Car Ride

14 months, 3 weeks & 4 days old.....

No, not the car you see above.

I have been sending and fetching Ethan from the daycare everyday (except when I travel, hubby will take over) for about a year now. In the beginning, the car seat was placed in the front seat facing the rear so that it’s easier for me to monitor him. It’s also because my car doesn’t have air bags and it’s ok to do so. When he was older, I put him at the back seat facing the front so that there is more room for his legs. I can also put him in the front seat facing the front but I think the position is pretty vulnerable in case of an emergency brake.

When I first put him at the back seat, he will cry throughout the whole journey from the house to the day care, which only takes about 10 minutes. It can be very distracting listening to his cry while driving. Normally, I will just give him the pacifier to soothe him. Sometimes it worked but other times he just threw it away. Luckily it’s only a short drive. So, I just need something to distract him for a short while, like:

• Children songs. It will calm him down. To enhance the effect, pacifier will help.

• Sing along. He will keep quiet when he hear my voice.

• Musical mobile for some hand exercise. He pulls it so hard as if he’s going to lift himself up from the car seat. Luckily, it’s still working after so many months.

• Mini board book. Small enough for him to hold and easy to flip. Most importantly, it can keep his mouth busy, so that he will not cry. The down side is, it has to be replaced after sometime because the pages will be chewed off.

• Soft book. To keep his mouth occupied also. Practically a waste of money because he can’t flip the pages as they are too soft. The only thing he did with it was chewing.

• Bird! Just say ‘bird! see the bird outside?’ He will look outside the window looking for birds.

By the time all the above tasked have been performed, we will reach our destination. Not that difficult right?

As time goes by, Ethan has improved a lot in the sense that he can sit quietly in the car when I was driving. Pacifier + songs (from the CD player not me) will satisfy him most of the time. It’s a different story if I sit with him at the back when hubby is driving. He will cry until I free him from the car seat. Hubby always says ‘just let him cry and ignore him’ wor. It’s hard to do but sometimes I listen to his advice also, to discipline the little fella. And you know what? It works. One day when my mother was holding him at the back seat while I drove, Ethan just climbed to the car seat and sat there quietly until we reach our destination :-)

EHPPP! (Updated With Video)

14 months, 2 weeks & 2 days old.....

Lately, whenever Ethan is angry, he will cry and end it with an angry tone. Pretty much like scolding people. He will cry WUAHH…WUAHH…WUAHH….EHPPPP! and pout his mouth. Both me and hubby will always laugh when he does it. Guess he is better at expressing himself now.



Whenever he’s doing something wrong like picking up dirt on the floor and put it into his mouth, I will tell him NO! sternly. Hubby said he followed what I did because he NEVER scold Ethan. Well, I cannot deny it. But, if I do not discipline him by telling him so, how else can I do it? …or WHO will do it?

Last night, all the three of us were chilling out on the bed and at the same time was tucking Ethan to bed. He has this habit of poking things with his pointer/index finger especially nostril and belly button. So, he was poking daddy’s belly button and daddy taught him to poke his own. Too bad, he cannot find it because his tummy was too big. So, daddy diverted his attention to me. Soon, the little one discovered that his mummy also has belly button and lift up my shirt to look for it. Aiyor, how to tahan ler. It was so ‘geli’. So, every time he pokes his finger in, I quickly pull down my shirt. He was not happy of course and again cried…EHPPP! After a few times, he also whack my face!

New Arrangement

14 months, 1 week & 4 days old.....


Starting August, Ethan will go to my mother’s place on every Thursday and Friday. We are all very concern about Ethan’s health as he falls sick very often. As we all know, bugs spread easily at the day care where children play and sleep together. No matter how clean they are, if one child gets the bug, then that’s it lar.

Furthermore, I think Ethan’s immune system is not very strong and he has a sensitive nose. Sometimes, he will have running rose even after a shopping trip where he’s exposed to the air-condition. I've been using this essential oil (Eucalyptus oil from Bel' Air) whenever he has running nose and phlegm. It cures but does not prevent. So, I give him Scott’s Emulsion now and have changed his milk to Enfagrow A+. Apart from that, I've also ordered another supplement called Colostrum (I think). RM185 for 120 capsules....another hole in my pocket but for the sake of my little prince, I think it's worth it lor. Hope all this will boost his immune system.

I’ve tried looking for a nanny but so far, we haven’t found a good one. You can read about it here and here. Actually my mother is ‘pro-day care’. She’s very scared of clingy children and say that children who grow up at the day care are more sociable. Generally yes, but it’s not always true lar. I see some very clingy children too at the day care.

Having said that, she’s also concern about Ethan’s health but at the same time afraid to commit. She’s not very confident that she can cope taking care of another child. At the moment, she’s taking care of my niece, who is 7 months younger than Ethan, with the help of a maid. So, for a start Ethan will go there for two days in a week. He will still go to the day care on Monday to Wednesday. Just in case if my mother cannot cope, there’s still a place where I can send him to. I hope with this arrangement, Ethan will fall sick less often and keep my finger crossed that my mother can cope well with it.

Why Must They Suffer?

14 months & 2 days old.....

They….I mean the children. Children getting sick are very common, as we all know it. Flu, fever, ear infection, chicken pox, measles, HFMD and what not. But when they get sick back to back, it’s really heart breaking and frustrating. I’m only talking about the minor sickness, not some chronic diseases. Those are unbearable, to me.

Barely one week after recovering from HFMD, Ethan was down again with viral fever and was hospitalised for two nights. He started to have fever on Thursday (19 July 2007) evening. Given him medication before sleep and a suppository at around 6 a.m. He was ok on Friday but when I picked him up in the evening, his body was quite warm. His temperature was between 38.3 and 38.5 C. I continued to give him medication. On Saturday afternoon, his temperature rose up to 38.7 and I quickly gave him another supp.

Thinking and hoping that it was due to teething, we just monitored his condition. But things took a bad turn on Sunday. The day he supposed to be celebrating his 14 months. He started to have diarrhea and the fever came back. Another supp went in at 6.30 p.m. and we decided to bring him to the hospital. We reached there around 9.30 p.m. The nurse at the registration counter took down some details and she made a remark “4 days of fever and you never bring him to any doctor?” Yeah, well…..I just swallowed the comment. The doctor suggested a blood test and admission for monitoring. It was something which I have expected. Even if we go home, we will send him back in the midnight should the fever come back. What worried me most was that he just recovered from HFMD.

We waited for the paed. to check on him and do the blood test at the A&E ward before we were brought to the paediatric ward. When Ethan first saw the paed., he was smiling at him but once the doctor put the stethoscope on his chest, he started to cry and wail. The paed. left us for a while and prepared for a blood test. The moment Ethan saw him again, he started to wail and cried “AH NEHHH! AH NEHHH! AH NEHHH!” non-stop. I think the old man on the next bed, who was having breathing difficulty could have been brought back to life by Ethan's cry. His heavy breathing went back to normal after that. His cry was so loud that the whole A&E ward could hear him. He was tied down with a blanket and I was holding him down when the doctor took the 5ml blood. After the admission procedure, we were brought to the ward at around 11.30 p.m. and Ethan finally fell asleep at pass midnight.

I slept with him on a bed while hubby went home. Ethan was put on drip and the nurses came in to check his temperature every 2 hours. So, I practically woke up every 2 hours, plus a few times in between because the bed was so small and Ethan is so used to his queen-size mattress. Every time he turned I will wake up and the tube for the drip is also very disturbing. It leaked a few times and finally came off in the morning. He had fever again around 5 a.m. and was given another supp. I decided to wake up at 5.30 a.m. and sms hubby asking him to take the day off. Before long, Ethan poop again. I changed him and called up hubby. He decided to take the day off.

We switched him to lactose free milk and the diarrhea stop. But then, after taking the milk for a few times, Ethan refused to take it anymore. So, we gave him his normal milk but the diarrhea came back. We have no choice but to mix the milk powder. I know we are not supposed to mix different milk formula in one feed but what choice do we have? Thank goodness, he’s ok with it so far.

To cut the long story short, the paed. allowed Ethan to be discharged on Tuesday after he was cleared of fever and his condition was stable. It was very uncomfortable in the hospital. We cannot put Ethan down to play or crawl. Not even in the play room because he still like to put things into his mouth. We had to carry him all the time walking up and down aimlessly at the ward. By the way, the bill came up to more than RM 2K. Luckily, it was covered by the insurance.