Precious one-on-one walk-training sessions from big brother to little sister:
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I am often amazed at how much Ethan has grown, how much he is a big boy now, and the fact that he is starting to ride a bike makes me realize how true the adage “How time flies” is.
He will sometimes ask to be taken downstairs to the porch to ride his bike, and we’ll try to get him to do *something* first before we take him down, e.g. finish his dinner 
Still needs a little fine tuning on the pedalling aspect, but he gets the bike to move anyhow…now, doesn’t Ethan look cool, bike, helmet and all?
Hannah has an excellent training regime to aid her in her walking. Superb trainer and the sessions are fun for both the trainer AND the trainee. Watch:
Sometimes they fight and grab stuff from one another, sometimes they cry and scream…but it’s always a joy to see them play together so adorably.
I’m glad this is happening more and more often now.
And sometimes, there are even moments of great brotherly love being displayed…. (awwww….)
And sometimes things get out of hand….
Sometimes he’s the really loving brother, just like that….
But sometimes all we hear around the house is, “No, Hannah NO!!!” It’s like an anthem for him.
Mommy: Ethan, can Hannah go to school with you?
Ethan: No, too small…Next time when she’s bigger, she can go to school.
When Hannah holds his toys or plays with them, he’s rush over and say, “No Hannah! It’s for 3 years old and above!”
SIGH….kids…
A few months before his birthday, I had already discussed with Ethan that he was gonna have a small celebration in school with his friends and another one at home. And when asked what birthday cake he would like for his birthday celebration in school, he had replied that he wanted a Thomas the Train birthday cake. And because his favorite number is 2, he also wanted the train with the number 2 to be on the cake, i.e. Rheneas.
I could not find a picture of Thomas with Rheneas, so I managed to coax him into agreeing to have a cake with Thomas, James and Percy on it. And that’s how I ended up ordering this cake:
I thought the bakery did a great job and the cake looked fantastic…well, as long as Ethan likes it
The celebration in school began around 10:10a.m. (because I was a little bit late arriving with the cake), and Ethan was given the honor of placing the FOUR birthday candles on his cake.
Then we all sang the birthday song, in English and Mandarin, and Ethan promptly did a great job in blowing out all the four candles.
He also cut the cake three times! LOL
I had also prepared party packs for Ethan to give out to his friends. In line with the Thomas and Friends theme, I had wanted to get Thomas party bags, but alas, I had been unsuccessful. I also enlisted the help of friends and relatives (you know who you are, thank you very much!) to help me look for them in KL and Ipoh, but they were all sold out.
In the end, I decided to make simple party packs myself in the form of Thomas paper bags.
In addition to being in *theme* with the event, paper bags were also environmentally friendly as opposed to plastic.
I also *converted* some Winnie the Pooh yoyos into Thomas yoyos, as one of the party favors.
It caused me several late nights, but it was well worth it. Ethan had fun and so did I!
Why did Ethan say, “Oh no, our house is falling down!”
Because in spite of the fact that we told him not to spin round and round, he did exactly that, and when he stopped his spinning act, he lost his balance a little and made that exclamation.
SIGH. Kids…you just GOTTA love ‘em!
Ethan: Daddy, can I watch Playhouse Disney, please?
Daddy: Just a minute. Daddy wants to watch TV first.
Ethan: Why you wanna watch TV Daddy?
Daddy: Because Daddy wants to watch sports.
Ethan: Which channel Daddy? Channel 812?
Daddy: Yes Ethan. Channel 812. I’ll let you watch 613 in a minute, okay?
Ethan: Why Daddy? Why you want to watch sports on channel 812, Daddy?
Daddy: Because Daddy likes to watch sports.
Ethan: And WHY Daddy? Why you like to watch sports Daddy?
Daddy: Errr….because I was born that way.
Ethan: And WHY are you born that way Daddy?
Daddy: Errrr….go and ask your Ah Ma…
Ethan: Which Ah Ma, Daddy? The Ipoh Ah Ma or the Taiping Ah Ma, Daddy?
Daddy: The Taiping Ah Ma.
Ethan: Okay….now can I watch 613 Daddy?
I stumbled upon this custom-made fleece skirtie which I had gotten for Hannah when we were in the States. It was too big for her then, but look at her now!
Good thing I still managed to squeeze her into it…she’ll outgrow it soon, I’m sure!
She looks like a little lady in it, doesn’t she?
Oh, by the way, Hannah has been shortlisted as one of the finalists for the Cutest Baby of the Planet 2009 contest! More details to follow next week as I find out what we need to do.
Yesterday marked the first day of school for many kids. Ethan too officially started his first day at Nursery school yesterday. He has been looking forward to going back to school to see all his friends and having fun.
“School’s opened today?”, “I can see all my friends?” were some of the questions he has been asking our way.
He’s in an all-new classroom this year, with many of the same friends still around and a few new ones. I had also found out his teacher’s names so he already knew them before he reached school. One of his teachers is the same one who was with him during Playgroup last year, so that would make him acclimatize himself much better.
When I accompanied him into his classroom yesterday, there were lots of parents standing around the classroom. Some kids were having separation anxiety and were sobbing away, or looking very sad. I don’t think Ethan was having separation anxiety, because he didn’t look sad at all. Instead he was walking around the classroom, pointing out his name, and the numbers and even gave his teacher a hug.
But still he wouldn’t let me leave.
After the kids had had a small tour round the school, and had washed their hands for their snack time, I asked Ethan if I could leave and pick him up later.
He said, “Yeah.”
So I left.
Today, I took him to class again, said buh-bye and told him I would come and get him later.
We’re getting there, inch by inch and step by step, my boy is learning a little bit of independence all on his own, and growing up right before my eyes.
Hannah loves to play with toys, especially those that belong to Ethan’s. Unfortunately most of the time when she attempts to play with his toys or read his books, all she gets is Ethan saying, “NO! These are MINE!” or “MY Toys!” or “Hannah, play with the Alphabet Zoo!” (she has a spinning Alphabet Zoo toy that is catered for kids 6 months and over, and Ethan has learnt to *assign* that toy to her)
Obviously playing with just one toy is never enough and Hannah gets bored after a while. But too bad she is not *allowed* to touch other toys most of the time.
So what’s a girl to do?
She’ll sometimes stay up late, and wait for her big brother to sleep and THEN she’ll have full reign over all the toy cars, trains and books she has been barred from touching.
Won’t you just look at that? Ain’t that the sweetest loving embrace you have ever seen?
This is Ethan in one of his loving big-brotherly moods. And if you’re wondering what he is saying while he was hugging Hannah, check out the video below….simply PRECIOUS!
Ethan is a natural with numbers. He picked up counting on his own, without our prodding or pushing. He can count to a hundred very well now, but I was totally surprised when he started counting in Chinese one day when I was out with him.
He is exposed to both English and Mandarin in school, as he has two teachers: one for English and one for Mandarin. And so by the by, he has also managed to pick up counting in Mandarin too, although to us, it sounds rather *slangy”, if you know what I mean…
Finally, just slightly after 9 months, she uttered the word that has the ability to wrap me around her little adorable fingers.
Last night, Hannah awoke, let out a “come carry me” cry, stood up in her cot, faced me and said, “Mameh….!”
She’s currently under the tutelage of her big brother to perfect the pronunciation, and from the looks of it, it will certainly be “Mommy” really soon.
…can we say that that’s officially her first word?
Ethan is a very friendly and sociable guy. Only catch is that he tends to get REALLY shy amongst strangers or even familiar faces in a new surrounding. It takes him some time to warm up and then he’ll be his usual boisterous self.
Just like a couple of weekends ago when we attended his classmate Griffin’s birthday party. Ethan was all excited in the morning of the event, because it was a pirate-themed party. He read aloud the words on the gift too, he said, ” Happy Birthday Griffin. From TWO Ethan!” (the 2 dots were read as *two*)
But as soon as we stepped into Griffin’s home, Ethan clung on to me like a leech and didn’t want to join in the games at all, even though several of his friends were there.
By the by, he warmed up and soon he was running around happily and playing with the birthday boy and his other friends too.
More smiles could be seen as time went by. He even posed happily in front of the pirate ship backdrop
…and he found some *treasures* to play with too!
Can you tell just how much he is enjoying himself? LOL
Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, he downed two sausages by himself.
…and a LOT of yummy chocolate birthday cake!
After that, he went home with his very own mini treasure chest which contained goodies, among them a really COOL telescope.
Is it any wonder he told me, “Mommy, I LIKE Griffin’s house!”
Today marks the last day of the schooling year for Ethan. I can’t believe that it’s been 3 months since he started school. Feels just like yesterday that I was bringing a clingy toddler to class, and now, I’m glad to see that he is happy to go to school every day.
It certainly makes it easier when I see him ask to “wear his bag” and run eagerly to his class. He’ll say bye to me, and when I pick him up, he’ll exclaim, “Mommy!” as he runs to hug me.
He’ll tell me all about his day in school, who he played with, what he did, and sometimes he would proudly bring back and show me the art and craftwork he has done.
It makes me proud too that he has made many new friends in school. In fact, when I show him a picture of his classmates, he can remember ALL of their names!
His grasp of the alphabet and phonics has also increased tremendously, and even though he was only introduced to the Letterland characters in August (when teacher was teaching M), he can remember all of them now. I was really amazed, and still am.
He has also surprised me when he started counting in Mandarin! His school employs a dual-language approach, and although he sometimes looks a little bit confused when the teacher speaks in Mandarin, I’ve caught him singing in Mandarin too! And sometimes, he tells me he learns “Chinese” 
Of course, he’s also had his share of fun in school. From birthday celebrations, to bringing goodie bags back from school, to special events, Ethan certainly enjoys it.
His class had a little Halloween class celebration not too long ago, where the kids had a fun activity to paint a *ghost* made from dough.
Ethan is a very *work-proud* boy and when he brought his YELLOW ghost back home, he could not stop showing it around.
And of course, nothing beats that smile on his face when we praise him sky high for his beautifully painted yellow ghost!
So school ended with a blast, or rather a SPLASH, today as the kids all had a great time playing in the giant rubber pool in the school compound.
On the way back from school today, Ethan told me, “I had so much fun in school today Mommy!”
I’ve no doubt you did, sweetie…
Ethan loves numbers! And the amazing thing about this is that we didn’t even force him to learn his numbers. He picked it up all on his own, with his own interest.
Here’s a really cute video of him counting, finger actions included…(a result of nothing else better to do while waiting for the food to arrive). Check out how he positions his fingers for numbers 3 and 8. Priceless!
I’m happy to note that the sibling relationship between Ethan and Hannah is significantly better now. Granted, he still sometimes prevents her from playing with most of his toys, but he now (usually) will say “I’m the big brother, Hannah’s my little sister”, and I find that really sweet.
Ironically, I got them cute outfits that had the words “Big Brother” and “Little Sister” sewn on them, and thought it would be a good idea to have a picture taken of both of them in it.
Precious, precious, simply precious shots!
…although it was tough to take the pictures too, because Hannah kept wanting to touch Ethan’s hair and ears, while Ethan wanted to prevent her from doing so, while saying “Cheese!” at the same time! LOL
I asked Ethan to put his arm around Hannah in the last picture above
Don’t they both look happy?
Last week, Ethan only went to school for 3 days. His school was closed for 2 days on Thursday and Friday, because all the staff was involved in a charity concert the school had organized. This meant that I needed to find something for Ethan to do that won’t keep him bored.
So on Thursday morning, I took him to the children’s library. It was just a very small one, but Ethan was VERY excited to step into a library…so much so that I had to remind him to NOT be too noisy (not that there were a lot of people there to disturb anyway).
Ethan chose several books and we sat at the table to read them. Then I taught him how to put the books back in the rack or the bins so the librarians could arrange them back again.
My only complaint about the children’s library was that the books were very old, and during the time we were there, I didn’t really see any books that were that good. But the important thing was that Ethan had fun!
I told him we could borrow the books, but he told me he wanted to BUY them! LOL
Anyway, in the afternoon, we had lunch at Fatty Loh’s at Nagore Road, and then drove to Queensbay Mall, where we went to the bookstore to get some magazines, and then went to the post office to post some letters. There were some Halloween decorations up then, and Ethan went absolutely crazy! He of course wanted a picture taken too, but he was moving so much it was hard to get a good shot.
Then we did a quick round of grocery shopping, and headed back for home.
Friday morning, we baked some chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. Ethan was asking for it the whole morning, and he was quite the helpful kitchen helper indeed. He helped me pour the mixture, mixed it, and then he helped to lay out the cupcake wrappers in the molds. Oh, and of course he helped in eating too!
We did have a great time, and I am quite sure I answered his question when he said, “School’s closed today, Mommy?”
When I feel down, when I feel hurt, when I feel sad, it’s amazing how Ethan always manages to make it all feel better. Just like whenever he wakes up from a nightmare, and comes to me asking me to make it better for him, likewise, my little boy does the same for me.
Yesterday, I felt really gloomy and sad. Clumsy me had knocked over my freshly expressed bottle of EBM and 2.5oz had spilt onto the kitchen counter. While cleaning the mess, Ethan asked me what I was doing, and I told him I spilt the milk. He looked at me gently, came over and said, “Don’t worry Mommy, we’ll pour more milk later, okay?”
And then after I had downloaded some photos from my camera, one of the nicest shots I had taken of Ethan and Hannah ended up corrupted. I was fiddling with it on the PC trying to restore it, and Ethan wanted to know what was wrong. I sadly told him that one of my favorite pictures was spoilt. He immediately put his arms around me and said, “Here’s a hug Mommy. Don’t worry, everything will be okay.”
You just gotta love him
(By the way, I am still trying desperately to restore that picture. If anyone knows how to restore a corrupted jpg file, please let me know!)
Followers of the “Children should be seen and not heard” school of thought would certainly click their tongues in disapproval and shake their heads in despair should they see and hear what Ethan is like these days. When he is watching TV or doing something and he is concentrating: Ethan: Be quiet! Shhhh…. (holds finger to his mouth). No talking!
*****
Daddy attempts to change the TV channel.
Ethan: No watching FOOTBALL, Daddy!
and lately…
Ethan: No Daddy, change the channel to Playhouse Disney, PLEeeeeeeeASsssssssE!!!! PuhLEeeeeeeeASsssssssssssE….???!!!
*****
When someone laughs at him, with him or loudly:
Ethan: It’s not funny, uncle!! That’s not very nice!
*****
At the restaurant, a waiter approaches us.
Waiter: Sir, do you need a baby chair for your son?
Ethan: NO! I’m NOT a baby! (points at Hannah) Hannah’s the baby! I’m a BOY! I’m THREE years old!
*****
At the restaurant again, the waitress assists Ethan by pushing his stool closer to the table.
Ethan: NO! No touching me!
*****
When I am having a conversation with someone:
Ethan: No talking Aunty! Mommy talk first!
*****
When about to go out:
Mommy: Okay buddy, go put on your shoes.
Ethan: No no, not SHOES…sandals!
In school:
Teacher: Alright, take off your shoes.
Ethan: Not shoes, teacher. SANDALS!
Last week, Ethan surprised us yet again with another one of his newfound abilities: Coloring INSIDE the lines. I bet he must have picked this up from school, because we never pruposely force him to color inside the lines. I prefer to allow him free reign of how to express himself artistically. And look how handsomely that has paid off!
I’m so proud of my boy, and can’t believe how much he has grown up!
Two days ago, on Monday, Daddy lowered Hannah’s cot level. It was beginning to look really dangerous, the way she would very quickly hold onto the side of the cot and hoist herself up on her feet, sometimes trying to reach over the cot. At that time, the cot side was at the level of her tummy! Now, it is the same level as he mouth…and she has discovered that the cotside tastes incredibly yummy…
At least now I can safely put her in the cot sometimes, when I have to urgently attend to her brother.
My little girl Hannah has been growing up so rapidly the past few weeks, I find that it is inevitable that I need to post a milestone post now before her 8th month update comes along!
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She has begun crawling really really well now. Sometimes when she doesn’t see me around and wants to look for me, she will crawl all the way from our living room to the dining and kitchen. If she is in her *manja* mood, she will wail and cry while crawling!
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She can stand, while holding the edge of her cot or the couch, or our hands, for support.
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Sometimes we have even caught her beginning to cruise!
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Since she can now sit steadily, we can put her in a baby chair when we dine outside in restaurants. (soon, when I introduce rusks, she will have more things to occupy herself with)
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She has cut her first two teeth! I can see two bottom incisors sprouting!
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And she is getting increasingly difficult to bathe. Each time, she will want to grab onto my stool or the bath tub and try to stand up!
Last Friday, when I picked Ethan up from school, he greeted me with a big smile, holding a plastic vase filled with a piece of sponge with some stalks of flowers in it. On the plastic vase was his very own name, and he was VERY proud of it, I could tell.
He told me he made it in school. (I just LOVE all these stuff he brings back from school!)
And when we reached home, he wanted to water it, so I assisted him in sprinkling some water on the flowers.
And then he wanted to give his plant some sunlight. I asked him to put it near the sliding door. He put it there for 1 second and said, “That’s too much sunlight…”
So we put it on our shelf instead.
Last weekend when all our relatives came over for a visit, Ethan was proudly showing off his plant to everyone.
I’m wondering if I should get him new flowers when these wilt away in a few days’ time….
We do not believe in forcing our child to write or forcing him to hold a pencil or pen, when he is not ready. We would rather he take his time to play and learn and discover it on his own. That being said, Ethan has always loved numbers and alphabets. And he LOVES experimenting, especially on his doodle pad.
One fine evening, he surprised us by using the square-shaped mold from the doodle pad to *write*. He calls it “draw numbers”. At first he wrote 1 and 2, and he was mighty pleased when we applauded. He then proceeded with other numbers.
And writing this was his own idea…watch…
Ironically, that is also how Pete and I write the number 9.
But when I ask Ethan to write 6 after that, he looked at me with those sweet adorable eyes and shakes his head, “I don’t know how to write 6, Mommy!” LOL
Oh, how I love my little boy!
This could be the start of another very very chatty chatterbox in future!
…or is it a form of (healthy) competition?
When Hannah was on medication a couple of weeks back, we asked Ethan to *witness* her taking the medicine using the syringe. By the way, if you are not already aware, it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to feed Ethan medicine. He would kick and scream till the cows come home.
Anyway, Ethan was very intrigued watching us feed Hannah. Hannah, on the other hand, was initially receptive of the medicine, but after a few rounds, she knew how to turn her head away when she saw the syringe. Only Daddy knew how to administer the medicine in one swift motion
A few days later, Ethan started sneezing. So I asked him, “Ethan, are you sneezing?” He said, “Yes”. I said, “Do you want to take some medicine? You’ll feel better after taking it, and then when you are all better, Mommy will take you swimming.” He paused and kept quiet. I continued, “I’ll ask Daddy to shoot the medicine into your mouth like Hannah, okay?” He said, “Okay.”
And I almost fainted.
I asked Daddy to get the medicine ready, and MIRACULOUSLY Ethan allowed his Daddy to give him the medicine without any fuss. After that he downed it all with some Milo.
Therefore, do not underestimate what Hannah can do or influence at her young and tender age.
Thanks to Ethan Koko who very generously allowed me to ride his favorite toy vehicle, the choo-choo train! Hannah’s feet cannot yet touch the floor though, but she has a really firm grip on the steering wheel!
”I push myself up like this…”
“There…I’m on all fours. Now what?!”
“Eh? Smile for the camera AGAIN??!!!”
“Lemme try lifting my butt up…”
“I put one knee forward…like this, Mommy?”
“Gonna try to sit up on my own now…”
“That looks interesting…wonder what it tastes like…”
She’s almost there!
When we reached Hannah’s sitter’s house today to pick her up, Ethan exclaimed loudly, “Hi Hannah!” when he saw her. Hannah squealed in delight, lifted her right hand up and waved!
She is SO the sociable little baby!
Ethan runs up to me and says,
“Mommy, Mommy look! I draw Ethan! Look! E-T-H-A-N, ETHAN!”
By the way, he is SUCH an expert at spelling his own name. And he even knows and can read my name, Pete’s name and of course, Hannah’s.
… from the moment he wakes up till he sleeps (by the way, he normally does NOT take an afternoon nap).
(Negotiating)
Daddy: Ethan, go and take your bath.
Ethan: No, let me play with my toys first.
Daddy: No…take a shower and THEN you can play with your toys.
Ethan: No Daddy, wait for Mommy first.
Daddy: Mommy’s busy. Daddy will bathe for you.
Ethan: No Daddy. I’m dizzy. I want to sleep first.
(Complaining)
Ethan: Mommy, I hurt my finger.
Mommy: Awww…come here darling, Mommy will kiss and make it better (kisses his finger).
Ethan: I feel better.
Mommy: Okay, good
Ethan: I want new finger, Mommy!
Ethan: Ouch Mommy…my feet (points to a bump).
Mommy: Aww, lemme see, darling.
Ethan: I want a Band-Aid Mommy.
Mommy: Okay, here’s a Band-Aid. You feel better now?
Ethan: Yeah…
Ethan(runs off to show Daddy): Look Daddy! I have a Dinosaur band-aid!
Ethan: I want new feet Daddy!
(On the way home from school)
Ethan: I wanna say “I love you Daddy”, Mommy…
Mommy: Okay. I’ll call Daddy when we reach home, okay?
Ethan: Okay.
Mommy: What about Mommy? Don’t you want to say, “I love you Mommy”?
Ethan: No…Hannah says “I love you Mommy”, Ethan says “I love you Daddy”.
(Making sense)
Ethan: Mommy…carry!
Mommy: Why? Are you lazy?
Ethan: No, I’m dizzy.
Ethan: Mommy…carry! Carry Mommy!
Mommy: Are you a lazy pig, Ethan?
Ethan: NO, I’m not a lazy pig. Daddy’s the lazy pig!
(Placing a Request)
Mommy: Mmm - mm- mmm- mmm-mmm- mmm- hmmm (humming a song)
Ethan; No Mommy, don’t say “mmm mmm mmm”. Sing!
Mommy (singing): Polly put the kettle on…
(Protective)
Stranger (to Hannah): Hi baby! (Smiles and touches Hannah on the head/cheek/hand)
Ethan: NO AUNTY!!! No touching Hannah!
(Mr Manners)
We were about to pay for our parking at the mall, when a stranger arrived at the parking payment machine at the same time as us. The man promptly stepped in front of me and proceeded to make the payment.
Ethan (pointing at the man): No Uncle! THAT’S NOT NICE, Uncle!
The uncle ignored him. So much for politeness in our society!
(Taking turns)
Ethan (playing the piano at Uncle Tee Bin’s house and singing): Twinkle twinkle little star…
Mommy (sits down next to him and starts to play too)
Ethan: No Mommy. Wait for turn!
My motherly instincts are always in extra full force when any one of my kids are not feeling well. And that was how it was last week when Hannah fell sick.
I worried when she registered a fever of 38.5°C that night. I was relieved that giving her the PCM suppository helped to bring it down.
She also had cough and a runny nose, so although we didn’t like the idea of bringing her to the hospital and exposing her to germs, we decided to bring her in for a checkup.
As soon as I explained what she was there for, we were asked to wait while the nurse assessed Hannah. Her temperature then was 38°C.
We were then asked to go to the Accident and Emergency section where Hannah was to take a throat swab and then we had to wait for 1 hour for the results.
An hour of worrying later, the throat swab test for Influenza A was NEGATIVE. Hannah was prescribed the usual Polaramine and Rhinathiol. She had a little bit of an ear infection which the doctor hoped would subside by the next day (which it did).
She’s back to her normal cheerful adorable self now, and I am none the happier…
He loves:
- Rice with soy sauce gravy
- Butter sandwich drizzled with a little bit of sugar. Shape of sandwich will be requested by him. Current favorites are STAR, TRAIN and TRUCK. Coming in a close second are DIAMOND and SQUARE.
- Koay teow from the chicken hor fun served at Old Town. You should hear him say “Koay Teow”
- Roti Bakar from Old Town (sometimes only, depending on mood)
- Bananas
- Apples
- Blueberry muffin
- “Golden bread” a.k.a. golden potato bread.
- Hard-boiled egg white with some soy sauce.
- Homemade pancake with maple syrup.
- Milo chilled.
- Fresh milk. He now ASKS for fresh milk. It was so funny that day when he spelled “SEGAR” and asked me what it was.
- Pediasure milk chilled.
- Vanilla ice cream from McDonald’s.
- Fries.
- Chocolate “anything”!
BUT… over the past few days, I learnt that he has been eating quite well in school.
It was one of my primary concerns that he would not eat at all in school and go hungry. So I always ask the teacher to let me know what he has eaten, if he has. A few days ago, Ethan told me happily that he SWALLOWED chicken! I was ecstatic, but I wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not. So I asked his teacher and she said yes, they served fried noodles, and there were pieces of chicken on top, and he ate them!
The following day, Ethan told me he ate carrots. I checked with the teacher and she said he was served porridge with carrots and he ate it too, albeit being fed. And today, he told me he ate chicken, carrots AND mushroom!
But why won’t he eat the chicken at home?
Maybe it’s because his teacher told him he has to finish his lunch at school before he can go home… LOL
Some people might think I am a fussypot, but my criteria for selecting a daycare for Ethan is really very simple: he has to enjoy himself there. I believe that a kid his age should not be made to do homework, or forced to study, instead all I am looking for is for him to mingle with his peers and have a good time. Only then will he be able to learn in a conducive environment.
So upon our return from the States, we visited some centers and schools in Penang to see which one is suitable. One was too far away, although I actually like the teaching methodology they employed, allowing the kids to learn through play. But a 45-minute drive there and another 45-minute drive back home every day was definitely not acceptable. One center which was nearer to our home gave me the impression that the kids were being forced to read. And another one which was just down the road from our place, I didn’t like it because the principal did not teach the students. Instead it was a daycare franchise. Some of the centers did not have openings available, so we didn’t bother checking them out.
In the end, we enrolled Ethan in a center/school for half a day, for something called a Playgroup (for his age). It would take me about 10-15 minutes to drive there though, which was rather acceptable. The good thing about this school is that they allowed a 2-week orientation period, whereby the parent would accompany the child for 2 hours and then slowly extend the period till he was confident enough to be on his own. I knew that Ethan would be fine on his own for just half a day, but it was the getting used to the new environment, making new friends and all that would maybe be too overwhelming at first.
Before he started school, we prepped him for it by telling him every day, “We’re gonna put Hannah at Ah Poh’s house, okay? Then we’ll leave Daddy in the office, and then we’ll fetch Ethan to school. After that Mommy will go to the market.”
So when we ask him, “Where will Hannah go?” , he’ll say, “Ah Poh’s house!”
And “What about Daddy?” - “Daddy goes to office!”
“And Ethan?” - “Ethan goes to school!”
“Mommy?” - “Mommy goes to market!”
So even though it was only 2 weeks before the one-week school holidays were to start, we started Ethan off on his 2-week orientation. I thought we were good to go with the prepping, but I was so wrong! The first few days, he clung on to me like a leech. He didn’t really want to participate in the activities, preferring instead to sit on my lap or asking me to carry him. On the way to school, he would whine and complain, “I don’t want to go to school, Mommy!!”
But little by little he began to participate and join the other kids. On the 5th day when I took him to school, I asked him if it was okay that he played with his friends in school, while Mommy goes to market and that I would come and fetch him later…he said “Okay.”
And then the following week, we slowly extended the duration he was in school. First he was on his own for 2.5 hours, then 3. Here are some pictures of Ethan, taken by one of his teachers during the recent Merdeka Day celebration the school had (dunno why Ethan had that serious worried look on his face…)
Nowadays, most of the time, he would happily go to school, and he would be all smiles when I pick him up afterward. Occasionally he would not want to go and would not want me to leave, but I suppose it could be because of the long weekend or holiday.
Just last Monday, he didn’t want me to leave when the teacher greeted him at the door. After a few minutes of persuasion, I realized he was asking me to KNOCK the door first before he could enter! LOL So I knocked the door, the teacher opened it, and he entered the classroom happily…hehehe
One of his teachers commented that Ethan is now more settled and can play with his classmates. She even said that he can speak really well, which left me beaming with pride. When he comes home, he would tell us about his school friends: Annabelle, Nicole, Sharmay … how come all girls huh?
I’m glad I am able to play a major part in this milestone Ethan is experiencing. Never mind the initial screaming, occassional whinings and sometimes tear-filled eyes when I take him to school…all that disappears as soon as I see his face light up when he sees me waiting to pick him up after school. And it makes it all SO worth the while. Sometimes when I leave him feeling sad and unhappy at school, I worry about how he’s doing, but he puts all my worries to rest when he tells me after school, “School’s so very fun, Mommy!” And that’s all I need to know.
So our weekday routine is more or less established now, except sometimes he wakes up quite late. On the way home from school, he will ALWAYS request to go to “O McDonald”, where he wants either “Vanilla ice cream” or ”Fries”. Maybe we should be given a frequent diner card at Mc-D’s!
These precious smiles that greet me in the morning makes it all SO worthwhile…
It must be because of the excessive amount of time he spends with both Hannah and me. Ethan has certainly started to display some form of inevitable sibling rivalry and jealousy.
It all started about a week after we touched down in Penang. Pete had started work then, and I was still in the process of looking for a daycare for Ethan. So meanwhile, both kids would be at home with me 24/7. At first it was all right, although it was quite difficult for me to juggle cooking, cleaning and caring for both kids at the same time.
But then I think Ethan got a bit bored with staying at home all the time. He started his tantrums and his whining. And when I breastfed Hannah, he would say, “No feeding Hannah, Mommy! Let me close it!” and proceed to *help* me “close up” my blouse. On the contrary, when we ask him, “What does Hannah drink then?”, he’ll reply, “Hannah drinks milk!” By the way, he does NOT forbid me to feed Hannah when Pete is around. And he did NOT forbid me to do so when we were in the States.
Also, Hannah is in the drooling stage right now, so whenever Ethan sees her drool, he would say, “No spitting, Hannah!” Sometimes he would use his fist and sort of hit her on the head or the chest. It’s hard to see this happen, and I always try to gently but firmly tell Ethan, “No hitting Hannah, Ethan. It hurts her, okay?”
And when I pick Hannah up, Ethan would ask me to carry him too! He’d ask me to “Put Hannah away, Mommy!” But when I put her down, he will be busy playing with his toys. I try to *entertain* him at home as much as possible with stuff like coloring, water-color painting, and his favorite videos, but Ethan is at that age where he wants to assert his individualism and independence at the same time, hence the “No!”s that abound time and again.
So beginning August, we decided to put Hannah with Ethan’s ex-sitter, Mrs Tan, for about half a day, just to see how she copes. At least I would have about half a day to run some errands and find a daycare for Ethan. I was a little worried about Hannah not taking any milk while away from me, because she does not take to the bottle at all. Well, anyway, after a few days, I decided to start her off on the regular toddler sippy cup and I am happy to say she is drinking well now. Psst….might need to get rid of her bottles soon!
With Hannah away for half a day, we managed to get Ethan started on halfday daycare at a nearby center. He is currently at the tail-end of his two-week orientation and will begin regular halfday daycare when the new school term starts in September.
That aside, the sibling rivalry still exists and I forsee it will be around for some time still. Lately he has also started to say, “No crying Hannah!” or “No laughing Hannah!”
But at the end of the day, sometimes Ethan surprises me and does loving big-brotherly things like holding Hannah’s hand while he falls asleep.
And that’s just one of the things he busied himself with while we were cleaning our apartment back home…amazing, ain’t it?
During our past 9 months or so here in San Jose, Ethan has definitely enjoyed a tremendous time here. And while we are in the midst of all our packing, I do think it is inevitable that Ethan will miss the precious time and the fun he had at daycare when we leave.
From a rather shy and not-too-many words little guy, Ethan is now talking non-stop, complete with a mind of his own! His confidence has skyrocketed, although he sometimes still is a little shy with strangers.
He has learnt SO many new things at his daycare: singing, dancing, reading, counting, adorable expressions, good manners…the list goes on.
He’s also made many womderful friendships. Wouldn’t it be cool if these kids were to meet up again a few years from now?
And I bet he also learnt a few things about how to be a good big brother too!
Yes, Ethan will definitely miss daycare here, but I am just so very thankful that he at least had the splendid opportunity to experience it.
And now, I just pray that we can find a good daycare back home that Ethan will love just as much.
It has always been a struggle to feed Ethan medicine. Back when he was still breastfed, I would just rely solely on breastfeeding to get him well. But when he was weaned, I dreaded it when he became ill. Usually, we just let nature take its course and he would eventually get better. Most people say that over-the-counter medicine for kids in the US are more palatable and hence, we should buy some to take home with us. Medicine that comes in various kid-approved flavours like cherry, bubble gum and grape definitely appeal to kids.
Well, most kids, anyway…but not Ethan.
Ethan has been coughing for several weeks now. The problem is he refuses to drink a lot of water AND he refuses to take medicine. We bought a bottle of Tylenol in GRAPE flavour. And although the mixture tastes really good, just like concentrated grape juice and nothing like the yucky tasting Rhinathiol or Polaramine, Ethan would have none of it.
We forcefed him this Tylenol Grape a few times, or rather we *tried* to feed him with it, but he would just spit it all out. Even though the characters in his favorite Dr Hippo books drink Grape medicine when they are sick, Ethan does not want to follow suit.
Now, our typical conversations would go like this:
Daddy: Ethan do you wanna drink GRAPE?
Ethan: No! I don’t want it!
Daddy: You have to choose: either drink Grape or drink water.
And of course he would gladly drink the water.
We tried to add the Tylenol into his chocolate milk a few times, but after just the first time, he suspected we had added it in, and he told me, “I don’t want grape Mommy!” And he would stand behind me as I poured the chocolate milk for him, just to make sure I did not add anything else in.
Sigh…
He is still coughing though, but I guess we have to wait for him to heal himself. Here’s what we go through every day:
Ethan: (coughs)
Daddy: Are you still coughing, Ethan?
Ethan (shaking his head): Nooo…I’m NOT coughing Daddy…
Daddy: You just coughed Ethan. You have to drink Grape!
Ethan: No Daddy. I don’t wanna drink Grape Daddy.
And then today…
Hannah coughs.
Ethan: Hannah coughing? Drink Grape!
Mommy: (coughs)
Ethan (immediately): Mommy, are you coughing?
Looks like our bags will not have bottles of grape-flavored medicine then!
I have no doubt in my mind that Ethan will miss Gilroy Gardens when we get back home to Malaysia. Almost every weekend, when we ask him where he would like to go, he would exclaim, “I wanna go to Gilroy Gardens!” It’s a good thing we decided to get the season pass (Lotsa Card) so we could enjoy unlimited entries into the theme park.
Well, last weekend, we made our final trip to Gilroy Gardens before we head back to Malaysia. As soon as we turned into the theme park, Ethan said, “I see it Mommy! I see the Gilroy Gardens signboard!” Yup, he was THAT excited. He even started dancing to the music before we entered the theme park.
Because it was our last visit (for a long time anyway) there, it was as if Ethan could feel it too, and he wanted in on as many rides as possible. Normally he would bypass the race car ride, but that day, he insisted on getting in.
And when we were ready to take the choo-choo train ride, Hannah was awake, so for the first time, our little family got on board the train together. There were only a couple of rides that allowed infants on, and the train ride was one of them.
The hot sunny weather was the perfect recipe for a good splashing time in the sun. And that’s exactly what Ethan had. There was this water squirting area where the kids could play in the water, and Ethan had a jolly good time there.
It was a fantastic day at Gilroy Gardens, and for what it’s worth, I think I am gonna miss this place too.
Goodbye Gilroy Gardens! We hope to come back again next time!
Reasoning
Daddy: Is Ethan a boy or a girl?
Ethan: A boy!
Daddy: Good! What about Daddy? Is Daddy a boy or a girl?
Ethan: Daddy is a boy!
Daddy: Very good! Is Mommy a boy or a girl?
Ethan: Mommy’s a girl!
Daddy: What about Hannah? Is Hannah a boy or a girl?
Ethan: Ummmm….ummmm…
Mommy: Hannah’s a girl!
Ethan: No! Hannah’s a BABY!
Authority
Mommy: Ethan, let’s go take a shower!
Ethan: No, Mommy, I don’t want it!
Mommy: You gotta go take a shower Ethan, you wanna be clean, right?
Ethan: No Mommy, NO! Go sit the naughty stool! Don’t do it again, okay, Mommy?
Customization
Daddy (playfully to Hannah): Who’s your Daddy?!
(Hannah smiles happily)
Ethan runs really quickly towards Hannah.
Ethan: Where’s my Ethan?!
Daddy: Who’s your Daddy?!
Ethan: No no Daddy, stay right there, okay?
Ethan (to Hannah): Where’s my Ethan?!
With Hannah spending all her time with Mommy, isn’t it a given that I would be busy taking pictures of my little angel? I cherish every minute I spend with her, whether it is breastfeeding her, bathing her, changing her, playing with her or simply just watching her sleep. There is something very angelic about watching a baby sleeping; with Hannah, I love seeing her sleeping position with both hands to her sides: so peaceful, so calm
Oh, and of course, I absolutely LURVE the smell of her head and her hair…and her SKIN! Intoxicatingly heavenly…and dare I say, strong enough to drive away the worries and stress of the day!
Hannah loves her tummy time; being rolled over from her back to her front, and then trying to inch her way forward. She’s very good, and is able to *adjust* her hand position in order not to let it be “stuck” when rolling over. Of course she can’t roll over herself yet, and needs to be supervised.
We bring Hannah out on days I go out, but I suspect she loves it better and finds comfort at home. The thing is, Hannah cannot stand heat at all! It’s summer now and way, way hot! Just a little rise in the temperature and she will be perspiring! And since she cannot *tell* us yet, she will wail and cry, all the way back home (if we are in the car): persistent, heart-wrenching cries that will not stop until we push her stroller back safely in the confines of our home and then turn the air-conditioning on.
But she does look adorable sitting in her infant car seat, no?
Oh, and apart from just sleeping and reclining in her infant-toddler rocker, Hannah can also sit quite comfortably in the Bumbo now! Of course, her big brother would then want to sit in it too! LOL
Last week, Ethan had his first visit to the dentist. I know we should have brought him when he was about two or two-and-a-half, but I was searching for a good pediatric dentist, fussypot that I am. Anyway, I stumbled on this pediatric dentist’s site and the pictures in his clinic looked really cool; with soft toys everywhere and smiling kids, I knew this was where Ethan could go.
I promptly made an appointment, and although we arrived at the clinic a little late, we quickly registered (while Ethan busied himself with Super Mario Bros.) and were ushered in. I went in with Ethan while Pete stayed in the reception area with Hannah.
The dentist’s examination room was nothing like the regular dental clinic. It almost seemed like a child’s playroom! Ethan immediately went for the Ikea bolster thingy, which coincidentally was the identical one he has at home.
Then the dental assistant got Ethan to warm up by giving him a giant toothbrush to brush the “dino”’s teeth:
It was funny cuz Ethan wanted to brush his own teeth at first!
Next, the dentist came in and explained that he would just be checking Ethan’s teeth and *counting* them. Unfortunately, despite Ethan saying “okay” back home when I told him what the dentist would be doing, he refused to lie down. So I had to hold Ethan, one leg on either side of my waist, then I faced the dentist, and lowered Ethan’s head so his teeth could be checked.
There was some buildup along the gumlines of some of his teeth, but thankfully no cavities. As usual, the dentist asked Ethan to brush at least twice a day and floss too. And as expected, when his teeth was counted, he had only 18: the 2 missing teeth were his two bottom incisors, just like Daddy’s.
We were then ushered to the x-ray room where Ethan was the perfect angel while his teeth x-rays were taken.
No fuss, no mess…he just bit on a piece of material for the x-ray to be taken, then his teeth picture was snapped; twice: once for the top jaw and once for the bottom.
Here’s his anxious look waiting for the x-rays to be ready.
Well, that soon turned to happiness when he was asked to choose a balloon: Ethan chose the red one:
His teeth x-rays looked fine, and we could see the permanent teeth below his milk teeth. It is possible though that he will still take after Pete and have 2 incisors missing in the bottom jaw.
Oh, and before we left the clinic, Ethan was asked to choose a toy too. He is very into musical instruments, so he chose a purple recorder!
We were told to make another appointment for cleaning of his teeth, so I did. And his teeth-cleaning appointment was 2 days ago…
I had explained to Ethan that it would just be a very simple brushing and cleaning and he would get a balloon and toy after that. On the way to the clinic, he was all, “I wanna see Mr Dentist!”
But as soon as the dental assistant was ready to start the cleaning procedure, Ethan looked very troubled and began sobbing. He lied down on the bench-like chair (totally flat, not reclinable like a regular dentist’s) and looked very upset. Maybe he wasn’t very sure what to expect, but after a few minutes of consoling and reassurance (and me holding a red balloon for him) he quietened down, wore his *sunglasses* and had his teeth cleaned.
The dental assistant did the following:
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flossed his teeth
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brushed his teeth with a toothbrush to show me (and Ethan) the correct way of brushing
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cleaned his teeth with a rubbery vibrating tool
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wiped his mouth and teeth dry with cotton gauze
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applied flouride *bubble bath* on the teeth
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wiped his teeth again
Ethan was to refrain from food and drnks for half an hour after that.
Good job, Ethan! Look at how sparkling clean his teeth are now!
And this is the toy he chose:
Looks like I’ll have to get him a balloon and toy the next time he visits a dentist in Malaysia!
We received Hannah’s birth registration form (Borang W) and her Emergency Travel Document from the Malaysian Consulate in LA today. The Borang W is just like the Malaysian Birth Certificate, except that it is issued to those who are born outside of Malaysia to parents who are Malaysian citizens.
The Emergency Travel Document is brown book that looks something like our Malaysian international passport. However it is valid only for 9 months from date of issue and can only be used for one-way travel. We’ll need to get Hannah a new Malaysian international passport when we get back to Malaysia.
What this means is that after our two-month wait, we can finally book Hannah’s ticket for home! By the way, still lovin’ that passport photo of Hannah’s
Wordart Credits
Collaboration between Dragonfly Summer kit from Graham like the Cracker & Bethany
Hannah is becoming such a friendly little girl now. It all started with her smiling when we spoke to her. Well, actually at first she only smiled at her Daddy most of the time, and with me, it was just a blur stare.
But now, she would consistently flash us the sweetest of smiles when we speak to her. Sometimes she would coo endearingly as if in reply to what we say.
She smiles at Ethan too, and even when Daddy does not say anything and just merely looks at her, he would be rewarded with her honey-sweet smile that just melts his heart…
The picture above was taken right before we were leaving for Gilroy for our Memorial Day shopping trip last Saturday. Do you think she was extra happy because of that?
Some people have asked us the inevitable question: “Is there sibling jealousy since Hannah arrived?”
Hmmm…while it is apparent that Ethan absolutely adores little Hannah, there are times when he displays some jealous streaks too. He would ask for us to carry him when he sees us carrying Hannah, he would insist that I put him down to sleep even when I am breastfeeding Hannah, and of course, he would ask us to “Put Hannah cot!” when he wants our undivided attention.
On the other hand, it appears that Hannah cries for attention more when her brother is around. Perhaps she senses some *competitive vibes* and so she responds with the only method she knows thus far.
Sibling jealousy goes both ways, I’d say…and yet, I can hardly wait for the day when my kids can play together happily, enjoying each other’s company.
At 2.5 months, we still can’t firmly decide if Hannah resembles her Daddy or her Mommy more, but one thing’s for sure, she certainly looks like Ethan! I dug out some pictures of Ethan taken when he was about 2.5 months too, and well…you guys be the judge…
Of course it’s quite hard to tell because of the differing amount of hair, but still…
…same engaging brown eyes…
…same cute lil button noses…
…same rosebud lips…
…and the same happy cheerful (toothless) smile!
Yesterday evening, Ethan had not one, not two, but FIVE surprises when he came home from daycare. The mailman delivered these five books from the Dr Hippo Series, which is a wonderful collection of stories written by Dr Charlotte Cowan, depicting animals with an illness, and how they recover from it with the help of a pediatrician named Dr Hippo.
As soon as I showed Ethan the books, he got all excited and he wanted me to read the books to him. I asked him to choose which one he wanted to read and he chose this one:
The Moose with Loose Poops tells the story of a little moose named Miles, who is suffering from gastroenteritis. Coincidentally, Ethan has had gastroenteritis before, and as I read the story to him, I was not sure if he recalled the ordeal he had been through. The book describes the symptoms of gastroenteritis in simple kid-friendly terms, referring to tummy upsets as “having waves in the tummy” resulting in Miles “throwing up”, and having diarrhea as “pooping a waterfall”.
Ethan adored the beautiful illustrations in the book. They were very colorful and drawn really well, enough to sustain my toddler’s attention till the “The End” page. He kept pointing out the details in all the pictures, i.e. the various toys, the animals etc. I found that I had to ad lib the story at times, because impatient Ethan would ask me to “turn the page” very quickly. And also, because he is more used to Daddy and Mommy instead of Papa and Mama as is being used in the book, I had to make the necessary modifications too.
All in all, a very informative book that teaches kids about what happens when they are ill. I also liked the fact that home-trusted remedies like “drinking lots of fluids” was included in the story, and I took this opportunity to stress the importance of that to Ethan.
Our boy was already very sleepy then, but he was still determined to finish reading all five books consecutively. After book number 2, I had to take a break from reading to breastfeed Hannah, so Daddy took over the reading task. After two books, Daddy remarked, “Why is everyone sick in these stories?” LOL - at that time he did not yet know the concept of the Dr Hippo series.
Well, you see, in addition to educating kids about the illnesses, these books all come with a detachable guide for parents on the back cover that provides parents with everything there is to know about gastroenteritis. Very useful for times when we don’t feel like reading through some thick childcare book.
Ethan fell asleep with the five books at his bedside last night. And he asked to read those books again today. I foresee the start of a beautiful friendship there…
Scrap Credits
QP Sahara from Mumure Scrapattaque
“Fall Memories” alphas from A work in progress
Glitter-Swirled Epoxy Alpha - YellowGold from Bon Scrapatit Designs
Hannah’s hair is miraculously defying gravity by standing up straight…well, the ones across the top of her head are. I have no idea when it first started, nor do I have any inkling as to when it will stop behaving that way.
When her hair is dry, it looks straight, but after her bath, my girl’s got the cutest curls on her head. What gives?
Will she take after my straight, fine hair, or have curly locks like Daddy’s? Only time will tell…
Much to my delight, Ethan has developed a keen interest in reading books lately. He would ask us to read to him all his books over and over again, and although sometimes he impatiently wants to turn the page, he would be all smiles when we read to him. Unlike his behaviour before when I tried reading to him, where he would push away the book disinterestedly, Ethan now voluntarily brings his books to us.
We do not have many story books here with us in the US, so instead of pathetically reading the ABC or Numbers book repeatedly, I decided to get him some new ones. Lately I have been trying to get some books online and it’s addictive, really!
I was so glad when this came in the mail today. Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar has got to be one of the most popular children’s books around today. And when Ethan refused to bathe yesterday, I showed him his surprise *treat* to be enjoyed after he took a bath and off he willingly went.
After his bath, he remembered the book, and happily asked me to read to him. All through the book, he was eagerly pointing out the things he saw. The moon, the sun, the caterpillar…he even counted the fruits like strawberries and apples.
And when we read that the caterpillar turned into a beautiful butterfly, Ethan exclaimed, “The End!” Sure meant a whole lot to me when he turned to me and said, “I like it Mommy! Thank you Mommy!”
Later that night, I read the book a couple of times to him again, including using it to calm him down when he was throwing a tantrum.
I’m sure we will be reading about the hungry caterpillar again this evening. And I can’t wait to share other wonderful stories with him.
Scrap Credits
Daydreamin’ kit (papers, elements & alphas) from Megan Turnidge
Word Art (I Treasure You) from Dirty Feet Designs aka Heather Benson
Lately Ethan added the word “buy” to his ever-expanding vocabulary. Actually I don’t even remember when it had started, but he understands the concept of buying stuff now.
Ethan: Mommy, I wanna watch vi-dee-lio (video)!
Mommy: Which video do you wanna watch?
Ethan: Ummm…ummm…Madagascar!
Mommy, But we don’t have the Madagascar DVD darlin’…you wanna watch something else?
Ethan: BUY Madagascar!!
Mommy: Ok, we’ll see if it’s on sale this weekend, okay?
Ethan: Okay Mom!
Mommy: Alright Ethan, go get your jacket and wear your shoes and socks!
Ethan: I wanna wear purple socks!
Mommy: You don’t have any purple socks, my dear…how about your green ones?
Ethan: BUY purple socks!
There’s Ethan’s very simple solution to get anything he wants!
And then just the other day…
Ethan: Mommmeeee….I wanna drink milk!
Mommy: Okay Mommy’ll get some for you. Which milk do you want? (I’d expected him to choose between chocolate milk, his Pediasure or soy milk)
Ethan: I want green milk!
Mommy: Green milk??!! There’s no such thing as green milk, Ethan!
Ethan: Errmmm…BUY green milk!
It will take some time before he realizes not everything can be bought!
Scrap Credits
NSD 2009 freebie template from Jen Caputo
Without End - partie 1 kit from Scrapmalin
Rough & Tumble Add On paper tear from Flergs
Worn Alpha from Bethany
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“Hi Hannah!” It’s very endearing to see Ethan going up to Hannah when he wakes up or when he comes back from daycare and greet her that way. Sometimes he will add in, “How are you, Hannah?” or “I love you Hannah” or “What you doin’, Hannah?”
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“Hannah, wake up!”
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When Hannah starts to cry when we are out in the car, Ethan will respond with, “Oh Hannah, don’t cry…we’re moving!” You see, Hannah, just like her brother when he was small, loves it when the car is moving, and as soon as we stop at traffic lights or an intersection, she will start to cry. Sometimes we would reassure Hannah by telling her that we are moving soon and tell her not to cry, so I suppose Ethan, in his own amazing intuitive ways, caught on.
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“Sit down, Hannah!” , while pointing to the couch.
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“Eat, Hannah!”, offering Hannah his milk or yogurt.
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When Hannah starts crying and wants to be fed or carried, Ethan will go up to her and say, “Oh, it’s okay Hannah, … don’t cry!” When we ask Ethan to give Hannah a kiss, sometimes he will touch his forehead to her head.
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“Here, Hannah…pull it!”, offering the musical mobile toy to Hannah, and then “Touch it!” while he holds Hannah’s hand to the toy. Just the other day, Ethan took his yellow Numbers book and put Hannah’s hand in such a way as to hold the book.
***
And when he wants Mommy’s or Daddy’s attention on him, when either one of us is carrying Hannah, he will say “Put Hannah cot!” He puts a lot of emphasis on the “T” after the “Put” so much so that it sounds like he said, “Put THE Hannah cot!”
Oh, by the way, Ethan pronounces Hannah as “HA-NA”, and not “Hen-NA” like us. It’s just so adorable the way he says it! And I bet those things he says to her right now are all just the tip of the iceberg with many many more to come as they both grow up!
Scrap Credits
Spring Blossoms QP from Bon Scrapatit Designs
Elegant word art (little moments) from Bethany
Without End - partie 1 (papier 04) from Scrapmalin
Ethan is getting very good at being polite now. He says Please and Thank You at the right times. When he does something wrong, he will look very sad, apologize and say, “Sorry Mommy” or “Sorry Daddy“.
He even says Good night and Good morning! … although these depend on his mood.
I remember a funny incident when he asked me for some chocolate. We would tell him that he can have just ONE Hershey’s Nugget on condition that he has finished his dinner.
Ethan (opening the fridge): Mommy, I want chocolate.
Me: Okay, since you have finished your dinner today, Mommy will give you one piece of chocolate.
Ethan (smiling happily): Chocolate!
Me: Here you go…what must you say, Ethan? (I was expecting him to say “Please”)
Ethan (without skipping a heartbeat): CHOCOLATE!
Me: No… you must say, PLEASE..
Ethan: Please Mommy…
Me: Okay, here you go…now what must you say?
Ethan: Thank you Mommy!
Now, the Please and Thank You come naturally
Lately, he has also learnt how to say “Excuse me“, but sometimes it sounds like he is saying “Kiss me“!! And yet, sometimes when someone or something is blocking his way, he forgets his manners and says, “MOVE!!!”
… well, sometimes he does remember to say, “PLEASE MOVE!”
Scrap Credits
Captured QP from My Life And Scrap
About girl butterflies from Elisja Design
Magnetic Poetry pieces from Digi-Designs by Nicole
As my little Hannah grows day by day, she’s starting to explore and discover more things. When I change her on the changing table, her favorite stance is to grab one of the little vertical bars on the table. And her grip is really tight too!
Another thing she has discovered recently is her fist. In her exercising and stretching sessions, she would inadvertently find her fist in her mouth, and she would then suck on it fervently!
Fist first, then toes next?
Maybe he just wants to join in the crowd…
Ethan has been requesting to carry Hannah on his own nowadays. He would make his request with both his arms outstretched.
I’d allow him to carry Hannah with her head on his lap and him sitting on the couch. I feel it is important to let Ethan know that he plays an important role as a big brother. Maybe this makes him FEEL like a big brother.
But one thing’s for sure…they look so adorable together, don’t they?
Scrap Credits
Strawberry Farms QP from Raspberry Road Designs
Moody Grunge Alphas from Mel Hains Designs
Phew! We just made it past Hannah’s second growth spurt! According to baby books and experts, an infant experiences growth spurts at certain periods during the first year of life and the approximate times are:
- 7-10 days
- 3 weeks
- 6 weeks
- 3 months
- 4 months
- 6 months
- 9 months
During these growth spurts, the baby’s appetite will increase, and a typical sign of a growth spurt is something called cluster feedings, i.e. when baby nurses several times close together, sometimes even in an hour or two! Hannah’s first growth spurt went by almost unnoticed, because she was still settling into her feeding and sleep pattern then, but just as I thought it was getting easier, she hit her second growth spurt about a week ago, and the LONG nights began.
In addition to waking up several times in the middle of the night, I had to remind myself to burp her properly after every feed and prop her body up at an angle after that. You see, Hannah has a slight case of Gastroesophageal Reflux (GER), and would sometimes throw up a little bit of milk. The first time she did that, I panicked, not because I didn’t know babies did that, but because it never happened to Ethan; that boy kept everything down! I remembered I just had to feed him, and burp or no burp, he would be okay after that. Maybe girls are more high maintenance…hehehe…
In any case, breastfeeding definitely helps an infant with GER, and I hope she’ll feel much better soon.
Oh, and she prefers to be burped over the shoulder! Doesn’t like the sitting and burping position…
Well anyway, I am glad we are nearing the end of this growth spurt…for one thing, it has certainly made our girl look more *bulat* by the day! She is fast growing out of her 0-3months clothes too!
Just the other evening, while we were relaxing in front of the TV, Ethan suddenly brought his yellow Numbers book and said it was for Hannah. You see, Ethan has four favorite board books: the red Animals book, the blue ABC book, the green Words book and the yellow Numbers book. All this time, he has self-assigned the red book for himself, the blue book for Mommy and the green book for Daddy. The yellow book was unassigned till that day.
Anyway, I then asked Ethan to read to Hannah. And so he did.
He flipped to the addition and subtraction page in the board book, and started pointing and read aloud to his sister.
He goes, “Five plus Five equals TEN!” and “Four plus Six equals TEN!”
He doesn’t say the word “minus” though, so he goes, “Three Two equals ONE!”
Scrap Credits
May Morn paper from Carjazi Designs
Elegant word art (a daughter is) from Bethany
Stamp cluster 8 (modified) from Lindsay Jane Designs
Boxed words from Chantal
In the past three weeks since Hannah came into our lives, I have been getting to know her based on her facial expressions:
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She frowns and purses her lips when she is about to do a poop.
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She smiles and sometimes giggles when she sees something she likes. Once she was fussing and crying, and as soon as I picked her up, she smiled at me as if to say, “Yay! Mission accomplished!”
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She raises her eyebrows, causing her forehead to crease after every feed. And she does this while stretching her entire body, in a satisfied manner.
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She looks at us with those gorgeous big brown eyes, as if she understands every word we say.
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She cries when she is hungry.
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She screams and wails when she is wet or needs a change, and brings the roof down when I am just a wee bit slow in getting the whole process done.
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..and of course, she lets out a YAWN when she is sleepy and tired.
Credits
Word Art from DigiDesigns by Denise
Ethan has been lovingly executing his brotherly duties, thus far, and these include:
Last week, we brought Ethan and Hannah for a routine pediatrician checkup; Ethan had his 3-year-old checkup, while Hannah had her 2-week checkup done.
Ethan was very cooperative. He happily undressed and put on a very cute hospital gown, and stayed very still while his blood pressure was taken, his eyes, ears and throat was checked, and he was very well-behaved too as Hannah was being checked.
Ethan’s height: 3′ (0.914m)
Ethan’s weight: 28lb (12.701kilos)
The doctor assessed Ethan and we were VERY amazed that Ethan could draw a CIRCLE when the doctor asked him to! Isn’t that spectacular?
Anyway, the doctor required that Ethan take a Tuberculin skin test and an anemia test. The anemia test is a simple finger prick test, and we were given the results immediately: Ethan is not anemic. As for the Tuberculin skin test, we had to return 48-72 hours later to obtain the results. The Tuberculin skin test (also known as the Mantoux test) involved injecting a little bit of Tuberculin into the skin layer of Ethan’s forearm and observing the reaction.
Our poor boy of course wailed and cried when both the Tuberculin test and anemia test was done. Not even stickers would pacify him.
The doctor also prescribed fluoride tablets for Ethan, given that the tap water in the area we live in does not contain fluoride. Ethan calls it his “circle” vitamins now, and thankfully, he happily takes one a day (they are grape flavored!)
Anyway, back to the Tuberculin test…we returned to the hospital 2 days later for the reading, and it was positive. Of course, Pete and I think it is possibly due to the fact that Ethan had his BCG vaccination at birth. Kids born in the US do NOT have the BCG vaccination and they take the Tuberculin skin test to test if they had been exposed to the TB bacteria. Now because Ethan tested positive for the skin test, as a routine protocol, we had to get a chest x-ray done on him to ensure he did not have the active TB bacteria in him.
Two days after the chest x-ray, the doctor called to let me know that the x-ray was fine and Ethan did not have an active TB disease in him. However, the doctors here are worried that the TB bacteria could lie dormant in the child’s body, as in latent tuberculosis, and recommended Ethan go on a 9-month medication.
Pete and I are declining this because it is very certain that Ethan’s initial positive skin test result is due to his BCG vaccination. Furthermore, Ethan will definitely NOT like to be on medication for such a long duration and also we would be headed for home in about 4 months’ time.
In any case, we learnt a few new things from this experience, but what is confusing is…the BCG vaccine is not a 100% fullproof prevention of the TB disease. If this is so, why are babies in Malaysia being vaccinated at birth? Why can’t they do away with the vaccine and perform the skin test instead?
There is certainly no doubt that newborns cry and poop a lot. It’s not any different with Hannah: she certainly has a good set of lungs on her and uses it to get our attention the best way she knows how.
As for pooping, well, her first poop happened only about 20 hours after she was born, but there has been no stopping her since. During the first week or so, I was changing diapers almost every hour or even more often, and every diaper change had some amount of poop in it. During the daytime I am using fitted cloth diapers, and because of the frequency of diaper changes needed, I was doing the laundry about twice a day! I’ve also had my fair share of projectile poop, even in the middle of the night!
I’m not complaining though. One of the signs of a healthy baby is denoted by the number of poops the baby has in a day.
…and we ALL know the kind of runny grainy poo breastfed babies are known to produce, right?
Credits
Favorite Place wordart from Kathy Winters Designs
Ever since Ethan had been elevated to big brother status, he has wowed me with his maturity and sensitivity when it comes to caring for Hannah. He would willingly help me bring stuff I need when Hannah needs a change or he would ask in his sweet little way, “Where did Hannah go?”, when he didn’t see Hannah anywhere around.
But sometimes a little bit of jealousy does surface and lately we noticed Ethan will get a little bit possessive of me when he sees me nursing Hannah.
He would request, “Mommy carry!” when he sees me feeding Hannah, and sometimes when I explain to him that I need to feed Hannah, he would say, “No! Hannah - Daddy carry!”, indicating that he wants Daddy to carry Hannah instead. It breaks my heart to say no to Ethan 
So sometimes, in fact most of the time…you will see me nursing Hannah on one side, and then hugging Ethan on the other! His behaviour is understandable, of course, and I don’t blame him at all. In fact, he is showing signs of being a terrific big brother!
I do try to spend as much time with Ethan as I can, modifying my schedule to make it happen. During the weekdays, I will take my shower earlier in the evening and if time and opportunity permits, give Hannah her bath before Pete brings Ethan back from daycare. This is so that I can spend more time with Ethan after his dinner and bath. I try to be there to tuck him into bed with his favorite book, but sometimes it gets a little bit tricky if Hannah needs me at the same time too.
Nevertheless, we are trying our very best and hanging in there
Scrap Credits
Sweet Surrender QP from Irene V. Alexeeva
Word Art (Remember Moments) from Dirty Feet Designs aka Heather Benson
Yesterday, I had my (now) weekly prenatal checkup with the OB/GYN. I am 38 weeks along now.
Coincidentally, Ethan’s daycare provider had an appointment in the morning, so Ethan had to tag along with us to the medical center for the checkup too. It was the first time we brought him along, not because we didn’t want to before, but because it would be a daunting task keeping his curious little hands away from all the equipment in the examination room.
Anyway, while in the waiting area, Ethan was very much his active little self, even offering his *services* to put away all the magazines that people had left strewn on the chairs. Of course, it goes without saying that his curiosity got the better of him and he began asking what this was and what that was. He even rehearsed saying, “Hi doctor!”
Then when my name was called, he looked on in amazement as the nurse took my weight. And in the examination room, he insisted on sitting on the chair by himself, and pointed at the pictures on the wall, asking what they all were.
But when my doctor came in, Ethan became very quiet all of a sudden, and it was only a few minutes later that he mustered up the courage to say hi to the good doctor. For the first time too, Ethan heard his sibling’s strong heartbeat when the doctor did his routine checkup. I was also due for a cervix exam, and while Pete *entertained* Ethan, the doc informed me that although the cervix was softening, it was still closed.
The checkup was all done in a jiffy, and Ethan said “Buh-bye!” to the doctor as we left.
He’s gonna be an awesome big brother, don’t you think?
…and he does it HIS way…
… asking for his toothbrush and toothpaste
… complete with gargle and spit action using his own cup
… and yes, *sometimes* (actually more often than not nowadays) he would insist that Daddy and Mommy brush our teeth too, after he has completed his task!
How can we turn down a “Mommy, brush teeth!” or “Daddy, brush teeth!” request that comes with a gentle shove towards the bathroom?
Ethan is a big boy now…
Scrap Credits
QP from Bronwen van Esch, made with Kim B’s new Roche kit
Elements from Freebie Janvier - Partie 5 kit from Scrapmalin
Stained Alphas from Designs by Sarah
Oooh yes. Another phase we are going through right now.
Ethan has moved on from asking “Apa tu?” to asking “What’s that?” almost everywhere he goes.
So our conversations will go a little something like this:
Ethan: Mommy, Mommy…what’s that? (pointing at item)
Mommy: That’s a computer mouse.
Ethan: What’s that? (pointing at the screen)
Mommy: That’s a volcano, darling.
Ethan: VOLCANO… what’s that?
Mommy: That’s the color purple.
Or sometimes when we are in the parking garage:
Ethan: What’s that? (pointing at one of the vehicles)
Daddy: That’s a truck.
Ethan: What’s that?
Daddy: That’s an SUV.
Ethan: SUV. What’s that?
Daddy: That’s a car.
Ethan: A Car! What’s that?
Daddy: That’s our car!
Ethan: *hop-hop-hops towards our car*
It ain’t always easy though. Sometimes he asks some trying questions too:
Ethan: Mommy, what’s that? (pointing to somewhere on the couch)
Mommy: That’s the middle of the couch, darling.
or…
Ethan: (pointing to a decorative item on the wall of the restaurant we were dining in) What’s that Mommy?
Mommy: That’s called a buluh sumpitan in Malay. Daddy: Blowpipe laaa!!!
(ooops)
***
On a separate note, Ethan likes to practise the many words he learns every day. Pete related this incident to me one evening when he was fetching Ethan back in the car:
Ethan: Sunny? Sunny outside?
Daddy: No Ethan, it’s dark outside now.
Ethan: Sunny? Glasses…. sunnyglasses?
Daddy: You wanna wear your sunglasses. No Ethan, it’s not sunny, you don’t need your sunglasses now.
Ethan: (pauses) Moon??? Moonglasses?
He is truly the JOY of our lives :)
Ethan has taken a strong liking to the computer. He frequently asks to use the “peter, peter, peter!” (Nope, he is NOT calling his Daddy by name; that’s how he calls the “computer” for short!)
Most of the time, we’ll tell him we’ll let him play on the computer AFTER he has had his dinner, or AFTER he has taken his shower. Seems to work some of the time.
Previously when we allowed him to play, he would need our assistance to click on the mouse, but he has since mastered how to do that all by himself. We normally allow him to surf the Playhouse Disney on Disney Online site, because most of the characters he loves are there.
Check out how he performs the left-click on the mouse in the snippet below. In this video I took, he is doing some digital coloring on the My Friends Tigger & Pooh section of the site. See how Ethan drags the numbered honey pots to the corresponding number on the picture and clicks the mouse to fill the picture with color. And look at how jubilant he is when he finished the activity!
Last night, he asked for the computer again. I told him he would get just 30 minutes before it was time for his bed.
And he said, “Okay Mom!”
I extended the 30 minutes to 45 minutes because he was so well-behaved, and when it was time to shut down the PC, I told him that was all for the night, and he obediently helped me shut down. He got his bedtime books ready (one for Ethan, one for Mommy and one for Daddy), scooted into the room, and before long he was in dreamland.
That’s my boy! 
Scrap Credits
Plum Pudding kit from Stacey Towers
Elegant word art (love chocolate) from Bethany
We have never known Ethan to have a sweet tooth. Yes, he likes to play with candy canes and sweets, but they hardly ever enter his mouth.
Lately however, our little boy has been showing a keen interest in all things CHOCOLATE.
It all started when Mommy began craving for come chocolate milk. So off I scooted to get a gallon. It sure did taste good, but was rather sweet too. I didn’t give any to Ethan at first, but you know our boy…of course he was curious when he opened the fridge and saw that big container sitting there.
So I told him it was chocolate milk and asked if he would like to try some…and what happened after that, as they say, is history. He simply LOVES chocolate milk now, and can down about three half cups at one go. Sometimes he would even wake up in the middle of the night requesting for chocolate milk. I sometimes mix a little bit of fresh milk to his chocolate milk, just so it is not too sweet for him.
In fact, since he loves chocolate milk so much, we have stopped his night bottle feeds on Pediasure now. He only has Pediasure with his bottle once a day, in the morning.
And guess what? He is also incredibly addicted to chocolate cake…Ethan’s Mickey Mouse birthday cake was a chocolate cake, and he has been eating most of it. He asks for chocolate cake and specifically wants ONLY the brown part! He’s not a fan of the cake frosting, you see. Well, he finished the last of the cake yesterday, but he is still asking me for more…perhaps I ought to bake a chocolate cake in the next few days.
Scrap Credits
Le petit prince a dit cluster frame from Elodie
Toy Store - Partie3 paper and ribbon from Digital-Crea
Elegant word art (sleep) from Bethany
It all started about 2 weeks or so ago. Ethan contracted high fever, up to 39.5°C. I had to stay home with him to monitor his condition and at times it was pretty scary, because the fever fluctuated up and down throughout the day. We then decided to take him in to Urgent Care, where we could just walk in and not have to make an appointment. But that meant waiting for quite a long while, and after the doctor’s checkup, and we had gotten the prescription filled at the pharmacy, there was the arduous task of force-feeding Ethan the antibiotics. Not a pleasant scene at all, I can assure you.
In addition to his fever, Ethan was also coughing and thus, he was finding it difficult to sleep and rest at night. He would kick and scream and refuse to sleep soundly, resulting in both Daddy and Mommy not sleeping well either.
But thankfully, he is better now. It is always a joy to see him back to his usual cheeky and perky self.
Being at home with Mommy for that extended period resulted in an uphill task in getting him ready for daycare after that. He would grumble and throw a big tantrum and became extremely whiny when we had to leave the house in the morning. And that’s not all…one day after we picked him up from daycare, he decided to make a big fuss about not wanting to leave the car, crying and screaming his lungs out in the car garage. And when we finally got him back home to our apartment, he started crying again. Although we put our foot down and warned him sternly that he was not to repeat it, it hurt our hearts to see him behave that way.
We were quite certain it was Ethan’s natural reaction to finally realising he was going to be a big brother soon, and we figured it was his way of trying to get our attention as much as possible. And we were at our wits’ end as to how to overcome it.
Then the weekend came…and amazingly, Ethan slept through till way past 9:00a.m. both on Saturday and Sunday! When he awoke, he was cheerful, smiling and had happiness written all over his face. He also had his afternoon nap. And added plus was that he began to have a better appetite for food!
So it looks like Ethan has finally inherited Daddy’s and Mommy’s traits of loving to sleep. Well, a growing mind and body definitely needs more sleep, and it is obvious that sufficient sleep makes for a happy toddler. And certainly, no one is complaining!
Scrap Credits
Anxiously Awaiting QP from Scraps ‘n Pieces
Dandelion dream alphas from A work in progress
Winter Spell3 -Partie 2 elements from Scrapmalin
Staple beads from Tracy King
Anxiously Awaiting QP from Scraps ‘n Pieces
Dandelion dream alphas from A work in progress
Winter Spell3 -Partie 2 elements from Scrapmalin
Staple beads from Tracy King
Sometimes we do catch Ethan deep in thought, as if he were engaging in a session of soliloquy. How I wish I could find out what he was thinking.
“I wonder how many of these Lay’s baked potato chips Mommy will allow me to eat. I’m not giving anyone any…”
“Why do I have to wear this hood over my head?”
“Should I take a nap this afternoon?…Nah…maybe I’ll run around the house.”
“Should I dismantle my train track, and make Daddy fix it back again? I do so love the different tracks he can create.”
“I wonder if Mommy will allow me to eat crackers for dinner, and nothing else.”
“Will Daddy and Mommy take me to the mall afterwards?”
“Should I tell Mommy I want to go potty, just because I want to flush the toilet? Maybe I should just go potty cos I just want to change my pull-ups. Hehe.”
“Hmmm….what will it be today? Would I look better in my car pull-up pants, or the cowboy pull-up pants? And why does Mommy always ask me to wear that blue minky training pants?”
“..and why are these weird-looking aunties and uncles offering me food?”
On Friday evening before we started our Christmas vacation, Ethan came back from daycare with a beautiful work of art. Well, beautiful in my eyes, I would say.
According to Van, he had made the red Christmas stocking all on his own, with her instructions, and he had stuck all the stars, deco and cotton by himself. Now what’s a mother to do other than to proudly display it on the fridge?
The artwork on the right was also made by Ethan a few days earlier, using popcorn as snow.
Scrap Credits
“QuickPage Glam Xmas” from Fanette
White Christmas mini kit from Southern Creek Designs
Snowflakes from Misfits Scrapz
Christmas Bling from Lindsay Jane Designs
We’re back home now from our one-week vacation, and I am so proud of Ethan for he behaved himself rather well throughout the trip. He has learnt so much and gained so much from our trip, and I am sure the memories will stay with him forever.
Scrap Credits
Quick Pages Sampler 6 from Amanda Heimann Designs
The Little Drummer Boy frame and polka-dotted paper from Piggyscraps
Winter Spell -Partie 2 tag element from Lilipruneau
Splats Freebie from Sev Designs
Ice Cold Alpha from Christie Lemmon Designs
Heart doodles from fei-fei’s stuff
Ethan’s favoritese character right now is none other than Mickey Mouse. His face will light up with joy whenever he sees Mickey strolling up the path at the beginning of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show, and even before the show starts, he will ask for “Mickey! Mickey!” And if we allow him to start watching the show in the morning before work, we have to wait till the show finishes with the Hot Dog Dance before we can leave the house. SIGH.
We recently bought him a Mickey Mouse soft toy from the Disney Store at the mall at a steal! It was only $8 and he absolutely loves it. Sometimes, he would *share* his water, his milk, his muffin, etc with Mickey. And sometimes he would also take Mickey on horsey rides on his shoulders, much like what we do with him. He really loves his Mickey dearly, and as his mood allows, he would also ask for Mickey before he goes to sleep.
Well, no prizes for guessing where we will be heading off to for our Christmas vacation next week!
Scrap Credits
Cozy collection & Bellissimo freebie from retrodiva {designs}™
Kit “Memory” Costura cross-stitch from Sueli Colbert
HoldEmUps from Tara Dunstan
Elegant Fall Alphas (punctuation commas) fromTracy King
Paper word strips from Sugarplum Paperie
Among the many words that have crept into Ethan’s vocabulary of late, one very important and precious word has been added too. And that word is “sorry”.
However, he doesn’t really use it much in the apologetic manner, but more so when he accidentally bumps, or hurts himself. For example, when he is playing or running around, and he accidentally falls down or knocks his knee, he will put on a really adorable and sad face and say, “Oh sorry, sorry…”. And only when we kiss the spot that hurts does he go about his own business again.
Speaking of getting hurt accidentally, we have noticed that since Ethan started attending daycare, he has become more gungho and is more adventurous. Sometimes he throws caution to the wind, and well, ends up getting hurt.
But regardless, with that face, and that tone of voice going, “Sorry”, it’s really hard to resist not giving him a hug and kiss!
Ethan has developed a love for several different food items here in the US. And I continue to harbor the hope that he will like more types of food soon. I’m elated that he adores my blueberry muffins and asks for them even when they are all gone, and lately he started liking pancakes too. I bet it must be the maple syrup
Oh, he likes fries too, and he really likes those at In n Out! After all, they are made of potatoes, and potatoes are a kind of vegetable, aren’t they?
We were rather worried about his Pediasure though, so we shipped several tins of Pediasure from Malaysia. Turns out they DO have Pediasure here in the States, but in a different form. Here, they have it in easy-to-carry 8oz bottles and they come in different flavors.
Ethan now finishes an 8oz bottle of Vanilla-flavored Pediasure at daycare every day, but at home, I still give him warm milk from the powdered Pediasure. I made a mistake and bought the first 6-pack of Pediasure in Strawberry flavor, when I should have bought Vanilla, which is closer in taste to the regular Pediasure he drinks.
He also drinks regular chilled milk, sometimes whole (full cream) milk, and sometimes reduced fat milk. We get the lactose-free kinds, because both Daddy and Ethan are slightly lactose-intolerant.
Ethan would ask for milk and after he finishes a cup, he’ll ask for “more”. I wished they would also sell this in Malaysia!
Besides milk, his other dairy intake include yogurt and cheese. A popular kids’ yogurt here is Yoplait, which has Dora and Diego on the packaging. I was not surprised when Ethan starting asking for Dora and Diego when he opens the fridge! Ethan only likes the Strawberry, Strawberry Vanilla, Strawberry Banana and Vanilla flavors, however. And the yogurt is really really THICK, much like custard, if you ask me. Of course, it goes without saying that Ethan likes ice cream too, but we prefer to give him yogurt instead of ice cream.
I thought Ethan had lost all interest in cheese, but when we bought a pack, he got all excited again. The cheese here looks more yellow in color and they seem a tad thicker, so I am guessing it is more filling for his little tummy. According to his daycare report, he can finish 2 slices at one time!
Last but not least, we have his very favorite Yakult drink. We brought several packs from Malaysia but he finished them all within one and a half weeks! They do sell Yakult here in US but the packaging is not the same, although the taste is. The price, though, is a pricey USD2.99 for 5 bottles, almost triple the price in Malaysia! That’s why we recently asked one of our friends to bring several packs from Malaysia when our friend relocated here. And last night, Ethan was really so happy to discover his “pot of gold”! I think he slept more soundly last night! Hehe…
Ethan’s current favorite restaurant food is the Princess Tofu, which is served at Layang-Layang, a Malaysian restaurant we discovered recently.
He loves the gravy over his rice and can eat quite a lot of it, something which we are always happy about.
Look at how energized he is after the meal. This was taken last weekend when we went for an apartment community gathering nearby. Ethan also enjoyed his ice cream, as you can see…
Is it any wonder how a happy meal makes a happy boy?
Scrap Credits
Eloquent kit & Treasure Hunt Mini leaf element from SweetDigi Scraps
HoldEmUps from Tara Dunstan
Doodle Me Big doodles from Mikkel Paige Original
Alpha matching RAIC from Amy Sumrall
Elegant word art (love heart could hold) from Bethany
…well, except it’s not exactly “Mommy” that he calls me.
Ethan only started calling “Daddy” really clearly a few weeks before we left Penang for the United States. I remember it happened one evening when we were all resting and playing in the living room and I prompted him to go call Daddy. And he said ever so clearly, “Daddy!” And then that same night, when I was about to give him a shower, Ethan wanted “Daddy!” too.
Ah yes. It was and still is a magical word that will open many doors for Ethan.
But while his “Daddy” was loud and clear, he remained tight-lipped when we asked him to call “Mommy”. He did call me a few times but it was inconsistent. By and by, he started calling me *something* that sounded like Mommy but was not. And this was very consistent.
He calls me… “Martee“.
Yeah. I think it’s because he links it from “Daddy” (”Da-dee”) and then maybe he thinks it’s “Mar-tee” or “Ma-dee”…you know, just by changing the first syllable and maintaining the last one?
Anyway, it’s kinda embarrassing sometimes because Ethan calls a banana “Martee” too, and sometimes even Barney “Martee”. Well, in a most unqiuely endearing kind of way, Ethan addresses me as “Martee”, his way of calling me “Mommy”… albeit differently, but I am certain, filled with love and sweetness in every way.
I look forward to going to daycare every weekday morning now. When I wake up in the morning, I stretch and roll around on my bed till Mommy comes and coaxes me to get up. Then I have my drink of milk. Most of the time, Mommy will also give me a quick shower before dressing me up. It’s rather chilly outside now, so I get to wear my long pants and sweats, which I personally think make me look cool.
Sometimes while Daddy is having his breakfast, I will hijack some of his Frosties with milk too. It’s yummilicious! Then I’ll put on my jacket and shoes and head out the door.
When we reach Aunty Van’s place, I like to stroll up the pathway to her apartment. Sometimes I do a hop, skip and jump too! Lately, I have been getting delicious pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast. I love it loads, especially cos I get to eat together with my friends at daycare.
Sometimes Aunty Van would take a few pictures and that’s when I like to show how good I am at posing for the camera, see?
We do lots of stuff at daycare, like singing, dancing and even fun activities like bubble play and playing with the parachute! We also do creative artwork every day, one of my favorites being the coloring sessions. I bring home my art to show Mommy and Daddy every evening when I go home.
But it’s not just the fun we have indoors, we get to go outdoors too! Aunty Van will take us all in a train buggy; we all get to ride in one buggy each, and we all need to remember to buckle ourselves up first. Aunty Van takes us to the park, where there are play areas complete with a play structure and slides. I love it outside, especially when the weather is just nice, not too hot and not too cold.
Daddy will be glad that the football training he has been giving me is not put to waste at daycare. Why, just the other day, I got to show off my Zidane-like skills when we went to the park with the football. Oh, over here in the US, I think they call it SOCCER. But whatever it is, I still had tons of fun!
I’ve learnt a lot of new things at daycare, and I am definitely having a BLAST! Sometimes when Daddy or Mommy comes to pick me up in the evenings, I am even reluctant to go home!
Top on our priority list when we arrived in CA was to find a daycare center for Ethan as soon as possible. We had a few shortlisted and as soon as we found time, we started our daycare hunt. We wanted to get a daycare that was near to where we were staying and let’s be honest, there weren’t many to begin with.
I made an appointment for a short tour at a nearby daycare center, but for the price they were charging (close to USD1600 per month), it wasn’t that all impressive. Ethan did seem to enjoy himself while we were there though.
Our relocation consultant also managed to locate a few nearby daycare centers, and we visited some 3-4 of them. Some looked okay, but others were either too far away or we just didn’t have a good feeling about it. But it certainly became clear that Ethan was VERY ready for daycare.
Then Pete googled for a daycare center near where we were staying, and miraculously found one. We visited the place one fine morning and well, both Pete and I loved it at once. It’s a home-based daycare, with only a maximum of 6 kids. Currently the daycare owner is looking after 2 toddlers (around Ethan’s age), and a one-year old baby. One of the toddlers is her own daughter. Although this daycare is in a very homely apartment with rather limited space, the daycare owner, Van, has a cute little buggy (it looks like a little train with mini carriages for each kid) that she uses to pull the kids in to the park just across the road. Best of all, the daycare is only about 10 minutes’ drive away from our apartment and all meals (breakfast, lunch & 2 snacks) will be provided.
The daycare was a rather new one, and it was only gonna be licensed in a few days’ time. We decided to wait till the daycare was properly licensed before we signed up. In the US, it is illegal to run a daycare without a license.
So last Monday, as soon as we found out that this daycare was licensed, our relocation consultant drove Ethan and me to the center to settle the billing details. I decided to leave Ethan there for about an hour while I left to apply for my social security card. And guess what? He was all right! Didn’t make a fuss at all and was all smiles when I came back to pick him up.
The next day, Pete dropped Ethan and I at his new daycare in the morning. The plan was for me to stick around till Ethan was all right with the new surroundings. And he certainly seemed okay. He loves all alphabets on the alphabet floor mat, he loves reading the books and playing with all the toys, and he really looks at home there.
Pete and I left for lunch that first day, and when we came back from lunch, Ethan was still busy running around. I stayed at the daycare the rest of the day, busying myself with my laptop (thank goodness there was wi-fi there!) Ethan hardly bothered me, and he played around with the kids and the toys.
The second day, I was with Ethan in the morning at daycare and left the daycare at lunch time, so Ethan was alone at daycare till we fetched him back in the evening. So far so good.
On the third day, when Pete picked me up for lunch, and when we told Ethan Mommy and Daddy would pick him up after work, he suddenly bawled! He cried so loudly, and screamed, “Daddy! Daddy!”, while hugging Pete ever so tightly. And then he started to cry for me too. I simply couldn’t control my tears from falling, but I hardened my heart, gave Ethan a nice big hug and reassured him that we would take him back afterwards. In between sobs, we left the daycare center.
During lunch that day, Pete and I decided that I would take the car after lunch, so that I would be able to fetch Ethan back earlier. And that’s exactly what I did. Boy, was he ever overjoyed to see me!
Actually, I was afraid that he would continue crying the next day when he was dropped off at the daycare, but Pete said Ethan was all excited as soon as Van opened the door and Ethan ran to play with his toys immediately. Whew!
At daycare now, Ethan is off the bottle. I’m trying to wean him from the bottle, and this is the perfect opportunity to do so. I only provide a bottle of Pediasure and he drinks it from the cup. Here in the US, the Pediasure comes in 8oz bottles, and the milk is refrigerated. So far so good, he has been finishing one bottle at daycare every day. At home he still takes milk from the bottle though….I’m weaning him a step at a time
We will also be starting his toilet training soon. Currently Ethan is able to tell me when he wants to poo, so we need to work on his peepee.
I’m also hoping that Ethan will be adventurous enough to try a variety of foods now that he is in daycare. I’ve heard that many kids start eating different foods once they see other kids doing the same.
We get reports on what happened at daycare, i.e. what Ethan did, what he ate, what were his activities, etc. I think it’s a nice touch and at least it helps me know what my Mr Bulat has been up to in my absence. And last Friday, we even got an Ouch Report, cos there was a teeny accident where Ethan was chasing another toddler around and bumped his little toe on the wall corner. There was some bleeding and Van applied some antiseptic cream and a BandAid, but unfortunately, Ethan tore the plaster off.
As for his afternoon naps, that seems to have been forgotten by Ethan. Since he started daycare, he has not napped at all in the afternoon. But actually, he has not napped much in the afternoon since we came to the US.
Yesterday evening, after I fetched him back from daycare, we came back to the apartment and when Ethan saw these on the table, he could hardly resist eating one. Freshly baked blueberry muffins, just for him!
After that he had some strawberry yogurt, and I put his Barney DVD for him to watch while I prepared dinner. A while later though, I was met by such an adorable sight:
Looks like he fell asleep on the couch!
Well, he needs all the rest he can get after running around and playing the whole day! Ethan certainly looks forward to daycare now, he’s say, “Friend!” when we tell him we are taking him to daycare, and sometimes he says, “Bay-bee!”, referring to the one-year old baby. He even knows how to call “Antee Van!”
Ethan received many presents from many people before we left for the States. Some we were able to ship together with our shipment, but some, unfortunately, we had really no space left in our bags since our shipment had already gone when we received them.
One of the bigger presents that made it in time for the shipment was this rather huge box containing a Matchbox toy ensemble. It was a present from Ethan’s Kor-Kor, Aunty Pauline, who thought it was time our little boy was exposed to *macho* toys. Well!
Anyway, when our shipment arrived in the States about a week and half after we did, Ethan was very excited when he saw the Matchbox box, and asked me to open it up for him. In it was a castle, a dragon, a boulder and a brown truck, among others.
Ethan was EXHILARATED! He was especially enthralled by the car/truck, and he kept saying, “Car! Car!” excitedly. In fact, he was even willing to forgo his milk just to play with the car.
So when we saw a set of five other Matchbox vehicles on sale for less than USD5, we knew we just had to get it for him. And got it we did. The original truck/car that came with the toy set is the one at the far left. And here’s Ethan’s very cool car collection now, including a helicopter which he loves to make it land on the castle tower.
Daddy even taught Ethan how to *play* with cars, complete with sound effects, and not surprisingly, Ethan followed suit. In fact, Ethan is also asking us to “open” the doors of the cars, but unfortunately the ones he has do not have doors that can be opened. We’ll put that on the list of things to buy though.
But you know, I bet once we fix batteries on that castle ensemble, his grin will be even cheekier than this one!
Even now when we are more or less settled in the States, I still sometimes think about how Pete and I managed to travel that long-haul journey with Ethan, all the way from Malaysia. Some planning came into play way before we boarded the aircraft, and although some of our plans worked out, some did not, and we had to be flexible enough to change and adapt accordingly.
Here are some of the things we took into consideration:
- Travel as light as possible. Each of us checked in one piece of luggage, and we brought only ONE carry-on luggage. Pete and I also had our laptops with us, but thankfully, those could be slung over our backs. The idea here was to have as many hands free as possible, so we could take care of Ethan.
- We packed a few entertainment stuff for Ethan too, among others a brand new doodle pad. It’s just a tiny one, something he could do to amuse himself. I also had a sticker book in the bag, and that was a lifesaver. He played with the stickers right before we boarded the flight to Hong Kong, and the book followed us all the way to the States!
The greatest challenge we faced in the aircraft was when it was time to buckle up. Sometimes Ethan would cooperate, but most of the time, he preferred to be unbuckled. So especially during takeoffs and landings, when we absolutely needed to put on the seat belt, Pete pulled out the most “imaginative weapon” ever. Knowing how much Ethan loves to play with cards, Pete brought out his wallet, and Ethan had fun taking out and putting the cards back in. That kept him safe and secure all through takeoffs and landings.
We wanted to rely on the toys given by SIA to toddlers for entertaining Ethan, but unfortunately, they weren’t much to shout about. Well, he did get himself a toy watch, placemat and stickers, deck of cards and a lanyard, but that was about it.
Let’s hope the return journey in a few months’ time would be an improvement, what with us travelling with a baby too!
One of our primary concerns when we relocated to the States was how Ethan would adapt to the change. For one thing, Ethan is a very fussy eater, and we were worried if he would be able to accept the food here. So we tried our best to make the transition as smooth sailing as possible.
With the safe arrival of our FedEx food shipment, we were definitely relieved, because I could now cook dishes Ethan would enjoy, like tau-ewe-bak, chicken serai and claypot chicken rice. However, my objective is still to have Ethan try out and love a variety of many other different foods.
To make him more comfy in his new environment also, we brought along a little present for him from Malaysia. And the morning after we arrived, I took it out and asked him to unwrap it. Knowing how much he adores alphabets and numbers, we got him a set of colorful wooden blocks. I tell you, just seeing his face light up with excitement was enough to make my day.
Well unfortunately, a few days later, he started throwing these blocks around the apartment. I gave him a warning that I would take them away from him, but when he kept on throwing them, I stored the blocks away one day while he was asleep. Looks like he doesn’t even miss them though. SIGH.
In the span of the past few weeks that we have been here, we have seen Ethan grow in leaps and bounds. Not only has he become more sociable and vocal (and stubborn), he seems to have become more independent too. For one thing, he loves to take his bath, and I attribute this to the bath tubs. Oh, we got him some colorful foam alphabets and numbers to while his time away in the tub. Hehe.
And the first weekend we were here, we had a barbecue gathering by a nearby apartment poolside. Ethan would only eat raisins and chips though, but he sure made a lot of new friends.
It definitely looks like our fears of Ethan having trouble adapting to life in the States are unfounded, because not only has he proven he’s a tough guy, he’s very resilient too. In fact, when the weather’s chilly, Pete and I are feeling really cold, I feel Ethan’s hands and feet and he’s warm and cosy.
That’s my little man right there… these pictures were taken a few days ago when we were out having a snack at In-N-Out. The first picture was taken before the food came:
See our grouchy he looks?
And this second one is taken after the meal. Ethan only had (a lot of) fries, but here’s his look of satisfaction as he enjoys his pink lemonade drink:
Ethan simply loves being in a hotel. Whenever we bring him on hotel stays, we can tell he really has the time of his life!
In the recent weeks, we have had the chance of staying in a few different hotels. When we checked into the E&O recently, Ethan immediately made himself at home in the room.
He loved playing with the oranges they provided, and asking us to turn on the TV for him, switching channels here and there, but most of all, he adored the bath tub.
He would keep saying “Tub! tub!”, and it wasn’t long before he figured out how to climb into the tub on his own. There was no trouble at all getting him to take his bath. At home, we sometimes need to chase him around the house to get him to take a shower, but here in the hotel (with a bathtub), he will willingly undress and climb in.
After his bath, and his nightcap, he still would not sleep, but instead chose to climb onto a chair and “see” outside the window. It was raining cats and dogs that night, and Ethan was truly intrigued. He especially like the “fan”-shaped tree, which could be clearly visible from our window.
So when we were in KL a few days ago, and we stayed in Crowne Plaza Mutiara KL, where the room had a tub, we knew our boy would be really excited!
And he was
Bubbles everywhere!!! He even tricked Pete by calling “Daddy! Daddy!” and when Daddy came to see him in the tub, he splashed bubbles and foam all over his Daddy. Cheeky lil fella. I wonder if he remembers his very first trip in this same hotel about a year back…
He is becoming quite the pro at using the bathtub now and he really makes full use of the tub by lying down and enjoying the bubbles, and then flipping over and kicking the water with his feet, as if he was swimming. Then he would make waves with his arms and stomp around the tub while screaming in delight.
We think Ethan will really love it in the States, where our apartment comes with TWO bathtubs. Well…we’ll see then, won’t we?
Ethan got himself a bungalow last Saturday. Make that “bungalow”…in inverted commas.
It was “presented” to him during his playschool session as he was having his snacks. He was happily munching away on his biscuits and then he apparently turn around to look at me, lost his balance somehow and fell down from the bench. Normally he would be able to break his fall with his hands, but since his hands were full (holding the biscuits), he hit his forehead on the ground, earning him a gigantic bump on the left side of his forehead.
We were SHOCKED. As was Ethan, because he didn’t immediately cry, but only after a while did he wail out loud. We tried to put an ice pack on the bump, but Ethan would not allow it to be there for long. After a few minutes of on-and-off ice packs, the bump subsided a little.
He looked his normal self, and was smiling away a while later. In fact, if I may say so myself, it certainly does appear that he has become more active (and mischievous) after the fall, believe it or not.
Here’s a sneak on what the bump looked like in the evening:
I took this picture right after THE MATCH. The TV in the background shows the logo of Liverpool: we beat Man U 2-1!!! Woohooo!!! Sorry, couldn’t resist that
Here’s what Ethan looks forward to when we go to church on Sundays:
- Pointing at the numbered pews and loudly exclaiming “One!”, “Two!”, “Three!” and so on.
- Pointing at the words projected on the projector and shouting the letters out loud, much to the amusement of everyone around him.
- Sitting on the seats like an adult would.
- Giggling at toddlers nearby.
- Making his usual rounds around the church sanctuary.
- Kneeling when we kneel and praying (hands in prayer position) when we pray.
- Raising his hands in worship during The Lord’s Prayer.
- Wishing everyone “peace be with you” with his hands clasped together and flashing the most adorable smile ever.
- …and of course, THIS:
During Ethan’s recent checkup at the PD’s, I mentioned to Dr Jessica that I was rather worried about Ethan’s eating habits; that he did not want to eat pieces of meat and vege, but instead only liked the carbs. I told her I was concerned if he had worms in his tummy. And that was when Dr Jessica said she was glad I brought it up, because she normally dewormed her patients when they turned 2.
She prescribed Vermox for Ethan, and it was probably a good thing too, because lately he has a bad habit of playing with his mouth and tongue. And goodness knows what he has touched before that. The booklet of instructions contained in the Vermox box specifically warned that it should be administered on kids 2 years and over only. The dosage was 10ml (the entire bottle) and according to Dr Jessica, it had a sticky constituency.
Pete and I were scratching our heads, trying to think of an effective way to feed 10ml of foreign liquid to Ethan, when even 2.5ml of medicine would be met with protests, kicking and screaming. I know the Vermox is a chocolate flavored one, which is usually okay with kids, but Ethan doesn’t really like chocolate too.
I kept the box of Vermox in the fridge for a few days, and of and on, Ethan would pick up the box out of curiosity and ask me to open it. We did consider pouring the Vermox mixture into the small plastic cup provided and coaxing Ethan to drink from it, but the whatif was if Ethan pushed away the cup, the whole mixture would be wasted.
Then Pete suggested mixing it into Ethan’s “nenno”. I was a bit apprehensive at first because the risk was that if he rejected it, then he might reject future feeds of “nenno” too. But then last night, I took a look at how much 10ml was compared to Ethan’s nightly 6oz feed, and it was rather negligible.
So I bit the bullet, made Ethan’s milk last night with 6oz of warm water, 3.5 scoops of Pediasure and poured the 10ml of Vermox into the mixture. The 0.5 scoop of Pediasure was a little assurance to offset the smell and taste of Vermox, if any. I took a whiff of the mixture I had concocted and it smelled vaguely like chocolate milk, though visually it still looked like “nenno”.
After Ethan’s shower, I took him to the room to dress him up in his peejays. Gave him his milk when he asked for it, and sang him a few songs. While singing “The wheels on the bus”, I mentally kept track of the decreasing amount of milk in the bottle. Halfway through “Thumbkin”, and he was almost done. I sang a few more nursery rhymes, complete with actions, and voila! He polished the entire bottle of milk
….together with the Vermox 
Scrap Credits
Playdate Mini kit from Amy Bleser
Paper word strips from Sugarplum Paperie
Elegant word art (boys are kisses) from Bethany
Polka dotted arrow from Dúnia
Confetti from Aja Abney
When once he clung to Mommy, now he will happily play with his toys. Although most of the time he still plays in silo, he is slowly overcoming his shyness.
When once he will only play with the ball in the playground, he now loves to slide down the slides in addition to all other activities.
When once he didn’t want to join in the singing and clapping, he now willingly obliges, sometimes even offering to be the first one to hold the *window* for the Window Song.
When once all he wanted to do was to run away from the singing session, now he waves and smiles happily at the kids. His attention span is still very short though, and it won’t be long before he prefers to walk around the hall, or to *disturb* Daddy.
When once he would not want to even be a part of any song, now he loves the action songs. He doesn’t do them all though, but it is apparent his favorites are the ones requiring everyone to move around the room…and of course, the one that ends with everyone “falling down” on the floor!
When once he could not wait to go home after the session, now he will wait patiently for Teacher Puva to give him a sticker or two. He’s a real gentleman and will not bulldoze his way for his stickers, but will sit and wait.
When once he pushed teacher away when the class was over, only content to wave and give a flying kiss, he now gives a nice hug before we say goodbye.
The 3 months or so with Learning Garden has indeed been a blessing, and we look forward to more.
Scrap Credits
Always Welcome kit from Kelly Puddy
The Promise Collection Alphas from Shabby Princess Designs
Doodle Me Big doodles from Mikkel Paige Original
Monogram ampersand & cluster from Sugarplum Paperie
Word Art - 3 from fei-fei’s stuff
Getting Ethan to bed is a routine for us now. He takes his shower at about 8-ish and then has his “nenno” while I dress him up in his peejays.
Then, he will get his fair share of word videos, where he repeats the words he sees. Sometimes he prefers a good Barney DVD to while his time away. He kinda knows that he is only allowed to watch the TV after his bath, and so when we undress him and tell him it’s time to bathe, he will very obediently run to the bathroom.
Anyway, after watching his videos, I will tell him it’s time for bed, and he will either walk to the room on his own and wait for us to open the door for him, or if he is in a “manja” mood, he will ask us to carry him into the room.
He will then roll around on the bed, and sometimes, he will only want Mommy to be there with him. In this scenario, he will push Daddy away gently, wave goodbye and even give a flying kiss to Daddy
Then he will want to hug me to sleep. There were a few times where I told him to hug his pillow to sleep instead, explaining to him that Mommy will hug my pillow and Ethan will hug his pillow. Well, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But in the middle of the night, if he wakes up because of a nightmare, he will need to be hugged and comforted to sleep. Even in the mornings, if Ethan wakes up and I am not in bed, he will go over to his Daddy and hug him instead.
I know he will soon outgrow his hugging needs, but I am not sure if I am ready to let go yet…because I’m sure you know how therapeutic a hug can get, huh? I guess I’ll cherish it as long as it lasts…
Scrap Credits
You are so beautiful add-on kit from Doreen Stolz
Acrylic alphas from A work in progress
Beach Blanket freebie bent frame from Maria LaFrance
Edgy Valentine grungy heart element from Nicole Norcutt
Paper word strips from Sugarplum Paperie
Our three-day holiday weekend came and went in the blink of an eye. But Pete and I are always thankful for those precious moments we get to spend with our darling Ethan, and we know that Ethan loves weekends and holidays as much as we do too.
I have no doubt in my mind that the precious quality time we spend with him is by and by making him more confident and sure of himself, and last weekend I was an even more prouder momma of my little boy when he began uttering more words
Our days and months of showing, telling and teaching him what an apple is finally bore fruit when our boy, who was watching an educational video, suddenly said “Air-puh!” I was pleased, of course, but I wanted to make sure the word is consistently said.
After our Saturday evening walk, I saw Ethan wandering in the kitchen and asked him,
“What are you looking for, darling?”
And our boy promptly replied,
“Air-puh!”
And so, even though we were still full from the dinner we just had, I happily relented and cut him some slices of “air-puh”
There are many more other words which he picked up recently, much to the amusement of Mommy and Daddy, among them “elephant”, which he consistently refers to as “eh-pah-pah-pah….”, a variation of the “air-puh”, methinks.
And also, it thrills me to no end that he has also started asking for “book” when he wants to sit on his throne. Chip of the old block, eh?
Scrap Credits
Freebie Maio from Mitia Assef
Elegant word art (Little Things Big Things) from Bethany
Rustic Walk alphas from A work in progress
Stamp cluster 12 (modified) from Lindsay Jane Designs
Confetti from Aja Abney
Polka dotted arrow from Dúnia
Ethan is starting to live up to the Mr Independent tag on his peejays, yeah, the one his Daddy got him from US. The things he can do, he must do by himself, some bordering on being a perfectionist at heart to obsessive compulsive disorder-ism. Ah well. Maybe it is his own style of doing a Frank Sinatra “I’ll do it My Waaayyyyy…..”
When we are getting ready to go out, he wants to take his own shoes and place them on the floor for us to wear. If we help him take his shoes, he will protest loudly and demand that we put them back on the shoe rack where he can take them himself. Sometimes, when he is all done and ready to go and I am still not out of the door, he will choose a pair of shoes for me from the rack and place it at the doorstep, all ready for me to put them on!
When he asks for his “nenno”, and I give him his bottle, he will refuse it. He wants me to put it somewhere where he can retrieve it himself. Then he will finish the entire bottle.
He wants a spoon of his own when we go out and eat. If it is rice, he will attempt to scoop the rice and feed himself. If it is noodles, I will put some of the noodles on his spoon and he will feed himself with the spoon.
He has a peculiar way of drinking water (I hope this only happens at home, though). He wants me to carry him up to reach for every one of the cups from left to right IN ORDER of arrangement, rinse it and fill it with a little bit of water, then he drinks from it, repeating the process with all the cups. We have a stainless steel mug rack with 2 layers which can hold 3 mugs per layer. So imagine me doing this with a *slightly-heavier-than-a-rice-sack* on one arm SIX times! Ah well…as long as it gets him to drink water happily.
Speaking of drinking water, nowadays when we are out and about, he prefers not to drink from the straw in his tumbler, rather he would ask me to unscrew the cover of his tumbler and he will hold the entire tumbler with both hands and drink from the rim. I guess he figured it’s faster that way…
All his Yakult bottles need to be arranged in a single row across the shelf in the refrigerator. If the shelf cannot fit all, then he has to rearrange them all over again. Same thing goes for his books. He must arrange them all neatly in a row, otherwise he gets frustrated.
Well, that’s what makes Ethan … Ethan!
*** updated with photos of prizes ***
While waiting for the laundry cycle to complete late last night, I logged in to check my email. That was when I saw a mail from Brenda of Baby Sasha N Mom. I almost fell off my chair when I opened the email because it was an email to inform me that one of Ethan’s photos had been selected as the winner of the recent Cushie Tushies Lil Ambassador Contest!
The judges were the two owners of Cushie Tushies themselves and here’s what they had to say:
These photos are fantastic
Thanks again, Shell
Wow so many cute photos! What gorgeous kids! I have to agree with Shell,though - the photo of Ethan is my winning pick too! It is such a good actionshot and shows off the nappy really well. And what a cheeky grin - I am sure other parents would look at this child and want their kid to look like that:-D Thanks for sending them through Brenda! It is great to see our products in use!
Cheers, Cath
I was beaming all over with pride when I read those words. I mean I know it’s not like I won the lottery or what, but still I was so so happy.
And even better, here’s what my lil ambassador prince won:
1 Cushie Tushies Couture Diaper & 1 pair of BabyLegs
AND….
Ethan will also be featured in the STAR BUY ADVERTS in 4 Parent/Baby Magazines in July & August 2008. So watch this space when I announce which magazines they are gonna be!
Thank you so much, Cushie Tushies and Baby Sasha N Mom! You guys really put a smile on my face today
***
Updated June 3 2008
And look what the postman brought yesterday:
Thanks again to Cushie Tushies and Baby Sasha N Mom! Love love love the minky blue camo couture diaper and the baby blue baby legs that go with it!
Last Monday morning, Ethan and I woke up nice and early, and got ourselves ready to go to the airport to fetch Daddy. Daddy had been away in the States for two weeks now, was supposed to be back on Sunday, but because of some flight delay, he only arrived on Monday morning. I had been telling Ethan about Daddy’s return and I could tell he understands. When he woke up on Monday, he looked over to Daddy’s side of the bed and said “Daddy!”
Anyway, off we went to the airport. The last time I took Ethan along to fetch Pete from the airport, Ethan was hardly 2 months’ old. But the last time Ethan stepped foot in the airport was during our Singapore trip last year. Upon arrival, Ethan pulled my hand and headed straight for the escalator, but I told him I wanted to check first if Daddy’s plane had landed…and it had! So I told him we’d only go one round up the escalator and down the stairs, but because Pete had to wait a long time for his luggage, I had to take the restless Ethan up and down a second time.
When at last Ethan saw his Daddy coming through the arrival gates, his lips curled up in the sweetest smile imaginable, he gave his Daddy a hug and a kiss and reached his hands out to him. Pete had to carry Ethan around after that. Hahaha…. Ethan kept looking at his Daddy over and over again just to check that he was really back.
It’s definitely great to have Pete back again. This time round, Daddy really went overboard getting clothes for Ethan. Pete said that had I been in US, I would have bought even more!
I especially like the adorable pajamas he bought. It’s made snug-fitting on purpose because the material is flammable, and instead of the traditional long sleeve and long pants pjs, these were short-sleeved tees and shorts which are simply adorable and cute. Don’t you think Ethan would look cool in them? Gonna try them on him tonight…
For lunch, we went to the Fatty Loh chicken rice shop in Nagore Road (because the one in Fettes Park was closed and *someone* just HAD to have chicken rice). When we were almost done, Ethan asked to get out of his baby chair and made a straining face. Immediately, I hurried him off to the toilet at the back of the shop. Took off his jeans and Itti Bitti D’lish diapers (which were still unsoiled) and there and then, it marked the first time ever I helped Ethan poop in a public restroom. Cleaned him and dressed him up again, and we were on our way. So proud of him.
And since Pete’s return, Ethan has been simply overjoyed. Walking up and down escalators with Daddy, wrestling with Daddy in bed and pulling Daddy to the swimming pool were just some of the activities he indulged in.
Then when Ethan was ready to call it a night, he laid down on the bed quietly, looking at Daddy with so much love, still taking it all in that his Daddy was indeed back home.
We’ve missed you Daddy…and we are SO GLAD you are back home
Scrap Credits
You are so beautiful add-on kit from Doreen Stolz
Template Challenge 11 from ChrissyW
Dandelion dream alphas from A work in progress
My Mom and Dad left Penang for Ipoh today. One week really passes so quickly, that in the blink of an eye, it’s already time for them to leave. In the span of the one week that they spent with Ethan, his fondness for both his Ah Ma and Kong Kong has grown in leaps and bounds. And I am sure the feeling is mutual too.
Both my parents have been an immense help during the past week, even volunteering to help me clean my living room windows and wipe the TV cabinet (*so ashamed*). Most of all though, I am impressed at how obedient Ethan is with his Kong Kong. Remember the difficulty we faced in getting Ethan to sit in his car seat? A few days hanging out with Kong Kong, and Ethan would willingly climb into the car seat on his own and allow my father to strap him up. Of course, Ethan, being very much into his terrible twos and all, received a fair amount of reprimanding from his Kong Kong too. And now he will obediently NOT go to the playground in the evening when his Kong Kong says, “No no. Dark already. Don’t go to the playground.”
It also helps that Ethan has established a morning walk routine with his buddy pal grandfather. Oh, did I mention that Ethan has been waking up at 6:30a.m. for the past one week or so? Anyway, he will play with his toys, watch TV, drink his milk and patiently wait for my Dad to get ready. As soon as he sees that my father is all dressed up, Ethan will rush to the door and wait for my father to open the door. Then Ethan will climb atop our little wooden stool in our porch and wait for Kong Kong to put on his sandals for him. And off they will go. On working days, this routine allows me to take my shower and get dressed for work with no interruption.
So basically, Ethan goes up, down and all around with Kong Kong. Pull here and pull there. At e-Gate, it’s always up the stairs to the first floor to experience the wonderful view of the sea with Kong Kong. It’s no wonder that Kong Kong is all tired out every evening
However, I think the tiredness is definitely all worth it just to see that adorable face of Ethan light up every time he sees his Ah Ma and Kong Kong.
This morning, when we dropped him off at Ah Poh’s place, my Mom told Ethan that Ah Mah and Kong Kong were going back to Ipoh today and immediately there was a sorrowful look on Ethan’s face. I know he understands what is being said, because as soon as Ah Mah clarified that they will be back in a week’s time on Saturday, he smiled a little. He hugged Kong Kong extra tight right before we left him off at Ah Poh’s, and cried a little. And as we left him at the door, we could sense that Ethan was holding back his tears, so we quickly said a quick goodbye and left.
Ethan definitely misses Kong Kong and Ah Ma and I am sure they miss him more. He will surely be looking forward to next Saturday.
We made an appointment for Ethan to see Ms KE Chia, a speech and language therapist/pathologist at the i-Sports Center in Island Hospital last Friday. Ethan, now 2 years and 3 months’ old, cannot yet express himself in words, and although some friends have advised that “It takes much longer for boys” and “Soon he will be talking non-stop” and “Just you wait. One fine day he will start speaking, and you’ll want him to shut up“, we decided to err on the side of caution and bring him in for an assessment all the same.
We chose this speech therapist because when we enrolled Ethan for the parent-toddler class in The Learning Garden, I noticed that the center was started by Ms Chia’s husband. Her name sounded familiar, and upon checking the MASH (Malaysian Association of Speech-Language and Hearing) website, I was glad that she is a MASH certified therapist.
We waited for about 20 minutes before the therapist arrived, after which we were ushered into her room. The major part of the room was filled with toys and books and puzzles, and Ethan immediately went for the ball. While Ms Chia jotted down some historical details and information from us about Ethan, Ethan busied himself with all the *goodies* that were there.
Ms Chia told us that the first session that day was basically to perform an assessment to ascertain if Ethan was a habitually late talker (which is rather common in boys), or if the speech delay could be due to other factors, of which further therapy would perhaps be neccesary. She assured us that we had made the right decision in coming over to see her, if anything, to allay our fears and confusion about Ethan’s delay in speech.
Speech delay in kids could be caused by:
- Natural speech delay (more inherent in boys) - no therapy needed, just patience.
- Behavioural issues, of which ADHD was one of the causes - some therapy needed
- Autism - therapy and treatment needed.
She performed a few *tests* on Ethan while playing. Simple evaluations like calling out to him, and asking him to bring certain toys and also some imitation play. After the roughly 1.5 hour session, Ms Chia almost certainly ruled out autism, which she said is not likely because:
- Ethan’s other development milestones, such as his motor skills were very good and above average. She did ask us when he started walking and if he is eating well, all of which was in the “very good” category
- Ethan had fantastic eye contact. When his name was called, he turned around and looked at her.
However, we will need to test if Ethan is doing things based on situational scenarios or if he really understands it. For example, if we open the door and say “Ethan, let’s go kai-kai!”, he will run and get his shoes, but whether or not he understands the concept of shoes is a different matter altogether. What we need to find out is for instance, if Ethan can pick out his shoe amongst a group of other things, if he was asked to do so.
After the assessment, Ms Chia is still inconclusive about her findings on Ethan. When she asked him to get her the ball while placing the ball and the car together, he doesn’t go and get it. But he did look at the ball. Which means he does understand what a ball is. Why he did not get the ball for her is a mystery. It could be because he was shy or because of behavioural reasons, i.e. “Why would I want to get the ball for you? Go get it yourself la!” he might be thinking.
So before we left, Ms Chia gave us a Home Program to try out with Ethan. It was essential now not to drill the words into him and force him to say it, but to make him understand what the objects really are. We learnt that speech is something that cannot be forced, but will come naturally when the child is ready. However, for kids with speech delay, we can do something to intervene and prod them in the right direction by helping them to understand. For example, if I have a set of pictures of farm animals, and if I ask Ethan to pick out the duck or the chicken, he should be able to give it to me. He didn’t do it at the session of course, but as I said, we are still not sure if this is a behavioural problem that needs to be addressed.
Anyway, some of the suggestions given for the Home Program are:
To improve listening and attending skills
This includes:
- Bubble play (I bought 6 bottles of bubble solution from Toys R Us last Sunday) - Bubble play will get the kid’s attention and it offers us parents the opportunity to prod him to say words, like “More?” or “Give the bottle to Mommy/Daddy”
- Rolling a ball - “Roll/throw the ball to Daddy/Mommy”. By the way, Ethan is now beginning to enunciate the word “ball” even more clearly. He started with “Ba”, then it was “Bor”, and now lately it’s “Ball” (with added emphasis on the L)
- Awareness of environmental sounds - We will need to help him by being his “eyes and ears”. Now whenever I go out and I see/hear birds, I’ll say “Ethan, look at the birds! Tweet tweet! Can you hear the birds?” I also sign “bird” when I say it, and I am very happy with the progress, because now whenever Ethan hears the birds singing, he will sign “bird” without my prompting. And this only after 2 days of teaching him! Sometimes I don’t even realize there are birdie sounds until I notice Ethan signing “bird”. This is a positive thing, and it shows that he understands what a bird is, because he is signing it. Ms Chia was also very happy when I told her that Ethan can sign many words, although he doesn’t say it. According to her, this shows that he understands and is willing to communicate.
- Finger play - Nursery rhymes with actions, etc. His current favorite is Itsy Bitsy Spider and One-Two-Buckle-My-Shoe.
To improve imitative skills
Trying to get Ethan to copy what we do. This is one of the most important steps towards learning.
To improve turn-taking skills
While playing with Ethan, we can take turns doing the same thing. For instance, taking turns to play the xylophone, and saying, “Okay, Ethan’s/Mommy’s/Daddy’s turn!” He will have to learn to wait his turn before doing it. I foresee some difficulty in this one because our boy is quite an impatient chap. Well, it’s time for him to learn patience then.
To improve understanding of common objects, animals, family members, etc
- Ms Chia suggested making my own flash cards by taking pictures of the objects Ethan often sees. So I will be doing that soon. Then the options of playing and learning with these cards are endless. Placing them around the house for a hide-n-go-seek game, matching the cards to the actual objects and so on.
- Wooden puzzles with pictures - The wooden puzzles that Ethan owns now has pictures of animals of which I don’t even know the sounds of (like zebra, hippo, alligator) :P. So Ms Chia suggested using farm animals instead. Last Sunday, I bought a wooden Melissa & Doug puzzle with farm animals, and I am currently in the process of training/teaching Ethan to get to know the animals and the sounds they make. I will say, “Ethan, where is the duck? Quack Quack!” or “Ethan, show Mommy the pig? Oink Oink!” And if he doesn’t respond, I will pick up the correct piece and show/tell him. So far, after 2 days of education, he is getting the “duck” quite well. Last night, when I said, “Ethan, give Mommy the duck. Quack Quack!” He replied with “da-duck!”
Oh by the way, the understanding and comprehension of objects around the child is more important than say, understanding colors or shapes, which Ms Chia says will come when the child is about 3 years old or maybe 4 (US standards). Nothing to worry about.
So yeah, I think he is getting there. Hopefully there will be a vast improvement within the next three months or so. Pete and I are both very excited about the information we had gained from the therapy session. Ethan was also tired out after the session, I believe, because he fell asleep in the car on the way back.
Let’s just pray for the best
Scrap Credits
A Gift for You papers from Érica Mathia
Rainy Days collection from retrodiva {designs}™
HoldEmUps from Tara Dunstan
Heart doodles from fei-fei’s stuff
Funky stamped alphas from Scraps by Fashiondeeva
Lately, ever since Ethan decided to become more independent, he loves to climb into the back seat of our car on his own. His car seat is fixed behind the co-driver’s seat, so he prefers to walk all the way round to the rear door behind the driver, and he will put his hand on the handle and attempt to open the door. Of course he cannot, just yet. But when we do open the door for him, he will climb into the car on his own, using his upper body strength to push his butt up onto the seat and sit in the back seat, smiling happily as if he has accomplished something.
And here’s where the problem starts. When we try to load him into the car seat, he wouldn’t budge. We have never had a problem with Ethan sitting in the car seat before, simply because he has been trained to do so from birth, but now, he is very reluctant to sit in his leather-trimmed car seat. Little does he know that if he sits on the regular back seat, his view of the outside world from the car would be severely hampered.
So how? Every time it will be a battle. We will try our very best to put him into the seat and strap him in, sometimes using decoys like cellphones to distract him. It has never crossed our minds to give in to his cries though. So however hard it is, we will still put him in the car seat. Safety comes first ma. Once he is in the seat and the car starts moving, he will be okay.
I really hope this is a phase he will outgrow soon. Please. It has even come to the point that we are thinking twice every time we need to go somewhere where we need to reload him in the seat. And I’m not even gonna start thinking about doing it alone. SIGH.
Scrap Credits
Rainy Day Sunday add-on kit from Amy Bleser
Sundance cardboard from designs by krista
Pondlife Alphas from Joanna Cinnamon
Stamp cluster 4 from Lindsay Jane Designs
Ilétait une foi star elements from Petit Moineaux
Star doodle: Doodle Me Big from Mikkel Paige Original
You are my shining star,
the light of my life…
The world can be so dark and gloomy but when you smile, everything is pure sunshine again.
When you giggle, I just want to shout out from the rooftops how much I love you, just for being you.
You are my shining star,
glowing brightly every day in my heart.
You fill my life with so much joy, just by doing little itty bitty things like hugging my leg and never letting go, and then planting a kiss to say you love me so. You hold on ever so tightly to Daddy’s leg, never letting go until he hobbles with you into the elevator.
I love the way you react to the “Otak burung unta lagi kechik daripada matanya” statement. It’s so adorable the way you place your hands on top of your eyes, emulating the little girl in the advert on TV.
I love the way you kick and throw the ball, with such passion, that can only be inherent in the soul of a footballer. Oh, you do slam dunks too, by the way..so perhaps you aspire to be a future NBA MVP too?
All the beautiful colors of the rainbow cannot ever surpass the colorful way you have brightened our lives with everything you do. From the simple little things like cuddling up to sleep with Mommy on the sofa to the not-so-little ones like clasping your hands in prayer position and wishing everyone in church “peace” when the appropriate time came for you to do that…, you really inject such happiness and sincerity into the things you do. You can almost see Mommy beaming with pride and adoration just noticing all the parishioners in church gesturing at how adorable you look doing so.
You have an absolutely delightful sense of humor and you can laugh at yourself in videos I have captured of you. Sometimes you clap in joy too, and you know, you definitely have a great sense of musical rhythm because you can dance and clap to your favorite Barney songs. Someday I know you will sing along too, yeah? Maybe you watch too much TV and DVDs, but you just make us so happy when you prance around, enjoying the music.
You are growing up so fast now. Sometimes you get too naughty and daring for your own good, and Mommy and Daddy will need to step in and reprimand you. But bear in mind that this is all done with LOVE. Regardless, you will always be our darling little boy and our bright, glowing, shining star.
And we will love you forever and always.
Our Ethan boy is becoming more and more adamant in establishing his independence, and is more often than not very persistent and determined in doing so.
Take last night, for example. After I showered him, I took him into our room to give him his feed of milk while I diapered him. This is a routine that Ethan absolutely loves, because he gets to drink his full 6-7oz of milk while being serenaded by Mommy’s rendition of nursery rhymes or whatever songs that creep into my head at that moment. After he finished his milk, I wanted to put his pj top on, but he refused. He scrambled down from the bed and asked me to take him outside instead.
So okay la, I took him out and figured I could put his shirt on for him while he was busy playing with his toys or watching TV. How wrong I was! A chase around our home ensued. I tried enticing him with various pj tops, but he just wanted to run around in the buff, … well, save for the fitted diaper he had on, of course.
So I decided to (but of course) snap a few pictures while waiting for the opportune moment to put the shirt on him la.
Finally after a while, and after some kicking, screaming and protesting, a tired and exhausted Mommy finally managed to dress him up. And Ethan happily patted his tummy after that. He does look happy, doesn’t he?
Scrap Credits
Sundance kit from designs by krista
Photo split from Maria Lafrance
Heart doodles from fei-fei’s stuff
HoldEmUps from Tara Dunstan
Alpha Black from Digiscrap.ch
The weekly sessions at The Learning Garden are indeed doing Ethan a lot of good. Before we enrolled him in the class, he was rather afraid of strangers. When well-meaning friends, relatives and strangers approached him with a smile to say hi, he would flinch, scream loudly and sometimes whack either Pete or me on the head, arm or wherever his hands hit. It was worse in the confined spaces of the lift. He would be happily blabbering away but when someone enters the lift, he would cower in fear or ask for either one of us (Daddy or Mommy) to carry him. When he was a few months’ old, he was all right with strangers, but as he grew older, it was apparent that he wasn’t getting as sociable as we would like him to be.
But now after just two or three Learning Garden sessions, we can see that his confidence has skyrocketed.
He now willingly smiles at people who say hi to him. Those that he may not like at first glance, he will just ignore, but he won’t shout loudly. He even waves hi and buhbye sometimes.
On occasion, he gets over-friendly though. Like the other day when we were having dinner at Chili’s with some friends. Ethan wandered away on his own after finishing his hot dog. He saw a girl about 5 years old and went close to her and he started giggling. The girl ran away to sit on the opposite site of the square stone bench, hoping Ethan would not be able to find her. But Ethan followed her and sat next to her. So she ran away to her Mom a few meters away. Our boy ran after her, which prompted her to scream, “Mommy!!!”
Then just the other Sunday, Ethan got restless in church, so I took him out to the garden for a stroll. There were 2 other toddlers there (brother and sister). The boy was about 3 years old, I think. Ethan went close to him and put his nose to his shirt, as if smelling him! Then when the 2 toddlers went to sit on the swing, Ethan walked over, climbed atop the swing and sat in between them, smiling happily.
When we eat out at restaurants, he is also becoming increasingly independently inquisitive. Take Noodle Station, for example. He used to sit quietly in his high chair and eat his noodles, but now he likes to roam around the restaurant, sometimes barefooted. He would even *visit* the tables of other patrons, going close to their tables and smiling at the people there. He also will climb onto the sofa monkey-style and if the tables of other patrons have kids or toddlers, he would giggle at them and attempt to make friends. He does prefer kids that are older than him though.
As you can see, his newfound social skills make it a daunting task for us to run after him nowadays. So do you think his shyness has made way for a different “problem” now?
Scrap Credits
Odds ‘n’ Ends Seven preview kit from Pam Lefors Designs
Crumpled border from Jess Gordon
Elegant word art (Wonderful Memories) from Bethany
HoldEmUps from Tara Dunstan
Boxed words from Chantal
Last night, on our way back from our family dinner at Queensbay Mall, Ethan got restless in his seat. Maybe he was a little bit tired and sleepy, but he kept on throwing my hand towards my handbag, and I knew it was cos he wanted to view videos I had captured of him with my phone. Oh yeah, the reason I was sitting with him in the backseat was because I had to make sure he didn’t accidentally call overseas with my phone. You see, we had to distract him with my phone while strapping him in the car seat. Nowadays, he prefers to climb into the backseat on his own and would then prop himself jubilantly in the back seat. He would then smile and grin for all to see and refuse in his usual strong manner, to get into his own seat. So that’s why we have to resort to these tactics. He’s still way too young for the seat belt adjuster, otherwise I would have gotten one for him…
Anyway, there we were in the back seat and Ethan was fidgety. I didn’t want to give in to his demands and kept telling him we were already nearing our home. He just wouldn’t listen. Then I suddenly started singing. I think I sang a repertoire of songs; the ABC song, One Two Buckle My Shoe, London Bridge and Head & Shoulders (the latter two are the same tune). He usually claps his hands when I am done, but this time, he clapped his hands and after that reached his hand over to my neck, pulled me close and gave me a sweet, loving kiss right there on my cheek He will kiss me whenever I ask him to give Mommy a hug or kiss, but this time it was the spontaneity of it that caught me off guard. Nobody had asked him to do it, and he did it out of his own accord…
I didn’t wash that part of my cheek that night…just kidding.
I won I won I won!!!!
Well, not quite the lottery, but something special and luxurious for Ethan. Those of you who have been secretly praying for me to stop getting cloth diapers for him, please stop reading here…but actually I didn’t buy this ma…I got it FREE!!!!
I won a lucky draw contest at the DiapersAsia forum and the prize is one gorgeous Starbunz AIO diaper. There were so many adorable designs to choose from, I had a hard time selecting just one. Finally, I chose the puppy design simply because Ethan was born in the year of the doggie.
I was ecstatic the moment I found out I had won, and even more happy when the diaper came in the mail today, all fluffy and cuddly.
Lookit how gorgeous it is! And don’t you just LURVE the fluffy puppy ears??!!!
It’s supposedly a great diaper for the heavy wetter because it contains two hemp soaker pads, topped with a fleece top to keep moisture away. I can’t wait to try it on Ethan once I’ve washed and dried it.
Thank you Tiny Tapir!
Last Saturday I took a picture of Ethan’s work of art in Learning Garden, just because I felt like it. However, when I downloaded the photo last night, I couldn’t help but think how the random splashes of paint he made resembled perhaps something MORE than just that.
To me, it looks like a picture of a lady in a colorful cloak running to the right. I imagine she is running swiftly with the blend of beautiful colors of her garment floating behind her.
I showed Pete the picture last night and he begged to differ. Instead he said it looked like a picture of an animal, like a bird or more specifically a pelican.
Do you see what we see, or something else?
The things a mother would do for her kid. No no……correction…the things that a cloth diaper-addicted mommy would do for her kid.
I was working from home last Friday when my co-worker told me that a diaper package from US had arrived for me in the office. I straightaway knew it was the two fitted diapers I had ordered from Nanipoo sometime back as I had been waiting for its arrival for a little more than a week now. So I decided to brave the rush hour jam on the coastal highway and drove to my office, just to collect the diapers. Can’t imagine leaving them on my desk over the weekend. Besides, I was just too excited to get to those diapers, give them a wash and put them on Ethan. On hindsight, I should have used an alternate less-jammed route.
But anyway, I got those diapers and picked up both boys and headed off to Queensbay Mall where we had a nice family dinner at Friday’s. Ethan was at his absolute best behaviour and was in a jolly good mood. All the servers at Friday’s noticed that too. But somehow the diaper he was wearing suddenly leaked big time. I don’t know if it was the positioning of the diaper, or because Ethan was just too wriggly or perhaps it was because it was left on a little too long. So what to do? Right then and there, I had to remove his shorts and wiped him dry. Then he continued with his chicken spaghetti dinner (I adore the way he feeds himself with his fork), perhaps the sexiest diner there, clad only in his t-shirt and Drybees diaper.
The diaper was wet when we were about to leave the mall and silly me, I didn’t have a spare one available at that time. Suddenly I remembered I had two brand new Nanipoo fitteds in the boot. Since it was just a short trip back home, I decided to just implement a stop-gap measure by just putting the fitted diaper on him and headed back home. I remember I tried on the green camo design, and Ethan looked very happy in it. The diaper was slightly damp when we reached home, thanks to our heavy wetter right there, but it was still a savior.
Scrap Credits
Spring Forward mini kit from Eva Kipler
Netter’s Alphas from Scarlet Heels
100% Tampons apostrophe & brackets from [ v.vv ]
Doodles: Doodle Me Big from Mikkel Paige Originals
Boxed words from Chantal
My dearest darling Ethan boy,
Daddy came back from India last Saturday night. After four nights away from us, you were able to hug him once again. Daddy took the cab home from the airport because he didn’t want Mommy to go to the trouble of fetching you to the airport at night and all. I had been telling you that Daddy will be home soon, and while you were enjoying the videos of yourself on Mommy’s cellphone, our doorbell suddenly rang. You climbed down from the couch, curious more than eager, and followed Mommy to the door. The moment you saw Daddy, I could feel your emotions in your eyes…how much you missed him and you even had to do a double take to make sure it was indeed Daddy. I had to reassure you over and over again that it was Daddy, because at first you didn’t look like you believed me. It had, after all, been days that you had not seen him.
Last Tuesday, while you were still at Ah Poh’s, Mommy fetched Daddy to the airport. He had travelled to India on a short business trip. I asked you not to worry, because he won’t be away for long, and he will be back on Saturday.
Daddy told you the night before he left that he would be away from home for a while and you pretended to ignore him then. But on the morning of the day he was to leave, when he carried you to Ah Poh’s door, said buh-bye and told you to be a good boy while he was away, you grunted and let out a whine of despair. Although I know you still do not know how to express yourself in words, I can feel that you missed him. In fact, we both did miss him a lot, didn’t we, Ethan boy?
Please don’t be angry with Daddy for being away. It was only for a few days anyway and did you see how happy he was to hold you in his arms again? He hasn’t been travelling for a long while now, the last time being when you were about 3 or 4 months’ old. You probably didn’t realize it then. But you have been a good boy, and I can tell in your eyes that you were looking for him for the past few days. You looked ever so confused when you could not find him anywhere at all. Well, he is home now, so you go knock yourself out having fun with him, yeah?
The night that he left, it was just you and me home alone. Daddy had suggested that I have my dinner and my shower first before picking you up, and I thought that was an excellent idea. It allowed me more time to spend with you, without running the risk of being lethargic.
It’s a good thing too that your Ah Ma and Kong Kong from Ipoh were here from the second night onwards. They miss you so much too, you know. I’m so glad you had a lot of fun with them both.
Since Daddy returned, you have made his day with all your giggles and funny antics. The Sunday morning after he came back home, when Daddy woke up, I asked you to give Daddy a good morning hug, and you ran over to him, put your arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheeks. I thought that was simply adorable.
All my love,
Mommy
Scrap Credits
April template challenge from Kelly Puddy
Life is Good mini kit from Amanda Heimann
rayoflight solids (black paper) from fei-fei’s stuff
Boxed words from Chantal
Elegant word art (grandparents) (edited) from Bethany
HoldEmUps from Tara Dunstan
Today Mrs Tan had a day off; a day off from caring for Ethan while I was working, cos Ethan’s Ah Ma and Kong Kong from Ipoh are here for a visit in Penang, and they volunteered to look after Ethan for the first time the whole of today. I was working from home today too but most of the time, I was in the *study room* with the door closed, unless I needed to come out (most of the time, I came out to change the DVD for Ethan if he was watching ).
We headed to the nearby mini market in the morning for some quick marketing for tomorrow’s meal and then had a speedy breakfast in the coffee shop. Ethan was so well-behaved! He really adores his Ah Ma and Kong Kong and since they arrived, he has been in a really cheerful, happy mood. Before we headed out for dim sum brunch, Kong Kong even took him for a walk by the poolside. I hope Ethan’s not too much to handle, knowing how active he can get!
When we came back after brunch at around 1:00p.m., Ethan had already yawned a few times so I knew it won’t be long before he fell asleep. Hoping he would be able to sleep in Ah Ma’s arms without crying for Mommy despite knowing that I was around, I resumed my work in the study. I could hear him giggling and laughing intermittently outside as he watched his DVDs, but a few minutes later, there was complete silence. Well well, whaddya know, that fella had drifted off to dreamland! I moved him to the bed and he slept for a complete two hours straight!
He woke up smiling and downed about 3 oz of milk, then he hung out with his grandparents till dinner time. As usual, we headed for Queensbay Mall to have our dinner (and also for Ethan to expend his energy of course!). Dinner was a delicious and scrumptious meal at Friday’s, and then while my Mom and I shopped for a few grocery items, Ethan pulled his Kong Kong by the hand here and there and everywhere.
Ethan had a very enjoyable day today. The weekend started early for him this week, that’s for sure. I’m sure he made both Ah Ma and Kong Kong very very happy too, as much as they have made him. Sweet dreams, my darling Ethan boy.
Scrap Credits
XOXO template V2, rayoflight prints and solids & aking hardin alphas, all from fei-fei’s stuff
It all started one day when I decided to get my hair done. I checked with the salon and my hairdresser told me that a haircut and treatment would take approximately an hour and a half. It was impossible to ask Ethan to wait around for me for that long a time, so I very sweetly requested Pete to take Ethan for some male bonding time at the mall, while I had some me-time.
And Pete told me that ever since that outing, Ethan has taken a fancy to the flowing water decorations on display at a particular shop in the mall. Ethan has never noticed these before. You know what I am referring to? Yup, those electrically operated pieces of decoration, some with rotating lighted balls, some with mini waterfalls and pretty rocks. Now, each time we pass this shop that sells them, Ethan would stop and stare, without fail.
I wonder what’s going through his mind when he looks and giggles at these pieces of decorations. Wait ah Ethan….when we move to a house, we can ask Daddy to get you one, okay?
So after some due consideration, we’ve finally decided to enrol Ethan in the parent-toddler class in The Learning Garden. This would mean an hour and a half each week of fun learning activities for him, and it would be the perfect ground to establish his socializing skills. Although we take Ethan out many times a week, be it to the mall or to restaurants, he hardly has any direct contact with kids his age, hence when he meets strangers or come face to face with large groups of people, he tends to shy away, sometimes screaming in anger. This is apparent in almost all family gatherings we have been to.
Last Saturday was Ethan’s second session at The Learning Garden (including the trial class), and we can see some improvement in his socializing skills already. At the first lesson, it took him some time to warm up and start playing, but last Saturday, he eagerly *attacked* the toys he wanted to play with. Although he is very much different from the rest of the kids, preferring instead to play on the playground frame cube instead of sitting down quietly like the rest of the kids and listen to the teacher, we can tell that he thoroughly enjoyed himself there. Why, after we had lunch, Ethan fell asleep on the way home and continued sleeping even after we reached home…with a smile plastered on his face! By the way, I need to remind myself that I have to get some sunblock for Ethan, given the fact that he would be spending more time in the sun than usual now. Last Saturday’s class ended with an outdoor picnic for all the kids, complete with biscuits, fruits, ice-cream and water. Ethan totally dug the biscuits :P
We also find the teachers at The Learning Garden very patient and very professional - they look as though they have been dealing with kids all their life! People running these programs need to have a way with kids, as is apparent with both teachers we have met so far.
We had to pay for three months’ fees in advance at The Learning Garden (RM112 X 3), so let’s just wait and see what these three months would reap for Ethan. Meanwhile, I have a hunch he’s gonna look forward to every Saturday in eager anticipation!
All this while, Ethan has only been wearing open-toed sandals. He used to have a pair of covered sneakers, but (I think) because that pair was not made of breathable material, his feet stunk when he sweats and we never put them on him again.
I had bought a pair of brown sneakers for him sometime back. They looked so boyishly cool, I just had to get them. Plus, they were on discount then - how could I resist? I got the smallest size available, but Ethan still could not fit into them at that time.
But just recently, I decided to try if they fit. Lo and behold, they did! Well, there was a small space when he wore them, but I figured they would fit perfectly with a pair of socks.
So on Easter Sunday, I dressed Ethan in his new white striped GAP polo shirt (*new* because I bought it so many months ago, but my string-bean kid can’t fit into it yet. Even now, it is a little loose), matching new socks and his new shoes. Handsome, boh?
At times he felt rather weird with socks, so he asked us to remove them so that he could *air* his feet. Lawl!
In church, Ethan was fascinated with the brick wall surrounding the altar, and because we sat at the side of the pews, it was a good thing he could be kept occupied there. When he saw us kneeling in prayer, he too joined us. He even followed my cue when I showed him how to position his hands in prayer position.
What an absolutely awesome blessing from The Lord this Easter!
…and now to teach him how to recite The Lord’s Prayer….
Since I switched Ethan to cloth diapers exclusively, I have seen tremendous improvement especially in prevention of nappy rash. Ethan has really sensitive skin and all this while he has been prone to diaper rashes. He gets it off and on, and sometimes when there is no rash, his nappy area would be slightly reddish too. In fact, there were a few times that the over-drying chemicals in a famous disposable diaper brand caused him so much discomfort that he was walking around like a crab! Hence I am very happy to note the vast improvement in his skin condition now. Not only has his nappy rash occurrences been reduced substantially, the redness has totally GONE!
This is why I have been investing in cloth diapers recently, not only for now, but for the future too.
And this brings me to the reason why I am so elated today. About a month ago, I ordered some cloth diapers for Ethan from Nicki’s Diapers, and I asked my manager if he would be so kind as to bring the stuff back for me in Penang. He very willingly obliged, and today my manager arrived from US and I finally got my parcel! Look! More gorgeous diapers to adorn that cute lil bum of Ethan’s.
By the way, I also added a wetbag (the disco dotted one) and two cloth wipes to add to my collection.
In addition, just last week, I managed to squeeze in an order for a crocheted pair of wool longies from Sweet Seats. I read that this could be used as a soaker for fitted diapers and is extremely great for heavy wetters (like Ethan). I was so eager to try them on him today, but unfortunately when I put it on him, he made a face as if to say, “What on earth is this Mommy?” You see, he has never felt wool on his skin before, hence the strange reaction. I’ll try again another day then. But they do look gorgeous, eh?
And finally, as if my loot for the day was not enough, my order from Lil Danzell came today. I have wanted to get Ethan a camo print diaper for the longest time, and I have actually ordered a fitted camo one, which has yet to arrived. Then recently I fell in love with the Blueberry Minky diapers and as luck would have it, they had the camo green print available! I also got another Blueberry in jaguar print and an itti bitti d’lish in (Liverpool) red. These three diapers are really luxurious and feel very comfortable. They look good too, don’t they?
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to run off and find some earplugs because Pete will be berating me on my diaper expenditure.
Mommy is really busy these days, so I asked her permission to log in and keep my fans entertained. I think it’s high time people out there see it from my point of view. I hear Mommy and Daddy calling me a “little big boy” very often nowadays, so I know I have grown up in more ways than one. Let me tell you what I mean…
I now willingly allow Mommy or Daddy to trim my nails (including toenails) while I sit comfortably on the sofa. According to them, I used to kick and scream whenever they tried to cut my nails, but now I don’t see why I need to. I treat the weekly sessions as relaxing manicure and pedicure sessions. Aaahh….bliss!
Also in the grooming category, I go for monthly hair cuts at the salon now. I love it when I put on the very colorful cape and my whole head gets a nice neat shave. Thankfully, Mommy asked the hairdresser not to shave my head bald, instead I come out of the salon in an awesome macho crew cut Top Gun kinda hairstyle. Daddy always says I look naughtier after a hair cut.
I also like to be independent and prefer to eat on my own if I can. Sometimes if I am in a bad mood, I will refuse to eat until they allow me to hold my own fork and spoon. Of course, 50% of the food I scoop up ends up on the floor, but it’s the thrill of holding the utensils that ignites my excitement. The other day I managed to grab Mommy’s steak knife in Chili’s and she almost fainted.
Oh, I have also learnt how to step on and off the escalator on my own now. Donno why Mommy and Daddy always insists on holding my hand. I try to break free whenever I can, much to their shock.
In terms of fashion, I like to think of myself as having inherited Mommy’s delectable taste in fashion. I absolutely love it that I am in wearing these groovy-looking cloth diapers all of the time now. Mommy must think I look good too because she keeps snapping pictures of me in them! Well sometimes Ah Poh, my babysitter, puts me in the traditional cloth nappy, which is fine if I am indoors, but I like to choose the design of diapers I am to wear if I go out. I mean the other day, they wanted to put me in yellow diapers with a blue outfit?!!! Come ON!!!! Of course, I struggled la…until they took out the blue matching diaper :) For outer wear, I prefer comfortable shorts as opposed to pants and jeans. Everyone should know why.
I’m picking up some personal hygiene habits too. I love to brush my teeth after my shower every day now. Mommy will sing this lovely “This is the way I brush my teeth” song, and I will brush and chew and gnaw away at the bristles. Two days ago, I bit off some of the bristles, and Mommy suddenly stopped singing and became hysterical instead. Donno why. Oh…I also know now that cotton buds are used to clean ears, and I am proud to say that I can do so myself now…sometimes one in each ear at the same time. He he…
For my big toilet business, I use a special padded toilet seat. I have one at home and one at Ah Poh’s place. I love sitting on my little padded throne. Mommy always cheers and claps when I am done with my business and my favorite part is when I get to flush. Wheeeeee!!!!!
So do you agree with Mommy and Daddy that I am a “little big boy” now?
Last Saturday, after months of procrastination, we finally took Ethan for the free trial parent-toddler class at The Learning Garden in York House in Penang. We attended the 11:00a.m. session and it lasted for about 1 hour and 40 minutes. As an afterthought, it probably would have been better had we gone for the earlier class…you’ll see why later…
At first Ethan was quite shy when we first entered the playroom. The teacher was very friendly and encouraged Ethan to make himself comfortable, and very soon, he was busying himself with the giant lego blocks. He also found a wooden hammer which resembled the one he had back home, so I suppose he was happy.
The parent-toddler class is broken up into several sessions of activity, the first of which is a freestyle play with toys indoors. After that, all the kids adjourned to a shaded play area with various activity stations, such as the artist area (complete with easels, paints and paintbrushes), sand pit (scoops, sand toys and lots of sand), a creative corner (with play-doh, glue and paper cutouts), mini-slides, mini houses and a water station. Much to my surprise, Ethan enjoyed being an artist, complete with the artist apron. He didn’t seem too keen on paints and brushes when we had the Little Artists playgroup before… When he moved to the sand pit, he was a little apprehensive at first, perhaps because he had not touched sand before. But soon he was so engrossed with scooping up the sand that he had to forgo the water station, because the time had come for everyone to move on to the next activity.
After we washed his hands (by the way, I absolutely love the taps that were installed for the kids: just the right height!), all the kids moved to the outdoor playground. I love the special soft padded rubberized surface the playground was built on. Kids can play around barefooted without hurting their feet. Ethan immediately grabbed the basketball and held on to it for dear life. That’s why most of the photos have him holding on to the basketball. He refused to let go of it even while he was sliding down the slide. Oh by the way, he also enjoyed doing some slam dunks on the mini basketball net! How cute is that!? Future MVP, perhaps?
Next up, the kids were all given some biscuits and water, given that they would definitely be hungry and thirsty by then. Ethan boy had TWO helpings of biscuits (that’s two bowls), and finished every bit of it. He really eats a lot but I just don’t know where the food goes.
I could tell Ethan was pretty tired then. Pete and I were also very hungry too (that’s why we ought to have gone for the earlier class), but there was still one last activity remaining. Everyone gathered in the music room, sang some songs and watched a video about the very hungry caterpillar (which made us even hungrier). While most of the kids remained in the story-telling area however, busybody Ethan chose to explore the area and ventured up the stairs.
After everything was over, we all sang the goodbye song and the kids were all given stickers. Ethan, who had to wait for his turn, was rather impatient, so he ran away at first without his sticker. We had to take him to the teacher in the end, and she very nicely gave him a special teddy bear sticker
We have yet to decide if we want to enrol for the class though. The parent-toddler class was a very good experience for Ethan and we could tell he really enjoyed himself. He’s probably ready for some good fun and mingling around with kids too now. So we’ll wait and see.
Anyway, we had expected Ethan to fall asleep in the afternoon after all the playing around, but instead, it was Daddy who fell asleep! Ethan only drifted off to dreamland at 6:30p.m.!!! We had to wake him up to go out for dinner at about 8:00p.m.
Cloth diapers, to be precise! :)
I’ve been putting off my cloth diapering plan for Ethan for such a long time. My original plan was to have him fully on cloth diapers as soon as possible. And I am ashamed to say that I have been so bad at keeping to that. Last year, I bought him four pieces of megacute cloth diapers, but that was about it. Sometimes they would leak because of the way I put them on him and I would be frustrated. So I kept putting my plan off. And then lately, the diapers began to stink big time. Even after just an hour of putting them on, the smell was rather revolting. Which led me to suddenly remember that I probably need to strip wash them.
And strip wash the diapers I did. After that, the diapers worked perfectly again and my love for cloth diapers was reignited! And thanks to so many many emails back and forth with my diaper guru, Christene, I have learnt so many additional terms and jargons about cloth diapers to educate me for life! I recently ordered more diapers, different brands this time, just to have a variety and feel of all of them, and of course to satisfy my insatiable appetite.
I got two diapers from Sandra for starters. The first one is a My Precious Baby fitted diaper, with side snaps. Christene recommended this for the heavy wetter, i.e. Ethan, and I absolutely LOVE this diaper! My Precious Baby diapers are handmade diapers made by a WAHM in the USofA. These gorgeous diapers are made from velour, which is 80% cotton and 20% polyester, and they look so LUSH! My Precious Baby diapers have 2 layers of velour and 3 layers of thirsty hemp fleece sewn into the diaper. There’s even an additional piece of soaker included for the sake of the heavy wetter. What I really love about this diaper is how the colors and prints coordinate beautifully. I ordered the purple and orange combo diaper with a zoo animal print soaker that matches the diaper perfectly. I was fortunate that Ethan, being of small built, can still fit into an M size, because it was the only size available in this color combination.
Can you tell how adorable they look? I fell in love with it instantaneously! And I was pleased to note how trim the fit is! Even with the diaper cover (fitted diapers need a cover by the way, but it is really up to individual preference), it still doesn’t look bulky. This is really a diaper which looks absolutely gorgeous and is fully functional at the same time!
Then I also got one Drybees pocket diaper for Ethan. These are fastened with velcro, so I wanted to evaluate them before I got some more to let Mrs Tan use during the time Ethan is with her. I’ll have to say I am reasonably satisfied with this diaper. It’s not as smooth and soft as Bumwear though, but putting it on is a breeze. Unfortunately this has leaked a couple of times already, and I am now determining if it is because I got it in too large a size for Ethan. One thing I have to say though…Drybees diapers come in fantastic prints!
Lastly, because I wanted to make up the minimum order of RM200 to qualify for free shipping, I also ordered some Wahmies cloth wipes, also thanks to Christene’s recommendation. There were so many pretty prints to choose from that I had a hard time zeroeing in on my final selection. I plan to use these as much as possible to replace the wet wipes, and in fact, while waiting for my order to arrive, I had already begun using wet cloth hankies when we go out, instead of using wet wipes. These Wahmies cloth wipes though, are really softer compared to the conventional hankies, because these have flannel on the print side and soft cotton sherpa terry on the other. What luxury!
And now, I am excitedly awaiting another batch of diapers to arrive, all the way from USA, this time! Yes, I know some people might say it will be time for Ethan to start toilet training soon, but why delay putting him on cloth diapers? Besides, I am only now starting him on the big business toilet training, so he will definitely still need to be on diapers. In any case, it sure feels good going green!
Scrap Credits
Kit “True Love” from Sueli Colbert
Boxed words from Chantal
Delight Series Red Inked Alphas from Foxy Designs
I knew weaning Ethan would not be an easy thing to do. In fact, I started trying out various weaning tactics when he was about 15 months’ old, but I was not firm with it and he certainly did not seem ready to be weaned yet at that time. No amount of distractions, meal substitutions and coaxing could wean him from the breast, not even when I started him on formula when he was about 15.5 months’ old, and I was afraid the weaning battle would become a stressful, terrible one. One of my fervent prayers to God was to have a smooth weaning process for Ethan, where neither he nor I would suffer, for I really cannot bear to see him wail and cry as if someone were abusing him or something.
Anyway, on our way to Singapore last year, one of the senior flight attendants (who obviously used to be a breastfeeding mother herself too) told me her secret method of weaning her boy when he was 17 months’ old. At that time, Ethan was roughly the same age. She told me she used Bonjela. Applied it to her nipples and after a few rejections from her son, he was off the breast. It was as simple as that.
I didn’t use this method immediately after we returned from our trip though. And I can’t remember when I actually purchased a tube of Bonjela. But when I tried it the first time on Ethan, he made a face when he tasted the minty Bonjela, quietly and (dare I say) obediently walked away. That was during one of the evenings after work. I didn’t try it again after that, because I was pretty confident Bonjela works.
When Ethan was a little older, it became apparent that he was ready to be weaned. He could go without breast milk the whole day long while I was at work but somehow he still “needed” breast milk during the day on weekends. I realized then that I was the one who was not ready to wean him off. I realized that all I needed to do was to be firm with him and hopefully he would comply. Although I used the Bonjela method off and on, I was wishy washy about it and so it didn’t really work as I hoped it would. Sometimes when I used Bonjela during the weekends, and Ethan (the smart fella) would patiently wait till the effects wore off before cuddling up for a feed.
But when Ethan was one month shy of his 2nd birthday, I told myself that if I wanted him to be weaned, nobody could help me but myself. Only I alone can do it. And so I crafted a plan. I religiously used Bonjela, slowly eliminating one feed at a time in the weekends. Weaning him off the morning feeds was easy, but it was an uphill task when I began weaning him from the afternoon feeds. A bottle of Pediasure would usually be ready at hand whenever I used the Bonjela method, so I hoped he would get the idea soon enough.
Well, he was soon able to take his afternoon naps without breastfeeding…which was good, except it took him longer to fall asleep, resulting in a more tired Daddy and Mommy. I so took the ease of breastfeeding baby to sleep for granted, I tell ya. And it was a struggle to get him to sleep without the comfort of breastfeeding.
After he turned two, about a week before Chinese New Year, the Bonjela method had already successfully gotten Ethan off the breast from morning till after his nightly shower. He still needed to be breastfed to sleep at that time, though. He would wait till I had had my shower before he asked for a feed. So I told myself that I would continue with the plan after Chinese New Year, since it was not a good idea to make changes to the routine while travelling. I knew it was gonna be a hurdle to wean him from the breast for his nightly feeds.
But God is good, and He answers prayers. A few days before Chinese New Year, Ethan started to go to sleep without the need to be breastfed. I don’t know how and I don’t know why, but it just happened. Sometimes he would just cuddle up to me, just to be close to me and he would fall asleep on his own. He would still wake up once or twice in the night for comfort suckling though, but that did not bother me, because I knew it would be another obstacle I had to overcome soon. I figured I would cross the bridge when the time came.
However, one of the nights during the Chinese New Year break, he started to sleep through without needing his comfort suckling. He still wakes up sometimes, but he will just snuggle close to me and will fall back to sleep. It happened so suddenly that I didn’t even see it coming.
His last breastfed meal was on the night we returned from our hometowns in Ipoh and Taiping. After his shower, he came up to me with this loving look in his eyes, propped himself on my lap for a feed and after a few minutes, he was done. He gave me a “Thank you Mommy, I love you” look and went about his usual business. It was done in such an endearing manner, that I could not help the tears trickling down my cheeks. It was as if he knew our “contract” had ended and he was saying his final goodbye.
Oh sorry…well actually that was supposed to be his last feed, but I breastfed him again a few days later when he was down with fever… out of pity
Anyway, it has now been a little over a week that Ethan has been completely off the breast. What started out as my labor of love became a loving wondrous journey that lasted approximately two years and a week. I thought I would feel a sense of relief because the weaning was now over and done with. But what I felt was a tinge of emptiness…as if something I had grown to love dearly is now missing from my life. It is a sign that my Ethan boy, my darling Mr Bulat, has grown up somewhat, and I am just grateful that I was able to give him the best nourishment a mother can offer.
Scrap Credits
Kit “Memory” from Sueli Colbert
Netter’s Alphas from Scarlet Heels
Last Monday, the first day of work after the long Chinese New Year break, when Ethan woke up in the morning, my maternal instincts told me something was wrong. His body felt slightly warmer than usual and when I took his temperature, it registered a slight fever. However, it went down about half an hour later after I gave him the PCM suppository. But when we arrived at Mrs Tan’s in the evening to pick him up, we were told that he was still nursing a fever. That day, Pete and I had not had our dinner prior to picking him up, so we decided to go to Old Town for Ethan’s favorite chicken koay-teow. Unfortunately they had ran out of koay teow that day, so poor Ethan boy had to watch us eat. He didn’t want anything else except the koay teow, the poor dear. After dinner, we decided to just swing by a chicken koay teow stall and buy him a packet, but he wouldn’t eat it at all when we got home too.
His temperature had gone up to 38.2°C then, so I sponged him down with some warm Eucalyptus water, gave him another dose of PCM and changed him into his pajamas. After a few moments of watching Baby Einstein, Ethan, who was way much quieter than usual, fell asleep in my arms.
The next afternoon, we decided to take him to see Dr Jessica, just to be on the safe side. No doubt his fever had diminished, his appetite was back to normal, and he was grinning away that day, we still felt better if we got some reassurance from the doc. Ethan was very cooperative throughout the entire checkup, staying very still when the doc took his temperature and checked his ears. He only complained a little when the doc wanted to check the back of his throat. In fact, he even obediently sat still on the weighing scale while he was being weighed. When his name was called in to see the doc, he didn’t want to go in, but when we were ready to leave, he didn’t want to go. In the end, we carried him out with him giving Dr Jessica a loud flying kiss.
Dr Jessica said he was all right, and the temperature could very well be a viral infection, which our boy had fought off on his own. When we heard that, we were so proud of our little fighter there… It really means a lot to me that he can fend off illnesses on his own now that he is no longer breastfed. The two years of breastfeeding prove very worth the while.
Scrap Credits
Kit Bayadère from MissVivi
Boxed words from Chantal
Kiss Me You Fool film strip from Dale Ann Cubbage/DC Designs
One of Ethan’s favorite activities is climbing stairs. We don’t have stairs in our condo unit, so he is only exposed to stairs at our swimming pool and other places where there are steps. So it was akin to a child in a candy store when we visited his Ah Chek’s home that Saturday night after his early birthday party celebration. The newly-renovated house had a flight of stairs, just beckoning to Ethan. So as expected, he walked right up to it and started climbing. I was behind him all the way, and watched while he used the banister as a support and pulled himself up step by step, like an expert, all the way to the top. Everyone was oohing and aahing and saying how clever he was. And of course, it was a great form of exercise for whoever it was that was supervising him all the way up.
But when it came time for him to come down, he wanted to step down two steps at a time! We had to guide him step by step, but he still didn’t get it. My Dad managed to guide him down properly once, making Ethan hold the wall for support, but that was it. The rest of the time, he wanted to go down the express way. High achiever, would you say?
Ethan now prefers Mommy to give him his shower. Only when I am nowhere to be seen does he allow Daddy to shower for him. Sometimes when Pete attempts to give him a shower, he will vehemently push Pete OUT of the shower stall and ask for Mommy instead. I use the following shower ritual when I bathe Ethan.
“Ethan, come take your shower!”
Saying “Hands up!” will prompt Ethan to raise his arms high in the air so that I can remove his shirt. Then I say “Pants down!” followed by “Diaper off!”
1. With the use of the shower nozzle, wet his head and body. Sometimes he would run and hide behind me in an attempt to escape the shower, but this does not happen often.
2. Apply Baby Sebamed on the face and shampoo on the head.
3. Shower to rinse off (thrice) soap suds. Ethan will brush the water off his face vigorously while blowing loudly with his mouth.
4. Apply Baby Sebamed on entire body, lift one foot to wash the soles and then the other.
5. Rinse off suds. At times, Ethan will raise one leg at a time and rinse off the soap on his own with the running tap water.
6. Allow Ethan to play with tap water for a few minutes. This is his favorite part of the session. I normally end up wet all over, because our boy loves to splash the water everywhere. And he loves turning the tap on and off; when it is on, it is normally at full blast.
7. Dry up and wrap up with towel.
8. Lift Ethan high enough for him to *turn off* the shower and *turn down the temperature* on the shower.
9. Give Ethan his tootbrush with a glass of tap water. Ethan loves to dip his toothbrush into the water repeatedly. Lately I am pleased to note that he loves to *brush* his teeth with the toothbrush. Well, not brush…but more like bite and suck on the bristles. Well, it’s good progress I would say. Better than nothing la.
10. Change into pajamas or going out clothes.
Last night after he finished his shower, he didn’t even bother waiting for me to wrap him up and carry him out of the bathroom, as is our usual routine. Our boy independently walked out of the shower stall, climbed a step up and out of the bathroom and pranced around in his birthday suit in the living room!
Ethan’s latest *stunt* is to move around on his knees. Sometimes when he is rolling around on the bed, playing, he will get up on his knees and make his way around the bed. He tried doing it on our wooden floor too, but because of its hard surface, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why he prefers the bed.
Looks like there is no stopping him being an active little inquisitive boy, huh?
Scrap Credits
Template 30 from Jill & Jack ScrapDesigns
Purple Rain papers from SJ Wright Creations
Flergs purple ribbon from Scraphead
Silver glitter Alpha green from Heddes Mama
Do you know what I do when Ethan starts getting restless in his car seat and starts throwing a big fuss? Why, I simply reach my hand to the back, I grab hold of his little feet and I give him a foot rub!
Do you know what I do when he doesn’t want to sit still when I change him? I hold both his feet in my hands and rub them!
Yes, our little boy has started to enjoy the little things in life. Taking the cue from his Daddy, Ethan too enjoys a foot rub every now and then. Miraculously, a soothing foot rub quietens him down almost immediately and he looks at perfect ease!
Please tell me I won’t have to book a spa appointment for him next!
After a delay of many months, we finally took Ethan for his haircut last Saturday morning. This time we asked the barber to use shaver #3 for a neat but not too short crewcut look. It certainly was the hardest of all his haircut experiences because Ethan is really strong now. He kicked and struggled and in the process of getting his hair cut, he hit his head on the barber’s chair a few times accidentally too! Nevertheless it was all over in about 5-10 minutes, and he was all happy again when we took him to eat dim sum.
Here he is, sporting his new haircut for Christmas. Handsome, or handsome?
Two Saturdays ago, I received an SMS from Paik Ling who informed me that Ethan’s photo had appeared in the December issue of the Mother & Baby magazine. Naturally I was filled with pride like any mother would and I was also anxious to get myself a copy, because I wanted to know which photo of his had been selected. That weekend, I scoured every bookstore I came across in Penang, but unfortunately the December issue was not available yet. The Klang Valley stores usually get their stock way faster than Penang’s, so I was resigned to wait a few more days because the magazine was still not available even on Monday.
Then on Friday, Jojo’s mommy IMed me to congratulate me because she spotted Ethan’s picture in the mag. Apparently she had just bought her copy that very same day from a bookstore in Queensbay Mall. I was excited because I would finally be able to get a copy that evening too, since that’s where we normally will have dinner Friday nights.
So immediately after dinner, we stopped at Borders to get ourselves a copy. This is the first time Ethan’s photo has appeared in a magazine although I have been dilligently submitting his photos off and on. I am so very proud of him :) Hopefully this will be the first of many many more to come!
Turns out that Jojo’s mommy had a good reason to buy this month’s magazine too, because one of Jojo’s picture had been chosen as well! Congratulations Jojo!
Scrap Credits
Template 33 from Jill & Jack ScrapDesigns
Netter’s Alphas from Scarlet Heels
Papers:
Ilétait une foi from Petit Moineaux
Wintersand from ScrappyBlueStones,
Midnight Blue from Lindsay Jane Designs
Last Sunday, we made a day trip to Alor Star to celebrate Ethan’s Chor-Chor’s (my maternal grandma’s) birthday (she’s 87 this year!!!). It was a lunch celebration and we arrived at the restaurant close to 1:00p.m., just in time for the first dish to be served. To Ethan’s delight, it was mee-koo (steamed buns with a sweet lotus paste filling), and he devoured almost two of these with the appetite of a king! Well, actually he ate almost everything that was served, save for the spicy stuff. And when he was full, he of course demanded to walk around the restaurant, much to the tiredness of Mommy and Daddy, and much to the amusement of all the guests present.
Oh yeah, the birthday cake-cutting session always comes with a photo-taking session, but it just so happened that it coincided with Ethan’s eating. He was still busy enjoying his food when we carried him out of his high chair to take a photo with Chor-Chor. Of course he was unhappy. That resulted in a very difficult and trying photo-taking session indeed.
Nevertheless, the food was good and we all left with very full tummies.
Ethan’s swollen right eye is getting better now. Yesterday evening, I was relieved to note that when he smiles, we can now see his eye, i.e. his eye does not close. We still gave him a final dose of Piriton though, just to safeguard against allergy. He was also super-active last night. See, this was what he was doing before I gave him his shower:
This evening when I went to pick Ethan up from Mrs Tan’s after work, I was aghast to discover that the swell under his eye as a result of *something* that bit him had become so much worse. Ethan didn’t look like he was bothered with his swollen right eye though (as you can see from the pictures), and every time he smiled, his right eye would close up. It was quite pitiful to see him with the swollen eye, although it was apparent that he wasn’t in any form of pain. Nevertheless I decided to err on the side of caution and take him to see Dr Jessica, who coincidentally was on night duty tonight.
I had to take Ethan to the hospital on my own tonight because Pete had a dinner function with his company. I grabbed a quick dinner at home and rushed to the hospital (okay, I drove carefully… :P) . We were fourth in line … not too bad. Guess where our boy insisted on going up and down on? Yep… the escalators! Since I was the only one there with him, I had no choice but to bring him up and down and at the same time, keep a lookout for when it was our turn.
Finally we were called in but the doc had so much trouble checking him. He simply wouldn’t open his eyes for her to check them. Dr Jessica prescribed Piriton syrup, which was an immediate relief for the allergic reaction, and told me to continue applying the fucicort thrice daily. We were also to keep monitoring his temperature in case it shot up. I requested the nurse to help me feed the Piriton to Ethan since I was sure I would not be able to do it on my own at home. Surprisingly all of the syrup went in, although Ethan put up a struggle.
I then took him back home, gave him a warm shower and got him ready for bed. I waited till he fell asleep before I applied the fucicort. I pray that he will be all better tomorrow morning after a good night’s sleep tonight.
On Monday night, while playing and running around in the living room, Ethan tripped and fell down on the floor. As usual, he stretched out his hands to support himself as he fell, but I realized something was amiss when he cried a little after the fall. Normally our boy will just pick himself up and continue running around, with no tears being shed. This time however, he was holding his left leg and whined for a bit. I consoled him by giving him a hug and a kiss till he stopped crying.
But after the fall, I noticed he was walking with a limp. He would try to run (like he always does) but then he would stop short as if in pain and start walking gingerly instead. He wasn’t crying out in pain or anything, and I checked that there were no bruises or swelling. He was still his usual cheerful self, except for the fact that he was a little “pai-kha“. I prayed that he would be all better the next day but he was still walking terjengket-jengket, especially when he wanted to move fast. I called Dr Jessica and she said that it could very well be a muscle pull, and that if there wasn’t any improvement by the next day, we should bring him to the orthopedist. That got me worrying big time. I hated to have to bring Ethan to see any kind of doctor or specialist.
Thankfully though, this morning, I noticed that his walk has improved! My prayers have been answered!
However, he got bitten by some insect below his right eye yesterday evening. :( So that area is slightly red and swollen now…we are applying a topical steroid cream (Fucicort) to bring down the swelling.
Ethan is quite adept at playing with his shape sorter now. He has a few different kinds really. The one that he has mastered is the toy that was given by his Ah Koo and Ah Kim some time back. It consists of 4 shapes (square, circle, triangle and hexagon) in a rectangular-shaped box. He can now put each shape in the correct slot correctly without anyone’s help. The problem is sometimes he doesn’t fit it in properly and the shape cannot enter the slot because of the positioning, although he got the shape and the slot correctly. Our boy is a very impatient fella, and once he finds that he cannot get the shape in, he would throw a temper and scream! Sometimes in a fit of frustration, he would just throw the shape down on the floor in anger. He hasn’t quite got the patience to try again now… any suggestions how to cultivate this?
But when he successfully puts in all the shapes, he delights in the fact that we adults will clap and say “Clever boy!” He is turning into a little perfectionist, isn’t he?
Scrap Credits
All About Me kit from Bunny Cates
Kit Special embellishments from Sueli Colbert
Pretty Blue papers & Milly doodle from Lindsay Jane Designs
Splendid embellishments from Shabby Princess
I am getting my appetite back slowly but surely. Yesterday, at Ah-Poh’s house, I walloped a lot of porridge, and just before Mommy and Daddy came to pick me up in the evening, I asked Ah-Poh to make me a feed of milk too. Hehe…even Mommy and Daddy says that I have begun to bulk up a little already.
Last night, I ran all around our house and played with all my toys. I missed running around so much last weekend when I was not feeling well. At about 10:30P.M. last night, I decided to call it a night. I led both Mommy and Daddy to the room, hugged them both and then I drifted off to sleep listening to Mommy singing Silent Night and Away in a Manger.
Today, Mommy said that I could use the computer for a while. Heh heh… so here I am completing my *homework*…
I was asked by Darrius ko-ko to divulge information about myself in another meme. Hehe…I’ve only met him a few times before in Queensbay Mall and he’s already asking me so many questions. I’m getting popular in the blogosphere, eh?
What were you doing 10 years ago?
Aiyo, I was not even born then la! And neither was Darrius and most of my other friends, I believe…..silly question!
What were you doing 1 year ago?
Crawling and cruising around almost everywhere! Oh, and I remember I had my first haircut too, which resulted in a very botak me!
Five snacks you enjoy
Only five? But I love to eat wor…anyway, here are five off the top of my head…
- Anything yogurt-like, such as Yakult & Fernleaf Calci-YUM Yogurt
- Cereal, like Rice Krispies (Snap Crackle and Pop!) and Corn Flakes.
- Pappadums
- Raisins
- Bread and buns
Five songs that you know all the lyrics to
Donno how to sing yet, but here are the songs I appreciate very much:
- ABC (sung to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star). When I hear this song being sung on Baby Einstein, I will say BBBBB…. (learning to sing what)
- Doh-Re-Mi - I clap my hands whenever Mommy finishes singing this song
- The Wheels of the Bus go round and round…
- Theme song from Little Einsteins(I can do the “Aaarrrrrrr….” portion)
- Song for the Mouskadance. I love tapping my feet to the rhythm.
Five things you would do if you were a millionaire
- Buy a house so that I can buy more toys for myself.
- Buy Little Tikes playhouse to put in the garden of the house I bought in No.1.
- Buy my own TV and DVD player so I can watch Baby Einstein the whole day long, without Daddy interrupting me to watch SportsCenter.
- Build an escalator in my house.
- Give money to Mommy and Daddy (if there is any leftover).
Five bad habits
- Touching my tongue
- Watching too much Baby Einstein
- Throwing a tantrum by screaming
- Sleeping too late at night and waking up too early in the morning
- Waking up in the middle of the night
Five favourite toys
- My shape sorter
- My doggies
- My train ride-on
- The boxes I use to store my toys
- My Ikea Mula toy
Five things you like doing
- Watch Baby Einstein
- Ride up and down on the escalators
- Eat rice
- Pull Mommy and Daddy by the hand together into the room
- Sleep on Mommy and Daddy’s bed
Five things you would never eat
Darrius and I think alike on this one …
- Medicine
- Medicine
- Medicine
- Medicine
- Medicine
Lastly I get to tag my friends:
Ethan is now on the road to recovery. Breaks our hearts to see him suffer the way he did, but I was so glad to wake up on Sunday morning, being greeted by his adorable and cheeky grin.
On Saturday and Sunday, his stools were still primarily watery, I suppose due to the fact that his diet consisted mainly of breast milk only. But I am hoping that with the additional solids he is slowly taking, his diarrhoea will be gone really soon. His appetite has not returned to normal yet, but he took some siew mais and chicken koay teow on Saturday. Funnily enough though, he didn’t want any siew mai on Sunday.
As it turned out, Pete and I were invited to be witnesses at a friend’s wedding in church on Sunday, so we had to drop Ethan off at Mrs Tan’s place for a couple of hours that afternoon. I expressed my concern that he was not eating much yet, and asked Mrs Tan to cook some mee suah for him. When we picked him up, she told us that he happily devoured the mee suah and bread also! So we tarpowed some of the mee suah back home for his dinner.
Guess what? Our boy didn’t want any of the mee suah, but instead chose to share some of my wan ton mee dinner. Maybe he associates mee suah only with Mrs Tan’s house?
He looks ok now, doesn’t he? These are some photos I took yesterday…. pretty blur because he kept moving up and down on the couch. It’s just that he needs to regain his appetite really soon.
We should have known. Ethan hardly ever overeats. And that first incident of vomiting turned out to be the beginning of a nightmare for all of us.
Chronology of Events
Thursday
8:30p.m. vomited, with slight diarrhoea. Vomitus contained the rice he had taken for dinner.
Breastfed him and gave him a little bit of water. He fell asleep soon after.
Friday
2:30a.m. Woke up and vomited on our bed and on me. There were a few grains of rice, more milk and water in the vomitus.
Cleaned ourselves and our bed up, fed him breastmilk and he slept.
7:00a.m. Woke up, coughed a little and then vomited again. On the bed and on the floor.
Cleaned him up and discovered he had diarrhoea too.
Fed him water, breastmilk and a few grains of Rice Krispies.
8:30a.m. Diarrhoea again.
He drank some Yakult.
9:00a.m. Vomitted all the Yakult out. We all rushed to the hospital after that.
Thankfully we didn’t have to wait too long for the doctor that day, and Ethan was quite happy playing with the toys in Dr Jessica’s office. Doctor diagnosed Ethan as suffering from acute gastroenteritis, caused by a virus, possibly the Rotavirus. She said it was not food poisoning, because he did not have a fever. His persistent vomiting and diarrhoea had also resulted in a weight loss of about 1kg!!! He was only 9.9 kilos when he was weighed in. I was very worried about Ethan’s inability to keep food in though, and he was given a dramamine shot to help prevent that. After the shot was administered, we waited in the pediatric ward area for 30 minutes before giving him the oral rehydration salts (ORS) mixture (Dramamine takes 30 minutes to take effect). Well, of course he didn’t want the ORS mixture, and would only take breast milk. Doctor told me to give him only the fore milk for now, so I took him to the nursing room and breastfed him there. After that, we waited for a while for the rice water to be ready. We had ordered some from the hospital and it was one of the fluids that was recommended for Ethan. He didn’t really like it though, took a few sips of it and pushed it away.
Pete and I decided to tarpow Mc-D’s for lunch on the way back, and our boy fell asleep in the car too. But he suddenly woke up when we reached the Mc-D’s in Greenlane, fussed and cried and then threw up again! Luckily I had asked the nurse at the hospital for a plastic bag just in case he vomited. I called Dr Jessica when we reached home, and she said that we would need to bring Ethan in for an intravenous drip if his vomiting still persisted. We certainly didn’t want that! I told the doc we think he vomited because he was lying down instead of standing vertically up, so she said to give it a few hours first.
Poor boy… we took him back and let him rest for a bit. He didn’t really want to drink anything (we were to try offering him fluids like rice water, ORS, 100-Plus or fore breastmilk, but he would only take water and breastmilk), and we could tell that it was the phobia of throwing up whatever he took in. Then he suddenly decided that he wanted Yakult, so I gave him some, and then later on, he suckled himself to sleep again.
Unfortunately as he was sleeping in my arms, he woke up crying and threw up again. This time, I already had a container ready just in case. I tried to rinse Ethan’s mouth with water to get rid of the vomit smell, but he would not let me. I was very worried about Ethan’s condition then, I didn’t want to see him suffer like that, but still I really could not stand the thought of him on the IV drip. It was already 3:30p.m. at that time, and Pete said we ought to give Ethan another chance. And I am thankful we did.
He began to get better and better after that. He fell asleep in my arms at about 5p.m. and I was careful to prop his body up at an angle so that he felt better. I was literally counting the minutes to the 4-hour time frame that he did not vomit. At about 7:30p.m. it marked the 4-hour vomit-free duration, so I tried giving him some Rice Krispies which he gingerly ate. We were still wary about the fact that he could throw up any time but we were glad that he was improving.
He was still having diarrhoea though but we pray that he will recover from that soon.
We had to do a major clean-up of Ethan’s car seat today. You know why? Well, Pete and I left work rather late today, so we decided to fetch Ethan and take him out to dinner with us. We headed for Queensbay Mall and into Nando’s for dinner. As usual, Ethan shared my rice with me and then after our meal, we walked around for a bit. I wanted to check out if Borders carried a book I wanted to buy. And that was the only place we went to after dinner. Ethan was very happy and excited and because it was a weekday, he practically had the entire children’s section in Borders to himself.
After that we left Queensbay Mall for home. As soon as Pete stopped the car in our apartment porch area, Ethan started throwing up! Pete and I got such a shock because it was really the first time Ethan had ever vomitted so much! In fact, he only vomitted once before, and that was when he was sick and wouldn’t eat anything, so the quantity of the vomit at that time was very little. Well, tonight he vomitted so much that his clothes were all soaked. Of course, he was still strapped into his car seat when it happened, so his entire car seat was dirty too.
I immediately carried him out of his car seat and up to our apartment. And it goes without saying that in the process of doing so, some of his vomit went to my clothes too. Anyway, I quickly gave him a shower and dressed him up in his pjs. Ethan looked okay, he was not feverish or anything but he appeared to be in shock, and would not say anything after the incident. We put on his Baby Einstein DVD for him and I breastfed him for a bit. And then it wasn’t long before he drifted off to dreamland. Poor boy…. we told him not to overeat the next time. No wonder my rice seemed to be less today.
Scrap Credits
You Are Beautiful Kit from Verena Karolyi
Designer framed tag from Bannerwoman
Netter’s Alphas from Scarlet Heels Media
Kit Moment staples & stitches from Sueli Colbert
It must have started with last weekend when my Mom and Dad started singing the Doh-Re-Mi song to Ethan. Mom told me that Ethan would clap whenever they sang that song. Don’t ask me but I have no idea why I never sang this song to him before. I just started a couple of days ago. The moment I start singing the song, Ethan’s face would light up and he would be flashing the sweetest smile ever! And then as soon as I finish singing, he would clap his hands in appreciation and approval! Of course, Mommy says “Thank you!” la after he claps. Heh heh. So now every day, I sing this song over and over again, because who could ever resist that adorable smile hoh?
Wait, there’s more… when I do the “Doh-Mi-Mi, Mi-So-So, Re-Fah-Fah, La-Ti-Ti” bit, he breaks out in laughter, as if it was funnily sung or something. And if I do it real quick, he laughs even louder.
So Ethan, when are you gonna start singing in unison with Mommy?
Scrap Credits
Preminition Scrapkit from Laura Burger
Kit Memory cross-stitching & button from Sueli Colbert
Kit Precious heart from Sueli Colbert
Zoo Alphas from Everyday Little Moments Design
Ethan is a very observant little boy and as such, he has been observing what Pete and I do when we get home from work each day. One of the things we do when we reach home is keep some our things in the drawer. For example, I would remove my watch and place it in my drawer. Lately, Ethan has been trying to be as helpful as he can by helping us perform these tasks through role playing. As soon as I open the door to my room, he would walk to the drawer and wait there. Then when I remove my watch, he would open the drawer, take my watch from me, place it in the drawer and close the drawer. Of course, he slams the drawer really loudly though. But he does get a kick out of hearing us praise him when he does that. “Good boy!” does it all the time!
I took Ethan to his playgroup yesterday at Charlotte’s house. All the mommies had planned for a Little Artist session this time around: Bryan’s Mommy made edible paint of red and blue, and the rest of us brought along paint palettes and paint brushes.
Charlotte’s Mommy had laid her front porch with mahjong paper, and they were just screaming for color to be splashed all over them. When the time came for the kids to start painting, I decided to remove Ethan’s shirt because the weather was pretty hot. Then I garbed him in his Ikea shirt-bib (it was bare-backed, by the way).
Well, Charlotte, Wei Xuan and Bryan eagerly began dipping their paint brushes into their respective paint palettes and started painting on the mahjong paper. Each child had their own sheet to experiment with. But Ethan was not at all interested. Instead, he was VERY amused by Simba, the golden retriever. He stood at Simba’s cage, and giggled happily as Simba allowed Ethan to pet and stroke his fur. Then he would run around to the other side of the cage and laugh again as Simba played along with him.
In the end, Charlotte’s daddy had to take Simba out for a walk in a bid to allow Ethan a chance to explore with the paint. Alas, his attention span was short-lived and after about 5 minutes, Ethan walked to the gate and stood there, presumably waiting for Simba to return from his walk.
It looks like Ethan really loves dogs, and coincidentally enough, the golden retriever is one of my favorite dogs too. Could his love for dogs be fuelled by the fact that he was born in the year of the dog?
Scrap Credits
No Room for Grey Kit from retrodiva {designs}™
Urban Kiwi Kit round stitching from Shabby Princess
Elegant Fall Alphas by Tracy King
Our weekend began with a blast. After work this evening we adjourned to Queensbay Mall for dinner at Nando’s. Ethan was already excitedly anticipating the arrival at the mall when he realized the route we were taking after we picked him up from Mrs Tan’s house.
After dinner, we headed towards Toys R Us, but on the way there, we were drawn to some really loud music indicating something was going on up ahead. It turned out to be a fashion show organized by the newly opened Forever 21 store. We watched the show for a while from a floor above. And you know, it really is amazing how Ethan watched the parade of all the leggy models in wonderment as well. He didn’t struggle to get down, instead he comfortably remained in Pete’s arms for the entire 10 minutes or so that we were there. Starting young? Maybe…. Hehehe….
I asked Mommy for permission to put up another post as a guest blogger since it is a post for her birthday. And I am so glad she said okay
Last Saturday, Daddy, Mommy and I went to the E&O hotel for Mommy’s birthday eve lunch. They had seafood fried rice that day and I was very eager to show off my self-feeding skills. I get a kick out of eating using the spoon all by myself, and feel a sense of accomplishment when Daddy and Mommy tell me “Good Boy!” As you can see, I enjoyed myself very much and was very reluctant to leave the place. I love to play with the window sills and run around the restaurant. After lunch, Daddy, Mommy and I took a short leisurely stroll by the sea. But it was only for about 5 minutes or so, then I ran back inside, with Mommy and Daddy hot on my heels. Some good exercise I gave them after the buffet eh?
On Sunday (Mommy’s birthday), I woke up and gave Mommy the sweetest smile ever and hugged her. Then I asked her to go out of the room with me because I just poo-pooed in my pants.
That very same day, Ah Ma and Ah Kong from Taiping came to Penang to visit together with Kor-kor. We went to Maple Gold for lunch with Ah Chek and Aunty Christine also. Here, I had the opportunity to show off my drumming skills with a pair of chopsticks. Then I had yummy steamed rice with tofu and vege for lunch. I bet Daddy and Mommy must have been very proud of me because I finished about one bowl of rice! :) Of course, when I found that feeding myself with the spoon took a very long time, I decided to use my hands instead.
Mommy had a birthday cake too. Daddy was singing a Happy Birthday song really loudly but I haven’t learnt it yet. I hope to be able to sing that song next year for Mommy.
Scrap Credits: Sun Porch kit by Amy Teets
A four-day weekend awaited us in conjunction with the Hari Raya holidays, so we decided to make a trip to Ipoh on Saturday. Ethan’s Ah Ma and Ah Kong would certainly be pleased to see him. For some reason, Ethan was very restless the entire journey, choosing to scream his lungs out, so much so that I had to move to the back seat to entertain him.
Anyway, we arrived in Ipoh sometime after lunch on Saturday and Ethan wasted no time in getting acquainted with his surrroundings. He loved to climb atop the chairs in the living room, sat there for a moment, and then ran into my room and closed and open the door.
But what fascinated him a lot was probably the piano. I put him on my lap and allowed him to touch and *play* on the keyboard. Soon enough, to our horror, he even figured out how to lift the cover of the piano! Yep, he was tall enough to reach now… We really had to keep our eyes peeled on him at all times! He would then lead me to the piano chair and ask to be placed on my lap so that he could proceed with his *masterpiece*.
Yes, I am very proud of my little big boy, the maestro at work.
The rain did not dampen our spirits.
The traffic jam all the way downtown was a minor hurdle we overcame.
The gloominess was dealt a 180 degrees turn because it was Daddy’s birthday last Saturday (Yay! Cue Ethan boy to clap his hands with glee), and to celebrate, we all went to the E&O to savour the lunch buffet spread there.
I had heard that the buffet there is very good and that the spread had a lot of variety, so I was curious to see for myself. It was once again good to visit the E&O because it brought back good memories of our wedding 3 years ago.
The buffet lunch was at Sarkies Corner and as usual, I was charmed by the old world setting in the restaurant. The atmosphere was relaxed and very casual, with fantastic service from the restaurant staff. The food was marvelous, to say the least. I hardly ever take fried rice at buffets, but there was something about the one they served that was very tempting. And I had no regrets because I’ll have to say it was one of the best fried rice I have ever tasted. Even Ethan agreed wholeheartedly, and he ate quite a bit of it too. The generous garnishings of shrimp in the fried rice was a definite welcome indeed. Ethan also loved the pumpkin soup, and so did we. I loved it that they had 2 choices of soup: pumpkin and broccoli, both being healthy choices for the discerning diner.
And for the not-so-health-conscious, there was also char koay teow available, the halal variety, mind you. Again, very generous with the shrimp, which were all so fresh and succulent, just the way we like it. I think I had about 10 shrimps in my one plate of char koay teow!
I tell you, everything was so good; Hainanese chicken rice, lamb masala, grilled stingray and salmon, kerabu, oh and of course, any buffet would not be complete without dessert. We enjoyed the guilingao, cheese cake, custards, mousse and ice cream. By the time we were done, we could hardly move! But Ethan, on the other hand, was very much playing the part of an energizer bunny, running all around the restaurant and the hotel lobby, checking out window sills, squeezing his way through every nook and cranny, waving at everyone around him, running to the lifts and waiting for it to open…well, he even got a lollipop from the restaurant manager!
What a splendid birthday lunch we had! The next time I come for the lunch, I am definitely wearing looser clothing! *wink*
Okay, don’t shoot me because this is going to be yet another post on Friday’s. But I don’t care what you say because we LOVE the food there. The service is excellent and the ambience is just awesome. Last night will go down as one of the best Friday’s outing we ever experienced.
When we arrived at the restaurant, they had this set meal promotion going on where a set of an appetizer, an entrée and a dessert costs RM39.90++. I immediately decided on ordering this set when a quick check assured me that the mocha mud pie was one of the two dessert options available. Well, we ended up ordering TWO sets and of course, the kid’s spaghetti for Ethan.
All I can say is the food was so good, I would literally make space in my stomach if I had to! Hehe…I finally got a chance to taste that elusive and much-talked-about mocha mud pie! By the time we were done, we could barely move!
Ethan, on the other hand, was very excited about the entire experience. No sooner had he finished his meal, he began walking around and gestured for us to bring him to the washroom to wash his hands. Over and over again. Then he would giggle loudly when one of the servers in Friday’s played with him. When a birthday song was sung in Friday’s, Ethan enthusiastically clapped his hands and smiled widely. Sometimes he would shout “Aaaahhhhh….” as if he was singing too! Sporting his new “2nd in Command After Dad” t-shirt, you could tell Ethan was very much at home there. And when we were about to leave, he cheerfully waved buh-bye to all and sundry. Oh, and of course we took home another balloon
So, you tell me, did Ethan enjoy himself?
During our last trip to Ikea in August, we ended up buying a tent…no, actually it is a tent with an igloo motif… for Ethan. There was a model set up in the children’s department in Ikea and Ethan was intrigued by it almost immediately! Although he fell down and hit his forehead whilst playing, we still bought the tent. So Pete was of course given the official task of setting up the tent, and when it was up we expected Ethan to be excited by it. Unfortunately our boy didn’t take a fancy to it at all. He would not even enter the tent. We figured it could be because of the fall earlier on in Ikea. Or maybe because the tent did not have a door; it just had an opening. So we did what any parent would do: we put his toys in the tent to lure him into it. You know what he did? He crawled in and dragged the toys out! He totally didn’t want to BE in the tent! Another method we employed in the hope of luring him into the tent was to take turns between Pete and I to enter the tent, then of course, Ethan would follow suit.
Lately however, we are pleased to note that Ethan has taken a liking to the tent. When we come home every day, the first thing he would do is to crawl eagerly into the tent. By the way, every time we go to Friday’s Ethan would request for a balloon. Now that balloon of his resides in the tent. So when he crawls into the tent, he would just hold the balloon and sit there with it. There’s a net opening at the top of the tent too, so we get to play peekaboo with him when he is in it… and you KNOW how kids love peekaboo, right?
Ethan has also found innovative methods to *play* with the tent:
- Stand inside and push/lift the walls of the tent, resulting in the entire tent looking as though it will topple over
- Push against the walls of the tent from outside, sometimes lifting the whole tent up.
- Walk around the tent
- Hold my hand and guide *me* to walk around the tent
Speaking of balloons, we need to get a new balloon from Friday’s every time the old one gets deflated. There’s something about balloons that interests kids, and Ethan is no different. On several occasions, he has attempted to use his *charm* to get some other kids’ balloon too.
A tent and a balloon - those are the latest items in Ethan’s toy collection. I can’t wait to see what’s coming up next…
We must have gone through almost all types of infant cough medication, all in the fervent hopes of making Ethan recover completely from his cough. It breaks my heart so to hear him coughing, because his cough is of the forceful kind, and he sounds like he is suffering whenever he coughs.
First, we gave him Rhinatiol from Dr Jessica. After a few days when there was no improvement, we switched to MucoFlux, which was also prescribed by Dr Jessica. Two days into the medication and there was still no sign of recovery. Pete and I then decided to try the Vicks method. No, no, it is not the application of Baby Vicks to his chest and back (we already do that every day anyway). The Vicks method is one that has been circulating the internet, suggesting that to cure a cough, all we need to do is to rub some Vicks liberally on the soles of his feet and put on a pair of socks. All this we did when he was in dreamland. Although it reduced the cough slightly, Ethan was still coughing. We did it for 2-3 days. Well, perhaps it was because we used Vicks Baby Rub instead of (adult) Vicks. (The regular adult Vicks was to be administered on kids aged 2 and above only).
The next thing we tried was aromatherapy. I quickly bought a bottle of Magnolia essential oil, rubbed 2 drops vigorously in my palm and applied it to Ethan’s front and back, and also his throat area. There was some level of improvement in his recovery rate, and his cough appeared to faze off, but we were not satisfied, because he was not completely healed yet.
So when push came to shove, we decided to turn to TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine). Charlotte’s mom had told me that she gave Charlotte Pak Poh when she was coughing, and it cured her cough within 2 days. On top of that, Charlotte did not need to be forced to take the medicine. It was worth a shot. Such is the desperation of a parent. So we got a box consisting of 6 powder vials of Pak Poh from Eu Yan Sang. I used just one teaspoon of warm water to make the Pak Poh mixture for Ethan, tried giving it to him, but he rejected it immediately. I then tried mixing it with his favorite yogurt, but although he took a little bit, he was not very happy when his taste-buds told him that the bitter-tasting Pak Poh marred the taste of his yogurt. We had no choice but to shoot the mixture straight down his throat using the syringe.
And now after SIX torturous sessions, Ethan is finally medicine-free, and has been so for about a week now. He still coughs slightly, but is getting better every day. I’m praying and praying and praying…. We’ll leave it to his antibodies to do the work then.
Check out what I got for Ethan last Merdeka weekend:
Yep, those cute adorably colorful thingies you see there are Ethan’s new Bumwear Cloth Diapers, which I got from Sin Dee. Don’t they look gorgeous?
I had known all about Bumwear Cloth Diapers for a long time now, yes, even before I gave birth to Ethan, but I only started revisiting the idea about two weeks ago. The prospect of going *cloth* has been really enticing and I had been tinkering about getting them for Ethan. Our boy has all along been on disposable diapers. I did use the traditional cloth nappies for him when he was a newborn, but since he was a fully breastfed baby then, his poo was really runny, and well…let’s just say there were quite a number of unwanted *accidents*. That, plus the toll of having to wash the nappies day in and day out made me switch to disposables. It was very convenient and hassle-free. Although not very friendly on the wallet, disposable diapers were very easy to use and throw.
However, I recently took a step back and decided to make a change. For the better.
I learnt about disposable diapers causing an increase on scrotal temperature in boy babies, which could potentially lead to infertility. There has not been enough proven evidence that this is entirely true, but the facts were enough to raise a concern (at least with me). And this is one of the main reasons why I decided to make that switch. Don’t get me wrong, I am also switching because of the increasing landfill problem caused by disposables and also because of the toxic chemicals used in disposables, but while the change I make now would only make a small difference in the landfill problem, it would make a significant change to Ethan’s comfort :) And that’s mighty important to me!
Switching to cloth diapers would not make a whole lot of a difference cost-wise too, because Ethan is already 19 months old. Those who have been using cloth diapers since baby was born would see a huge savings in the long run. Besides, we will still need to launder the cloth diapers which would also take up some time and effort on our part. I have not decided to make a full switch or not yet, because I want to try these new Bumwear diapers first before I consider introducing them to Mrs Tan. However, the extra effort I put in will be well worth the effort.
For one, these BumWear diapers are nothing like the conventional nappies. These are so cool and adorable looking, plus they come with diaper inserts which allow fluid to be absorbed with tremendous ease. Also, using these BumWear diapers would mean I do not need to apply barrier cream like Drapolene anymore! One of my concerns was that with these cloth diapers, they would not be able to last through the night. However, I discovered that by using 2 inserts, the absorption is doubled and I can then use these throughout the night, just like any ordinary disposable diaper.
Tonight is the very first time Ethan went to bed garbed in his Bumwear diapers. Doesn’t he look adorable? Check out that look he is giving…looking very much like a model eh? *wink*
Scrap template from Lindsay Jane Designs,
papers from Lindsay Jane Designs & Anita Designs
We adults can certainly learn a thing or two from kids. Forgiveness, tolerance and most importantly, just be happy!
Yes,… Ethan taught me to smile… even after he had accidentally slipped and bruised the upper corner of his right eye while climbing in and out of his bath tu