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Growing Up

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The thing about the Poop

March 20, 2009 in Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | 4 comments

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?

Still very much Mommy’s Little Boy

March 17, 2009 in Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | 6 comments

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 🙂

At the OB/GYN’s clinic

February 27, 2009 in Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | 8 comments

 
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?

“I wanna brush teeth!”

February 24, 2009 in Ethan, Growing Up | 10 comments

 

…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…

Chatter matters

February 20, 2009 in Ethan, Growing Up | 10 comments


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 🙂 

Our little computer whiz

February 13, 2009 in Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up | 4 comments

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! 😀

Our boy is a chocolate lover!

February 4, 2009 in Ethan, Food & Feeding, Funny Moments, Growing Up | 2 comments

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.

The beauty of sleep

January 28, 2009 in Ethan, Growing Up, Sleep | 3 comments

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! 🙂

In deep thought…

January 12, 2009 in Ethan, Funny Moments, Growing Up | 6 comments

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

 

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?”

Ho ho ho!!! It’s Christmastime!

December 28, 2008 in Celebrations, Ethan, Growing Up | 9 comments

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.

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