure to carry my sling along!

Playgroup - activities

The Playgroup has many toys which are not always taken out every week. We found a box of cars at the end of Playgroup last week. So this week, Sean gets to play with loads of cars. I can now leave him alone for long stretches while I chat or do a craft. Here was Sean playing with all the younger babies in the toy room. No wonder he was content, there were tracks and more cars inside!

As usual, he couldn't sit still during story telling. He was happy clamping along in my shoes while everyone was listening to stories. But towards the end, he came over and joined in trying to open the flaps of the story book that was being told. At least he finally participated in something!

Love of nature

Ever since we went on the hike last Saturday, I've been letting Sean play more and more in the garden. I'm not much of a nature person, so previously, I didn't encourage him, fearing mosquito bites and germs and dirt. But since I saw how much he enjoyed his nature walk, I've been letting him play in the garden more.

He plays with long stalks of palm leaves which he wield like a stick to hit the ground or sweep the floor. We pick up palm seeds and put into his car compartment. He helps the maid to water the garden, except that he pours water on the ground, not on the plants, making a mud puddle. He walks about with my shoes. He gets many insects and mosquito bites but never complains about them. I'm the one who complains of my bites.. LOL..

He loves it so much and can play for hours. The only reason we stop is because I'm tired and hot...ha ha ha =P

A clash of taste

We bought Sean a battery operated toy car from the pasar malam today. It cost Rm10 and I think it was overpriced considering the horrible quality of the product. It looked nice enough when we bought it (a open top smart car), but on the way home, the windscreen came off. Within 20 minutes upon reaching home,
- the wheel covers drop off and disappeared one by one.
- the battery cover came off several times.
- the little wheel that moves the car came off several times.
- the car seat came off

and within the next 20 minutes, one of the wheel broke. I thought that was the end, because I tried gluing it back with super glue and it wouldn't get stuck. But funnily enough, the car could still move with 3 wheels since a little wheel in the middle is actually the driving force of the car.

I get really irritated when I purchase something of such awful quality. I felt that it was such a waste of money. But Sean loves it! He was totally entertained for at least 1 1/2 hours, especially with the awful china-peck disco music that drones on when you turn the car on.

So for about 90 minutes, until I couldn't take it anymore, Sean was totally entertained by this awful toy. It was endearing to see him so occupied, but the price was listening to china-peck disco techno music that drones on and on.

I hope Sean's music taste doesn't continue in this line... I don't think I can't stand too much of this awful music anymore. =P

..... alakeza.. woo woo wooo....... alakeza... woo woo wooo

23 months old - Hiking up Bukit Gasing

Meera and Adhi invited us to join them on a hike up Bukit Gasing. My last hike was on a smooth path up the Bukit Timah hill in Spore. The track up Buikit Gasing was a forest mud track, not the smooth pavement I was expecting. At first I was a bit apprehensive because I wasn't sure if Sean could do it, but I had my Ergo sling with me, so if he couldn't do it, I thought I'll just sling him.

But children surprise you all the time. Sean had no fear and readily climbed the muddy steps up the hill. I held his hands, of course. He would rather not me hold him at all because Adhi could already walk the trail by himself. But Adhi is slightly older at 2 1/2 years old, and he had hiked up the hill several times, while Sean's mummy is a worry wart. =P

There were many people hiking up and down the hill. A few were training to go up Mt. Kinabalu. Quite a lot of people were walking their dogs. There was a group of girls with their 5 very well behave dogs. There were also several large groups of Health Science students doing first aid training, as well as several families having their regular Saturday family hike. We also met a group of very fit looking older people who were carrying what looked like ski sticks. Their fitness put me to shame. =P

Sean walked up most of the hill himself (while holding my hands), with me carrying him here and there when the steps were too steep or difficult for his short legs.

When we reached the top of the hill, the boys enjoyed themselves playing with sticks and stirring up dead leaves. Sean was so enthusiastic hitting around with his stick that he didn't want to leave. We saw spider webs, a tiny caterpillar climbing up an invisible line, a yellow ladybug with web-like patterns on its wings.

Going down was slightly harder because some of the steps were rather steep for Sean, so I carried him in the sling until we reached a smoother path. He was rather tired too and didn't mind a break from the hike. But after a short rest in the sling, he was ready to walk again. He really enjoyed his nature walk. =D

Here are photos of Meera and Adhi, and myself and Sean. You can see how pink my cheeks look after the hike up the hill. It felt really good to have a cold shower when we arrived home. =D

Playgroup - craft duty

We have been at the Playgroup for a month now.

Each of the mothers takes turn to do a craft or story telling each week. So I was completely taken aback when I got an sms on Tue night that I would be on duty today. Really??? I thought my duty was in Sept on Sean's birthday. But I saw the wrong column on the duty list all along. LOL....=P

Being on duty means that you need to be there early to set up the place, i.e. take out the toys and prepare a craft or story tell and sing songs. At the end of the morning, you are responsible for cleaning up. But all the mums help in setting up and cleaning up anyway.

The trick to preparing craft is that it has to be simple enough that a four year old can do (with a little help from mum) , quick enough to make so that mummies can run to and fro from the craft table to check on their children, and interesting enough that it's fun to make.

My craft today was an elephant/mouse fan with flapping ears. It's made of sanitary napkin sample envelopes. Quite often it's the mum who do the craft for their children since most of the kids are too young to do the whole craft.
I'm glad to say that the other mums found it interesting, especially the fact that it's a recycling project. =D

Here are some pictures of the playgroup which is behind the library. Sean has finally decided that the sand pit is safe and spent most of the time inside it. I didn't take that many pictures as I was either busy showing how to do the craft or spending time with Sean.

He is still very restless during the last half hour when there is story telling and singing. While others are happily sitting down, listening and participating. He still can't sit still and would go around helping himself to other people's food! Or decide he would continue playing in the toy room anyway.

__

Combating Mollescum Contagiosum

It started with 3 innocent white head looking spots on his chin. I thought it was because we've been bringing him to Raju too often and all the free papadams were too oily for him. So I said... no more papadams! .... but they didn't go away. I tried using steroid cream.. but we felt we shouldn't be using steroid cream so liberally, seeing that we didn't even know what it was. Baby websites says that it could be a viral infection. Viral infection! That sounds scary!

Our paediatrician didn't know what it was, but said it could be viral infection. He said we didn't have to worry because it's not something dangerous, but recommended a skin specialist for a 2nd opinion anyway.

The skin specialist confirmed that it was viral infection and recommended scrapping each mollescum out with a curette to stop the virus from spreading. It's quite a painful procedure. By then Sean's mollescum had spread itself all over the body, congregating most on his chin, face, neck, chest,waist and thigh. So the specialist said he would give Sean something to make him sleepy while he does the procedure. He's still going to be awake and will struggle. Knowing Sean, it's impossible. He had more than a hundred mollescum all over his body. I think this would really traumatize him. He would scream bloody murder when we put him on the paediatrician bed to measure his height. I can't imagine how we would be able to stand his screams while he struggles as the doctor cuts away his mollescum. Shudder....

The other option was to put him under general anesthetic while the specialist cut away his mollescum. He hinted that he doesn't recommend this to his caucasian patients and muttered something about trauma. So anyway, he told us to think about it and get back to him.

Upon arriving home, we decided to do some research, now that we know what those spots are. It seems very common, and it can cover whole section of the body if not treated properly (looks awful!). It also last from a few weeks to years!!!! But one thing we learn that cutting them off doesn't mean that they won't come back and may leave scars on the skin. So at least we could rule it out because putting Sean under g.a. just didn't sit well on us.

Sam found several medicine online that promotes themselves as being pain-free ways to get rid of mollescum. We searched but they're not available in Malaysia, in fact, even in the States, parents are wondering why their doctors don't know about these. We ordered Zymaderm from Amazon.com. My.... it's an expensive thing for something so little. It's the express delivery cost that inflated the price, of course. =P

Mollescum usually gets spread through water. We still don't know how Sean got it, but we did these to counter mollescum:
1) Dry all Sean's clothes inside out in the sun to kill any virus on his clothes.
2) Wash his towels everyday
3) Change bedsheets often
4) Tried cutting his mollescum ourselves while he was asleep, but caused it to spread more! So we stopped that.
5) Wiping the affected area with alcohol swabs
6) Put Baby Buds First Aid lotion which contain Manuka & Tea Tree oil.
These didn't seem to work much, so in the end, we just

7) Put Calamine lotion to stop him from scratching
8) Put steroid & antiseptic cream to stop it from spreading.
9) Give him cod liver oil to boost his immune system.
while we waited for the Zymaderm to arrive.

Finally the Zymaderm arrived and we dutifully put it when he sleeps. After a week, the mollescum became very red ( which was expected) and Sean looked terrible! By then we've already started playgroup. I didn't bring Sean that week fearing that the other mothers might object me bringing Sean while he had a viral infection. Unfortunately, I didn't know how long it would take for the mollescum to go away, even with Zymaderm.

In the end, I asked the Playgroup coordinator for advice and she said it's ok to bring Sean. She said her daughter also has them and she hoped they would go away after she's 4 years old! What a relief. I really didn't want Sean to miss out the playgroup, now that we manage to get a place in it. But 4 years old is still a long way to go for Sean. I prayed for it to go away sooner than that.

Over the next few weeks, the mollescum slowly disappeared. Zymaderm really works! The chin area has been very stubborn because it's often wet from his saliva. But now we just need to wait for the dried spots go disappear. It has been very troublesome, but we are just very glad that we've found a pain-free solution to mollescum.

If you're going through Mollescum too, check Wikipedia.