home remedy for canker sores

As I was saying, both Lucas and I had a cough. I was looking for home remedies and stumbled on one that suggested I took honey with ginger tea. To make ginger tea, I had to slice fresh ginger and pour hot boiling water over it, cover and wait for a while. Which was what I did... I added a few spoons of the "tea" to Lucas' water (he drinks honey with his milk) and he didn't notice the ginger and drank it all down. For me I was more ambitious - I downed a couple of glasses of the "tea" with honey.
I woke up the next day, so heaty that my lips were cracking and I had 2 canker sores in my mouth - one on the inside of my upper lip and another on the side of my tongue. I haven't had the mouth ulcers in years and now I have to suffer with 2!!!! Its been 3 days now and hurts like hell. Again I decided to look for home remedy - I know.... I never learn.... I wanted to look for something painless besides the old rubbing salt into the ulcer remedy.

I drank coke with salt - it used to work wonders if I was feeling heaty but it didn't work this time. I tried to gargle with salt water. Still painful. I tried to put salt onto the ulcer. Hurt so freaking much, ulcer is still here. I read that hydrogen peroxide is good but I couldn't find any at the pharmacy or maybe they just don't understand my French. But I did come back with liquid oxygen which I tried on the ulcer. Doesn't taste bad, doesn't sting and the best part is the pain went away! I was able to sleep throughout the night . The sores are still here but I dab liquid oxygen on them when the pain starts and am pain free for a few hours at least.

On another note, I met one of the SDF people I helped a few weeks ago outside the post office - he greeted me and wished me "bonne annee". I'm glad to see him alive and well, wanted to ask him if he was warm enough but didn't want to embarass myself with my limited french. Anyway, it was nice to know that he remembers.

New Year resolution - drink more water to avoid heatiness.... wish I had some Hor Yan Ho tea...!

Lucas at 26 months

Yesterday was unseasonably warm so I decided to take Lucas out to town, to get some fresh air. Lucas is still coughing and has a cold but I bundled him up well. It was 14 degrees when we were out, and when we came home it was 16 degrees - what bliss :)

Lucas has been changing a lot since his 2nd birthday 2 months ago. I noticed that for the past couple of weeks now he's very well behaved especially when we go out.
At the doctor's recently, Lucas played with his toys quietly sitting on his stroller while waiting for the doctor. And in the doctor's office, he was babbling to the doctor, and even voluntarily climbed onto his stroller (but I suspect that's cos he really wanted to leave the doctor's office).

Yesterday we went for a walk and then adjourned to Simply Food for a croissant and some playtime for Lucas. He was cooperative, and happy - even though his new playmate didn't want to play with him. There was another couple there with an older kid (4 yrs old) whom Lucas kept trying to play with. One moment, the other kid stopped playing to eat his chocolatine at his parents' table and Lucas stood 3 feet away getting ready to launch a ball onto the kid and the table ladened with coffee drinks. I told Lucas "stop, do not throw that ball" , he looked at me and then put the ball down. That was a first!
At the post office, Lucas was patiently waiting with me even though there was a queue - normally he would have protested really loudly but not this time.

I've also noticed that Lucas is talking more clearly now, and is repeating words from me, his papa and Barney! He is also saying more french words - encore, au revoir, merci, oui and is trying to say coucher - thanks to the talking robot dog that Lucas got for Christmas.
His latest new English word is "why?"

This morning Lucas and I went to the Thurday markets and as the vendor was bidding me au revoir, Lucas repeated the same to her :)

Christmas photos

Lucas checking out the Christmas spread...

Lucas opening pressies from Santa

Playing footie with Gilles on Christmas Day

Our Tree

Turkey was YUM!!!!

So everything turned out well for our first Christmas here in France. My MIL surprised us - she gave us money to buy our own presents, and then when we turned up for Christmas Day lunch, she bought each of us a little something :) Lucas was especially happy with his new firetruck from Mamy.

On another note, Lucas is still coughing and having his cold. Last night, he woke up at 11 pm and started throwing up his phlegm. Today he started sneezing again. Methinks this cough and cold will never end, bouncing from Lucas to me and vice versa. Next year I will be sure to get us all flu shots when November comes by...

A traditional French Christmas

As this is our first Christmas in France, I thought it would be nice that we start a Christmas tradition for Lucas. It will be something constant, celebrated every year at our home and something for Lucas to look forward to even when he becomes an adult.
My MIL will host a Christmas Day lunch at her home so that Gilles can attend from Pau, and Fred & I will host Christmas Eve Dinner at our home.
In France Christmas is a time for family while the New Year is for celebrating with friends.
This year, I would have liked to have a tree, le sapin de Noël, but we opted not to have one as Lucas is at that age where he'd be tempted to pull the tree down. I can feel my resolve weakening though as we strolled through the Sunday market yesterday and there were beautiful trees on sale. Even Fred wanted to get a teeny weeny one...
We managed to buy some holly and some mistletoe to hang by the front door as the French think it brings luck throughout the year to do so. We also have the traditional Christmas Creche which is a display of a Nativity scene. The crèche is made of little clay figures called santons or "little saints". The creche depicts the event in Bethlehem, with the ox and the donkey placed close to Jesus, and Mary and Joseph in the foreground. In modern times, the figurines include everyday people of the village like the Baker, the homeless people, the priest and the Mayor.
French children put their shoes in front of the fireplace (in lieu of the Christmas sock) so that Santa ( Père Noël ) will fill the shoes with small treats and gifts. Candy, nuts and small toys will also be hung on the Christmas tree overnight for when the children wake up on Christmas Day.
The french take Santa Claus pretty seriously. In the 1960s, a law was passed that stated every letter addressed to Papa Noël will be replied. In schools, children who can write actually write letters to Santa and each of them will get a response.
My French teacher explained that the letters addressed to "Père Noël " get sent to a centralised unit in Bordeaux and each letter will be responded to with a card from Santa!
By the time I found out it was too late for us to write a letter on Lucas' behalf, but we will start doing it next year.

On the 24th, the french attend la Messe de Minuit, an important part of Christmas for many families. It is followed by a huge feast, called le Réveillon. Le Réveillon is a symbolic awakening to the meaning of Christ's birth and is the culinary high point of the season, which may be enjoyed at home or in a restaurant or café that is open all night.
While I would have liked to attend the midnight mass ( I prefer a Protestant church but can't seem to find any in my town) Lucas is not old enough to sit through the entire mass, so our Christmas dinner will start early and probably end by midnight. Normally the dinner is served after the midnight mass.

My Christmas menu for this year will be foie gras (I know my mom will be wondering why I am serving this after her lecture on how the poor goose suffers to provide us with its enlarged liver, but we were given the foie gras and since we already have it we might as well eat it right?), followed by fruits de mer (seafood platter with lobster, prawns, crabs, fresh oysters and some other shellfish that looks like "lala" and "balitung").
I wanted to serve the Chappon instead of a turkey since the turkey is so big (Chappon is between a chicken and a turkey) but maybe I will make that turkey after all and not veer from tradition.
My Christmas turkey recipe is a simple one - defrost turkey, put turkey in brine overnight, dry with paper towels. Lather inside of turkey with lemon juice and mustard. Put in yellow onions, celery, carrots, fresh parsley, cap with aluminium foil, tie legs together and the wings. Rub olive oil with pepper, add thyme and sprigs of rosemary.
The stuffing is made separately as I find that the turkey cooks more evenly without the stuffing.

I would like to buy readymade (Pepperidge Herb Stuffing if they have it) stuffing but if I cannot find any, here is my recipe :
Chestnuts, raisins, 1 green apple, walnuts, olives, mushroom, celery, onions, chicken stock, fresh parsley, salt & pepper, 1 french loaf, butter.
Toast walnuts and bread with 3 tbs butter, cook onions and celery with 3 tbs butter, add diced apples, chestnuts, raisins, olives, mushrooms, parsley with 1 cup chicken stock. Add salt and pepper.

For dessert, it is traditional to serve La bûche de Noël - Christmas log cake. I will buy an ice cream bûche and serve it with exotique fruits (its exotic here but normal for me....) - mango, lychee and pineapple.
For drinks Champagne is traditional.

Fred has reminded me to tell Lucas that all the presents are from Santa.... apparently he believed that Santa was real til he was 9 years old and still remembers what an exciting time it is for kids...

Merry Christmas everyone! Christmas dinners and traditions aside, let's celebrate the real reason for Christmas and remember that our Lord Jesus Christ was born on this day to save all mankind.

La Poste

Today I received a pack in the post from my best friend. She sent me 3 big packs of Japanese hand warmers. Like the 2 other packages that I have received this Christmas season, this pack arrived opened. I can believe it if my presents are stolen in the post in Malaysia. But this is France. Fred says that in times of crisis and also when its Christmas we should not be surprised that theft happens. When I complained about the opened packs and stuff missing I was asked to write in officially.
Anyway back to the Japanese hand warmers. The "vol" (thief) opened my pack and even opened one of the pack of handwarmers. Thank God for ignorant french people who do not speak any other language but french :) The dumbo probably couldn't figure out what it was, and couldn't read the japanese instructions or the small english label. He missed out on the precious commodity - the handwarmers are Godsent! It slowly warms up and continued to be warm until this morning! It is truly another fantastic japanese innovation.

A "difficult" baby

Yesterday Lucas didn't want to have his nap, so he went to creche a grumpy baby. When we went to pick Lucas at 5 pm, he was sleeping. His caregiver took the opportunity to speak to us as Fred was there with me. She asked nicely how things are at home with Lucas and I as she said that Lucas threw a mother of a tantrum in school when she made him come back to the play area after Lucas and the kids went to look at the little Christmas display they set up, with lights and music and moving toys. He didn't want to get back to the play area and he was screaming uncontrollably and she said it took him a long time to calm down after. She also told us that when it was tea time, he refused to sit and eat with the other kids and wanted to do his own thing. He also didn't want to sleep in the cot and had to be pushed around in his stroller til he fell asleep. Fred explained to me that the caregiver, Malika told him nicely that Lucas needs to have limits set, like the other kids in the creche.
I was rather upset to hear that she thinks that Lucas is not well behaved. Most of the time I admit that he needs to be reminded of his limits and boundaries which Fred and I try very hard to maintain. Apparently the kids in this creche do not throw awful tantrums and listen well and sit where they are supposed to.
Not that I want to make excuses for my little boy but those other kids have been in that creche since they were 6 months old, and they are at the creche full time, so they have adjusted to the schedule. Lucas joined this creche barely 4 months ago and he only attends 3 times a week, 3 hours each time.
At home when Lucas is tired he will sleep in his cot. He has never slept anywhere else besides his cot or his car seat or his stroller. I suspect that he was fearful of the new sleep area at the creche. As for his tantrums, with me his tantrums don't last even 2 minutes. While I know for a fact that we should be more strict with him, I don't think that Lucas is that bad a baby. He doesn't like to sit and eat when he's not hungry and Fred & I are still trying to teach him to sit through dinner with us in his chair.
So what am I doing wrong that my child has been labelled a naughty and a difficult one? Am I being too lenient with him? Fred and I used to bend our schedule backwards to cater to Lucas. Lucas had a maid at his beck and call in Malaysia. But although I find that Lucas needs to follow a schedule, it doesn't have to be one that is carved in stone. I no longer rush home in the middle of shopping just cos Lucas needs his nap. If he wants to sleep, he will sleep in his stroller. His crying and complaints when I am out shopping no longer terrifies me. I have learnt that I am the "boss" in this relationship and Lucas is learning to respect that fact.
I thought that Fred and I have made a lot of progress with Lucas since we moved to France. But Malika's remarks have made me doubt what I am doing. I spent last night tossing around trying to think of a solution. Short of pawning Lucas off to a supernanny for a couple of weeks to straighten him out (Fred says there is no such supernanny here in Tarbes) I don't know what else to do. Maybe spend less time with him and let someone else who is in a better position to teach him care for him, or try to find another creche which is able to take Lucas full time so he will learn through the experienced caregivers? That would defeat the purpose of me being a SAHM to Lucas.
How do I be a disciplinarian without being too rigid? What can I do to make sure Lucas adheres to his limits without breaking his spirit? What am I doing wrong here?

SDF

Now that the temperature is dropping steadily to sub zero, I worry about the homeless people out in the streets. Where will they go to keep warm? How can they survive such harsh weather? In Tarbes, everytime I go to the Centreville, I meet the same few homeless people begging by the shops. At first I was a bit fearful of them as most of them are young with dreadlocks and tattoos, and huge dogs; but I have found that they are polite and respectful to everyone, and do not agress anyone in the streets. I always wondered why such young people do not try to get a job and get off the streets but Fred told me that in France, to get a job, you need a fixed address. The homeless people in France are known as SDF which means sans domicile fixe (without a permanent address). Its a catch 22 situation for them - without a permanent place to live they can get a job and without a job they can't afford a place to live.


A lot of the SDF people drink alcohol to keep their bodies warm, which is not good as their bodies inadvertently start freezing and they do not realize it because the alcohol numbs their senses which in turn can cause death.
Fred assures me that there are soup kitchens who will provide them with a hot meal and there are associations out there who will provide shelter. But there are some of the SDF who choose not to go to the associations and prefer to sleep in their tents with sleeping bags and their dogs who keep them warm.

So I decided that instead of sending out pretty Christmas cards this year with our photos, I will use the money to buy polaire blankets for the SDF in Tarbes.
After all, Christmas is a time for giving.

Christmas shopping

The meteo tells us that we are entering into winter this week. From tomorrow onwards the temperature will be 1 degree in the morning and will "warm" to 6 degrees after noon. Also, snow will start falling in Tarbes next week :) Its something to look forward to - if we were staying home.... but life goes on. Lucas and I will still need to go out in the cold to get to school! Next week is the last week of school tho'. I am contemplating on going out today to do my Christmas shopping before it gets too cold but I am still stuffed up with this cold of mine and Lucas, tho is feeling better is still coughing.
So this means I will only do my shopping next Thursday when I can leave Lucas in creche and know that he will be warm and I will bravely trudge out into the cold. For once, I am not looking forward to Christmas shopping!

How to feed medication to a strong willed toddler who refuses to swallow or vomits out all the meds?

We are having trouble trying to feed meds to our 25 month old headstrong toddler. I have a feeling that his cough and cold keeps reccuring because he never finishes his antibiotics, not because we do not give him his meds but its virtually impossible to get our toddler to swallow!
I have tried to disguise his meds and slip it into his milk or food but to no avail - Lucas seems to have superior sense of smell and could somehow smell the meds even without tasting the food, refusing the food with a loud resounding "NO"! I have tried to give him his meds with a spoon instead of the medicine syringe. Still "NO"! I thought that since at this age, he may want some control and may want to feed himself, so I gave him the medical syringe and told him to do it himself - he refused to even touch the syringe and ran off instead.
I hate having to restrain him and force feed him his meds but Lucas leaves us no choice and his health is more important to us, so everyday, twice a day Fred has to hold Lucas while I try to make him open his mouth for me to put the medical syringe into his cheek pocket. Even then he refuses to swallow the meds and spits it out. Just yesterday, I made the mistake of feeding him Advil less than an hour after his milk and he promptly threw up all over me - some of the Advil went into my eye!

Last night I went on the internet to find out if other parents out there may have a secret tip or something and one parent gave this advice - blow gently on baby's face while feeding the meds to make them swallow. I tried it on Lucas (aiya, I am also down with a cold and cough but getting Lucas to take his antibiotics trumped this fact) and managed to get him to swallow most of his antibiotics and Advil. Last night, Lucas and I slept through the night AND for the first time in 25 months, I slept through until 10 am this morning! And we would not have woken up if Fred hadn't called...

No regrets

Its December already and Chrismas is around the corner. Time really flies. Its hard to believe that I have been unemployed for nearly 8 months now! Do I miss working? I was one of the lucky ones who enjoyed their work and got immense satisfaction out of what I was doing, so getting up in the mornings to go to work wasn't that hard. I also had really good friends at work and that made me look forward to each working day. The money wasn't too bad either :) I loved being financially independant and being able to buy whatever my heart desired without having to "consult" with my husband or feeling any guilt. I loved that I could get the best of everything for Lucas.

But we had to come to a decision about France - Fred was already over 40 and he wanted to come back before it was too late. While I loved going to work I was also lamenting about the fact that I never got to see Lucas (I used to wake up at 5 am to spend a couple of hours with Lucas before going to work as by the time I got home from work, he would either be nodding off or fast asleep). So when we came back to France for a holiday in 2008, Fred decided to bite the bullet and stay back in France to look for a job while Lucas and I flew back to KL. Fred could still do his web development long distance and we gave ourselves a deadline as to when Lucas & I will join him in France.

It was during the height of the crisis when Fred got a job offer from Toujas & Coll. A crappy job, but still, a job nonetheless and one that would put him back into the French system for social security and medical benefits. It wasn't all smooth sailing, since Fred has been away for the past 11 years in Malaysia. But finally everything has fallen in place - Lucas and I have been here since May and the only thing lacking is my permanent visa which will be awarded to me after I pass my French exam. I received my driver's license 2 weeks ago and Lucas & I no longer need to bring an attestation letter to confirm that we are covered for Medical and Pharmaceuticals.

In the past 7 months there were so many times I've been tempted to throw in the towel and move back to KL. I would weigh the pros (career, family, friends, yummy food, MAID...) and cons (quality of life, education, long working hours, maid who will make you vomit blood, massive traffic jams, have to pay for EVERYTHING that we get for free in France- medical, visa for Fred)
In the end it always comes back to one reason - Lucas.
So what if I have to forego that beautiful pair of Camper boots that I've been dreaming of, I get to dream at home with Lucas instead of being stuck at work wishing I was home with my baby.
So what if our current apartment is 3 times smaller than our apartment in KL? At least Lucas is spending time in this apartment with mama instead of the maid.
So what if we can't afford to have a maid here? Although it would be nice to have someone do all the cleaning, laundry and cooking for me (hehehehehheeh...) I would miss watching Lucas take the swiffer out of the cupboard and try to help me clean the floors.

My point is this - there are so many "what ifs" and "so whats"out there, but one thing I learnt is that everyone is adaptable, even me! It depends on your priority in life, and ours is Lucas. And we know that for Lucas, life in France will be a better one. So we learn to do without certain luxuries in life, and whaddaya know? I don't really miss it! I wake up every morning feeling so blessed and thanking God for giving us everything we need :) (and friends who send me stuff I cannot get here...)
We knew what we would have to give up when we left KL, and we migrated to France with open eyes but it was still a big shock for us and especially for me, the adjusting period has been trying. But after 7 months, I am happy and contented. Don't get me wrong, I still have my little complaints like how I still deteste driving on the wrong side but even then I am HAPPILY complaining :)
Lucas is so so happy here. I love watching him get all excited about going to creche, greeting all his caregivers, profering his cheek for a kiss, asking insistently to play outside (yes, even in the cold...). I get to be with him everyday and watch every milestone, I get to hear him sing with Barney and Tigger, count from 1 to 5, point out shapes and colors and dance to The Wiggles.
That is one life experience that cannot be replaced with all the money and all the Prada handbags in the world!