Bible Verse of the Day

Hannah

All about Hannah

hannah_18monthsScrap Credits
Plentiful Kit from Shabby Princess Designs
Elegant word art (she’s adorable) from Bethany

Weight

11.2 kilos

Height/Length

81cm, roughly a head shorter than Ethan.

Teeth

8 incisors (4 top and 4 bottom), with a few more teeth appearing at the back, possibly pramolars. 

Hannah has me brushing her teeth every day.  We try to do it twice a day, morning and night.  And whenever she hears me saying, “Let’s go and brush our teeth!”, she’ll open her mouth, say “Aaah!” and point to her teeth.  Yeah, she’s cute like that. 🙂

I’m brushing her teeth with a fluoride-free kids’ toothpaste, and we started with gargle-training using a cup with boiled drinking water (just in case she swallows and drinks it).  After about a week, Hannah can now spit out the water (still working on the gargling), so sometimes I just use tap water.

Motor Skills

  • Hannah loves to stomp around and shake her booty to music.  Once we were in the mall and were walking past a music store which started to play some music.  She stopped and started dancing, then fell over backwards!
  • She prefers to sit on a chair for her meals and playtime.  We need to find somewhere to store our baby chair now.
  • At the restaurants, when she is supposed to be in a baby high chair, she will not sit still, preferring instead to walk around and explore the surrounding areas.
  • She could form the thumbs up sign with one hand a couple of months back.

Communication and Social Skills

  • Hannah has learnt many new words: “Ko-ko” (for “Ethan Ko-ko”), “Bear”, “Beh” (bag), “Mau” (mouth), “No no no” (I’ve been saying this WAY too much!), “ball”, “boo” (for “book”), “daw” (for “dog”), “burr” (for “bird”), “nana” (for “banana”), “rai” (for “rice”), “nai” (f0r “nice”), “up”, “down”, “pee pee”, “poo poo”, “eye” (for “ice”), “eye” (for “hi!) and “buh-bye”.
  • In Hokkien, she can say “moi” for “porridge” 🙂
  • She is also very expressive and giggles a lot.  She goes “mmmm” when she tastes something good.
  • She has managed to tell me when she wants to go “poo poo” a few times and we have successfully completed the exercise several times too.  Still working on the pee pee. 🙂
  • She’s very loving, and loves to hug us all.

Food and Feeding

Hannah eats almost everything we eat now, with the exception of herbal stuff which we don’t know the contents of and food high in sugar and salt content.  She eats porridge on weekdays and mostly rice and noodles during the weekends.

As for milk, Hannah is still on 100% breast milk, with a little sampling here and there of chocolate milk and fresh milk.

She took a little bit of porridge with some peanuts in it (she just took the porridge part), and the following day, she had some rashes on her body and face.  Not sure if she’s allergic to the peanuts though, but we’re keeping a close eye.

table

We should have done this a long time ago…but we had always thought the Green Mamut table from Ikea would not be able to fit into our trunk. 

We took the risk anyways, and were surprised to find out that it fits!

So the kids now have a new table.  They use it for just about anything under the sun: for their activities, for the coloring and drawing, for their meals…and errmmm…for climbing on too!  Sometimes Daddy and Mommy will join them at the table for their meals as well (we get that Japanese vibe cuz the table is lower).

Ethan loves the table because he can do almost anything there, and Hannah loves it because she does not need to be strapped into the high chair for her meals now.   I love it because it’s round and has absolutely no sharp edges (and also because crayon and pencil marks wash off super easy!)

The green table has taken over the place of our dark brown side table in the living room, making the room brighter and more cheerful.

together

We should actually be counting our blessings that the phase had lasted this long.  For after 18 months of sitting in the stroller when we’re about to go out, pushing Hannah all the way in the stroller to the car and then loading her in the car and unloading her back onto the stroller when we get back home, Hannah finally decided to *put her foot down* and now refuses to get into the stroller when we are going out.

It started with her in the infant carrier, where all I needed to do was carry her in the carrier and place it in the carrier base in the car.  Then when she outgrew the carrier, I pushed her in the stroller and loaded her into the car seat in the car.  Sometimes she would refuse, but we’ve always managed to get her into the stroller with the lure of a toy or a book.  The use of the stroller has made it so much easier to handle both kids, especially when we have other stuff to carry.

Not anymore though.

Now she wants to walk with us all the way to the car.  So now I have both my hands full, one hand holding Ethan and the other holding Hannah.  She also insists on slinging her bag whenever she walks.  Looks like I will not be able to carry a lot of other things with me now.

And the picture above was taken just yesterday, just after we had parked our car and were preparing to go upstairs.  Don’t they look happy and cheeky at the same time?

recovery

Thanks to everyone for all your prayers and support.  She’s well on her way to recovering from herpangina.  The doctor had given Hannah the green light to be discharged from the hospital yesterday morning, after 2 nights of being warded.

Her appetite had improved, although not yet back to the voracious intensity it once was.  She loves eating her favorite “nana”, drinking lots of water and before we left the hospital, she had some chicken noodle soup.  Oh, and of course, she’s on the super special diet of Mommy’s milk loaded with lots and lots of antibodies!

She’s back to her cheerful self, although she’s very “clingy-koala-like” sometimes.  Get well soon, baby! 🙂

I knew something was amiss last Friday night when I was dressing Hannah up in her jammies after her night shower and noticed that her upper right gums were unusually red.  Yet, she seem unperturbed by it and did not complain of any pain. 

I should have trusted my motherly instincts…

On Saturday morning, she registered a fever of more than 39ºC, but after a dose of paracetamol, she was her usual active self.  She had fever the whole of Saturday night, but on Sunday, she was okay for most part of the day.  She was giving us mixed signals and we actually thought it was because she could be teething.

On Sunday evening, she started refusing her milk…yes, I am still breastfeeding her, and it is very very unusual for her to refuse the breast.  She was also biting many of her toys and seemed very contented when I offered her a teether instead.  She drank a lot of water, but didn’t seem interested in anything else.  And her fever was still fluctuating up and down.

herpangina1

Thankfully, she accepted the breast after her bath and slept soundly after that for the whole night.

Enough was enough.  I took her to see her doctor the next morning.  Doc said, “Didn’t expect to see you guys in here so soon…” You see, we had just been to the doc’s a week ago for Hannah’s vaccination.

After checking Hannah (her fever had gone up to 39.2°C!), doctor confirmed what Hannah had was a case of herpangina, an infection of the mouth and throat caused by the coxsackievirus.  The ulcers were present only in the mouth, thankfully.  However, the doctor recommended that Hannah be admitted to the hospital for monitoring and observation, because in some cases, the virus could affect the brain and cause fits. 

Hannah also had to do an electrocardiogram (ECG) and take a blood sample, from her arm.  She was a perfect angel through both procedures, not crying at all!  In fact, she’d also taken a blood sample from the left arm a week before to confirm she’s no longer iron-deficient (she’s not anymore!) and now the blood sample is from the right arm.  For a child her age, it is indeed heroic to go through these without shedding a single tear…

So, we got admitted into the hospital yesterday evening, and despite the fact that she is active and her mouth ulcers were getting slightly better, we have to stay on for one more night because her fever is still yo-yoing.  Thankfully she is back to her normal breastfeeding routine and is willing to drink water.  This morning she even took a few spoonfuls of fish porridge and half a banana for lunch.  The recommended diet for someone who has herpangina is lots of cold fluids, including yogurt drinks, probiotic drinks (like Yakult), yogurt and ice cream. 

So when Daddy came to visit just now, he brought some of these stuff over.  Oh yeah, we decided on the single-bedded room this time round, given that it’s better for Hannah not to share a room with someone else, since herpangina is highly contagious and she will be in isolation.  Anyway, we have a mini fridge in the room now, that’s why we can store all this cold stuff! 🙂

Because herpangina is caused by a virus, antibiotics will not work, so Hannah is only on Paracetamol for occasional fever and/or pain, oral gel and spray, Vitamin C and another type of Vitamin C to improve her appetite.

Ideally Ethan is not allowed contact with Hannah, but we really had no choice because they are both very close to each other.  Besides, Pete is caring for Ethan now while I am in hospital with Hannah, so Ethan will have to follow Pete when he comes to hospital.  What we could do was to keep reminding Ethan not to touch anything in the hospital room and keep his hands clean at all times.

I’m praying that Hannah’s fever will be stabilized by tomorrow morning, so we can be discharged.  I know she has a strong will and determination, just like me…

herpangina2

 

Here’s a video of Hannah calling Mommy, Daddy (Deh-deh), Ethan (Nah), Hannah (Annah!) and Ah Ma (Mah).

afternoonactivities2

It all started off when I decided to print some simple activity sheets for Ethan to occupy himself with.  The internet has an endless resource of all sorts of activity sheets and Ethan loved them all.  He loves using his pencils and color pencils and completing everything those activity sheets required.

Then Hannah got interested too.  Of course, she can’t quite do the activities per se yet, but she just simply loved the idea of holding a pencil or color pencil and scribbling on a piece of paper.

She would pull up a stool and sit together with her brother and they would both go wild with their creativity.  Yes, sometimes they snatch from each other and yes, sometimes it gets out of hand and they start scribbling on the tables, but still, it’s such a joy to watch them spending time together…and not pulling each other’s hair out! 😛

afternoonactivities1

hannah_17monthsScrap Credits
Where Dreams Come True QP from Fly Pixel Studio
Fathers Day Alphas from Stacey’s Scraps

Weight

Heavy!

Height/Length

Growing taller and taller by the day!

Teeth

8 incisors (4 top and 4 bottom), with a few more teeth appearing at the back, possibly pramolars.  I’m cleaning her teeth daily with a special tooth tissue, but when those run out, I will start her teeth brusing regiment. 

Motor Skills

  • Hannah can RUN around.
  • She can do the down-dog (or downward facing dog) pose.
  • She can cross her fingers (both fingers together).

Communication and Social Skills

  • Hannah can point to several parts of her body when prompted, e.g. nose, hair, fingers (she’ll cross her fingers), tummy, cheeks.
  • Says “Poopoo” quite consistently, though often it’s just a false alarm or she just wants to sit on the throne.  But a few times when she said, “Poopoo” and gave that oh-so-familiar *straining* look, I’ve successfully taken her to the potty and she’d successfully poopoo-ed! 🙂
  • Calls “Mommy!” very clearly, Daddy is still “deh-deh!” and Ethan is either “Anah!” or *points finger at Ethan*
  • She knows her name is Hannah and can call herself “Hannah”.
  • Can parrot everything rather well, which resulted in her calling “Mah!” for “Ah-Mah” when my Mom was here for a visit.  Made Grandma pleased as pie. 🙂
  • Hannah is very friendly and is a very sociable little girl.  She will wave and say “Hi!” to anyone she meets, even strangers, especially so if the person is a child.  And then she will also happily wave “Bye!” when we are leaving.
  • Hannah can nod her head (for yes or affirmative answers) or shake her head vigorously (when she means no) and she does so meaningfully.
  • Can say “daw” for “dog”, “bur” for “bird”, among others.
  • She can scream her head off.

Food and Feeding

Hannah eats almost everything we eat now, with the exception of herbal stuff which we don’t know the contents of and food high in sugar and salt content.  She eats porridge on weekdays and mostly rice and noodles during the weekends.

As for milk, Hannah is still on 100% breast milk, with a little sampling here and there of chocolate milk and fresh milk.

Lullaby

 

Is Hannah asking for a lullaby?

Well, Ethan certainly thinks so…for every time Hannah sweetly says, “Lullaby, lullaby..”, Ethan will say, “Mommy, Hannah is asking you to sing her a lullaby”, and when Mommy is busy, Ethan will take matters into his own hands and sing, “Lullaby, and goodnight…little Hannah go to sleep…”

Everybody say…”Awwwwwww…..” 🙂

sassygirl

Lately we’ve noticed that Hannah loves to walk around on tiptoe.  Even if she wasn’t reaching up for anything, she would toddle around the house tip-toeing all the way.

Could it be that she’s practising to move around in heels?  So soon??!!!

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