Bible Verse of the Day

Minum Milo anda jadi Sihat dan Kuat!

June 22, 2007 in Ethan, Food & Feeding | 5 comments

Up till now, Ethan still does not want to drink his Isomil from the bottle.  He will only take it if it is mixed with cereal, oats or rusks.  Last Friday, Mrs Tan tried feeding him Isomil from the bottle again.  She told me she only made up a 2oz feed.  Ethan took one suck and pushed the bottle away, then proceeded to nibble on the bottle nipple, totally refusing to take the milk anymore.  In fact, Mrs Tan had also tried feeding him the milk with a straw but to no avail.  He still doesn’t want it.

I then told Mrs Tan she could try two other alternatives:

1. Rub a little breast milk on the bottle nipple before feeding him the Isomil in the bottle.
2. Mix some Milo with Isomil before feeding him.

So this week, Mrs Tan tried alternative no. 1 first.  Nope…didn’t work.  So she went with the second alternative.  Last weekend, I had already tried giving Ethan some Milo from the tetrapak and after the initial spillage, he took a few sucks of the Milo…so I knew he was all right with the taste.  When Mrs Tan mixed 2oz of Isomil with one teaspoon of Milo, she told us she covered the bottle with a cloth, to prevent Ethan from noticing it was brownish in color, lest he suspect something was amiss.  He kept wanting to unwrap the cloth around the bottle though…but eventually, he finished the 2oz!  And yesterday he took another 2oz the same way too!  Have we found a winner?  I would think so!  I’m going to buy Milo to try out at home this weekend.  Who would have thought Isomil *disguised* with Milo would do the trick? 😀

Climb High Climb Low

June 22, 2007 in Ethan, Exercise, Growing Up | 2 comments

Climbing is one of Ethan’s favorite past times now.  He loves climbing up the sofa, climbing up his toy train (it looks pretty dangerous, because the train has wheels and our boy will try to climb on top of the seat), and anything else that is worth climbing.  In fact, Mrs Tan our babysitter has also reported that Ethan has been quite the climber recently.  Traits of a boy emerging, eh?

Last weekend, when we were at the play area in Gurney Plaza, Ethan happily ran to the slide and started attempting to climb up it.  No, he did not use the slide ladder, instead he climbed *up* the slide…yeah, the part where we are supposed to slide down.  The first attempt saw him climb one or two steps up and then he slid down, then he held on to the sides, put one foot on the slide, followed by another and then slid down again.  I could see the persistence and determination in his face (which mirrors mine…*ahem*) when he tried again and again, and he finally succeeded.  Hey, this takes immense upper body strength okay?

Now, he can also climb up his Fisher Price chair on his own and watch TV … yeah, like a tua-tow-keh…  Look at how he is enjoying himself!

The Wonder of Aromatherapy

June 21, 2007 in Breastfeeding, Ethan, Growing Up, Miscellanous, Parenting | 3 comments

A couple of weeks ago, we noticed that Ethan seemed to be breathless at certain times.  It happened quite frequently, sometimes when he was playing and sometimes when he was just walking around.  More often than not, he would giggle and laugh and then he would follow up with a really deep inhalation, as if he was out of breath.  Because I had childhood asthma, I was afraid that Ethan might have inherited it too.  Although breastfeeding does substantially reduce the risk of contracting asthma, it is not 100% full-proof.  So I called Dr Jessica, his PD, and described his symptoms to her.  She said that since Ethan did not seem out of breath, and did not look pale when he was doing so, she reassured me that the symptoms that were presented were not those that indicate the onset of asthma, rather she suspects that it might be habitual as Ethan could have picked up this behaviour from someone he had observed.  She advised us to not make it a big issue though, and not even to tell him “No” when he does it, because that would sometimes encourage the child to do it more and more often.  So we were to monitor the situation and to let her know if it persisted.

Then I remembered that I had not diffused my aromatherapy lamp for a few weeks already.  Me, being careless and all, I dropped the lamp and the diffusing palette at the top cracked to pieces, so it was no longer usable.  Pete suggested that I get the diffuser replaced so that I could diffuse it again.  A few days after that, I managed to obtain the accessory concerned and started diffusing Eucalyptus.  Eucalyptus is well-known for its Asthma-curing properties, and I diffused it diligently every night when we sleep.  Both Pete and I simply love the aroma, and I’ve used it since Ethan was born.  After a couple of days, we were thrilled to noticethat Ethan was not exhibiting the breathless symptom anymore.  Up till today.  So, does aromatherapy do wonders?  Possibly.  We don’t know if what he had was the start of asthma or not (contrary to what the PD said), but we are certainly glad the breathlessness is no longer there.  Yay to Eucalyptus!

Tantrums tantrums tantrums!

June 19, 2007 in Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | 4 comments

Last week, I read about Bryan‘s possible transition into the terrible twos, but little did I know that perhaps it was also Ethan’s turn now.  We were out shopping last weekend and really, Ethan is beginning to show signs of a decision-maker.  A hot-tempered decision maker, make that.

Scenario 1
As usual he was fascinated by escalators and would insist (loudly) that we take him up and down the escalators.  If we release him to wander around on his own, he would very quickly find out where the nearest escalator is and RUN towards it.  He will have no qualms about stepping onto the escalator on his own too, so we need to run after him and accompany him on them.  As soon as he gets off the escalator, he will want to go again, either UP or DOWN.  The moment we walk away from the escalator, he will scream to no end.  He doesn’t seem to show any possible signs of getting bored with the escalators.

Scenario 2
We were in Toys R Us and Pete put Ethan in one of those little toy cars on display.  Ethan was having the time of his life!  Pretending to drive the car (it was a *Flinstones* kinda car….so he could move it by using his legs), opening and closing the door….it was hilarious!

Soon it was time to go, and I tell you, it was really torturous trying to pry Ethan away from the car.  Pete carried him out of the car, and tried to distract him with some other toy.  But Ethan would inadvertently run back to the car, open the door and get in again.  We tried taking him out again and again, each time accompanied by shrieks and screams and protests.  He only calmed down when we diverted his attention to the escalators…..

Scenario 3
Borders Children’s Section: Ethan’s favorite part of the bookstore.  He especially likes the corner where they have the story-telling section.  I suspect it is because there are steps there and he loves to climb up and down them.  3:00p.m. and it was story-telling time.  Of course the folks in Borders needed to use the story-telling corner and we told Ethan we have to make way for them.  Ethan screamed again at the top of his lungs, protesting when we were trying to take him away.  On the bright side, we can be proud that our boy is showing a keen interest in books…. 😛

So, are we bound for more tantrums?  Only time will tell…

A Day of Records

June 19, 2007 in Breastfeeding, Ethan, Food & Feeding, Growing Up, Parenting, Sleep | 4 comments

Two new records have been set.  Here’s the scoop… 

Yesterday I tar-powed Belacan Fried Rice for Pete and myself for dinner because Pete was on leave.  I then picked Ethan up from the baby sitter’s and arrived home around 6:45p.m.  When Pete and I were having dinner, we put Ethan in his high chair and gave him his grape-flavored yogurt, which he absolutely adores.  After a few spoonfuls, he showed interest in the Belacan Fried Rice instead, demanding loudly for it and gesturing that I gave some to him.  So okay la, I gave him a couple of spoonfuls, not before warning him that it was slightly spicy though.  Our boy enjoyed the rice and the yogurt tremendously, had some water to go with it and after dinner, he played around with his toys and watched TV.  I sliced a mango for dessert, so we all enjoyed it as well.  I went about my usual errands: washing the milk bottles, preparing my working clothes for the following day, doing a round of laundry….the works.  After I had taken my shower, it was already 8:30p.m. and I prepared Ethan for his shower instead.  By the time he was done and all dressed in his peejays, it was about 8:50p.m.

Do you notice something different?  Do you see where I am getting at? No?

Ethan did not ask for milk AT ALL since we arrived back home!  Usually as soon as we reached home and unpacked, he would come over to me, hug my legs and request for milk, and it usually happens around 7p.m.  But nuh-uh, that did not happen at all today.  And I only breastfed him after his shower.  That’s a significant achievement in terms of not asking for milk!

After the breastfeeding session he slept for about an hour….. and we discovered that it was really only a nap because he woke up in alarm when Pete tried to trim his nails!  SIGH…we really need to educate Ethan on the importance of trimming nails.  Because he squirms and evades us when we try to trim his nails when he is awake, Pete has to do the deed only when Ethan is in slumberland.

So after he woke up, he was his playful self again, running around the house (yes, at 10p.m. +).  And he only fell asleep when it was past 11p.m.  *This* time he slept till way past 5a.m. in his cot.  And that’s another record and MAJOR achievement worth noting down. *grins*

We’d like to see more of these records, please… 🙂

“Gow-koon”

June 19, 2007 in Ethan, Funny Moments | 2 comments

That’s the word our babysitter Mrs Tan uses to describe Ethan, meaning he loves to play around and basically well …. just enjoy himself.  Pete loves kids and now Ethan is at an age where he can respond adorably to our antics.  Pete would sometimes crawl on his hands and knees and pretend to chase after Ethan.  Ethan would then *run for cover*, normally this is behind Mommy’s legs.  Ethan loves to hug our legs nowadays.  He will run really quickly towards us and (without braking) grab hold tightly of our legs.  His favorite is also to crawl around our legs, round and round.  Sometimes when Pete *threatens* playfully that he is gonna tickle Ethan, Ethan would shriek loudly and bend his body forward while giggling, as if to protect himself from being attacked.

SIGH…I really wonder how Mrs Tan handles our active and mischievous boy… 🙂

Daddy’s Day

June 18, 2007 in Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | 6 comments

Yesterday was the second time Pete celebrated Father’s Day.  After church in the morning, we had a fantastic but private celebration, just the three of us…I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:

This Toy Rocks!

June 18, 2007 in Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up | 1 comment

When Ethan was hardly 2 months old, Pete went to the States for a short business trip and brought back, among others, a Fisher Price infant-to-toddler-rocker.  This little chair had a toy bar attached to it with 3 toys dangling from it: a pig, a lamb and a cow, which played Old McDonald’s when its tail was pulled.  That’s not all, it also came with a vibration mode which supposedly helps baby relax.  We loved the chair and so did Ethan… it helped him practise his batting and hitting skills (he would punch at the toys when he was lying down on the chair and excitedly play with the rattles) and I remember we were absolutely thrilled the very first time he pulled that cow’s tail and made music!  Well, this toy has certainly transcended time, and it is a really useful toy, because we still use it.  Yup….up till today….

At a few months’ old, Ethan used this chair just to relax and pass time looking and playing with the toys (this was before he learnt how to roll over):

 

Then when he could cruise, this was one of his favorite items to cruise around:

 

Sometimes (actually we still do) we put him in the chair to have a short nap:

 

Now, he has mastered the art of climbing on top of the chair all on his own and down again.  And finally he has also learnt how to enjoy the rocker function too!

Here’s to a toy that absolutely RAWKS!

Learning German?

June 15, 2007 in Ethan, Funny Moments, Growing Up | 5 comments

We have strong reason to believe that somehow, somewhere our boy is beginning to speak German.  That is really strange because none of us can speak German.  Well Pete and I did take a couple of French classes in the university, but German is totally our of our league.  Anyway, Ethan has been saying “Ja ja ja..” very often nowadays.  “Ja” in German means “yes”. 

Me: Do you know where we are going now?
Ethan: Ja!
Me: Yes, we are heading for Queensbay Mall for dinner!
Ethan: Ja! Ja!

Hmmm……I must start teaching him how to say “Ich liebe Dich, Mommy!” soon 🙂

Soba Yoshi

June 15, 2007 in Ethan, Growing Up | 2 comments

Pete and I love Japanese food, so it’s not a surprise that Ethan loves Japanese food too.  He loves it so much that he is now so at home when we go to our favorite Japanese restaurant, Soba Yoshi.  He loves to walk around and explore the area when we are there, and since the restaurant consists of 2 adjoining shops, he always has a field day there.  The waitresses also enjoy his company.  Once, when we stepped into the restaurant, our table was already set for us, complete with Ethan’s baby chair and our appetizers.  Psst…now Ethan also gets a serving of appetizer 🙂 

Sometimes when Pete and I are eating and Ethan is making a fuss, the waitresses will willingly babysit Ethan.  Just a couple of weeks ago, they even took some photos of him and last week, they told me that they had already developed the photos.  When we were there last Friday, Ethan was as usual running around and he accidentally knocked his forehead on the table edge and fell flat down backwards.  But he got up and proceeded to walk around happily still.  The waitress was astonished as to why Ethan didn’t cry…. hmmm……

Good food and free babysitting – you can only get it here… oh and here too!

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