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Little Miracles · Our Blessings from God…
Bible Verse of the Day

Mommy’s Little Helper

July 4, 2007 in Ethan, Funny Moments, Growing Up | 3 comments

Ethan is becoming quite a little helper now. Especially when I dress him up or when I am changing him. You see, I have a routine established right from the onstart and he understands it perfectly well now.

After his bath/shower, I will take him to his changing table and dry him up with his towel. Sometimes he will get a toy to play with, sometimes a tube of cream. Don’t ask… 😛

I would then apply Drapolene, followed by powder, and then put his diaper on. Then I would give him a body massage with baby lotion, apply Baby Vicks on his chest and back and then dress him up. The last step would be to apply baby cream on his face.

Just recently though, Ethan has taken the extra effort to *help* me cap the Drapolene, Vicks and baby cream back. After I uncap the bottle/tubes, he would grab hold of the cover and very carefully place the cover back on top of the tube or bottle. He is very happy when he has accomplished his *mission* because I proudly proclaim “Good boy!” Sometimes he wants to cap it back on immediately after I have uncapped it, so much so that I have had to explain to him that Mommy is still not done yet! And sometimes he even *reminds* me of the baby cream that I’ve forgotten to apply!

Amazing what kids can do, eh?

A Battle Half Won

July 3, 2007 in Entertainment, Ethan, Funny Moments, Growing Up | 6 comments

Recently we noticed that Ethan gets easily agitated when faced with strangers, especially those in close proximity with him. It was as if he felt his personal space being invaded when these strangers come into close contact with him. Strangers to him also meant people whom he had not seen in a long while, friends and relatives included. This behavior is especially apparent when the *stranger* looks at him and starts *talking* to him. It could be just a harmless “Hello!” or “Hi!” and Ethan would retort with a sharp whine and squeal as if to say “Don’t disturb me!” Surprisingly, he is okay in the malls where there are lots of people around but when these people start interacting with him, he becomes uncomfortable. I’ve read and heard that this is a phase some toddlers go through.

So Pete and I decided that we needed to put a change to that and make him less afraid of strangers. We reckoned we could turn things around if we brought him to places where there were a lot of people who would interact with him, and vice versa. This does not just mean the malls, but gatherings and parties as well.

Last weekend gave us two opportunities to do so. The first was a barbecue party with Pete’s co-workers at Gold Coast. Ethan was obviously very uncomfortable among all the people there and stuck to Pete and me like glue. It was really hot too, so that did not help the situation at all. Nevertheless, Ethan was very fascinated by the swimming pool and we had to take him there several times just to make him happy. There was also a mini playground area, with a rotational tic-tac-toe board which kept him occupied for a while too. Oh, and he went topless for the second part of the evening because of the immense heat 😛 And because he would not let Pete or me go, we could not take any pictures to commemorate the occasion. But just imagine this: Barbecued ribs, grilled shrimp, smoky air, very HOT. ’nuff said.

Two days later on Sunday, I took Ethan to his playgroup. This time saw the most attendees ever since we started the playgroup. Ethan and I were the first to arrive at Charlotte‘s house. I brought along Ethan’s toy train to be shared with the rest of the kiddies when they arrived (was I glad I did, because it was met with enthusiasm from all the kids!). Wei Xuan, Hin Lerk, Ching Ern and Sze Yi also came armed with their toys, full of energy and of course, with their Mommies.

Throughout the playgroup, Ethan was very vocal, although we could not comprehend what he was trying to say. Of course, we entertained him by responding in a manner we thought he understood. We were actually hoping that Ethan would be able to pick up a few words from Wei Xuan, but instead Xuan chose to communicate with Ethan in a language only Ethan and she could understand: baby blabbering! That was hilarious!

I really feel the playgroup is an excellent avenue for the kids to enjoy themselves and interact with other kids. It is so important to have that available for them especially at this formative age, because they can learn so many things: Sharing, imitating (good things, I hope), leadership and expressing themselves, among others. Plus, it is a good time for us mothers to chit chat too!

So we had two group interaction sessions for Ethan over the weekend, and guess what, we are already reaping the benefits. Yesterday when we were in the lift and 2 other people came in, Ethan was not that shy anymore! He did not let out a cry of disdain when they spoke to him, instead he smiled at them, lifted his arm and then leaned his head on Pete’s shoulder. This morning he did the same thing when one uncle came into the lift with us too! I definitely see progress! 🙂

What a Beautiful Sunday!

July 2, 2007 in Ethan, Food & Feeding, Growing Up, Milestones, Parenting | 1 comment

That night after the “No Breastfeeding Before Bedtime” incident, Ethan woke up (I think) once in the middle of the night. Not too bad I would say, but it was relatively harder to put him back to sleep after that. He seemed more well-rested though and only woke up way past 9:00a.m. the next morning. I was so worried something was wrong that I quickly took his temperature for sanity’s sake! This was because normally Ethan would be up and about at around 8:00a.m. 😛

It was going to be an exciting day ahead because we were going to the Family Carnival at The Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. We all had breakfast together; Ethan had a wholesome and nutritious meal of oats with milk and slices of banana.

At the carnival, Ethan was VERY well-behaved. There weren’t any baby chairs in sight, so we stacked two chairs and Ethan sat on them. Another milestone? You bet! And what did our boy eat? Some wan ton mee, a strand of laksa and he had his first taste of orange juice! I gave Ethan a choice of Apple Juice, Orange Juice or water, and he reached for the orange cup, perhaps attracted to its color?

Ethan also got himself a balloon teddy at the carnival. You know, those balloons that could be bent and twisted till it resembled some cute thingy? Well, of course, he had to show his affection by biting the poor balloon teddy on its nose and thereby bursting it! Surprisingly he was not in the least bit perturbed by the loud blast… Mommy jumped up in shock but our boy was the picture of perfect coolness. The nice uncle replaced his *headless* balloon teddy with a new one, anyway. 🙂

After spending all our RM50 worth of coupons, we went home, took a shower and had a brief nap. It was playgroup day and Ethan needed all the energy in the world!

Long Story Worth Reading

June 30, 2007 in Breastfeeding, Ethan, Food & Feeding, Growing Up, Milestones, Parenting, Sleep | 6 comments

I want to remember this special and historical day for as long as I live. I want to have every single detail of today etched in my mind for ever. Read till the end and you’ll know why.

Our Saturday started before 8:00a.m. when Ethan woke both Pete and me up. Ethan had somehow *found* his way to our bed again the night before, and although for most part of the night we slept in the shape of an “I” or “H” or at times a “Z”, we all had a good night’s rest. Maybe it was because we all *knew* it was already the weekend 🙂 In typical Ethan fashion, he crawled over to me, put both his hands on my cheeks and tried to wake me up. My mind was awake but my eyelids were still closed, so he rolled over to Daddy’s side and started playing with Daddy instead. We lazed around in bed and soon got up for breakfast. Ethan shared a bowl of Kellogg’s Frosties with full cream milk with me. I didn’t want to give him too much because of the high sugar content. After that I made 2oz of Isomil + Pediasure for Ethan in a bottle and Pete tried bottle-feeding him. As expected, he rejected the bottle. So I tried giving him the bottle myself instead. Pete gave him the bottle cover to play with and Ethan had a field time putting the cover on the bottle and then removing it. He then grabbed hold of the bottle and opened his mouth wide while putting the bottle nipple into his mouth. We thought he would be happily drinking the milk then but alas! It was only for a while; he had hardly drank 2 sips and he was repeating the entire process over again: close bottle cover, remove bottle cover, play with bottle, pretend to drink from bottle. In the end I decided to mix the milk with some organic arrowroot cookies which I had bought for him a few weeks ago. Guess what? Cookies, he liked. Cookies + Milk mixture, he pushed away. So much for the semblance of a plan. As a last resort, I just poured the remainder of the milk into his mug and gave it to him to drink….and you know, I was surprised he actually drank a few gulps that way. Finally to make it a wholesome breakfast, Ethan had a cup of his favorite grape-flavored yogurt, which he finished joyfully. I then gave Ethan his shower, and after that I breastfed him.

Today, I introduced the shape sorter toy his Ipoh Ah Ma bought for him some months back. Ethan was very excited when he saw the new toy and began playing with it immediately, although he can’t really play it the right way yet. He can turn the hands of the clock on the toy though 😛

We then went out to have dim sum for brunch where Ethan demonstrated once again that he was really becoming a big boy, on the way to independence and self-feeding. He now eats his siew mai using a chopstick ala satay style. Yup, he eats with only one chopstick which is pushed into a piece of siew mai. He will eagerly hold the chopstick and feed himself the piece of siew mai, chomping away happily after that.


Oh, and following Uncle LB‘s suggestion, Ethan tried lormaikai for the first time today. It is of course a form of rice and we are not at all surprised that Ethan loves it!

Next, off we went to Queensbay Mall. I did some clothes shopping and then we went to Toys R Us. The toy car which Ethan took a fancy to had been shifted to the back of the store. So now all the toy cars were grouped together. Of course, Ethan had to take his weekly rides in them. Hmmm….I’m still wondering if I should get one for him…. the problem is where to put the car? He discovered the police car this week…. just look at him having the time of his life!

After that we were at Borders, where we allowed Ethan to wander around in the children’s section, much to his delight. Ummm…actually he also wandered OUT of the children’s section, much to HIS delight too…. and so it wasn’t too long before our boy got knocked out while I was carrying him. He fell asleep in my arms and after a while we placed him in the stroller, while he was still sleeping. We did our grocery shopping in Jusco and then proceeded to the elevator, ready to leave Queensbay Mall. However, as soon as the lift music played, Ethan woke up alert and happy. When we reached home it was already 5:00p.m. and after we unpacked, it was half past five.

And only THEN did I breastfeed Ethan. He was such a good boy, and didn’t even demand loudly for his milk. All I did was sit on the sofa, and he came up to me with this adorable puppy-dog look that said it all, “Mommy, can I have some milk, please?” How could I say no to that?

This was also the first time we had gone out shopping for more than 5 hours that I did NOT have to breastfeed Ethan in the Baby Room in Jusco. Very very good weaning progress indeed.

Ethan played with his toys for a while, watching some TV too. Then we headed out to Old Town for dinner. Nasi lemak and roti bakar were the order of the day. Since Ethan did not take a lot (most of it was just the nasi lemak), I made him another 2oz of Isomil + Pediasure when we got home. I mixed some oats with the milk so it became oatmeal! And was I glad I did! Ethan loved it and ate a lot of it 🙂 It was already about 9:00p.m. then.

Suddenly I had the idea of trying to put him to bed without breastfeeding him. After all, he had had a lot of the oatmeal and he was already very full by then. We gave him his warm shower and got him dressed in his peejays. I then immediately took him straight into the room, and tried to make him go to sleep. To distract him from breastfeeding, I hugged a pillow to my chest and just laid down with him on the bed. After some giggling and smiling, he tossed and turned and finally fell asleep amid my singing and humming the lullaby song his Ipoh Ah Ma sang to him when he was a little baby. It was about 10:15p.m. then. Yes, he fell asleep WITHOUT me breastfeeding him. This was the first time ever and I hope this will mark the first successful step towards a successful weaning ahead.

It was really an odd feeling when it dawned on me that my little boy did not need me to breastfeed him to make him go to sleep. On the one hand, I am happy that we are making progress in this arena, but on the other, there was a part of me that missed that special bond we shared. My labor of love would eventually come to and end soon. We knew this would happen sooner or later. Of course, Ethan has to grow up someday. But it still left me in a poignant state. Motherhood does strange things to people, and although I know I will feel a sense of emptiness inside of me when Ethan is fully weaned off, I am thankful that I had the privilege to enjoy the breastfeeding journey while it lasted.

For now, good night my darling Ethan Boy. Sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite….! …..as clichéd as it may seem.

This is what Big Boys do

June 27, 2007 in Ethan, Food & Feeding, Funny Moments, Milestones | 4 comments

Open up and say “Aaaahhhhh”

Yesterday evening Pete and I had a cup of yogurt each, and as we were enjoying it, Ethan ran over to his Daddy, reached out his hand, held the spoon Pete was using, scooped a spoonful of yogurt and fed himself with it. He then walked away with a smug smile that reeked of, “So there! Told you I could do it!”

Hold the Handle

After yogurt, I gave him a mug of water. At home, Ethan will drink from his own adult-like yellow mug. I bought this plastic mug for him recently to prevent breakage in case he drops it. Normally he will just hold the mug on its sides with both hands and drink from it, but yesterday, he voluntarily reached out for the mug handle, held on to it, and with the other hand supporting the other side of the mug, drank from it! By the way, there is a growing probability that Ethan is a southpaw because he prefers to hold his spoon and mug handle with his left hand.

Leg Lifting

When I help Ethan put his pants on I will lift his leg one at a time, but just 2 days ago, when I was wearing his trousers for him, he leaned his body against me for support and lifted one leg and put it into the trouser leg hole, then did the same for the other. I thought it was just a fluke, but he did it again and again at different occasions. Even when he has his shower, he will put one hand on the shower stall wall, lift up one leg and put it under the running stream of water, and then the other leg. Very good balancing skills, I must say!

Imitation with a Twist

June 26, 2007 in Ethan, Funny Moments, Growing Up | 2 comments

Ethan is learning to imitate what we do. But he does it his way….yes like Frankie did it his way…

I mentioned before that Pete likes to play with Ethan by crouching on all fours and staying really still. And then when Ethan runs over and *finds* his Daddy, he would giggle with glee! Just about a week ago, I noticed that Ethan likes to creep and squeeze himself behind his high chair (His high chair is right next to the wall, so when he does that, he will be holding on to the back of the chair, with his back facing the wall). We notice that when he has assumed this position, he would stay absolutely still. Very very still. Then just yesterday, Pete peeped at him from behind the wall and Ethan squealed in delight! I tried peeking at him from the top, same thing happened. Left, right, under… all with the same effect. Then it dawned on us that Ethan must have thought he was hiding from us. Much like what Daddy has been *playing* with him all this while.

Mommy’s latest hobby

June 25, 2007 in Ethan, Parenting | 6 comments

Okay, I succumbed to online peer pressure and created this simple scrap for Ethan. It’s like online collage but the difference is you don’t get your hands dirty in the process! Thanks to Huisia who pointed me to a few sites, I finally found some time to do a quick amateurish one before (maybe) venturing into something more ambitious later on.

The photos were all taken a few weeks ago in the car. We were parked at the side of the road beside Penang Plaza. And while Pete went to buy a few necessities quickly from Giant, I got bored, turned around and snapped some pictures. So what do you think? Boleh pass or not for first-time scrapping?

Kebab?

June 25, 2007 in Ethan, Funny Moments, Growing Up, Milestones | 1 comment

Just a few days ago, Ethan started saying something that sounded like “kay-bak” (chicken meat in Hokkien).  Or was it “ke-bak”?  Or maybe “kebab”?  Hehehe..

Yesterday he woke up at around 6:30a.m., rolled around on the bed, sat up and said “kay-bak“.  We don’t know for sure what it means yet, but we can’t wait to find out.

Sunday Treat

June 25, 2007 in Ethan, Food & Feeding, Miscellanous, Sleep | 7 comments

Yesterday, we attended Ethan’s Ah Chek (Uncle Patrick) and Aunty Christine’s registration of marriage.  While waiting for the registrar to arrive, we kept Ethan occupied by walking him around and of course, snapping pictures.  I caught the official photographer taking a few shots of Ethan too!  The registration ceremony was a simple one and was over in a jiffy!  Ethan behaved himself extremely well throughout the entire ceremony, apart from a few rather subtle *sounds* coming from him.  I bet those would be audible in the video… hehehe…

After the marriage registration, I could sense that Ethan was already hungry (as were we), so made a beeline for the g Hotel, where the food-tasting cum celebratory lunch would be held.  Since we were still early when we arrived, I took Ethan to the Baby Room at Parkson to breastfeed him, and as expected he fell asleep after a few minutes at the breast.  However, when Pete came to carry him, he woke up and when he realized he was in a shopping mall, with escalators and more escalators, he was immediately rejuvenated!  With all that energy in him, we knew we would have our hands full soon.

We proceeded to the new g Hotel to have our lunch where Ethan enjoyed every bit of it!  He also enjoyed stomping his way on the wooden flooring along the window pane, walking back and forth and smiling all the while.  The g Hotel prepared a rather sturdy RubberMaid baby chair for Ethan, which I must admit looked really macho 😛  Ethan sampled almost all the food that was served, his favorites being:

which he declared to be:

After lunch, we headed for home.  And what can we do after a hearty meal but to:

 

And sleep he did, for TWO whole hours undisturbed!  He actually fell asleep in the car on the way back from lunch and slept on his Fisher Price chair when we reached home.  Pete even managed to trim Ethan’s fingernails then!

A New Friend Found

June 24, 2007 in Ethan, Miscellanous | 4 comments

While we were out shopping in Queensbay Mall yesterday, we decided to stop by the CIMB Bank branch there because we had to draw some money.  Well well, who should we bump into there but Angeleyes herself!  She recognized us immediately and it was so good to finally meet her in person.  Her Darrius was running around nearby and was extremely friendly when we introduced Ethan to him.  Darrius was all elder-brotherly-like and even tried to hug Ethan!  Ethan on the other hand was pretty shy but still, I managed to catch a few moments of *male-bonding* between the two little boys  😛    Don’t you think they both look similar?

By the way, I must apologize for the poor quality of the photos, because the area was pretty dark, and also it is rather difficult taking a good photo of two active toddlers!

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