Of Pencils and Stylus

I have problems getting Cavan to write and draw on paper. He simply isn't interested. I wonder if I should be concerned, since he does his worksheets in nursery, colouring and drawing. The teacher's review (last year) was that Cavan had very strong language abilities, both in English and Chinese but showed little enthusiasm in craftwork.

Recently, I had a revelation. Cavan is not uninterested in writing and drawing. He is uninterested and uninspired by paper and pencil (or crayon, for that matter). For a long time, he often asks to doodle on our handphones and PDAs. Give him a paper and a pencil (or crayon) and he barely musters a few weak strokes. Give him a magnetic doodle board or an aqua doodle mat or a PDA and he can write his name and create pieces.

The following are some of his works. I would ask him what he drew. Below are the replies:

A girl

A dog

A happy face

Bird on a tree

Guess we've introduced him too early to a high tech world. I wonder how he's going to survive in school next time. Unless the school uses PC tablets of course. Meanwhile, we'd better "de-technologize" him and get him used to paper and pencils.

Cavan's Encounter with Mr Policeman

I received a phonecall from Cavan's teacher last Friday as I was travelling home from work. I got an initial scare.

Me: "Hello?"
Ms Gracie: (sounding unsure) "Is this Mrs Yee, erm, Cavan's mother?"
Me: (growing suspicious) "Yes?"
Ms Gracie: (sounding secretive) "Mrs Yee, actually I'm calling you regarding Cavan..."
Me: (Oh dear, what has my son done) "Yyyyes?"
Ms Gracie: "Actually, I just wanted to tell you that today during school...(Oh please, hurry and tell me what's going on)... that I put a present in Cavan's bag.
Me: (relieved) "Oh..." (I wasn't sure how to respond)
Ms Gracie: "Because today, we had a police officer... (Police officer? What happened? Sounds serious!)... who gave a talk in school."
Me: "Okay..." (Still waiting for more clues)
Ms Gracie: "And later there was a quiz at the end of talk."
Me: "Okay..." (Still waiting for more clues)
Ms Gracie: "Cavan volunteered to go up and answer the police officer's question. I thought that was very brave of him, so I decided to give him a little present after that."

What a relief! I thought what happened.

So it happened that the police officer was having a little quiz that was opened to K1 & K2 kids. N1 & N2 kids weren't really asked questions as they were too young and might not know how to answer or they might be fearful to go to the front. (Cavan is in N1)

However, Cavan went up to Ms Gracie and indicated that he would like to go up and answer the officer's question. So when the officer asked for a volunteer, Cavan raised his hand.

According to Ms Gracie, Cavan did not display any fear when standing in front of the assembly and in front of the officer. When the police officer asked Cavan a series of questions, Cavan was very attentive and looked at the officer when the questions were posed. He was able to answer the officer's questions.

Ms Gracie commented that she was very impressed with Cavan on his courage, that he dared to volunteer, not knowing what questions would be asked, and that he was able to pay attention to the officer. She marvelled that this was quite rare for a child his age hence wanted to commend him.

I felt so pleased with Cavan. Both Clement and I were so proud of him.

When we reached home, Cavan did not mention about this incident at all till we probed him. He repeated the questions asked and his replies to us. He was as pleased as punch over the whole incident.

Later, he said that when he wanted to be a policeman. But even later, he changed his mind and said he wanted to be a soldier because he can shoot people. Wherever he got this notion from?

Anyway, this was a pleasant news to us. Ms Gracie can get some award for storytelling, for creating fear and suspense.

Little Munchkin

Verity sure likes her food. She started semi solid at 5.5 months. While other babies started their 1st feed experimenting with several small spoons and bits, Verity decided to start with a big bang.

Her first feed was a bowl of porridge. Yes a bowl. Instead of displaying grimaces due to experiencing different textures in her mouth and coming to terms with foreign gooey stuff, she adapted with great (and quick) stride.

She yelled at my mom to quicken the feed. While my mom hurried to scoop the next mouthful, Verity was already yelling for more. So my mom had to feed very fast.

Verity was interested in every single thing we put in our mouth. Now, 1 month into eating, she has tried rice, bananas, pears, ice cream, beancurd, buns, bread, and durians. If we refuse to feed her anything we're eating, she would grimace, pout, shake her fists and stamp her feet.

We are breeding an eating machine.

Guess this can't be helped, since both Clement and I are the buffet-eater type.

Now that foods are more interesting, Verity shows less interest being breastfed. She would get so distracted by her surrounding that it become pointless to breastfeed. Suck suck, turn around, look around. Turn back and suck suck, turn around, look around. I'll keep pushing her face back but the same cycle would occur, as if internally programmed. I figure I should stop battling with breastfeeding and not get too emotional. I come to terms with the fact that I breastfeed as her snack, no longer a staple food.

Eat well, babe!

Standing up for himself

It is not unknown to family and friends that Cavan does not really have a temper. He is rarely aggressive. Even when someone pushes him or snatches his toys, he does not retaliate nor fight back. He only whines. And complains. He complains to the teacher or the parent of the aggressor.

This definitely worries me, cos I'm afraid he'd end up being bullied in school next time.

As parents, it would be wrong for us to tell him to fight back, even though that option was so tempting. All we can advise is, for him to say "No!", "Stop it!" or "Don't..." to signal that the behaviour displayed by the aggressor is undesirable. But knowing kids, who would take such retort seriously?

This CNY came the turn of events. We were at my uncle's house and all the kiddos were playing and roughing it out in the bedroom. My 2.5 year old grandniece, a brassy gal, was harassing Cavan. She pushed him, stepped on him, poked him. Cavan seemed helpless as he repeatedly told her no, and tried to steer clear of her.

Finally, he felt that he had had enough.

When he saw the gal coming at him again, he clenched his fist, went to her, held her by the shoulders and pushed her a few steps.

My heart stopped a few beats. I was taken aback by what I saw. I wanted to intervene, but seeing that Cavan wasn't going to hurt her, I stopped myself.

Cavan held her so she won't fall over. Shocked, she wailed and left the room.

Cavan was visibly shaken too, as he stood there for a second, realising what he had done.

Suddenly, he threw his hands up in the air and shouted triumphantly, "Yeah! YEAH!" His cousins rejoiced with him in his victory.

He gave me a glance to see if I disapproved. I was careful in my response. I didn't want to appear angry cos he managed to assert himself. I didn't want to rejoice with the rest cos I didn't want to give the wrong signal.

Seeing my non-reaction, he seemed relieved and continued to play with his cousins.

Inside me, I was secretly pleased. At least I know that Cavan would stand up for himself.

If he had to.

Mum's Cookling & CNY

I recently read a quote "Food was my mom's way of pampering us". This quote succinctly described exactly how I felt and caused my eyes to well. Yes, not only that, I told my friend. Mom's cooking is also about the memories it leaves behind. Memories of childhood. Memories of tradition. And I felt it most strongly this year.

Due to my mom's poor health, she was not able to cook much this CNY. She lost her sense of taste and could not eat properly (ulcers on her mouth and tongue, and water in her lungs) due to her chemo treatments. She actually forgoed having reunion dinner at home cos she was totally not in the mood to prepare and cook. That was very unlike her. She was a very tough woman and nothing could replace such traditions. This year, she had to "surrender" as her condition really pulled her down.


Maybe it's age. I started getting very nostalgic about CNY.

Missed seeing my parents squat over the charcoal stove, making and rolling love letters, and smelling the fragrance as it filled the corridor.

Missed seeing them kneading dough and making egg cakes with moulds that churned out delicious goldfish-shaped and seashell-shaped cakes.

Missed visiting together the wet market during late nights the week before CNY to elbow the crowd, choosing best of seafood, meat and greens.

Missed the smell and taste of fried nian gao on the 1st day of CNY.

It's always the case where you'll start to treasure the things when they are absent. Things you were almost sure to happen everyday, every year. From this episode, I know I can't take them for granted anymore. I relish every moment, every dish my mom is able to prepare for us now.

Yes, mom's cooking is about the memories it leaves behind. I thank my mom for the lovely memories. And I treasure every moment we have right now.

Happy V-Day

This year, we decided to spend V-Day with Cavan. We wanted to devote one-to-one time with him. When Verity was around, he was big brother enough to give most of the attention to her without complaining. So for today's outing, no Verity. He was so happy and told his baby sis, "Bye Verity, we're going out! See you later!" with a smug face.

Even though he might not understand what is V-Day (and we didn't mention anything about it), he was sure in a loving mood today! Usually he was already sweet and dovey, but today's dosage was doubled! He kept telling us, "I love you, daddy and mummy!" and kept wanting to hold both our hands as we walked. Even when we were seated in the car or restaurant, he would put his arm around us and gave us a tight squeeze. We simply soaked in his saccharin sweetness.

Happy Valentine, our dear son! We love you too! Sooooo much!

Airflown Breastmilk

I'd never have thought that I would go this far to still breastfeed Verity (no pun intended). When my boss asked if I wanted to go to Japan for a week-long study mission, she was also concerned cos she knew I was still breastfeeding Verity. Well, I said yes after thinking through. And since I was going there, I thought might as well extend my trip and have a hol. Clem couldn't take leave so I asked Brenda, my all-time travel kaki.

It was only after I started planning that I realised what a huge "project" it would be to still continue to breastfeed Verity. I thought of pumping and dumping while I was there but it suddenly it dawned upon me that Brenda was coming back 1st after one week. So I asked if she was willing to help transport BM back. She agreed. A great pal, she is.

So I started to read up on pumping, packing, transporting and customs regulation. Really got very stressed with all these. Got help and advice from Multiply's Breastfeeding Moms group. With all the info ready, I felt more prepared (although still stressed) about the "project".

Brought styrofoam cooler boxes, reusable dry ice, milk bags, sterilising tablets, rafia strings etc. Had to double the contents since we were sending them back in 2 batches. Even brought along an English-Jap dictionary in case I needed to do some explaining either at the airport or hotel.

During the flight, I pumped in the toilet while everyone was napping to avoid hogging the toilet. And dumped.

After 6.5 hours of flight, I felt full and had to endure another 2 hours of transfer. Brenda and Ruth waited for me for almost 3-4 hours at the airport as theirs was an earlier flight.

Upon reaching the hotel, I had to settle the "adminstration" first. Meaning, needed to check how to store and what resources were available.

I was so glad to see an ice pail in the fridge. This meant there was an ice dispenser somewhere and I went looking for it. It was just along the corridor. So convenient.

After pumping, I kept the milk bag in the pail of ice, washed and sterilised the equipment. I called the front desk to check how I could have access to the freezer. The fridge in the room wasn't cold enough. I found out that I only needed to bring the contents to the front desk and they would keep in the freezer for me.

With all these settled, I felt more at ease and was able to enjoy the rest of the trip.

So began my daily routine. Morning, woke up to express. Deposited the the night before's and morning's product to the front desk. Had to emphasise freezing and immediately. I was given a puzzled look initially but a couple of them recognised me days after.

Twice during the day, I would manually squeeze in public toilets. These would go down the toilet bowls.

With a doubt, this routine was insufficient compared to that I had back home, plus having Verity drain me out throughout the night. The volume had reduced by half by the time 6 days had passed. But definitely better than nothing.

Soon one week's passed and Brenda and Ruth were leaving. Brenda left a corner of her luggage empty just for the box. After packing in the dry ice and milk bags, I attached a note detailing instructions for Clem. I sealed the box carefully and prayed that all would be well. Clem would fetch Brenda from the airport to collect the BM. Haha, sounded like some kind of illegal transaction.

In the afternoon, I received an sms from Brenda. When she was checking in the luggage, the scanner detected dry ice and the officers requested her to open the luggage. Brenda had to explain it was milk for baby and had to claim it was hers. If she had mentioned that it belonged to someone else, they would have demanded she opened the box. So thankful for her smartness. In the end, they poked a few holes in my box.

That night at 3 am, received Brenda's sms that the collection was successful. Heard from Clem also that the milk was still frozen and undestroyed. Now, to wait a few more days for the next news: that Verity was still alright after drinking the milk which meant there was no contamination. I thanked God for the smooth operation.

For the rest of the week, performed the same routine. Had to sleep late and wake up very early (5+am, which was Singapore's 4+am) to express as the group would depart early for the visits to corporations. My supply was running terribly low. Had no choice but to manually express. By the end of 2 days, my breasts were bruised and the skin had come off due to the excessive rubbing and squeezing. But had to carry on. I couldn't just stop there!

Soon it was time to go back home and I collected all my products. To my horror, the staff mistakenly placed one of my milk in the fridge instead of the freezer! In the fridge, it would only be good for 8 days and 6 days had passed.

I showed my very pissed look and refused to leave the counter. The staff apologised profusely but it was not his fault. After I had satisfactorily registered my fury, I left but couldn't helping thinking how that staff had wasted all my efforts even it were 2 packs. Might need to dump those 2 packs if they had turned bad.

Thank God, check-in at airport was smooth. Everything went well all the way home. Felt so assured seeing my bags of milk in the freezer.

Hope I had not been too pre-occupied with BM. Clem said I was too stressed over breastfeeding Verity and encouraged me saying that everyday is considered a bonus so don't get too stressed.

I try not to, but I don't belong to the "New Zealand" species where these mothers get pails of milk with little effort (ok, I'm exaggerating). They run like taps. Me? More like a leaking tap. Only drip, drip, drip. So you can imagine how worse it had become during that 2 weeks.

Now that I'm back, the next mission is to restore my former glory - having more milk so as to fully BF Verity again.

With many prayers and fenugreek supplements.

Adventures in Taipei (Part III: 26 Dec 2007)

26 December 2007
Occasional rain (17-20 Deg C)

The weather seemed great in the morning so we planned to go to Shenkeng, the (smelly) tofu street. We needed to transfer train then transfer bus. I'm not exactly sure which bus but the travel guide was very helpful. Also, at every station, there was info on where the nearest places of interest were and how to get there. So after getting the bus info, we went to the bus stop.

After confirming with the bus driver, we hopped onto the bus. Cavan was asleep on the stroller so Clem lugged the whole stroller onto the bus. There was an electronic signboard on the bus indicating the location at every stop, so I kept a lookout to make sure we didn't miss our stop.

After about 10 min, the bus suddenly swerved into what looked like an abandoned garage. The bus driver told us to get down. I looked around the ulu place and it didn't look like what I expected. But we had to get down as this was the so-called bus terminal. I asked the driver where Shenkeng was and he randomly pointed at a direction.

So we got down and headed toward where he pointed. Clem asked me whether we were near. I seriously had no idea! Just walk, and ask for direction. But the place was so ulu, we didn't know whether there would be anyone to ask. Anyway, I was sure that we'd smell Shenkeng.

Soon it began to drizzle so we took shelter at a restaurant that appeared out of nowhere. After putting on the rain shield on the stroller (Cavan still blissfully asleep) and wrapping Verity up, we ventured out again in the rain.

In 5 mins' we began to see people, then tour buses, the we SMELT it! We found the place! Yippee! First on the agenda- lunch!

After a sumptous meal, we explored the street. There were so many titbit stalls in this small street! Rice cakes, malt candy with sesame, sesame rice balls, freshly made peanut and almond candy, preserved fruit and foods, tofu ice cream and smelly tofu! We were overwhelmed by the selection!

The smelly tofu was a must-try. It smelt bad but tasted good! The Taiwanese smelly tofu was smeared with some salty-sweet sauce and came with preserved veg. They were absolutely delicious! I had one everyday during my previous trip.

For the night, we decided to go to Raohe Night Market which was around 10 min walk from our hotel.

Raohe Night Market was teeming with different kinds of xiao chi. Pepper buns (which were meat buns with gyoza skin), chou chou guo (smelly pot- something like smelly tofu steamboat), mutton soup, Taiwanese-style roti prata. This place also had shops selling cheap clothes, shoes, cute stationery etc. I bought lots of socks here for the kids and a scarf.

Got to watch the time. Alas, too late. Verity was fidgeting before it became a full-blown cry. To take the short cut back, we could cut through the train station. The train attendant at the entrance heard her and asked if I wanted to breastfeed her. They had nursing rooms available at the station. I politely refused since we were so near our hotel. But to get to the other side, we needed to buy a ticket. The train attendant looked so apologetic. The pass-through ticket was so cheap (I think 60 cents) so we got them and went through a special gate cos we had a screaming baby.

Same routine. Rushed into the hotel. Receptionist passed us the key at the lift. Got into the hotel room. Fed. Finished. Happy. Took photo.

27 December 2007
Fair weather (15 Deg C)

Our target today was Ximending, the hip and young shopping district. Plenty of funky shops here. Yeah, and loud music too. Managed to buy shoes and a gold cardholder for myself. Clem got himself a bag for his laptop.

Couldn't help but indulge in Mr Donut. Their donuts was fantastic! Not too sweet and the doughnut had a nice chewy texture. So yummy. We got assorted minis and Cavan was fighting with me over the strawberry flavoured one. Nowadays, he was into pink and strawberry flavoured stuff. Hmph! Whatever happened to children-love-chocolate norm?

That afternoon, something happened that almost made me faint. Today being our last 2nd day, we thought we'd exchange another $100-$200 worth of NT$. We went to the bank. They did not accept S$ (surprisingly given there were many Singaporean tourists) so we used the ATM. Only certain ATM could dish out S$ so we had to go further ahead to another bank's ATM.

After Clem withdrew the money, he paused for awhile and told me blankly that he suspected he withdrew too much. How much? Well, S$1000 worth. WHAT??!! I couldn't believe my ears. We would only be here for another day and you drew out that much? Why? You are going to buy a house here issit?

Seemed that he miscalculated... Ok... suddenly I felt liberated to spend. Let's go shopping! And we went across to Far Eastern Department Store.

I deposited Clem and the kids at the basement, bought him a coffee and steamed carrot cake, and went off in my shopping spree.

The imported stuff here were cheaper. Le SportSac, Nine West... I got a Nine West bag and a cardholder. At 30% some more! Almost tempted to buy boots and clothes but restrained myself.

Went back to collect Clem and kids for dinner. Went to Bearded Zhang (Hu2xu1 Zhang1 near Houshnpi MRT) for dinner. Really popular place. We were initially not very hungry so was modest in our order. But the food was good so we ordered more. Cavan also enjoyed every morsel of his rice.

Went back to Wufenpu for more shopping. Got cheap wollen overcoat at S$50+. What a steal. Back home, they cost S$200+!

Also, managed to satisfy Clem's longing- mango ice. Said that if he didn't have this, wouldn't feel like he'd been to Taiwan. A S$2 bowl was 3 times bigger than the ice kacang back home. Guess the happiest person was Cavan who was given permission to indulge in these cold treats almost everyday.

28 December 2007
Fair weather (19 Deg C)

We only had till 3pm to go around before the airport transfer. Went to Taipei 101. Got down at City Hall station where a free shuttle service was provided. We figured we'd walk there instead. The brisk walk took us 15 min.

We had lunch there, as Taipei 101 had the biggest foodcourt. The selection was overwhelming and the portion was humongous.

We only had little time and headed back to the hotel. Soon it was time to say good bye to Taipei. It was really a friendly place with very polite people (I wonder why the politicians seemed less civilised, always see them breaking out in fights during parliament).

Taipei was also super baby-friendly, with nursing rooms even at MRT stations. And the blue seats on the MRT- they were reserved for diabled, elderly, preggies and those with children. These seats were almost always empty. Even if they were occupied, the passenger would offer me the seat the instant I entered the train. So unlike the culture in Singapore!

While waiting at the airport, dear Cavan was doing the very touristy thing. He explored all the signboards and decor and asked excitedly, "Mummy, come and take picture for me!" before posing next to whatever.

A seasoned travellor indeed! Till our next trip.

Adventures in Taipei (Part II: 25 Dec 2007)

25 December 2007
Fair weather (17 Deg C)

The weather was great, so we planned to go to Danshui, a sea-side town. The Metro ride took around 30min and we were there.

Wanted an iconic photo but Starbucks snatched all the attention. Talk about globalisation!

This little town is full of small shops and pasar malam stalls by the sea side. There is also the "Lovers' Bridge" which we didn't walk through. Visitors can take the ferry to the other side, the Fishermen Wharf, where Meteor Garden was filmed. For us, we just hung out at Jhong Jheng St and ate all sorts of munchies.

One of the few recommended places are Chez Jean, where they sell traditional wedding cakes. You can also visit the Fishball Museum, which isn't exactly a museum. It's a shop selling fish crackers.

We stopped by at a small eatery to lunch as it was time to feed Verity. Had fried bee hoon, gong wan soup, a plate of cold cuts and an ah ge. An ah ge is something like a huge soon kueh but its fillings consisted of fried tang hoon, bits of mushrooms and dried prawns. A pinkish sauce is usually poured over it. Ours had tau pok skin instead of the soon kueh skin.

What I couldn't resist having throughout the Taipei trip was milk tea. I must have at least 1 or 2 cups each day. Cold ones, hot ones, with pearls, Jamu milk tea etc. Taiwanese are health conscious. You have the option of less sweet and there are different sweetness levels.

Verity ready to rock the town!

Treated Cavan to tall ice cream. It was like yogurt ice cream but lighter and less sweet. He was so thrilled! He chose the strawerry and melon flavour and enjoyed it by the seaside. Clem and I had to "fight" with him to get a lick.

Clem and I had our treats too, albeit less healthy. We chomped on BBQ giant squid, fried mushrooms of sorts, crackers, Taiwan sausages with fish roe etc.

Get fat!

At 6+, we headed for Shih Lin Night Market, yes a place for more xiao chi. What a mistake! Given that it was Christmas night, the streets thronged with people. Illegal clothes hawkers also lined the streets with their wares and it was a nightmare trying to push the stroller through the crowd.

Home-made ice cream on chopped peanuts and peanut candy shavings wrapped in popiah skin. A real treat!

We didn't join the queue for the famous Giant Chicken Cutlet. Had it almost every night cos there was an outlet near our hotel who sold this. Would buy one whenever we headed back. Great snack!

We made our way back as it was near Verity's feeding time (around 9+). Verity was bawling and screaming by the time we reached our hotel lobby. The hotel staff were great. They observed that Verity would be crying everytime we returned. For the 2nd night, they had our room key ready so Clem dashed out from the lift, grabbed the key and dashed back into the lift. Didn't even have to tell them our room no.

Tonight, even better. The lift door opened and lo and behold! There stood the hotel staff at the lift handing us our key. We didn't even have to step out! She smiled and said, "I hear her crying already." That's what I call service!

We were having a mini Christmas celebration. Although I was supposed to feed Verity, we wanted to take a pic with the cake as Cavan was close to digging his fingers into the cake and licking the cream off and eating all that adorned the cake. Sorry, gal! Anyway, it was a cute family pic.

Bought Cavan a Christmas present. He loved Thomas the Train so this would add to his collection. Cavan was so excited to see it but the anticipation turned out differently... well, that's another story. (Clem always has a great laugh whenever he sees this Thomas the Train)

Verity happy again after feed

Enjoyed the rest of the night in a simple and warm fashion, just enjoying one another and thankful for all that we have. While the kids slept, we ate our cake, drank our coffee, ate the Giant Chicken Cutlet and cup noodles, and watching the TV prog.

Christmas Day concluded peacefully, with the whole family huddled in a bed. What warmth!