Goodie Bag For Ian

Thanks to the newsletter from Mumscentre, I got to know about this promotion from UOB that is giving away a goodie bag for topping up your child's account. Since I am on leave today, I made my way down to the nearest branch to make good use of this offer as it is the last day.

Ian loves ball. It is probably one of his first words, first signs, and he seems to be able to read this word when I wrote it down on a piece of paper. He is going to be so thrilled when he returns home and finds a beach ball on the floor! :)

This Is How Ian Watches TV

Diarrhoea

Last Thursday evening, Ian's nanny informed us that he was having a diarrhoea. My brother told us that it was normal as Ian was teething again (his 9th and 10th teeth). But after we brought him home, he did not pass any more stools.

On Friday morning, when Hubby was changing his diapers, he discovered that Ian had pooed again. On the way to the carpark, Ian did it again. We decided to let his nanny observe for the day before bringing him to the PD.

At about 1pm, his nanny called me to inform me that Ian seemed to be in pain while passing motion. She thought that he was having an upset tummy. I took urgent leave and rushed back to bring Ian to the doctor. Dr Goh diagnosed it as a viral infection and told us to be careful not to catch it, by watching our hygiene and washing our hands after changing his diapers. She mentioned that a diarrhoea due to teething would have a more pasty stool than the watery one that Ian was having.

Though Ian continued to pass loose stools a few times that day, he did not cry like what his nanny described. It was a war with him to make him drink the medicine. He did not like the hydralyte that the doctor had prescribed either. In order to help with his diarrhoea, we added more water to his porridge and made it more watery than usual. He seemed to love it.

He passed loose stools one more time on Saturday morning. It appeared that he had recovered from his illness as there was no more diarrhoea on Saturday and Sunday. However, his appetite did not seem too good and he weighed only 11.2kg this evening. He had lost 0.5kg since Friday! Hopefully, he will gain back his weight and resume his chubby self.

Ian's New Float

After a long break from swimming, we finally brought Ian back to the pool again. We have decided to graduate him from the neck float that he has been using since he was 6 months. This is the new float that we have gotten him from Giant - a cute Tweety Bird float!

Hubby pushed Ian's float around the pool, with Ian enjoying the ride. However, after Hubby took him out and let him stand in the pool, Ian discovered that it was more fun to be without the float. He was happily beating the water with his hands, with the water splashing all over his head.

Hopefully, we will find another good chance to bring him to the pool again.

Making Music With Lips?

Apparently, Ian enjoys doing this...

The Bad, Bad Mozzie

On the evening of 4th June, when I picked up Ian from the Nanny's, I saw that his right eye was swollen. He had been badly bitten at her house on the eye and also on the legs. He could only open about 3/4 of his eye. I took a photo of his face with my phone and sent it to Hubby to see. We decided to wait until the next morning to see how it went.

Unfortunately, the eye was even more swollen and he could only open not more than 1/2 of the eye. We quickly took him to see the PD at Sembawang. Unfortunately, the doctor was sick too, so I surfed forums with my phone and found another highly-recommended PD at Bishan.

Bad things did not come alone. When we reached the clinic, we were informed that the doctor had just left the clinic for an emergency case at the hospital. So, we waited for almost an hour to see her. Ian was happy there, because they had a playroom upstairs with lots of toys.

When we finally got to see the doctor, she relieved us of our anxiety with an optimistic view of Ian's case. She was not so supportive of unnecessary oral medication, and so we were only given a tube of eye gel and to observe until Saturday morning. She even taught us how to manage insect bites in future, to prevent the bite from swelling like how it was. Also, she advised us to paste the mosquito repellent on his back if there were mosquitoes around. It was well-worth the wait to see this PD.

Hubby had to return to work again and so I had to take care of Ian alone. Except for the swollen eye, Ian was still at his normal, happy self.

The swelling did not subside on Saturday morning, nor did it worsen. Hence, we did not visit the PD again. However, we postponed his Kindermusik class on that day, as we did not want to invite uninvited stares from others.

Thankfully, his eye recovered very quickly on Sunday and he could open more than 3/4 of it. When we brought him back to the Nanny's on Monday, his eyes was almost completely healed except for a little swell on the original place of bite.

Ian Has A Bike

Ian's nanny has let him sit on toy bikes at her place soon after he was able to sit independently. Ian seems to enjoy sitting on them. Hence, we finally bought a basic one from the 20% Robinsons sale in late May.

As with other new toys, Ian reaches for it immediately upon setting his foot into the house. He is only able to move a few inches on it and still does not know how to move around the house, but he loves it when we pushes him around.

The other way to play with this toy is to push it around the house like his shopping cart. Or, topple it over and then spin the wheels. Children do have their ways with things!

I(Heart)Phone

I love my iPhone! It has solved many frustrations I faced while I was using a PDA phone, like accidentally hanging up the call in the middle of a conversation, and the frustration in scrolling through a website, etc.

Recently, I have found another great use of the iPhone. I had sent Hubby to his camp one day and had wanted to drive to work from there. However, I got lost in the vicinity. Thanks to the Maps application, I finally found my way out of the maze, after going from Jalan Kayu-Sengkang-Ang Mo Kio-Hougang-Serangoon, and found a route to CTE! It has since proved very useful when we needed to find our way around the town.

Another great use of the phone that was 'discovered' after upgrading to OS3, was Internet Tethering! Now, I do not need to rely on my fantastic colleague's mobile device in order to connect to the internet from office!

I heart my iPhone!

A Short Getaway

We enjoyed a short getaway from the busy life in Singapore, on 22-23 May. Two of my friends from university times were getting married, so we decided to book a room at the same hotel and take a break from work.

Nothing unusual - hubby was not able to take full-day leave, so in the morning, we sent Ian to the nanny's place first, then I sent hubby to work. After I got home, I prepared Ian's porridge for dinner. Time flew and it was time to pick Ian and hubby, at 12 plus.

We were running late for a spa appointment, and had to order MacDonalds takeaway to eat in the car, along the way.


We were allowed to check-in early at Rasa, which was nice of them. The room was nothing like our experience in KL - it was clean, spacious, and there was NO SMELL. We had expected it to be old, but it was very acceptable! Once we checked in, I went for my spa while hubby babysitted Ian.

Their spa was good, and I had a good rest before I had to rush back to help out hubby. When I stepped out, I spotted the two of them strolling at the hotel lobby. When we returned to the room, hubby whipped out his laptop, and began to WORK again!!!!! (Well, the next time you really want to get away from work, make sure that the hotel does not offer free Internet access!)

Time flew while he was working, and Ian was busy exploring the room. We had no chance to go to the beach, as it was time to attend the romantic ROM ceremony. It was a solemnization with the sunset as a backdrop. It was nice to witness your old friends signing the 'contract', after so many years of dating.


Well, the dinner was up to standard, just like everything else there that we had experienced thus far, and the thing we liked best was, there was no dilly-dallying around. The food came quick and everything ended by 10.45pm or so. Probably, they had to do that because the bus to the main island was leaving at 10.55pm. Haha...

On the next morning, it was hubby's turn for the spa, while I babysitted Ian. We ordered a set of American breakfast to share because our room did not come with breakfast. The serving was simply huge and the 2 of us could not finish everything.

We had planned to take Ian for a dip at the hotel pool, but unfortunately, in our rush to go out, we had omitted to bring the float along. Hence, we had decided not to let him swim.

While hubby was away, I took a few shots of the room. The toilet was huge, and so was our room. There was a balcony looking out at the trees (which meant nothing much to see).

One last shot of the hotel before we said goodbye to the island...

Since Vivocity was nearby, we decided to have our lunch there. We fed a jar of baby food to Ian since we were not able to cook porridge. He finished up everything, and also some rice from our plates.

After lunch, we brought him to the playground. He was thrilled with the water fountains, and made a scene when we pulled him away to leave.

I Love Yakult

Before I begin, this is a disclaimer that I do not get paid for this post.

But Ian is simply a fan of this drink that he literally snatches it from our hands, if it is within his reach. He has been drinking sips of it ever since we started to give him yoghurt. It is only until recently, after he has turned one, that we are giving him about 1/4 of the bottle every time we drink it (which is daily).

Dr Ong has also suggested to let him have it during our 14th month visit. So, we can stop feeling any guilt in giving him this cold+sweet drink.

We have also given him the other brand, but Ian does not take to it as well as this one. Perhaps, he has a sweet tooth like his Mommy?

"Ball, Ball"

For some time, Ian's favourite word is "ball". He says "ball, ball" all the time, no matter the location, no matter the time.



And so....he got it!

About a month ago, while Ian and I were in the LNT class, Hubby sneaked out to buy a real ball that bounced, because his old cloth ball could not.

Now, this has become one of his faves, as he reaches for it once he steps home.

Ian Is 14 Months Old

Last Friday, both of us took leave to bring Ian to see Dr Ong again. This time, it was for his chicken pox vaccination.

He was in a high spirits that day and kept running around outside the clinic. We were a little early for our appointment, and thankfully, we did not wait too long for our turn this time. The nurse took his weight and height. At 14th month, he weighs 11.3kg (~90th percentile) and stands at 81cm (~95th percentile). He gained 1kg from the last visit which was a month ago.

Ian only cried for a few seconds after the needle was inserted into his thigh. We were glad that he showed his bravery once again. Dr Ong advised us to let him try a wide variety of food. We highlighted that Ian vomitted the pastas out, which we thought was due to the chunky texture. However, Dr Ong thought that it was due to the taste, and Ian could be becoming a fussy eater. :( We must try to let him explore other tastes and textures, and hopefully, he does not start to be too picky about his food. Dr Ong also OKed the cartons of (not from concentrate) fruit juices. Yippie! Anyway, he mentioned that kids at this age loved to eat off our plate, which we found very true. Our food was certainly more tasty than baby food, and thus, I probably need to adjust the taste of his meals too.

At 14th month, Ian loves to play! When he sees other children, his eyes brighten up with interest. On normal days, while I am having my dinner at my Mom's, he will play with his Ken gor-gor and both of them will turn the house upside-down. His Ken gor-gor will open up the play tent for him, bring in chairs, etc. Sometimes, Ian even refuses to go home as he was enormously enjoying himself!

Recently, he has also started to play hide-and-seek with me. He will purposely go to the kitchen and peep out from behind the door, while I hide at another corner and peep out too. When he sees me, he will run towards me and give me a hug. Then, he will repeat the game all over again.

We do have a very playful son, but hopefully, he will also develop some interest in 'quieter' activities like sitting down to read books.