Little Miracles

The Power of Sibling Influence

October 7, 2009 in Ethan, Food & Feeding, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | 2 comments

…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. 🙂

I can ride the train too!

October 5, 2009 in Growing Up, Hannah | 4 comments

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!

Hannah in action (a.k.a. Learning to crawl)

October 2, 2009 in Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones | 1 comment

“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!

A wave of delight!

September 30, 2009 in Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones | 1 comment

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!

All together now…

September 27, 2009 in Celebrations, Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah | 2 comments

Hannah’s visit to the hospital

September 26, 2009 in Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | 1 comment

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… 🙂

A little bit off the sides and back, please…

September 21, 2009 in Ethan, Hannah, Milestones | 3 comments

Two weeks ago, we brought Hannah for her first haircut. Her bangs were getting too long, and I wanted to have the hairdresser do something about the “bald patch” at the back of her head. After a short wait, it was Hannah’s turn, and I held her in my lap as the hairdresser did the trimming. My hairdresser recommended we shave off the back portion of her hair, so that when the hair in the “bald patch” grew out, it would grow together with the bottom section. For her bangs, she trimmed it a little bit shorter in a side parting manner. Hannah’s sideburns were trimmed too.

She sat quietly while she had her haircut. And then she smiled for the camera when the haircut was done!

Ain’t she a darling? 🙂

Oh, just in case you were wondering, it was just the kids getting their hair done that day. So Ethan got the (ahem!) royal treatment too!

Hannah at 6 months

September 19, 2009 in Hannah, Milestones | 2 comments

Scrap Credits
Film Star QP from retrodiva {designs}™
Boxed words from Chantal
Heart button from Doodle-iscious alphas from A work in progress
Splendid alphas and heart button from Shabby Princess

How time does fly! Without me realizing it, my little bundle of joy is now an adorable, bouncy little baby girl, achieving milestone after milestone before my very eyes!

Weight

9 kilos! Dr Jessica had only one word to say, “Wow!” 😛

Height/Length

If I remembered correctly, it’s 67cm – will check with doc and update later.

Motor Skills

Can support herself with hands straight and on both her knees, as if preparing to crawl. Then she rocks and pivots her body forward and backward!
Can also lift up her body so that her butt is high up in the air, and she is on tip toe, something like what her brother did with his downdog.
Able to sit independently for longer periods of time, her favorite place being the green and yellow playmat. Her sitting position is still more towards the front, where she needs to support her weight with her arms, but she can go a few seconds without using her arms as support too.
Can crawl backwards, in backward commando or caterpillar fashion. Can also move around by using the same method.
Can hold and grasp objects very steadily and pass them from one hand to the other.
Will try to grab hold of everything within her reach: drinking cup, plate of rice, etc.
Can sometimes extend her arms out to ask to be carried.
Her “breaststroke kicks” are getting stronger and stronger.
Loves to bounce up and down on our laps when we carry her holding her under her arms.
Can arch her back backwards when she is sitting or being held.
Can hold a toddler sippy cup quite steadily and drink from it!

Communication and Social Skills

Smiles and responds very well when spoken to.
Blowing a whole lot of raspberries!
On occasion, I have heard her saying “Momma” or “Memma” when she either wants milk or Mommy.
Loves to be carried and held.
Squeals and giggles.

Food and Feeding

Every ounce of milk she takes is Mommy’s milk. I started her off on rice cereal about 2 weeks ago, but stopped for a while because she had a diaper rash the day after, and then she was a bit unwell, so I am now waiting for a few more days before continuing.

Just several days ago though, she gave me quite a scare because that evening, she totally refused to nurse from the breast, and instead kept biting me! In the end, I had to express my milk and fed her with the sippy cup, and she eagerly finished 6 whole ounces!!! She even cried when we took her cup away after 4 ounces to refill an additional 2 ounces. I was shocked and surprised that she would have weaned herself from the breast automatically like that, and I was worried too that I would then have to express milk by the clock 😛

Pete was all, “Okay what…then you don’t have to resort to using Bonjela!”

But thankfully, that night she was okay with nursing from the breast again, and she’s back to her old self again now. Whew! 🙂

Hannah’s first solids

September 7, 2009 in Food & Feeding, Hannah, Milestones | 5 comments

Yesterday marked the day I introduced Hannah to her first solids. Just like for Ethan, I mixed some rice cereal with fresh EBM into a runny consistency(actually you couldn’t even tell the cereal was there!) Good thing I managed to bring back the Gerber rice cereal from the US. This one does not contain sucrose but supposedly tastes really good.

…and Hannah was living proof of it!

She was very eager from the onstart and tried to grab the spoon a few times.

As expected, some of the cereal dribbled out from the sides of her mouth, but she was practically willing to open up her mouth every time I offered her a spoonful.

Although she made a “sour face” on some occasions, and tried sucking on the spoon, she managed to finished the entire bowl of rice cereal, much to my joy 🙂

The conclusion? Hannah is definitely READY for solids, and has a voracious appetite to boot! Today, I gave her the same thing for tea time and she finished it all too! Bravo Hannah!