The trip...where everything went downhill

On March 2, 2012 TD took his first road trip. It was a 14 hours car road trip in total back and forth from Singapore to Kuantan, Malaysia and back in three days. He was fine with being in the car for about seven hours, although he refused his favourite pasta for lunch (probably out of excitment).

The wedding was what pushed his limits. The entertainment singer and her microphone was going at about 96 decibel. That is the equivalent of a hand drill (a normal conversation is at 60 decibel). At 95-96 decibel, sustained exposure can hearing to hearing loss. I am glad that TD chose to stay out of the restaurant 95% of the time.

After the wedding dinner, we still had to drive back in the dark for about 30 minutes with no street lamps, but occasional oncoming traffic with their incredibly bright flashlights were glaring, and probably intimidating to a 23 month old. This was not well-received. TD wailed really loudly and asked to sit on Mummy. This was extremely rare, as TD seldom cries and wails. We stopped the car, and I went to back to sit with him.

On Saturday, TD caught a cold. I knew he was going to catch a cold, but I also knew that if I put on a jacket FIL would comment that its too warm, so I didn't and indeed he caught a cold. In the night, he had a fever. I didn't bring a thermometer, not any medication for him as TD seldom fall sick in Singapore, and I didn't think he would within a three days span. My bad. Indeed he did, and the nearest clinic was 14 km away. We were so desperate. I used cool towel as he slept, and chanted Green Tara, hoping the fever would go away. In a way, we didn't really trust seeing the doctors too. It was a miracle, his fever went away.

On Sunday, we drove back. Lunch was at 3pm, and the lack of breaks during the seven hour car ride led TD to wail again.

He didn't eat much during the trip, and all he had appetite for was apple and bread.

When we returned to Singapore, TD's flu was mild so he didn't require medication. It took about a week to recover. My helper caught a cough too due to lack of water. My MIL and FIL were sick. I had to work extra hard as I was away from work for a few days, and now that TD and helper were down. In the end, I caught flu myself. Luckily, I recovered within a day.

Alas, my FIL came to visit with a cough. On that very night, my helper who was recovering well, started to cough, TD started to cough with fever (!) and I had fever and cough (!!)...

With no choice, I had to feed TD medication. He was recovering slowly but well. All in all, TD and my helper recovered fully in two weeks.

As for me, this is my second week of cough, and I am still coughing. I have seen two different doctors. With no luck tonight, I will see another tomorrow. I usually recover within a week for cough, but this time it is different. I would wake up hourly at night from the coughing...

Sorry, this isn't the usual positive and optimistic post. Irwin and I learned lessons the hard way. We will only travel with others if we have control of the timing in future. We had no idea it was going to be a 7 hour car ride each way. We had no idea that we couldn't plan his meal times appropriately. Having coughed for two weeks, and seeing TD lose weight and coughed in the night, and as we battled with his fever which went up to 39, all I can say is Health is the most important. Treasure it and take steps to build a healthy body. We will not compromise health to appease anybody else in future. We need to make responsible decisions from now on.

Our Family



Our family had an one night holiday at Mandarin Orchard (courtesy of Dad's complimentary voucher). TD was absolutely delighted. Jumping on the bed, exploring his reflection in the mirrors, playing with the cupboard knobs, looking down at the cars, swimming at the pool (despite the shivering he wanted to go back to the pool again and again). It was not that easy having a holiday with a toddler. In fact, it becomes TD's holiday. We were the facilitators of his happiness index. Irwin and I had a lot of fun watching him enjoy his hoiday, so we decided that even though it is hard work, our future holidays would still be with TD included.

Back to reality, there was another blowout in the house. So, this time FIL decides that the carpets should come back (again). TD's skin is much better now, but he is still sensitive to heat, extreme usage of perfume, and if it is a rather dirty place (no offence, but he does not seem to take food court and coffee shops well even if it is a cool day...maybe its the oil/ dirt in the air?). Thus I am highly suspicious that TD's skin will react to the dander infected carpets. I am afraid that he would develop asthma if forced to be exposed to the allergen over time since he was previously proven to be allergic to those carpets. Thus I got worried, stressed and agitated.

I am unable to understand FIL's love for carpets. I am unable to understand why his grandson's health should not take priority. I am sure he might have his reasons, but at this point, I can't see it. So I kinda blew up. I guess I should have handled it better, but who would understand a working mum's stress? I need to know that the home environment is appropriate for TD since I cannot be by his side. Frankly taking care of his skin is quite tiring and it is stressful watching him scratch. In-laws would never understand. In fact, I have seen how they "look after" him, they just allow him to scratch (or maybe they didn't notice?).

Dalai Lama says "Cultivating an attitude of compassion and developing wisdom are slow processes. As you gradually internalize techniques for developing morality, concentration of mind, and wisdom, untamed states of mind become less and less frequent. You will need to practice this technique day by day, year by year. As you transfrom your mind, you will transform your surroundings. Others will see the benefits of your practice of tolerance and love, and will work at bringing these practices into their own lives."

Does it All Add Up?

Ever since the subprime crisis first happened in 2007, we have seen several other financial and corporate failures, exposing the weakness of the financial industry and the economy.

First it was the $700 billion bailout of the U.S. financial system, now Obama and congressional Democrats have entered into discussions over an economic stimulus package that would grow to include $850 billion in new spending and tax cuts over the next two years. - Washington Post. Whether this will pull the nation out of a deepening recession? Lets leave it to another post.

While the economy slows down, so did I. Day 6 of my two weeks vacation. Mainly spending my mornings attending yoga class, and helped my mum a bit in the office at noon. I knock off at 5:30pm sharp. Yesterday, Friday, I went to check out the Isetan sales. Bought a hell lot of Christmas presents for my family and myself to stimulate the economy.

Read the following and found it interesting. Here are extracts of it. Enjoy!

"The New York Times", November 22, 2006.

ADDING IT ALL UP

By Rick Moranis

The average American home now has more televisions sets than people – according to Nielsen Media Research. There are 2.73 TV sets in the typical home and 2.55 people, the researchers said.

I have two kids. Both are away at college.

I have five television sets. (I like to think of them as a set of five televisions.) I have two DVR boxes, three DVD players, two VHS machines and four stereos.

I have nineteen remote controls, mostly in one drawer.

I have three computers, four printers and two faxes. I have three phone lines, three cell phones and two answering machines. I have no messages.

I have forty-six cookbooks.

I have sixty-eight take-out menus from four restaurants.

I have one hundred and sixteen soy sauce packets.

I have three hundred and eighty-two dishes, bowls, cups, saucers, mugs and glasses.

I eat over the sink. I have five sinks, two with a view. I try to keep a positive view.

I have thirty-nine pairs of golf, tennis, squash, running, walking, hiking, casual and formal shoes, ice-skates, and Rollerblades. I am wearing slippers.

I have five hundred and six CD, cassette, vinyl and eight –track recordings. I listen to one radio station all day.

I have twenty-six sets of linen for four regular, three foldout and two inflatable beds. I don't like houseguests.

I have one hundred and eighty-four thousand frequent flier miles on six airlines, three of which no longer exist.

The Start of my Vacation...


... Hmm, I'm sure many would want to be in my shoes. Two weeks of vacation days to clear! This is however the first time I am staying in Singapore while clearing my leave.

I have two weeks to kill. Initially I was filled with fears with two weeks of non-work time. Ah well, after struggling three days with food poisoning, I realized I might just be able to cope with little pleasures of life at home.

I woke up this morning at 10am, defying the 8am alarm that went off. Not as early as I intended to, but hey its vacation! So far, spent an hour on the newspapers, and basically came back to my desk with a To-Do list for the vacation - mainly adminstrative.

ok, with pockets of time available in my hands, I really should consider what I wana do... catch up on reading, being reflective of 2008... Yes! because when you are working, you are too busy to reflect or think if this is the direction you wana head to. Whenever I used to have vacation days, I would fly out of the country & lah lah lah enjoy - never took the time to *think***.

There, I'm going to try being a nice girl this week (at least). Not going to complain about boredom as I frequently did for the past two weeks, & always wanting to do more. Will quietly catch up on reading, practice my yoga faithfully, look out for symphony orchestra to attend, and to some soul searching. Today is Day 1, let see how it rolls!