Suzette's Parenting and Breastfeeding Blog

I was supposed to share some photos of Isabel’s birthday, but got distracted a bit on this topic…

For a long time, I was concerned whether Ian is colorblind. I convinced myself that he was only confused about the concept of color, which is common amongst young kids.

Early this week, I got a milk company’s promo booklet for Isabel. There is are 4 Ishihara colorblind test charts (like pic below). To my dismay, he couldn’t read ANY of them.

I spent some time researching this topic, and found that, many colorblinds are not really total ‘blind’ in colors. Many can still see lots of colors, but their ability to differentiate some, would be difficult.

So, last night, instead of updating post about Isabel’s birthday, we did the full test of the 24 Ishihara discs. The result was quite confusing. Ian could read about 3, but not able to read the rest.

Here is his test result:
1. 12 (anyone can do that, it is control disc)
2. 3
3. 29
4. Nothing (only dots)
5. Nothing
6. Nothing
7. Nothing
8. Nothing
9. Nothing
10. Nothing
11. Nothing
12. Nothing
13. Nothing
14. Nothing
15. Nothing
16. 6
17. 2
18. 1 line – purple line only
19. Nothing
20. Nothing
21. Nothing
22. Line tracing the blue-green dots, but not the yellow-green dots.
23. Line travcing the purple dots, but not the orange dots.
24. Got it (anyone can do – control cell)

I am only hopeful that the test is not conclusive because we used a computer, and the monitor screen may have altered the appearance of shades of color.

I think I have also scared him with the tests, although I keep telling him that we are playing a ‘treasure hunt’ game, trying to find numbers in the dots. So, I will park this issue aside, but will discuss with our doctor. Maybe when he is slightly older, I will bring him to a specialist.

Here are some interesting and useful sites that I came across on this topic:
1. Colblindor
This site’s owner, I think, is also a colorblind, that’s why he offers some very interesting insights.

He also provides a colorblind simulator. It helps us to understand the world of a colorblind. Example, in a Red-Weak/Protanomaly case, photo on the left will look like the right below:

2. Ishihara set of 24 colorblind test charts
This is what I used last night. There are many methods, but this one is widely used. There is instruction too on this page.

3. New Pediatric Color Vision Test
This one is specially designed for kids 3-6 years old. Something similar to the Ishihara discs, but they use shapes instead of numbers, claimed to be 100% accurate. But the website only offer a glimpse into the first 3 slides. The rest need to be purchased. Ian could read all the 3, but the result is not conclusive unless the whole set is used.

Whatever it is, we are advised to see a specialist instead of doing own testings, if we suspect our kids have colorblind. I will do that, but not now. Let Ian forget about this first. I don’t want this to be a bad experience for him. Even if he is colorblind, I don’t want him to feel handicap. He is smart, he is joyful, he is active… and he is proud of himself. He is also very kiasu. I can’t imagine if he knows there is something he cannot do… how upset could he be.

Pray God that the tests are not conclusive. Pray God that the tests are not accurate!!!

Isabel has been waiting for this day, since his brother’s birthday last month. Everyday, she asks me whether it is her birthday already or not. LOL! I don’t recall that I did that when I was 3 years old! Kids nowadays huh!!

Initially I planned to fry rice and order some KFC for the family. And then, things just changed… FIL’s surgery was rescheduled, and he is still in the hospital (btw, he is now ‘learning’ how to walk with the new implant joint, recuperating well). As a result of that, SIL and MIL have to take care of his dinner etc. BIL is away on business trip… So we called it off.

But, a promise is a promise. I promised to make this Strawberry Mousse Delight cake that Isabel ‘ordered’ (pic below from the recipe book), and a Japanese Light Cheesecake for our favorite uncle (he is just back from Dubai).

Then, in the morning I bought a small cake for Isabel’s school (cannot present my own cake lah, shy). And then, a close friend gave us a Hilton cake! Wow! 4 cakes in a day. I think I will eat cake for a few days. LOL! (photos will follow tomorrow)

Well, I am quite pleased with my Strawberry Mousse Delight. Isabel is really obsessed with pink colour. The reason she ‘ordered’ this cake, is because of the pink colour! I promised her, without realizing how difficult to make it. It took me 14 hours from preparation to finally decorating both cakes. Well, I am a slow one, so don’t take this as standard. I believe the experts take much lesser hour lah!

BTW, I used up 14 eggs for that 2 cakes, and wasted another 4 as I spoiled one chiffon cake (for the strawberry mousse delight!).

See how pretty the cake is (of course cannot compare with the recipe book!). BTW, cannot find pink deco powder, so replaced with grated pink chocolate.

Ei, those are real strawberry, you know? Not artificial coloring!! I made the strawberry puree from scratch, blending 1.5 boxes of strawberries. It is not as red as those in the book. Those in the recipe looks chili red, not like mine – pink colour even before mixing with cream!

Will update with more photos tomorrow.

Happy birthday Isabel!!

Keeping The Dead is the latest Tess Gerritsen’s novel, also known as The Keepsake in the US version.

Hmm… don’t know why they want to have 2 different names. Here is the UK version:

And this is the US version:

After suffering from the last book (The Patient by Michael Palmer), this one is like a gem to me. So easy to read, so easy to get connected with all the characters, so easy to be absorbed into the world in the story, so easy to get scared by the villain in the story…

This is another one of Gerritsen’s great book. Keepsake, also Keeping the Dead, is about a serial killer, who is skillful in keeping the dead – the preservation of the dead.

Well, unlike the other Gerritsen’s books, I guessed the ending, more or less. I guessed who’s the one behind this, and a lil disappointed with the happy ending. Ya, Gerritsen tends to give happy ending (except for Bone Garden). So, somewhat quite predicted that the main characters won’t die. :p

My rating: **** (4)

This morning’s breastfeeding workshop ended with great responses. I think Vivian has her clientele that supports all her workshops fully!

Vivian’s breastfeeding cafe is very cozy, and could accommodate about 15-16 of adults, including Vivian and myself. This number is just nice for me to handle. LOL! With this number, we all get to interact very well and got warmed up quite easily.

I brought along my 2 cooler boxes (1 large 1 small), 1 cooler bag, and a luggage bag. I demonstrated how I travel ‘light’ with very few personal items, how I stuffed my cooler bag into my luggage, how I pack the chilled/frozen milk, etc.

There were so many good questions that helped me, along this very unstructured ‘presentation’. I didn’t really prepare myself before going, but I did prepare a framework according to Vivian’s structure. But nothing beats the natural flow of the question and answer/demonstration.

BTW, I still haven’t got my MS Office installed, so couldn’t prepare PowerPoint. I’m glad we didn’t use one, coz it would be too business like. LOL!

Mothers who come to visit after attending the workshop, you might want to check out this link for all the archive of my traveling experience with breastfeeding.

Father In Law has just gone through a massive surgery having his hip replaced in Selayang Hospital on Thursday.

He has been suffering pain and difficulties at his right hip join. When he walked, he couldn’t move his thigh in large angle, therefore walking up hill or stair was such an agony for him.

He has suffered this for the last circa 10 years, and it became so serious that the orthopedic wanted to bring the surgery forward (originally scheduled to operate a few years later).

He didn’t go for general anesthetic due to his age, so it sounded very scary. Imagine, being conscious, seeing a team of strangers tearing you apart, sawing your bones, hammering something onto you, etc. FIL said they were very rough, just like the butchers!

Anyway, this hip replacement also arthroplasty, is kind of common thing. It is used to relief patients with joint failure.

FIL’s situation can be described as “locked hip/joint”. It is quite rare, where the “head” and the “cup” stuck together, like gone without any lubricants, so it can’t move freely.

The common complications after this kind of surgery are: infection and dislocation. I saw from Wikipedia this photo – looks scary to have your hip dislocated like that huh!!

Pray God for nothing of such happening to FIL.

BTW, side track a bit. FIL was supposed to do this last week. He was admitted, stayed 2 nights, and by the time he was scrubbed and ready for the operation, they found out that the spare parts not ready!! He had to go home and return a week later. Pity him, having to go through the same ordeal twice!