Mummy's entry - communicating

I got this inspiration to blog on this topic from ZMM when she was speechless with her eldest daughter, Zara’s speech whom by the way, speaks very well for her age (she’s only 2 and half years old). Similar to how ZMM felt when Zara can converse and respond like an adult, I’m amazed at how Rye Li is communicating fast with us too although she can’t speak as well as Zara.

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Just the other day, I was giving her some biscuits and I thought I’d play along with her so I opened up her hand and shook the biscuits out of the packet on to her hand and she found this entertaining. When she finished her biscuits, she opened up her hand again. She thought I didn’t understand her and she went on to point at her hand till I did the same act again. And after that, when she has finished her biscuits again, she will keep pointing to her hand for more even though she’s full with the biscuits.

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Rye Li’s papa always takes her out to the balcony to feed the fishes or just to hang out there. We didn’t realise that she’s been observing his actions till one day, when he told her that he will take her out to the balcony, she went straight to get the balcony key (which is situated within her reach) and handed the key to him. And now, when she wants to go to the balcony without us indicating, she will go take the key herself and hand it to him.
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Last night, Rye Li’s papa pretended to sleep on the floor in our bedroom and when she noticed this, she went “oh oh” (her version of oi oi which means sleep in Chinese slang). So when I asked her to come out of the room to get her ready for bed, I asked her to say bye-bye to Papa and she pointed at him and instructed him to “oh oh” loudly when she noticed that he looked up at her.

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She now can say “sked-sked” (scared) and will pat her hands to her chest to indicate that she is scared. The other day, Aunty Ng (her caretaker) told me that Rye Li was telling her that she’s “sked-sked” and Shon (her playmate who’s 3 weeks older than her) also indicated with his hands that he is scared. And Rye Li put her hands on his chest and said “no-no” to tell him that it is alright, you don’t have to be scared.

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When we were waiting at the waiting lounge at the hospital the other day (when we saw her doctor for her constipation issues), she walked up to me and pointed at something and talked in her baby talk. She went on for a good thirty seconds as if we were discussing something. Unfortunately, I didn’t understand her and I told her that I didn’t know what she was talking about and she walked away and continued to observe her surroundings.

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She has this fascination for balls and balloons and whenever she sees one, she will go “bor” very loudly. I was driving one day when all of a sudden, she went “bor” and I tried in vain to see what exactly she saw. It’s was those air balloons (promotions) in the sky that I won’t even notice. The same goes when she sat on my lap (she now wants to be involved in whatever we’re doing or eating) while I surfed the net and all of a sudden, she went “bor”. I looked all over the screen and realised that she was indicating on the tiny ball icon on the bottom right of the screen. Amazing how sharp kids can be these days!

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Among other new words she has learnt so far:-

“nana” for banana (she will point to bananas and say this)

“che-che” for elder sister (chinese)

“chor-chor” for sit down (chinese)

“beh-beh” for bear

“to” for throw

“wan” for one

“sis” for six

“eit” for eight (her papa will count to her and she will respond with 1, 6 or 8)

“wok-wok” for walk

“yeh-yeh” for yea or kai yeh (her godfather) and “mama” for kai mah (her godmother)

“baybee” for baby (she will point and say this whenever she sees a baby, even babies her own age or older)

“ayo” for hello

"nmmm-nmmm" or "poo-poo" for poo

"bek" for bread

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New actions:-

She will point to whatever she wants now and if you pretend to ignore her, she will come to you and pat you on your shoulder or chest so that you pay attention to her. Since she sleeps in her cot next to me, when she wakes up in the middle of the night for milk, she will shake me awake if I'm within her reach and if I'm not, she will make sure that she is being heard by screaming "merk" (milk). I'm amazed how her papa can sleep through all that!

And when she knows that you've heard her, she will lie down on her pillow and wait for her milk to be given to her. I tried ignoring her once, hoping that she will fall asleep but she got up and made noise again.

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She can say sorry, not in words but in actions. Aunty Ng taught her to put both her hands on her head to say sorry. So, whenever she gets mischevious in which I will scold her or punish her in her corner (will save this for another post), I will make her say sorry.

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Whenever we're reaching home, once she notices our condo from a distance, she will point to it and go "heh-heh" (her laugh). And when we arrived at our destination, she will clap her hands and go "yea-yea". One time, she was sleeping in her car seat when we arrived home and when I unbuckled her from the car seat, she woke up and did just that; clapped her hands and went "yea-yea" as if she has been brainwashed to do just that.

Kids - what are they on that makes them so smart?!!!

A tip for a rainy day!

Two weekends ago, Papa wanted to take me swimming but was so engrossed in his F1 (Formula One) on tv that he said he will take me swimming when he has finished watching it. So by the time his F1 ended, the sky was pretty dark. But Papa said that it will be a quick one so Mummy rushed to get me into my swimming suit. While I was putting my swimming suit on, there was a loud thunder. Followed by a few more after that. So Mummy said better not go swimming then and I think Papa felt bad so he suggested to use the pool he bought me some time back. And what a good idea it was!

Posing in my new swimsuit (actually, not new as papa bought this from US last year but this is my first time wearing it and will be my last too since it fits too snugly)

Papa blowing air into my wading pool while I wait patiently

as you can see, what fun I was having and best of all, the water is warm!

I had too much fun in my pool that I refused to come out after that so Mummy had to bathe me in my pool too. And after my bath, I still refused to come out so Mummy pulled out the plug from the pool (which nearly flooded her bathroom) and I was forced to come out and get dressed. I did make a huge fuss!

Anyway, would like to suggest to Mummies and Papas out there to go invest in this wading pool to keep your young ones entertained any time! And the best part is that you can have warm water and you don't have to worry about them getting cold. And it's really cheap too, we got this like less than RM6. Papa wants to go get a bigger one so he can get in with me and will finally has his own bath tub!

Below are pictures of my quality time with Papa. We have a fish pond on the balcony and also Papa loves plants so the balcony is pratically his own haven and I get the privilege of hanging out there with him in the mornings weekdays and weekends too.

Mummy's entry - milk-less?!

Rye Li has not been drinking much milk lately – she’s on Enfa series milk formula and I’ve just changed her from Enfapro A+ to Enfagrow A+. In the last one and a half months, she was on both, I’m preparing her for the transition to Enfagrow A+ fully.

With her recent constipation issues, I’ve been told that perhaps it could be the new formula that is causing her this. I was thinking of changing to another brand or perhaps to fresh milk itself but her doctor said that all milk whether formula or fresh can cause constipation in babies. He just stressed that she needs more liquid and fiber in her food intake.

Anyhow, it seems that today, Rye Li did not touch her milk at all at the nursery. Aunty Ng after scolding her (which made Rye Li cry), drank only 3oz and refused to acknowledge Aunty Ng after that, did not even say good bye to Aunty Ng when her papa picked her up (very unusual).

And just now when I got her ready for bed, she refused to touch her milk. I tried water instead and she drank it. In fact, she drank 3 and half oz of water till she fell asleep!!!! This is the first time ever….I’ll see whether she’ll take her milk when she wakes up in the middle of the night for her feed (if she wakes up) or in the morning. If she doesn’t, I will have to go buy another brand. Am thinking of Nan series unless I hear that there are some other formulas out there that are high on fiber?!!!

On a positive side, since she has been on the lactose, her poo has been soft and thus, she has not problems poo-ing so far. Well, this is what Aunty Ng tells me. We have reduced her intake of lactose from twice to once a day. I will see how it goes this weekend.

Mummy’s entry – Little Miss Consti

My baby girl has taken over one of my nicknames, Consti (given by a friend who has seen me suffering from my constipation problem). And now Rye Li is suffering the same fate as well.

All this while, occasionally, she will have one of these episodes whereby she will cry while poo-ing. I guess she doesn’t drink as much as she should. At times, she will even bleed from this ordeal.

I was attending training over the weekend and Rye Li’s papa was looking after her during the day while I was away. I had 10 missed calls from him during the training on the first day. I called him back and found out that in the last half an hour, she was crying in pain trying to poo but could not. She was breaking out in cold sweat and shivering as well and he asked me what to do…I told him to give her as much water as he could. He said he could see the poo coming out and wanted to take it out himself but couldn’t and somehow Rye Li managed to hold it back in after some time. He told me to get “Enema” (the liquid that you insert into the anus) which was suggested by my cousin (while he couldn’t reached me, he called my sister, my cousin and also his mom). I also told him to give her yoghurt, bananas and honey water in between.

After training, I decided to go to the pharmacy and get the Enema but was interrupted by hubby to say she’s going through another ‘round’ and asked me to come home straight away. By the time I got home, she managed to hold it in again. I saw that her whole hair was wet and thought that hubby had given her bath but he said that it was from her breaking out in cold sweat! So you can pretty much imagine her ordeal.

We went out to the pharmacy that evening to get the Enema and my mistake was not to use it on her straightaway. You see, it said not to be given to kids below 6 years of age unless prescribed by the doctor. I was apprehensive with this but that night, she had another ‘round’ again and this time, I experienced what hubby went through twice that day (and he was right, this is the worst so far we have ever experienced from her constipation issues).

She just stood still and started shaking and crying at the same time. You can see from her face (which went all red) that she was straining to withstand the urge and pain to poo. I hold her on to me and went “nnggh-nnggh” to encourage her to poo but she couldn’t. I took off her diaper and asked hubby to bring the Enema but it was too late. Her poo was already slightly out and there was no way I could put the tip of the Enema into her. My instinct just told me to dig her poo out with the Enema tip. I only managed to get a little bit out and it was really hard. I tried again to insert the Enema but couldn’t really get into her with the poo in the way. After several more minutes, I just turned her over her potty and tried to hold on to her legs. It was difficult to put her into a “poo-ing’ position because she was so tensed from the pain, she stretched her legs out straight. I should have put her in that position earlier on as her poo did come out and big it was. Another big piece came out and we noticed that it was kind of hard too.

I guess it was such a relief to us three then and we didn’t thought that there were anymore.

The next day, when I came back home from my training in the evening, hubby said that she did not eat much nor drank any milk that day. I gave her some yoghurt, some bread, cheese and banana.

That night, another ‘round’ came and she reacted the same way again, all tensed up, shaking and crying in pain. This time, when she managed to hold it back in, I took the opportunity to insert the Enema. She cried and resisted while I was doing this but I managed to get most of the Enema in and I immediately hold her over her potty. A minute later with her screaming in pain, I could see some of the liquid dropping into her potty and then her poo finally came out – 2 huge long ones, the second one being ‘softer’ and she was also bleeding from this ordeal.

All three of us were actually traumatized by this. I realized then why hubby panicked earlier on; anyone would seeing her in that condition. This actually reminded me of my own labour and I guess I can relate to how hubby felt when he was with me in my labour – HELPLESS!!!. I could only comfort her with touch and words; I gave her loads of kisses and hugs after that.

I took her to her doctor the next morning just to make sure her bum is alright from all that torture. True enough, it is cracked a little and her doctor recommended that I put Vaseline to help with the healing and of course, to put her on lactose (Duphalac) for the time being till she’s comfortable with poo-ing again.

She has lost weight for that 2 days since her appetite is not that good either. She is 8.69 kgs (she was 8.7kgs over a month ago), at least she has grown 1cm taller since then; she’s now 72.5cm in height. I’m not sure because of her lack of appetite or from her visit to her doctor at the hospital (there was quite a number of sick children at the waiting area), she now has a cold and her appetite has gotten worst as well. Sigh!

Mummy's entry - Blogger

I've been tagged again. This time by Belle's mummy....I'm still owing Lucas' mummy one (wait ah).

1) Who is the 1st blogger you meet?

None yet unless you count your friends who also blog.

2) Who is the ‘Most Wanted to Meet’ blogger for you?

This has to be Lucas' mummy as she's the first blogger I got to know along the way when I started reading blogs. She's in Penang and although we have managed to go to Penang a few times since Rye Li's was born, we have never gotten around to meet up due to the lack of time. Hope to meet up with her when we're heading up there in July for BIL's wedding.

3) Who is the ‘I can could meet, want wanted to meet but somehow never got to meet’ blogger? (modified a bit)

Same answer as above.

4) Who are the group of bloggers you most wanted to meet?

Ok, I do not know that many bloggers so this would be the bloggers that I have communicated so far and they are Lucas' mummy, Zara and Zaria's mummy (ZMM), Belle's mummy and Mummy of 2 Angels.

Actually, thanks to Lilian, I came across Lucas' mummy and ZMM. And thanks to ZMM, I came across Belle's mummy and thanks to Lucas' mummy, I came across Mummy of 2 angels. So, I would also love to meet Lilian one day as she has and still is inspiring alot of moms out there in so many ways! Thanks to her also, I was determined to breastfeed Rye Li as long as I could.

5) Do you bloggers/blog readers that you wish to meet right now?

Yes, all of the bloggers that I have mentioned above.

And now I will tag to those I know who have yet to be tagged by this : Lucas' mummy, Zara and Zaria's mummy and Mummy of 2 Angels! :D