Doctor Doctor

Ally was down with the flu last week but it escalated to the point where she could not sleep at night cos she just couldn’t stop coughing. Her cough was dry which I thought wasn’t as serious but once she started to have a coughing fit, it would go on and on. It got especially bad one night that I woke Matt and we decided to take her to the doctor. It was close to 4am by this time and I was trying to search online for any 24 hour clinics in our area. I hesitated bringing her to KKH cos I know what the children’s A & E is like and honestly, she wasn’t that sick, just really uncomfortable.

In the end we decided to take her to the 24 hour clinic at Mt Alvernia and I’m glad we did. There is no pediatrician on duty, just a GP which was good enough for me. All the staff were very friendly and helpful, they even helped entertain Max. We were in and out of there in an hour which I consider quite good.

For parents, there is nothing more scary/stressful than needing a doctor late at night. Some people are fortunate enough to have 24 hour clinics nearby. If you don’t, just head to the nearest hospital. Get your child seen by a GP first and consult your pediatrician later on in the day.

Huh?

Ally had her ENT appointment today, the last time we went, her ear tubes had already fallen out. There was some fluid in one ear but nothing to cause too much of a concern.

The ENT clinic was crowded as usual but surprisingly the wait wasn’t too bad. She had to have her hearing test first but I had Max with me and there was no way he was going to sit through the test in total silence. Ally had to go in for the test all on her own, she looked a bit unsure but did brilliantly. I was so proud of her!

I asked her what sort of sounds did they play for her to listen to, all she said was that they were soft. From there I knew that she had failed her hearing test. The doctor reconfirmed it and said that she now has glue ear in both her ears. This just means that there is fluid in both her ears. She was surprised at how well Ally could hear us cos based on her bad test results, she expected her hearing to be a lot worse. The thing is, Ally has been dealing with hearing issues from the day she was born. Over time she has learned to compensate for her bad hearing by watching people’s expressions, reading lips and piecing information together. We decided to withhold surgery for now, she’s just getting over the flu and sometimes that can contribute to her poor test results. In three months we will redo her hearing test and if the results are still bad, she’ll get a new set of tubes.

I’ve always wondered why cleft affected children have problems with their ears. Most of the information that I’ve read were very scientific and had lots of medical jargon. This was the clearest explanation that I could find “in cleft palate the muscles that open the Eustachian tube (tensor palatini and levator palatini) have abnormal connections thereby making the tube opening either difficult or impossible”

Whatever her next tests results may be, we’ll get through it. A new set of tubes might just be what she needs.

 

 

A Poppin Penguin Date

Since Ally is such a big penguin fan, there is no way we could miss watching “Mr Popper’s Penguins”.  I’m not a huge Jim Carey fan and I can honestly say that after this movie, neither is Ally. Luckily Grandma offered to babysit Max, he would have been bored 10 minutes into the movie.

Waiting impatiently at the snack stand

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that the movie was bad, but for a penguin obsessed four year old, all she wanted to see were the penguins which didn’t appear till about 1/2 hour in the movie.

Mr P and Pal who tagged along for the movie

We watched the earliest screening since from previous experience it seems to be the least popular time and that means it isn’t so bad when Ally starts asking questions throughout the movie.

Food does wonders in keeping children quiet and settled in their seats

Without giving too much of the plot away, I think that older children might appreciate the movie more. The two boys next to us who were about 7 and 9 loved it. The penguins really were the stars of the show but halfway through the movie Ally’s attention was already wavering. It was wholesome family entertainment , a nice way to spend 95 minutes.

Mummy Guilt

The kids had to go and see the dentist for their yearly checkup. Ally has gone from the time she was 10 months old and has never had a problem. We brush their teeth twice a day religiously but each time they are due for a checkup, I get nervous. If their teeth are dirty, it means Mama hasn’t been doing her job properly.

The children go to a pediatric dentist which of course cost a lot more than a regular one. We don’t mind paying extra for the kids to enjoy the experience. I see it as a long term investment for my sanity. Ally thinks going to the dentist is a huge treat and that is exactly how I want her to feel about the whole experience. The practice has bright murals on the walls and lots of toys in the waiting room.

Having fun while waiting for their turn

Ally and Max who was straining to see over the table

Ally was an absolute super star, she was cooperative and sat quietly throughout the whole checkup. I think having a dvd to watch helped as well.

They give the kids sunglasses to ease the glare from the light

She had to bring her penguin friend along for moral support of course, you can see her clutching him in the picture above. She had her teeth checked and cleaned, everything looked great and once again he reconfirmed she will definitely need braces in future.

Having her teeth cleaned

Max was all eager for his turn, he kept saying ” my turn!” while Ally was having her checkup. When it came to his actual turn, he wasn’t too impressed. He sat on my lap and was happy for all of 3 minutes. Once the dentist started cleaning his teeth, Max started to cry. It was more a whinge than a cry, he wasn’t scared, he just didn’t like the fact that I was holding his arms down. It was all over really quickly and that’s when I was told Max’s teeth needed more care and attention. The conversation went something like this.

“Mummy, Max likes sweet things right?”

” Erm, yes….”

” Try to cut down on his biscuits and sweets, there are some cavity lesions on his teeth already”

This is the part that I started to feel embarassed, my “bad” mother moment. To my credit, I had one child out of two that had clean teeth, that’s 50%!

A much happier Max after his check up

Some of you may think that I’m very kiasu to bring the kids to the dentist from such a young age. Truth be told, it’s much easier to get them used to being in the dentist chair when there are no issues and all they need is a quick check up. I used to think that baby teeth didn’t really matter since they are going to fall out anyway but I was so wrong. Baby teeth are important for a young child’s speech, not only that, they will serve as a guide for the adult teeth to grow into so if the teeth decay and fall out too early, the adult teeth will grow incorrectly as well. Not to mention the trauma of putting your child under GA to extract the decayed teeth.

Kids Being Kids

The children were playing “Under the Sea ” which is a game that Ally has made up. It basically consists of them running around the house, jumping onto her bed while wearing goggles and trying to “see” what they can find under the sea. Even though we had to go out and run some errands, both the kids insisted on wearing their goggles out. Yes I let them, I know how to choose and pick my battles with the kids.

The goggle kids

Thankfully they both left their goggles in the car later on

In honor of Father’s Day, the kids and I made a banner for Matt. Ally helped with some of the writing and she was so excited about giving Matt a surprise. Max didn’t quite understand what it was all about but he enjoyed doing the hand prints. He kept giggling while I was painting his palms which made Ally laugh which made me laugh as well.

Homemade and proud of it!

 

Tough As Nails

Ally has been down with a pretty bad bug , she’s had a high temperature for the last few days and a nagging cough that bothers her throughout the night.

I’ve probably said this lots of times but I’m always amazed at how resilient and tough she is. Even when her temperature spiked at 39.5, she never complained. In fact she was still playing with Max, running around the house. I know how awful it feels when your body is aching and your head is throbbing but she never seems bothered by any of that.

Last night her coughing kept both of us up for most of the night. She would get a coughing fit and the poor girl just could not stop coughing. As expected, she coughed till she threw up, twice in fact. She didn’t cry, she just told me ” Mama, I threw up on the bed, sorry I made a mess”  I reassured her that it was alright and got her changed.

We’re praying that she recovers quickly and that the rest of the family is spared from the bug. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Where Does Time Go?

I just realised that I haven’t posted in a while. Now that Ally is on holiday I’m even more busy than usual. Each day seems to fly by and any chance I get I usually try to take a quick nap.

We’ve had two weeks of holidays and we’ve visited the zoo, watched a movie, had a staycation, visited the library and gone swimming countless times.

We’ve found out that Max is a secret popcorn monster, he LOVES popcorn and carried his little bag till he finished every last kernel.

Watching an outdoor screening of Kung Fu Panda

We also discovered that Ally must be a mermaid, the child would live in the pool if you gave her the option.

One of our many trips to the pool, she can now dive down to retrieve a toy

A moving vehicle puts a tired child to sleep almost immediately. Even if the moving vehicle is being driven by an eccentric taxi driver who doesn’t seem to know his left from right or that his vehicle comes with indicators.

Child fast asleep- part 1Child asleep part 2

We’re also discovered that letting our picky son eat next to his food loving sister has made meal times so much easier.

Eating together is so much more fun

At the moment Ally seems to be down with the flu bug. The poor girl started to feel ill yesterday and I’ve been feeling under the weather as well. Hopefully we’ll all be spared from a bad attack and recover quickly.

Mummy’s Getting Old

We celebrated my birthday with a weekend stay at Royal Plaza on Scotts. All of us had such a fantastic time especially the children. We had booked a room on the club level since the idea of finger food throughout the whole day suits us to a T. To our surprise, they had upgraded us to a corporate suite, yep, a suite! It was gorgeous, with an oh so comfortable bed, Bose sound system and a Wii play console. Since it was the corporate suite, there was a huge meeting table that could seat 10 at one end of the room as well.

The living room

Ally and Max kept running up and down the suite, jumping on the sofas, jumping on the bed, jumping in the crib, you get the picture. To say that they were excited was a huge understatement.

Testing out the crib

And again

The kids doing forbidden things, standing on the sofa and sitting on the table

Ally wanted to go swimming immediately so we changed and headed for the pool. Royal Plaza on Scotts isn’t known as a kiddie hotel, hence there was only 1 adult pool which was FREEZING. The boys wisely decided to head back to the room to play in the bathtub while Ally insisted on swimming. We didn’t last more than 10 minutes before we ran upstairs to join the boys.

Boy on coffee table

We had access to the club lounge where the kids could not stop eating the almond shortbread cookies. Drinks are served throughout the day but kids are not allowed into the lounge after 6pm. Every staff member that we met were genuinely friendly, one lady even gave us a whole plate of cookies for us to bring back to our room to devour.

The hotel surprised us with a birthday cake for little old me. I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of the cake before the children attacked it.

Caught in the act

More evidence of cake theft

One of the perks about the hotel? Free minibar! Yup, it’s stocked with cans of Coke, Sprite, 4 bottles of water, juices, Milo and 2 cans of beer. The minibar is restocked on a daily basis, oh and free Wifi is availble throughout the hotel. It’s really fast as well, the kids were watching videos on Youtube with no problems.

Since we were in the heart of Orchard road, we ventured out for dinner to a nearby japanese restaurant. We spent the rest of the night just hanging out in the room enjoying the comforts.

On the club floors there are bowls of fruit at the lift lobby for guests to help themselves, between the almond cookies and the fruit, you can guess which one the kids picked.

Making use of the huge meeting table

High on chocolate

Max and his Milo

Since it was a special weekend, we let the kids indulge in as many treats as they wanted, I bet it seemed like Christmas came early to them since ordinarily they are not allowed chocolate or sweets.

It was a perfect way to spend my birthday, we all enjoyed ourselves and the staff at Royal Plaza on Scotts made it that little bit more special. Ally has already asked us when we will be going back.

Here is my really quick feedback about the hotel

Positives:

-Central location

-friendly staff

-decent dining options

-clean and comfortable rooms

-Free Wifi and minibar

-crib available on request

-100% non smoking

Negatives:

-small adult swimming pool, not suitable for young children

-no facilities for children

-rooms don’t have a decent view since you’re mostly surrounded by buildings

 

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Totally Non-Child Related

I just had to write this post even though it has nothing to do with both the kids, well, okay, the kids were playing with their Legos while I did this

My own reversible bag, thanks to the tutorial from here I managed to whip this bag up without too much stress. The hardest part must have been turning the back right side out through the tiny opening, kind of reminds one of childbirth when you have that moment of ” How is something so big going to come out of such a small opening?” Disgusted? Sorry 🙂

I love the bag, it’s the right size, only thing is I would sew a button or zipper closing the next time I make it. Erm, when I figure out how to do either that is. And since this blog is suppose to be about the kids, this is what Ally built while I was sewing.

Ally's cruise ship with passengers

 

New Sleeping Arrangements

The kids have been sharing a room for over a year now, Ally has a trundle bed while Max is still in his crib. That is till recently. I mentioned sometime back that Max was resisting nap and bedtimes, he was screaming and crying, at times it would last for more than half an hour. I can’t remember if it was Ally or Max who initiated the bed sharing, might have been poor Ally who is the one that gets the surround sound screaming everyday.

I had my reservations about them sharing a bed, mainly because I knew they would giggle and play for a long time before falling asleep. The first few nights went smoothly, Max fell asleep without tears and to their credit, they actually fell asleep within five minutes. Afternoon naps take a bit longer, some days we hear them chatting to each other, other days they fall asleep very quickly. But on the whole the new arrangement has worked out really well, Ally is a real sweetheart for sharing her bed without any fuss. She feels very protective towards Max and I guess not having to hear him scream on a daily basis is a good trade off.