Our first tween

Haven't posted any daily stuff for a while, apart from the recent term break. Going through my photos, I realised I have fewer photos of Kai these days. But he probably has the most number of baby photos coz it was easier to have a free hand for photos when it was just one kid! 

BK breakfast as an only kid - coz the brothers wanted to sleep

Eat more!! This boy has lost some of his meatiness as he gained height, weighing only 46kg now against a 164cm frame. He's only 4cm shorter than me now.

Recently, he's starting to slouch again. He was slouching a lot in the months before we moved and then improved. I'm guessing he's slouching again coz he's gaining height again. 

Think he grew some 10cm in the past year; my oldest (easily!) available record showed he was 154cm in October 2023. He seemed to have grown more since the start of this year, with puberty clearly on its way - his voice is starting to change, and the boys like to run around naked and/or comment loudly about private parts *.*

Mama doesn't want to see naked boys anymore!

Luckily, Kai has largely obliged by the rules - to always wrap a towel around him when he comes out of the shower*, and get changed with his door closed. I said "largely" coz sometimes he would just open the shower door to say something!!!

* It is kind of impossible for them to wear clothes in the shower coz they would more likely get the clothes wet before they wear them *.*

But he still has milk teeth coz these three started teething rather late. Just this month, he dropped two teeth three days apart. 

I don't know since when but he stopped asking me to 陪陪 him at bedtime. Instead, he played chess. Then we stopped that and he does some work or reading for PSLE instead. Sometimes he came in to lie down on my side of the bed when I was with his brothers, to watch Papa play games. But I don't like to come back to a warm bed. So we stopped him from lying on my side. 

That doesn't stop him from coming in at about 9.15pm when his go-to-sleep alarm goes off - he just kneels next to Sito's side of the bed to watch Papa play games. And then he would still hang around sometimes. Sometimes he brings a paper. Sometimes, it's just him at the foot of our bed, like this:

So big and still wants to nua on our bed!

Ok, good chance for him to sayang him. Think that irritates the hell out of him haha! Coz I cannot call him baby ok...

So, to irritate me or to shut me up, he often asks me lewd questions *.* Oh yes, he brings home a lot of "sus" stuff. Wth. Sometimes, we have to correct his perceptions or random sus comments he heard from his similarly sus classmates *.*

Yup, plenty of rolling eyes here...

Recently, Sito arranged for Kai to come in at the end of his regular chats with his cousin KS to play chess with him. As KS is a good chess player, it's more fun for Kai to play with him than with us :p In fact, I can hardly tell one piece from another!

Playing chess with KS 表舅

Anyway, PSLE is coming. In fact, the orals are already done. He was rather upset when he came home after Chinese orals on 13 August but no comments for English the following day. No comments means ok... Listening compre is coming up this Friday, and the written papers start in two weeks.

He didn't do well for prelims, totalling AL18! His maths and science were unexpectedly poor - came home with lots of comments! Hope he has learnt from his mistakes and can do better for PSLE. Jia you! :)

A rather studious week

This term break, we did nothing and everything....

What we did not do:

Leave our neighbourhood, with the exception of going to Yang's dermatological appointment on Wednesday and to Clementi on Saturday coz must return books and cut hair. No library until after PSLE so we did not borrow any more books; enough books at home and there's Libby. Kai needed a haircut so he could be more comfortable for exams. 

After last weekend, we won't leave our neighbourhood until after PSLE - 闭关修炼 and avoid germs! We didn't even sign up for mid-autumn cele at the CC this year coz too crowded and too near exams...

What we did:

Papers, papers and more papers!

Even Yu did some papers - gave him Yang's leftover P3 English and Maths papers from last year :p Not bad, he did very well for the WA1s!

Yang did a paper every day with varying results. He really needs to work more on all subjects, sighs...

Kai had a science boot camp over zoom on Monday to Wednesday - need to brush up on his open-ended questions. Sito sat in so he could teach the brothers too :p

Even though we didn't go out for a movie etc, the kids also had fun at home. Since they work in the morning to early afternoon, they got to play the rest of the afternoon, though Kai did more work later on too. One hour of phone games and all their rumble tumble. 

Also watched Papa play games

Yu also completed a few mini Lego sets, with Kai helping when he was free

The younger ones went to the playground too. One day, I had to go downstairs to look for them - they didn't hear me say 5 pm and thought they could come back at 5.15 pm *.*

After years of saying we would eat there, we finally went to the claypot rice stall at the hawker centre! It was so yummy! But Kai didn't like it. Also went to Paradise Classic where Yang finally dropped the fried rice he doesn't really like, to try hor fun with us - success! 

These two enjoyed claypot rice

These two also enjoyed making their own pizza

But only Yang liked to eat this pizza. Yu found it too thick. Nvm, I'll make this again on our regular Sunday pizza day and see how.

The kids had Ikea hotdog buns and chicken wings for lunch on Tuesday when I had an appointment at Alex Hospital. Also bought a lot of chocolate bars.

Kai wanted to help me cut up the chocolate to put into boxes in the fridge for easier retrieval

We enjoyed a nice BBQ hotpot lunch. Kai enjoyed it less than expected as his tooth hurt. Later during his haircut, the tooth came out! Anyway, the deal with the kids was that after this happy lunch, we would just eat downstairs on weekends until after PSLE.

And so starts our 闭关！

One year in!

On Saturday, 17 August, I suddenly realised we have moved here for just over a year!

And the kids have broken the soft closing function of not one but two toilet seats! Haha!

The original seat broke but we managed to get a free replacement in March as it was still under warranty. At that time, we weren't quite sure if it was the seat or the kids. But mid August, the replacement seat broke. So yup, it's the kids. We're not replacing the seats anymore. They can deal with lifting the seat up and putting it down gently. Just don't use my toilet, EVER!

The toilet seat is not the only thing to suffer from the kids. Their sofa seats are also depressed to varying degrees. Yu is the Papa Bear, Kai the Mama Bear and Yang the Baby Bear, i.e. Yu's seat is the most depressed, no thanks to him bouncing and standing on his sofa! In fact, it has a hole... We put a cushion over his seat and turn a blind eye to it.

The walls in the three kids' rooms have scratches and even holes, even though Yu has not moved into his room yet *.* Other walls have also suffered, like the part above the skirting near Kai's sofa - it's all yellowish coz Kai steps and rubs over it all the time... The study wall and even the sideboard door have scratch marks from the chairs coz these little butts are very itchy - must roll Papa's chair everywhere!

Kai knocked a bit of the laminate off a corner of his wardrobe. Yang's wardrobe is also suffering from his and Yu's weight when they push in clothes after folding them - no damages yet but it's a matter of time, right?

Why are they so rough?!

Other damages are kind of expected - food/drink splatters on painted walls, cracks in the plaster, mould on silicone in wet areas. But we had one unexpected damage in May - a strong wind slammed a window shut and the glass cracked!

I taped the glass in case it fell off and hurriedly got someone to replace it - that was $120 gone. My only consolation was that I didn't need to shift the washing machine at all as the guys took down that window and cut and replaced the glass at the corridor before installing it back. 

Apart from these mishaps, we also face polluted air from incense burning. This being an elderly area has lots more burning compared to BP. Our immediate neighbour burns a joss stick at the corridor at least weekly - I haven't figured out her schedule :p And we have survived two lunar seventh months already - with much aircon and runny nose...

There is of course cigarette smoke but that was present in BP too and is a whole other story that I hope to write about another day...

And pests are also another story. I talked about lizards already. Outside, there are pigeons which make me feel like I'm in the horror movie "Birds" sometimes... The community cats here are too well fed and cared for - with beds! - that they don't bother swiping down birds. And the birds are also too well fed by silly old people who throw food from their kitchen window, to catch lizards! Grrr!

Recently, we also noticed some amazing lost laundry. A lot of families still hang out their laundry here and the wind can be pretty strong. But we didn't expect to see a bedsheet hanging neatly on a branch of a really tall tree in between the walls of two blocks. Walls ok, not the kitchen area where people put out their laundry. Some freak of a wind must have blown it high and far before depositing it so nicely on a branch.

It happened to be the lunar seventh month - the bedsheet looked freaky :p I took a photo and sent in to the One Service app. The town council dealt with it promptly. I don't know how - it was high up and right above some steps. But right after that, we found yet another bedsheet on another tree. This time, it was lower and nearer to people's laundry, and it was gone the next time we passed by. And then I saw another piece of something on the tree right below our kitchen windows *.*

All the above aside...! I must say we enjoy living here. It's convenient and close to the kids' school and various amenities. 

*** silence ***

Oh, is that it? Haha! I guess there's always more to say about bad things!

These days, we eat more at hawker centres and coffeeshops coz they're available. We found that that really make a difference to our dining-out expenses! And yummier sometimes! The new mall that opened in December was also good for our fave Paradise restaurants - it's cheaper to eat at Classic than at the coffeeshop sometimes when Kai and Yu choose to eat steak from the western food stall... 

And now that we're not staying right above a neighbourhood mall, we eat way less fast food, which is better for our waistline! We still make the trek to Macs often enough but more for breakfast or ice cream after dinner - and Sito and I don't eat as much at breakfast :p

At home, one of our fave spots is the dining room. On weekday mornings, Sito and I would sit there for breakfast, read news, chit chat. Before the kids come home, we also sit there for brunch/lunch/coffee and tea. This half of the year until about April, we have a nice bright morning without too much sun in our eyes. From about April, we have to pull down the blinds but we still get the view in the afternoon :) It's so nice that we saw someone pass by our corridor and take a step back to take a photo haha!

This was one rainy afternoon in December 2023

I'm thankful we haven't had to buy a single umbrella yet to cross from HV to our block! We bought quite a number from Cold Storage when Kai was a baby - always went out without a brolly and it rained on our way home *.*

Anyway, last weekend, we were queueing to cut hair at Clementi and bumped into the previous owner of our place. She moved to Clementi. I took the chance to ask her about ownership of this flat. So we are the fourth owner of my side and the third owner of the kitchen side. She bought over the kitchen side when the original owner wanted to sell. Mystery solved! Didn't see the lease this time coz HDB didn't give us a copy.

因为我还年轻

I love to sing since I was very young. I remember having a cassette tape of Chinese nursery rhymes, a kiddy book with lyrics and piano score for some of these songs, and singing with Yan over the good old telephone during kindergarten days.

At some point, we started differentiating between 大人歌 and 小孩歌 or 儿歌 - forgot which term we used but it was definitely 大人歌 for non-nursery rhymes :p

And apparently, my very first 大人歌 was 《我还年轻》by 张清芳 Stella Chang, which came out in 1986. I remember Mother telling me to sing in front of relatives when we went to TPY :p

Then I never stopped singing.

So when I happened to hear about Stella Chang's concert in March, I decided that yes, I should go!

The day finally came - 10 August. I missed watching fireworks with the boys from our kitchen, from a heartlands celebration of National Day right outside Star Vista. But Sito was with them. And I enjoyed the concert in Star Vista and Stella let us know that fireworks were going off outside!

This was only my second time at a concert. The first was 伍佰 in 2002 - yes, 22 years ago! I was excited even though I was going on my own. Songs and singing can, after all, be a very personal affair.

I found my seat - I was looking right at the middle of the stage, and in between another solo concert goer and a group of four aunties. In fact, I must be among the younger adults in the audience! Some of my age range brought kids along but the majority was maybe around 50yo.

As the first notes rang out at 8.10 pm, I was very 激动 coz it was《我还年轻》!!! She sang so many songs and I knew all but two of them - one was probably not a 主打歌 while the other was a worship song - she said she would always sing a different one at each concert. And there was an English song by her elder son! Looked like a somewhat reluctant teenager and reminded me of Kai :p

Many in the audience were singing along - the side screens showed lyrics. Some were invited on stage to sing 《这些日子以来》with her. She also went down the stage to greet fans. I was up on the second level so too bad for me :p

The concert ended at about 10.30 pm, after an encore of two songs. Took some time to leave the theatre due to crowd control. I was quite tired - seldom went home so late! But ok, don't complain coz 我还年轻 :p But I wasn't young enough to pop into Teo Heng KTV downstairs to sing haha!

mf in red - my pretty dress and also ND weekend

Only took a photo of her and her son coz cute and coz they were just talking. Much as I would like to have more keepsakes, I figured there was no point going to a concert and instead of focusing on it, looking through the phone camera to take photos and videos!

I wonder if my next concert would be 20 years later... Hope not!

Happy 59th!

We were very pleased to find that the National Day Observance Ceremony for our neighbourhood would be held at the new mall. Not very pleased that each Singpass could register for only four persons and somehow Sito couldn't get any. But there shouldn't be any barricades, right? Anyway, we didn't need so many goodie bags.

Bingo - one closed eyes, one guided the hand

The boys wore these tops to school the day before too. I washed them once they came home so they could wear them again :p Bought Kai his shirt only the previous weekend coz I only had small tees :p Then I remembered he could also have worn his red P5 level shirt. Oh well, lucky we found $15 tees at Clementi. The shops were selling for $30!

Playing games

Actually we were among the few with kids when we first arrived. Many of those in the queues for the games were seniors! And one auntie was very impatient and rude, and made Yang sad.

She was right behind us, and saw that I gave the game I/C three out of our four game cards. She hinted she wanted the last one - nope, I was saving the last one in case a kid MUST play again. Yang was the last of the three to play. I was busy with Kai or Yu with their returned cards and the lunchboxes they won, but I heard the auntie telling the game I/C, 随便啦小孩子！

Before I knew it, Yang left with a country eraser. He looked sad and about to cry. I forgot about the fourth game card. Then Kai told me the auntie took Yang's hand to throw the ball and it missed. Wa terrible!!!! It's ok if he lost the game on his own but the auntie was just too much. If I had seen it happen, I wouldn't care if she was an old auntie - I'd scold her!

Kai and Yu were both very upset with the auntie, and they agreed to let Yang play an extra game in the next game. That wasn't all. When Yang's ice cream happened to be rather melted, the boys still remembered the terrible old auntie and agreed with Papa's suggestion to give Yang an ice cream cone at Macs later. Thanks to all these, my poor Yang looked a bit better.

Watching bhangra dance performance

Kai's fave song came on at one point. Told him to go dance, but he didn't want to :p

Went upstairs to watch preschoolers perform coz it became more crowded

We were in red and white!

(Yes, my top can be used for racial harmony day too...!)

Look, the balloons are flying higher!

Rested a bit after the anthem when the crowded thinned out

Also got - and then lost - some balloons!

Breakfast as brunch for them

These three gave different responses when I said "look here" - one bo chup, one smiled with food in his mouth, one tried to give a victory sign rather distractedly...

Sito and I waited another 30min for the lunch menu :p Kai couldn't wait so he went home on his own first - he wanted to do a paper!

So bro, haha!

We spent the afternoon watching a lot of YouTube videos of National Day songs, including some cute Roblox versions. In fact, we started on the videos a few days before. A bit late but better than nothing. I realise the kids actually know a number of the songs but these are songs I'm way less familiar with...

Then it was time for NDP!

In the past few years, we had KFC for dinner while watching NDP. But Yang didn't like KFC much, and KFC is not so near us now - we were still staying at BP this time last year. So I decided to make fried rice - I had fried rice and teh c on ND almost every year in my teens! Mother said it was easy so she could sit down to watch NDP too. I agree, haha!

I enjoy spending ND at home, unless I have tickets to NDP! I think it's important for us as parents to help the kids learn more about our country. The kids couldn't sit still for long but at least they caught some parts of the show. Yu even came to find me when I was washing dishes coz they were singing the char siew bao song - they heard me sing before!

The next day, there was a major celebration right outside Star Vista. We didn't get tickets coz late, lazy and I had a concert that night. But the four of them managed to catch the fireworks from our windows! Sito whipped out the phone too late but Yang and Yu were telling me about it; Kai was less interested.

Happy to hear we won a bronze medal at the Olympics on ND. I saw Yu watching TV on Saturday morning and I told him about the bronze. He nodded to the TV and said he knew. Ok, I extra :p 

With that, ND is over. Now we look forward to NDR - first from new PM!

Revelation thanks to Bridget

Random mid(ish)-year resolution: I shall quit reading.

Resolution made in style of Bridget Jones quitting drinking/smoking/self-help books, i.e. high chance of me not sticking to it!

So yes, I was reading again, which explains the dearth of posts this last month.

And yes, I have been reading Bridget Jones, no thanks to the film showing on the telly a few weeks ago, making me realise that I hadn't read the books before.

So once again, I found myself immersed in the wonderful world of fiction, almost oblivious to the real world. But as a well adjusted adult, I always managed to finish the things I must do before sitting down to read. Like having my morning coffee (a must, and during which I could read some), keeping the children educated (by waking up on time to send them off to school) and alive (by cooking), keeping everyone clean (by doing laundry). Cleaning table tops? That can wait though :p

And shortly into the first book, I had a revelation - I'm not the only one who keeps having random thoughts in my head! These thoughts could be real (i.e. past happenings), planning (i.e. what to do later, tomorrow, next year, when rich) or imaginations (i.e. fantasising what might/could have happened, not so much BJ's faves of weight and men)!

Caveat - I did not, dared not, check with my friends whether they had such random thoughts while scrubbing the toilet or cutting up boneless chicken thighs. But Helen Fielding - surely she must have (had) random thoughts running through her mind since she wrote BJ?

Not alone :)

But then, I couldn't help it. I decided to ask people whether he had random thoughts running through his head.

First of all, my dear hub sitting right next to me as I type. His reply was to tell me about a comic he saw before, comparing a man and a woman who were not thinking of anything. The woman had thought bubbles of everything - what to eat, kids, etc. The man had one thought bubble - a monkey clapping cymbals!!!

Ok, men. Or maybe just my man :)

Next, JY when we met for breakfast last week. Her reply was that everyone was wired differently.

Ok, tactful. Haha!

I haven't had the chance to ask others yet. But ok, I accept I'm wired this way. That's why I can type on and on here. 

Many thoughts have come and gone, coz I'm usually busy with physical work when such thoughts pop by so I don't write it down, and by the time I'm free, I don't remember a thing unless something happens to remind me of it. Bird brain. 

PS: I just started an online novel and it's been only two or three weeks since I wrote the first paras of this post - major fail!

Kai is 12?!

Kai is so big now. At this height, it's getting difficult for me to put my arms around his shoulders; soon it'll be him putting his arms over my shoulders..

Happy birthday, my dear Kai Kai!

Yes, we stuck a candle into a pint of cookies and cream ice cream coz the boy still wouldn't have cake! I found photos of him and his last cake in 2020. From 2021, it's always doughnuts or ice cream. But this is the first time we just put a tub of ice cream there :p

Must have his hour of phone games

His birthday fell on a Friday this year. We usually have Japanese curry on Fridays so we had curry mee sua! I diluted it a little and used enoki and more carrots instead of broccoli.

Doesn't look like much but it was yummy!

As usual, we went to Swensen's. But this time, we had lunch instead of dinner so that Yang could be with us and also go to his classmate's birthday party.

The kids had their usual fish and chips x2 and spaghetti. Sito and I had nasi lemak since we were at Clementi; Bishan doesn't have this menu. We were so full we couldn't have dinner - Sito ate Yu's leftover pizza while I had a slice of castella cake. 

大鼻孔 smile!

Yang and Yu had ice cream at Macs later. Nowadays, the system does not allow us to redeem the usual kiddy sundae along with birthday treats... Bought some cakes and snacks before leaving in two groups - I brought Yang to his friend's place (and clocking 14k steps that day!) and the rest home. 

On Sunday morning, when he heard me move, Kai came into our room and onto our bed to wake Papa - he wanted him to go through a paper with him! Somehow he got Sito to play phone games instead *.*

Watching Papa play games

He still likes to squeeze with us in bed, just like those weekends when he was a baby - we used to nap together. But look at him, he's almost my size!!!

Lunch with the grands on Sunday was at Ju Xing Home, a new Cantonese restaurant in Taka. Again, the kids were more interested in playing the grands' phone. But I was glad to see Kai see multiple servings of the fried noodles and hear from Yang later that he wanted to eat there again.

More ice cream!

Think Kai had two tubs of BR and one cone. I closed two eyes - it was to celebrate his birthday anyway.

But until now, he could not tell us what he wants for his birthday present! He got Nintendo games from the grands already but from us, ??? We shall wait and see...

Yang is a decade old!

When I said he has entered double-digit age, Yang said he is now a decade old :)

How time flies! I kept getting reminders of his baby time from Facebook memories - so tiny! And now, he's a big boy of 10.

Yet, he is still such a baby, even more so than Yu. He is just cute without trying to be cute. And he's a very sweet boy who would hug me for no reason :)

Happy birthday, my dear Yang Yang!

He decided on this chocolate cake from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf a few weeks before. I collected it on Wednesday after a doctor's appointment, just nice for his celebration on Thursday. It had just enough space for 10 candles - Yang and Yu enjoyed placing the candles on the cake but they got concerned about wax dripping down when I was lighting the candles!

He decided to cut the cake himself

But it was rather stiff! Finally, we each had a slice, except for Kai of course. Yang had the largest slice but as expected, he couldn't finish. Yu didn't like the cake so Sito and I ended up having a lot of cake!

Birthday boy was allowed an hour of phone games

We decided to restart the whole birthday mee sua thing. Yang said he prefers fried eggs to ajitsuke eggs and he wanted two! So I cooked everything separately and assembled each bowl when the soup was done.

Then he fell asleep *.*

Didn't have the heart to berate him on his birthday. Eventually he woke and finished his dinner. The rest of us had the same food, except for Sito and Kai who did not have eggs.

That night, I asked Yang about his birthday wish. This bad Mama now cannot remember what he said exactly! But I think he at first wished for more phone games. I told him if he made an unrealistic wish, it would not come true. So he said he should have wished for better results instead. Now that could come true with effort! 

"But I don't want to work hard!"

Wa liao...

Yang decided he wouldn't have the firehouse ice cream which Swensen's gifts to birthday kids on the actual day. So we went to Swensen's only on Saturday after Bishan library.

Somehow he enjoys serving drinks to us :)

(Yu also wanted to serve drinks, hence the look!)

Three different expressions - staring into space, kaypoh, concentrating

Kai had finished his ice cream while it was nice and cold - think he has learned to wait properly while the rest finish.. On the other hand, his brothers let their ice cream melt and drink it *.* They were discussing their melted ice cream as they drank...

On the morning of Yang's birthday, we headed out for breakfast. Our doting Papa Sito then tried to find Mr Beast chocolate as Yang said his friend told him it was yummy. We saw it in the nearby supermarket before but couldn't find it this time. Later in the morning, Sito tried two candy stores nearby to no avail...

Finally, we found it at the supermarket at Junction 8. It was expensive for the size. On the way home when we passed by Cold Storage downstairs, Sito pointed out the cost for Cadbury chocolate which was 4-5 times cheaper by weight!

But this boy was very happy :)

They tried the chocolate - just like any milk chocolate. On Sunday, we bought the Cadbury and let them try both side by side on Monday which was a school holiday for Youth Day. Sito also tried. Same taste except that the Cadbury was thicker and hence harder fresh out of the fridge.

Anyway, we bought the Mr Beast bar to let them try since Yang's classmate recommended. But we would not buy again. Hope the kids learn about VFM through this...

Back to birthday... Sunday was celebration with the grands. No cake since the kids don't really eat cake. But they had doughnuts for tea. And presents of course. 

Happy with his doughnut!

The kids also had a lot of snacks as usual. Didn't think they were terribly hungry when we went out for a roast dinner. And they were all way too keen to play games on the grands' phones. But with some cajoling, we managed to give them a decent amount of food. Kai was most resistant. Yang and Yu managed to eat more while playing - AhYee and I stuffed food into their mouths haha!

Happy with his presents too!

Yang's presents - including Sito's toy soldiers which arrived ytd - are now sitting on the TV cabinet. I threw out their old Beyblades last night but I think I really need to sort out their toys over there else the TV is blocked :p

So just like this, Yang's birthday is over. He's officially 10. And I shall continue my quest to fatten this boy up!

如何保持苗条、健康？

一整年都有大吃大喝的时候！

一月：新的一年，新的学年，先吃个开心！Auntie 我生日，吃蛋糕，吃大餐！

二月：农历新年通常这时候，可能吃上三顿团圆饭！就算是一月，十五的元宵火锅也一定在二月，吃吧！

三月：第一学期结束，吃大餐庆祝加慰劳一下！还有过年的黄梨挞等零食，可以吃上几个月！

四月：都说了，黄梨挞……晚上看剧时吃最爽！

五月：孩子他们爷爷奶奶生日，吃蛋糕，吃大餐！第二学期结束，吃大餐庆祝加慰劳一下！

六月：端午节通常这时候，吃粽子！扬生日， 吃蛋糕，吃大餐！

七月：铠生日，没有蛋糕可大餐少不了！

八月：国庆日，过去通常打包炸鸡，今年可能换家常，八月没有大吃！👍

九月：第三学期结束，吃大餐庆祝加慰劳一下！中秋节通常这时候，吃月饼！

十月：宇生日，他外婆生日，吃蛋糕，吃大餐！

十一月：老公生日，吃蛋糕，吃大餐！学年结束，吃大餐庆祝加慰劳一下！

十二月：圣诞，跨年，吃大餐庆祝庆祝！

中间也少不了和老公两个一起到处吃吃喝喝，或兴起煮上十个八个馅饼、烘上几个蛋糕的。也有嘴馋时，非要买点豆沙饼什么的。

所以，回答问题：如何保持苗条、健康？还是适量吃吧！

（最近觉得有点肉，有感而发。）

A thought about plastic bags

It has been almost a year since July 2023 when the supermarkets began charging for plastic carriers.

I remember having a huge store of plastic bags from supermarkets when we had a helper. After we axed the helper, the store dwindled down to a very manageable number - always enough for rubbish with no more than a few extras just in case. 

I suspect it's the packing. Helper paid at a manned counter. The cashier probably double-bagged the milk, and we bought four to five of those 2L bottles every week. When I went to the supermarket, I packed as much as possible into one bag and I never double-bagged the milk. Sometimes, I didn't even take a bag if I bought only one bottle.

Still, when I heard the news, I felt sian, coz I would have to spend money on what had been free, to line my rubbish bins. As it turns out, I realise I don't need to spend a lot on plastic bags. Almost a year on, I'm maybe into my second or third pack of 30-a-pack plastic bags. 

In the old house, the rubbish chute was next to the lift. I only wanted to go out max once a day to throw rubbish coz I was fearful of the small (heng!) cockroaches which were often around the chute. Once, I opened the chute to find it filled with a big item that didn't go down and I had to spend more time there to push it down - didn't know which neighbour, grrrr...

Also, there was an ant nest somewhere in the kitchen and they came very quickly if I left food out. So I always put the clear bag* of food waste from food preparation into the rubbish bin. This means the rubbish bin definitely filled up by the end of the day. On days I didn't cook, the bin might not fill up but if there was any food scraps like biscuits, I would also throw out the bag.

* These are the rolled bags in supermarkets used to contain loose items of vege and fruits. I also use them to contain meat packs in case meat juices leak out. Still free in supermarkets but they seem thinner these days...

So I used at least one bag per day for rubbish in the old house. On Fridays when I empty the vacuum, it's plus one. Now, I throw out one bag every two to four days. No, not gross at all.

The chute is now right next to my sink. After preparing food, I tie up the clear bag (or ziplock bags that come with my frozen meat, a new favourite) and throw it into the chute immediately. In the evening, I also throw out a small bag of wet food scraps - could be as small as those bags for individual buns, or as big as a clear bag if I have to throw out soup scraps. A little torn? No problem - tape the hole with masking tape. 

So my rubbish bin only gets tissue, snack wraps and dry food scraps. There were ants at first but they were due to snack crumbs dropped on the floor near the bin. I cleaned out the bin a couple of times. Eventually, after applying insecticide at all entry points, I can afford to leave some food scraps in the bin for some time. The exception is banana skins which attract fruit flies easily. 

With Yang having a banana every morning, I now have a secondary bin in the fridge, to store food waste to throw later, when the rubbish bin is relatively full. These are from individually wrapped oranges, strawberry boxes, and even ice cream pint tubs - when we finish a tub of ice cream at night, we don't throw it in the bin coz it may attract ants, or down the chute coz it's not tight enough AND we don't want some nocturnal thing flying out of the chute at us! So we leave the tub in the fridge, perfect as my little food rubbish bin. 

Big empty cake boxes with cake stains can stay in the fridge too until I'm ready to bring to the bin downstairs - no point wasting a bag to bag it and it may be too large to go smoothly into the chute anyway.

Then there are bags that don't fit our rubbish bin:

• Small carrier bags, e.g. bakery, Old Chang Kee, clinic - perfect for the vacuum dust box or barley from our weekly boil. They get tied and fed directly to the chute.
• Big carrier bags, e.g. Daiso - store recycleable stuff until it's full enough to bring to the blue bin downstairs. This also helps to protect the recycleables from contaminants.
• "Untieable" bags, e.g. Watsons - I don't take them but Sito sometimes blur blur brings one home. Tie with rubber bands if I have any, or use it for recycleables.

Sometimes, we get supermarket-size plastic bags too - forget to bring our reusable bag, buying more than our bag can take, shop doesn't charge for bags :p So each pack of 30 plastic bags can last a long time. But actually, these are only slightly cheaper than the 5cents at supermarkets.

There are two side effects of charging for plastic carriers.

1) Excessive number of reusable bags!

Been around for some time. In fact, I wrote about it before. I think reusable bags are sturdier than plastic bags when it comes to heavy stuff. Nowadays, we buy six 1L cartons of milk from Cold Storage and one plastic bag would not be able to take it due to the stiff edges of the cartons. 

Usually, one bag is sufficient for me. But a few times when we went to Sheng Siong, we bought too much for our bag. I don't always remember to bring a second bag so I would buy a plastic bag.

Why don't I buy a reusable bag? Coz honestly, I have a lot of reusable bags. And I much prefer fabric bags and not the plasticky type sold at supermarkets. It's inevitable that some meat juice or vege soil will dirty the bag. I find it's better to throw it into the washing machine to wash than to just wipe with a wet cloth.

2) Dirtier chutes?

One of the first thought I had when I heard about the charging of plastic bags was whether more people would just throw rubbish directly into the chute without bagging them *.* I hope not... I'm glad we're on a high floor so less chance of unbagged rubbish hitting our chute. It's very gross lor!

I'm all for being environmentally friendlier but let's be honest, we do need plastic bags to hold some shopping and to contain rubbish. While it is possible to bring a reusable box for your next bakery run, it is not always feasible. And rubbish - if it's not contained, we will end up with smelly environments thanks to decomposing food in this hot climate!

In summary:

1. Give all the plastic bags you receive from shopping a second chance - these may be carrier bags, supermarket clear bags or bakery bun bags. Keep the big ones for lining the bin and use the small ones for peskier rubbish. Other shapes and sizes can be use to contain recycleables.
2. Fill up each bin bag so there's no wasted space - separating your waste can extend the lifespan of the bigger bin bags until they're full. Just throw peskier waste in smaller bags or keeping them in the fridge until you're ready to empty the bin.

Fathers' Day game

Yu decided on his present for Papa the Friday before Fathers' Day. He hid it and planned a treasure hunt for Papa to find. And wait, that wasn't enough - he pitted me against Papa to find the present! 

In the end, I found it and gave it to Sito :)

That's why there are two sets of clues :)

As for Kai and Yang, well, no school means no preparation!!

The third boy is really after Papa's heart :)))

First NAPFA tests

Kai and Yang had their first NAPFA tests in May. I seem to remember it being an annual event during my time, starting from P4. But now, it's for P4 and P6; I shall learn about secondary school later...

Due to COVID, Kai missed his P6 NAPFA. So the two brothers "practised" for the test - jumping across the tiles, and pulling out Sito's unused exercise mats for sit-ups.

Plus pull-ups near AhMa's place

That was taken back in September last year actually, coz they have been playing with those bars for ages. So nice to see three of them wearing the same design and standing in line with Papa :)

Kai even went jogging with Papa

But just once :p Btw, he wore Papa's shoes! Sito's current pair has a tighter fit. He wore his old pair instead.

So they passed every NAPFA item except Kai's shuttle run. Very good - Mama only passed shuttle run haha!

Gastro-intestinal issues

On 1 November last year, I had a shock when I went to pee. My pantyliner was yellow with - what?! Then I saw oil floating in the toilet bowl. It looked black but the toilet paper showed yellow so should be it.

It turned out that I leaked oil when I, um, flatulated. Such a polite word. I should just say "farted".

I continued to leak oil in the next three mornings. I don't know why there was nothing in the afternoons. After that, nothing until 9 March when I had oily poop. I continued to have oily poop for the next three days but only one episode of leaking oil when farting.

I went to the polyclinic on 2 November coz this was such an inconvenient bodily malfunction! Imagine if I were in the office?! Did an amylase test but all was fine. When I went back for a review one week later, I was referred to a gastro specialist at Alexander Hospital.

During the specialist appointment on 13 February, I brought up four issues - might as well!

1. Oily gas and poop
2. Cramps just before passing gas/poop sometimes - first instance after delivering Kai
3. Tummy ache with cold water
4. Gastric pain despite eating

Doc sent me for a CT scan and recommended gastroscopy and colonoscopy.

Had my CT scan on 20 March. Was injected with dye via an IV line. Nothing complicated. Doc called me two days later to say things look fine but my womb looked swollen so she would refer me to a gynae. I told her I decided to proceed with the scopes so she arranged those for me (I tried calling but the wait!) and postponed consultation until after that.

And now, I'm going to give a detailed breakdown of having the scopes. I hope someone who is anxious about getting these procedures may find it helpful...

So I finally had the scopes done on Friday, 7 June. Right after our anniversary lunch on 3 June, I had to stick to a restricted diet - from 4 June, I could not have vege and fruits, milk and soy products and red meat. I was given a brochure with the list of oks and not-oks when I went to collect the laxative - oh yeah, laxative, keep reading...

The diet was torturous!

Now, I'm not such a foodie. But I felt awful that I couldn't have the usual things. It's one thing if I decide to not eat. But you know, when you tell me to not think of a lizard, I'll keep thinking of a lizard *.*

So I had bread with butter, chicken noodle soup without vege, kosong instant noodles, mee hoon kway, hardboiled eggs and chicken rice. For drinks, I had only water and plain tea. I'm glad I like my tea kosong. I can't have my usual coffee without milk. Everything else, I feasted with my eyes by watching short reels on cooking...

Actually 6 June was pretty sad. I wanted chicken rice like for 5 June but the stall was closed! Luckily I had kosong instant noodles in the pantry and hardboiled eggs in the fridge. Must eat by 5 pm that day coz I had to clear my bowels from 7 pm. How?

With these!

I was supposed to finish four packs of the Fortrans with four litres of water from 7 pm to 11 pm. I had to "save" water from the afternoon so that the water could all be at room temperature - this was the only time I thought a water filter would be useful, no need to keep boiling water!

I also had to dissolve the Fortrans laxative in batches in my 500ml measuring jug as it was tricky pouring the white powder directly into the tall flask with its small mouth. These Ikea flasks have 1L capacity so just nice for one pack of Fortrans.

But four litres are really a lot of water to drink in such a short time. I'm not used to drinking even two litres throughout the day! The drink tasted like flat 100 plus but less sweet so not terribly nice too. Worse, from 8.20 pm, I started pooping madly, like every 10 min for the next hour before the frequency began to reduce, partly coz I was lagging behind in drinking...

By 9.30 pm, I was seriously falling behind in drinking. Eventually, I finished 3.5 litres by 11.30 pm. JY told me she skipped one whole pack of Fortrans. And I figured my bowels looked clear by 9 plus anyway. I'm not sure if water going through the intestine would just look yellow or if it was the Fortrans - but later when I wiped the table, I found that the wet powder was a little yellow on the cloth.

I managed to go to sleep at midnight, but woke to poop a few times. Even in the morning, I had to poop before I left the house. By then, I had poop some 20 times! Really 屁股开花 already... 

Btw, I had no anxiety. The desire to eat what I wanted filled my every braincell. No more cells to consider the risks, which are minimal anyway. That and the poop made me just want to get it over and done with.

My appointment was 10.30 am but I had to arrive at 9.30 am for preps. I changed into a kimono covering a surgical gown in a handicapped toilet - I wish they had a proper changing room... I was given a big plastic bag to keep my clothes and bag. I read an e-book until the nurse came to get me and cable-tied my bag, leaving me with only my reading glasses and slippers. My hair remained tied up, no hair cover.

Then they gave me Fliumicil to clear bubbled in my stomach, and inserted a straw in my right hand which would be where they gave me the sedative later. But the nurse warned me - my blood pressure was too low to be given the full sedative so I might not be knocked out!

Indeed, I couldn't be knocked out.

My plastic bag and slippers went under my trolley bed. A nurse removed my disposable underwear and another sprayed a numbing solution at my throat. I was to keep it there and swallowed only when told - bitter. I'm connected to a blood pressure reading machine. A mouth guard kept my mouth open while I lay down on my left. A nurse held my head still. 

We started with the stomach scope. The scope was a black tube of maybe 1.5cm diameter. I felt it a little but it wasn't painful. But as it moved, I could feel it going through to the stomach. 

And I could see the inside of my stomach! At one point, I saw lots of folds. Gosh, I could eat a lot and the stomach could take it :p Then I saw a thin orange tube going into the black scope. It emerged again on the screen and I saw the metal clip at the end. It pulled at a cute little blob in my stomach. 

Next, my bed was turned 180 degrees as my bum would now face the machine with the scope. I couldn't see but I trusted that they changed the scope? Haha!

Doctor said she would apply some gel first. I didn't really feel it. Also didn't feel the scope until she started pumping air inside to open up the colon. That was painful! It was like the cramps I feel sometimes when I need to poop/fart but this time, I couldn't!

The doctor had told me to just fart before she pumped the gas but I couldn't. Had to bear with the pain. A nurse held my belly to help manipulate the scope from the outside. Another nurse came to pat pat me and encouraged me to fart. 

But finally, it was over. No more gas. Doctor sprayed in water instead to remove remnant poop (I could see on the screen - yellow mucousy stuff) so that she could see better. No pain. 

Then the nurse put back my underwear and led me out to the resting area. As I was wheeled out, I could see a big cylinder of yellow solution - probably sucked out when doctor was spraying water inside.

At the resting area, I saw the uncle before him sipping Milo and eating biscuits. Strangely, I wasn't hungry at that time. When my drip finally finished, the nurse sat me up and gave me the same food. So nice to sip on hot Milo coz it was so cold there! 

The nurse went through the scopes with me and showed me photos taken. So I had a polyp in the stomach - yes, the cute little blob - from which the doctor had removed tissue for testing. There was also an inflamed part. Colon all ok. Then I could go.

But I had to make a trip to the toilet - last watery poop! But I continued to feel the peristalsis of the colon until the night...

At the follow-up visit this morning, I recorded 56/48 blood pressure - crazy auto machine! Anyway, doctor said the histology of the polyp had not come back but at the size of 1 cm, she recommended removing it regardless of the result. She couldn't remove it that day coz it would take more time, with a slightly higher chance of bleeding given the size, and I wasn't knocked out.

While waiting for her to schedule the scope to remove the polyp, the histology report came back - ok but may not be representative of the polyp given the small sample. I was reading that a small % of stomach polyps may become cancerous so ya, better to remove.

Waited a while more and got a date - subject to changes as they had to coordinate with an anaesthetist as well coz must put me under. Asked them to avoid PSLE dates :p

Now to tie back to the original reason for seeing the doctor? No conclusion, sighs... Everything looks fine except for the polyp. Maybe it's destined for the polyp to be discovered like this? Hope I don't get the oily farts/poop anymore...