New Kid On The Blog

28-JUL-2008:

I've always wanted to grow spring onions. A Polish girl once told me that I can just dump an onion into the water and it will grow - but I didn't try that. Another friend told me that I should plant shallot bulbs instead - but I didn't try that either. Most gardening websites on the Internet told me that I needed to plant spring onion seeds - but that seemed too long a wait and I was impatient. So here's what I did.

I bought spring onions from the supermarket, ate them and "re-grew" the stalks. First, I put them into a glass of water and I saw results within 2 days.

Seeing that the technique works, I then plant them in a trough and look how big they are now. I've even used some of them for my dishes last week. :-)

# posted by Skye @ 8:11 am 0 comments

23-JUL-2008:

I've been busy. Giving this site a face lift. I don't quite like the site to be in black but I don't mind the black banner. What color should I apply for the rest of the site that might go well with the black banner? The banner seems a bit plain though. What can I do to make it look nicer?

# posted by Skye @ 7:42 pm 0 comments

20-JUL-2008:

It is Sunday again and I have survived one whole week playing the single mother role. The weekdays were easy. The weekends were the difficult ones, especially so this weekend. Our brand new flat screen LCD TV went blank as I was watching it on Saturday afternoon and we survived the rest of the weekend without a TV. I've never imagined it would be so difficult to pass time without it. It was especially difficult in the afternoon when Dominic was taking his nap. I would usually have the TV on (even if I wasn't watching it) just so that I get some noise in the house. Today, I turned on the iPod instead, but every song seemed to make me nostalgic - they didn't bring back any memories but a certain feeling ... and loneliness followed. I wished I could watch "Everybody Loves Raymond" instead and have a good laugh.

And then it is this time of the day - between 9pm and 11pm - when Dominic has gone to bed that I most need some human interaction - even though in cyberspace. I have a new novel but I'm glad I left it in the office because I think reading it will only make me feel more emotional. :p

For several nights I was tempted to let Dominic sleep in my bed, but I didn't. However, last night at 1am, he screamed and when I rushed into his room he said "Mummy, switch on TV". I said "The TV is spoilt" and he screamed hysterically. I guessed THAT was his nightmare. He slept next to me for the rest of the night. It made both of us feel better, even though I didn't really sleep very well. Dominic's feet kept ending up on top of me - like he needed that to make sure that I was still beside him. The next morning I asked him why he cried. He said "Do-nic scared of monsters ... scared of dragons!". I have never told him that monsters and dragons were scary. I imagine he must have picked that up from the other kids at the nursery.

On something unrelated - we were at the playground this afternoon and Dominic was playing on a wooden "castle" that has a suspension bridge joining two "towers". A little girl (whom I later found out was the same age as Dominic) was at the foot of the bridge hesitating to step on as it was quite steep and shaky. Dominic was behind her waiting. Previously, he would have turned to me and say "Mummy, Do-nic wait for turn" but .today he yelled at the little girl "Come on! Come on!". He definitely picked that up from the other kids! He later became friends with the girl. :-)

This afternoon, we called daddy on the phone and had a little chat. After we hanged up, Dominic cried. :-( Five more days to go and we're both looking forward to it.

# posted by Skye @ 4:24 pm 0 comments

16-JUL-2008:

A few days ago, while I was working in the kitchen, I overheard Dominic and his daddy playing "masak-masak" in the room, using Lego blocks as the ingredients.

Dominic: Salt!

Daddy: Nah, here (I think he passed him a Lego block, or some other toy)

Dominic: Ji-ji-ji (makes the sound of sprinkling salt). Tomato sauce!

Daddy: Nah ...

Dominic: Ji-ji-ji. Sugar!

(And on and on ...)

Daddy: What is it?

Dominic: Pizza! Daddy, make it warm ...

Daddy: Make it warm?

Dominic: Put in microwave. Make it warm.

(Dominic walks into the kitchen with his paint pallete, puts the paint pallete on the little window that looks out to the living room.)

Dominic: Tuit!! (makes beeping sound while pretending to press a button and goes back to find daddy)

(After a while ....)

Dominic: Tuit-tuit-tuit! Okay! (and walks into the kitchen to retrieve his pizza from the microwave)

Dominic: Hot! Hot! (and walks back into the room to serve daddy his pizza)

I am now tempted to buy him some real "masak-masak" toys. I've always wanted to but didn't get round to doing it. Recently, he's been using his Lego blocks to make ice-creams, chicken, pancake, etc.

# posted by Skye @ 5:11 am 0 comments

15-JUL-2008:

My baby is really a big boy now. Since he doesn't wear nappies at the nursery anymore, he has to wear underpants! So far he has no adverse reaction to wearing underpants (as I have initially feared). I'm glad he has an early start on this habit as he might reject the idea later on.

These Ultraman underpants are from Malaysia. Only in Asian countries can you find Ultraman. :p

And this one ... yes, it's a girl's underwear. Dominic came home from the nursery one day wearing this because he didn't pee properly and urine dribbled down his pants.

# posted by Skye @ 10:18 am 0 comments

14-JUL-2008:

Having your husband unavailable on a weekend in Malaysia means you can make arrangements for a shopping spree with your girl friends and high tea later in the afternoon. Having your husband unavailable for two Sundays in a row in London means being a single parent and lonely housewife.

The Sunday before the last, daddy left for work early in the morning, even before Dominic and I got out of bed. I craved some company but couldn't think of anyone who would be willing to spend a few hours with me in the park, with a 2-year-old. Boring, boring for those who do not have kids. I decided then to give Laura a call. Laura used to work at MK One Kids - the nursery Dominic attended before we moved him to Cybertots. Laura was the only person Dominic felt comfortable with when he started nursery for the first time and she remained his favourite.

And so we went to the park, fed some ducks and chatted for a while. The weather was quite miserable and most of the time we were standing in the drizzling rain, but Dominic had fun. I got him an ice-cream cone on the way back and later that day, I had to take his stroller apart to give it a good wash.

I'm not sure how much Laura enjoyed the time. It seemed like most of the time I was doing the talking and initiating new topics for conversation. While in the process of "making conversations", I managed to dig up some information about her - such as how much she earns, where she lives, does she live alone and (indirectly) does she have a boyfriend? Haha! I definitely enjoyed myself. I was so cut off from social activities that it made me feel good just having someone to talk to.

On another (but yet related) note, just as we were about to leave the house to meet up with Laura, I noticed that daddy had locked the front door from the outside on his way to work and didn't realize that the lock was faulty from the inside. So there we were trapped inside the house with no way out until our supposedly-good-looking neighbour from upstairs came to rescue us. For the first time, I got a good look at him. He was nice-looking, very tall and reminded me an awful lot of my ex-colleague Tat Chong. Turned out he didn't have such a fab bod after all - he's got a bit of flabby spare tyres. :p

Yesterday was another Sunday alone with Dominic. Daddy left for Chicago on a 2-week business trip yesterday morning. I took Dominic to the park, let him ride on his Fisher Price bike, blew some bubbles with the bubble gun and had pitta & chips for lunch. After that, we took a nap. When I woke up from the nap, the quietness surrounded me everywhere, apart from Dominic's soft snoring, and it was loneliness to the core - knowing that daddy will be away for another 13 days. I asked myself when have I become so dependent on him? He's been away many times before this. At one time, he worked in Hong Kong for a few months, and when we first got to London he worked in Newcastle and only came home during the weekends, but I was fine. Absolutely fine. Apart from feeling lonely, I was a little scared too. Last night, I double locked the front door, closed the window in the bathroom (which we usually don't) and woke up to the slightest sound throughout the night.

Dominic missed his daddy too. He kept telling me that "daddy went to airport". And it was first thing he said when he woke up this morning. I guess he understands an awful lot now, although I doubt that he has any sense of how long 2 weeks is.

Daddy, if you're reading this, we miss you very much - and we hope to get a nice gift from you when you return! *wink*.

# posted by Skye @ 5:10 am 0 comments

10-JUL-2008:

After settling down at our new place, it was time to find out how to dispose off our domestic waste. On the first day, daddy had a brief chat with our neighbour and he found out that garbage is collected every Tuesday and we are to leave our garbage bags in front of our property early Tuesday morning (or the night before). As usual, daddy didn't care about recycling, so he didn't ask about it.

The following Monday, I wrote an email to the council and enquire about recycling. I received a very, very long email containing all the details I need to know. On Tuesday, I returned home from work to find the green box/bin on the front door. I only wish the Malaysian DBKL, MPPJ, etc are half as efficient.

We received this green box to put our recycling items in. We should leave the green box in front of our property every Tuesday morning to be collected. We can recycle paper, cardboards, aluminium, plastic and glasss.

We also received this white bag for plastic recycling, but you can also put them in a plastic bag if you don't have a lot of plastic to recycle.

And we also received this green bin for food waste recycling. I used it for about 3 days and then gave up. The smell that came out of the bin everytime I opened it was too horrible. Besides, we're not allowed to line the bin with plastic bags because they're non-bio degradable, which means I have to clean it everytime after it is emptied. I couldn't bear the smell. Maybe it won't be so bad during winter.

There is also an orange bag for garden waste but I didn't request for that.

# posted by Skye @ 4:52 am 0 comments

8-JULY-2008:

The Shettles method for conceiving the child of your desired sex is based on the scientific observation that the Y sperm is more lightweight and hence has a higher mobility than the heavier X sperm. However, the mortality of X sperm is higher. Shettles recommends that you have sex 2.5 to 3 days before ovulation in order to increase your chances of conceiving a girl. Contrarily, you should have sex as close to ovulation as possible to dramatically increase your chances of conceiving a boy. The timing of intercourse in relation to ovulation is a vital factor. Besides, according to Shettles, a woman's cervical mucus becomes more alkaline towards the time of ovulation and favours the Y sperm more, whereas an acidic environment will favour the X sperm.

Intercourse further away from ovulation favours the larger slower X sperm. The Y sperm will die more quickly in the more acidic pre-ovulatory vaginal secretions and by the time of ovulation there will be a much larger concentration of X sperm available to fertilize the egg.

Shettles also recommends to cease all sexual activities 2 days before ovulation in order to conceive a girl.

Shettles recommends ways to determine your time of ovulation:

1. Charting your cervical mucus - you observe your cervical mucus on a daily basis. Right before you ovulate, your cervical mucus should be very watery and elastic. It's consistency should be that of raw egg white. Charting for about 3 months before you attempt to conceive is recommended so you can be certain that you are ovulating on a specific day. The book has more information on this but you'll have to read it yourself. :-)
2. Basal Body Temperature (BBT) Charting - you take down your temperature each morning before you get out of bed. At the time of ovulation, you will see a spike in your temperature which will indicate that you have already ovulated.
3. Using ovulation predictor kits - Shettles said it's expensive but I suppose this is the easiest way of determining when you ovulate. However, Shettles mentions reasons that this should not be used solely to determine the time of ovulation.

Sexual position has an implication as well (scientifically). Shettles suggests that if you are trying for a girl, a missionary position will deposit sperm closer to the entrance of the vagina (which is more acidic). The acidity will work against the Y sperm, leaving more X sperm available to fertilize your egg.

Finally, in order to conceive a girl, the woman should not have an orgasm because studies show that women release secretions that are more alkaline (favouring the Y sperm) during orgasm.

If you're trying to conceive a boy, just do the opposite. :-) If you're serious about trying, it's worth buying the book because it tells you exactly how to chart your cervical mucus and BBT.

So why did I say that trying for a girl is more difficult? If you're trying for a boy, you almost always know when you ovulate, be it the change in the CM (cervical mucus) or a positive ovulation test kit. It's simple, the moment you get a positive result from the test kit, it's time to have sex. And you don't need to withold from having an orgasm.

Trying for a girl takes a little bit of patience. You don't know how long your partner's X sperms can live in you - perhaps 2 days, perhaps 3. But you want to have sex as far away as your ovulation as possible. So maybe you try it 3 days before on the 1st month. Shettles recommends that after doing that for 6 months and you're still not pregnant, move it 2 days. You see ... I don't have 6 months. I'm not that patient. This is the part where I think I'm not able to follow diligently.

# posted by Skye @ 8:25 am 0 comments

4-JULY-2008:

Last Tuesday, daddy passed his driving theory test. Congratulations to daddy! Daddy had to leave work early on Tuesday to sit for the test and therefore on Wednesday morning, he told Dominic that mummy will take him to the nursery instead. As soon as Dominic heard that, he turned whiny and moody, and he told me that he didn't want to go to school. But according to daddy, he has been fine the past few days and hasn't cried at all when he dropped him off. So anyway, I took Dominic to the nursery - him and I walking hand in hand.

Dominic: Mummy, go to school.

Me: Yes, mummy will send you to school today. Daddy needs to go to work early.

Dominic: Mummy, big hug.

Me: Yes, afterwards you give mummy a big hug. You enjoy yourself and mummy will go to work.

Dominic: Do-nic cry!

Me: Ha? No, don't cry. School is fun ... yadda, yadda, yadda.

When we got there, he pressed the bell and walked in on his own.

Me: Okay, give me mummy a big hug now. (And we hugged).

Me: Say bye-bye to mummy (but he already started to walk away)

Dominic: Bye the window!

("Teacher" looked at me blur)

Me: Bye at the window (I explained)

And he climbed on a chair next to the window and waved bye-bye to me on my way out.

# posted by Skye @ 11:45 am 0 comments

3-JULY-2008:

Dominic never had any problems going to sleep on his own, in his own room. I would normally just put him in bed, get out of the room and get on with my other stuffs. Unfortunately, all that changed after we came back from Malaysia last month. He insisted that I stay in the room with him and hold his hand while he fell asleep. As you might recall, I recently wrote that I had to take a nap in his room between 9 - 10pm every night, while waiting for him to fall asleep.

Then, I consulted my "Ask Supernanny" book and she told me to use the Sleep Separation Technique. I used it and it worked, although I modified the technique a little bit. Now, Dominic is back to normal and I have plenty of "me-time" in the evening. :-) Here's what Jo Frost wrote about her Sleep Separation Technique.

• Put your son in bed as usual.
• Sit down on the floor close to his bed, but at arm's length so he can't reach for you. Don't look at him. Just sit in silence until he goes to sleep. Every time he tries to talk to you, say nothing. Sit with your head down, like you were shut off. You're reassuring him with your presence but not engaging with him in any other way.
• The next night, repeat the same stages, moving a little way further from the bed.
• Gradually increase the distance until you are sitting outside his room with the door open.
• And then finally, break the habit.

As mentioned, I modified the technique a bit.

• First, I lied down close to his bed. He asked me to hold his hand. I held it for about 1 minute and then let go.
• He continued to ask me to hold his hand. The technique said I should ignore him and keep quiet, but I talked to him. I told him I was there and he didn't need to hold my hand. It went on successfully for a couple of nights. And then I was able to move further from his bed.
• First, I had broken his habit of holding my hand to sleep, but he still wanted me to be in his room. I followed the technique and moved further and further each night, until I was sitting at the door.
• Now, I don't even stay by the door anymore. He would still ask me to stay here and I would say "Yes, mummy will stay here - in the house". And he was contented with that. Sometimes he just called out "Mummy" to make sure I was still in the house and I would shout back (from wherever I was), "Mummy is here". And he would go to sleep.

For mums out there who are experiencing the same problem, do give this a try. It really works.

# posted by Skye @ 4:44 am 0 comments

2-JULY-2008:

Apart from moving home, I've moved desk at work as well. The area that I work in recently undergone some renovations work to expand the workspace. It was the most pleasant office move I've ever had and I felt that it was extremely well organized. We received emails throughout the process to update us on the progress.

One Monday morning, I came in to find that the meeting room has been reduced to half its original size. It was quite impressive that they could complete the renovation just over the weekend as the original meeting was still there and nobody was working on it when I left the office on Friday.

Two weeks later, we received a plastic box and some stickers with our names on. We were told to pack our things into the box, label it and push it under our table by Friday evening. We were also to label our PCs, monitors, TVs, set-top-boxes, telephone, etc so that they can be moved to our new desk.

The following Monday morning, I arrived at the office to find my new desk all set up - phone working, TV connected, set-top-box plugged in - all ready for me. Unfortunately, now my desk is much less inconspicuous and it's smaller than it used to too.

The funny thing about working here is that no matter what your designation is, you get the same desk, in the same open area and the same amount of drawer/cabinet space. It doesn't matter if you're a tester, business analyst, a manager or the head of department, you don't get special treatment by having a larger desk or room than anyone else. However, it's a different story for the executives, of course. Some people at my office do get a larger flat screen LCD TV, as compared to the ancient one that I've got.

Despite the smaller desk and having to sit next to my boss, I have to say I've got a pretty nice view. :-D

# posted by Skye @ 11:07 am 0 comments

1-JULY-2008:

We finally moved in to our new home last Thursday. We have "downgraded" to a more expensive ground floor conversion flat. I say "downgraded" because this place is much older, has one bathroom instead of two and doesn't have a balcony but a front garden instead which you can't do anything useful with, such as hanging out your laundry to dry. Let me tell you that I've never seen the new place until a day before we were due to move in. Daddy did all the sighting and merely consulted me on the location and I okay-ed it based on his description (which was not much) and a few photos. Happy to say that we made the right choice and I'm really comfortable here (except for a few things, as usual). :-)

So, we started packing on Wednesday night and were really *surprised* by the amount of stuffs we have. We felt like no matter how much we've managed to pack, there were still stuffs to be packed. By Thursday morning, our living room was so full of boxes that there was hardly any floor space to walk on. So was the balcony.

And there were even more in the rooms. Dominic was of no help at all, not to mention he "unpacked" some of his toys that we've put into boxes.

We hired a van that came with two big guys and were told that we "have a lot of stuffs" - as if we don't already know that. As it turned out, we had so much stuffs that Dominic and I had to take a bus separately to the new house.

We spent the whole day unpacking. At the end of the day, I've never felt so tired in my whole life. However, I was relieved that Dominic was an angel and didn't bother us at all. He managed to find his pillow among the mountain of stuffs and fell asleep in the middle of the corridor.

This is how our front door looks like.

When you walk in the door, you see this long hallway.

The kitchen is an upgrade from the previous one. Instead of having a fridge/freezer that fits under the kitchen top, now we have something double the size of that. I also love having a window sill by the sink where I can put pots of flowers and some recipe books. There's also a little window for me to keep an eye on Dominic while I'm in the kitchen. Unfortunately, this place doesn't come with a microwave - something so essential and absolutely can't do without - so I ordered one immediately the next day.

The bathroom is not fantastic and much too small for my liking. We have to leave Dominic's red Ikea chair outside the bathroom now. Worse, the floor is tiled and feels extremely cold! But these are just small inconveniences.

Dominic's room is lovely although smaller. He has a wonderful view to the back garden (which belongs to the neighbour upstairs). He also has more drawers now and a huge built-in wardrobe (which he's sharing with mummy at the moment). Daddy gets a wardrobe all to himself too in our bedroom.

Daddy and mummy's room is basic but we have more storage space for clothes now. I only realized that I've lived in London for 2 years without a full length mirror until I saw one here. Well, it's not exactly full length but at least now I can see what I look like from top to hip. There is a rocking chair in the room which I find pretty useless except to entertain Dominic.

# posted by Skye @ 7:49 am 0 comments