Sunday, October 30, 2011

How to make a child take his medication?

I am so bored right now. Everyone is asleep ...i am still up as i had had a long nap this afternoon ...adik is coughing ...i can hear him coughing ....mum and i had given him his cough syrup just now ....guessbthe medicine takes time to do what it is supposed to do ....

Do you find it hard to give medicines to kids? With their wriggling? With their cries? Well, Al is worst ...we always have problem giving him any medication since he was a little tot ...when he has fever and the temperature shosot up, we always resort to rectal paracetemol ...anything other than oral medicines for him ....but adik is a bit different ...he is ok with paracetemol syrup, especially the cherry flavoured one ....my mum just show him the bottle and he would willingly take the medicine ...but he is not fond of antibiotics ...and his cough syrup ....now that he is a big boy, we i.e. Mum and i found it harder to get him to take his meds ...one person has to distract him and hold his hands, while the other feed him the meds ...

My dad and my brother are only watching or giving us instruction ...the reason is that they are unwilling to become the bad guy ...the one who force the kiddos to take the meds ....Jane, is also the same ...but during emergencies, she would help mum with the meds ....so, the bad guys are always me and mum ....

I remembered when we were little, i am one of those person who hate to take my meds ...i still do! But coz i was such a skinny kid (hard to believe ehhh) i was advised to take vitamins ....so, my dad would put the vitamin inside a banana ...and my brother and i would eat our banana not knowing that the bananas were spiked with vitamins ...lol ....tried itvwith Al ...he absolutely refused to eat his banana coz he saw my dad put "something" in the banana ...hehehehehe we also tried diluting the cough syrup or paracetemol syrup in his formula ...in cirdial drinks ...but he still knows and thus refusing to take it ....

It is funny now but in desperate times we really are at the loss as to how to get him taking his meds ...any idea anyone?

Sunday, October 23, 2011

the many faces of Tasha & Aariz

I spent a very short weekend with my dear friends a few weeks ago ....i have not met them in a year ..the last time I saw them, Liz was heavily pregnant, whilst we were not even aware of Fida's pregnancy ...so this time round I get to met the two new additions to our "clan" for the very first time ...





photo from Liz's camera: with Aariz before he goes bald :-)

Monday, October 17, 2011

Encouraging Al to write

Al is going to start school next year ...the parents are going to enrol him in a kindy soon ...he is quite intelligent, but has really low attention span ...he is quick to remember things but lack the inclination to follow things through ....and, me being me, decided that he should do some sort of exercises daily to familiarise him with preschool ....

A couple of month ago, we bought him a huge placard of alphabet complete with illustration ...he is able to memorise from A to I the moment .....The common scenario at home, someone would say A for ....and he'll answer A for Apple .....B for Balloon ...C for cat ....D for Doll ...and so on ...we are so proud of him ....Other than that he recognised a few alphabets here and there ...like P for Penguin ...and everytime he sees a U-turn sign by the roadside, he'll say, look there is an upsidedown U (u dah accident kata nya!) ...and my dad purposely went to a supermarket and bought a couple of apples ...just to show Al that the apple is the same as the one on his placard ....the length that he is willing to go to teach his grandkid is amazing ....it is just the same as what we went through during our childhoods ...my dad would do something like that ...and it makes us remember things better ....now he is doing it with the kids ...the legacy lives on ...yeahhhhh

Last week i started to encourage him to write ...my problem is to motivate him to write ...he is very restless and hyperactive ...very difficult to make him sit down and concentrate on writing ...imagine, for one whole week i only managed to get him to write the letter A ...he exhibits lack of self confidence when i asked him to write on his own, but was more confident when i am there to guide his hands through the lettering ...today we started on the letter B ...same scenario ...he would give up after a couple of tries ...if i force him, he would not be doing it wholeheartedly ...so i try not to force him ....i will stop when he shows signs of frustratiin ...when he is getting restless ....

But motivation is the name of the game....he is so into iPad, laptop and smart phones ....always requested that i let him use my iPad, my lappy or my phone ....now, i would tell him that he can use these things AFTER, and ONLY AFTER, he had done some writing ...or reading or drawing .....i make it as a reward for him ...so far, it is working!!! He did a couple of scribble earlier, and i let him use the laptop ...when he did a few more writing willingly, i upgraded by letting him use the iPad ....he is happy, i am happy, the rest of th family are happy with the progress ...

Still a lot of things to be done ...a lot of challenges, i would say ...i just hope i am doing th right things ...not pressuring him, but more like encouraging him ...

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Appreciating your love ones

It is already halfway in october ...we are already two third into 2011 ...time seems to fly super duper fast ...lots of things that i should have done are yet to be done ...lots of unexpected things happenned ....one of the unexpected is my dad's health ...he seems to be having problem since june this year ...first it was his postural hypotension ...the ambulance ride to hospital, followed by a rather frequent illness ....in fact today, it just hit me...he seems very frail ....in my mind, he is always the healthy one ....i only recalled the only time my dad was admitted to hospital was when i was either in kindy or primary one ....an aeon ago ...i vaguely recalling us visiting him at the hospital....nowadays, particularly the last 3 months, i have been sending him for various check ups nearly every other week ....

Then one of my colleagues, who recently lost her dad to dementia, advised me to put family first ....and to drop everything at work, to take leave and so on so that i can send my dad for check ups ...she said that work can always wait, our parents can't wait ...appreciate them while they are still here ...i take that advice to heart ...i know last year i had been very busy at work ...i often worked late, brought work home and what not ...but nowadays, i have cut down my late evening workings, and brought work home instead ....i spent more ime with my parents ....i just hope that they are listening to me when i want to send them for check ups ...it is frustrating at times as my dad can be very difficult ...we, i.e. my brother and i had to twist his hands in order to get him to hospitals ...

It struck me that both my parents are not as healthy as they used to be ...and it saddens me ...

Thursday, October 13, 2011

A lost pirate

One of Al and Adik's fav show is Jake and the Neverland Pirate ...so, it is not surprising when he started humming the theme song of the show ...and started to act scenes from the show ...he usually tied a handkerchief around his head, so that one end would cover his eyes ...and one day, my dad decided to make Al an eye patch ...hahahah with a cut round paper, tied up with rubberbands .....


Al was very excited ...over the moon in fact with his eye patch ...and he uses the cowboy hat we bought in Sabah as a pirate hat .....


very little to keep him happy ...all it takes is just some creativity!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Expensive fares ...not everyone can fly

Last Wednesday a good friend of mine sent a text message inviting me to a kenduri. Liz, my dearest friend, is going to celebrate her sons' birthday as well as a kenduri for her youngest son ... I really really wanted to come and visit her ...in fact i promised her that i would be visiting her in Kuantan this year ...a promise made early this year when Aariz was born ...so, by friday morning (after i got her text message) i decided to check out the flights to Kuantan ...lo and behold, the cheapest quotes that i got was RM 1,300 ....using MAS ...as there is no Airasia flights that serve the Kuala Lumour -Kuantan sector ....felt like crying ...was so looking forward to meeting her ....it is nearly a year since we last saw each other ...the last time we met was last Nov, when she was heavily pregnant with Aariz ...

This brings me to this issue that has been bugging me for a very long time. I am very disappointed with the Malaysian air transportation nowadays ...there was a time where all fares under MAS was fixed ....and you know what price you are supposed to pay ...but because of profit, they (under Idris Jala) started to emulate Airasia ...you book early, you pay less ...you book late or last minute you pay more ...this is a disgrace coz this practice is actually victimizing those people who are facing emergency situations ...those who have an urgent, unexpected businness that require them to use the air transport ....my dad was complaining about this all the time ....orang susah jadi lebih susah sebab tambang mahal ...if you have alternative mode of transport, then it wont matter much ...but if you are in semenanjung and have to go back home to Sarawak or Sabah for family emergencies ...or in situations involving life and death ...you wont have much choice ...unless you have a boat or sampan handy ...and that alone take days ...an utterly impossible feat ....

So, people turn to Airasia ...Yes, it is cheaper comparatively... But with all the add-ons that one has to pay ...the price is also rather steep ...it is ok if you are earning 6k a month ...but those people with limited disposable income and saving really dont have any choice ....i really thought that the old pricing was great ...but as younall know ...money and profit rule!!!!! by the way, do you guys know that Airasia is now having this RM10 fee if you are checking in at their counter??? this is because they are encouraging people to check in online ....again, those without access to internet or smartphones are the victims ....but do they care???

How can airline serves the public better? Merging airasia and MAS services? Dont think that is the solution ....Let's stop and think about this for a moment ....

Liz, my promise is still a promise ...i will visit you in Kuantan ....just have to find a cheaper ticket ....have a great kenduri ....