"Lucky 8"!!

...Thats what the nurse said upon weighing Isaac... :)

At 5 months, he is already weighing 8kg! I think it must have been more of his bone density that is accounting for the bulk of his weight, given that he doesn't look all that big and thankfully, not looking overweight too. :)

Took him to the doc for his jab today....He was cheerful as ever and one of the nurse at the doc's reception called out "hey mister handsome" to him when he came in and he gave her a cheeky smile! He was smiling and chatting cheerfully and excitedly at the docs too....in high spirits, not knowing that its another "jab day" for him. Again, he was very brave, only complaining out loud at the doc when the needle went into his thigh, but within seconds, was back to his jovial persona. :) Hooray for such a happy chappy!

oh bugger off...u detestable mosquitoes!

i really dislike mosquitoes...
'cos they love to sting me....
put me in a dining room with 10 other people and chances are the mosquito would only pick on ME!
don't laugh...i've been through similar scenario so many times, and its always ME who kena' the mosquito bite! I would like to think that i'm the sacrificial lamb who takes the bite on behalf of so many others.... !

BUT, i now detest mosquitoes even more because they seem to love to prey on my little isaac!
hey u detestable creature....pick on someone bigger, won't u??
bugger off...u bug!! *grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr*

DeQuervain's Tenosynovitis...

... think thats what sze has been suffering from.

Its already been at least two months...At first I just felt a sore on my left wrist. I thought it must have been the prolonged carrying of Isaac (cos of the need to nurse him rather often). Then it got a lot worst after I had a fall and of all place, landed on the same left hand, thereby injuring the wrist even more.

Went to the Chinese sinseh to have the chinese doc massaged my wrist, but it didn't get better.

Did an x-ray, too, which showed no fracture on the bone. Thank God! Doctor decided that since there is no fracture, best to let it heal by itself

Then I came across this today...As my eyes went down the list of symptoms, my brain is going"tick tick tick tick" to them all! I certainly have the condition DeQuervain's Tenosynovitis!

An extract from the website on DeQuervain's Tenosynovitis:

What is DeQuervain’s tenosynovitis (ten-oh-sin-oh-VY-tis)?
It's an inflammation of tissue on the thumb side.
Tendons (cordlike fibers that attach muscle to bone) and synovium ( a slick membrane that allows the tendons to move easily) become irritated and cause pain.

What are the Causes?
Making the same motions over and over–such as repeatedly unscrewing jar lids, grasping a tool.
An injury to the thumb side of the wrist.

What are the Symptoms?
Most commonly, it is pain on the thumb side of the wrist.
Pain when pinch or grasp things, turn or twist your wrist, or make a fist. The thumb may also “catch” when you bend it.
Thumb side of the wrist may be tender to the touch.
May feel a “small knot”.

Getting a Diagnosis.
To diagnose DeQuervain’s, your doctor may ask you to make a fist with your fingers over your thumb. He will then gently bend your wrist toward your little finger. Sharp pain in the wrist is a sign that the tendons are inflamed.


Sigh! Am already wearing a wrist-guard. As for getting a good rest for the wrist/hand, its quite difficult when we're looking after a young baby! How can I resist picking him up when he is crying or just giving him a cuddle??? Well, I can only pray that it would heal itself quickly!!

i have toes...

"Recently I discovered that I have toes!! I can't resist them even as my hands were already full of those colorful doughnut-looking toys that mummy had given me....how I wish that I am flexible enough to bend all the way down and be able to suck them!!!"

At play

Trying to capture Isaac's look of concentration even when he is at play....

 

High-Chair

"Sat on a high-chair for the first time today in a restaurant.... Yay, now I can see what daddy and mummy are all eating!!"

:)

Schi schna schnappi

Recently, YL can't seem to get this german song called "Schnappi das kleine Krokodil"(otherwise known as "Schnappi the small crocodile") out of his head. Actually, to be exact, he got hooked onto the song's chorus, which goes something like this:

"Schi schna schnappi
schnappi schnappi schnapp
Schi schna schnappi
schnappi schnappi schnapp..."

...and he just repeats it over and over again!

When playing with Isaac, he would hold the little one and dance him about to the song.
And I think the little boy is now hooked onto the song too, so much so that when you start humming the chorus, he would open up his already very big eyes even wider and give you a broad grin and move/laugh excitedly.... !

Anyway, click here for the MTV and have appended the rather cute lyrics and its rather "raw" english translation here:

Schnappi das kleine Krokodil ( Schnappi the small crocodile )

Ich bin schnappi das kleine Krokodil
( I am schnappi the small crocodile )
Komm aus Ägypten das liegt direkt am Niel
( Come from Egypt is directly because of the Nile )
Zuerst lag ich in einem Ei
( First I lay in an egg )
Dann schni schna schnappte ich mich frei
( Then schni schna I snatched myself freely )

(cours:)
Schi schna schnappi
schnappi schnappi schnapp
Schi schna schnappi
schnappi schnappi schnapp

Ich bin schnappi das kleine Krokodil
( I am schnappi the small crocodile )
Hab scharfe Zähne
( Have sharp teeth )
und davon ganz schön viel
( and of it completely beautifully much )
Ich schnapp mir was ich schnappen kann
( I bite myself where i can )
JAA, schnapp zu weil ich das so gut kann
( Yes, i bite as much as i can. )

(cours:)
Schi schna schnappi
schnappi schnappi schnapp
Schi schna schnappi
schnappi schnappi schnapp

Ich bin schnappi das kleine Krokodil
( I am schnappi the small crocodile )
Ich schnappe gern das ist mein lieblings spiel
( I bite gladly that am my favourite play )
Ich schleich mich an die mama rann
( I creep to the mummy ran )
und zeig ihr wie ich schnappen kann
( and show it as I to bite can )

(cours:)
Schi schna schnappi
schnappi schnappi schnapp
Schi schna schnappi
schnappi schnappi schnapp

Ich bin schnappi das kleine Krokodil
( I am schnappi the small crocodile )
Und vom schnappen da krieg ich nicht zu viel
( And of bite there war I not too much )
Ich beßi dem Papi´s kurzem Bein
( I bessi the Papi's short leg )
Und dann schlaf ich einfach ein
( And then sleep I simply )

(cours:)
Schi schna schnappi
schnappi schnappi schnapp (schnapp)
Schi schna schnappi
schnappi schnappi schnapp (schnapp)

(cours:)
Schi schna schnappi
schnappi schnappi schnapp (schnapp)
Schi schna schnappi
schnappi schnappi schnapp (schnapp)

Playmates

Isaac had a great time meeting up with his playmates today...see images below:

The papas and their kids....

From left to right: YL and Isaac (4 mths 3 wks); James and Qishuo (8 mths); Chee Wee and Jingxi (6mths).

Isaac : "Hello Qishuo gor gor and Jingxi jie jie! Welcome to my home...please come often...i love company!! "

Isaac : "Mummy!! Look...Jingxi is giving me foot reflexology!! So ticklish! Hahaha! "

Jingxi's mummy: "Jingxi ...those are not your feet!! Yours are in your cute little pink socks!!"

Jingxi: "But Isaac Di Di's feet are so chubby...look at those toes...very nice to grab!!"

;)

PiAnO bOy

He starred in awe

at Papa moving his fingers swiftly up and down those flights of notes

Beautiful sounds are coming out of this giant machine...

Papa is a magician!!

Papa stopped caressing those black and white notes,

wrapped his huge hands around the two much smaller ones

Looked at him, nodding and said, "Go on, son..."

With glee, his small fingers dived straight onto the keyboard

A Ding and then a Dong

And he turned and looked at Papa

With excitement in his eyes

"Look Papa, my fingers can do magic too....I too can make music!!"

He turned back, his hands diving back into the keyboard once again

Lost in the magical world of music making...

pEeK-a-BoO!!!

a game that we've been playing daily:

we throw his hanky on his face...
he tries to grab his hanky away from his face so that he can see us...
we clap and cheer when he manages to do so...
he giggles out loud in pride...

(Repeat the above...)

Results: Fun for him and he gets to practise on some aspects of his motorskills.

New Syllabus

In the midst of all his babbling, Isaac pronounced the syllabus "maam" "maam"...

Sze, the dreamer, was inclined to think that he was trying to call out "mom mom" to her...

YL, the realist, thought that the ever big appetite babe was just trying to tell us all that he is ready to take on more food!! :)

Isaac's Calligraphy Brushes

We finally got down to collecting the calligraphy brushes that we had ordered from Hua Xia Taimaobi. These are special calligraphy brushes made from Isaac's birth/virgin hair, which the hairdresser had shaven from Isaac's head on his 100th day (on 28 Feb 2006). We had earlier blogged about this hair-shaving episode here.

The “Baby Hair Brush” is made from the baby's first haircut and a specially selected brush holder engraved with his name, birthdate and words of well wishes and encouragement. As a tradition from the Tang Dynasty of China, such calligraphy brushes are presented to the baby to wish him or her health, happiness and fame in the future. Apparantly, you can really use these brushes to write chinese calligraphy. However, one would need to be highly skilled to use them, as baby's birth hair are very very soft!

As Isaac had loads of hair, we were persuaded by the company to make more brushes...We couldn't resist the temptation and had thus ordered three brushes in total! One each for each set of his grandparents, and one for him (the centre one). The one that we are presenting to him not only has his name engraved on the brushholder, but also our names.

Both of Isaac's grandmothers as well as ourselves had selected the Chinese words of encouragement to engrave on each brush. Our choices are as follow:

YL & Sze's choice: 鹏程万里, 智勇双全

(Translated as: Having a great future, equipped with wisdom & courage)

Paternal grandma: 虚怀若谷, 光明磊落

(Translated as: Humility in learning and righteousness)

Maternal grandma: 博学多才, 香飘四海

(Translated as: Knowledgeable, talented, and having a good reputation)

May Isaac truely live up to these hopes that we have for him... :)

jaimie cullum concert cancelled

We had bought tix to see jaimie cullum's concert tonight at Max-Pavillion at the expo. We really fell in love with jaimie's style of pop-jazz and were impressed by his brilliance at improvising those jazz chords when we watched a lot of his live giggs on tv during our London days! The concert was also meant as a much anticipated date between just the two of us.

But given the state that Isaac was in (violently coughing as of last night), we were in two minds about attending the concert (but we had bought rather expensive $100 tix each leh and were therefore also reluctant to skip the concert!) "Thankfully", sze's sis-in-law called her in the afternoon to inform her that she had read in the newspapers that the concert had been postponed to 15 June! So we "happily" trotted back home after work to see our son...and praise God, Isaac looked much much better today!!

not-so-merry-go-round

isaac was down with fever
sze was busy tending to isaac every night
sze lacked sleep and her immune-system became low
sze kena' fever, running nose and cough
sze continued to nurse isaac
isaac got infected by sze and became down with fever (again!)
yl tended to both sze and isaac and tried to nurse them back to health
yl soon became ill himself too...

get the idea? snif snif....