END OF YEAR

Wow....it's the last day of 2006. What have we done? How much has been achieved? What is there to reflect on?

Plenty...just plenty.

I'll start with Jonathan...who turned 9 this year...

1) Completed the Primary One syllabus for Math and English in school.
2) Learned to use the doorbell to call anyone and point to what he wants using the picture cards (that's 2 points...haha)
3) Watched a 45-minute children's musical called "The Selfish Giant" with his school friends without fuss.
4) Pronounced the word "_ILK" which he meant "MILK" when he was hungry.
5) Starred in the documentary "My Son, Jonathan"...actually it's his life story...
6) Participated and completed in the Children's Charity Walkathon (his first time) on 2 December 2006.
7) Bravely went through a dental cleaning procedure at KK that lasted more than 2 hours under GA on 15 December 2006.
8) Watched a movie for the first time at Cathay Cinema called "Night At The Museum" on 17 December 2006.
9) STOOD UP WITH MY SUPPORT, HELD ON TO THE DOOR HANDLE AND OPENED THE DOOR FOR HIS DADDY WHO RETURNED HOME FROM WORK.

All these achievements....never done before...I call them Jonathan's 9 Major Pre-Miracle Achievements.

He achieved more than what I have mentioned. I believe more will come. From tomorrow onwards, I'll be adding more, not just only one or two. Yes...I believe this will happen.

Actually, Jonathan's already started before 2007 comes...He's been asking me to make him stand more often.

2007...I don't know what will be in store for all of us. But I want to look forward to more good things, not just for Jonathan, but for H and myself.

2007....2007....2007....No resolutions....just live a day as it is.

Read in Max Lucado's daily devotion...things change when you start looking for God...I'll make this one of my goals...to start looking for God...in every person who comes in contact with me...in every situation that comes to my path, in every day that comes...yah...that should be the way...

LOOK FOR GOD IN EVERYTHING.

PRE-MIRACLE

Today...Jonathan opened the door for his daddy. He was standing, put his hand on the door handle and opened the door...
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All these done while I held on to him. He didn't buckle his legs....I'M VERY PROUD OF HIM.

STAYING POSITIVE

Last night at Tampines Mall Popular bookstore...Jonathan and I in one of the aisles between shelves of books.
Two ladies (probably in their early 50s) stopped. One of them tapped the other's shoulder. Said something to her and both looked at my direction. Then another elderly lady came behind them. The shoulder tapper turned to her, said something to her and she also looked at my direction.

Now...what do you think they were doing? They were looking at Jonathan and me. They didn't smile, neither did they come to ask questions. They just stood there for about 30 secs looking at us.

Now...what did I do? I retreated backwards. Then looked at them and they realised it and walked off.

So...what do you think they were thinking? Perhaps in their minds..."Hey! that's the child and mother who were in the documentary recently? Wow...they look better live than on TV!". Or..."eeee-err...why this boy that like? Keep drooling and the way he sits looks wierd. The parents must have done something wrong to get this type of kid."

You choose....

After a while, still at Popular, saw a young girl who has some body disfigurement. Now...this girl can talk and walk, although her body is not normal. What do you think those 3 woman will say? I wonder but I don't want to ponder too much. This girl is brave enough to be out in public so I believe she and her mom are not bothered by what people will say about her.

Like this girl and her mother, I chose to go public so I'm liable to praise or scrutiny. Nothing to worry about. I'm beginning to accept whatever comes my way. People have rights to say whatever they want.

Just don't let me hear them if they are negative.

Life has to go on....the next time I see a special needs child I'll go up to their parents and say I'm encouraged by what they are doing...that's what we need to do.

There are good and bad times.

Good times yesterday afternoon while at City Hall...saw a family with a special needs girl having a meal at PAN Restaurant...another Indian lady came up to ask me about Jonathan's buggy cos her son (5yo) has muscle dystrophy. These are positive sights. Hope to see more special needs in public places.

ENJOYABLE SUNDAY, LAZY MONDAY

This is the first time....Jonathan woke up late...so I continued sleeping...noticed at 9am that he was sleeping on and off so didn't bother him and I layed down and fell asleep too...haha. Both of us woke up at 11am!! First time!

Went for movie screeing of Night At The Museum at Cathay Theatre yesterday. Starring Ben Stiller and other star-studded cast. Funny show. Organized by Mediacorp Channel 5 Cares. An almost 2-hour show.

Jonathan sat glued to screen (first time in movie theatre) for one hour. Later when there was no action, he started getting bored. Tk God brought his cassette player so let him listen to Wheel closed to his ears. Towards last half hour, he started watching the show again.

On the whole....he did good. Some parts he laughed. We enjoyed it. Theatre was nice, comfortable seats so carrying him for the 2 hours, rotating between H and I was no problem.

Go catch the movie. Opening in theatres on 21 Dec.

DENTAL

Went to KK about 11.30am. Many people, mostly malays, at the Day Surgery. Found out there were 11 dental procedures and more than 20 malay kids circumcising.

Processed admission, temperature checked, questions answered, put anaesthesia cream on both hands and waited for them to call.

Waited....waited....waited....waited....waited....time: 1.15pm.

Jonathan and I were taken to operating theatre lobby and get ready. I put on my gown and cap. No need to change Jonathan. Anaesthesialogist (??)...asked questions, another dr asked questions....all the same questions actually. why can't the copy from the same form? Hah! Told me they will make him sleep first then put a tube through his nose to breath. Dentist came by to tell me what they will do.

1.45pm wheeled Jon into the operating theatre. They tried to distract him with all the paintings on the wall but Jonathan knows better than that. Once inside the OT, he knew what he was up to. Looked a little nervous but very brave. Didn't struggle when they put IV on this left hand. Dr squirt some medicine through IV and next thing...Jonathan was knocked out. So I left the OT.

Thot the procudure would only take 45 minutes like some of my friend's children.....NO.....Jonathan's took TWO long hours. Major cleaning...well...they haven't been cleaned by dentist for 9 years.

Dentist extracted 2 milk teeth. S'pose they thot it would be better to remove them and let the new permanent teeth grow better. Put sealant on the 4 molars to prevent decay and his teeth are now cleaned and white.

What I dislike....lots of phlegm after they remove the intubating tube and left nostril bleeding. Jonathan was very uncomfortable and got permission for him to sit on his buggy. Glad I did that. He coughed up alot of thick secretion after that. Made him breath better.

Total cost? Don't want to think about it. KK told me cannot use medisave...Appealed to Ministry of Health. Hopefully approve.

That's expensive dental treatment...one I hope will not be repeated.

But best of all...JONATHAN WAS BRAVE....VERY BRAVE AND DID NOT MAKE A BIG FUSS OUT OF THE WHOLE EVENT. Praise the Lord!

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS!

BEING RECOGNISED

This morning we were standing at the road side, waiting for a cab. About 10 mins later one came and we were getting reading to go on.

All of a sudden, we heard someone shouted "JONATHAN!". Looked up and saw an Indian or Eurasian man waving.
He was jogging, wearing a dark blue jogging suit.

I looked at H, asked him if he knew this man. "No", his answer came. Neither did I.

I looked at the man and while jogging slowly, he lifted up his hands and drew an imaginary square with his index fingers.

Oh.....he saw the Documentary on TV.....

He smiled and we waved and smiled back. He continued jogging and we went into the cab and left.

What a pleasant start of the day.

WHAT WE GIVE OUR CHILD MATTERS

Jonathan is due for dental cleaning next week on 15th. So i thot just to keep him healthy (not that his not right now), i gave him 10ml of my regular vitamin C intake...Redoxan effervescent. that was the only new thing I gave yesterday.

By afternoon, his face changed. Looked very tired and started welching...vomitting...gagging...lots of phlegm. This went on for the rest of the day until he fell asleep at night. Gave him anti-vomit and wind medicine.

Was it because the Redoxan was too strong, I'm not sure but since it was the only new thing I gave I figured that would be the reason why.

Today, he woke up okay. Thank God for that. So....I must remember that what I give to Jonathan matters and to be more careful next time.

CHILDREN'S CHARITY WALKATHON

Saturday, 2nd December 2006....Arrived at Ngee Ann City Plaza at 8.30am and saw students from MINDS arriving as well....so we were not late...haha. The turnout was good. Didn't expect so many people taking part in the walkathon and the carnival. There were about 30 stalls that day, selling things ranging from food, to handmade products, game stalls, etc.

Got our t-shirts from Melissa and the one for Jonathan was too big so he went for the walkathon with what he wore....the Channel 5 Cares T-shirt.

The walkathon was flagged off by Zoe Tay. Jonathan's partner was Paul Twohill.

Clients from Spastic's GROW workshop were also at the walkathon. They had a stall selling goodies too.

We were in the front row at the starting line up. Walking with Paul was a bomb man...This guy is really funny. We talked alot while we walk, anything under the sun, his school, his busy schedule, how to wheel Jonathan's buggy...haha. He was unfamiliar about pushing the buggy so he was very careful. But later we found out that his "minders" warned him not to do any stunts with Jonathan in his buggy..haha.

Along the way, we greeted passers-by and Paul will stay "Merry Christmas". The walk was from Ngee Ann to Tanglin Mall, then cross the road at the traffic junction and walk back to Ngee Ann.

From being the lead at the beginning, we ended up being the 3rd group or so to finish. Towards the end of the walk, Paul asked me permission to speed up and both of us ran with Jonathan's buggy to the finish line! He was finally free to do what he had wanted in the beginning...hah!

The weather was fantastic. No sunshine, cloudy day, breezy. It only drizzled lightly when we reached our finish line. After that, the weather was perfect.

The carnival was great. Melissa put up a store to sell her hand-made jewellery and Jeremiah (from Ngee Ann Poly) and his friends also sold the printed cards. Our school's music and drama group performed 2 numbers to great applause from the audience. Guest of Honor was Mrs S R Nathan.

Jonathan enjoyed the walk. We left at 12pm cos he was already tired and we have made our rounds at the carnival. Hope they raised a lot of money for the charities, which includes our school.

We ended our day taking a picture with Kooky, the Channel 5 Cares mascot.

I'm very happy cos Jonathan's daddy participated too. Perhaps next year we'll do it again. Maybe try to get sponsors so that Jonathan's friends can do the walkathon and get friends involved.

Why not? It's for a good cause.

THE HEART COLLECTIVE

Jeremiah Su and a few friends who call themselves BLACKLINE from Ngee Ann Polytechnic are setting up a fund-raising event called

THE HEART COLLECTIVE

to raise funds for the Spastic Children's Association School (SCAS).

They will be selling printed post cards at the Children's Carnival on 2 December 2006 at the Ngee Ann Civic Plaza.
Their booth is right next to Mediacorp's Booth, creating awareness for SCAS.
Samples of the cards designed by BLACKLINE:










BLACKLINE will also be holding THE HEART COLLECTIVE fund-raising event at their own school. This is also to raise funds for SCAS. Details:

WHEN: 4 - 6 December 2006
WHERE: Ngee Ann Polytechnic Student Plaza from 4-6 December 2006.
TIME: 12pm to 6pm daily

During the fund-raising event at Ngee Ann Poly, a documentary called "My Son, Jonathan" will be featured and a gig to encourage onlookers to donate will also be held. All happening at the Student Plaza, right next to the bus-stop at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

SUPPORT Jeremiah and BLACKLINE for a worthy cause.
Like they say in the cards...IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE"!