Seeking Permanent Hair Removal Method

If you're the squeamish type, you probably should stop here and go read something else.

We made yet another trip to Sunway Hospital today due to a razor blade accident I had in the shower this morning. I had my regular, ladies gilette razor in my right hand when the shower head fell and instinctively I put my hand out to catch it. Obviously it hadn't occurred to me not to do it since the razor was facing upwards and, in trying to catch the falling shower head, I swung my hand upwards.

I can't remember if I actually caught it because suddenly all I felt was this shearing pain in my left pinkie. That's when I realised I had smashed the face of the razor blade straight onto my left pinkie.

All I saw was red. Cursing to myself, I did the useless thing of washing it but obviously it just kept bleeding, DUH. I quickly used my towel and applied direct pressure on it while thinking what to do next. Daddy had left for work; the boys, Wan and Bibik were downstairs and I'm the only one left who can drive.

Hmmm ... could I possibly drive myself to the hospital? I removed the towel from my pinkie and drip, drip, drip. It hurt like hell just to pull the towel away from it.

Ok, obviously not. I had to call in the cavalry: Atok and Cikgai! After explaining to Cikgai as calmly as possible what happened, she said they'll be right over. My next challenge was to get dressed which I managed to do with creative use of my teeth.

When I was ready, I decided to just wait upstairs continuing to apply pressure on the pinkie. I called Daddy to let him know and he immediately packed up and made his way home.

We met Daddy at the A&E of Sunway Hospital. By that time I had used a small towel to apply pressure on it. When the nurse came to open it up I was really cringing and when she saw my finger she had to re-dress it and helped me apply pressure. This is what it looked like at that time:

Essentially I had sliced off a chunk of my pinkie (skin AND flesh), enough to warrant an x-ray to check that I didn't hit the bone. Luckily I hadn't. Then they gave me a tetanus shot and a painkiller shot as well, before sending me to the orthopaedic surgeon.

In the treatment room while waiting for the surgeon to take a look at it, the nurse opened up the dressing and again, drip drip drip, so she had to re-wrap it but not too tightly so that it wouldn't hurt again when the surgeon removes it to take a look.

He said it couldn't really be stitched so the only thing to do was to dress it up and come in daily to change the dressing. So here it is in all its gory... sorry, glory ...:

In the meantime, I'm in the market for permanent hair removal, preferably not done in my bathroom. I just realised the bathroom is indeed a very dangerous place for me.

A Stubborn Streak

Adik's stubborn streak is starting to show. Couple that with the Terrible Twos AND some serious separation anxiety issues, and we have a recipe for major battles at home. I mean, when he has decided that he wants to do something, no amount of "Adik don't do that" will sway him. He ... must ... no, he ... WILL ... do ... that.

Which makes going out for meals a real challenge.

In fact, he is very different from Abang in the sense that he is not as easily distractable. Abang does act up too, but he could be distracted by something else ("Hey! We were supposed to do painting, remember?" or "Look at Harun, I think he's trying to catch the bird! Oh no!").

But Adik, oh boy, Adik will absolutely refuse to be distracted. When he doesn't get what he wants he bawls and screams without giving an inch.

That's when I realised, in absolute horror: I gave birth to myself.

Oh, crap. I'm in for a good time, NOT.

I tested my theory with Daddy, expecting (hoping?) to have the theory shot down but all Daddy said was, "Yes, you did, didn't you?".

No sympathy, whatsoever!

Having said that, I'm happy to report that I'm slowly weaning him off his pacifier. When it's bedtime I keep telling him that "the dog took your pacifier" and he would complain, but not cry. Sure it takes longer for him to fall asleep but I can deal with that as long as there's no crying. And so far there isn't, phew!

So nowadays, he looks like this when he sleeps:

With some luck and even more perseverance, soon the dog can have all of his pacifiers.

Boys, Lovely Boys

Here are some examples of what the boys have been up to lately:

Adik, with his latest obsession of "I do it!" and "No, Adik do!". Add to that his other obsession with throwing things away, not all of them rubbish, "Buang. Adik buang." and he runs to find a rubbish bin.

Further to his first experience in climbing our manggo tree, Abang did it again! He managed to climb higher than before and wanted to go even higher but ... uh ... Mummy chickened out and asked him to come down and "wait for Daddy to come home, he'll help you climb higher". Mummy's not the tree climber in the family, if that's not already obvious.

Finally - yes, finally! - I signed Adik up for class at Tumble Tots. Not the same one as Abang, of course, he's too young for that. He's in the 2-3 year olds play class where they sing songs, climb, run, balance, crawl and generally have a fun time. I considered putting him in a different class which teaches them alphabets to help ease my panic attack but the schedule isn't right. So I figured better just send him for a regular play class because if I don't, before I know it, he'll be 18 and moving out to go to college. And he'll forever go on and on (until he's 35) about how "Mummy never sent me to Tumble Tots" and it'll just scar him for life. Trust me.


The other day Abang teman me to go get my car washed. It's so rare now that he'll go to the car wash with me so it was nice to have him come along. He wanted to take pictures with my phone so I let him and he took the one above of the cars being cleaned. I thought it was pretty good! He took another one of a leaf on the ground which was also good, but I don't think I need to put it up.

Then today we all went to KLIA to fetch Atok and Cikgai who had a one-week holiday in Brunei. Wow they had so much fun! The boys, I mean. At the airport. Well, I'm sure Atok and Cikgai had fun on their holiday too. No pictures from KLIA because we were either chasing them around the airport or recovering from chasing them around the airport.

No wonder Atok preferred not to have Abang sleepover at their house tonight :)

Bowling 101

Abang and I went bowling today!

I hadn't done it in ages and it was so much fun. We checked out the bowling alley at Alamanda, Putrajaya, mainly because it's generally less zoo-like than other malls especially during the school holidays. (By the way, Abang also did go to the real, 4-legged animal zoo for a school trip. More on that later.)

It was very cheap to play there - RM4 per game and RM2 for shoe rental. They also have smaller bowling balls for children to use plus they can put the barriers up on each side of the lane so that the ball doesn't roll into the longkang.

It was so funny to see Abang pick up the bowling ball off the rack and go, "Oof. This is heavy." And then he sat on the floor (wearing children's bowling shoes, so cute) trying to get his fingers in the respective holes. In retrospect, he didn't really need to because he had to use both hands to carry the ball up until the line anyway. Then he put it down on the floor between his legs and pushed the ball as hard as he could. Once the ball rolled so s-l-o-w-l-y that it stopped just after it hit one pin.

The barriers could explain the few spares that Abang got, what with the ball bouncing off the right barrier, then the left barrier and then, lo and behold, it hit the pins! YEA! Although, *ahem* Mummy got a strike - which obviously had nothing to do with the barriers.

After bowling we went to Waffle Stop for a waffle stick with ice-cream on top. Ooooooo ... that was yum-meeee. A very reluctant Abang came home with me, all tired and happy.

Boldly Going Where I've Never Gone Before

I've been egged on by Adeline to attempt baking cupcakes because, in her words, "it's so easy to do".

Ok, I'll give it a go. Since I am quite averse to kitchen-related challenges, I figured if it's really that easy then surely even I, the kitchen-challenged one, can do it. By that evening, I was dreaming up various designs to do on my soon-to-be-baked cupcakes.

When I was about to start, suddenly I felt a bit intimidated. Measure the flour? Clean the weighing scale? Separate those itty-bitty little cupcake paper cups? Alamak, is the butter soft? Ok, ok, I psyched myself: I CAN DO THIS. IT'S JUST A DAMN CUPCAKE.

Once I started, it suddenly did become easy! Wonders what a standing mixer can do (something we already had but obviously not used). When the batter was done, I looked around for another suitable mixing bowl to make the icing. I think the fancy name for it is "Butter Cream Frosting" but, really, it's just butter and icing sugar.

After the mixing was done, we all headed to Atok's house for the baking because their stove has a working oven with a fan! Wow! Ours... well... ours, um, has an oven, but who knows if it works. Anyway, we inherited it from Atok's house when we moved in here 7 years ago and by that time it was already 100 years old and we weren't too fussy.

Abang very kindly offered to help (see my definition of "help") with the separating of cupcake cups and spooning the batter into the individual cups. Once they were cooked, I let them cool down before attempting to spread icing on them.

That's the real challenge, isn't it, the decoration on the cupcake. (Or, as Daddy would say, the "value add".) As my first attempt, I just tried doing some simple stuff.

Second attempt - nantilah, let's see if I'm a bit braver. The fact that I'm not giving up is good news in itself!

Feline Wellness Programme

In other words, I'm putting the cats on a diet.

I mean, just look at them. Don't they look like cats that need to go on a di... I mean a "wellness programme"? It's quite fascinating that Harun, who's been raised by us since birth, would go totally wild when we give him people food like chicken or fish. But Thomas, he who strayed into our home and our hearts, thumbs his nose at people food. He just sniffs at it and walks away, almost saying, "As if!" He scarfs down the IAMS like there's no tomorrow. Daddy reckons it's because he was a stray cat that he eats a lot of the good stuff, because as a stray cat you never know when your next meal will be so when a good meal is placed in front of you, eat as much as you can!

Actually, to be perfectly honest, I'm also doing it for my convenience. I plan to feed them only twice a day - once in the morning and once late afternoon or early evening.

That's because lately, in their attempt to be fed for the 10th time in an hour, they've been really getting underfoot. So much so that I've tripped over them, stepped on Harun's paw, accidentally kicked Thomas and all this wearing my high heeled shoes which makes neither feline nor human look particularly graceful. (How could anyone look graceful kicking a cat?!)

So let's see if my Feline Wellness Programme does any good for the felines concerned, or merely for the adult humans around them.

Maybe I ought to get them to pose for "Before" and "After" pictures, just like in all those ads (for human wellness programmes, that is).

A Cinematic Experience

It was with a bit of excitement and rather a lot of apprehension that Daddy and I took Adik for his first movie at the cinema. A good friend of ours alerted us to a charity screening of Ratatouille in aid of P.S. The Children ("Protect and Save The Children"), a non-profit organisation that helps abused and neglected children, especially sexually abused children.

The screening was at 10:30am at GSC Mid-Valley and when we got there just after 10, there were already tons of people there! We queued up for popcorn, a surefire way to calm Adik in case he got nervous from the throngs of people as well as the dark and loud cinema.

When we went into the cinema hall, it was still bright. Within 2 seconds of sitting down at our seat, he was already up and about wanting to "go jalan". I decided to take him to kencing (he actually did pee, hooray for toilet training!). When we got back it was already dark. Hmmm... he didn't seem to mind.

Ok, good, now let's see if he'll sit down and watch the movie.

He did!

He sat on my lap and was quite enthralled by the HUGE, ENORMOUS yet LOUD screen in front of him. I slowly cupped my hands over his ears, fearing that he would dislike the loudness of it but then he brushed it away, almost irritated by my doing that in the first place.

This is a good sign! He then sat there quietly watching the movie, munching on some popcorn for the next 40 minutes.

This is a big deal for me because it was in stark contrast to the experience when I took Abang to watch the movie Cars last year. To be fair to him, it was a very different setting. Firstly, we were in the cinema when it went dark. So he was already a bit freaked out that suddenly everything went black around him. Then, those silly (and very loud) Carlsberg ads came on, further enhancing the freaking-out motion. He was already egging me to leave the cinema. By the time the actual movie came on - after various trailers which I thought were highly inappropriate to show before a children's movie, i.e. lots of gunfire and yelling - he was all but crying, "Mummy I want to go! Mummy I want to go!"

So traumatic. For him too. So I took him outside to calm down, then I tried to talk him into going back in, by which time the opening scene of the movie was in full swing - the very fast paced and loud race!

It was much better for Adik because Ratatouille is more muted, not so loud or fast paced. Anyway, after about 45 minutes he got restless so I took him outside for a bit but he was reluctant to come back in. I did a tag team with Daddy and he took over after awhile but when they came back inside it was obvious that Adik had had enough.

Never mind, we'll catch the next children's flick!

Adik's Birthday Party

Wow even a small "for family only" birthday party can be so tiring! Maybe the pictures can explain why ...

This was before the party actually started. Oh boy!

And here's another one to send to Atok Bah, although I'm not sure if he'll be pleased that they're "climbing" trees or if he'll call me to "advise" me on the dangers of letting them climb trees.

I was trying to get them to do it as quickly as possible for the photo opp, hoping that Wan wouldn't see them but it was too late. Before I could say "Ok, get down" she had come outside and Abang had called to her, "Wan! Tengok!" And that was when I heard this piercing yell, "EH! TURUN! JATUH NANTI TU!"

Oh boy, indeed. Luckily Daddy was taking the photos, not me.

It looks like very innocent candle-blowing fun, but in actual fact it was more like let's-see-who-can-put-more-spit-on-the-cakes. At 4+ years old, Abang has really improved his candle-blowing skills. Adik, on the other hand ...

More garden play time while the guests were in the process of leaving. You know how it is, first you announce that you are leaving. Then you alert the kids and/ or spouse about your intention to leave. Then you wait for the food to be packed for you. Then you talk at the door. Then you talk at the gate. Then you walk to the car, still talking all the way to the car.

After spouse and/ or kids are packed in the car, drive off. Then drive back when you realise you left something.

I'm pooped, good night!

Panic Attack

Hooray, Adik turned 2 yesterday and thus making the great leap from "baby" to "toddler". Wasn't it just yesterday he looked like this:

Now he's all of 2 years old and I realised, gasp shock horror, that he doesn't know any alphabets, colours or shapes. He can recite a few numbers, though.

That's when I had a panic attack. Because when Abang was this age, he already knew basic shapes (although they were pronounced 'tuare' for 'square', 'turtle' for 'circle' and 'tangle' for 'triangle'), ALL his alphabets, basic colours like blue, red, green, yellow and also numbers 1 until 10.

And what is Adik doing?

Doing the duck walk. Jumping off the coffee table onto the sofa (yes, yes, he gets told off for doing that). Insisting on feeding himself. Opening and drinking from a mineral water bottle. Putting on his shorts, getting a hit rate of about 40% (which is not bad considering Abang has trouble with that too sometimes). Jumping up and down. Playing with Lego (regular size, not Duplo). Attempting to play with Abang's Leapster but has to be corrected when he holds it upside down. Putting his shoes on by himself. Doing his business in the loo, yelling "Adik yak! Adik yak!".

I guess they just have very different strengths although it wouldn't hurt if I took out the flashcards eh?

Oh yes - and smacking our pokok bunga kertas with the broom:

Panic attack!

The Day I Met Jimmy Choo

Yes, it's true

I met Jimmy Choo

Sitting there at Uncle Lim

I wondered, What do I say to him?

Eating his assam laksa

Me, my roti bakar

He, the great shoemaker

Me, a mere homemaker?

I wanted to say "Hi!"

And hoped he wouldn't just say "Bye!"

So I apologised for interrupting

(I mean, it's not like he was wining and dining)

And asked, Are you Jimmy Choo?

He laughed and said, Do I look like him too?

I said, Yes you do

You look like Jimmy Choo!

Then he confessed, Yes, I'm Jimmy Choo

I shook his hand and said, It's very nice to meet you

I asked, Are you back for good?

Or just for the food?

He said, No, I'm just back to celebrate MERDEKA

After all, finding a job here "a bit susah"

I said, That can't be true

After all, you are Jimmy Choo!

Then I asked about his collaboration with UiTM

He misheard me and mumbled something about RTM

Do you work with them, he asked

No, I said, being a full-time mom is my task

Then he said, You look much too young

To be a full-time mom

I blushed away

And said, I'm not that young anyway

So then I said goodbye

Didn't want his assam laksa to go dry

And I walked off feeling very pleased with myself

For having chatted with the Datuk himself.

Ok, a few things to note: Firstly, he didn't exactly say finding a job "is a bit susah" but I had to find something that rhymed. He actually very modestly said that nobody here would take him on.

And then, at the end after I shook his hand again, before I left I said, "All the best" which in retrospect sounds a bit stupid. But he was very nice, and he even replied with, "Give my best to your family."

Such a cute man!

Scoring Brownie Points

I think I may scored brownie points with Nenek today (yay?). After lunch, Abang said he wanted to go play at Atok's house but my parents were out and about running errands so that was a no-go. Then he said he wanted to go to Nenek's house instead and Nenek's usually at home so that wasn't a problem.

We all packed up (sans Bibik who stayed home cleaning the house) and headed to Kepong. I called Nenek just to make sure that she was indeed home and I think she was rather pleased that we were coming over for a surprise visit.

When we got there she had already fried some karipap, took out some of Ant J's cheesecake (sorry ah Ant J, very laku la) and even had some teh-O ready! I brought some of my work to do there, not just to get stuff done but also to get Abang to do his homework. We now have a 'race' to see who can finish homework faster. I let Abang win, of course, so that he does finish it!

Nenek was most pleased to feed both boys cheesecake while Abang completed his homework and Adik watched his favourite show Little Einsteins. Later, they played outside for a bit while Mummy finished her homework aided by some karipap and teh-O.

We got caught in a massive traffic jam coming back (does that score me more brownie points?) but it was a nice afternoon; a good change for everyone albeit a rather long drive there and back.

Next on my Brownie Point Scoring list is Atok Bah, my father-in-law. It seems that Atok Bah is a bit concerned that the boys aren't "getting in touch with nature". Maybe I unknowingly only ever send him pictures of Abang and Adik in concrete settings like at a mall or in the house.

So I shall be digging up photos of the boys "at one with nature", say playing in the garden, playing with the cats, at bird and butterfly parks, at playgrounds, etc. Maybe something like:

That's Adik watering a brick in the grass. How about Abang loosening the soil for Wan to plant her kunyit:

Let's not forget them feeding and playing with the cats:

Yes, I must print and send those photos to Atok Bah asap!

Will Pay for Sleep

Wa, Adik's been quite the cranky bunny lately. Poor little guy has a huge, I mean enormous, ulcer on his tongue. Luckily his paediatrician confirmed it isn't anything serious but did prescribe some bonjela-type medication for me to apply on Adik's tongue. I'm thinking, this ubat is going to be such a waste of money. (Which it is.)

Last night he slept ok, or rather, I slept quite ok because I assume he did too. Or if he was restless it wasn't enough to disturb my sleep.

But Thursday night, wa-lau-eh, both of us hardly slept. Between 8pm and 11pm he was so restless, waking up crying every half hour almost. Then, from 11pm-1am he became extremely restless not allowing me to leave his side at all. Whenever I tried to get up to go to the bathroom or to pray he would cry. Finally, at 1m I decided to just get up and do what I needed to do (loo, pray, put clothes away) and let him sit up on the bed and watch some TV.

Maybe in hindsight that was a mistake because then he was SO wide awake that he wouldn't go back to sleep once I was ready to sleep. I dozed in and out until 3:30am and I realised he still wasn't asleep. In the end I had to rock him to sleep and I think he went out by about 4am.

5:45am he's up again, restless and kicking his legs feeling very annoyed but eventually made it back to slumberland. 7am he's up and not agreeing to the suggestion of going back to bed.

And with that I shall stop here because Adik seems to be having another Thursday Night-type night. Is sleep stocked up anywhere at 1Utama? It doesn't have to be on sale, I'd pay full price for it.

Gejala Ponteng Sekolah

I admit I am partly responsible for the rise in Gejala Ponteng Sekolah. Today I let Abang ponteng to go to the Butterfly Park in KL. Cuz and AJ's cousin was in town from the US so we went with them there to see the lovely butterflies. (Admittedly Cuz also ponteng but AJ made it for his 2 o'clock class.)

It was a nice day for a trip to the Butterfly Park - not too hot but not raining either. There were many tourists plus a big group of school children on a field trip. Abang and Adik had way a lot of fun running around - and of course tripping and falling which wasn't as fun - even though they're actually a bit geli when the butterflies are flying around them!

The fish and tortoise ponds also fascinated them, but not as much as the python in the glass case. Abang called to Wan, "Wan! Tengok! Ada ular dekat situ." She recoiled and headed in the opposite direction.

After Cuz and AJ arrived, all four boys had even more fun. Except for the time AJ had some "issues" with the ice cream freezer that he saw from the entrance, i.e. he wasn't allowed any. So for the whole of the next 15 minutes he became a real contrarion and insisted that all the butterflies were fake. (When I said "Hi" to him, he answered, "Bye!". That's how upset he was.) He cheered up after awhile and declared that the butterflies were indeed real live ones.

Anyway, back to the Gejala, it's funny that I feel guilty for not feeling guilty about letting Abang skip school. He's only 4, for crying out loud, many kids his age don't even go to kindergarten! Plus he's been getting what I feel is a lot of homework lately. And colouring isn't his strength so it's doubly excrutiating (for him and me) to get him to finish it. (Note to self: Call teacher tomorrow.)

Next time we go to the Butterfly Park I must remember not to bother with the stroller. The place is full of steps everywhere!