chicken-pox vaccination

Joseph got his chicken-pox vaccination jab yesterday. After much deliberation with Edwin....to jab, not to jab, to jab, not to jab.....and seeking opinions of other mums, and my doctor friend...we decided to let him have the jab. Paid RM120 for it. Joseph cried for 5 seconds. Then it was back to his smiles and toys. I figured it was better for him to get the jab for the following reasons. 1. If he didn't have the jab and he got the disease, we would have to rush him to the paediatrician to get the anti-virals which would cost even more. 2. One jab and 5 seconds of crying is a whole lot better than feeding medicine 3 times a day for two weeks. 3. Getting the jab means that the disease will be less serious should he get it. This then means a happier, less miserable Joseph which results in a happier me! 4. Going to school soon means his risk of getting bugs and viruses increases and therefore, I should give him all the protection I can. Money well-spent!

chubby, choo-bee, chau-bee

I figured this 3 words most aptly describe Joseph. For now at least. Chubby - he downs 3 big bowls of oats/porridge and at least 20-24 oz of milk each day. He looks like he has a beer belly. Kinda like Ah Teck in Under One Roof. But it's just one round tummy. No folds of fat like the Michelin tyre mascot. One solid round tummy. Choo-bee - It means cute in hokkien. How else can I describe Joseph. Cute is an understatement. More like mega-cute. Or super-duper-hyper-mega-cute. Then again, who can blame me if I seem bias? He copies everything we do. Monkey see, monkey do. But with a lot more cuteness. Taking care of him means days of laughter. Just last night, he threw all my pillows from the head of the bed to the foot of the bed. Then he sat down and with one pointed finger, waved it and said "horrrr.....". Just like how we 'scold' him. Chau-bee - Meaning smelly in hokkien, this would be when he has poo-ed and is still happily walking about oblivious to the smell that his faeces is emiting. It is quite a challenge to clean and change this little boy since he will struggle and scream because he doesn't like having his backside washed. I've no idea why. After he is clean and dripping wet, he escapes and roams around gleefully, barebottom. It's as if he is elated to have the wind blowing against his chubby bottom. Again...so cute.

I Not Stupid too

We were browsing in Midvalley Megamal last night and decided to buy I Not Stupid Too (original vcd of course) since the first movie was pretty good. We were not disappointed. I must confess...I shed some tears. Touching is an understatement for this fabulous creation of Jack Neo who also stars in the movie. Tom and his brother Jerry (yes...Tom & Jerry) have parents who think they are doing a great job as parents not realizing that what their children actually need is their time and attention instead of material provision. ChengCai has a ex-prisoner father who in spite of his love for his son, beats him up because he knows no other way to show love. Driven by resentment, the children end up as juveniles...shoplifting, robbing, stealing and fighting.

Have a box of tissue handy as the ending of the movie will bring you to tears. I like the moral values of the movie.

A rotten apple can still be eaten if you cut away the rotten part. But if you throw it away, you will have nothing left.

There is good in everyone. We should focus on their talents instead of their flaws.

Everyone can do well. We all just need a little encouragement.

As the opening line said....When was the last time you praised somebody?

Joseph says mama

My long wait finally came to and end. I had been waiting for the day Joseph would say "ma ma". He did it on Saturday 20th May. It was the sweetest sound to my ears. After he accomplished mama, he added mummum to his vocabulary. Somewhere along the way, he also started saying "hot" referring to the pot that just came off the stove. It amazes me how much this little toddler understands. Just yesterday, he was enjoying his bubble bath with the lower half of his body completely covered by bubbles. When he was asked, "where is your leg?", he happily lifted his left leg out of the water and laughed. Then we asked him, "your other leg?" and he lifted his right leg. He understands and obeys when we tell him to lie down, sit down. I take him to the window and ask him "Got rain or not?" and he will put out his hand as if to check for rain drops. In spite of all this apparent intelligence, he refuses to understand the word NO. Smacking his hand yields no result. The rotan is sitting around. I have yet to use it. It's so long, I'm afraid I'll injure Joseph. My mother says he's too young to understand. I find that absolutely illogical since this smart kid understands various commands and knows how to look at the sky when we say "aeroplane" and "helicopter". Surely the one-syllable no is much simpler to comprehend. For now, his favourite word is still "ball" whenever he sees a ball or anything that looks round like a ball, and "pa", referring to his dad. I'll have to wait (hopefully not too long) till he starts saying "ma" more often.

walk walk walk

Joseph has started walking. He gets more confident with each passing day. A week ago, he looked more like a drunk penguin, falling to his bum after a few steps. Now he's really walking and I'm starting to miss his crawling days because it was also a real joy to see him dashing across the hall and rooms on all fours. I take my eyes off him for a split second and he's out of the room. And then I find him comfortably seated on the chair at the dining table. I'm amazed at how quick he is at making his way out of the room and on to the chair without falling. He doesn't want to stay in his playpen. There's not enough room in there for him. The entire house is his playpen. He opens cupboards, pulls out drawers, climbs on chairs and the table, whacks my computer keyboard... Just last week he trapped his own fingers as he shut a drawer. He looked at me with a pathetically sad face and whimpered. No crying, no tears. I gave him a stern "I-told-you-not-to-play-with-the-drawers" look before I released his chubby fingers from the clutch of the drawer. Sigh...seems to me he's got 'thick skin'. 2 weeks ago when we took him for his 3rd MMR jab, he surprised us (the paediatrician included) when he smiled instead of cry. Not even a teeny weeny whimper. No sign of pain. Got to go buy a cane soon. My sister-in-law tells me there's a shop in PJ Old Town that sells 3 for RM1. That'll be one for the house, one for the car, and one as a spare....