Messy Christmas!

No, there is no typo error. And yes, it is indeed a Messy Christmas!

Iden's stomach flu is recovering. Though his diarrhoea frequency has reduced to once a day but it is still of watery consistency. This consistency has created a messy Christmas for him (and for all of us in the IT family).

Like yesterday, he actually pooed while we were running some errands in town. His watery stool leaked out from his diaper and trickled down his right leg. His romper, pant and right sandal were stained.

Then this afternoon, a few minutes after he woke up from his afternoon nap, his watery stool again leaked out from his diaper and his romper, mattress and bolster were all stained with poo.

I tell you, both incidents were messy and smelly!

For now, all I want for Christmas is a healthy Iden with solid stools.

Here's a Messy, oops, Merry Christmas to all of you out there! Stay healthy, yah?

Stomach flu

It started yesterday afternoon.

Ms Ng called to say that Iden vomited his lunch and had diarrhoea. This afternoon, Ms Ng called to say that apart from diarrhoea, Iden had a slight fever. I was having lunch half way through and had to rush to the child care centre to bring him to see Dr Ong.

Dr Ong diagnosed that Iden is suffering from stomach flu. Apparently, there is a stomach flu virus going around lately. Iden had gotten the virus unknowingly.

Well, intestinal infection is not treatable. All we can do is to ensure that he is not dehydrated and pray that the infection will resolve on its own in no time.

孩子不是小大人

Veronica shared this meaningful article with imama just now: 经常听一些大人这样称赞孩子：“这孩子好乖，好懂事，像个小大人似的。”也有家长在说到自己的孩子不爱学习、做事拖拖拉拉时，总是一副恨铁不成钢的样子：“如果我是他，我一定会...”难道像大人的孩子才是好孩子吗？能达到父母标准的才是好孩子吗？在父母根据自己的标准来要求孩子时，孩子们到底失去了什么？

有一位职业女性迟迟不肯要孩子，在追求事业和长辈要她传宗接代的痛苦挣扎中，她回忆起在11岁那年禁不住母亲的逼迫，她决定放弃自我，做“妈妈的乖女儿”。从此，她为了妈妈认真读书，她考上妈妈要她上的大学，她进了妈妈认可的公司，她与妈妈看中的人结了婚，完完全全地成了“妈妈的乖女儿”，却没有了自己。可在内心深处，那个11岁的女孩一直在哭泣，也因此她不想要孩子。 偶然在《联合晚报》上看到一则新闻，1980年代大名鼎鼎的天才神童宁铂出家了。在那个年代，宁铂是所有中国孩子（也包括我）的偶像，他非常聪明，又很听话，是人们心目中的完美儿童。可是，大人们给他的荣耀和期望过于沉重，仍然是一个孩子的他根本无法负荷那么重的东西。在经历一连串的挫折，不再那么成功之后，他对一家媒体说：“我说不上是谁害了我，可是，我没有过童年，当同龄人在玩泥巴调皮撒欢儿时，我已成了公众人物，内心的孤独可想而知。如果可以重新选择，我想过一个充满欢笑的童年。” 前新加坡教育部高级政务部长曾士生先生在一个晚餐会说，现在的男孩连打架都不会了，真是令人担心！在我们周围，不知有多少家庭正在把自己的孩子像成人那样培养，为了让孩子将来有所作为，不惜牺牲孩子的课余时间去补习上课；为了让孩子有修养，在家里这不能做那不能玩，更别说让孩子打闹逗乐。想一想，一个没有时间调皮和玩闹的孩子，还有童年吗？也难怪现在的孩子物质条件优越，却很少感到快乐。 快乐和游戏是孩子的权力。如果您的孩子好动顽皮，就给他时间玩吧。孩子的兴奋性神经比压抑性神经更加发达，一味地要求孩子像大人那样安静、乖巧，往往使得孩子更加好动，让他充分的活动，孩子自然就会安静下来。 孩子不是小大人，孩子就是孩子。一个成功的孩子，首先必须是一个快乐和充满欢笑的孩子，在培养全面成长的孩子和允许孩子拥有欢笑之间并不矛盾，只要我们蹲下来理解孩子就可以了。 [Note: The above article is extracted from issue no. 70 of the newsletter by Excel-PC (http://www.excel-pc.com).] After reading it, all I can say is that I am glad we are allowing Iden to be a child.

Supernanny's chart

If you have seen Supernanny's series, you will be familiar with her reward system and chart. Well, we tried to customise one for Iden's use as follows:

How does it work? When Iden behaves well, his car will move forward. If he misbehaves, his car will have to be moved back. The reward is to watch the CARS movie.

How do you find the chart? I think it is very well done considering that it was hand drawn by ipapa. Ipapa really knows his son's likes well. The chart has Iden's favourite cars and Iden is all the most willing to behave well in order to get his reward.

The chart has worked well so far and kept Iden's behaviour in check. And of course, if it doesn't work, we still have our ever reliable naughty corner to deal with him :-)

Bishan park

A visit to Bishan Park this morning brought laughter and fun for Iden....