Another Breakthrough!

A few weeks ago Hubby-jr sat through and watched an entire play!!

It’s a BIG DEAL because Hubby-jr has a phobia for any live performances. I’m talking about petrified, screaming kinda phobia. He would literally get all tensed up just walking pass adorned stages at shopping malls, afraid that a live show will start anytime.

It all started about a year ago when I took him to “Bob the Builder – A Surprise Party Show” (we had complimentary tickets! How could I not bring him?). He was enjoying the show and even went all the way down to the front of the stage to join the many prancing kids watching the show. All was well and fun UNTIL the GRAND finale that came with a GREAT BIG BANG! Literally. I’m talking about GIGANTIC party poppers! That GREAT BIG BANG really scared Hubby-jr. So much so he developed a phobia not just for live shows but for parties as well. He began associating party poppers with parties.

Making things worse, another “sound” incident happened several weeks later. During a live singing performance at a wedding dinner (unfortunately we brought Hubby-jr along) the sound system got a little messed up and let out a VERY LOUD SCREECH. My poor son screamed and SCREAMED!! That sealed the deal with live performances and added wedding dinners to his list of phobias!

So when his school asked for permission for him to attend a play as part of an outing and exposure, I was hesitant. I told his nursery teacher of his phobia and asked if she would be willing to take care of him personally. I mentioned that he may just end up screaming uncontrollably. Without any hesitation she said YES. Well then OK, if she was willing, I decided to give it a shot. I reasoned that if Hubby-jr could see that NOT all live performances had party poppers and that he could enjoy them, it would be a step towards overcoming his phobia.

Nonetheless it was like a gamble and the night before I was nervous. What if it backfired? I waited anxiously to hear from his teacher on the day of the play… 

“Oh he was OK, initially he was anxious so I had to carry him. I kept assuring him that there were no party poppers and he calmed down and watched the entire play… yes, he sat by himself… what? Oh no, he didn’t scream at all.”

A wave of relief and joy swept over me when I heard those words from the teacher and seeing Hubby-jr’s wide grin. Hallelujah. A victory in my son’s life and I felt so proud.

WFMW - Cleaning Pee Mess

The other day we had an icky mishap, Hubby-jr (4) accidentally knocked over a potty! Ack! And the little pee that was still in it spilled onto the floor! Ick! Thankfully though our floor’s not carpetted but tiled. Phew!

Still, there was this small puddle of… eww pee staring at me. How was I going to clean it up without having contact with it too much?? (Ugh, just the thought even now grosses me out! Yes it’s been awhile since such a “mayhem” has happened.) I know, I know I’ve been a stay at home mommy for over four years now but hey, cleaning pee and poo never gets any less icky with experience… ever!

Anyway after a minute of bewilderment I saw a piece of diaper lying nearby. The disposable kind (earth, please forgive me). In a flash I grabbed it, opened it face down and wiped the pee mess with it. The diaper absorbed the “puddle” quickly and entirely AND most importantly without my hands having to touch any of “it”. Phee eew! Yeah after that I wiped the floor again with a mop and that was it. Job done. I felt so relieved and pleased with myself! 

That’s my tip for this week. Cleaning pee mess on the floor with a disposable diaper. Yes this tip is not for the environmentalist. I know it was kind of a waste of a good diaper too. But it worked for me.

Go over to Rocks In My Dryer to see what else worked for other moms.

Kor-Kor

I just posted the lovely photos of my older son leading his sister. And by an amazing coincidence my 17 month old daughter uttered for the first time today, “kor-kor” (big brother) pointing to her big brother. Heartwarming isn’t it?

Now sweetie, it would be GRREEAAT if you could just learn to say “Mommy” or “Mama”!

She’s My Sister

A Piece Of Cardboard

 

After all the money spent on toys, Hubby-jr’s current favourite is this piece of cardboard! It’s no ordinary cardboard mind you, it’s a bus and he’s the driver! He got this idea from watching Blue’s Clues. I volunteered to decorate it a little more but he refused and was satisfied with just the two circles at the side for wheels!

“Daddy, Mei Mei (little sister) the bus is coming. Come on board please. We’re going to….” Off goes the express bus (he runs and daddy has to catch up carrying Little Missy!)… It’s quite an amusing spectacle.

Oh, the simple joys of a child… no need for expensive toys just a piece of cardboard will do… for now anyway! Won’t be long before that changes. Oh well I can’t stop the eventual inevitable so I’ll just enjoy the here and now.

WFMW - Quick & Easy Salmon/Cod Recipe

What kind of mommy are you? I’m the always-in-chaos type. So when it comes to cooking the more fuss free the better! I try my best to avoid the complicated ones with a thousand and one steps. Anything more than 2 steps is too much for me!

That’s why I love my mother in law’s recipe which I’m sharing with you today. A chinese twist to seasoning salmon or cod fish. It’s really easy and tasty.

Marinate a piece of salmon or cod fish (of about 300 grams) with the following:

• Oyster Sauce (1 to 2 tbsp)
• Sesame Oil (1 tsp)
• Ground Black Pepper (generously)

Then grill or bake the fish in the oven or oven toaster. You can also choose to pan fry it as it is or coat it with corn flour before you do so. I usually bake it in the oven toaster for about 10 minutes.

There you have it, your main or meat dish for the day!

For more of this week’s Works For Me Wednesdays tips click here.

A New Journey

Sometime ago I shared a glimpse 0f Hubby-jr’s uniqueness. Truth be told when he was a little over 3 years old hubby was a little concerned. Hubby-jr seemed easily scared by loud noises (thunder, drilling, etc.), had weird fears (such as cactus!) and was very fixed in his routines and ways. He cried and screamed over having to change to a new pair of sandals (his old one was so worn out!). It didn’t help that his speech development was not great. 

I remember brushing hubby off at that time. “He’s not autistic!” I said adding, “He makes eye contact and interacts with me and kids at the playground!” Still the fact that hubby had concerns made me ponder a little more. We surfed the internet for information, browsing just to make sure we didn’t overlook anything. Convinced it wasn’t Asperger, we moved on and concentrated on helping our son deal with changes and fears. 

And over months, Hubby-jr did mature and we saw many breakthroughs. He was definitely more flexible and he learned to overcome his fears although he still had one or two phobias but by and large we were very proud of his progress. His speech had also progressed though not by leaps and bounds. At his fourth birthday I met an old friend and as I shared about Hubby-jr, she told me her son was similar at Hubby-jr’s age. She was also concerned then, so much so she sent him for a proper check only to find that he was “normal”. Now in primary school he’s doing well. That short exchange eased my mind a whole lot. Just to know my son was not so “unique”. 

BUT… just as I was going to put the whole “issue” out of the way, a month or so ago his class teacher at nursery recommended a check as he is delayed in his speech development and she observed that he doesn’t play very much with his classmates. On a brighter note, he’s very responsive to the teachers, in fact they all love him in school. 

As a mommy you can imagine I didn’t take the news very well. It did cause me anxiety. I’m thinking, isn’t it just a personality thingy to be on the quieter side? Also maybe it’s the speech delay that’s causing the lack of social interaction among his peers. Nonetheless I had to do something since a recommendation has been given. I was afraid I might be looking through mommy-biased eyes and if there was an issue I’d want it addressed as soon as possible. 

So I brought Hubby-jr to see a speech therapist. I started there simply because coincidentally hubby has a cousin who’s a speech therapist. Although she deals with slightly older kids she agreed to see Hubby-jr for an informal session to see where we could go from there.  

After the session she told us for now to work with him at home, to try and stimulate his speech development. Hubby-jr was intelligible just that he’s having a little difficulty in forming his sentences and expressing himself. There’s a slight delay in his response, it’s not coming out fast and naturally. At the same time she also recommended a hearing test and a check by an occupational therapist (OT). From experience she said, sometimes it’s just a simple case of middle ear infection or not being able to hear certain tones or sounds. A hearing test would show this or rule such an issue out. The OT on the other hand would help see if he was particularly sensitive to sounds, if so the fear may cause speech learning problems. That is if a kid’s too distracted by the fear of hearing some sounds, he’ll have problems listening and learning. 

Although the session didn’t point to a worse off direction, it didn’t quite soothe my anxiety either. Instead we now have to take the path of “examinations”. Just the fact that I’ve to bring my son for such tests saddens me. But after alot of praying I’ve let go of “expectations” (once again). I’ll do whatever it takes… if there are issues they are best addressed at the window age of between 4 to 7, so I’m told. 

So my friends (and family), I’m embarking on a new journey with Hubby-jr as we enter the road of “tests”. It may lead to “more intervention needed” or “there’s no cause for concern” (I’ll keep you informed). Whatever it is I know that God is with us and that’s ENOUGH for me… for us.

More Links…

Just two more…

Let’s get Wokking! features many home cook food recipes. This incredible mommy really loves to cook and she whips up these creative stuff for her kids. Great site for recipes with yummy looking photos of the end product.

BetterChinese - this is an educational site that helps kids learn Chinese. Great thing about the site is that the instructions are in English! Downside is that it’s free only for 30 days after you sign up. After that it’s ka ching! Thanks Parenting Times for finding this site.

Hope you find them useful. Have a great weekend!

More Mommy Blogs I Like

A month ago I wrote about three Mommy Blogs I Like. Since then I’ve discovered two more - Raising Five and Fruit in Season.

I’m loving both these blogs. They are wonderfully lovely women. No I don’t know them personally but I can tell from their posts which are insightful and meaningful. They have such a gift in writing and I’ve been very blessed by them.

So head on over there and enjoy and be blessed!

WFMW - Cleaning Kids’ Ears

Hmm… I’m half nervous submitting this as this week’s Works For Me Wednesdays (WFMW). This tip may turn out to be a no brainer for most of you. But believe it or not I only discovered this “solution” yesterday. Yup that’s right, after having a four-year old son and a one half year old daughter. Incredible huh?

Cleaning ear wax is hubby’s obssession. This is due to a “traumatising” experience he had as a kid of having to go to the doctors to rid some awful accumulated wax from his ears. So he pretty much took care of Hubby-jr (our son)’s ears since birth as shower-before-bedtime was his “duty”. Hubby’s procedure required a wet cotton bud and steady hands.

Don’t be shocked but it only occurred to me yesterday that Little Missy (our daughter) has never had her ears cleaned since birth (gasp!). I was the one in charge of all her bathing sessions… oops! So yesterday I tried hubby’s method and it didn’t work very well for me. The “stuff” just seemed to circulate around the tip of the cotton buds on her ears. Eew.

Then I recalled reading somewhere about using Baby Oil. So I tried. Squeezed just a teensy weensy bit onto the tip of the cotton bud and ever so gently and steadily rotated it at the entrance of the ear canal. It worked! Wax came off easily, oil made it gentle on the ears and Little Missy’s ears were clean. You can even use it to clean to rest of the ears - the part that sticks out?.

Hope this is useful for some of you as it was for me.

Click here to check out other wonderful Works For Me Wednesday tips.