Another Green Workshop

On the 20^th June 2007, my son ZM and I went to FRIM (Forest Research Institute of Malaysia) in Kepong for another workshop organized by Abbott Laboratories and MNS (Malaysian Nature Society). This trip is more fun than the other one that I blogged not too long ago.

We arrived at 9am at the MNS office in FRIM and we were greeted by Suzanne, the MNS staff. To our surprise, we saw many people from the Press were present. Anyway, we were ushered to have our breakfast while waiting for a group of Mon’t Kiara pre-school children. Not long later, we saw a big school bus arrived with loads of children with their parents and teachers. All of them happily tuck into their breakfast once they came down from the bus.

A simple briefing was held by a MNS staff to let us know what program are organized for us today and another opening note was also given by an Abbott staff. Our tour guide today is Shan who is going to bring us into the forest and introduce different plants and trees, animals and insects. As we go into the forest, he showed us many types of trees with their fruits. We also saw wild mushrooms on the ground. Once, we saw some area that seems like being freshly dug up and quickly Shan tells us that this is the work of wild boars! Too bad, we could not see any during our trip as ZM was so eager to see one and kept asking me where the pig is?? The night before must have rained as most of the track was wet and muddy. Many parents have to carry their young ones as some are just too scared of the dirt. I let ZM walk although I hold his hands throughout the trip.

Not long later, we came to a stream. All of us are given nets and buckets. We are supposed to see what we can find in the stream. I caught a spider, some caught prawn, water scatters, tadpoles and others. After playing catch, we release all that we have caught back into the stream. Then, we were brought to a place call ‘wood graveyard’. According to Shan, this is the place where different wood are placed here to test how long they can last and they durability before the result are given to the commercial sector to develop. Paint companies too take samples on how long their paint can last in woods in this ‘graveyard’.

Then, we were brought to an area for art and craft. MNS staffs have laid out a big mat with painting utensil for the kids. All kids are sited in groups to share the paint. Each group has water colors, brushes, a mug of water and art blocks. Parents then get some leaves for their child to for them to color. Then they will press the colored leaves on the art block to form a collage. When done, all are required to write their name and dried them.

After that, we were brought back to the office to wash their hands and feet. We were later sited for a slaid presentation by Shan on forest and animals that we can find. Later, we are ushered for a simple lunch. After the lunch, each child were given a goodie bag by Abbott before going home. When I reached home, I notice my jeans have blood stain. When I remove them, I was surprised that my leg was bleeding! It must have been those leeches in the forest! I felt no pain at all! Hmmmm….. first time being bitten by a leech.

I find that this trip is very educational. ZM have never been to a forest before and I have only been to FRIM once or twice. I like nature and would very much like to expose him to more of this type of activities. I hope that in future, I can encourage him to love nature and go out for trips like this instead of just visiting the shopping malls.

Argggggggh!!!!!!!!!!

Now I know for sure why I had fever. It was caused by mastitis! It’s worse than a block milk duct! And the last 2 days, I had another lump on the same breast. Boy, was it painful or what! I could not even carry my son as it hurts so much when his body touches my breast.

How I got to know its mastitis? I called my sons’ pediatrician. She told me to get an antibiotic called Augmentin as when a person gets mastitis, the breast got infected. She also suggested trying using an electric toothbrush to ease the swelling. She also suggested using a cold towel to massage the breast to ease the pain. My son is also supposed to nurse more often to clear the block duct.

I don’t think I will get the antibiotic as I don’t have fever now and I don’t feel any pain now. I guess I will leave it as it is for now and hope that it would not happen again.

Sick

Last week, I was down with fever. It all started with a feeling of sickness and feverish in the morning. I did complain to hubby that I felt tired  but brush it out as I always fetl this way in the morning. I did not think much of it and continued as usual to tend to my sons. My younger sister came to visit me as she was not working that day. My sons were happy to see her.

She likes to play with my sons as she likes children too. She plans to have babies soon. But as for now, she is happy to play with my sons if she have days off from work. For lunch, she drove us to Jaya Jusco and we had noodles, pasta and sandwiches. After lunch, she drove us home and played with my sons a while before going home. After she left, I begin to feel worse. I smsed my hubby and told him that I don’t feel well.   

U quickly changed my baby’s nappy into diaper after he wets his nappy as I do have much energy to change him so many times later in the day. I also decided not to cook porridge for him. He had oats instead. I asked ZM to play on his own and play with is brother and let me have some rest. ZM is so understanding, he obliged obediently. I was feeling cold and took a blanket to cover myself. When I was turning and tossing, my blanket slipped and ZM came to me and adjusted my blanket to cover me back. I am so touch! He is such an understanding boy! He did not disturb me the entire afternoon and let me lie down on the bed. ZD was also understanding by not bothering me too much except climbing on me while I was on my bed.

After hubby came back, I took an early dinner of oats and a cup of milo. Later  I quickly showered and head to bed with 2 tablets of Panadol. I woke up at around 9pm and just in time to feed ZD and help him to sleep. After that, I rested a while before going back to sleep. I have told ZM that he needs to sleep with daddy tonight as I was sick. He agreed. But when its time to sleep, he could not resist sleeping besides me and daddy just went down to watch tv instead.

Af ter a good night rest, I felt better the next day but still tired. I took porridge for breakfast and felt even better. One thing I notice is that my breast felt pain these 2 days. I can feel a lump there and I suspect it is a block milk duct and it could be the cause of my fever. I tried to get ZD to clear the block duct, be it seems that its still there. But at least the fever has gone.

My hubby was down with fever too the next 2 days. It’s his turn to sleep early the 2 days. Hmmm…. Wonder what was the cause of his fever now?

A Green Workshop

On last Saturday, 9^th June 2007. ZM and I attended a workshop at Rimba Ilmu (University Malaya) which was organized by MNS (Malaysian Nature Society) and was sponsored by Abbott.

We were the first to arrive. It was 8.50am and it was supposed to start at 9am. We were greeted by Suzzane, a friendly MNS staff which with whom I registered myself at Ikano Power Centre few months back. After penning down my name and particulars at the attendance sheet, we were ushered to have breakfast. ZM had a piece of donut while I had a plate of noodles. We drank Milo and of course Abbott’s milk. While having our breakfast, slowly other participants begin to arrive.

After having breakfast, parents are brought into a seminar room which we were given a briefing on MNS’s program and also an introduction to forest and plants which we can find in Malaysia. It was interesting. While we parents are in the room, all kids were ushered to a room next door for some simple activity.

After the briefing, parent are brought to view some of the important and yet simple plants that have so many benefits to human kind in terms of herbal remedy in the garden. The kids were having their tea break then. After their tea break, they are ushered back in to the room and had a story telling time.

Once all the parents are back, all of us are ready for the garden walk and to plant some plants. Parents and children are equipped with all the necessary tools like hoe, spade, fork and gloves for the planting. All of us are divided into 4 groups and herbal plants are prepared for us. I think all the kids are first time planters and they showed a high enthusiasm in planting. All those that we have planted will be used for research purpose. So, the next time when I come back again, I will look forward to see my plant thrive and benefit everyone. We were also shown a few plants which we normally heard such as Tongkat Ali.

After planting, we came back to the base and it was time for Art and Craft session. A nice lady called Teresa Wong taught us a craft by using only recycle items. It was fun and interesting. Soon, it was lunch and we were helping ourselves to the simple lunch spread. After lunch, each of us was given a goody bag by Abbott before leaving. My son enjoyed the whole trip tremendously. Now, I am looking forward for the FRIM trip.                                            

   

Why?

This is ZM’s favorite word for the past 6 months. Each day, he will ask this word for 10-20 times. Everyone tease him that he only know this word.

Most of the time, I will try my upmost best to answer him. But at times, I just don’t know how to answer him! I remembered before he started asking ‘why’ , I have encourage my hubby to ask ‘why’ whenever they have a conversation. Both of us kept asking simple questions to ZM as I just wanted to know how far he understands things that we tell him.

I think he got the trend and that is when he started asking ‘why’ everytime. I am glad that he is asking questions and I am very happy to answer him. Whenever I could not give an answer, I get him to ask his daddy and daddy does the same too.

Language

ZM is three months away from his third birthday. He is able to converse in English, Mandarin and a smattering of Cantonese and Hakka. All these are due to our difference in spoken language in our home. My hubby speaks Cantonese with me as I am a ‘banana’ (studied in a malay school). My in-laws are Hakka people who speaks Hakka at home but speaks Mandarin to kids at home. Normally I would speak to my sons in English as I know one day, he will be enrolled in a Chinese Medium school.
He is quite smart as when he speaks to me, he will use English. When he is talking to his dad, he will use Mandarin and sometimes he speaks to his grandmother in Hakka. He knows that all of us use different language but I doubt he knows the difference between all these languages. Whenever I am talking to my hubby, he can understand our conversation and tried to join in the conversation. Its quite funny at times, but sometimes when we adults are talking, especially on their bad behaviors, its proper that he does not hear them. So, sometimes I only chat with my hubby on these issues when my sons are asleep.
I also intend to introduce him to Hokkien soon although I am lousy in this language. I only know so little of this language but I feel that I should teach him what I know. Children learn fast and I read somewhere that they can learn many languages at a very tender age. Maybe later, I can even teach him Bahasa Malaysia before he goes to Primary 1!

My Green Pledges

This year’s World Environment Day was yesterday. I am a person who loves Mother Nature. I will try my best to protect Mother Nature. I don’t want my sons to live in a polluted environment and have clean air to breath. I pledges to:

1.      Use less air-condition – since the weather is so hot nowadays, I like to switch on the air-con during the night although not throughout the night. Now, I pledge to switch it off after a few hours and use the fan instead.

2.      Save water- I will use a small bucket of water to flush the toilet instead of flushing to save water. I am already showering, but I will try to save by showering faster.

3.      Save fuel- I will plan more carefully when I need to go out. Normally my hubby will drive me wherever I wanted to go, but most of the time I will use public transport whenever I can.

4.      Understand Mother Nature better- I have already sign-up for ZM and myself for trips organized by MNS (Malaysian Nature Society). A trip to Rimba Ilmu in University Malaya is scheduled on 9^th June2007 and another trip to FRIM in Kepong is scheduled on 20^th June 2007.

I do hope that by doing this bit, I can help Mother Nature and cost less destruction to this world.

KL Bookfest

I like to go to bookstore to get my sons books. When I first heard about the bookfest through Popular Bookstore few weeks ago, I welcome it with delight.

I have persuaded my hubby to drive us there on a weekday so that we can browse through wothout having to wait for a parking and moreover it should have lesser visitor. So, last Thursday, hubby manage to squeeze some time out for us. He rang me at 11am after his appointment and I got ready my sons in 10minutes. We arrive there at 11.30am and found a parking easily.

After buying the tickets, we found ourself in a humongous hall with so many books. As most of the books are in Chinese, I could not appreciate it as I am a ‘banana’ (Malay educated). But nevertheless, I did go to the children section to browse though to see if there are any books that are suitable for my sons. I did manage to get 2 activity books that are in Chinese for ZM and hubby has agreed to help me in guiding ZM at it.

At one booth, I also got ZM a set of cards that are suppose to enhance a person’s multiple thinking skills; concentration & perception; observation skills and imagination. At the English section, I got him another 3 activity books to occupy him during the day.

By this time, ZD is already cranky. we quickly go to the foodcourt below and had our lunch. Luckily we got a table quite easily amid it was lunch hour. After a quick lunch, we dash to the carpark and went straight home. 

Sleeping Postion

Both my sons are sleeping in our bedroom since they were born. ZM is now sleeping on a mattress that is near to hubby’s side while ZD is sleeps on a baby cot near my side of our bed. When ZM first migrate from our bed to ‘his’ bed, he used to came up to our bed in the middle of the night so that he could sleep beside me. But now, he can sleep on his own.

Although ZD sleeps on a baby cot, I notice that he don’t sleep that well in the cot. He wakes up quite frequent during the night. Probably it is much warmer there. So, most of the night, I would bring place him between me and my hubby after the first feed during the night. When I do so, I would have to be very alert as my hubby sleeps like a log and does not know what he does! I have found his hand, body and bolster on top of my baby at times! Whenever my hubby toss and turn, I will have to check if he has gone ‘overboard’ and sleep on top of ZD. Whenever I told him in the morning that what he had done, he says he could not have done it as he would have felt it. How I wanted to get a camera and snap him the evidence.

Since ZM was born right up to now, I have never had a good and quality sleep. ZM and ZD like to wake up for a number of times during the night. For ZM, I can still know what time he wakes up for feed. But as for ZD, I could no longer pick up my hand phone to see the time. Besides feeding ZD and watch out for his daddy, I also have to wake up ZM for his washroom trip, get him his blanket and cover it again when he kicks off the blanket, get daddy to sleep on his side when he snores too loud and switch off the air-cond when the room gets too cold (the fan is still switch on).

I am hoping that the day where I can sleep without interruption will come soon. I really look like a panda now.