ulcers in the mouth

I was starting to get quite worried. Caden is still not eating but he still is very active. I wonder where he gets his energy from. He would run around the house non-stop after lunch, where he was not eating anything at all.

I used to be not worried of him not eating, because first of all, he is not underweight and he would asked for more (a lot more) milk afterwards – almost double his milk intake.

But this time is different! It’s even difficult to get him finish his regular milk intake. And combine with him not eating, it’s really worried me.

Daddy, who was away for 5 days, was surprised that Caden has lost quite a bit of weight.

So, we went to the doctor today!

And, oh my gosh, the doctor said that he has ulcers in his mouth.

I was looking for ulcers when we were in Jakarta, but we couldn’t find it. Anyway, it was very difficult to make Caden open his mouth wide.

[Caden had bite suster’s fingers 3 times for it]

He had 3 ulcers deep in his mouth, near the throat => that what makes it difficult to see.

Doctor was surprised that he did not have any fever or rashes on his body.

[This is not HFMD, yet!]

He gave a medicine to make it less painful to shallow food. He have to drop it into his mouth before every feeding (even snacks). The doctor also told me to give him cold or room-temperature food only. Too hot, make it even more painful to shallow.

I hope he will recover very soon and his appetite would increase, too. Caden has some catching up to do -- he has lost a bit of weight due to 12 days strict diet!

Last day in Jakarta

Today was a hectic day. Daddy told us to come back to Singapore today, when we are suppose to come back home tomorrow. He changed our tickets from Singapore to a 7pm flight.

I felt like I was being rushed all the time today. It was so tiring!

*sigh*

Luckily, we were still able to catch the flight in time. We were rushing all the way from the moment daddy changed our ticket to when we arrived at the gate!

I was so tired.

And Caden is still not eating!

I decided to go to the doctor on Monday, if this continues.

PS: Ciluk-ba is peek-a-boo in English. Caden likes Ciluk-ba more than peek-a-boo because he is able to say the word ‘ba’ when he said ‘ciluk…’ with him.

18 Months Old

SPICY fried rice

Yes, you read it right!!

I did not intentionally give him the spicy fried rice, though. It was the waiter’s fault (well, mommy’s fault, too actually – as I believe him without trying it before I give it to Caden).

Here’s the full story:

We went to Bunga Rampai Restaurant in Menteng with a friend and her 15 months old daughter. As Caden has not been eating for almost a week, I thought ordering him a fried rice was a good idea – hoping he could play with the fried rice and would take a few spoonful of his own porridge that we make at home.

So, I ordered, “one Chicken fried rice with no MSG if posibble! And please make it fast, it’s for my son.” I said while I was pointing at Caden.

“Yes, Mam” the waiter replied and continued to explain that this restaurant never put any MSG in any of their food.

When the fried rice came, I was surprised. It was a little red (just like when you put some chili on it). So I asked the waiter again if it is hot and he replied, “it’s not hot, mam!”

Blindly believing him and thought it was actually tomato (not chili), I gave one spoonful of rice to Caden and he quickly signed for more a couple of times. I gave him another one and he signed for more again. Then, the aroma of the fried rice flew to my nose and then I realized that it maybe chili afterall.

Then I tried it.

and.... It’s SPICY!

Of course I can take a lot spicier than that, but for someone who never eats any spicy food, it was REALLY spicy!

Shockingly, he wasn’t showing any sign of it’s too hot, mommy, but rather he was asking for more all the time. We know that he was actually feeling the heat from the fried rice because in no time, his head was all covered in sweat! ^_^

After about 10 spoonful of it, I hide the fried rice from him, as I was starting to be afraid that he was going to get diarrhea afterwards.

The fact that I was taking a lot of spicy food while I was pregnant and breastfeeding maybe the reason why he is very tolerant with hot stuffs.

Suster said, if his appetite is not increasing for the next few days, we might just add some chilies in his food. *joking*

PS: He was not having any diarrhea... ^_^

on a strict diet...

Our Trip this time is a memorable one. One that is difficult to forget. While mommy is gaining weight (because of excessive eating), Caden is on a very strict diet.

It’s been 3 days! And not even a single spoon of rice. Breakfast is always not bad, but lunch and dinner are always being thrown away.

I am a little worried, but I thought it’s maybe a phase that some children gone through. I am hoping that he would increase his appetite soon.

*Happy Easter to everyone*

I am flying!!!

Bye bye everyone! I am flying to Jakarta again today for 11 days! Very excited as mom has promised me to come to the airport earlier so I can see the huge aeroplanes from afar!
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I simply love aeroplanes!!

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PS: Caden now can ask us to play with the $1 coin machines (with his gestures -- pointing at it and make noises which means, "I want to ride that, mommy!"). And he always asks for more afterwards!

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but, he is still afraid to ride those machine that has loud noise such as the barney ride.

When Caden meet Cayden....

For the first time, the almost 18 months old Caden meet the almost 12 months old Cayden. Cayden came all the way from Washington, DC and he brought cheerios for Caden! yeyyy....!! thanks so much Cayden!

Cayden's mommy was daddy's friend from college!

In the photo here:
Left: Caden and Mommy Claudia
Right: Cayden and Mommy Cynthia

==> We love C !! ^_^

Zoo-ing

==> It was so hot!

==> It was crowded!

==> It was fun! ^_^

GREEN is my color!

Call me crazy, but I think Caden's has his favorite color already! It's GREEN! If he is given a few choices of, let's say: bells, in different colors, he will choose the GREEN ones. At first I thought it was coincidence, but as I watched him closely for the past few weeks, I think it's not just coincidence if that happen almost all the time.

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I asked him to get the welcoming bells for me and suster and himself today at The Little Gym and he took the GREEN ones for all of us. He was also trying to snatch a ball from another kid because that's the only GREEN color ball available today.

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and at home, he shows his interest in GREEN at different occasions weather in books, in pencil color, in crayons, etc.

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PS: the pinkish mark on his head is a mosquito bite. He get about 10 mosquito bites all over his body while playing at the pool area two days ago.

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I hate mosquito bites, not only one may get dengue from it, but Caden is also allergic to it. After he's get bitten, the next couple of days the effected area will be so swollen that it will look like pimples. :(

Bear Making Workshop

We were invited to a Bear Making Workshop by Cycle and Carriage. Although I feel Caden is too young for it, I thought there is no harm to attend it!

I know about this Build-A-Bear thingy from US, way before they came here to Singapore. They has very interesting concept of making your own bear from scratch. You will even have a birth certificate of the bear at the end of it. ^_^

He was not really interested in the making of the first phase of the bear (the stuffing of the body), but after that, he was attentively observing what I was doing (rub-rub-rub on a heart while making wishes then put the heart on the bear’s heart, closing him up, and clothed him)

All along, throughout the bear making process, Caden was more interested in the new white exterior C-class with grey leather interior. He refused to go home and demanded us to put him in the driver seat so that he can drive. hehe... *hint hint to daddy*

To my surprise, at home, he likes the bear more than I thought he will be. He hugs and kisses the bear – a lot of timesss everyday! ^_^

PS: Mommy wishes for Caden was “That Caden will listen to mommy’s and daddy’s guidance, always remember GOD and be happy all the time!”

@ Kids 21 - Paragon

Graduation: Part 2

My Graduation Day!!!

Today is Caden’s graduation day. Since he will be 18 months old by the end of the month, he will have to graduate from the PlayNest class (6-18 months old) to the PlayClub (18-30 months old).

Snack time: We just found out that Caden likes Cheerios. When Ryan gave him some 4days ago, I told Ryan’s mommy that Caden would not take any kind of snack, but apparently, this time I was wrong! Caden REALLY like cheerios. The bad news is, it’s really really hard to find one here in Singapore!

into music?

Caden likes to watch the pianist/guitarist who was playing their musical instrument in his class. Sometimes, while we were all singing, he was standing infront of the mucisian and looked at them for a few minutes. I never thought of anything until a mom in his English class approached me and say that Caden is the music type.

"Just look at him, he would watch the pianist closely and play with the keyboard afterwards after every class. Other kids would just run away out from the class." She said.

Hm...she might be right! But I know it's too early to say about it now. I would definately enrol him into a of music school once his is old enough for the class and see if he is truly someone who likes music.

the social boy...

As far as I could remember, Caden is a very social boy. He enjoys meeting with his friends and sometimes also mommy’s friends, but he has his preference over the adults. Some he likes and some he doesn’t. If he likes the company, he would play and laughed with them, but if he doesn’t, don’t even think of coming closer to him. He would cry when he knows that the person is coming towards him, even at 5 feet away.

There is no specific characteristic from the people that he doesn’t like. Once, he was so scared of a Gymboree class teacher. She was okay, I think, not so different from his other school teachers, but it’s just this one used a whole lot of make-up on her face and sang very out of tunes! ;)

The other time was a male teacher whom I thought very nice and kind.

One I notice is that, he couldn’t be startled! A few times, my friends or grandma’s friends came over and the moment they saw Caden, they screamed and said how cute and handsome he was (as what other people used to say when they meet a baby boy), while approaching him quickly and eventually touched and pinched his super chubby cheeks.

Then he would started crying in no time and refused to get close to that person for the rest of the meeting.

But apart from the adults encounter, Caden loves to meet his other little friends around (all of them - no discrimination whatsoever). I like it, too. I am hoping Caden will learn how to share and other important values from friendships from this. The last thing in my mind is bringing him up to be a selfish person.

Today, we are fortunate to have Ryan at home with us (while their parents enjoyed their first time together in Singapore for the whole day). Ryan and Caden had a great time together. It will be a very long long time until their next visit to each other.

A Puppet Show

I took Caden to this puppet show today! It was a show from Mermaid Theater, a company based in Canada. I found out from the Internet that their unique adaptations of children's literature have delighted more than three million young people on four continents. The company ranks among North America's most respected theatres for the young, and has won widespread recognition for its important ambassadorial role.

The show was part of Singapore International Festival for Children from Act 3 International. The title was 'Guess How Much I Love You & I love My Little Storybook.'

I thought it would be a good idea to expose Caden from young. Well actually, I was curious to see what was his reaction to watch this kind of event.

It was a short one, a 55 minutes show, so I thought Caden would still be able to sit nice and quiet by the end of it.

It was packed. Many came as part of their outside school activities. Though we booked at the very last minute, we managed to get the 4th row seat from the front! ^_^

It was a very interesting show. Caden's eyes were hooked into the puppets throughout the show (though I am not too sure if he really understand what was going on). The theater was doing very interesting movements and details that were able to caught the little ones eyes.

@ Marina with Ryan

Caden met Ryan (a younger brother by 2 weeks) for the first time. Mommy and Ryan's mommy has been friends for a long time.

It's Ryan first time in Singapore and Caden has the apportunity to bring him around Singapore for their 5 days visit before going to Jakarta.

ganteng abis - abisan

...which literally means: "Extremely Handsome!!!"

Ii Ani bought this for me!! It fits just right and the wording is right, too!!! (only according to mom ^_^)

PS: He was eating dark-chocolate with daddy. Thought that he would not even put in into his mouth, but apparently, he bit it and ate it andd....asked for more! Oh no!!!

Fried Rice moment...

I am very paticular of what he eat. But Caden always get his friend rice treat (from a restaurant) every once in a while. He loves it so much. Maybe because of the lots of MSG and salt and oil!

Yuck!

Very very not good for health!!! (especially when he is still very young)

but well, once every one or two weeks it's okay for me!