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| Feelin' chilly here, guys |
January has been a bittersweet month. The upside was taking you on your first plane ride to Hong Kong. It was Papa's company trip and we'd been invited to tag along.
Maneuvering the stroller through the concrete heart of Hong Kong island wasn't easy. But you needed your naps so Mama and Papa got great work-outs as a gift from you.
The food in Hong Kong is always amazing. The hotel was kind enough to prepare some steamed cod and peas for you.
So all Mama had to do was fix up your rice cereal and squeeze loads of organic liquidized broccoli, pumpkin and sweet potato into it so you could have some well-balanced meals. Not that you were interested in eating though.
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| Gimme 100 reasons why I should eat! |
That's right. This month is hunger strike month again. You have to know, by now, that your eating habits are Mama's number 1 concern. So it makes Mama strangely elated when you surprise us by liking something from our plate.
Like, for instance, the pieces of crusty bread from the restaurants we ate at and also spoonfuls of our porridge at the porridge stalls. A sign, perhaps, for Mama to bring out the porridge pots and recipes back home?
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| Hello, bread? Where ya been all my life? |
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| This is my new friend, Sam |
You're also developing a little personality of sorts. Always brandishing a smile for the ladies, you make friends quite easily wherever we go.
It helps that you know who the pretty ones are. If Papa were a single dad, I'll bet he'd use you to net himself a girlfriend or two.
The daily outings took a lot out of you, by the way. You'd always return to the room at night, catatonic. Which is a rare state for you.
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| The joy of walking, it seems |
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| "Waterfalls of milk...cascading right into my...mmm...mouth" |
You might want to know that you're turning out to be an F1 crawler of sorts. One gifted with stupendous agility and speed, and not to mention, the uncanny ability to avoid crashing into anything. Must be baby luck. You're quite able too, to stumble around with Mama holding onto just one hand. I suspect it won't be long before we'll be running after you. On rollerblades.
Mama also took you to visit Papa's office this month. There you, tried your paws on spinning the turn-table. And, err, helping Audi compose a song. Sort of. No, I exaggerate.
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| Just call me DJ Mucker Upper |
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| We need an uplifting chorus.. |
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| Just two hours before the up-chucking started... |
Now for the down and dreary side to January.
Not long after the trip, you experienced your first bout of food poisoning. Mama and Papa had dropped you off at Aunty E.E's to take Kung-Kung and Poh-Poh out for a quick dinner. Halfway through, I got a distress call telling us to hurry back to take you to the doctor's. Poor you. You'd been throwing up all evening. And you were miserable.
The doctor at the A&E gave you a jab to stop the purging. And then it was strictly electrolytes for you till you recovered. I must admit, though, that I've never seen you reach out for your water bottle quite like this time.
Two weeks later, Mama found two red little bumps on your nape. The only reason I discovered them was, we were playing in the empty car park at our condo when you kept reaching behind to scratch.
At first, Mama thought they were mosquito bites so when we got home, I rubbed a little balm on them. They went away for the night.
The next day, more of these little itchy things appeared. Some on your wrist and some on your calves. I asked Aunty E.E, your nanny, if she knew what they were but she didn't. I gave her some calamine lotion in case your breakout got worse while you were at her home.
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| The boy with the spots |
When I picked you up later in the evening, you seemed fine again save for one or two spots on your neck. I didn't think they were caused by allergies as I've been so careful with your food. Looking back, however, I did wonder if your Step 2 Frisolac formula had to do with it as I had just started you on it.
An hour and a half after I had settled you into bed, at about 10.30 pm, I heard you crying in your room. I knew something had happened.
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| The boy despite the spots |
When I turned on the light, I had the shock of my life! You had swollen up; your face was puffy, your lips, bee-stung and your torso, filled with red welts. I called Papa, then bundled you into my car and drove to the nearest A&E.
The doctor gave you an anti-histamine jab and some medication for the inflammation. But for the next 6 days, Mama and Papa had to watch you break out into hives every day. They would recede or lessen after some Zyrtec but reemerge in different but large areas after your nap or sleep.
The toughest part has been watching you cry at the discomfort. Especially when the dosage starts to wear off. The hives are still recurring up to today and I wish they'd just Houdini away. There are times when Mama changes or showers you and I have to strain to hold back tears. Really, the sight of red patches in large and various areas on your skin is impossibly distressing. I know these are the hard knocks of life that will strengthen us as we grow up. But you're so small!
Your pediatrician, Dr. Lam, suspects it could be a milk allergy that has developed recently. So you're off milk in the time being. Meanwhile, it's a good stock of oral anti-histamines for you for a while yet.
As your birthday approaches, and with it the promise of Chinese New Year (15th of February falls on the 2nd day of the lunar new year), Mama's only prayer and wish is that you'll be back to normal to celebrate your 1st year in life. I'd be the happiest Mom in the world then.
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| It's all a wall of sound to me, really |
Meanwhile, in the storybook department, Mama's brought out Thomas the Tank Engine. It's got nice colours and lots of exciting tank engines with different names and personalities. I mean, who wouldn't like Cranky the Crane?
