Firstly, on tong's brush with HFMD. aiya, on Monday, the teacher called to say tong was having a fever and had ulcers in his mouth, so mama had to bring him to Dr Lee at plaza, while jie was checked to be symptom-free and allowed to stay in school. Dr Lee could not affirm or deny it and asked us to wait a few more days to see if more spots would appear on his hands and feet.
the very chirpy tong, looking totally hale and healthy.
on tuesday, made jie stay at home too. since we got nothing to do, we decided to go to the children museum. Got to be more prudent nowadays since papa was earning less. ha...papa quipped that we were still very comfortable..but you know...2 admission fees to indoor playgrounds would come up to quite a bit, y not find something free?
discovered there was a blackboard area outside where one could draw with chalks.
of course, we did the usual, cooked with those play ingredients, watched the videos in the tent, tried on the ethnic costumes...we even took a stroll to Fort Canning Park...then we walked over to Plaza Sing for lunch...and since we were so near to Istana, I asked the kids if they would like to visit Mr Lee's funeral wake...
We penned down some words to thank him...Xun asked if she could see his body but I told her it was meant for close friends and family.
Very somber mood, my heart was heavy
Our founding father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, passed away on 23 March 15 at 3+am...slipped away quietly when most of Singapore was deep in slumber. Account of how we went to Parliament House to pay our respects, mama posted this on Facebook after some consideration...like xun, mama was sheepish about sharing her thoughts and thought I could have just posted this on the blog. But, I wanted to declare my allegiance publicly, I also wanted to make a stand to thank Mr Lee openly...no longer part of the silent majority...the silent majority was stirring and pouring forth their tears and gratitude...it was a very emotional period, FB feeds were all about eulogies, moving photos and anecdotes...
Mama's FB update on Fri (27/3):
Naysayers may say Mr Lee could have done this and that better, he should not have done this and that... But you can't deny tangible testimonies - the roofs over our heads, the affordable primary school education, the efficient public transport, the clean and beautiful surroundings, quality medical care, the fact that my young children and I can walk around at night unescorted by a male and feel safe speak volume about the country he had built.
So on Wed, the hubby picked me up from my workplace and talked about visiting the Parliament House with his colleagues. When the kids popped into the car, I asked them. 5yr old Xun replied, " let me discuss this with tong. Tong, do u wan to see the man who built the earth?'' 3 yr old tong shouted, "yes!" I corrected her gently, Mr Lee did not build the earth, he built Singapore. So we explained they had to wear dark clothes as it was a sign of respect, the nation was mourning. Xun asked, "what is mourning?" Told her we were crying and sad coz we lost a great leader. we went home to change, tong had to change out of his bright cheery yellow thomas top, he chose a dark blue McQueen top with dark blue pants, saying they were dark clothes. Xun changed into a white top with a tiny pink logo (she said she hoped the tiny logo was ok) and black skirt and dutifully removed her colourful beaded hairband to change into a black one. "I don't like black, it's too dark." she lamented but understood why she had to do it.
On the way, I told her about his achievements, the wide smooth roads, the different places of worships, the schools... She told daddy that we went to the museum and learnt how Singapore used to be very poor and Mr Lee changed it, how the Japanese wanted to take over Singapore coz it wanted to rule more countries, how the Americans dropped bombs on Japan so they surrendered. She asked innocently how would the Japanese know that bombs were dropped. Papa said there would be a lot of destruction, fires, people dying. "Oh and there will be smoke right!" she piped. She thought the Japanese were no longer ard, I told her they are a peaceful nation now. She asked was it coz they were afraid bombs would be dropped on them again? Papa said coz they learnt working together was better than making enemies. "You work together and you win together. You fight and sometimes you win but next time others will want to fight back." Understanding seemed to dawn on her, " oh lik the character Discord in my little pony show!" I smiled, she displayed such precocious thoughts in her innocent sweetness.
Met up with hubby's colleagues and they asked Xun why she wanted to come. She pointed to tong and said coz she knew he wanted to go. So why did tong want to go? Don't know. When taking a long snaking walk to the start of the queue, tong started whining as he was tired and past his bedtime. He asked if we could go home. Xun was upset and insisted she wanted to see Mr Lee. Luckily, we could use the priority queue and got in fast, me carrying tong, sobbing quietly as that inexplicable sense of loss overwhelmed me. Xun bowed with his daddy and soon we were ushered out. I asked Xun if she thought the wait was worthwhile and she said yes. On e ride bk, I asked her why did she not share all those tots she had with papa's colleagues. She giggled and replied, "I feel sheepish. " I told her she was a lion in Jesus' image but she insisted she was a lamb instead.
As we lay in bed, tong having fallen asleep on e way home, we had some quiet time. Xun asked for stories about Mr Lee instead of the usual recount about her day. Told her about the deep unwavering love between Mr and Mrs Lee. Told her about his red brief case and his diligence. Told her about his intelligence in hiding the rice in the sand vats during the Japanese occupation. She claimed that the stories were too short, she needed to hear more so I promised I would read more n share tomorrow.
Xun fell aslp, I read more eulogies... Perhaps... Xun and tong were right after all. To them, Mr Lee did build the earth coz Singapore is all that they ever know and which feels real and concrete to them, this is their world, their everything. I am unabashed to be called a Singaporean, I am proud to tell people I am a Singaporean when we were stationed in USA. Singapore is not a utopia, there are definitely things to improve on, but there are truly many things that I am deeply thankful for. This is a place I feel totally confident and secure in bringing up my children, that if they work hard, they will have means to pursue what they want. And I hope they will grow up to be people who will serve the country in whatever they choose to do and bear our flags high.
Thank you for your legacy, Mr Lee.
back to tong's supposed HFMD, we went to Dr Lee on Wed and she could not certify tong to be free still as he still had ulcers. Xun was certified ok, so we brought her to school, mama brought tong to wai po's house, rushed to office to print worksheets, rushed to pick xun from school and back to wai po's house...we spent like some $120 just on mon and wed for the doctor and taxi fares. Sigh...
Then we saw Dr Khoo on Mon night and he immediately diagnosed that tong had very serious phlegm buildup, which caused the ulcers and it was already mild bronchitis. I noticed jie had some unusual patterns on her tongue and he called it the Geographic tongue. haha...sign that she was down, turned out she had the same virus as tong..hmmm they were so active and alert, hardly heard any cough from xun except for a sniffy nose here and there...my goodness...another $130...one week of being away from school..hopefully, Dr Khoo could certify both to be fine to go bk to school next week. SIGH...
