The month to wear red and white

We started August with COVID and Yu's puke.

Got a call from the school that Yu puked after lunch and that he was crying from a stomachache. He also had a rash on his upper lip. I picked him up and went straight the NUH urgent care clinic located downstairs from the school since Raffles wouldn't open for another hour and I wanted to grab some food for him at Fun Toast just across from the clinic. Yu had only one slice of toast when the nurse called us from the door. So we packed the toast and went in. 

Yu was very cute at triage. A friendly nurse checked his oxygen level and chatted with him while I stood behind him and spoke with another nurse about his symptoms. I heard him say he was five and going to primary one next year, in a soft voice which was so unlike him! He was shy but very collected :)

The PD addressed him directly too. But a question really made me blink thrice - on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most painful, how would you rate your stomachache? I felt bewildered. I wondered how Yu felt; he was all quiet. I asked if he understood. Still quiet. Then the PD explained that 1 was like relaxed, like lying on the beach (!) and 10 was (some painful sounds). In the next second, Yu answered, softly of course, "Five."

But he couldn't describe his stomachache. I prompted him - was it poo poo pain? Was it vomit pain? Nope, he just shrugged. The PD also asked another question which I forgot but I remember his answer: I forgotted (sic).

I think he did very well :)

Anyway, no HFMD; the rash could be due to the wet nose-mask combi so I switched to cloth mask the next day. The stomachache and puking could be one off or the start of stomach flu. Just monitor and drink more water. 

There was some screw-up about medicine call not getting through. Lucky I went in to ask. Kai called while we were waiting for the medicine. Got him to heat up the pizza himself for his lunch. 

When we got home, I only managed to get Yang to finish his homework. Yang and Yu played together so well they couldn't hear me *.* I hope this was only coz they seldom played in the day on school days, else next year would be bad!!

Yu woke up late one day - not many more chances for such photos! 😢

A friend invited Yu to his birthday party. His mum invited ex teachers and ex classmates as well, as a gathering before primary school. It was so fun!! Think Yu spent an hour in the pool. I spent an hour standing by the pool looking like a hawk! He didn't have his puddle jumper with him as I heard it was a waddling pool but it was connected to the deep pool!

It was time for the playground after dinner so more play time! Then it was cake cutting and singing. The kids were jumping around happily! By then, I just sat and watched :p

Kai and Yang were home. I got them dinner before Yu and I left for the party. Sito cleaned up. Everything was done by the time we came home, which was like 9 pm? Kai and Yang were asleep by then!

Singing with his friends!

Source: Birthday boy's mum's video collage

And then it was National Day! Sito and I switched places - he got food while I isolated :p Well, somewhat isolated... :p KFC has become a standard so it was a lot of chicken while we watched the parade. The boys switched to YouTube Kids after 7 pm and turned back for fireworks after 8 pm.

Happy with dinner!

We just nua-ed at home on the school holiday after National Day coz COVID. So sad. The following week was another short week due to PSLE orals. Yu decided to stay home too *.* Got them to do some work on Monday coz I didn't manage to do any with them the past week. Also had a karaoke session :p Then they played Nintendo. 

Caught Yu in mid air as he jumped (off the sofa or up?) singing on the mic!

On Tuesday, we had an appointment to collect their passports. We got a queue ticket 5 min before our 2 pm appointment time. The ticket said there were like 200 pax in front of us. True enough, the place was packed! After standing for a short while, I found seats to keep the kids at one place... Kai nagged about waiting the whole time *.* Considering the crowd, I thought it was good that it got to our turn just past 2.30 pm!

There was just one seat in front of the counter and Kai must sit on it. And he must exclaimed why Yu was the first to get his passport. etc. Luckily the lady was very patient with us. Kai and Yang had their iris recorded; Yu was still too young. 

Early dinner at Paradise at Wisma!

Also bought popcorn for them before going for their haircut at Beauty World. Then I must grab some baked goods at Ng Kim Lee! Got them some popsicles to eat outside the shop so I could shop in peace. Got some muffins and cakes - happy :)

Still must look at the popsicles while eating...

I cut my finger again on Friday, 20 Aug. Broke a few bowls accidentally and was picking up the last big shard when I was cut. I quickly rinsed off the blood, pressed on it and sat on the sofa. Didn't feel faint; didn't faint. Phew! When I told Yu about it, he said I needed "mind power" (to help pick up the shards) - and he lifted both hands into the air! It was so funny!!!!!

Staycation again - way less snacks this time coz heavy dinner of fried rice with 加料

With the boy who recommended mind power to me :p

Sito came home on Saturday just before we left for dinner. He went out with us but did not eat as he wasn't hungry and he had to make a new pair of specs to replace the pair he lost that week. So kids and I had yummy tongue tip noodles - Kai ate so much! - before finding him at the specs shop. 

And just in time coz he almost got long-sighted glasses instead of short-sighted glasses! So apparently, he now has 老花 too but I don't think it's serious enough looking at the size of text on his phone... We make a good pair - I will see far for him and he will see near for me :)

Anyway, we borrowed some books from the library and exchanged some book bugs cards for the kids, and called it a day!

On Sunday, we went to the SGSecure roadshow downstairs. We queued for a show inside. Turned out to be a simulation exercise! Yu was sitting on my lap and when he heard the explosion sound, he jumped off and ran a couple of steps before turning to find me to go together! Poor boy had a big scare!

Little Yu being consoled by Papa after we exited the show

He didn't cry though. Kai and Yang were aware that wasn't real. Yu heard and continued with the exercise in another room, where we heard people trying to come in from the other side, where a man was "injured" and asked for help. Kai was nearest so I asked him to help. He didn't play along very co-operatively *.* He kept saying this wasn't real etc. The cynical teenager is emerging...!

They enjoyed the games at the roadshow

Eh hello, are you helping or killing the poor guy?! :p

Kai was listening to AED info while the other went hands-on already

We also watched a couple of clips on people helping in emergencies. Yang was especially interested. Need to introduce them to practical things like this. Shall find more to add to my home school slides on crisis management!

Some weeks, I'll bring Yu out for breakfast. He likes Yakun for one. He also likes being out with just me :) Only three more months of just the two of us!!!

Nope he didn't finish the whole plate...

As he was finishing his third piece, he pointed to the last piece on the plate and said, "I really can't handle this because I need (to drink) my milo." And he said it so seriously. I really could not handle it too, haha!

Btw, why must you button all the way up? :p

AhYe caught Covid so we spent another Sunday at home. Time to go Dian Xiao Er for dinner! I've been wanting to go for a while even though we just had the duck when I had Covid. Maybe I miss eating rice with chopsticks? So hard to do that at home coz I pile food into big bowls for everyone - save on washing up!

Yu was happy that Sito was rocking him with a shaking leg

He pretended to insert a coin - Papa has become a kiddy ride haha!!!

Mighty pleased look - and I like how he crossed his tiny arms :)

We had all finished and were waiting for Yang to finish. So this boy came over to our side. Oh, now we often sit the kids on one side where possible. Stare at them eating, heh! 

Very happy to get this shot!

I was sitting with them in front of the TV, and he leant on me. I miss this!! I whipped out my phone and took pictures discreetly... My big boy :)

Sito had a public holiday on the last day of August - yup, non-SG schedule! So we had a nice dim sum lunch and walked the mooncake fair at Takashimaya. Too full to sample mooncakes. We just bought our usual and tried a new one which had a nice box and taste. 

Happy us!

I put back my mask while Sito was happy to walk around maskless. Auntie must protect my nose... After dropping the mooncakes back home, Sito rested while I quickly packed a few things around the house before we went for a foot massage :)

We were going to get a drink when I received a call from the school. Yang called to tell me he hurt his leg and couldn't get back on his own. Sito went to fetch him and Kai while I got Yu and prepared for the evening.

Yang was limping. It was a superficial abrasion but a pretty large one. Took a long while and some drawing to figure out how he fell - on a kerb, slanted, and his leg dragged on the kerb causing the large red patch. He said the bone hurt and it wasn't orh cheh pain. But the skin felt more painful. 

There wasn't a raw wound or blood so I applied paw paw ointment and let him go without a bandage. But I let him skip school (Teachers' Day celebration) and check out the bone at the polyclinic. Thankfully no fracture! He's no longer limping but it still hurts. Could swim today too. Hope he gets all well very soon! Happy and healthy September, here we come!

Introducing (and reviewing) Robot-kun

Robot-kun (Robot-君 in Japanese) is our favourite helper whose sole mission is life is to vacuum and mop the floor :) 

Ours is a Xiaomi Mijia 1C. I took some time to read reviews and comments from users on this vs. other Mijia models and other brands, before deciding on it. 

After using Robot-kun for some time, I realised that there are various types of product reviews:

1. Online ratings. Such ratings may not be about the product itself. For example, when I buy things on Shopee, I see many ratings saying that the buyer has not used it yet. I don't know why they bother to rate *.* I use such ratings to tell me if the seller is reliable, whether the plug is a local plug, etc, but I really appreciate reviews of the product by buyers who have actually used it. 
2. Professional reviews. I think it's wonderful you can review products for a living, ha! Check out this fantastic review by SRR which links to reviews of other robots as well. I referred to this website a lot during my research.
3. Customer reviews. Most of the reviews online are #2. If there are comments, I would read them to understand the product from real users who have used it for some time. Coz only time will tell 🎵

Today, I'm going to give a customer review of Xiaomi Mijia 1C.

Why did I buy this?

Good professional reviews. Good price point. Can meet my need which is to outsource sweeping and mopping.

Is this really what the professional reviews say it is?

Oh yes!

What more would I like to know before getting this?

1. Tips on how to map the floor. It took two or three tries for me. I had some difficulty as Robot-kun got stuck in my kitchen where the cabinet doors happened to be just a wee bit taller than Robot-kun. When I pulled it out, it said it would reposition itself and moved around a bit. Then I heard this: I detected a new area and will start a new cleaning path. This means no map *.* Another time, it went to the yard and couldn't come up due to a small step. I had to run Robot-kun again, starting from the dock. I had to close the yard door so the yard had to stay out of the map. I can always bring Robot-kun to clean the yard - it will tell me to bring it home when it can't find its way out :p

2. Get more accessories at the same time as buying the robot. At first, I handwashed the mop pad after every use. That was also the time when I started doing all the housework and cooking. The skin on my hands didn't love me much. I bought a set of three mop pads. While I was at it, I found other parts and bought more filters, sweeping tool and roller brush. Later, I bought more mop pads so now I use two each day - one for parquet in the bedrooms and one for tiles everywhere else. I collect the dirty mop pads to wash with floor mats etc in the washing machine every week. Yes, I have a small pail of dirty mop pads lying around in the yard!!

Glad to have spares for this - found the lost arm in the dust box last week. Yes, Robot-kun is a cannibal!!!

3. Grout lines, corners and edges can get dirtier. My grout lines are not even with the tiles and can trap dirt when helper mopped the floor. Same case with Robot-kun but worse as I don't follow it around to wipe up the dirt so it just dries up and leaves grey spots! The same thing happens at corners and edges. Robot-kun turns on itself at corners and dirt can get left behind. Along the edges of cabinets and balconies, Robot-kun will gently hit the edge as it moves, i.e. turn, mop, move, repeat, so it also leaves some dirt behind. No such issues along wall edges. 

Leftover dirt on grout line and corner

4. Area behind doors still need manual mopping. I keep the bedroom doors open for Robot-kun but I don't follow it around so the area behind the doors remain unmopped. Not a big deal as it's not very dirty back there.

5. It takes quite some time to mop. It takes 30 minutes for our four bedrooms and another 30 min for the dining room, living room and kitchen. If I mop myself, it would be much faster. But it's good to reduce manual work on my part! I usually let it clean the bedrooms when I send Monkey to school and iron clothes when it cleans the other rooms.

Would I still get it if I had known more?

I think so. As it stands, I already use a lot of wet wipes for various things. I have never done it myself but I estimate that I would need at least four wet wipes to mop the whole house manually. Not very pocket or environmentally friendly, not to mention having to spend active time mopping it myself.

I might take longer to decide though, as #3 is awful. But since I happened to have a steam cleaner bought separately to sanitise the floors especially the oily parts after cooking and eating, it's not a big deal as it cleans up Robot-kun's trail very nicely. I try to do this once every two weeks.

Anything else?

For my next house:

1. Cabinet doors must be tall enough to accommodate Robot-kun. 
2. Any sliding doors must also be tall enough else I would need to mop under the sliding doors every few weeks like what I'm doing now, and this is dirtier than behind bedroom doors.
3. Marble gum grout the floors to eliminate dirty grout lines situation.

And, some tips on maintaining the machine. I do this once a week. If you vacuum and/or mop more than 60sqm every day, you may need to clean this more frequently.

1. Put on a mask first. It gets dusty.
2. Prepare a bag to contain the rubbish.
3. Remove the dust box, roller brush, sweeping tool.
4. Use cloth or wet wipes to wipe the body - two big wheels and a removable rotating wheel - and the cavities for the brush and dust box. My white Robot-kun can get scratch marks easily when it gets trapped in the kitchen so I also use a melamine sponge.
5. Remove hair from roller brush. Be patient if you have long hair like me!

My long hair needs some detangling...

6. Wipe dust off the orange part of the roller brush. You don't want dust to get into your sink.

7. Wipe the roller cover too. I never knew that dust can stick like this!

All the grey/black stuff? Dust!

8. Empty the dust box. Remove the filter and whack it against the floor through the plastic bag to remove dust. Tie the bag before throwing.

One week of dust!

9. Wash everything with water and let dry, especially the filter.

10. Finally, wipe the dock, put back the accessories and dock Robot-kun to charge.

COVID struck again!

The last man has gone down now. Yup, Sito who escaped the past two times, finally could escape no more... Must have got it in KL as he was visiting various warehouses or something.

I heard Sito cough on Monday, 1 Aug. Not uncommon. Then at bedtime, he said he had a sore throat. Time to whip out the ART. The result was almost immediate as the capillary action (?) happened :(

That was past 11.30 pm, i.e. kids were in school night beds and only the upper bunk was available. Um, no. So I continued to sleep in our bed, but with a mask on.

His symptoms were mild. Sore throat was gone by late morning the next day. But he started feeling cold and developed a fever. The poor guy was mostly in bed on Wednesday. By Thursday, he was on the recovery curve.

Dinner was served at his desk - he said it felt like hospital *.*

His next test was Saturday, i.e. day 6. Still a dark line. That was the last time he tested, ha! By Sunday, he could go out after 12 noon - considered low transmission risk.

But... I tested positive on Monday morning :( I guess it's inevitable since I was still sleeping in the same bed and I woke a few times to find his mask lost in bed *.*

I was so glad I had been wearing a surgical mask around the kids since Sito tested positive, in case I had already caught it from him. In fact, I was surprised it took so many days for me to test positive - kids and I tested every school day so I could bring them to the bus stop.

When I developed a sore throat on Thursday, i.e. when Sito was still positive, I thought I was going to get it. A bad cough started from Friday. No body ache but that could be because I tried out a new massage machine from JY which was so powerful that I was hurting for a day! But nope, negative. So we thought I happened to have caught a nasty bug, since I brought Yu to the NUH PD clinic on Monday.

Then I developed a fever on Saturday after lunch. We all thought that was it. Yet, I remained negative. I even brought Yu to his friend's birthday part on Saturday evening! But I kept my mask on except when eating and taking that one photo. So far, no COVID news from the group haha!

I didn't test on Sunday as I didn't go out. Maybe I was positive then? No idea.

Sito started feeling sick again on Monday. We think I had the bug before COVID and he was having it after COVID *.* My cough when I first got COVID in February was not this bad. I'm still coughing...

Anyway, Sito took over the meals on Monday and Tuesday. He left on Wednesday so we had food delivered until Friday. I was very happy to find 25% off for Dian Xiao Er takeaway on weekdays so I asked Yang to collect it. Plus it was high time they got more vege!

This time, I felt very bored. I switched to N95 mask when I tested positive. So hot compared to February! I watched too much drama the past few days - sounds wonderful but it got boring staying in. 

Yu also felt bored - again, he couldn't go to school. I gave him unlimited access to TV and iPad from Thursday when his brothers returned to school but they became boring soon. The poor kid would stand at my door to tell me he was bored :(

Or roll on the sofa

Or watch Robot-kun

At first I thought it was so sad that he was watching Robot-kun mop the balcony! But right after this photo, he reached out with a leg *.* Bored, maybe; playful, definitely!

I was running low on ART kits so I didn't test after my positive result until this morning. It was a clear negative. So happy - coz we were down to our last bottle of milk so someone had to buy milk :p

We're going to stay in the next couple of days as well. No school for Kai and Yang on Monday and Tuesday due to PSLE orals so I think I'll just keep Yu home. It happens that there's some virus going around in school; two friends are down with high fever.

Will continue to test the kids next week just in case. Hope they stay negative 🤞

Start of the second half of 2022

Sometimes, I don't realise it's 2022 already. COVID seems to have caused some confusion in me. Maybe it's the "lost time" - such precious little socialising in 2020 and 2021. Maybe it's what Yu said - why is COVID (20)19 still here when it's already (20)2x?

So we're now in the second half of the year. So fast! I'm determined to get the kids more localised...

On our way to the hawker centre - only the baby got to wear his PJs 

My boys in the playground!

:)

That was a very familiar playground even though the equipment had changed a bit. It was the one near our old place. We went back there for house hunting - well, more on this another day...

Since we were there, we went to Star Vista for dinner. 

Happy with his burger!

Stuffing his mouth with a hotdog bun

He wanted his photo retaken so that he could pose properly

Yu was blowing bubbles into his drink - using his nose!!!

Trying to make lazy GeGe's bed so that they could watch TV

He made a sad face!

I made these signs for my bathroom door - mummies the world over would understand...!

Then, before I could introduce the signs to them, Yang knocked for some trivial thing. When I asked him why, he said I wrote “快敲门”！Ok, an introduction is a must! Read the arrows! Green for yes and red for no!

A few weeks in, I think the signs aren't working too well, haha!

These two like KFC

Yu likes KFC too but he ran off with Yang who didn't like it and who found it too hot! We didn't queue to enter the exhibition coz it was too long.

Went to the playground instead

And had a happy dinner at Bornga!

Kai looked like: Why you steal my show??!

We had a similar shot in 2013 at Bornga at Star Vista :)

Sito showed Yang the receipt for dinner, and...

Yang was appalled to know that a small piece of BBQ meat cost $3 - "we're never coming back here!" So funny!

Love this shot :)

Who's the master mind??

Pool time coz it was hot

We haven't come to this pool for a while and Yu is now tall enough to go without his puddle jumper! He was very pleased and so were we :)

That day, we had steamboat for dinner. Yes, it was a very hot day! But we spent some time in the pool too? :p The kids finished more than a 300g box of beef rolls. I was very happy - eat more!!!

Two weeks ago, Sito came back on a Saturday instead of Friday. So the kids and I went to fetch him, yeah! But we were late and his flight arrived early. In the end, he came to welcome us at Changi MRT station instead *.* 

Oops, Kai was trying to put Papa's arm over his head

Gave them a lollipop as a reward for being (relatively) well-behaved on the long train ride there. It helped keep them (more or less) quiet on our way to Jewel.

... Why so many qualifiers in brackets?! Haha! My kids....

Anyway... We saw DTF the moment we entered Jewel. No one outside so we thought no queue. Wrong. Virtual queue! So we walked on and found Jumbo - why not? :) But we didn't order crabs la. Too much work. Had chilli crab sauce with buns instead.

Looking at the fish outside Jumbo 

Yang and Yu liked the fountain a lot more this time than back in 2020 when we last came here

Helping Papa or playing??

That afternoon, I brought the kids to YX's place for a play date while Sito rested at home. Just as well, coz our new washing machine arrived at 5.30 pm! So much for night delivery...

Must play chess on a play date

DT was there with his family as well, so five boys and two girls in total. But they didn't play together, haha! SF cooked a lot as usual. We had a good chat while the kids played. Finally left just past 8 pm. I think the kids were quite pleased to stay up past their usual bedtime...

Kai was very happy to get and solve a new 8-cube!

But the cube is now lying on my desk, with a few loose pieces *.* So difficult to fix back! Ok, I try later...

While waiting for neighbour popo - Yu had to make and give this card to someone and he chose her

Hurt-my-knee playground struck again - Yu had a bad scrape on his left knee on Saturday as we left the playground. Actually we were nearer the traffic light than the playground when he fell while scooting. So hard to put the dressing on him - always moving or shaking, grrr! Baby, only four months left in kindy!!

Airing my dirty laundry

TL;DR: Wash daily and hang dry overnight!

+ update: Wash full loads only!

For years, we washed clothes on a fixed schedule:

• Monday: 2 loads - helper, kids
• Tuesday:1 load - Sito and me
• Wednesday: 2 loads - kids, bathroom mats
• Thursday: 1-2 loads - bedsheets; we rotate bedsheet changing schedule for all of us
• Friday: 1 load - Sito and me
• Saturday: 1 load - kids

Not counting bedsheets, that was effectively one load per pax per week. 

Now, it's simplified:

• Daily: 1 load comprising mix of adult and kiddy clothes
• Monday: +1 load comprising bathroom mats, robot mop pads, steam mop pads, other wash cloths
• Tuesday: +1 load of all our towels so I can wash at a higher temperature
• Thursday-Saturday: up to +3 loads comprising bedsheets or Sito's laundry from business trips

Now that the kids are not babies anymore, there is really no need to split our laundry. We have been using the same detergent for quite a while now anyway.

So no smelly piles of clothes waiting for their day in the wash. No need to worry about uniforms not drying on Wednesday in time for Thursday coz each kid has only three sets of uniforms. Best of all, we don't need many clothes coz the shirt worn on Monday is back in the wardrobe by Wednesday! 

The last point is most useful for underwear! We used to need so many pairs coz each kid wears two to three each day. Accumulating that many pairs for washing day means we need about as many pairs on standby in the wardrobe. So I started throwing out underwear that were too worn - they end up in the storeroom as disposable cleaning cloths for major clean-ups.

In the past, helper would start the washer only after kids had changed out of their pyjamas so the clothes were kept much later in the day. When I took over, I set a timer for washing to finish up by 6.30 am or so, when I would be home from sending the older two to the bus stop. Some clothes would be dry by late morning and thicker ones in the afternoon. This means I still have to fold clothes when kids are home. 

Over the June holidays when I needed to maximise time with the kids in the afternoon, I started running the washer right after dinner. Yes, I would have laundry chores hanging up the clothes later at night, but I wake up to almost dry clothes! On days when I have additional loads, they can be done in the morning and would usually be dry the same day. 

Now, where's my efficiency medal? :p

Update 9 Nov 2022

So some months into daily washing, I thought that I wasn't maximising the washer. So I decided to wash only when there's a full load. This works as well. Often, I still wash at night. But there were times when I wash after breakfast when the kids throw in their PJs, or mid afternoon when the kids throw in their school uniforms. So I ended up with fewer loads per week while still churning the laundry, yeah!

Kai is ten!

Ten. 10. That's double digit!

I still remember seeing baby Kai when he just came into our life and thinking, why does he look quite grey? Maybe it was due to the grey towel he was lying on :p

In the blink of an eye, he's ten. TEN. 

We have had difficult days, slow days when we argue, when we struggle with revision. But on the whole, time really flies. My baby is growing up!

First celebration - with the grands

As Kai doesn't take cakes, he requested for ice cream. On the table were nine squares of Haagen-Dazs ice cream with cute animal designs on top. All the kids wanted this and that. In the end, Kai had just over one while Yang and Yu didn't even finish one!

Kai had originally wanted to go to Macs at BPP on his birthday which was a school day. But since we decided on Swensen's ice cream for his "cake", Papa must be there! Luckily, it was a public holiday yesterday so Papa could come along; he's still working as I type this...

Second celebration - us at Swensen's

Oops, birthday boy and "cake" got blocked...

Earthquake as birthday cake!

So many eyes were on the earthquake as it arrived at our table haha! The kids looked amazed to see the dry ice, which disappeared way too fast... Again, the kids wanted this and that but I prioritised Kai since it was his cake. Kai was supposed to have four scoops while the rest of us had one scoop each. 

In the end, Kai had only two scoops and Yu didn't finish his scoop. Yang decided he would not have any coz the other chocolate scoops had cream on top *.* But he eventually came round to it and enjoyed the chocolate ice cream :) Guess who had the most? Papa, coz Mama had a bad stomach that day... I think we should just go for topless five or firehouse next time...

Pokemon as promised

They roped in Papa to help!

Finally got his hands on his birthday present!

He must read it while having his birthday mee sua. So happy - I love his smile :)

This is the first year I started making mee sua on their birthday. Didn't take photo for Yang's, oops... Hope to continue this :)

Happy birthday to our dear Kai! Thanks for making us parents :)