Cough, cough

J's been coughing for a week now. His asthma meds are not providing any relief, whether it's via the puffer or the nebulizer. His cough sounded wet but he claimed to have no phlegm. I cut an Asian pear in half, removed the core and put a tablespoon of honey in each piece then I steamed the fruits on medium high heat for about 45 minutes. It tasted a bit sourish sweet and the texture was between soft and hard. Not really yummy but I forced J to eat the first piece for breakfast this morning. To my surprise, his cough improved. I made him eat the other piece before we left the house for Walmart. He didn't cough much until he came home.

I made another batch just now. A pot with a piece of pork and goji berries are being boiled on the stove for dinner. I also bought some salted duck egg to be consumed with porridge tomorrow. Supposedly peas are also good for dry cough so I will try that another time.

Any wind aggravates his cough and he knows that. He tells me to turn off the fan whenever he gets 'wind' of it. hehehe.

Nary a Tear

Yesterday was L's first treatment at Dr. Chen's. The good doctor, nurse and I were bracing ourselves for wails (as in J's case) but were pleasantly surprised by L's silence. He endured the treatment stoically. The tears did threaten as Dr. Chen moved to his scalp but again, he bravely sat through it. We were very impressed and at that moment, my heart flooded with gratitude - thankful that L was such a brave boy. I resolved to reward L for his courage and promised to try to get him "Star Wars Clone Walkers" lego set although I had banned all future purchases due to overflooding of the current lego toys.

L sat for about 10 minutes and after which, he decided to lie down on his belly. He stayed in this position till the end of the 45 minutes. I think there were about 8 needles along his spine and 2 in his scalp. After removing the needles, the doctor massaged L's back and scalp. I saw tiny pin holes on his back. I will try a small dose of ledum before we go in the future. I hope that will not interfere with Dr. Chen's treatments.

I asked L if it hurt. He said it did in the beginning but shook his head at the end. Perhaps J will try it again in the future, when he's older and possesses a thicker skin.

PS. We went to ToysRUs and bought the lego set for him. It was about $3 more than other places but I didn't care because L deserved it. He was so happy.

Crickets and Clay

J pestered me for a pet. I tried to side-step him by saying that he does have pets - his soft toys. "I want a real pet," J clarified. I pointed out to him that he didn't help out with the cleaning of the pet cage when Hammy the hamster was alive. He promised that he would this time round. Again, I tried to distract him by telling him he has a pond of fishes outside. "I want it inside."

That afternoon, we went for a walk, looking for possible pet candidates. We could only find pillbugs and snails. Snails will have to do. Four snails holed up in a small clear plastic cage along with some leaves. They left a trail of slime and after an hour or two, Jin turned his nose up at the smell. The snails happily slunk away to freedom after that.

Next day, we dropped by at Petco to purchase a small container of "gut-load" crickets. $4.99 for 8 bugs?? What a rip-off. They ought to be grateful to escape from being lizard chow and instead be pets to a happy 5 year old. Let's hope the crickets survive the next few weeks to satiate his desire to be a pet-owner.

Bought a bucket of air-dry clay today. Three of us sat at the dining table concentrating on our creations. L came up with 2 crickety cups and some "beans." J created a bunch of er ... figurines. I made a small bowl and a human figurine that sits on an edge. A few hours into the drying, J's figurines started losing their arms. There was no instructions on the bucket so I searched online and found a video about the product. Turns out one has to wet the parts prior to attaching them. I wished they had put that on their label. Good thing I still have half of the clay left. We'll try more tomorrow. At the meantime, we'll have to use our trusty old glue to adhere the pieces together.

Hands, hands, hands and Feet

A page out of my sketchbook. I wish I have a better hand model. My fingers are stubby and ugly.