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Hannah is beginning to role-play a lot these days. She started picking up the comb and *combing* her hair a few months ago, and just lately, she began holding my cellphone to her ear, as if she was talking to someone.
I wonder if this is a sign of things to come…..hmmm….
Two days ago, Pete discovered a splinter in Ethan’s big toe, and there was no other way but to remove it. We explained to him that it was gonna hurt a little bit but his toe would be better afterward, but the moment he felt the *tinge* he cried out that he didn’t want the *sharp thing*.
I had to hold Ethan down as best I could while Pete tried to remove the splinter by applying some antiseptic cream and then pulling out the tiny splinter with a tweezer. Definitely not an easy feat when Ethan was kicking, squirming and screaming.
I realize then that removing a splinter in the toe is just as painful for the remover as well as the removee. We knew it was painful but we just HAD to do it.
And after all the agony, Ethan (brave boy he is) got to choose his band-aid.
Last Wednesday, Ethan’s school organized a field trip to Taiping Zoo. An invitation was also extended to have one parent accompany the child on the trip. Because I am still breastfeeding Hannah, Ethan went with his Daddy. It was a good thing Pete managed to take the day off 🙂
A week before the field trip, Ethan had already begun counting down the days to the trip. Each day, he would ask me what day it was, and then he would count how many days to go before he would reach Wednesday.
So he was very excited when the day finally arrived! I dropped both boys at school in the morning, where they were to board a bus to Taiping.
Arrival at Taiping Zoo, everyone eager and raring to go
After running around in the hot sun, Ethan sporting a *cool* mohawk, courtesy of Daddy
Some of the zoo animals that they saw, while riding in the tram
Having a McDonald’s Happy Meal for lunch…doesn’t somebody look happy? 😛
…finishing up his iced Milo
Goodbye Taiping Zoo! I had a great day today with Daddy!
Ethan sat with his Daddy on the bus on the way to the zoo, but he wanted to sit with his friends on the way back.
The field trip must have tired him out big time! Ethan fell asleep on the way back home, after I picked them up from his school, and continued his LONG nap at home till about 5:00p.m.! Definitely a record for Ethan because he hardly takes an afternoon nap.
There’s no doubt how much Hannah adores her big brother Ethan. She loves to play with him all the time, and looks on in awe as he goes about his funny antics, and laughs hysterically when he does funny things.
But she doesn’t quite behave as he did when Ethan was her age.
*Gung-ho* is a word that is quite aptly used to describe Hannah. For she may seem sweet and adorable, but I think deep down inside she’s a real toughie. We’ve started using “No” to indicate to Hannah she is not supposed to do something, but all she does is turn around, look at us with a look that says, “Huh? Why am I not supposed to do this?” and then calmly she will walk away. No tears, no whining. Ethan, on the other hand, used to bawl the very moment we firmly said, “No”.
One of the *weird* things that attract Hannah is the TV panel at the bottom of our TV. It’s an enclosed panel that flips open when pushed. And our girl figured it out. So she would walk to the TV, push the panel open, and then swiftly walk away. Even though we have told her countless times NOT to do it, she still does it.
And what’s even funnier is how Ethan would promptly shut the panel and tell Hannah, “No Hannah…stop doing that!”
And Hannah will repeat it over and over again.
Upon the insistence of Ethan, I put Hannah on the naughty stool a few times, but it doesn’t appear to work YET because Hannah seems to enjoy being on the stool.
Although Ethan and Hannah look almost the same, with those killer long eyelashes and BIG eyes, they have totally different behaviours. And that’s what makes them unique and special, no?
We try to avoid bringing the kids to see the doctor, instead we prefer to let them get well on their own. Hospitals tend to make one feel gloomy and the thought of germs all around can be quite disconcerting. PLUS we really don’t like the long wait.
But when Hannah’s on-off fever was still lingering after 3 days, we decided to bring her in. That was two days ago and it was a Thursday, so that meant I would have to take Hannah to see the doc myself, since Pete had to work. After dropping Ethan off in school, Hannah and I went straight to the hospital. She had coughed too forcefully in the car, and had thrown up, so I had to change her top first. (Yes, that’s my very BRAVE girl up there..she can still smile so sweetly even though she wasn’t feeling well)
Thankfully, there was NO one waiting in the clinic, and we were ushered in after about 15 minutes. Her fever had gone up to 38.2°C and upon checking, doc said that one of her ears was slightly infected, and her throat looked red too. She had some wheezing in the lungs as well, which the doc diagnosed as bronchitis.
This meant that Hannah had to undergo the nebulizer treatment, whereby she had to inhale medicine through a mouthpiece. I believe the medicine is ventolin with some oxygen, and it is a muscle relaxant, that will open up the airways, so that the mucuous and phlegm in the lungs would be released.
That’s not all. She had to have the nebulizer treatment every 4-6 hours, for a total of SEVEN times! Doc said we could either bring her into the hospital every 4-6 hours or admit her. Well, admission was certainly out of the question, so I told the doc we would bring her in.
I was worried the nebulizer treatment would be traumatic for Hannah, because I had heard stories of children screaming and crying whenever they had this treatment. But Hannah’s first experience was thankfully okay. She protested a little bit at first, but when the nurse held the mouthpiece over her mouth and nose, Hannah calmed down and stayed still the entire FIVE minutes of the treatment. Great job Hannah! Look at my little fighter…she even wanted to hold the mouthpiece on her own!
The morning treatments were manageable, because I only had Hannah with me, but for the other sessions, I definitely needed someone to help take care of Ethan while the nebulizer treatment was administered on Hannah. So these next few treatments involved Pete having to take some time off to help take Hannah in, and the next day, I was grateful my Mom happened to be around, so she could accompany me in the afternoon in the hospital too.
The first afternoon she had her treatment, Hannah had to *borrow* her brother’s front-facing car seat too, because I had washed her car seat after she had thrown up on it in the morning, so it was Hannah’s first time ever in a front-facing seat!
Today, Hannah successfully completed all SEVEN nebulizer treatments 🙂
She’s feeling so much better now, and we pray that she will be recovered completely soon. We still have to continue the inhalation treatment at home for a few days more, although it is not quite the same. At home, the doc prescribed an aerochamber equipment to be used in tandem with the Ventolin inhaler. I tried it on Hannah just now, and she was VERY cooperative, allowing me to administer two puffs of the Ventolin medicine, without a single protest.
Good girl Hannah…and please get well soon! 🙂
My little girl’s just born to dance…just like Mommy 🙂
He wants me to call him a “big boy” now, instead of “baby”. 😛
I have not been documenting all of Ethan’s achievements thus far, more so because there have been so many, that they have surpassed my ability to pen them down. He amazes us every day with his vocal prowess and intelligence, and it is hard to believe that he was once a shy guy.
He may be a big boy, but he still looks like an angel when he sleeps… 🙂
My little baby boy, once my little bundle of joy, is really growing up right before my very eyes! It seemed just like yesterday that I held him in my arms, a crying, helpless child….and now..look at him. Well, of course I still hold him now, but it’s different…
He went for his first field trip on the last day of his first school term about a week ago. The whole class, together with the teachers, took a bus to the toy museum that Friday morning.
I bet they all had a lot of fun, but I couldn’t help being a little concerned about his safety. After all, it was the first time he would be visiting someplace without either Pete or me. His teacher very kindly offered to take a few pictures of the trip for me with my camera, so I was eagerly waiting to see the photos too.
All my fears and concerns were unfounded when I picked him up after school and he told me all about his trip: who he sat with on the bus, what he did, how he would LOVE to go on the bus again…I knew he had enjoyed himself tremendously.
He’s really growing up…and I am just so BLESSED to be able to share his growing up years with him.
Precious one-on-one walk-training sessions from big brother to little sister:
I am often amazed at how much Ethan has grown, how much he is a big boy now, and the fact that he is starting to ride a bike makes me realize how true the adage “How time flies” is.
He will sometimes ask to be taken downstairs to the porch to ride his bike, and we’ll try to get him to do *something* first before we take him down, e.g. finish his dinner 🙂
Still needs a little fine tuning on the pedalling aspect, but he gets the bike to move anyhow…now, doesn’t Ethan look cool, bike, helmet and all? 🙂
