When I got home from work yesterday, it was Twin2 who opened the door for me. Immediately, I noticed something strange with his right ear. It was huge and it protruded outwards. Kinda like Mickey Mouse’s ear. I don’t recall either one of his ears ever looking like that.
I asked the maid about it and she told me that Twin2’s ear was like that ever since he and Twin1 got back from play school at midday. Midday! That meant his ear’s been swollen for, like, 8 hours already!
Overcome by maternal panic, I quickly herded the twins into the car to see the nearby GP. The doctor told me Twin2’s ear got bitten by some insect (she even pointed out the exact area of the bite) and that his ear swelled as an allergic reaction. She gave some antihistamine syrup for the itch and a steroid cream to help bring down the swelling.
Twin2’s ear is still a bit red and slightly swollen this morning but it’s almost back to normal. Click here to see how his ear looks like in its normal state.
What I find funny about the whole thing is what Dr B told me. She said that it’s very minor and probably doesn’t bother Twin2 because he’s going about his usual routine without even scratching his ear… and it’s more like the medicine is for me to feel better rather than him! :D
Tags: allergy, insect bite
I’ve always known I could write. Maybe not Pulitzer Prize-winning, but I was good enough to be in school editorial boards in my student years. I was good enough to qualify for the National Secondary Schools Press Conference (NSSPC) Editorial Writing and Feature Writing competitions and even though I didn’t win, at least, I got to go to Pampanga where the NSSPC was held, join a quick tour to Baguio, and even stop over Manila to take my specially-scheduled Ateneo College Entrance Test (ACET).
I was, however, good enough to win a few inter-school essay-writing and slogan-writing contests in the city where I grew up in. With cash prizes, mind you! They were small amounts but they meant a lot to me and my family. One time, I entered a national essay-writing contest because Lola asked me to, in return for her buying me this blouse that I had my eye on at the local mall. I won third prize, got free tickets for Lola and me to Manila for the prize-giving ceremony, and went home with 2 huge hampers of the sponsors’ products.
When I was in Ateneo, the only writing I did was for English and Filipino class and the occasional love-lorn poem. After that, I haven’t been doing any writing at all, other than the compulsory case studies and feasibility studies, which don’t really count as ‘writing’ for me ;)
Then suddenly, I felt the urge to start writing again. And a self-hosted blog seemed the most logical thing.
I started off on the 1st of February feeling a wee bit rusty. After all, I haven’t written in years. But, like cycling, I suppose it’s something that, once you learn it, you never really forget it. It didn’t take long for the words and ideas to just flow out naturally. And I’m so thankful I can touch-type, otherwise, my fingers would never be able to catch up with my brain now if I were to search-and-peck-type ;) At any given time, I have 20 or so drafts that I can choose to publish during those days when I’m not feeling particularly inspired and can’t come up with any ideas on what to write on.
Then recently, Lola started bugging me to try to find out if I can get paid to blog. She even did the research for me and got me connected with Munchkin Mommy, who introduced me to PayPerPost. I thought to myself, if I can do something that I love and earn money while doing it, why not? So I signed up.
Here’s how it works:
Tags: blogging, PayPerPost, PPP
This is the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton in Kuningan, Jakarta.
The hotel is posh. Grand. Luxurious.
Hotel towels are embroidered with the Ritz-Carlton crest. Even the bathtub comes with a water-proof pillow, embossed with the same crest, of course.
Rack rate for one night’s stay in a standard room in this hotel is USD240, which is about Rp 2.2 million (Rp = Indonesian Rupiah).
Based on the current minimum wage a.k.a. UMP (upah minimum propinsi), the average Indonesian earns less than Rp 1 million in one month. To be exact, in Jakarta Capital Special Region, the UMP is Rp972,604.40 per month effective 1st January 2008, using data from the International Labour Organization’s website.
So using simple arithmetic, it’s easy to work out that one night’s stay in Ritz-Carlton Indonesia is roughly equivalent to 2 months’ salary of the average worker in Jakarta.
It’s shocking. Pathetic. Appalling even. But this is the reality of life in Indonesia: the super-rich, some 10% of the total population, are chauffeur-driven into parties, hotels, the poshest shopping malls while the majority of its 235 million population work for a pittance.
Tags: Indonesia, Jakarta, minimum wage, Ritz-Carlton, UMP
Today, finally unable to resist The Pioneer Woman’s mouthwatering photography in her step-by-step recipe section, I relented and made ‘Crash Hot Potatoes’.
Photo from ThePioneerWoman.com
I wasn’t really planning to do any cooking today because I was feeling too lazy. But then I remembered I had baby potatoes in the fridge which I bought a week ago. I decided I had to cook them before they shrivelled up or started to grow.
So I scrubbed and washed the potatoes, as they’re meant to be eaten skin and all. The skin’s the best part, believe me!
Then I boiled them, drained them, put them on a cookie sheet that’s been generously coated with a nice layer of olive oil.
Then I smashed the baby spuds as gently as I could using a potato masher, flattening them into little cookies. Tip: the thinner you make them, the crunchier they’ll get! But do it gently so that they stay in one piece.
Then I sprinkled salt and pepper on them, skipping the herbs, lest my kids end up not eating them because of the herbs.
Finally, another generous drizzle of olive oil went on top before I popped them into a hot oven (230 C). I was supposed to leave them there for 20-25 minutes or until they’re crispy. But I cheated a bit and flipped them over when they were halfway done.
OMG! They were so crunchy and so yummy! They flew so fast from the oven to hungry little mouths that I didn’t have the time to photograph them (hence, I have to link to ThePioneerWoman’s photo from her site — hope you don’t mind, Ree!). They tasted like potato chips, only better. And they’re much, much healthier, thanks to the olive oil.
I believe the same results can be had by frying them instead of putting them in the oven, only they’d need looking after in the frying pan, whereas you can forget about them for 20 minutes or so when they’re in the oven.
Browse through the Pioneer Woman’s recipes — with photos every step of the way, mind you! — and get inspired to whip something up in the kitchen today. But be warned: the recipes on her site always involve butter and/or cream, so if you are to try any of her recipes, you might want to arm yourself with a weight loss pill first ;)
As I mentioned in a previous post, the twins’ verbal development continues to astound me. I often wonder if they’re gifted. But, as usual, I always remind myself that maybe I’m just biased because I’m their mother.
At 2 years 4 months, they can now talk in full sentences, they can answer questions, they correct you when you’re ‘wrong’ (Twin2: Ini bukan car Abah, ini car Mama – This is not Abah’s car, this is Mama’s car), they even make up their own lyrics to nursery rhyme melodies!
I can listen for hours listening to the two of them chatter endlessly as they play with each other, whether they’re building their own version of the Petronas Twin Towers, or pretending to cook an egg, or indulging in their latest favourite activity: pretending to sing over and cut a birthday cake.
And you know what? Inasmuch as I feel proud of the rapidity of the development of their verbal skills, I sorely miss the special words that they coined themselves when they were just starting to talk. Stuff like beh for ball, zaza for write (even if it usually referred to writing on the walls of my house!), ageg for frog, egg for yellow. Twin2, who had difficulty with the letters L and R, used to say iyu for lorry, sney-yowh for snail and wey-yowh for whale.
Egg. Now that makes for an interesting story. The twins used to say egg whenever they meant ‘yellow’… because they had a plastic toy egg that was yellow. They somehow tied the idea of ‘yellow’ with ‘egg’, thereby confusing the two words with each other. I tried many times to correct them whenever they’d say that something’s ‘egg‘ in colour. But then they’d insist so vehemently that it’s egg, so in the end, I just let them ‘win’ the argument.
I don’t recall the exact time when they stopped saying ‘egg‘ and started pronouncing ‘yellow’ properly. But I do remember the time when I asked Twin2 where the ‘ageg‘ is and he answered me ‘Fwog takde‘ (there is no frog). He looked at me in such a way that I felt almost embarrassed for saying ageg instead of frog. Fancy that! ;)
Right now, the only remaining ’special’ words that they use are nyam-nyam for eat and yayay for anything that they find dirty or disgusting, such as their soiled nappies (’Yiih!! Nappy yayay!‘).
Generally, I discourage the use of baby talk with my children. I diligently do what experts recommend — correcting them gently by repeating what they say, but replacing the baby talk with the proper words. However, I couldn’t help but allow them to continue using some of their ’special’ words because… well, I just find it so adorable!
It also makes for great conversation once they’re older. Take the case of my 3 older kids, who never tire of asking me what they used to say when they were toddlers. MyEldest used to say babu for ball (his first word!), cong-conut for coconut, epa-plane for aeroplane, sfly and sflower for fly and flower, kompinter for computer. OnlyGirl used to say min instead of moon, ibat instead of ubat, bikan instead of bukan. RoundBoy, who started talking in complete sentences when he was 1 year 8 months old, used to say neysh instead of nails, nak nak for tak nak (I don’t want), just like the twins, and ask for yoyo instead of susu (milk), just like his older sister.
Now that they’re bigger, I correct every little grammatical mistake they make. And I don’t hesitate to use ‘big’ words when I talk to them. I think it’s a great way for them to pick up new vocabulary. Furthermore, whenever we watch something on TV, I take the time to explain the meanings of complex words, even if they don’t ask me to. And, of course, I read a lot and encourage them to do the same by setting aside special times for reading (even if it means forcibly turning off the TV, after they’ve spent an entire Saturday morning in front of the boob tube!) and getting them lots of new reading materials from time to time — books, in-flight magazines, print-outs from the internet, newspaper cuttings. The result? An English vocabulary that amazes even native English speakers.
But for now, I revel in whatever little time I have left with the twins’ cute lisps and pronunciation slips!
Tags: Children, talk, Twins, verbal development, vocabulary
