Claire is on medical leave :(

Poor me.

Mummy says I should never feel sorry for myself, but oh dear, at the moment I can't help but feel so. I have been kept away from my regular playmates because of my illness, which no one can be sure what it is. And I'm so tired of being changed out of nasty poopy diapers. *sniff sniff* And taking medicine. *sniff sniff sniff*



Ok, rewind back to yesterday, when Mummy asked Granny to take me to see my regular GP, where I get my jabs, because I had been having diarrhoea since a day ago, and yesterday morning I started with mild fever. I was diagnosed as probably having tummy flu (since Mummy also suffered from a bout of tummy flu earlier in the week) or food poisoning.



Carried on with diarrhoea the whole day. Early this morning, I woke Mummy up at 5 plus in the morning. I was quite cheery at the time, but Mummy discovered, to her horror, that I was running a very high fever! Our thermometer chose this particular time to go crazy on us again (Papa swore that he was never going to try new-fangled stuff again) but even without it working accurately, both Mummy and Papa could tell that my fever was quite serious. Mummy grabbed the neurofen from the fridge (and for this we gotta thank Auntie Brenda, who advised us to always have a bottle of neurofen on standby). Papa suggested rushing to KK A&E, but, having heard so many "stories" about it, Mummy didn't want to send me there, especially when I was still quite alert and cheery. She preferred to bring my fever down with the neurofen first, then bring me down to my trusty PD in the morning.



Finally at 10 plus in the morning, I managed to see Dr Terence Tan. Immediately, after he heard my symptoms, he asked if I was vaccinated against rotavirus. My folks' hearts sank. Seeing that I was still so lively, Dr Tan thought it unnecessary to worry too much, but my folks were asked to keep a tight watch on me. We can't be sure if it is rotavirus or just some other viral attack, as my parents, after discussion, decided against testing my stool (because we were told that even if I was diagnosed with rotavirus, there was nothing we can do except to do what we were already doing - control my temperature and stop the diarrhoea). But my folks did go home with a much clearer picture of what was happening in general.

Obstacles I decided to put up for my parents:

1) I hate taking medicine. I hate taking medicine. And did I mention I HATE taking medicine? My granny's finger is all swollen from having to force my mouth open in order that I can be force-fed my medicine. I recoil in horror and tell Mummy "bu yao!" everytime I see the syringe. It really pains Mummy and Papa to see me like this. Thank goodness my new medication prescribed by Dr Tan can be taken relatively infrequently.

2) I like plain water. Dr Tan advised taking isotonic drinks to keep my carbo levels up, because with the amount of diarrhoea I was suffering from, it doesn't take much to deduce that my body is not absorbing much food I've been given. Mummy and Papa's only consolation is that Dr Tan says the diarrhoea should be relatively painless, just that it obviously is not pleasant to live in constantly poopy diapers. Mummy does kind of enjoy seeing the look on my face moments before I poop though. Mixture of horror and pai-seiness. Hahaha. But I digress. Back to isotonic drinks. Wow, before this round of illness, Mummy never knew that I disliked flavoured drinks so much. The flavoured Pedialyte Dr Tan prescribed for me was swiftly rejected. So was glucose water (glucolin). So was the plain Pedialyte that Mummy rushed out to buy (Mummy: I can understand why. BLARGH!!!). In the end, the only isotonic drink I would take is Ah Gu's Pocari Sweat *faint*. But Mummy was thankful we found something that fits at last. Her mind is still filled with horror images of me hooked up to a drip (which is what Dr Tan warns MAY happen).

3) I can tell Mummy that I have tummy ache. She is so proud of me. At last my communication is "getting there".

Update 31/10/2008 AM: Claire's fever is under control!!! And her last poop last night seems to be a bit more solid. Let's hope this continues. Looks like the probiotics did help!

Another Wedding Celebration

First off, congrats to my Uncle JJ and Auntie LL!!!! They finally took the final plunge today and hopefully I can have a little cousin to play with soon! Pretty please? Wakkakakakakkakakakaka...

Anyway their wedding lunch was held at a restaurant in Haw Par Villa called Made in China. Verdict: Best wedding banquet ever. Although I didn't get to taste most of the food, Mummy and Papa assured me that I REALLY missed out on the shark's fin soup, crab meat bee hoon and wasabi lobster. *sigh* But no matter, I was actually satisfied with my minced chicken and sweet corn bisque that Uncle JJ and Auntie LL had so thoughtfully ordered for me and the other small kids. I spent the entire meal feeding myself the bisque, resulting in peace for my parents (and no doubt contributing to their enjoyment).

And for those who have missed seeing me, this is how I look like, at nearly 21 months old (wow, that's very old le...)

Me with my bowbow from Ashley's Bowtique. I wore it for at least half the banquet, which Mummy says is a new record.

Mummy thought Papa was going to take a nice picture of us, but NOPE, he was merely trying out his new camera *rolls eyes*. See the blur figure behind Mummy? Papa was trying to do the journalistic thing, as usual.

Me in nice dress for the occasion. Mummy had been waiting for the right opportunity to put me in this, hahaha. Today was the day i finally fitted in this dress, and there happened to be an occasion for me to wear it!

Papa trying his 'journalistic' stunt again. I have to admit he's getting better at it, though.

Oops! Caught in the act! I got this hand-over-mouth action from Ms Lavina. Mummy can't stop laughing at me whenever I g, "Oh no!" and cover my mouth, like this.

One Lazy Morning

I think this is Mummy's idea of a joke. Since nowadays I don't really like to be in my high chair, she makes me sit on my little stool at the front door instead. She says it's called al-fresco dining. Sounds very atas, but I think I've been had. but anyway, it's a lot less restrictive than my hated high chair, and I get to see the world go by as I eat (not that a lot of world goes by at the 21st storey, but better than nothing right?)

Oh, and have I mentioned before that I'm crazy about bread? i love wholemeal and white bread (but I'm not keen on fruit and nut loaves though). I can have bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Mummy and Papa say it's good because this way they can be sure that I won't starve wherever I may be (because there is always bread, right?)

Hello. Welcome to my breakfast time. please join in!

And because I'm so generous, my caterpillar may have some of my bread too.

Thank you Ms Shauna

It's the end of my Kindermusik journey... *sob sob sob* Last Sunday I had to say bye to Ms Shauna, because Mummy is withdrawing me from Kindermusik. She would have loved to carry on with Kindermusik, but Ms Shauna is leaving the school soon (I heard she is going to Shanghai because her husband has been posted there for work) and I have not settled in to the Our Time class as well as Mummy hoped I would. We didn't anticipate that Our Time would be such a big difference from Village!

In fact I was not supposed to be at Kindermusik this semester as Mummy had already moved me on to Kids' Loft, but at the last lesson last semester she couldn't resist especially when she heard Ms Shauna was leaving after this semester, so ta da!!! I was back the next week!

We've been at Kindermusik for almost a year and loved almost every part of the journey. The last 2,3 semesters of Village especially was very fun for us, and a large part of the credit must go to Ms Shauna, who has been wonderfully patient and manages to make each class such an enjoyable experience.

Mummy would like to say a big THANK YOU to Ms Shauna for taking such good care of me and teaching me so many things during the past year. We will miss Ms Shauna's infectious enthusiasm and lovely voice. Mummy is not ruling out bringing me back to Kindermusik again next time if Ms Shauna comes back.

Me, Charlene and Reina with Ms Shauna. So difficult to get 3 tods to smile!!!

Conversation with the Clairester

Time: 10pm

*Claire takes pack of Healthy Handful cookies and brings it to Mummy*

Claire: Mummy, kai! ('open' in Chinese)
Mummy: It's very late, Clairester. You've already had your milk. It's time to go to bed.
Claire: (shakes the pack insistently) Mummy, kai, kai!!!
Mummy: *sigh* All right. But you can only have 1 cookie ok? (gestures '1' for emphasis)
Claire: (thinks a while) 2! (gestures '2' with her thumb and index finger.. machiam like going to shoot mummy, hahaha)
Mummy: (stunned) No Claire, you can only have 1 cookie ok. (gesture '1')
Claire: 2!!! (gestures '2')
Mummy: 1, darling.
Claire: 2!!!!
Mummy: (gives up) Ok darling, mummy is going to give you 1 cookie. Just 1 cookie ok.
Claire: (takes cookie and walks away without agreeing or disagreeing)

******************* FIVE MINUTES LATER************************
*Claire walks back with pack of cookies in hand*
Claire: (very sweetly) Mummy, 1!!! (gestures '1')
Mummy: *pengz*

Papa's comment when he heard about the incident: Wah, not bad, she knows how to bargain leh!!!
Mummy: ...... *speechless*

I Crept and Crawled at Kids' Loft

Long-awaited pictures from my Kids' Loft weekend playgroup, where I attend 1.5hrs lesson every Saturday. I have just completed my first semester there, and have more or less settled in, though I'm still warming up to Teacher Lavina (yeah it takes me a while... it took me about 2 terms to get comfortable with Ms Shauna!). So Mummy says she will most likely be keeping me at Kids' Loft until I'm 3, since I'm progressing well there. Besides, we like it that the class size is small, my classmates are friendly (even though I bully them by hitting them as and when the fancy takes me - trying to control it) and I can get more personal attention from Teacher Lavina. And of course, the very reasonable prices *wink*

Some pictures from my last class of the term:

My certificate, surrounded by my artwork. Mummy was very impressed with the cert which comes laminated and personalized with my pictures from class. This term I painted, stuck stickers, crushed paper, drew lines with crayon.

Playing during free play time. I'm obsessed with this toy and I never fail to grab it when it's free. Mummy's trying to get me interested in the puzzles and other toys, but nope, I'm one faithful gal.

Snacktime. Last day of the term we had a little potluck party of sorts. I love rice crackers, hahahahaha. Mummy is still not having any luck with getting me to say 'please' in class, though I will say it at home when prompted to. Oh, and Shanice and I enjoyed the party so much we insisted on sitting at the table to finish our meal and subsequently missed our zoophonics session. Teacher Lavina couldn't stop laughing at us.

Dancing with bubbles. I am always the first to run to the carpet. I love snug corners.

Dancing along to the music while Mummy stands outside taking pictures. hahahaha...

Oh, and in case you are wondering why we did so little during our class, it's just that Mummy was not able to capture photos of every part of class, as she was alone with me. So she didn't capture photos of storytelling, singing hello, and zoophonics (which incidentally, I missed. Because food is always more important. Hahahahahhahaha)

I hope to see all my classmates again next term!

I WANT

This evening during dinner I was so desperate to have a potato wedge that I screamed "Wo yao na ge!" It was quite funny to watch my folks' reaction:

Mummy: (exasperated with my nonsense but still manages to ask calmly) dear, did she just say "Wo yao na ge"?
Papa: Yeah I think so. I heard it too.
Mummy: I can't believe it. She'll talk for food.
Claire: *screams away but does not ever repeat the phrase again*