Big sister and little brother

This year Hao is going to turn 4. It'll be first year for him going to kindy, and last year for the girl. And both Lynn and Hao will be attending the same kindy. While it may be good that having a big sister around, but is it really good for the boy?

Lynn no doubt is a very caring sister. With her independent character, she can take care of others very well. Since she was 3 years old, she has been helping me taking care of her little brother here. When I started Hao with the semi solid food, Lynn always wanted to help feed the brother. In fact, she almost like wanted to take over all my responsibilities taking care of Hao, except she could not breastfeeding him. She can help change the clothes for the boy; she can wear the socks for him; wear his shoe for him; button his clothes for him; serve him food as they so used to sharing the food; pour milk for him; when we go out she would help me keep an eye for the boy, hold his hand; and lately she even help me to bath the boy!

I should be proud for her. I am. Except that, Lynn was so used to taking care of her little brother here, she has forgotten that he's no longer a baby; that he needs to learn to do things by himself too! Lots of time, me and hb have to keep on reminding Lynn, stop helping Hao, let him do it by himself.

And how about Hao? He was so used to having "helper" around, he prefer choose the easier way to ask for help, than try harder himself. Lots of time, me and hb have to remind him he's no longer a baby. Lots of time, me and hb have to refuse his request to help him, forcing him to try first. Lots of time, me and hb have to stop Lynn from helping him too.
 
Not only Hao, Lynn likes to take care of her cousin sister too. My niece also is in the same kindy with her. I was told that, when my father went to pick up my niece, Lynn would help to carry her bag to the door, then go to the shoe rack take the cousin's shoe and put nicely on the floor, ready for her to put on the shoe. While I think it's good that she's such a caring sister, but she is also taking away the chance for the younger kids to learn to grow up and be more independent.

So before the school reopen, we have been telling Lynn not to do things for the brother at school. Earlier in the afternoon, I called up kindy and asked how they doing. The teacher told me, during breakfast, Lynn carried Hao to sit on her lap to eat. While Hao did not really want to sit on her lap to eat, but she insisted the brother to sit on her lap. *Slap forehead* I always eat together with the kids, but such thing never happen to us! I really wonder is she treating her brother really like a baby? *shaking head* Anyway, I'm glad the teacher did not allow such thing to happen. They are also sharing the same thought with me that, the boy should not become too attach with the sister.

I feel blessed having such caring daughter. I would not reprimand her for taking good care or helping her little brother there. She's my great helper. But I will explain to her the importance of letting the brother to learn and grow up by himself. Just like how she learn it in the past.

How come you don't know

There were some roadworks being carried out near our house, the place where we usually dine out.

1st time we passed by the place
Lynn: Mommy, what is people doing here?
Me: There are some roadworks being carried out.
Lynn: Why they want to do the roadworks?
Me: To make it better.
Lynn: Why want to make it better?
Me: To make it better for us.

2nd time we passed by the place the next day
Lynn: Mommy, why are they still doing work?
Me: Not yet finished.
Lynn: Why not yet finish?
Me: Sometimes it takes time to work.
Lynn: Why take so long time?
Me: Err I don't know. I'm not the expert.

The following week the roadworks still not yet finish.
Lynn: Mommy, how come still not finish yet?
Me: I don't know.
Lynn: When it finish?
Me: I don't know.
Lynn: Mommy how come you don't know?
Me: Because I'm not the expert......

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The kids like to see our wedding photos.
Lynn: Mommy, why you married 3 times?
Me and hb were shocked.
Me: Huh? 3 times? No, mommy and papa married one time only.
Hb: Yeah, we get married once only.
Lynn: But why mommy wear different nice nice dress one.
Me: Oh because mommy wants to look pretty. :)
Wah, one dress = married once??!!!

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Some of the many nights when we reached home.
Lynn: Mommy, is papa's friend (referring to one of the Neighbour) sleep already?
Me: (look at the clock - 8pm) I don't think so.

On another night, we reached home late around 10pm.
Lynn: Mommy is papa's friend sleep already?
Me: I don't know. Maybe.
Lynn: How come you don't know?
Me: Because I cannot see them......

Another night
Lynn: Mommy, is papa's friend sleep already?
Me: I don't know.
Lynn: No more light, I think sleep already.
Lynn: How come they sleep so early one?
Me: It was not even 8pm. I think maybe they are not at home.
Lynn: Where they go?
Me: I don't know.
Lynn: How come you don't know?

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I was going to meet my friends and taking the kids with me.
Lynn: Mommy, have I met your friends before?
Me: No, you have not.
Lynn: How come I never met her before.
Lynn: Your friend had bb or not?
Lynn: Where is your friend house? Is it near near or far far?
Lynn: Why you don't know how to go your friend house?

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Losing her first baby teeth

*Back-dated post*

Date: Nov 3, 2011

Few days back, Lynn was complaining to me about her teeth "Mommy, my teeth is broken!". First thing that come to my mind was cavity. As this girl of mine does not like to brush her teeth. She would tell me she has brushed her teeth but in actual fact she did not. So I answered her right away "See, don't want to brush your teeth." But then when she told me her teeth was getting very loose, I was wondering is it time for her baby teeth started to drop?

I was not very sure of the age when the child would start to lose their baby teeth. So I Google it and found that, a child's baby teeth starts to loosen and fall out on their own to make room for permanent teeth at about age 6. And girls generally lose baby teeth earlier than do boys. Alright, so that explains what happen to Lynn and it's normal. Phew, not cavity! :D

I could not remember at what age my baby teeth started to fall out but I do remember for some of the baby teeth that were so "stubborn" to fall out, I had to get some help from my brother to get them out. We had tried tying thread to the loose tooth to door knob, then push the door to pull out the teeth; removed the loose tooth with a quick twist; and even using pliers when all other methods were not working! Alright back to Lynn, I told her not to play around with her loose tooth. I also gave her a small clean plastic bag to school, so if the tooth drop off she can put it inside the plastic bag and bring home for me.

2 days later, when I picked her up from school, she excitedly told me her tooth had fallen out. But as her friends requested her to show them her tooth, in the process of showing around, she lost the fallen tooth. I was kind of disappointed as I wanted to collect her baby teeth. But now it won't be complete anymore.

About a week later, I could see the new teeth is erupting. Told her she has to take good care of the permanent teeth as there would be no more new teeth after that. I hope she has a good set of teeth like me. *Keep my fingers crossed*

She was so excited about the teeth......

Toilet training - Completed!

Hao is toilet trained since 2 years old + and since then he's off diaper during day time. But at night I still let him wear diaper to sleep. Occasionally he would tell me he did not want to wear diaper to sleep. But most of the time his diaper was full in the morning, so I thought he's not ready for it yet. It's not very easy to toilet train him. I could never imagine how am I going to train him go diaper-less at night. But I told myself to worry about it later.

About 2 months ago, during one of the night Hao woke me up from sleep, telling me he wanted to go toilet. I was surprised but I woke up anyway. I helped him to take off his diaper, switched on the light of the toilet for him. And after he was done, I put back the diaper on him and he went back to sleep after that. It happened twice in a week. Then I also noticed that in the morning when i checked his diaper, most of the time it was dry!

After monitoring for about one week plus, with dry diaper on every morning, I told myself that he's ready to go diaper-less at night. So I told him, that he's big boy now, no need to wear diaper to sleep. And asked him to wake me up when he wants to go toilet at night (he would like me to switch on the light for him). So from that day onwards, Hao no more wear diaper to sleep at night. Even when we went to Ipoh during Hari Raya break, I let him go diaper-less too and he would wake up himself to go toilet.

It's been about 2 months already, so far he has wet his bed twice. Most of the time he sleeps through the night. If he needs to go toilet he will wake me up. I'm glad that finally I don't have to spend money on getting diaper now. I remember when I tried yo get Lynn go diaper-less at night last time, I would wake her up in the middle of the night to go toilet. And I did it for quite a while. Thus I never thought of to let him go diaper-less at night can be such easy and hassle free! Well done, Hao!

Removing Stitches

After the accident, Lynn was behaving well for quite a while. I did not let her go to school. Doctor said we should not touch the wound, and keep it dry at all time before removing the stitches. She should not do any sports for now too. We know most children are very curious. Instead of worrying her friends at school may want to touch her wound, pushing around while playing etc, I do not want to burden the teacher to look after her at school. So before removing the stitches, I took leave to stay at home with Lynn. She was very good girl for that few days. We spent some time watching TV in the morning, then I made sure she took a nap in the afternoon after lunch. She complained her hand was pain from the needle. So I did not really get her to do any writing. Just want her to relax and rest at home. She also did not touch the wound as being told by the doctor. (But for that week only! *facepalm*)

Soon 5 days had past and I needed to take her back to hospital to remove the stitches. We reached there slightly past 9am but the parking lots were full already. I parked at the side, waited for more than 30minutes for a parking lot. Since we were not waiting for seeing doctor, we did not need to wait long for getting the stitches to be removed.

I took a picture after the nurse had removed the plaster, but before removing the stitches

Lynn cried seeing the nurse holding a scissor. After the stitches were removed, the nurse put a new plaster on it. And this one she said let it comes off by itself. The plaster is water proof too so less worry when washing her hair.

The wound bled a bit after the stitches were removed. But there is no infection. She told me it is not pain anymore. Her next appointment with the plastic surgical clinic is January next year. Lynn has back to school as usual, but I still refrains her from joining the sports activities until her wound is fully healed. Until today the plaster still has not come off yet.

Many thanks for everyone concern! I do hope her wound is fully healed soon.

A Trip to ER

Since young, Lynn always has this tendency to show interest to do things by her self. Thus when she shows the sign to learn, Hb and I always teach her and let her do things herself. Before 2 years old, she can eat by herself, wear her own shoes. Before 3 years old, she can change her own clothes, bath herself, and even help me to feed Hao eating porridge. Since then, she and Hao have been bathing together. While I apply soap for Hao and she applies soap for herself. If not mistaken approaching end of last year, or maybe early this year, Lynn requested to bath by herself. And I think maybe it's time to separate them from taking bath together. However as she is not tall enough to turn on the water from the water heater, so I will make few trips to the bathroom to check on her as well as turn on and turn off the water for her.

The weekend before last, after I have bathed Hao, it was Lynn's turn to shower. As usual, I went to check if she had finished apply shampoo and soap. And seeing her still applying soap to her body, I came out. Within few minutes, I heard a loud "bang" and followed by a loud cry. I dashed to the bathroom, and to my horror, I saw a very big cut right above her eye brown and blood flowing out like pipe water. I quickly called hb for help. I was actually panic not sure what to do with her. She was standing there with whole body full of soap and blood on the floor. Hb quickly gave her a hug to calm her down. Then I quickly wash away the soap and shampoo for her. I dared not touch the wound. It was very deep cut. I did not take a picture; do not want to take a picture also. Trust me; you won't want to look at it. It is as big as her eye, exactly same size. She told me she fell down and hit the tile edge below the shower screen. (Later she admitted that she was twisting there and thus explained the fall.) Hao was frightened seeing so much blood. 

After cleaning up Lynn, hb tied a tower over her head, trying to stop the blood. Seeing Lynn in this condition, I did not want Hao to distract us in the hospital. Luckily our neighbor was at home and they were willing to help us looked after Hao for us while we attended the gal. It was past six o'clock in the evening. Traffic was smooth. We did not take long to reach the hospital. We went straight to the Emergency.

At ER, Lynn was attended immediately. The medical officers put a bandage on Lynn's head to stop the blood. Then a nurse came to take her blood for testing. The doctor said the cut was very deep until can see the bone. Thus they wanted to do an x-ray on her skull. I was very worried and prayed it was nothing serious. I also want to thank the friends who were praying for us too. I could not think of anything besides praying for her safety. Right before going to the x-ray theater, the cut was bleeding again. And thus another round of wound cleaning and bandaging.

Lynn while waiting for x-ray to be taken. She has stopped crying before we left the house. 

See the needle on her hand? Poor gal, she was poked twice (one on each hand) as the first one, the needle was out of position after the nurse took the blood, thus the injection did not get through. 

They took 2 x-rays in total. One from the back view and one side view. After the x-ray, we back to ER to wait. Not too long after that, the doctor came told us the x-ray results. Thank god nothing happen to her skull, so they were arranging Plastic Surgery doctor to come over ER to do stitches on her cut. We felt a little relief upon hearing this but still we were worrying. It breaks our heart when we thought about the nasty fall. Hb said the amount of blood that Lynn had lost was equal to the amount of blood that I lost during giving birth. 

Due to Lynn's young age, they wanted to sedate Lynn for the stitching process. Unfortunately, this gal has strong will and fight to fall asleep. Eventually she did not sleep at all throughout the whole stitching process. They wanted me to accompany her at her side. For the first time in my life, I watched how a stitching done on human skin, on my daughter some more, right in front of me. And how I wish Lynn does not have to go through this kind of pain. The plastic surgery doctor first stitched the inner layer, using absorb-able thread. And then he stitched the outer layer with not absorb-able thread. I did not count and did not ask how many stitches were done for the inner layer. But there were 10 stitches for the outer layer. Since Lynn did not sleep at all, she knew something was done to her. But she could not see it. I asked her to close her eyes; the doctor also put a paper to cover her face and head leaving only the forehead visible for him. There were moments where she complained pain and at one time, she even lifted up her arm trying to stop the doctor but we managed to grab her arm and calm her down. Whenever she was complaining, I would talk to her trying to sooth her. Despite some complain of pain, she did not cry at all and did not struggle or give any hard time to the doctor. I should feel proud of her for giving full cooperation to the doctor. But my heart was so heavy at that time. I really wish this whole thing never happen. :( If I did not let her bath herself, then this won't happen. But then, should I take away her wish to be independent? This is so contradicting. I remember my mom stopped bath for me before I reaching 5 years old. And I did warn both Lynn and Hao that they should not play inside the bathroom with wet floor. It is dangerous. That is another reason I separate them from bathing together because they tend to play together while bathing.

Waiting to go home after the stitches. Doctor put back the bandage as there was a vein at the wound (which explain why she bleeds so much), the bandage is to help to stop the blood.

This was taken the next day after removing the bandage. I have to take good care of the wound. Cannot touch it and cannot make it get wet too. 

Doctor gave antibiotics for one whole week and fever medicine to stand by. The antibiotics do not have nice smell and after 1 day, Lynn started rejecting it. She would stare at the medicine for very long time before having the courage to swallow it. At one time she even threw away the medicine and told me she had taken it. But I did not get cheated by her. I told her that it is very important for her to finish the antibiotics. Since then she obediently finished all antibiotics, and I also make sure she took it in front of me giving her no chance to cheat. 

We spent total of less than 4 hours in ER and it costs us RM 55. We are required to go back to hospital to remove the stitches after 5 days. And there will be a follow up appointment with the plastic surgery clinic 6 months later.


Next post: Removing stitches

Hao at 2 years 8 months old

My "good"+"nottie"+"fatty"+"sexy" boy!

And.I.just.can't.stop.loving.him

99.9% of those who has met him personally will say this "Wah, he looks like angmoh."

This boy of mine, unlike me, hb and his sister, all three of us our hair color is very black, but this boy has blonde hair! His hair is fine and smooth also, made me so jealous! He also has rosy pink cheek. Hb said if I comb his hair very neat, he really looks like an angmoh boy!

I think boy is really a boy. Hao likes to jump around, run around and climb around. And he still likes to be carried, always ask me to carry him.

Beginning of this year, he has stopped using milk bottle totally. At home I never give him milk bottle. Since 18 months when I started to give him fresh milk, he's always been using the cup to drink. Only at child care he will use milk bottle. However at child care, all children at age 3 will not be given milk bottle. So now I can throw his milk bottle away. :) I also have stopped bf him 4 months ago. So he is fully on fresh milk now. 

Hao is an easy child especially when come to food. He's not very choosy, as long as the food is easy for him to chew, he will wallop everything. This boy can really eat. As long as there is food still available on the table, he won't stop asking for it. As he is not a very talkative child, he pays full attention on his food. He can finish half bowl of rice, plus the meat and vegetables so it's about one full bowl of food. Sometimes he will still ask for more. Not much change on his preference on food. He still loves butter, cheese, bread, rice, yogurt, ice cream and biscuit. But I notice he does not like jelly. He's gaining weight, getting bigger in size, rounder face, and almost going to have double chin. Sometimes I like to tease him "fatty boy". Hahahaha! He looks so sexy if I let him wear shorts that very short and fit. And I like to pat his buttock. LOL! So sometimes I call him "sexy" boy. :) The last time I weight him few months back, he's about 15kg. Can't remember what his height is though. It should be between 90-100cm, but I can't remember the exact number.

Hao has very different character as compared to Lynn, but they have common thing too - stubborn. And Hao is the more stubborn one. Being hard on him usually does not work very well with him. I have to be soft to him, and persuade him until he's willing to corporate with me. Sometimes I walk away and return to persuade him 5-10 minutes later, and sometimes I need to repeat this several times before he gives in. Sometimes I use Lynn to trick him as he likes to imitate the sister. Playing ignore is not that effective to him as compared to Lynn.

Hao still pretty much a cry baby at this stage, which annoy hb very much. This maybe also related to he cannot express himself very well yet. His speech development maybe slower than his peer. Sometimes we could not grab what he's talking about too. And he's also not a talkative child. Many times I have to encourage him to speak up and answer me. On the opposite, Lynn is talking too much. Hao can speak English, Mandarin and little Cantonese.

Besides can eat by himself, Hao can wear and take off the shoe by himself, wear the clothes by himself with some assist, can take off and wear the pants by himself, know when need to go toilet, willing to sleep by himself without me (together with Lynn on the same room). When I shower him, he started to show sign want to shower by himself. He would like to apply the shampoo to his hair himself, and will ask for body shampoo for his body too. However he will give up quite easily. Like he wants to button by himself, but after a short while (like one minute or maybe less) if he still can't, he will give up and tell me "I can't" and want me to button for him. Maybe he's the last born; he is less initiative and give up easily. He's a child who needs lots of encouragement. Or maybe he is too well taken care by Lynn, until we have to ask Lynn to stop doing things for him, let him learn to do by himself. Because sometimes Hao will get annoyed with Lynn on helping him also. Not sure what's in his mind, but recently lots of time he rejects Lynn helping him, he wants me instead.

This boy, despite Lynn always share food with him, always share the toys with him, lots of time he refuse to share his food, and share the toy with her. He even not willing to share his food with me! I'm still working hard on this part.

Hao is a very friendly child, especially to adult. Sometimes I think he's too friendly. When we go to the regular shop to buy groceries, even though it is his first time meeting the Bangladesh or Pakistan workers there, he won't be shy to greet them, or even go hug them! *FAINT* Sometimes I feel so worry that he may follow any stranger to go home. However, he scares of crowd. When we go shopping mall, seeing lots of people walking around, Hao always ask me to carry him as if he panic seeing so many people.

Hao is going to be 3 years old in 4 months time. I won't say he's giving me a "terrific 2" or "terrible 2". He's not a 100% good boy all the time. But I won't say he's very naughty also. There are times that I do get mad at him, but there also lots of times that he made me smile. He gives me a totally new challenge. Not sure why, I get less irritated with Hao. Of course I will be firm with him when I need to. I treat both children equally. I love both of them. 

p/s: Boy I really wish you can learn sharing and be more loving to your sister!

(Ops, did not realize such a long post. Did not feel like I have so much to talk or write about. >.< )

Hao @ 2 years old

At 2 years old, Hao is still not talking that much. However he can understand us very well, and able to communicate with us very well even just using single word: -

drink - he wants to drink
(wa)ter - want to drink water
juice - want to drink juice
(yo)gurt - asking for yogurt in the fridge
(vita)gen - asking for vitagen in the fridge
eat - tells us that he wants to eat
blood - one day, not sure how he got his finger cut and it was bleeding. he showed me his finger and said "blood"
pain - tell and show me which part is pain
ball
(bis)curt - one of his favorite food. :)
throw
want
don't want
drop - not sure why he likes to take off his shoe in the car. When we ask him why, he said "drop" and pointing at his shoe.
(thunder)storm - when it rains heavily, he will point to outside the house and said "storm"
scare - he is scare of lightning
bread
(car)ry - ask for carry
shoe
up
down
(mor)ning
night night - our sleep time ritual - good night kiss
gai gai - going out
more - asking for more food.
bag
car
bu(s)
(bols)ter - asking for his bolster before going to bed
book - want to read book
milk - refer to fresh milk that we give him
nen-nen - want me to nurse him
bye bye
pant - want me to wear the pant for him after potty time
(mu)sic - want us to turn on the radio while we are traveling inside the car
wet
(un)cle
(aun)ty
(ice) cream
"fan" - 饭 rice in Cantonese - he will call us to eat rice during meal time
"dan dan" - 蛋 egg ins Cantonese. All food to him is "dan dan". Hahaha.
"bao" - 抱 carry in Mandarin. But he seldom say this.
"chuan" - 穿 wear in Mandarin. He was asking me to wear his pant for him. I only heard him saying this once.

Those in bracket means he's not pronouncing it but he means that word. It's like a guessing game. But so far me and hb can guess what he's trying to say. Even Lynn also can understand him very well. Most of the words he speaks are in English. He also can call all family members, in Cantonese. Despite he's not speaking much Mandarin or Cantonese, he can understand us very well as we speak to him in both Mandarin and English. My parents speak to him in Cantonese. Child care is using English as the medium. When I read books to Lynn, he will follow me pronounce those words that I read out loud for them.

As for his diet, I would say he has big appetite. See him eating is a happy thing; you will feel that he really enjoys eating the food served to him. ^_^ He can eat more than Lynn, almost same serving as a young adult. So taking him to buffet is definitely worth it. LOL! He loves milk, cheese, rice, and noodle; basically he's taking almost all food that is being served. He eats vegetable and meat too, as long as it is soft and not difficult to chew. He does not like food that is too sweet. Despite eating a lot, he will stop eating if he's full. Dining out is very easy for me now as he will eat by himself. I just need to serve the food to his bowl.

I'm still nursing him, not so much as a meal but more for the minerals and the antibody from me. From 1 serving of fresh milk in the afternoon, I have increased to 3 servings a day for him - morning, afternoon and night. Basically whatever Lynn is eating, he wants a share too. At first I was worry if he will reject bm after taking fresh milk. So I serve the fresh milk in normal cup for him (I never give him milk bottle at home). But he's still asking bm from me in the morning and before going to sleep. Looking for comfort? Maybe; but the bm still tastes good. :)

Hao is an easy baby and I believe the extended breastfeeding does play a part of it (I breastfed Lynn up to 10 months only). I love looking at him when I am nursing him. Sometimes he will look me back with his eyes full of love. Then both of us will smile at each other. I did not get to do this much with Lynn because Lynn has this comfort sucking habit. She just sucks to fall off to her dreamland so most of the time she sucked with eyes closed. I also carry Hao more than Lynn. Last time due to pregnancy and Hao was still a baby; I did not carry Lynn as much. In fact, I almost stop carrying Lynn after Hao was born as I carry Hao most of the time. Hb will carry Lynn instead. I actually miss carrying Lynn when she was a baby. Soon one day he won't ask for carry anymore. Due to this, I seldom reject Hao whenever he asks for carry. Sometimes hb thinks I carry him too much. Hao is very much attached to me. In fact, both kids very much attached to me. Hb says Hao is a mommy boy. Everything - mommy. Hahaha! Well, if mommy boy = easy baby, those effort spent on bf is definitely worth it. :)

At 2 years old, Hao no longer just plays by himself. I can see both Lynn and Hao enjoys playing with each other. From not-so-like the sister, I can see now Hao is getting closer and have better relationship with Lynn. In the past, whenever Lynn rests her hand on the arm rest of the booster seat, sure Hao will complain about it. But he's not complaining now. He also more willing to let Lynn holds his hand. Why the change? Lynn always gets food for Hao. She serves him milk, she will ask me for yogurt and vitagen and always get one for Hao too. Whatever she's eating, she will surely get a share for Hao. As for toys, sometimes they will still fight about it. It depends what toy it is. Both of them love playing on my bed. Jumping around, playing somersault. But usually I don't let them playing somersault on my bed, worrying they will fall down. They can play on Lynn's mattress which is on the floor.

I have a tough time dealing with Lynn when she was at the Terrible 2 stage. As for Hao now, I wish it will be a Terrific 2 not Terrible 2! Hehe greedy me. ^_^

Hao's height at 2 years old - About 86cm

Hao's weight at 2 years old - About 12kg

Feeds himself

All these while whenever we are eating together I have to delay taking my food as I have to feed Hao first (kids always cannot wait for their food!). Not anymore. At 20 months old, Hao can feed himself now. I did not train him on purpose. But about some time back I noticed he wants to hold the spoon and feed himself. So I scooped the food and place it on his bowl, he would take the spoon and feed himself. He tried to scoop the food himself too but with no much success. Oh yes, unlike Lynn, Hao is a clean eater. He won’t mess up the place very much. 

Recently I noticed he is getting better in scooping the food using the spoon. Last Sunday, I let him eats the rice by himself. He scooped the rice slowly, and then brought the food to his mouth carefully. He repeated this again and again until he finished all the rice in his bowl. What surprised me most is he did it without wasting much food! There is little rice on the table and the floor. He dropped some on his pant but he picked up that rice and eats too. So it was an easy cleaning! Totally opposite of Lynn! But what actually made me happy most is Hao can eat by himself! Lynn can eat by herself before her reaching 2 years old. As Hao is a less independent child compared to Lynn, I was actually expecting he can do this much later. So I am very happy with his achievement. Now I can enjoy my food together with everyone (of course still keeping an eye on Hao) during meal time! ^_^

Concentrate on scooping the rice with the spoon. Had to remind him to turn over his spoon. :)

Bringing the food to his mouth. Trying his best not to drop the food.

Mission complete! Yum yum!

Follow the dotted line

Sorry for have not been posting for quite a while. Tight up with work after the CNY break. Got urgent and important issue that require our immediate attention. Hope able to get it over soon.

This year, Lynn enters Kindy Year 1. She needs to wear uniform to school, and have homework on every Friday on some writing and reading work. I always like to ask what she has done in the school. While she was still in the playschool, she used to tell me the song that she sing (she won't know the name but she will try sing for me), any dance, coloring etc. But this year, she gives me different answer.

Me: Lynn, what did you learn in the school today. What have you done?
Lynn: Follow the dotted line.
Me: Follow the dotted line?
Lynn: Yes, follow the dotted line.
Me: So, what did you write or draw? ABC?
Lynn: Yes, ABC. (To her, ABC means the letter.)
Me: Which letter that you write? B? C?
Lynn: Yes, ABC.
Me: Is it A, B or C? Or D? Which one?
Lynn: Err, ABC.
OK, she won't be able to tell me which letter. Hahaha!

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Me: Lynn, what did you learn in the school today?
Lynn: Follow the dotted line.
Me: Follow the dotted line again.
Lynn: Yes, follow the dotted line.
Me: Did you do coloring in school?
Lynn: Yes, got color.
Me: What did you color? What picture?
Lynn: Err.. I color yellow. And Itomi Manami color blue.
Itomi and Manami are her friends. She always mentioned them to us. Hehehe.

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Me: Lynn, what did you learn in the school today? What did you write?
Try to be more specific on my question hoping she can give better answer now.
Lynn: Follow the dotted line.
Me: ..............
Me: Hmm what did you write? D? 123?
Lynn: Err.. 4!
Me: Oh you write number 4 today?
Lynn: Yes, 4. I write number 4 today!

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Lynn came to greet us when we went to pick up she and Hao at my parents house.
Me: How is your school today?
Lynn: Follow the dotted line.
LOL!
Lynn: Today I write Big D and small D.
Ooh, not bad. Seems like knowing what I want to know. Hahaha!
Me: Oh you learn to write Big D and small D.
Lynn: Yes, and color also. I color yellow. I like yellow.
Me: Do you like green?
Lynn: Yes I like green.
Me: Do you like blue?
Lynn: Yes I like blue. I like orange also.
Me: Then what color you don't like. Brown?
Lynn: I don't like green.
Me: Ei? Just now you said you like green?
Lynn: Yes I like green.
Huh? Mommy is confused now! LOL!
Oh yeah, she did not mention her favorite pink! Hahahaha!

According to the teacher, they are going to do all writing by following the dotted line until about April. Thus to Lynn, probably besides coloring everything is follow the dotted line! LOL!

Bolster

Last week, one night I was putting Hao to sleep. I put him down on my bed, and want to nurse him before he sleeps. Suddenly, he looked at me, hand pointing at his bed and told me “bow….. bow….. “. Bow? What’s that? Oh he wants bolster! So I picked up the baby bolster from his bed and passed it to him. He hugged it tightly. For fun, I tried taking away the bolster from him. And he protested! Hahaha! When Hao was a baby, I offered him bolster and each time he would throw it away. So after a while I did not offer anymore. And yet now, he asked it from me! Although I don’t understand why he wants bolster now, but I’m glad that he still can sleepy without the bolster. :)

The little Sleeping anger. :)

Not so naive anymore

It is very interesting to see how a child grows. A lots of time, I'm amazed by the nature, like no one teach them (I mean the kids), but they just become like this. Being the youngest in the family, and constantly being bullied by my niece and also sometimes by Lynn in the past, Hao has become very protective. Whenever my niece get near him, he will shout at her, giving warning "don't come closer!" as he knows that she will snatch the toys from his hand. And with Lynn, we have been keep on telling Lynn don't snatch, but ask from Hao. She did change trying to ask Hao to give her nowadays, but Hao is also getting smarter, he won't give the toy to her easily anymore. He knows Lynn wants the toy and he "purposely" does not want to give her. Hahahaha! See, what you sow is what you reap. :D This is what I told Lynn "You see, last time you refused to share the toy with didi, so didi learn from you and refuse to share the toy with you now." When I told Lynn in the past, definitely she could not understand what I mean about that. Until now when Hao does the same thing to she. Well, it's just the matter of time for Hao to learn to share.

Nowadays Hao knows how to get our attention. He will call us "papa papa", "mama mama" all the time. Asking us to carry him, sit on our lap, want us to play with him etc. Sometimes, when Hao is sitting on one side of my lap, and Lynn come over to sit on the other side, Hao will complain and try to push Lynn away! My mom even told me that one day Hao tried to push Lynn away because Lynn refused to let him step out of my parents house. But at home, they will still play together. And very often Lynn will come and tell me "mama, didi refuse to give me toy"; "mama, you see didi take this to play"; "mama, didi ...... "; "mama, didi...... ". :D

In terms of food, whatever food that Lynn is eating, Hao wants a share as well. In fact, he's eating more than Lynn. Cheese, ice cream, vitagen, yogurt, juice etc you name it, all are their favorite. Every weekend, they will come to me asking for food almost every hourly. Hao started to choose what he wants to eat. If he does not want to eat that food, he will shake his head. He will point to the food telling you he wants more. He will point at the fridge and ask me to open for him to take food. He can finish the whole cup of fruit juice within 5 minutes but take half a day to finish a cup of plain water.

When I am washing dishes in the kitchen, he will bring a stool, climb on it and see me washing. And then stretch his hand over the running water, or the wet basin to play with the water. Exactly like Lynn last time!

Hao likes to imitate Lynn a lot. Whatever Lynn shows us, Hao will imitate also. Sounds like kiasu hor. Hahahaha! But sometimes this is good. :) Like Hao used to complain whenever I wash his hair, as I would just shower the water right from his head while he's in the standing position. So he will complain when the water runs into his eye. But not so anymore after he saw that Lynn has no complain about it! I used to shower both kids together at the same time. Lynn can bath herself, and put on her own clothes. So basically I just need to attend Hao. One day when I was getting them ready to bath, Lynn told me "Mama, boy and girl cannot bath together." I'm very surprised with that sentence actually and I did not expect she will say something like that. I did not ask her but I suppose must be the teacher from the school told her that. Hahaha! I replied her "Other boys cannot, but didi can." Hahahahaha! When I first bathed them together, Hao got curious over Lynn's body and stretched his hand over wanted to touch her. And immediately Lynn shouted "Don't touch jie jie! " Hahahaha!

I have no problem taking care the basic needs of 2 kids. But when come to educate them, to love each other, to share with each other, definitely it's a much more challenging job. However at this stage, I don't want to think too much about that. I think it's just the matter of time for them to learn. I can see that Lynn is learning and she definitely loves the didi more then the didi loves her. So it's just the matter of time for Hao to understand about siblings love and we just have to continue telling the right thing to them. Despite Hao is getting mischievous, I have not become annoyed yet and instead, I enjoy myself very much to have them around me. It is very interesting to see how the 2 kids with different character, interacting with each others, and with people around them.

Hitting the Big 10

Hao was born quite big size - 3.67kg, exactly 1kg more than his sister Lynn. He gained 1.4kg within the first month. So when Hao full moon, he was 5.1kg. When I brought him to hospital for check-up, people kept on asking me - was Hao a 3 months old baby? Hao continued to gain >1kg for the 2nd month. During 2nd month, Hao got fractured femur and was admitted to the hospital for the first time. And subsequently I sent him to a different babysitter, as Lynn's babysitter was unable to take care of him. After that, Hao no longer gained 1kg in a month. In fact, he gained about 200-300g in a month only. At first, he was on the 90th percentile. We were thinking he's on the big size and worry if he might become over weight if he continues to gain >1lg in a month. But then later when his weight was not increasing much, I started to worry about his growth as Lynn got a steady 1 month 1kg when she was a baby. Both are fully breast fed. When breastfeeding Hao, I even cooked soup everyday for myself so make sure my body is strong enough to produce good quality bm for the baby.

After few months of unsatisfactory weight gained on Hao, I asked the paed what I can do during one of the check-up appointment. The paed first asked about Hao's diet, she then recommended me to replace one milk serving with semi-solid food. And on top of that, give him those food with higher fat, like butter, cheese, olive oil. Very interesting thing is Hao was weight 8.8kg and height 77cm at 1 year old, exactly same as Lynn! But don't forget Lynn was born 1kg less than Hao.

Soon after Hao turned 1 year old, I replaced his 2nd morning milk with baby cereal (previously I used to give him baby cereal during weekend at home, but not for weekdays. So now extended to weekdays): -


Weekdays
7am Morning milk at home, from mama ^_^
10am Baby cereal
1pm Porridge
3pm EBM
5pm Porridge
8pm Some rice and food, from our dinner
10pm Last feeding of milk, from mama ^_^


Weekend
7am Morning milk at home, from mama ^_^
10am Bread with butter and cheese, and some biscuit
12pm Baby cereal
3pm Another milk from mama before taking afternoon nap ^_^
6pm Porridge
8pm Some rice and food, from our dinner
10pm Last feeding of milk, from mama ^_^


After 4 months, we noticed his face become rounder and heavier when I carry him (alright, must remind myself to post some recent photo of him. :D) Yesterday Hao was having some fever, so I took him to the doctor and managed to weight him. He has gained about 1.4kg and finally hitting 10.2kg at 16th month. Not sure if this is a good weight gain (I hope so) but as long as his weight is increasing I feel happy and relief. :)

One month

 

Hmm… this looks yummy!

It has been one month since we send Hao to the childcare (no playschool for his age). I would say Hao is adopting well there. He eats well and sleeps well. Feeling a little insecure, but he did not cry much. After few days, he feels easy and comfortable to move around the place.

One month is neither long nor short. One more month, Hao will turn one, no longer a baby. I’m going to miss him being a baby. Taking care of him and taking care of Lynn as a baby is different experience and different feeling. My bonding with Lynn has been there since she was born, right after coming out from my stomach. However my bonding with Hao, did not started since he was born. It was after he was born, days by days, months by months, slowly and naturally. I was sad that I could not get him a good nanny like Lynn’s. But I’m glad that he is growing up well in the childcare.

I noticed he is getting happier nowadays. He always shows his sweet smiling face. My dad will go pick up the kids when he is on the way back home from work. Hao loves my dad. Whenever he sees him, for sure he will craw towards him with his happiest face and biggest smile he can give. My parent’s house has many toys. Some are my parents bought for Lynn in the past. Some are my niece’s toy. Therefore, Hao will never get bored there. He is getting more and more curious nowadays and does not get his eyes off from the toys there. At one time, Hao was suspecting having HFMD and my mom helped to take care of him. He refused to sleep at all! Just want to play with the toys. Hahaha! In addition, my mom was so worry that he did not get enough sleep for that day.

He is getting more talkative too. He will mimic the word that we said to him. He loves music and songs. Whenever Lynn sings song, I sing to him, or we play the CD in the car, for sure, he will clap his hand and smile at you. When Lynn or I finish singing the song, you will hear him trying to sing the song to you. So sweet! He likes to play my hand phone. He knows where I put it. One day I saw him picked up the phone and say “Hello”. When he is hungry, or whenever he sees us eating, he will come over and say “mum mum” to ask for the food. His appetite has gone bigger and becoming easier for me to feed him. The duration taken to finish his meal is getting lesser. Sometimes after finish one bowl of cereal or porridge, he will still ask for more and complain if I’m not giving him more food. I love seeing him eating more. I want him to gain more weight. He has six teeth now. I started to feed him some soft meat to train his chewing skill.

Lynn was a sociable child since she was a baby but not for Hao. However, lately we noticed he is becoming more sociable. He no longer cries when seeing stranger. However, sometimes will still stick close to us, seeking for security. However, after a while, he will be fine willing to be carried by anyone. We went for my secondary friend’s wedding dinner last week and surprisingly, he opened his arm for my friend when my friend wanted to carry him. First time seeing him so easy. My friend carried him away from us, went to other tables to talk with other friends. He did not cry at all. I feel happy to see him out grow from the separation anxiety.
Hao started to show his character and his tantrum too. When he refused to do something, like refuse to lie down when I changed his diaper, he will protest by crying or making noise and kicking his leg. When his cousin sister (my niece) snatches away the toy from his hand, he will shout back at her and try to get back the toy too. He is not as stubborn as Lynn is, but my guess is maybe he has bad temper (like me, Lol).

We always ask Lynn to share and give way to Hao. When time is right, I have to start teaching Hao to share and learn to give respect to Lynn too. Now I am scratching my head to think of his one-year-old birthday celebration.

CDC – 2nd appointment

Hao got his second appointment with the Child Development Clinic (CDC) in HUKM on Monday. I took a day off from work to take him there, as his appointment was in the late morning, at 11.30am.

Hao was in rather good mood that day. Unlike last visit, this time he was very friendly to the paed. The paed asked me many questions about his development and his diet. She also played some games with him to check his abilities on -

• Able to pick up small items
• Will make sounds like ba, mum, da etc.
• Play small blocks using both hands to make some sound
• Able to throw
• When throw or drop thing into the ground, his eye will follow the object
• Able to follow the instruction
• Will search for hidden object
• Able to focus on moving object
• Able to crawl
• Able to stand
• Able to pull himself up

The paed wanted to see Hao walking. She put him on a carpet, and placed his hand holding to the grill of the handle of the stairs case. Then I used a toy to attract him to walk. The paed checked his leg while he was walking.

In overall, she was very happy with Hao’s development. Oh yes, she also told me that I should expect Hao has slower speech development. The reason being he is the second child, most of the time the first child will tend to speak for him. Thus, he will not need to speak much. Well this is something new to me. Currently Hao is having five servings of milk, and two servings of semi solid food (baby cereal and porridge) in a day. The paed suggested me replace one more serving of the milk with semi solid food, to increase his weight. Alright, now I got to plan his meals again. Hope this will help increase his weight. I wish he will be at least 10kg when he become 1 year old.

 

Related posts:

1. Poor Zhe Hao
2. 4 days in the hospital
3. Child Development Clinic

Hao @ 8 months

Time flies. Hao is already 8 months old. Again, his weight has not been increasing much for the past 2 months. He is now weighted at 8kg . This is his progress so far: -

• Know how to wave bye bye. However only as when he likes it.
• Can sit still quite steady for quite some time. So now when we dine out, I can put him on the high chair.
• Can crawl quite well and for quite a long distance.
• Know how to kneel.
• Know how to change from a sitting position to crawling position.
• When he catch something, he will play with it using both hands instead of putting it directly into his mouth.
• Like to grab things. Whenever he saw something catch his eyes, he will think of ways to reach it.
• His latest favourite toy is no other than my mobile phone.
• Will make sounds of ba ba ba ba..., wa wa wa..., aaa... Will hear him saying mama... mama... ONLY when he cries looking for me for milk. Latest favourite word is da da da..., de de de...
• Having Nestle Honey wheat cereal with breast milk and brown rice powder in the late morning. And taking porridge in the evening. Prefer salty taste than sweet.
• Getting more distracted easily when being nursed and thus making the breastfeeding time becoming slightly longer.
• Would like to play for quite some time before going to bed at night pushing his bed time from 10pm to around 11pm. 
• No sign of teething yet.
• Like to get hold of things and pull himself up. Probably going to stand up very soon.

Hao @ 7 months

Hao in his happy smiling face

Started Hao with baby cereal with he was 6 months old. So far after 2-3 weeks of feeding, Hao started not showing interest in taking the cereal anymore. Instead of open his mouth wide for the food, he started to use his tongue to push out the food, keeping his mouth closed etc. So I have to keep trying to figure out his taste and his preference.

Started feeding him with the porridge during the CNY. So far so good. He was able to finish up to half bowl of the porridge. I noticed that he preferred the more watery type of the porridge.

No change on his milk intake. Still the same amount every 2 hours. In fact the babysitter said nowadays Hao took longer time to finish the milk.

Other than able to crawl, Hao still not able to sit unaided by himself yet though he prefers to sit rather than lying down. During bathing, he no longer splashing the water with his hands and kicking with his legs. Instead both his hands will grab at both sides of the baby bath tub tightly, as if he will fall down at anytime. He still like jumping and dancing at your laps whenever we hold him in upright position. He can move around with the walker and like to reach out for things to grab. However he would not like to sit long time in the walker. After about 20 minutes, he will start to make noise requested to be picked up. His stranger anxiety level still unpredictable. Sometimes he is OK with new people around and sometimes he will not and show the crying face.

As for his weight, as expected not gaining much. However I think as long as he is healthy, eat well, sleep well and grow well, I think the weight gain should not be an issue.

Weight: 8kg

CNY gift - Crawl

Date: 27 January 2009

On the 2nd day of the CNY, we went back visiting my parents. During dinner time, I put Hao on the floor. If he's not hungry or looking for me, normally he is OK to play by himself. So we can enjoy our dinner. After the dinner, I was sitting down on the floor together with Hao. Suddenly something catch his eyes and I saw that he was attempting to crawl towards the object that caught his attention and grabbed it. Normally instead of moving forward, he will eventually push himself backwards and thus become further from his target. However this time, to my surprise I saw that he was really lifting his leg up,  placed it in front, and pushing his body to move forward instead of backward. I was so happy and glad that I witnessed his very first successful attempt of crawling. (Last time Lynn first crawl in the babysitter house while we were at work. So we did not manage to witness her first successful attempt to crawl.) It was just 2 more days away for Hao to turn 7 months old.

Those of you who has been reading my blog, will know that Hao had a fractured femur when he was 2 months old. No medical treatment was being given to him, as he was still a baby. The doctors believe babies have very strong self healing power. So eventually Hao will be alright. For the past 5 months, Hao had been going back to the hospital for the follow-up appointment, to check the progress of the fractured femur. From the last x-ray taken at early January, showing that fractured bone was fully recovered and Hao does not need to go back to the hospital anymore. With his first successful attempt to crawl, I feel relief to see his growth is normal despite the fractured femur about half year ago. Cheers!

Hao @ 6th months

Brought Hao for his monthly check-up on Thursday. Wow, the clinic was fully pack with crowd. I was at the queue number 70! Double the number that I normally take. The check-up for the babies is on every Thursday. So happen the past 2 Thursday was holiday (Christmas day and New Year day), so that's why it was so crowded.

No jap for 6th month check-up. Just normal routine of weight, height measure and checking on his growth. Well, out of my expectation, Hao did not put on much weight for the past 1 month. When I carry him, I can feel he's heavier now. So I thought he should have put on quite a bit of weight. Surprisingly he has only gained 200g last month. Other than that, he was more active nowadays during day time. Sleep less when he is with us (the babysitter said he's still sleeping quite a lot there), does not like to lie down that much, will ask to be picked up, not each time after poo-poo he will cry (we even found on few occasion, he poo-poo in the middle of the night and sleep through the night. So his buttock become red red the next morning). We try not to put on the booties/socks for him, but his foot is feeling cold. So we has no choice. He's trying to crawl, but not successfully moving forward, instead moving backwards most of the time. He will move around by rolling, flipping, turning left right to go to another place. When we put him standing on our lap, he will be jumping up and down happily with smiling face. Whenever he saw something put in front of him, he will grab it and put into his mouth. He is still having his milk 2 hourly, 4 1/2 oz per feed. His last feeding time is around 10pm and his first feed (for the past 1 month) is about 7am. Occasionally he will wake up in the middle of the night to ask for milk. He has developed a habit of want to have milk before he sleep when I'm around. In babysitter's house, he will ask for the sarong instead. Overall, he's getting more and more active, and making lots of noise nowadays. :)

• Weight: 7.7kg
• Height: 69cm

Is this normal?

Remember I mentioned before that hubby gave Lynn a nickname Gold fish? Well, she really gave me a shock that day.

One day we ordered pizza for dinner. With the existence of the Internet, we were able to make the order online, pay it using the credit card and the food will be delivered to our home without us having need to step our foot out of the house, drive all the way to the restaurant for it. We ordered a large size pizza. So as normal, it was being cut to 8 pieces. I prepared 2 pieces for each of me and hubby, and 1 piece for the gal. Hubby started to eat after I have finished eating. Then I went to take the water. After I returned, hubby was just started eating.

Hubby: How many pieces for each person? No more pizza already?

Me: 2 for each of us, 1 for the gal.

Hubby: This is my first piece. *point at the empty plate*

Me: Huh? This is your first piece? Cannot be... I took 5 pieces from the pizza box just now.

Then I look at the gal. Apparently she was having the second piece of the large-size pizza! *faint* How can one small stomach, can fit 2 large-size pizza??? She was eating adult serving size! Oh my goodness. And look at her tummy, big and round and bloated.

Me: Lynn, see your tummy, big big. *point at her stomach*

Lynn: *look at her own tummy* tummy big big.

Me: How can you eat so much? You are having same serving size as mama.

Me: Tummy big big, no mei mei (pretty) wor. Lynn wants mei mei or not?

Lynn: *nod her head* Lynn wants mei mei.

Me: Wants mei mei then don't eat until tummy big big.

I figured that she is not hungry, she just like to eat. Whenever she saw there is any food on the table, she will ask for it. Any time of the day, regardless whether she just finished her food or not. Oh what should I do? Sigh, when the kid is not eating, we get worried. Now she's over eating, we get worried also. Really not easy to be a parent.