Uniforms

Today, Mommy went to Kristine's Kindergarten to get everything sorted out and came back with some uniforms for Kristine. And everyone was in a happy mood. So much so, Kaelynn also wanted a uniform and Mommy fitted one of Kristine's on her. But we're not going to start her off straight away on 2nd January due to some technical problems.

Both girls with the uniforms. It was weird when Mommy asked
the Kindergarten ppl, if the zip should be in the front and they
said yes. Anyway, Kristine wore hers at the back while Kaelynn
wore hers as "instructed". Yeah, its going to be a weird place and
we cannot get our deposit moneyback.

I told Kristine to hold her sister and she
went for the neck and started to sing
instead. Haih

Medicines vs Child

Giving medicine to a child is not as simple as it seems. There are a few ways to get the medication into them and doing this every day is a chore:

1) Injection.
This is very painful and expensive. You also have to drive to the Doctors for this.

2) Tablets
The most common way. But you'd waste more when the child has trouble swallowing them. Never mind the fancy-wancy table cutters or crushers. They're just a waste of money. You can crush them into powder form and mix them into their favourite drink but this is only effective for the first three times (if you're lucky) before they discover the ruse.

3) Anal tablets
I am not sure what they're called but they're not cheap either. Not only that, you'd have to fight the child and stick it up there at the same time. Unfortunately, depending on the sickness, alas, the medication in this form is not vey common.

4) Syrups
Although they are sweet, it is still not effective enough in masking the smell. They come in either clear syrup or milky goo. Still, a child can sense when you're going to give them medication straight away. Mixing them into drinks is also an effective way but you'd also run the risk of wasting a lot if they do not want their favourite drinks all of a sudden.

That is why whenever Kristine or Kaelynn is sick, it is torture for us. On average, it took us about an hour to get Kristine to take her medication. We'd have to persuade her, we have to play the "Good cop, Bad cop" routine, we have to become wrestlers and so on. We even have to beg too. Haih.

During these ordeal, how I wished that they would have invented the method of putting medication into plaster patches or even those injectors you see in Star trek. Just hold the injector to the skin and "psssh!" its done. No pain involved. And with the plaster patch, all we have to do is wait for her to fall asleep before using it on her.

And just after she swallowed the medicine, the most infuriating thing is, three seconds later, she would change to a happy face as if she has accomplished something phenomenal and that the last hour never happened. So off she goes, happily jumping about, leaving the two of us exhausted on the floor.

I could show you her suffering face but then, my camera broke.
Man, talk about kids.

[Update: 31/12/2007]
Here are some shots I managed to take with my Wife's Nokia 6300

This goes on anything from 15 to an hour before
Krsitine calms down. And it won't work with the
syringe trick (below). So, its the usual cane, words,
"Good cop, Bad Cop" routine for Kristine.

While Kaelynn just took hers without any fuss
We gave her a syringe to "play" with, and then
slowly insert the medicine bit by bit until she
does it herself.

Goodbye, Fujifilm Finepix s5500

So, again, my camera is dead. This is my second digital camera. The first was the Fujifilm Finepix 2800z. Now, the Fujifilm Finepix s5500 is gone. I am not sure what to do with it. It seemed like these cameras lasts about three years in average in my hands before falling apart. The s5500 was already a goner when it refused to focus correctly last year. And then, it lost its sound, no beeps, no click. Sometimes, it comes back and most of the times, it does not. Then this year, its CCD flickered and later on, the flash went nuts. And recenly, with the plastic door to the memory card broke, it was the last straw. Just this morning, it refused to switch on, even when I put in fresh batteries.

And if I am not mistaken, the same problem happened last year just when Kaelynn was born and it cost me more than the camera's buying price to get it replaced. So, if I got it repaired again, its just not worth it. Sigh. Maybe its time I give up taking photos............

But I can't. So now, I am trying to see if I can convince the HM if I can get another one. Maybe the more robust Olympus 950W, the DSLR Nikon 400D or even the Olympus s-510 (I think). But these things cost money and right now, there are no promotions such as trading in your old camera for a price reduction.

I am so used to taking an average of at least 10 shots a day and now, without a camera, I feel like I mssing things or events in life which I cannot record.