Suzette's Parenting and Breastfeeding Blog

I think Mitch Albom’s more famous book is not this one, but The Five People You Meet in Heaven.

I have seen that being quoted by many people as their most inspiring book. I haven’t read that, because I am afraid of a subject that is too heavy (or too inspiring? Hahaha!).

Many months ago, when Aiyu returned some of the books that I lend her, she included this book – Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson.

Well, that book’s cover looks so boring:

Although we all know: Never Judge A Book By Its Cover, but to be honest most of us do that unless you get recommendations, right or not?

So, the book looks boring, and also coupled with house moving and my new (temporary) lifestyle (having to be full time housewife yet still working some of the time), I spent 4 months to read this one. Hahahahaha!

But it doesn’t mean that the book is boring. The LOOK is boring but not the content. It is one very inspiring book, and I also guessed the other books were written as a result of Morrie’s influence on the author?

Morrie is real, he is a real person, and he is the professor to the author Mitch Albom. He is a very good man, too good to believe there is such man. And I think he is not only good, he is also very wise. He knows what is important in life and he is also brave enough to live against the social culture, created his own culture (using his words). He is a special person. He likes teaching and he taught until his last breath. Yes, he is gone now.

It is an easy reading book. Worth reading – it might change your life, to reprioritize your priority. Don’t wait.

My rating: ****1/2 (4.5)

They love it from the 1st lesson. Isabel was so funny, after the first class, she asked if she can go there everyday, replacing the kindie. She cried when I told her not. LOL!

In the 2nd lesson, the school taught them the 9 Fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). They are very good in teaching this. They really connects these ‘fruits’ with fruits.

So, my children came home with 3 fruit-cards: banana (Joy), grape (Peace), and apple (Love).

Of those, Love is the longest. I think Ian loves challenge, coz he always pick Love to read. He always ask me to read with him (no confidence).

Then, 2 weeks later (no class due to CNY), when the school resume, the teacher rewarded him in the class because he was the only kid who could recital Love by heart! I am proud of him.

Love
Love the Lord your God
with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your strength
and with all your mind,
and love your neighbour as yourself
(Luke 10:27)

Yesterday I was in trauma stage, seeing Ian suffered (screamed, yelled, cried, kicked, wrestled) at the clinic. I did not ask much about Ian’s injury.

Today, I went to the clinic again – Isabel’s turn. She has caught a cold. I took the opportunity to ask the doctor again about Ian’s injury. So I learnt a new term – Impetigo.

Apparently this Impetigo is a common skin infection amongst kids 2-6 years old. The cause of it is bacteria Staphylococcus aureus or Streptococcus pyogenes.

There are 3 types of Impetigo, and I believe what Ian got was the 3rd type – Ecthyma, the more serious type. The infection penetrates deep into the skin’s second layer. Ian’s wound fit into most of the described symptoms:
- Painful fluid and pus-filled deep ulcers
- Hard yellow crust covering the ulcers
- Very itchy

Doctor said it is contagious if come in skin contact, if other kids have open wounds or insect bites. It also spreads when the kid scratches. In Ian’s case, I believe he scratched the area because he complaint of itchiness.

Doctor also said that, some strains are even more ‘wild’, which could attack the internal organs like kidney. And some of the strains cause the rare and scary Flesh Eating Disease or “Necrotizing fasciitis”.

In Ian’s case, the treatment is easy – just need to clean thoroughly and apply antibacterial cream. This morning the red spots seem not spreading any more. He keeps complaining of itch. Pity boy…

Remember I shared in an earlier post about DH had 50+ mosquito bites? In the same post, I also mentioned that Ian had his first injury in that party.

At first I didn’t really keep it in mind. Just treated the wound at home, with some diluted Dettol (disinfectant) liquid, then applied some Papaw cream. It usually worked for small scratches. And it actually did work quite well for the wound until the following Friday.

Ian came home complaining pain at his elbow. There is a tiny red spot next to the healing wound. I thought he had a new fall but he denied it. So I treated it and wrapped it. Didn’t bother me much as well. Then, few days passed…

Last night when I tried to clean his wound, I got panic! That tiny red spot became a 50 cents would and quite deep. Well, of course it didn’t become like this overnight. When it expanded, I thought it was caused by the bandage, so I let the wound uncovered to dry at night – it worked pretty well. But after he came home, the frighten sight is not just the wound expanded, but it SPREADS!!!

I SAW MANY TINY RED SPOTS AROUND IT, AND THE ORIGINALLY TINY RED SPOT IS ALREADY SO BIG!

Look at the photo above. ‘A’ is the original would, when he fell down. It is pretty much healed. ‘B’ arrows are those newly developed tiny red spots. And ‘C’ is the final ‘product’ this morning.

Pretty scary. I brought him to see our doctor, and he said it is one of the strongest bacteria, and it could spread to other people who come in contact as well.

Pitiful Ian, he cried and screamed so badly when the nurse treated the wound. But he faced it so bravely, although it was so painful he still let the nurses cleaned for him.

Here is his hand now:

This morning, Ian woke up before sun rise AGAIN! I refused to wake up because I slept at 2am, I was soooooo tired! Soon, I heard Isabel’s voice too…

So, I finally got up to check on them, and this was what I saw:

They were sitting on the staircase and READ BOOKS!

Well, why staircase? I guess they do not want to be away from me (Ian is particularly chicken although maid is downstair)?

I am actually quite happy to see them holding books (than watching TV)! I have been trying very hard to induce reading habit in them. I bought a lot of books for them until I had no place to put. Previously I stored their books in a box, but it was very hard for them to take out.

Since I have a large (and quite empty) bookcase now, I re-organized my bookcase and spare the bottom 2 front shelves for their books:

You will see that many of the books (upper shelf) are not for their age yet. Books like Leven Thumps are for teenagers, some Enid Blyton’s (e.g. Wishing Chair, etc) are for older kids too. I saw them cheap in Manila so couldn’t resist (books are always very cheap in other countries compared to KL!)! Also, Narnia is also too deep for their understanding.

The bottom shelf is more suitable for their age. So effectively they have only 1 shelf full of books. LOL! Anyhow, I do have the tendancy to buy books too deep for my kids. Not that I kiasu, but the subjects catch Ian’s interest better, like Astrology, Maths and Sciences. He doesn’t understand fully, but he is extremely interested and he is trying his best to understand by looking at the pictures and guessing from the words (he can read most but not all yet).

For example, this ‘Body Book’ (as Ian likes to call it), used to be his most favourite book since 2.5 years old:

Of course, he couldn’t read it himself, but he always makes me read to him, and he asks a lot of questions. I don’t mind that, and in fact reading to him I sometimes learn new things too!

Few months ago, Grolier approached his school with the Scholastic booklist. Since this was the first time, I let him choose the books. It is actually quite worthy. On average, each book only costs RM8 or so (but it is still cheaper in Manila – the ‘Body Book’ was only RM6 from Manila!).

He chose some and I chose some. See, these are what he likes:

Not easy! Full with text, but also full with photos. His questions are usually stimulated by the pics and also words that he can’t understand.

I guess he likes these books because they make him think. He can read, digest, ask questions, observe, and come back to read again and again…

For example, one day he looked at the sky and saw a constellation that he could recognize. He was so excited So, he read and read the book again, like trying to squeeze every info into his little brain!

Whilst he always try to get book so deep, I always go with this type for him (to teach him manners, love, friendship, etc):

Unfortunately his interest is not in those books.

As for Isabel, she is slightly slower, she just started on Numbers and Alphabets. But I am not worried. My aim is just for them to like books, not necessarily know how to read. It is the interest that I would like to culture here.

So, parents out there, would you prefer your kids to read? If so, what would you do to help culturing reading habits in your kids? Care to share?