The Mimic

P is currently in the mimicking phase. She shadows what we do and its reflecting our parenting right at us.

1. I slap on my toner and moisturiser after my bath, while she stands outside the bathroom and observe me. I turned to see her patting her face just like what I do.

2. My skin has been dry and itchy ever since the return from my Korea trip. Since we rarely use her Mustela body lotion, I decided to rub some over my arms and legs. P stood and observe for a while, then start to reach down and rub her legs just like how I applied the lotion on my legs.

3. Probably the most classic. Each time P does a forbidden thing like reach for things she isn't suppose to have, we would shake our index finger at her and tell her no. To our horror, we found her mimicking the action every time she does the forbidden, and it's as if she does the forbidden on purpose and show us the same gesture afterwards. Really hits us smack in the face and prompts some deep thinking on our parenting so far. An eye for an eye indeed.

Aside from the mimicking, P has been under the weather for quite some time. She started having cough and runny nose some 3 weeks back, and it prompted 2 trips to the doctor within a space of 1 week. She looks like she was on the road to recovery, but her diarrhoea started the day before I went to Korea, and lasted till I'm back one week later. Just when we thought all's well, she came down with a very bad cough accompanied by runny nose, symptoms similar to the bout of illness prior to the diarrhoea. It hurts to hear her cough. You could picture the phlegm in her lungs when she coughs, and it's affecting her sleep (and ours too) at night.

I came across an article in the paper's today talking about the source of stress for mothers. I look at P and think back on how my mom brought me and my sis up, it can't be easy. Salute to all mothers out there!

Happy Sunday

P is super happy today. I'm not sure why, but I'm very sure she's jubilant today. She was happy to roam around the house, laughing out loud at everything she sees: Mommy, daddy, toys, switches. Every once in a while, she will let out shrieks of joy, and that really makes our day.

Brought P to MBFC for dinner. MBFC has became our weekend haunt. The lack of crowd and abundant space is really conducive for a hyperactive toddler to run around.

P meets toddler X who is 1 day older than her. Both of them started to walk together in tandem and it was funny to watch the unsteady steps, and the occasional fall. They chased each other until toddler X had to go. How fun!

We had an early dinner at Soup Spoon, but it was too early when we got there, so we just sat in the restaurant to wait out dinner time. P managed to engage the staff, waving hi and blowing lots of kisses. She blew so much that the staff fell in love with her, and offered her a bread. However, P did not get a firm grip of it, and the bread tumbled to the floor almost immediately (what a waste!). I dumped it up before she decided to taste it and she's cool about it. While we have dinner, P was free to roam around as long as she is in sight. She must have burnt lots of energy, for she conked out in the car on the way home, haha! That's why I love MBFC on a weekend ;)

Back to my P

Whee, I'm back from Korea!! It was a great 7d6n trip with my mom, and the tour group/guide/itinerary rocks! I didn't regret joining the tour, for the experiences and places it brought me can never be completed on my own if I do free and easy.

Missed P a lot when I was away, and looking at her photos and videos made it worse. My flight touched down in Singapore at 11.45pm last night. Hubby was supposed to bring P back from his mom's place so I could see her (although she would be asleep), but when I reached home at about 1am (baggage collection took ages), I was disappointed to find out that hubby went out for drinks and didn't bring her back :( He said I will need some rest, and I agreed when morning came.

We went out to buy breakfast then proceeded to MIL's place to eat and see P. P went for her morning walk and wasn't home yet, so we took out breakfast to wait for her. She came back when I was finishing up, and the look on her face when she saw me was priceless! She kept giggling and giggling (think heeheehee, heeheehee) and when she finally plopped intoy arms, no one could remove her anymore. Boy, I really miss her!!

Brought P to explorerkid at AMK hub in the afternoon and had an hour of fun. She did not change at all despite my 1 week absence. Her behaviour was the same:
1. Only want me to carry, papa can't carry
2. Took her afternoon nap sleeping on me
3. Followed me around the house and ask to be carried

It's great to be back to P :)

8m vs 14m

Teething Depression

P is cutting her top central and lateral incisors, 4 at one go. While she's suffering teething pains, I'm almost going into teething depression. The non-stop crying is so so frustrating that I really feel like strangling her. I don't know how to help her and my patience is wearing thin.

She refuses to let anyone else carry her. It always has to be M-O-M-M-Y. Try carrying a 10 kg around, and when you think 1 hour is sufficient, put her down and she will cry and clamber to be carried. Try passing her to a 3rd party (hubby) and get a 2s relief (5s if you are lucky), and she will cry for you to be carried. Repeat the cycle at least 5 times a day and you'll see how crazy you can get.

I kept trying to keep my cool and think back on the contents of the article that reminded me to be patient with P. It didn't help much. I almost broke down in church today because P was just too much of a handful, and the only thing holding me back was that my in laws were with me and their friends were sitting with us. How nice to have a howling toddler and a weeping daughter-in-law in the middle of mass? I think hubby sensed that I was almost at the end of my tether, and he took over.

Terrible weekend. Thankfully, I will not be facing all these next weekend. I really need a break.

Bloom School of Music & Arts

Brought P to a trial music class today at Bloom School of Music & Arts. The class starts at 4, and we were the earliest to reach. P showed signs of an impending nap, so I was quite worried whether she can last through the class. Thankfully, she did.

More about the lesson. It was conducted in a pretty small, air conditioned room. Upon entering, you'll see a drum placed in the middle of the room on a playmat. That's for the students to warm up prior to the class starting. That drum is removed just before the class starts.

There were a total of 7 students in the class today (of which P and 3 others are from my FB group), and according to their brochure, it could go up to a maximum of 10 students. Instructor started with a hello song, then used a variety of musical instruments, a doll and scarves to engage the toddlers. There was also a segment whereby the lights in the room are switched off, leaving a small light source (lamp) emitting light from the corner of the room. The song was twinkle twinkle little stars, and that happens to be one of the lullabies I use to lull P to sleep. With the lights off, slow music and me cradling her on her shoulder, I think she almost almost went into dreamland. Luckily, that segment didn't last for long and it was followed by P's favourite maracas. She snapped from her trance immediately and went straight for the basket of maracas.

The class was pretty enjoyable, and P did pretty well compared to her past trial classes at Gymboree. She is able to follow simple instructions from me (like clapping, I love you, dancing), but she still has some time to go before she can take instructions from teachers. In some parts of the lessons, she was wandering around the class and hovering at the door, as if to plan her great escape. This hasn't changed from her past experiences, she really cannot do a sit down and follow instructions type. She has to move around, and move around HER way.

I also noticed that the teacher used quite a lot of sign language, which I haven't determined whether its good or bad. P still has her Our Music Studio vouchers which my ex colleagues gave for her birthday. I'd probably go for that before deciding whether to sign up for this. Pricing wise, Bloom would be more affordable for us.

Ariel and P after class

Here's a pic of the 'lil one once she got home. Lessons are tiring yeah?

"Mama"

You ring the doorbell and she comes running out to see who's at the door. Upon reaching the gate and seeing that it's you, she went "Mama... MAMA!"

The awwww moment.

Amazonia Contest

Following my post on P's visit to Amazonia with her papa, I went on their FB page and was delighted to see that they were having a photo contest. 

Hubby took a couple of pics when he brought her there previously, but his iPhone camera is on the verge of disintegration and most of the pics turned out blurry. I took the best pic I could find and submitted for this photo competition. The result is below. Looks like P won herself another visit to Amazonia, and I want to be the one bringing her this time round :) 

The blurred winning pic

ELC Pre-Xmas Toy Sale

Seriously contemplating taking half day leave tomorrow to go for this sale. I want to get a kitchen set for P after seeing her playing with 1 at Great World City's ELC.

I like this because it's wooden, but I will need to get separate accessories (food, cutlery etc)

This is similar to the one that P played at GWC's ELC. I like it because you can play from all 4 sides, and it comes with some accessories like plates, pots, etc.

Megan's 1st Birthday!

We made our way to Kovan Residences after mass to attend Megan's 1st birthday party! Her mom is an ex colleague of mine, and we hadn't met on years (except for recently at Suntec after P's Hokey Pokey session).

Party was in full swing when we got there, and the birthday girl was hopping from grandma to mommy to aunty, whoever's available. I realise belatedly that I did not manage to get a single pic of the birthday girl, only a video of the crowd singing her a birthday song. The doting parents have engaged a balloon sculpturer and e does some of the best balloons I've seen so far. Birthday theme was an animal theme, and they had a huge animal balloon sculpture which P enjoyed squeezing. Party atmosphere was great :)

Baby shower and Grandma's birthday

Attended hubby's cousin's baby shower today. Little baby Jay is so so small and fragile looking, and he almost seems like a doll. I don't recall P being that small before, so I should probably have a #2 to jog my memory. Heard that the baby's birth weight is 2.9kg, which is pretty close to P, so P must have been that small before!

There was still time left before we need to attend grandma's birthday dinner, so we went home first and managed to let P take a 1 hour nap. It proved to be a right choice, for the dinner only ended at 10.30pm, way past her bedtime.

Dinner was held at the Grassroots Club, some restaurant known as Gim Tim. When we walked into the restaurant, I thought we walked into someone's wedding banquet. It was banquet setting, and I guess the guests all had at least 3 tables each. Food turned out to be pretty good, which pleased hubby a great deal. He had second helpings of a lot of dishes throughout the night. We didn't have to be disrupted by P, for there is this wonderful thing called grandparents. Dad was still on his vegetarian diet, so he was in charge of P the entire night, bringing her to look at the live fish, the wedding banquet stage etc. My cousin's son Cody was born about 5 days before P, so they were playing together (or rather the adults were trying to get them to play together). In the end, the only thing they did well together was to snack on happy yogis (which I brought) and puffs (which cousin's wife brought).

P started rubbing her sleepy eyes furiously when we were having desserts, so that's the cue to leave. After a quick bath and a bottle of milk, she's off to dreamland.

SIL's Surprise Party

SIL's hubby planned a surprise birthday party for her this evening. They were supposed to attend a wedding together, so it was actually quite a good set up. While the couple was dressing up for the wedding, the bunch of friends and family have arrived at the BBQ pit to spring the surprise on her. It turned out to be a surprise for her, so everything was great!

P's interest during the entire party was on the styrofoam ice box. She must have been feeling really hot, for she kept going for the ice and ice water in the box. Scooped some out and started to pat it on her legs, it was funny to watch. She also managed to entertain sil's friends with the newly mastered skills like flying kiss, sayang, who's the clever girl (she will pat her chest), etc.

We made it home before she got really sleepy and cranky. After her bath and a bottle of doped (with her runny nose medicine) milk, she drifted off to lalaland.

Here's a pic that my younger sil took this afternoon. I'm glad she has sufficient hair now to carry off this photo.

Discipline and co-operation

I came across this article on Baby Center and it was really a great revelation for me!

"Your nearly-mobile, nearly-talking baby is certainly capable of understanding what "no" means, and of beginning to co-operate with adults, even (sometimes) when she doesn't actually want to. But she isn't ready to cope with adult anger when she doesn't co-operate because the reasons for the anger are beyond her understanding - it seems to her to gather out of nothing: an act of god; a thunderbolt.

Your toddler has no way of knowing that the thing she did or that just happened - milk down your clean shirt, a briefcase emptied out - was the one more minor disaster that was your "last straw". Even if she had sensed your previous tension, she would not have understood what caused it: the failed alarm call that left you late in getting up, late in getting her up, late getting off to daycare and work. She doesn't understand much about your feelings or your affairs, nor should she.

They are not yet her concern. If you scold, she may enrage you further by laughing; if you shout, she will jump and cry. If you lose your cool to a point where you actually punish her physically, shaking her, smacking her or dumping her in her cot, she will be as amazed and horrified as you would be if the family dog suddenly turned on you and took a chunk out of your leg. Until the reasons for adult anger become comprehensible, your toddler cannot learn anything useful from punishment. When the reasons do become comprehensible, she will be able to learn without punishment.

Suppose your child pulls a glass off the coffee table and breaks it. You may justify your angry scolding on the grounds that she should not have touched it because you have told her not to many times - and anyway she should have been more careful. But think a minute. She touched the glass because it was there: her vital curiosity told her to examine it and her memory and understanding are not yet good enough to tell her which things are forbidden. She broke it because her manual dexterity is not yet adequate for handling delicate things gently. So was the accident really her fault?

If the glass was really valuable, what was it doing left within her reach? She is being punished for being what she is. A baby.

Now suppose that she tips all the food out of her dish on to the freshly-washed floor. In fury you say that "she ought to know better". But ought she? A few minutes earlier you helped her to tip all the bricks out of their bag onto the floor. Is she supposed to share your ideas about the difference between food and toys? As to the clean floor, she probably watched you sloshing bubbly water over it. Is she supposed to understand that soapy water cleans things, but gravy dirties them? Once again you are being cross with her for being the age she is and for behaving as people in her age bracket are meant to behave.

Whatever other people may sometimes suggest, going gently with a baby this age cannot "spoil" her or create behaviour problems for later. In fact the more consciously you love her, and enjoy the way she loves you, the better. If you let yourselves realise and reciprocate her inexhaustible desire for smiles and hugs, it will be obvious that the last thing she wants is to displease you. It will be a long time yet before she can understand what pleases you, though. Your pleasures are not the same as hers. You don't like gravy on the floor...."

I think I really need to be more patient with P and manage my expectations. Many times, I have treated her as if she's more than a baby, but apparently, she's nowhere near. In this aspect, I have to admit hubby is ahead of me.

Hmmm, food for thought for the weekends... BBQ at my SIL's place tonight, Happy Friday!

Dong Dong Dong, 123

Hubby brought P to Great World City's Amazonia in the afternoon to spend some quality time with her. I'm very impressed that he did that! He wanted to head to eXplorerkid at AMK hub initially, but we've misplaced P's membership card (actually I suspected it was P who misplaced it while playing with my wallet), so I suggested for him to come to Great World City to wait for me to knock off. I joined them after work, and the place wasn't as huge as I expected. Heard from hubby that the play wasn't fantastic as well, but I would probably try to bring P on my own another time just to be sure.

P at Amazonia

We left Amazonia after I took a bird's eye view of the place. Hubby had to go meet his colleague for a while, so I brought P to Early Learning Centre. There was a kitchen set at the play area, and P had a cooking blast! I realise that she likes to use a spoon to stir around in a container (either cup, bowl or frying pan). She is also mildly interested in dolls, and keep wanting to sayang one of them. It took me a lot of distraction efforts to get her out of the store. After a $1 kiddy ride that she picked out herself outside the cinema, we rejoined hubby.

We celebrated hubby's almost-end-of-reservist with a feast at Great World City's Kuishinbo. Yeah, dong dong dong, 123, we are Kuishinbo! It was ladies night, and ladies enjoy a discounted price. My lil' one joined us for the feast. She started with some fish maw soup, followed by a chawanmushi all by herself, rice mixed with fish maw soup, grilled dory fillet, a small slice of cake and a vanilla ice cream to round it off. We estimated she ate about $10 worth of food.

Made our way home after stuffing ourselves silly (there goes my gym effort for 1 week). P is still a bit under the weather. Her nose is blocked and you know just from listening to her laboured breathing. I just applied some Vicks vapour rub on her bag and stuck a nasal patch on the front of her romper. Hope she can recover really soon, for hectic weekend is coming!

Shower Schizophrenia

Yes, I'm sure a lot of mommies can identify with this picture.

I burst out laughing when I saw this pic because I experience it every time I take a shower when P is asleep . It first started during my maternity leave when I was the sole caregiver of P. With a newborn, every chore is shelved and bath/lunch time becomes a luxury. I would put her down to nap and began a whirlwind of activities (chores and bath and what's not). The trick is to take a shower the moment she sleeps, else you can forget about it until another caregiver (hubby) comes back. Even so, the above phenomenon will keep playing in your mind and drives you crazy.

Before your child was born, you can take 20-minute showers. Now, if you can do a 2-minute one, it's already a luxury. That's motherhood.