Leave-behinds

As I was closing the door behind me after I climbed into the back seat of a taxi the other day, I cringed in utter repulsion upon realizing that I had inevitably landed my hand onto something that should not have been left there in the first place.

What looked like innocent leftover rubbish left on the side door of the cab was actually a piece of scrunched up tissue paper covered in what looked like blood.

A piece of tissue paper, smeared with gobs of blood. It was appalling. (And I had my hand accidentally wrapped around it as I was pulling on to the sides to close the door. Ewwwwwwwwwww!)

Not only it was clearly unhygienic, it is also common knowledge that rubbish do not belong there, and that a responsible commuter should not just leave their trash behind.People can really be so irresponsible and inconsiderate sometimes.

Needless to say, I was cursing and swearing at whoever that person who left their trash behind for me to find.

Smiley faces

Fudge, despite being quite the loud mouth, is probably our only cat that allows human to do anything to her. We can disturb her, we can tease her and we can annoy the crap out of her, but she tolerates it all. She can take quite a bit, and when she has had enough, she will definitely walk away; but only to come back in a matter of minutes before it starts all over again.

She is a sweet cat, Fudge, and most of all, tolerates Spud's antics. She is the only cat that is willing to sit next to Spud or being sat on by Spud.

Fudge is such a sweetheart, and Fudge being Fudge, did not even flinch for at least 2 minutes when I put a smiley toy on her head. I thought it made quite a funny image. And then, Spud came along and decided to pa Fudge and play with her....

No animals were hurt during this photo shoot, but I bet Spud had a blast while she tries to make sense of things.

13 Months

This has been one of the most stressful weeks I have had in a long time, and as I am writing this, I am still nursing a cold (thanks to Spud’s slobbering all over me last week when she caught the bug in Singapore) and boy! am I glad that it is Friday!

It has been a crazy-busy period in the office that I ended up doing more than a 12 hour day work week for almost the entire week. So busy that I could not get home in time for a few days consecutively to put Spud to bed as I always do because I just could not get away from work. It was certainly a crisis week, and with so much insanity going on, I have been guilty for overlooking the fact that Spud has turned 13 months just last Wednesday.

I have not seen very much of Spud this week, and when I finally was able to come home in time before she went to bed last night, I realized that I missed her quite a bit. I miss the little tricks she pulls whenever she sees me the moment I walk in the door and I miss putting her to bed as well as being the last person she sees every day to say good night to.

My little girl is growing up.

Right before my eyes, I see this confidently curious, little tot walking and running like a champ all over the place. She seems to be able to use “Mama” and “Papa” in context, and apart from that, still babbles a lot in a language we still cannot understand.

She is into a point out to everything mode, and when she does not get what she wants, she WHINES. And she whines, and whines and whines. And she whines because she can.

Spud’s also in a “let’s put everything in my mouth” mode. And, I.mean.everything, Everything except, of course, the occasional food which her mama and papa are trying to feed.

She scared the crap out of me yesterday evening with that put-everything-in-mouth-thing.

While dressing her up, I would usually give her something to distract her just so that she will lie flat for a few minutes while I put on her nappy and her pajamas. My weapon of choice yesterday happened to be an empty plastic bottle of mineral water with a screw cap. When I was done with her, I lifted her and placed her standing on the floor as usual while she held on to the bottle in her hand, not wanting to let go just yet. At this stage, I would usually turn away from Spud, and finished off the evening shower ritual by clearing the area and pulling out her nappy and clothes for tomorrow. This will usually not take me more than 10 seconds and since Spud can already walk, I will usually let her run loose.

Last evening, after walking a few steps, Spud decided that she would rather sit on the floor and figure out what she could do with the bottle and the screw-cap which was left unscrewed. She seemed fascinated with screwing and unscrewing the cap to the bottle that I did not think of anything beyond that, thinking that screwing and unscrewing the cap to the bottle would probably occupy her for another minute while I did what I had to do within the usual 10-seconds time-frame, while still keeping a close watch on her.

It so happened that the very moment I turned around, I heard her gag. A gag so scary-sounding, that I immediately dropped everything and discovered that she had managed to shove the plastic bottle cap into her mouth. The bottle cap was lodged inside her mouth and as she tried to swallow it, she gagged harder and her eyes were all red from all the reflex of gagging so hard. The bottle cap was also as big as her mouth, and I reckon, any smaller than that I would probably be attending to a choking emergency!

Still, it was enough to frighten the living daylight out of me, and thankfully, I managed to pull it out of her tiny little mouth swiftly. Spud did not cry, and when I held her gaze and told her firmly that she should not put the cap in the mouth again, I seem, to sense that she may have just understood me. (I think not, but who knows!) She gave the cap-less bottle back to me and looked at me intently as if to get a cue as to how she should react. I was quite shaken to be honest, but put on a brave front and continue to distract her with other things.

While Spud soon forgot about it, running around as if nothing had happened, I on the other hand was literally shaking. I felt my knees buckled, my voice trembled and my heart racing a million miles!

The advice of “Never leave a baby alone with small objects around– not even for a second” holds so true.

I am an idiot, and I should have known better. To a certain extent, being paranoid is not a bad thing; especially not in this case.

And no, she should not be playing with a clothes hanger as well.

Booster seat

One of the best tips we stumbled upon when Spud was still a baby was the discovery of a baby booster seat. It is not just any other ordinary booster seat, but one that is On-the-Go Self Inflating Baby Booster Seat from The First Year.


When we first saw it being whipped out from one of my parent-friend who has a toddler in tow then, Spud could barely sit up;  but we thought that it was a good idea to get the seat for when she will be able to sit unaided.
 
We still think it was one of our best buys now since we hardly go anywhere without it. It has the necessary safety  (but basic!) features and fits to any high-backed chair while placing Spud just at the right height to eat at the table with us when we have our meals outside of home. 
 
It is also quite handy as all we have to do is unzip it, wait for the booster cushion to inflate, fix it on a chair and voila! we have a booster for the little tot.
 
While it can be a little cumbersome to be carried around (I'm a  lazy-fart, so anything extra to carry is a chore for me!), I find that it is especially useful to bring along; especially if we somehow ended up in places where high chairs are not being provided when we want to have our meals.
 
Funny how these days, without the booster seat, we tend to place great emphasis on restaurants/eateries that provide high-chairs, without which, we will likely not be patronising them.

Quote of the day

A wise saying captured on the wall from one of the exhibits at the Singapore Zoo.

Boring polling

It just so happened that we booked our flight back to Singapore on the day of the Presidential Election. And since my name has been re-instated back into the system since I missed the last general election, I had to go to the nearest polling station to vote for a new president the moment I got to my parent’s place.

Talk about priorities. I literally had to drop everything the moment we got home to go vote, because it was only a couple of hours away before they closed the polling station that day.

It must have been more than 15 years ago since I voted, and to be honest, there is nothing to be excited about. The whole thing is as boring as the look on this polling card which has been given to every eligible voters in the country.

Having said that, 15 years ago or now, I am not sure if my vote makes a difference then and now… because the person who is now the President of Singapore is not the person I voted for.

Apparently, 65% of Singaporeans also did not vote of this person who is now the President of Singapore. That means, majority of Singaporeans do not want this person. Period.

If that is not delusional, I don’t what is.

Sad story.

Spud's 1st Hari Raya

There must be something about being high up in the air, because it seems that every time we got on a plane, Spud almost immediately started to show some signs of teething! I don’t know what it is with high altitude, but our visit to Singapore last week seemed to have triggered her teething again when we got to Singapore, and then again when we returned to Bangkok.

I reckon that it will be awhile more before more teeth start to show up (she is still with four since her first teething spree about 4 months ago), but the signs – excessive drooling, sensitive gums, not eating well and unexplainable ultra-crankiness are definitely there!

So, yes! I have been off the blog for about a week now because we went back to Singapore to be with my family over Hari Raya. It was Spud’s first Hari Raya, and I could not help but dress her up in the traditional garb in light of the festivities.

Fortunately for us, apart from her teething, she took to the flight quite well this time and did not give us a lot of grief. While she could not keep still for most of the time, Spud surprised us by actually falling asleep as the plane took off!

We were mostly busy throughout the entire trip going here and there and everywhere, and as long as she was not strapped in the car seat for too long or had woken up at the wrong side of the bed, Spud has been quite a pleasant company.

Despite being in a strange place, Spud’s bedtime routine remained unchanged. In fact, I am most thankful that when it was time for her bedtime, she usually seems quite happy to be put to her cot and left to her own devices before she falls asleep. She would usually get cranky if we try to stretch her bedtime to later. When we inevitably delayed her bedtime by about an hour on one of the days as we were on the road, she ended up having a very restless night.

I guess, Spud being a chronic cat-napper in the day is not a bad thing at all if it means that we can put her to bed by 7pm every night for a full night of uninterrupted sleep.

All in all, while we were mostly shattered, it was not a bad trip this time round. I guess it does get easier as Spud gets older. The bonus was that Spud managed to spend some time with her grandparents, and as the days progressed, she took to them quite easily.

My only regret is not being able to "tapao" all the Hari Raya goodies back to Bangkok this time round as we were verging on excess baggage!