Tai-tai! (Bye)

As mini-b would say "tai-tai" coupled with a backward wave, so am I now saying Ciao! I can't believe I'd made more than 250 posts over 2.5 years. But like everything, it's time to move on.

Thank you all who have been following this blog :)


microbeanie is 5 months, 2 weeks & 4 days old
minibeanie is a 2.5 year old toddler

9 days

What a difference 9 days make. That was how long DH was away on a trip to Barcelona. And in that time,

• mini-b was potty-trained! (something that I never thought would happen)
• micro-b grew.... visibly
• micro-b made his first crawl
• micro-b found his toes
• I lost my marbles on a couple of occasions

On the potty training bit, it was his school who initiated the first step. I remembered his teacher, Miss Lauren, writing in the Communication book about being potty-trained as a goal for the new year and I remembered thinking, yeah right. I couldn't even get him to sit on the elephant potty let alone on the 'big boy potty', which is what we call the 'potty' that we big girls and big boys use.

But 2-3 weeks before school broke for the Lunar New Year holidays, Miss Lauren embarked on a no-diaper policy. And so upon arriving in school, mini-b changed out of his diapers and into training pants. The first time he peed into the tiny urinal, he got a two thumbs up from Cullen a 3 y.o in his class and a group hug from his friends. How sweet! Over the course of a week, he got the hang of it. There were several accidents with the washing machine kept very busy everyday and once or twice where I picked him up in school without his pants because mummy had forgotten to pack a spare one. My bad. I can just imagine the severe disapproval I must have gotten from the Chinese who would point out to me that the kids are cold without woollen beanies.... and mini-b going barelegged in winter. Tsk tsk!!!

Anyhow, when the 2 week long Lunar New Year holidays started, I bravely took that step of weaning him off diapers. (Incidentally, DH's reaction was one of pure terror when told of my plan.) As expected, there were many hits and misses. Progress seemed like a 2 steps forward, 1 step back tango. Along the way, I lost my marbles a couple of times when he peed in his high chair, sofa and even once on his bed (no, not when he was sleeping). And the worst was when he pooped in his training pants :#

Come Day 4 however, we had made significant progress. He still didn't go to the toilet on his own but I'd learnt to read his cues, like when he kept moving his feet in the hair chair, squirming on the sofa and basically acted like there were ants in his pants. He still had to learn how to aim and shoot though. Gosh, why did God made that equipment so complicated? I had also gotten him to sit on the 'big boy potty' with a duckie insert to poop! Yes! That was a major accomplishment. And I later found out that the reason for his resistance was his fear of the hole ("high up") and how he would "fall down". I broke that resistance by putting him on it, sitting beside him and giving him the car magazine that was in the bathroom. After a couple of minutes talking about Lamborghini, Ford & Volkswagon, the 'big boy potty' wasn't so scary after all.


And as for micro-b, he gained another form of mobililty by lifting his bum and with some luck and traction, inched forward towards that rattle/ stuffed elephant/ sock that he just MUST have. Most days he was sleeping through the night again but he was drinking tons of milk which translated into less time for me. I couldn't wait to start him on solids!

It had been a most eventful 9 days.


microbeanie is 5 months & 2 weeks old
minibeanie is a 2.5 year old toddler

Hermit I am

I only have to look back 2 years ago to realize that holidays then and now are worlds apart. Literally. No more "off the beaten track" or "adventure" but hello to "kids friendly". Instead of The Rocky Resort, a boutqiue resort with a private beach far from the madding crowds at Koh Samui.where we spent our honeymoon, I'm looking at Sheraton Phuket where words like "visiting baby elephants" and "supervised kids' activities" get me rather excited. And when I see the description of a 'Happy Baby Studio' that includes a high chair, stroller, cot AND a microwave, it makes me want to do a crazy dance around the room because there's the remote possibility of a holiday. What have I morphed into??! A parent with 2 VYC.

Having VYC makes traveling a logistical challenge to say the least. We will be bringing cargo-loads of diapers, jars of baby food and ration of formula, Crayola markers and papers, story books and favourite toy cars. Sometimes this logistics challenge makes any excursion more emotionally costly than the enjoyment it bestows. And for that reason, I loathe to drag the VYC out.

But like a friend puts it, everyone needs a holiday. She just left for a 3 week Thai beach and KL holiday with 2 preschoolers. Maybe when these VYC become not so very VY, I can dare imagine getting out of the house again.


microbeanie is 5 months & 2 days old
minibeanie is a 2.5 year old toddler

Starting solids soon?

micro-b is 5 months old today! And a month (or less) to go before introducing solids! Hip hip hooray! The sleep-through-the-night routine is a distant memory. In fact, ever since he got the cold in early Jan, he had begun waking up in the night. Ok, so I thought he'd settle back into the old rhythm after the cold but no, he's still at it :( Yes, I've read that these things happen...illness, teething & growth spurts do that. Recently however, it becomes clear that he's increasing his feeds and over a month, he has increased the amount he drinks by nearly 30% which is phenomenal.

Last night, he got me up twice. I'm so sleep deprived as a result. I know it's bad but I'm so tempted to start popping a spoon of cereal into his mouth right now. Why don't I? There's an increased risk of allergies by starting solids too young.. and since micro-b has eczema, I'll just have to grin and bear it for another few weeks or so :P


microbeanie is 5 months old
minibeanie is a 2.5 year old toddler

My 2.5 yo knows more about cars than me!

mini-b is a petrol-head just like his dad ;) He probably knows all the makes and our favourite activity on the ride back from school is to identify cars on the road. And the condo carpark is a close contender with the playground as his favourite place to be outside. Let's see, he knows the usual sports car marques such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lotus and of course the more familiar Volkswagon ("Vokk wagen"), Merz, Beemer, Nissan, Toyota, Buick (a very popular MPV make in Chengdu), Honda ("HON da", in a low voice in the likes of a stiff Japanese man. Hmm, I wonder where he got that from), Seat, Citroen, Suzuki, Audi, Volvo, Skoda....

A couple of days ago, it became apparent that my 2 and a half year son knew more about cars than me. When he asked, "this one", and pointed to a car on the road, I replied, "Seat". Whereupon he replied in a most confident tone, "no mummy, Seat. Suzuki-ni". I was surprised and a little insulted but made a mental note to check up on their logos. Damn! I was wrong! :D

ps. just in case someone is as clueless as me, the silver logo on the right is Suzuki & the red one is Seat ;)

microbeanie is 4 months, 3 weeks & 2 days old
minibeanie is a 2.5 year old toddler

It's all in the name

EtonHouse has a practice of putting each student's picture followed by his name on the classroom's door. In the Chinese division class that's beside mini-b's, there are a couple of names that caught our attention. 3 boys named Sunny, Grace, ....and my favourite is, Leakey. I feel sorry for that kid.


microbeanie is 4 months & 3 weeks old
minibeanie is a 2.5 year old toddler

Thursday = pea soup + crepe

There's a quaint tradition in Finland where pea soup (hernekeitto) and crepes (lettu) are traditionally eaten on Thursdays. I've no idea why Thursday. And for that matter, no other day of the week has such association. This soup isn't the usual starter; instead, it's a main course because it's so heavy that it goes thump in your stomach. It's one of those things I read about Finland many years in a list that went, "You know you're in Finland when..." along with "silence is golden" or something about whipping one's body with a bunch of birch twigs in a sauna. How cute, I thought. But it wasn't a few years later that I actually tried pea soup.

I think if there's any dish that sums up the Finnish psyche, it's this. Hearty, down-to-earth, unpretentious.

Hernekeitto
shelled peas, dried or fresh
potatoes, cubed (optional)
onions, minced
meat stock (I used chicken bones left over from a roast)
bay leaves
ham*, diced
butter
salt & black pepper
mustard

1. Put the bay leaves, bones, peas & potatoes into a large stockpot. Add water until just covering the peas or potatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer until peas are soft or until a good stock is made from the bones.
2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan and saute the onions until a golden caramel colour. Add into the stockpot.
3. Remove the bay leaves & bones.
4. Use a potato masher to mash the peas and potatoes into a thick paste. (Alternatively, a blender could be used as well but I prefer a chunky touch to the soup)
5. Add the diced ham. Season to taste with salt & pepper.
6. Serve with a dollop of mustard mixed in.

* I really don't recommend thin slices of 'picnic ham'. I'd go for a whole chunk of smoked ham then dice it to your liking. I had frozen portions of my Christmas ham and it was wonderful.

And as for the crepes (lettu), I whipped some cream and chopped up strawberries to go. Traditionally though, strawberry jam is eaten with the crepes along with cream. I love food traditions!


microbeanie is 4 months, 2 weeks & 1 day old
minibeanie is a 2.5 year old toddler

Share and share alike

"Share" is an alien concept among 2 year olds. When we have playdates, mini-b holds his car to his chest and proclaims, "mine". Nevermind that he hasn't touched that toy for ages. Same goes for the long forgotten rattle that micro-b plays with these days. While I'm anxious not to raise selfish brats, pediatric psychologists say this is pretty normal behaviour for 2-3 year olds.

But there's one thing that mini-b has shared pretty well. He brought home from school a cold last week. Over the weekend till today, gooey stuff has been dripping from his nose followed by a rackish cough. Yesterday, it appeared that mini-b shared his germs with his little brother. micro-b now has a heart wrenching phlegm-y cough. Great, 2 sick cry-y kids on my hands :(


microbeanie is 4 months & 1 week old
minibeanie is a 2.5 year old toddler

this past few weeks

I can't believe how fast time flies... (yep yep, don't we hear that all the time?) micro-b is 4 months old and the elder one is 2.5 years old. Developmentally, mini-b is talking a lot more now. School has been great. The exposure he has been getting, the socializing with children his own age, drawing, running.... all the kind of stuff I wish I can do with him on a daily basis but can't because my hands are tied (almost literally ;) Last week, his class baked gingerbread cookies because the letter of the week is 'G' :) And the next week, there will be a school excursion to an organic farm! I wish school was half that fun during my time.

And micro-b is a very jolly fella. He loves to squeal and laugh wholeheartedly when someone engages him - what a wonderful temperament... am I lucky. Last Monday, just 2 days before he turned 4 months, he flipped over from back to tummy and since then, he has been going round in circles on the playmat. Back-tummy-back-tummy.... I can probably get him to clean my floor if I attach scouring pads to his jumpsuit.

Anyhow, here are the past few weeks in pictures.

Gingerbread - a family tradition by now and there's my elf.

The Gingerbread house from the 2005 template. This year's cookies were a disaster. I over-beat the butter & sugar resulting in cookies that s-p-r-e-a-d horribly in the oven but I managed to work around it by using very cold dough from the freezer.

Christmas Eve dinner. No, I didn't bake the ham. Thank God for a local butchery run by a Kiwi couple!

micro-b's first Christmas!

Zzzzz... (Chinese Ah Pek in the making)

microbeanie is 4 months & 4 days old
minibeanie is a 2.5 year old toddler

Sleeping through the night ... at last!

Last month, I was wondering if it was a fluke that micro-b slept through the night. It turned out that it was ;) Then, we were still in Finland and a week later, we returned to Chengdu. Miraculously, micro-b began to sleep through the night consistently upon our return. I wasn't about to celebrate prematurely in case it was jet lag but it has been 3 weeks now and I didn't have to wake up at 3am once in that period! ....[victory dance]....

In fact, micro-b's quite the perfect baby sleep-wise. The last feed usually ends at 10pm, we zip him up in his sleeping bag (he'll kick off his blanket otherwise) and he sleeps until 8 the next morning. Bliss!!

Here's a series of pictures I took while in Finland in mid November.



microbeanie is 3 months, 1 week & 3 days old
minibeanie is a 2 year & 4 month old toddler

Potentially embarrassing moments

I may be wrong but I think it may be a rite of passage for every parent to be embarrassed by her toddler. Since we had been eating a fair bit of pomelo, mini-b often gestures that he wants his share with, "anna (Finnish: give) porno".

And because it is tricky for a 2 year-old tongue to wrap around the 'tr-' sound, it often sounds like he's saying, "f**k, f**k, f**k" when he was simply pointing to his 3 trucks. We have some explaining to do in front of friends.


microbeanie is 3 months, 1 week & 2 days old
minibeanie is a 2 year & 4 months old toddler

Linguistic sponge

For a few months, mini-b has referred to himself as "boy". It always brings a smile to our faces when he says, "mama, dada, baby, boy", "boy cwwhy" (cry) or "BOY!" when he wants to express that something belongs to him. On this trip to Finland though, he has finally learnt how to say his own name. Quite a feat considering how long his name is...we could have been nice and chosen a 1 or 2 syllabi name like John or Tomi. mini-b introduces himself as "Hasasan" or sometimes "Hassan" :D

It also amazes me how fast he's picking up language now. Before we came 2 weeks ago, he said, "hands pois (Finnish: away) please" and from his playschool teacher, he apparently said, "Everybody 洗手 (Chinese: wash hands)". I suppose it's inevitable that he mixes the languages he's learning everyday.

Thanks to his fav Ten Little Ladybugs book, mini-b can now count to 10 in English & Chinese. We also talked a lot about colours. M&Ms are great teaching tools ;)


microbeanie is 2 months, 1 week & 5 days old
minibeanie is a 2 year 3 month old toddler

A fluke

Yes, it was a fluke! Judging by mummy's red eyes this morning at 7, and micro-b's wailing that woke up dada and minibeanie. It was time for the boys to get up anyway and go get flu-jabs for mb. Well, we can't expect micro-b's sleeping pattern to change in one go. The trend is for the better anyway

-dada

microbeanie is 2 months, 1 week & 3 days old
minibeanie is a 2 year old toddler

Through the Night!

micro-b slept through the night for the very first time last night! He had his last feed until 10pm and I thought, well, he'd be up 3 or 4am as usual. But no, I woke up at 10am. Yes, 10 o'clock, a sane hour to get up when it's considered day, not 4am when the only things up at that hour are drunks lumbering home and crickets. You see, I got to get up at 10 because dada took the 7am shift AND micro-b was a perfect baby.

Was last night a fluke? We'll see...


microbeanie is 2 months, 1 week & 2 days old
minibeanie is a 2 year old toddler

A Finn in the making

There's always something that makes one distinctly Singaporean, Finnish, Chinese.... It could be eating certain strange foods or some ritual that's totally based on culture. Today, mini-b climbed onto the dining chair and started rummaging through its stuff. He came to me all sheepish and said, "eat". I thought he had found the bag of M&Ms on the table and helped himself to a chocolate buffet but when I went to the table, lo, it was the box of salmiakki.

To non-Scandinavians, salmiakki is the black stuff that everyone else on this planet hates. It was once banned because it was made from ammonia. And this particular box was actually bought from the pharmacy :D Personally, despite my adventurous spirit towards exotic foods, I stop short at salmiakki (even if I crave for salmiakki ice-cream, go figure ;) mini-b is more Finnish than I thought.



microbeanie is 2 months & 1 week old
minibeanie is a 2 year old toddler - and up to no good

October 09

It had been FOREVER since the last post :P I do know that some of you are following this blog so I'm sorry to disappoint. Besides the fact that I hardly have time for anything these days, it had proven impossible to log onto Blogger (& Facebook for that matter) recently. Either the proxy server I'd been using needed some new config or that China's Great Firewall had finally caught up with it, I don't know. My tech support guy had for some reason been quite busy as well ;)

Well, tons had happened in the last month or so. In a nutshell, here's what happened in October 2009.

• We took a whole week to 're-tune' mini-b's sleeping habit back to sleeping alone in his own room. A month of molly-coddlying by his paternal grandmother did some damage. The worst night was when mini-b came to our room crying for the 3rd or 4th time after being accosted back to his bed and I was ready to cave and let him climb into our bed at 6am. Thankfully, DH held his fort.

• mini-b started half day playschool at Eton House! We're really proud of him for he didn't cry a single bit. All he needed was to be shown the train set and he would settle right in :D The main focus was on gaining independence such as eating by himself, washing his hands, putting on his shoes etc. He also learnt boundaries, respecting others' rights & group work such as there's a time for art class and Chinese class (<-- I was told by the teacher, Miss Lauren, that he isn't so hot for Chinese class... fell asleep once! :D the apple didn't fall too far from the tree, I thought. I think school had done mini-b a world of good. Just 3.5 weeks into it, I noticed that he'd begun using a lot more words. The stimulation he received in that 3.5 hours everyday was certainly a lot more than what I could give at home even without a certain bundle.

• Speaking of the bundle, micro-b had grown! He had started smiling and sleeping for longer stretches of time. Hallelujah! Right before we left Chengdu for Finland, the longest he slept at night would be 5 hours - waking up just once to feed in the night. It was a huge improvement over the last week when 2 night feeds actually meant at least an hour of sleep less.

I'd put up some pictures if I could. Here are a couple from the first week of micro-b's birth. Already feels like ancient history.

19 days old

Big brudder the tutti pusher

microbeanie is 2 months & 3 days old
minibeanie is a 2 year old toddler

Breastfeeding hell

The first week of breastfeeding had been hellish. True to form, this little guy who had been doing gymnastics in my belly at 1am, was most restless at that hour from day 1. I recalled (just 17 days ago but it seemed like a lifetime already!) being kept up for most nights in the hospital soothing and breastfeeding him. It was especially frustrating when the milk hadn't 'come in'. I can't imagine why anyone would enjoy this thing called breastfeeding. The whole process would take me at least an hour and that was being optimistic.

Unlike some lactating mums who are like cows, I never had an overflowing problem. And although I was assured by my lactation consultant that eventually supply would increase with demand, the process of enduring 2 days of continuous sucking that result in sore & tender nipples, not to mention keeling over a baby perpetually tethered to my breast, the thought of bottle feeding became an increasingly attractive option.

Bottle feeding also allowed DH to share in the load and bond with the baby. The shorter time taken to feed also meant more time could be spent with my elder bean whom I felt had been neglected by me of late. Such is the complexity of the decision! Parenting today is all about guilt management. Guilt from depriving a baby from the 'best' milk; guilt from not spending enough time with the child; guilt from choosing a career over the home... At the end of the day, there wasn't a one-size-fits-all solution for every issue. What mattered most was a judicious weighing of costs versus benefits. With that, I'm at peace with my decision to supplement with the bottle. And just like that, I got out of my breastfeeding hell.


microbeanie is 2 weeks & 3 days old
minibeanie is a 2 year old toddler

micro.b's Birth Story

It's now a week since Lucas was born last Sunday in the wee hours of the morning.

1900 hrs, Saturday
After a day of being out and about, I was relieved to get a moment to sit down before dinner. While DH was in the gym, my water bag burst. There was no doubt about it. I wasn't about to make the same mistake as the last time when I mistook it for a show. In fact, I think I saw bits of the mucous plug in the trickle. No need to press the alarm button by summoning DH from the gym immediately as it'd still take awhile. On DH's return, as I was blogging and logging onto Facebook I calmly told him that we had to go to the hospital. The look on his face was priceless :D

2000 hrs
The hospital was a mere 5min ride away. We sauntered into the delivery ward as pre-admission was all done a week before. I was in a great mood. Everything felt right.

I was given the hospital gown to change into which btw was the most undignified piece of garment ever designed because it exposed one's posterior in the most inglorious fashion. Told to pee into a cup which was a very difficult thing to do for preggies or 300lb folks because our bellies extend so much we just couldn't see down THERE much less pee into a tiny cup.

The fetal monitoring device (CTG) was strapped on. Everything normal there - no signs of fetal distress, healthy heartrates and contractions 8-10 min apart. Only minor discomfort felt.

2045 hrs
2 cm dilated.

2130 hrs
We got the ok from our gynecologist, Dr Kowa, to have our dinner. DH trooped down to Takashimaya's foodcourt for some takeaway. Excellent minced meat 'mee tai mak'! (despite having to pause occasionally for surges to pass). Contractions 7-8min apart.

2330 hrs
Dr Kowa arrived for the preliminary assessment. 3-4cm dilated. Great that it's progressing without the need for oxytocin. Contractions felt stronger but nonetheless bearable. He estimated delivery to be at 0500-0600. Remembered kidding with Dr Kowa and midwives.

0000 hrs
Surges coming on strong. As with minibeanie's birth, I reached for the laughing gas (50% nitrous oxide & 50% oxygen) though one had to be out of her mind to laugh at that point.

DH had a coffee to stay awake. Moto GP was on the overhead tv. Surreal.

0100 hrs
Strong contractions that reached the peak of the CTG scale. 5cm dilated.

0120 hrs
Huge surges 3min apart. The air-condition which I had requested to be colder made DH don 2 shirts, wrapped a towel around and huddled beneath the baby heater. Meanwhile, I was perspiring buckets.

DH requested a second cup of coffee. Hmm...

0137 hrs
Dr Kowa was called back. 8cm dilated! Glad that the end was in sight.

0150 hrs
Thought I felt rectal pressure. A VE showed that baby had descended but he was still too high up. Guess it was a false alarm. Maybe an earlier prediction of delivering by 0230 would come true...

0210 hrs
Contractions on CTG started to 'merge' i.e. long & frequent. I recalled using the f-word at some point.

The midwife started laying out the equipment on a trolley.

0300 hrs
10cm dilated at last! The stirrups were brought out. Time to push! DH said he was worried when Dr Kowa rolled out his arsenal - scalpels & what-nots of all sizes.

No idea how many times I was told to push. All I remembered was being told by midwife to push for 10 counts 3 times with each wave. The contraction pain which had me grabbing the pillow were now secondary; instead, the main sensation now was the intense need to get the baby out. A stinging sensation was felt that only intensified with each push & surge. Finally, when the sting was at its most intense, the baby's head emerged. The rest was easy.

0323 hrs
Lucas was born! :)

Relieved that there were no tears and no episiotomy needed .... and no painkillers of either pethidine or epidural used. We stayed in the delivery suite for an hour or so to breastfeed. At 0530, I was transferred to a gurney and wheeled to our room where we would all room in for the next 2 days.

It was a great birth experience :)


minibeanie is 2 years, 1 months, 2 weeks old
microbeanie is 1 week 1 day old

This is it

I've been having contractions on & off since this morning but they have been irregular. No need to push the panic button yet. After all, they last barely half a minute and they feel like mild menstrual cramps.

Not just any day but any time now.

10 minutes ago as I was putting 2 yoghurt bars into The Bag for the hospital, a sudden wetness was felt. It was the water that had been cocooning microbeanie for the last 38 weeks. It wasn't a gush but it wasn't just a little either. And from what I learnt the first time, this is it.

Funnily enough, dada is still in the gym. No need to run to get him. I can wait and so can microbeanie :)


minibeanie is 1 year, 1 month & 1 week old
microbeanie is 38 weeks 3 days in utero