Shark Teeth Shocker

I have never heard of shark teeth in children until I saw this shocker in my own son's mouth!! See for yourself the picture I took of his mouth. You bet I was scared out of my wits when I saw it and anxiety and worry started creeping into me, I felt butterflies in my stomach, I kid you not! What if his baby teeth won't fall off, ever?! What if they fall off but too late and his permanent teeth would be uneven? He wouldn't have 'perfect' teeth, that hurts me and I was really worried. I was already talking about bringing him to the dentist the next day. My hubby was just as clueless as me. Instead my son was the one trying to console me (and also trying to talk his way out of a visit to the dentist).

Thank you, whoever invented the Internet, for with some googling, I found that it is not that uncommon (about 10% of children may have this) and this is called shark teeth (or the correct technical term, lingually erupting mandibular incisors). I also found a few reassuring articles by dentists which help me understand the matter at hand and rest my anxious heart, a little. So if you are a parent to these 10% of children, you may find these articles helpful (Link 1, Link 2).

Although I am not as worried but I am still worried. If you are a parent, you would understand. And if you are a parent to more than one child, you will also understand how it feels when anything happens to any one of your children. You will be super worried, no matter which child it is. Your heart aches for each one of them, just the same. You may not treat them exactly the same way because they are all different, yet your heart aches the same for them. I think now I can understand how my parents felt when they worry for me or any of my sibblings. This is something so wonderous, all parents feel the same way about their children.

There may be times when disagreements crack the relationships between parents and their kids, but deep in each other's heart, this universal family love can never be broken. We just need to keep mending it. Aptly, this Sunday we just celebrated the Holy Family in church and even made a procession with the Holy Family statues in town. I don't know why the discovering of shark teeth in my son's mouth could make me think of all this, may be that's how God works. HE wants to remind me of my love for my children, the love of my parents for my sibblings and I, and the love of my mother-in-law for one of her daughters, in particular.

I pray for guidance so that I can be the one holding the family together and the strong one giving each one of them the support whenever they need it. When my kids become terrible teens in 10 years and they 'hate' their mummy, I hope that they can read this article which their mummy wrote and understand that mummy loves them no matter what.

For now, I want to say "Mummy loves you, Eron. Mummy will do everything to make sure your teeth will grow out nicely."

Shortbreads, Sweet Buns and Christmas Wishes

Baking been missing for a while from my routine until just two weeks ago when I felt the itch to bake something. Since I have all the ingredients anyway, I decided to try making shortbreads. The ingredient and recipe are pretty simple. I was calling them shortcakes but I think shortbreads and shortcakes are different. A little googling and here we found the difference. So the correct name for what I made is shortbreads. The trick here is the temperature and the length of time you bake them. Too hot and too long, they become too dry or burnt (like biscuits). So I have to make a few attempts to get the correct texture, a little soft inside and not too hard outside. They should still look white and not too brown. I made some tortoise shaped and heart shaped ones.

Then last week, I saw the facebook entry of my colleague's on his wife's Japanese-Style Sweet Bun, I had to try it. So a little googling got me to this recipe. It turned out to be a success and the process was not too complicated. Only problem I faced was that my mixer couldn't handle the dough and I ended up kneading with my hands almost entirely. I was doing this at night and the yeast had no problem doubling my dough much faster than that was stated in the recipe. That's the advantage of living in the tropics! The buns were really soft in texture, however, I think the buns were not sweet enough, I will need to put in a little more sugar next time. You can even add in fillings to these buns if you want, so I think I will be trying this recipe again soon, maybe add some variation to it.

Christmas is just around the corner, still a little more shopping to go. I am hopeful that we will get half day off on Chirstmas Eve cause I did not take any leave pre-Christmas, saving my leave for school re-opening. My sis-in-law will be having eating party on the eve at her house, I do not know yet if I will prepare something to bring over there. But Christmas is not about eating and presents and parties.... We have gone through the (annual) penitential duties and we will be attending the Christmas eve Mass and the Christmas day Mass too. I had previously posted this on my facebook, the Advent Consipracy. It is a different perspective of Christmas, the correct prespective. Have a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. Peace be with you.

Lucky 4

Busy busy weekend. The kids had their pre-Christmas party with the rest of the kids of our BEC zone on Saturday. Parents have to bring in food for potluck for the kids. I have been asked to prepare fried chicken but I decided to make roast/baked chicken wings instead, healthier for the kids. So on Saturday morning, we had breakfast with the in-laws then off we went to buy chicken from the near by factory that slaughters chickens. I always get my chicken there as it is fresh since their just slaughtered them. I think is is also a little cheaper than the retail palces. 3kgs of wings were cleaned and marinated before they went into the oven. It turned out okay but if I had marinated them longer, they would be better.

In between baking the chicken and going to the party, we had to go to Metro Point to report a problem with our sony Bravia LCD TV which is 9 months old to the retail shop. We also had lunch at Sushi King after that. The management of the buidling has put up the tallest Christmas tree in Kajang in the building, it is really pretty.

After the kids' party, when the kids were getting ready for bed, I went present shopping. When I got home, I had to wrap the presents until past midnight, so now we have a lot of presents under our little Chirstmas tree, waiting to be opened on Chirstmas day.

On Sunday, after church, we met with my sister and her family in Metro Point (again). I am surprised that they had many activities there, there was Santa distributing sweets and taking pictures with people and also there was an auction for electircal/electronic stuff and some lucky draws and games. I was lucky as my name was the first to be picked out for the lucky draw and I won a RM10 voucher for waffles (which we redeemed already). My hubby tried at the games and got a little Hello Kitty thingy to hang on the phone. So we were pretty happy how the afternoon turned out.

In the evening, we left the boys with their 'por por' and we went for BEC zone dinner with my daughter. The food was pretty good for the price we paid, and I ate quite a bit. Guess who got the 1st lucky draw of the night? My hubby! So he won himself a mug. We were really happy to be lucky 3 times in a day! But that was not the highlight. Right about the end of the dinner, my number was drawed and I won a pretty large and heavy present which we have yet to open. We are guessing it is a vase of a clay statue since it is pretty heavy. We are saving it for Chirstmas before we open it! So there you go, 4 times lucky in a day! What a nice day! We do not know what significance it brought but we were nevertheless pleasantly surprised at our 'luck'. What a way to end a busy but great weekend!

Carolling at dinner.

Do it Anyway

I found a prayer card at home which was distributed in church some months back. Never got around reading it until last night. It carries among others, a famous prayer credited to Mother Teresa of Calcutta. It was said to be found on the wall in the Children's home directed by Mother Teresa. Here is how it goes:

Do it Anyway
By Mother Teresa of Calcutta

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

As I was doing a search on this, I found that there exist an original version slightly different and it goes like this:

The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

Apparently, Mother Teresa have rewrote part of the original to make it more spiritual. But I am especially touched by the last verse in Mother Teresa's version, it is so true. So when you question yourself for doing the things that your consience is telling you too, while others are doing things against their (assuming they have) consience and are apparently doing well in this world; or when you are getting angry at the selfishness and inconsiderations of others, you can reflect upon this.

It is never between you and them, it is God who will be your ultimate judge.

Have a blessed Christmas.