Getting ready for P1

I can't help being overly worried as to how Ilyasak will survive primary one. I think it's a normal phase which every mom goes through.
The last few weeks had been all about me preparing his school items. From books, school bag to labeling every single item that he will be bringing to school. How paranoid can I be right! I just can't help it.
Here is a snap shot of one of the tasks that I had done this past week. A typical kiasu Singaporean parent.

Mini lego creation

Ilyasak received his reward from me yesterday after he collected a card full of stickers. He collects one sticker each time he is well behaved or he perform certain tasks well. Eg. He got ready for school fast or he finished a meal fast without any form of feeding from me ( he does require us to feed him from time to time).
This time round he received a small Lego set from me as I try to keep his reward small and cheap. I bought this set from a sale so it was selling at a fraction of the retail price.
He worked on the set almost immediately and was done in about ten minutes as it was a pretty simple set for him. He will usually play with his Lego creations once he was done with it. That bought me some time when I could rush to the kitchen to prepare lunch while he was at it and Balqis was busy with her threading activity. She did helped his brother to fix the Lego figure that came with it though ( she has a thing about fixing Lego figurines)

Lego creator

His recent creation was the mini creator 5762. I bought it during our recent trip to the airport on children's day. He asked for it as his children's day gift. I was hesitant at first as he has far too many Lego sets. To date, his Lego sets are placed in a supreme huge container which we got from Ikea. They were really huge in my opinion and so one can imagine how many Lego sets does this 5 year old own and Lego sets do not come cheap. I have always told him of how lucky he is to be able to play with such expensive toys and I even added that I only had 2 sets throughout my entire childhood. Anyhow, I relented because it was after all children's day and he was well-behaved during the trip to the airport as well as earlier on during breakfast.
I have always been a fan of the creator series simply because you can create a t least 3 designs from just one set which is money worth in my opinion as compared to the city series which you can only yield one creation and pretty much ends it there.

He started working on the mini creator 5762 almost immediately when he arrived at my mom's. He complete the first design in about 15 minutes. Of course, I had to supervise him in case he missed out any steps or some of the tint pieces in the process. It gets really depressing if you lose just one tiny piece which deters you from yielding the final product. I forgot to take a picture if the first design.

Later in the evening, he constructed the second design during dinner. I am not favour of play and toys during dinner but I gave in because I wanted him to put up a stint. He cab be quite anal on completing the Lego sets if he already sets his mind to it and no form if compromise will be entertain by him. I know its bad habit and I should try to curb such behavior but I don't have the energy to deal with it that night.

Doodling

I was quite worried that ilyasak did not like to draw or doodle despite making all the writing and colouring materials readily available for him. It is like a common phase where every child will go through. It worries me when he showed no signs of interest in d field at all. He even had difficulty writing out the alphabets as well and hated the fact that he has to write and his pencil grip wasn't that strong either. Although he started to read before he turns 3 but he was only able to write legibly recently when he was 4 and a half years old. I was terribly worried. I even scout around for some suitable art classes for him but found nothing suitable nearby in terms of quality. The only good ones were really far away and it seems unrealistic to sign him up.
However, about two weeks back, he was seen doodling on pieces of paper or any scrap he could find. Yes! You bet I am real happy although most if his doodles comprised of modes of transport or should I mention aeroplanes in specific. He even include details such as turbine engines and propellors although it was not very clear until he explained it to me. He could create stories out of his doodles which made me extremely happy to know that he does progress like any other child. Only that he took a little longer than usual to reach the stage.

There was once when we were having tea in a cafe and he asked for his sketch book. That kept him occupied throughout out the time when we were there. It was simply amazing that he was doodling with such deep concentration. Hopefully, the 'burning' desire to draw is here to stay.

Blackforest cake

He has been fond of blackforest cake for the longest time probably it was the first cake that was introduced to him. Although his range of favourite cakes has expanded, blackforest still remain at the top of his list of favourites.
These was taken during one of those evenings when I needed the sweet crave for cakes. My choice of tiramisu and his choice of blackforest. We have yet to discover Balqis' favourite as she seems to enjoy every single flavor of cake which was served to her.

Attempting puzzles

I took out some of Ilyasak's older puzzles which was shelved for quite some time to let Balqis attempt it. Surprisingly she was able to complete 3-5 pieces puzzle with minimal help from me. I had to give hints along the way though like asking her to rotate to get d exact fit and asking her to observe d colours and design of the individual piece to get d correct match up. I am real happy over her progress. I will dig more puzzles for her then.

Maybe I should get Ilyasak to start on doing puzzles again. This boy is simply unique as he does not seem to show interest in d usual typical activities or items which children his age enjoy. For instance, he needs to be coaxed to draw or colour a simple figure or two. He only like vehicles, wheels, gears and those items if that nature. It kind of worrying but I guess each individual child is unique in his or her own way.

Puzzles

I tried giving Balqis some of the simple puzzles from our collection. Basically from the time I started Ilyasak on them. She was able to complete with minimal help from me. I only had to teach her that she needs to rotate, observe the pictures, colours or the cutting of the puzzle pieces to get the correct fitting to the entire puzzle.
I will definitely introduce more puzzles to her in the future.

Maybe I should get Ilyasak to start on doing puzzles again. This boy is simply unique as he does not seem to show interest in the usual typical activities or items which children his age enjoy. For instance, he needs to be coaxed to draw or colour a simple figure or two. He only like vehicles, wheels, gears and those items of that nature. Its kind of worrying but I guess each individual child is unique in his or her own way.

Under the weather again

Ilyasak is down with fever again today. His temperature was 37.1 in the morning so I didn't think too much of it and send him off to school. However, he didnt look too good when we fetched him from school. Even his teacher informed us that he was lying on the floor looking weak during dismissal time. True enough, it was high fever of 39.1 when we checked his temperature again. Ever since this year, his fever will always be on the high side of more than 38.5 whenever he was down with one which worries us a lot.

Balqis on the other hand is down with runny nose since two days ago. Thank god! Hopefully she stays away from fever. It's always a big worry whenever our little ones are down with fever- like holding on to a time bomb where we constantly has to check on its figures.

Thankfully hubby is on childcare leave today which help to lighten my daily load with the kids. It can get real depressing if you have sick kids refusing their meals and wanting to be coaxed just to finish their meals.

They are off to their own slumber after their own dosages of the meds. Hope the hubs and I can brave the tide with neither of us getting the bug. Hope the kids recover real soon and be out and about to play.

Daily morning walks

Our daily morning would usually be walking Ilyasak to his kindy and Balqis and I will move on to a nearby playground, the field or to the supermarket for some grocery shopping on items which I forgot the day before. Both Balqis and I will enjoy the cool morning breeze sitting down on a bench observing people with their morning rush. Also immersing in nature, studying the different types of leaves, fruits and flowers when she picks it up for closer observation. Looking at snails plodding by which we will do when Ilyasak is early and has some time to join us for the walks before school starts.
I really love such activities with my kids and hope to be able to do it in years to come.

My kind boy

Just a few nights ago when all three of us (balqis, ilyasak and I) were getting ready for bed, Ilyasak asked me: " umi do you need me to take the eyedrop for you?" I went, "Awww you are so sweet." How can such sugar coated words not melt a mother's heart. The answer to his question was a "yes" of course. He even waited for me to finish the eye drops and took the empty vial to the trash can. This is my boy, he can just be so caring when you least expected. He has been taking the eye drops for me ever since then every single night. Lets hope this simple act of kindness is here to stay.

Ilyasak turns 5

This is a recent photograph of him-taken for his passport.

Ilyasak turned 5 yesterday. He woke up in the morning asking whether it was the 3rd of August and that he'd turned 5 already. He asked the hubs to check his height and even asked him to lug out the weighing machine to have his weight taken-to check if there was an increase in his weight now that he is 5 years old. We felt tickled at the way these young children are thinking. To them turning a year older equals to weight gained ha!ha! He had been on the constant check recently especially after we told him that he needs to gain another 2 kg before his next visit to the dietician.

We didnt have a fancy celebration, just a simple cake cutting at my mom's yesterday. He got his 'balloon' cake though. The cake was not much to be harped about as the decoration on the cake turned out to be just a piecce of plastic sheet simply plonked on the cake. We had to removed the plastic just to cut the cake. Upon removal of the plastic decoration, the cake looked nothing more like just an ordinary little cake. Well, at least he got the cake he wants and he had been wanting this particular cake since last year. For the record, he only ate a tiny piece from hs birthday cake unike other kids who would jump to request for the second or even the third helping.

We plan to take him out today as the hubs managed to get leave so not really sure where we will head to since its the fasting month- kind of drained out if we do too much physical activiy and Balqis is coughing really badly too.

Happy Birthday Ilyasak! Umi, Abi and Balqis love you dearly.

Ice cool Ice-cream

One of those rare after lunch snacks that they had. I promised that they could share an ice-cream if they finish their lunch promptly and they did. Ilyasak asked for this yummy reward almost immediately after he placed his plates in the sink. There was not a chance that I could pretend to forget to give them the reward.

They were practically pulling the ice-cream from each other. I had to be there to ensure that they took turns to lick the ice-cream. It was such a cute sight. The ice-cream was gone in under 10 minutes.

Balqis waiting for her turn to lick the ice-cream.

A visit to the dietetics clinic

Our Ilyasak was made to see the dietician yesterday. Well, technically I am the one who needs to see the dietician so that we can find ways on how to solve his food refusal bug as well as his excessive time taken to complete one meal. He usually takes 45 minutes to an hour on average to complete a meal and much longer exceeding the one hour mark on the 'not so very good' days which at the same time will drive us (hubs and I) to the wall.

After the first consultation, I was taken aback when I was told by the dietician that I actually fed him more than he is able to take. I was adviced to cut down on his portions for every meal and to add a small supper before bedtime. I am to give Ilyasak the liberty of deciding his meal portion and he is to finish it within 30 minutes but of course we have to work down the time gradually-from his usual one hour to ultimately 30 minutes. I am also to offer more high energy food to him to support his active schedule. I found it weird too that I am encourage to fry his rice in garlic and oil if he is only to have soke soupy dish for the day just so to make up for the energy boost which is apparently very low in soups. I guess I was kind of carried away with the overly conscious 'me' to want to prepare healthy low fat food for the family and forgetting te fact that kids need their fair share of fat and oily food as part of their regime of growing up unlike us.

I was also made aware that the margarine with the healty pyramid symbol on it is way better than my choice of unsalted butter. The trans fat (bad fat) content in those specific margarine is way very low or in fact negligible. I was tempted to discard my tub of Lurpak unsalted butter but dismiss the thought knowing that the hubs will probably murder me with his 'verbal diarrhoea' haha!

Oh ya! I was terribly worried too when the dietician informed me that Ilyasak was underweight. He is at his 89th instead of the 100th percentile. His weight is about 16.f kg when he is suppose to be about 18.5 kg. Thank god his height is normal and his weight did not retards his height.

We are to slowly trained Ilyasak to feed himself instead of us feeding him. We tried today at breakfast and it almost drive me mad as he is eats very slowly and chatted far too much haha!!. I gave up and actually and fed him about 4 spoonfuls (I know I am not suppose to!)Well! that's our Ilyasak and I just have to work on it no matter how tough it gets.

Well I have to reorganise my thoughts and choices on the kinds of meal which I prepare for the family especially for Ilyasak and Balqis.

Fever bug

Ilyasak was attacked by another round of the fever bug. He had recently recovered from the same bug about 3 weeks ago and he was down again last Wednesday. His fever seems to be on the high once the virus sits in. His temperature was a scary 39 which hits 40 at certain times of the day. Often forcing us to give him an ice bath. Thankfully the hubby was on sick child care leave. I would not have imagine handling both kids on my own. Giving him cups of yoghurt also did not seem to help. To make matters worse, Ilyasak was such a lousy eater when he is sick. He was not a great eatet to start of with and it became worse when he is sick. We were so desperate to get some kind of food in hs body, that we even resorted to offering him a Long John's meal. Strange as one might find it, he resisted to even such a meal!
Lucky for us, he recovered after 2 days which was much shorter than the previous one whoch lasted a whole entire week. Looking after a sick child is never an easy task. we were thankful that we survived. All thanks to the one above for helping us as, after all, he would not give us a challenge that is not within our means. It only made us parents much stronger after we brave the tide.