Little Ballerina

I have decided to send Valerie to ballet class after she has pestered me a few times. She must have picked this up from her many Barbie cartoons. Do you notice all the Barbie cartoons only dances to Ballet?

I've brought her to a trial class last Friday and she totally loves it! I noticed how the teacher taught them to sit with correct posture, to stand up straight with no 'donald duck' butt and how to jump high up. There were also some hands movement and dancing to a short piece of music.

I've met a mommy there and apparently she told me this place teaches classical ballet, while another centre teaches modern ballet. Okie, I don't really know the difference but I suppose anything classical is probably better in terms of training the kids to have the correct fundamentals.

I've also asked the centre if they normally organise concerts to showcase what the kids have learned, but she said the last time they had one was few years ago. It would be nice if the parents could see some 'results' of sending their kids to learn something. I've also asked about ballet certifications, and only children age 7 and above go for exams.

Anyway, a few days later, we have her registered and she's given her own ballet uniform. I could see her eyes glow with delight when she was trying on her pink leotard and ballet shoes. Look how happy this little ballerina is. She loves the ballet costume so much that she refused to take it off after she reached home, even wanted to wear it to sleep!

I hope she can keep this excitement up and show me some ballet moves later.

All Boosted Up for School

Sigh... My blissful December month is over. For the last one year, it has been a total nightmare with Valerie falling sick every 2 weeks after starting school. Yes, every 2 weeks!! It would only be few days where she was not drugged to stop her flu or cough or fever. And the worse was she spreading it to her baby sister. Because Vivienne was so young, once she gets flu, it lasts for a month! Whatever viruses Valerie contracted, they were all pretty nasty.

The last big one she had was her last day of school. She has just recovered from another flu/cough and we thought it would be nice to let her attend the Year End School Party. Gosh, were we wrong! She came home with a sudden high fever and later, bouts of stomach pain. Because she didn't have diarrhea, the doctor couldn't diagnose her of food poisoning. It was horrible, every time she was having very high fever and severe stomach pain we rushed her to the hospital, only to be sent back home with Colimix. We hardly slept for that few days. That was like a finale to her last day of school. Really no thanks..

Anyway, last December was the best month of the year. No school, means no sickness. No hearing the baby snorting loudly at night because of blocked nose. No need to try to keep the sisters apart so they don't spread the flu/cough to each other... It was just great...

But now it's January. School is starting. Just the thought of them falling sick again makes me shiver. So as a precaution I've done quite a number of things to help them stay healthy:

1. Flu shots - recommended by paeditrician as highly effective to ward off common flu. I've brought Valerie for a shot but doctor recommended Vivienne only takes this after she finishes her 1st year immunisation.

2. Millenium E. Excel - recommended by some mommies to boost immunity. Millennium is a beverage containing a delicious blend of cactus, royal jelly and honey to form an excellent source of phytochemicals and antioxidants. So far, both my kids love them. Whenever they see me holding this, they will fight to have a spoon. I got it for RM500 after discount.

3. Bactore sachet - recommended to wear around her neck while at school. Directly imported from Japan, Bactore is composed of safe chemicals to ward off bacteria and viruses. A mommy recommended this and told me her son only fall sick every 6 months after using this. For more info, please check out http://www.bactore.com/

4. Personal Hygiene - we keep reminding Valerie not to put her hands into her mouth, not to pick up food or object from the floor and eat. Sometimes we catch her doing it and remind her and then she just smile and put away her hands.. Sigh.. kids...

There we have it. We have done everything we could, now just pray that Valerie will not fall sick so often this year. Fingers crossed...

Robot Class

Valerie's favourite 'Kau Foo' (uncle) aka my brother has been asking me when can he bring Valerie to robot class. When I first heard of it I was a bit skeptical. Valerie is a girl, will she enjoy going to robot class? And what do you learn there anyway? Myself, for instance, would not find much joy in assembling wires and small parts  :P Nevertheless, I let 'Kau Foo' bring her to a trial class.

Below are the photos he sent back to me. Looks like Valerie could really follow the lessons and really enjoyed herself. My brother told me at first she was shown a car model on the computer screen and what are the parts needed. Then she has to go gather the components and assemble following what's shown on the computer.

As a beginner, the teacher will choose an easy model for the kid to assemble. As you advance, you can design your own model. After that, all the kids will showcase their model and do a race to see who is faster. So it does need a bit of intelligence on how to design and make your model go faster.

Teacher guiding her which components to take

After a few times, she is able to identify herself which components to gather

Little engineer at work

More components gathering

Final product - Robotic Car

I have the misconception that she could actually take the robot car home. Nope, you can't. According to my brother, the electronic board behind the model costs a lot, so no way will let us take home. Valerie won 2nd place for her model and her name has a sticker on the board. There are only 2 girls name there, somehow I'm not surprised. You can find out more about this Robot Class from this website http://www.creativerobotics.com.my/home.htm

One thing that's funny though, after she came back from the class, she suddenly asked us for her toy screwdriver and started dissembling and assembling her helicopter. One of her last year Christmas pressie. So it's Handy Manny in the making :D

Sports Day

Valerie's first Sports Day ever!! We're told to be at the field by 7.00am. Gosh.. we have never woken up this early before. But we're glad we reached there on time.

Then the teacher brought Valerie to the Kids Tent to sit, where... for the first time... we finally saw her best friend... a boy, remember? Yup, we saw him, as described, exactly same small size and height. Seated together and playing together.

When it's finally Valerie's group to run the telematch, the teacher lead the 3 groups out. The Reds, Blues and Yellows. And guess who is her partner, yeap, the boy... Hahaha.. I guessed both Ivan and myself were just thrilled to see her best friend.

Before the telematch started, the rest of the kids were lined up and getting ready. Then, we saw Valerie and the boy, both busy looking down and stepping on the sands. They were really in their own world. Ivan was starting to worry if she would actually run and know what to do!

When the whistle is blown, we saw all the cute little kids running, and running their best. And then we saw Valerie and her best friend holding hands running. Ivan was impressed that his little girl could run pretty fast. :) Alas, the match ended and her group won 2nd place.

Valerie was very happy with her Silver medal, she kept wearing it and showing it to anyone who came to visit us the next few days. That night, we asked her, 'Who is that friend you run with?' For the first time, she answered 'Timothy!'. There we got it.. her best friend's name.

Parents Teachers Meeting

Valerie's school had a PTM for the first time. We're scheduled to meet the teacher at a specific time. Not knowing what to expect, we brought the entire family there. Our maid, Ann carried the baby to the play room together with Valerie, while we met the teacher in the classroom.

Overall, Valerie is observed to be a very quiet girl. Very different from what we expected because she is always so noisy and loud at home ever since she started school. And her best friend... I asked if it's a girl by the name of Caryn, cause Valerie always say her friend's name is Caryn. Suprisingly, teacher said no. Her best friend is actually a small boy, about the same size and height with her. Okieeee....

Then comment from the teacher is Valerie is still speaking in baby language and has baby sound. She's not sure if kids at her age is still supposed to have baby sound. Her pronunciation is not very clear, so we need to practice speaking to her in proper sentences.. No more treating her like a baby and talking to her like a baby. I have to remind myself, she is a kid now... not a baby anymore. And we can also practice reading together with her, instead of just mommy or daddy reading to her.  

Other than that, we've also talked about her eating and drinking in class. Because, she seems to be the smallest in class. Sighh... Valerie is such a picky eater. Teacher said she usually takes two bites and then put back her food in the container, packed into the bag and then play around. Doesn't really eat much. And drinks, teacher has been enforcing her to drink at least half a bottle. 

I then remembered a bunny cake Valerie insisted to buy few days ago. At the mention of 'bunny cake', the teacher suddenly said 'Oh.. that bunny cake... You know what, she just opened the container and showed all her friends her bunny cake... Then take the ears and lick it until recess time is almost over'... Aiyooo... so she didn't eat the cake at all in class... 

At the end of the session, we're given a pack of arts and crafts that Valerie has been working on the entire semester. I'm quite impressed with the work as they looked very interesting. So we need to focus on her pronunciation next... 

A Sad Story...

Recently I've heard of a true story which happened to my friend's sister's colleague. This colleague went on a holiday trip to China with her family - hubby and 2 sons (1 baby and 1 kid). At a shopping mall, the kid wanted to go toilet, so the parents waited outside the toilet while he went in.

After a long time, he never came out of the toilet. So the daddy went in one round to look for him but couldn't find him. Then the mom went in to look but couldn't find him either. Exasperated, a stranger approached them and offered help to carry the baby so that both of them could go into the toilet to look for the son.

When they came out, the stranger with their baby is no longer there. And they never found their son either. They used up all their savings to extend their stay in China while looking for their two sons but to no avail. The mother couldn't believe how she could have made the same mistake twice in the same day and lost both her sons.

This is a very sad and shocking story. I do not what to elaborate further what happened to the parents but could only pray that they will find their kids someday and hope their kids are ok. How did the kid went missing in the toilet? Theory has it that the kid was put unconscious while being alone in the toilet, changed his clothes, worn a cap and carried out unnoticed. And if it's a girl, they will probably shave her hair off and wear a cap and carried out like a boy.

I have to say, this story always brought tears to my eyes everytime I think about it. As I held my baby in my arms, I remind myself how fragile and innocent our kids are. They need our protection and we need to be very mindful at all times where they are. It could just take a split second to lose your child while you are engrossed in something.

When I told this story to my sister and sister in law, it affected them very much as well that they couldn't sleep well. I guess being a mother, we all could understand how much pain it is to lose a child, let alone two in one day.

So, parents out there, please be extra careful with your kids wherever you are, especially in a mall. It only take seconds to lose sight of your kid. And no matter how old your kids are, they are never too old to be accompanied by an adult to the toilet, even if they think this is totally uncool.

Jaudice Baby

Vivienne was diagnosed with jaundice after one week. Despite asking the confinement lady to sun her in the morning, she's still pretty yellow. Dr. Koe recommended that we try the home phototherapy instead of sending her to the hospital. This way we would not disrupt her breastfeeding schedule.

I couldn't make up my mind as I thought it will be difficult to contain the baby in a box, let alone blindfold her. But Dr Koe insisted this was more cost effective and breastfeeding friendly. So we opted for it. The package is about RM350 for 3D2N. And the company came to setup the phototherapy for us at home.

Initially, the baby was still new to this and allowed us to wear the blindfold. When first put into the box, she cried a little but after patting a while, she went to sleep. I read that jaundice baby tend to sleep a lot. And Vivienne slept a lot in the phototherapy box, even up to 3-4 hours, still didn't wake up for feed. We had to take her out, woke her up to breastfeed, fearing she might dehydrate. But still she refused to wake up.

The first night went well with the confinement lady keeping guard of her. She started having black / dark green poo which was a good sign that the bilirubin was breaking down. On the 2nd day, she's smart already. The minute you try to blindfold her, she cries. Then she used her hand to push the blindfold away. Max we could put her in was only about 2 hours.

By the 3rd day, we gave up already. We couldn't bear to hear the baby cry in the box. So we gave ourselves excuse that she's better already, could let her escape :P

When we brought her to Dr Koe for checkup again, I was quiet and kept my fingers crossed. Dr said she still a bit yellow but could see she was a lot better. So we just left it at that. She said once the yellow has come down, it would not go up again. So no need to worry.

The yellowish skin took about 2 months to go off. Throughout the period, I was still worried because I remembered Valerie's jaundice was gone after staying one night at the hospital. Sometimes I wondered if it was better to just let Vivienne stay overnight at the hospital. Anyway, home phototheraphy was an eye opening experience. It's really a cheaper option, provided you could bear to hear your baby cry. The same probably would happen even she stayed at the hospital, just that we wont be able to see it though.