Parents day out - A nightmare!

Just as we were thinking that the girls could manage themselves, both Clarissa (5 yrs) and Christa (3 yrs) gave me an unpleasant surprise upon reaching home yesterday. As Christa greeted me at the door, the smell of Johnson and Johnson Baby Powder escaped through the passageway. I thought she couldn't have done the powder-fest again?! After taking a few steps into the living room I noticed that the floor was wet and our domestic maid was busy cleaning the mop. There were some traces of powder on the floor and piano stool.

I found Clarissa sitting on the floor with her books and colour pencils (newly bought from Parkson Grand last weekend) strewn all over. There were pieces of torn paper on the sofa (traces of Christa's 'art-work'). To my relief there weren't any crayon traces on the sofa, walls or floor. Little Benedict was quietly playing in the baby-cot while watching the fish swimming around in the aquarium.

The children's bedroom was covered with a layer of baby powder with my domestic maid's personal items scattered on the floor. The radio hi-fi system was again covered with powder.

Both girls were given the cane and a stern warning after some 'interrogation'. It was only later that our maid told us that they locked themselves in the bedroom and they even took out the cane and used it on her. Both Mommy and I made sure that the girls understood that they needed to respect the maid and their bad behaviour would not be tolerated. With a forlorn look, they both said "sorry!".

Selamat Hari Raya - Keep hard feelings at bay!

This message goes out to all Malaysians (includes family, friends, sports officials, athletes and politicians). Let's keep this nation in one piece and sort out our differences. Let love, peace and goodwill set aside all the stubborn hurts, mistakes and misconceptions of the past. I still believe that there's a God who will sort out the problems if we let Him do the work.

Mommy, it's time to make things work for our family without any interference from anyone else. Just make sure that we don't have too much to do this festive season and we can visit some of our friends and family.

Contaminated milk and milk products?

The 2008 Sanlu Chinese milk outrage has highlighted the introduction of a industrial chemical called melamine into our children's foodchain. Milk and milk products from China are now deemed as potentially hazardous until further clarification from the health authorities. We start wondering what are the side effects of consuming our favourite White rabbit milk candy. Oral intake of melamine may lead to reproductive damage, or bladder or kidney stones, which can lead to bladder cancer.

Melamine is used combined with formaldehyde to produce melamine resin, a very durable thermosetting plastic, and melamine foam, a polymeric cleaning product. The end products include countertops, dry erase boards, fabrics, glues, housewares and flame retardants. Melamine is one of the major components in Pigment Yellow 150, a colorant in inks and plastics.

Melamine is also used to make fertilizers.

Melamine derivatives of arsenical drugs are potentially important in the treatment of African trypanosomiasis.

Melamine use as non-protein nitrogen (NPN) for cattle was described in a 1958 patent. In 1978, however, a study concluded that melamine "may not be an acceptable nonprotein N source for ruminants" because its hydrolysis in cattle is slower and less complete than other nitrogen sources such as cottonseed meal and urea.

Melamine is sometimes unethically added to food products in order to increase the apparent protein content. Standard tests such as the Kjeldahl and Dumas tests estimate protein levels by measuring the nitrogen content, so they can be misled by adding nitrogen-rich compounds such as melamine. (taken from Wikipedia)

Now that we know all this, we start to wonder what else is present in the milk and milk products. How did the melamine end up in the milk? Was it added into the animal feed? Was it ingested by the animals through the plant fertilisers? Was it absorbed by the plants via contaminated water from melamine waste?

Let's hope that milk products from other countries are safe (or safer) to consume. The list of milk and milk product brands that are safe for consumption from Ministry of Health is given here.

Time to go green!!!

Other suggested readings:
Contaminated protein exports in China
Contaminated pet food

What matters most?

The past few weeks has been a trying time for both Mommy and I. I suppose the situation worsened since I took time off to cover hockey training. I was not terribly disturbed by the political situation in the country but the concern was more for the potential trouble as the result of racial sentiments raised by politicians and the utter nonsense we read in the media. With all the confusion, I decided to quit my job and start looking for another which allows a more flexible timing with less stringent business requirements.

Despite all that our children didn't notice much and continued with their daily routine, playing, screaming, laughing hysterically and crying to get some attention. Even Benedict (almost 1 year old) has learnt to campaign for attention. He refuses to let go once you have carried him in your arms.

I suppose everyone feels insecure sometimes and may end up doing things which make them look foolish. We are lucky as the children are a great source of strength and courage. It makes us look beyond the challenges and press on with greater wisdom and perseverance. After all the arguments, I feel as foolish as some politicians. I hope our relationship will come out stronger after brushing off the dirt from our shoulders.

What do children do when parents quarrel?

Every loving couple would have diferences in opinion and occasionally this could lead to heated arguments and quarrels. This is something that you never tell anyone else except close friends. What I've learnt over the past few days is that adults never seem to bother much about what happens to their children when they are busy feeling hurt and hurting your spouse. Sometimes, we 'quarrel' in a nice way where it is done away from the children but Clarissa reads body language very well and would often ask, "Why, Daddy?".

What do children do?
1. They feel fearful at the next thing which could happen.
2. They wonder how come adults also behave like kids
3. They are confused as adults are supposed to be composed
4. They make sure their mischief doesn't cause further trouble
5. They occasionally get involved with the person whom they emphatise with (through their gut feeling)

What do adults do?
1. They feel the hurt longer and insist on protecting their 'rights'
2. They wonder what happened to the person whom they married
3. They start to believe what was advised by their friends and parents against the marriage previously (if any). Their worst fears have unfolded and become true?
4. They forget that their spouse was never perfect in the first place
5. They compare the good that they have done and the bad that they had received
6. They forget that the children are around and start to behave like kids too

Parenting is not easy but staying together as parents may also pose as a challenge.

BUDGET 2009 or No Budget for 2009?

It would be great to hear of what goodies new families like ours would get from the Budget 2009. Most of my friends and clients feel that the Budget 2009 may be too late to save us from rising inflation and cost of living. We would probably need to continue to institute measures to curb spending. In otherwards, life will not longer be the same since the first half of 2008.

Here are some of the measures we have taken as part of the practical steps:-

1. Eat at home and pack food for work
2. Drink filtered water instead of teh-tarik (not to mention that it is usually too sweet and prepared from low quality tea dust)
3. Plan the route of my daily travel
4. Cycle for exercise and may use the gymnasium in the condominium instead
5. Use my post-paid package from Celcom and make phone calls only when necessary
6. Avoid supper at the mamak and make my own supper
7. Less elaborate birthday celebrations
8. Local travels and tours for the family
9. Look for a better paying job or overtime
10. Get the whole family to use water and electricity wisely
11. Pay off more of the housing loan with EPF
12. Go for movies only when there is a blockbuster
13. Get a cheaper and more efficient Broadband Internet Provider
14. Read more off the internet than buying books
15. Consider replacing my car with a more fuel efficient car
16. Pray that things will change for the better

Does it really sound like effective measures? I suppose we would need to spend some money to spur growth in the economy but it would be rather tricky to tell the man in the street to do so.

Useful links:-
1. The Star: Budget 2009
2. Budget 2009 Text
3. Economy Report 2008/9
4. Live Telecast
5. Recorded Telecast

Fighting over hair accessories?

If you have two girls aged 5 yrs (Clarissa) and 3 yrs old (Christa) and Mommy has bought some new hair accessories (e.g. hair band, clips, tie, etc), what would you get? A girl fight and lots of yelling!

Mommy and I would have to separate the two girls as they would try to lay their hands on the accessories before Mommy opens the plastic wrapper. As it happened, Clarissa was in tears as Christa had tried the hairband and wasn't going to hand it over to her to try on. Mommy then took out some hair clips. When she caught a glimpse of the colourful hairclips, Christa took off the hairband instantly and sat on Mommy's lap. Once the first hairclip went into Christa's hair, Clarissa didn't want the hairband anymore and demanded for the hairclips.