Zoo Out

The last time we visited the zoo was in March 2008 with Oliver, a long long time ago.

On 6 July, Delcare was closed and so the 4 of us had an extended weekend.

The weather was really terrific and both Oliver and Heidi were pretty agreeable too. Both of them could sat together on the clumbersome double stroller for a long while intially.

We didn't quite cover most of the zoo, but we think they probably enjoyed themselves, especially during the new boat ride and the short tram ride, even though obviously Heidi was still oblivious to the animals.

At one of the place, called Garden With A View, which oversee the Seletar reservoir, there was a bronze statue of Ah Meng. We happily placed the pram in front of Ah Meng and Sophia was busy snapping away on the camera.

Then I heard some rustling sound and the next moment the top half of a crust of a fruit like a coconut, although this was beautifully cut, like a Playmobil hairstyle, came crashing down near Sophia. So near that if she was hit it would be very painful. I suspected that that was the doing of a monkey and we quickly left the place.

Only on the boat ride later that the guide explained that that was the placed where Ah Meng was married and buried. Oh well.

On the way back we also took a photo of the fake otter like the previous outing.

The day ended perfectly as both of them slept on the way back home at 4pm until they were woken up for dinner in the late evening.

Hangover at Prive

Bronchiolitis

Heidi started having fever last Saturday. Her fever peaks at around 39.8 degrees celisiu. Despite giving her the paracetomol, her temperature remains high. She looked really tired. Too bad, I did not capture her in her fatigue state as my pea-sized brain forgets that I leave the camera battery in office. After monitoring for two days, I decided to visit Dr Veronica Toh at Raffles' Children Clinic. Without making an appointment, I dropped by at the clinic at around 8.30am and fortunately, the wait was about one hour. The waiting time can get really bad at times.

Dr Veronica diagnosed Heidi of having Bronchiolitis. a condition similar to Oliver when he was about ten months old. Our kids bonded really well and shared similar milestones. It is the inflamation of the smaller branches of the bronchial tree in his lung. Like Oliver, Heidi needs to be nebulised. But somehow, Heidi takes to it more readily than Oliver. After a few attempts of struggling and crying, this smart little girl knows it is a waste of her efforts to fight the strength of her parents and simply relaxed to the noise of the nebuliser. She would once a while during the nebilising process, shows her frustraton by lifting both of her legs up and down. Quite entertaining, I thought. Every six hourly, we have to nebulise Heidi and every seven hourly, she takes her medicine. Poor girl.

Boon Heng and I both take turns to look after Heidi at home. Today (Thursday - fourth day of seeing doctor), we went for a follow-up. The good news is that Heidi's condition improved and she needs not be nebulised. The bad news is Dr Toh prescribed another four oral medication. In total, she has six different medications to take. Heidi has since lost half a kilo to bronchiolitis due to the frequent vomitting. Now at 7.4 kilo, she is looking quite frail and thin now. She was almost 8 kilo last month when we brought her for checkup at Outram Polyclinic.

Despite being sick and probably half the time suffering from overdose of medicine into the little body, Heidi is still a smiley little girl. Her hands would grab anything interesting such as rubbish bin, door stopper, recycled bag, lint and either the stuff will end up in her mouth or you find her biting it. I almost freaked out when she overturned the rubbish bin and grabbed those vegetable scraps. Gosh, she was damn fast. I found myself shouting Heidi at least once every hour, and sometime many times at an interval. This little girl is sure developing very fast and getting very curious at everything.

I have got two love bites on my thigh today because she was not too happy with me preparing dinner and ignoring her. After the first bite, she decided that mummy was not listening and gave another bite. In case you are wondering if they feel like love bites, no way.. they hurt. "Heidi" I shouted again and I raised my voice uncontrollably at Heidi. Surprisely, she can sense my outburst of anger very well because she shows me a face "Mummy scolded me.. wah wah...".

Heidi is just so cute.

Blister on feet

Two days ago, Heidi had fever which lasted for two days. Then Mdm Choo found this blister on her feet on Monday morning and I had to bring her home in case the blister is a sign of the onset of HFMD. At about noon, we brought her to see Dr Chua at Tanjong Pagar Plaza. It was not HFMD. Phew! To play safe, Dr Chua gave five days child mc so that she can be kept at home.

Can't get enough of Sticky Bun

When my office was at River Valley, we frequent Robertson Quaye where we had Japanese Ramen and before lunchtime, would pop by the Simply Bread bakery for some sinful Sticky Buns. Unfortunately, just like the fate of StarDuS Clubhouse, the bakery did not make it at River Valley. It had been quite sometime since I last ate sticky bun. It has another branch by the name of Simply Sandwich at Shenton way, but somehow the bun tastes different to me. The taste and freshness of the "river" are no longer there. Anyway, the reason why I suddenly have this urge to write about sticky bun is all accredited to my little nine months old Heidi. Without any doubt, Heidi is like a bun that is sticky and deliciously sweet. Most of the times, she is covered with maple sweats and you cannot help but to give her a huge bite. She is sinfully addicted. Too much of the sticky maple syrup and she sticks you like a glue. That, will be too much for a mother's soul. For the moment, I still can't get enough of this sticky bun. Time to give her another bite.

As if she has lost her chicken

These words should be read out in Cantonese. And this is how Heidi's infant caregiver Alice describes her when Heidi is at her getting ready to sleep mode. Heidi would mumble and mumble with her eyes closed before falling into deep sleep. Heidi acts as if she has lost her chicken and grumbling about it, even when she is falling asleep. How aptly the description fits her, except that I am not looking at a grumpy face, but a sweet-looking and sweaty-filled face.

Heidi likes to talk a lot and some days, she talks non-stop. It can get a bit overwhelming when the four of us are seated in the car. The enclosed space make her little voice louder and higher in pitch. Thankfully, Oliver is the least disturbed by it. He can still sleep with the 'noise'.

Heidi pull up to stand

Two more days before turning nine months old, Heidi is all ready to pull herself up to standing position from sitting. Eight-month Heidi grows at a very fast pace. At the start of eight-month, she was creeping. These days, we see two lizards creeping around at home. The bigger lizard come with a big mop on his head and literally clean the floor for us. Oliver has progressed from the position of a struggling cockroach on-the-same-spot to a moving one.

Into the second week, Heidi could crawl over hurdles. Into the third week, she could get into sitting position from stomach, and stand holding on to me or our sofa. Picking up tiny objects with her fingers has been an easy feat. "Ta ta" is her recent words and she still continues to say "mama" and "papa". Over the weekend and into the fourth week, Heidi could clap her hands. Just last night, I saw Heidi pulling herself from sitting to standing position at our low table. Too bad, Boon Heng had to accompany Oliver in the bedroom. I was proudly sharing with Boon Heng of Heidi's development, but he said that he had seen her standing before and it was nothing new. Hmm, I am not too sure about that.