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A Seat Full of Puke ?

A Seat Full of Puke ?

Too fast, too furious, it happened. Out of the blue, we heard a retching sound, then when I turned around, I could only gape in horror as brown gooey liquid gushed out, non stop, of 小小宝贝’s mouth. 

“Don’t move! Don’t touch anything! Don’t touch the car!!! This is a nuclear disaster!!”

小小宝贝 sat in his vomit, stunned, with his hands held up in the air. It’s his maiden vomiting experience. 

Hub was driving and asking, “what happened?!”

宝贝reacted the quickest, “Give Didi some tissue!!!”

(Side story : Seow told me that her student puked in the car and some fluid flew over her Dad, who was the driver and in shock, he swerved and almost caused an accident. So we had been extremely lucky that his wasn’t the explosive, fly everywhere kind. Or we may have to scrap the car!)

宝贝 : Haha! Remember the last time I vomited all over the stairs as I was going to my bedroom?? 

Images of the last puking incident appeared vividly in my mind. Yes. She threw up as she was going up the stairs to her room. It splashed everywhere at the stairwell, over the railings (you can imagine that the puke went to the lower floor as well) and I saw food lumps and stomach acid cascading down the stairs…. we spent the whole night cleaning 2 floors. 

Me : Not funny ok! 

When we got home, we unbuckled the whole car seat and lifted him along with it straight into the bathroom. Hub cleaned him up while I wiped the car down and left the windows down to air it…. ?

We stood and stared at the car seat, a few bowls worth of puke, a lot of undigested food and unknown (you don’t want to know) stuff pooled on it. 

Me : Can still use or not? Throw away arh? But very expensive leh…

Hub : I’ll settle it! 

Me : ? My hero!!! Cleaning up the aftermath of a nuclear warfare! 

Somehow he managed it. The next time I saw the car seat it was dismantled and clean and drying at the balcony. We washed the covers a few times in the washing machine and it’s good as new. 

We survived! 

Meanwhile, 小小宝贝 is stricken with probably stomach flu. 


This reminds me of another time, when he covered me with shit. ?

I’m sure every parent out there must have experienced some form of disaster originating from one of the orifices of their children’s. But we soldier on! ??

HFMD (Hand Foot Mouth Disease) Aftermath

HFMD (Hand Foot Mouth Disease) Aftermath

HFMD, the dreaded infectious disease that’s every parent’s nightmare! Some of my friends went through numerous times of HFMD in the household. It’s strange that we never had this when we were young. 

Anyway, if you have young children, this is something you’d never want to get. The symptoms are high fever, followed days later by red spots, which eventually turn into blisters on the soles of the feet and palms. They may appear in various degrees of seriousness and some children may even get rashes on thighs and arms. At the same time, red spots or rashes appear around the mouth and ulcers in mouth and throat. Just think of the most terrible sore throats you’ve ever had. That’s it!!

The first time it appeared in our household was in the first year of 宝贝口水妹’s nursery. Her symptoms were pretty mild, I assume. Because she was eating like nobody’s business when she had it. Maybe just a little wincing when she swallowed her food. But, it sure was infectious. She managed to spread it to the adults. YES! Adults can get it too!!! And when adults get it, it’s 10 times more painful than the child’s!! It may also be that we are more articulate (kao Peh) about it! Besides, I was pregnant at that time. It was sheer torture!

We recently had a bout of HFMD. This time it happened to 小小宝贝. We didn’t even bring him to the doctor although we quarantined him at home for a week til he’s fully recovered. His symptoms were relatively mild too. Besides the fact that he had the blisters on his palms and feet, he was behaving as normally as a little boy should – wreaking havoc at home (at the despair of his grandmother who’s his caregiver). 

It’s only recently that I discovered this… 


Just a week back, I read on Facebook that one of my friend’s daughter’s nails have fallen off due to HFMD. ? Yes, there’s a particular strain of HFMD that causes this. When it happens, it causes the nails to stop growing. When the body has cleared itself of the disease, the nails started to grow again. So the nails crack due to this. His isn’t too serious. It’s more obvious on his thumb, but if you look carefully, there’s a slight crack on every single nail. 

It looks really painful (I’ve had bruised nails detaching themselves from the nail beds before. Owww!). In actual fact, there’s no pain at all. I think Mommy is more anxious (gan Cheong) about it than he is. 

It is happening now, which is about 8-10 weeks after his HFMD. So if your child’s nails are falling off after HFMD, don’t freak out!!! Take a deep breath. It’s all OK! ?

Please Let Her Remember Me.

Please Let Her Remember Me.

I haven’t been sad, really, really sad for a long, long time. Angry, yes, many times. But today is truly a sad day.

My grandmother has been hospitalised due to a stroke. The doctor classified it as a mild stroke, because she has a slightly slurred speech and her hands aren’t as nimble as they used to be.

That’s what I thought too. Until I visited her with 小小宝贝 this evening.

She asked me, “why did you rent your house out?” I simply didn’t get it. Huh?

“What are you talking about?”

It went back and forth until it suddenly occurred to me that, she’s referring to her ward. And the nurse was the maid and the guy in the next bed was the “tenant”!

“This is Changi hospital!”

“What Changi hospital? It’s your house! There’s no such hospital called Changi hospital!” (She stayed there for 1 week just a month back.)

Then she proceeded to call my son my cousin’s name. My heart sank.

“Do you know who I am?”

She looked at me in bewilderment. A part of me died. I am her favourite grandchild and she doesn’t remember me. We slept in the same bed for the first 10 years of my life. And we shared the same room until I got married. I was her everything, until my brother came along. Then both of us were her everything, with me having a bigger share.

After a long while, she finally managed to say my name. She remembered 小小宝贝.

Suddenly she asked me where my brother was.  I told her, “Germany. For work.” Her reply was, “What are you talking about? He’s in primary six!”

Her memories have been jumbled up. She mixes up the past and the present.

She played with 小小宝贝 for a while. It made her happy.

I sat there, looking at her while she was playing with him. My grandmother, who is my pillar of strength, with the most lucid mind, can’t really remember me. I know, because she asked me for.. me. I’d never thought that this can ever happen to me. This only happens in movies, dramas, but not, to me.

Today, I have lost something precious.  I hope she remembers me when I see her tomorrow.

We hugged and kissed her and told her that we loved her. She sat in her chair, smiling and waving at us as we left the ward.

Last week we had lunch with her at home and when we left, we also hugged her and kissed her and she waved good bye.

But today, she doesn’t remember me.

I realise today, that the most painful thing on Earth, is to be forgotten by the person who loved you the most.

Our recent family photo during 宝贝’s birthday celebration