Doodle King and the HFMD scare

Posted by tyan (Singapore, Singapore) on 16 April 2008 in People & Portrait.

Caleb is very into animals nowadays.His school is nowhere into the 'animal' theme yet,but we have been learning and reading about animals at home,and animals somehow permeate through his words and actions.

One afternoon last week,Caleb refused to take his nap,i suppose he was too excited after we went to Borders for weekly excursion.He started doodling and our conversation went something like that.

'Mummy,i want to draw eh-mee-mals(animals)'

'Sure,what are you going to draw?'

'Err,i draw octopus!'

He ran off excitedly and came back with something like that in his white board.

'WoW!You sure are good at drawing the Octopus' tentacles!'

He beamed with pride.

'Er,i am going to draw Dolphin!'

'OK!'

'Mummy, see!'

'Wow,your dolphin looks really friendly!'

Just be imaginative and i thought i really saw something that resembled a dolphin,LOL

'Mummy,i draw salamander!'

Wow,i am impressed.I didnt know what salamander was until i saw its picture in an animal encyclopedia i bought for him recently.He actually remembered!

So we went on and on for about 45 minutes while he doodled all the animals he could remember,he even insisted on categorising them,a batch belongs to the water,a batch belongs to the zoo,etc.He is quite a 'compulsive' systematic chap!

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Two weeks ago,when the kindy informed parents that there was a HFMD case from the afternoon session,i kept Caleb at home for the rest of the week. Last week,i kept him at home for about half a week,hoping that the HFMD peak will die down.Today,to my horror,the kindy reported 2 new cases of HFMD! Apparently, all the cases were 'mild' and thus went undetected even though the teachers checked their temperature everyday. All 3 infected children attend the afternoon session,and strangely,they were not even classmates,one in k1,another in k2 and n1.Even though Caleb doesnt attend the afternoon session,i think the infected N1 kid uses the same classroom in the afternoon. And there are so many common places- the hall,the toilets,the stairway.So i have decided to keep him at home again.There is Ian to think about, and i do not think i am in the state of mind nor body to look after the boys on my own should they be infected with HFMD. I have been feeling extremely tired nowadays.So for now,no playgrounds,no swimming at public pools,no going to crowded places especially those with lots of children. Oh well,then where can i go? Can i go to the library? Maybe i will bring along a bottle of dettol hand sanitizer and spray it on every book they touch.