2 is better than 1

And there... 2 months into being a mother of 2. Pretty hard to imagine before things happened but things developed rather organically. This is how things always are, ain't they?

Mommy loves the fact that Gitt is a reminder of Utt's infancy, and yet Gitt is a boy who is so different from his brother. Mommy loves the fact that when Gitt makes me feel like the milking of my boobies is an endless chore, Utt is making me laugh with his nonsensical tactics. Utt makes me see that the milking is not forever and the infant in my arms will very soon grow to be a fine boy.

Mommy loves the fact that each of you is a reminder to me that time is precious and love is big.

Soon, very soon

This is me with my huge ass tummy at week 36. Just yesterday, didi turned 37 weeks old and is ready to join us any time now!

Before the big change

Things have been evolving since the beginning of 2015.

This is an incredibly busy year for me at  work. The first quarter of the year had been crazy. Aside from the increased work load, there were the trips every fortnight till I was 32 weeks preggy.

And yes being pregnant with an active toddler is at times quite a challenge. Particularly so when the boy is in love with mommy and would like mommy to be doing things for him and with him. And this is not an easy pregnancy, plagued with bouts of morning sickness, sleeplessness, heart burn, and the list goes on. At 36 weeks, the house is in a mess undergoing reno and I am keeping my fingers crossed that dd with stay in there for a few more weeks, at least till the house is ready.

At this moment, mommy is wishing to be able to spend more time with #1. The guilt of sharing mommy time with dd when he arrives is killing me.

Things will be different

My boy, Utt

Some photo make you smile then get teary eyed.

 

Lots of love for you my little boy.

He who moved me

Every Sunday since the little man turned one, Papa would be putting him to sleep, making Sunday nights official time-off for Mama. In the first few months, this was met with a huge resistance from the little man as he wailed as Mama bade him goodbye. Eventually, the wailing became manageable and some nights, with coaxing, he would actually be saying "bye bye" to Mama after a reluctant goodnight kiss.

Yesterday Mama was having a whale of a time with the little man, which then eased off to reading his favourite night time story (for the time being it's Sleeping Beauty, and don't ask me why) while he was enjoying his last bottle. When he was done, Mama said my good-bye and leaned over to give him a kiss. The little man turned over and had the saddest look on his face that made Mama flinched a little. Yet the little man didn't kick up a fuss for Mama to stay. Instead, he teared up a bit and then said his byes in the midst of wiping his eyes clean, all done while holding on to his emotions.

And this so totally made my heart melted

No more thumb sucking and Mama finally found some sleep

No, the blog is not dead.

Mama was incredibly busy at work over the last month and losing sleep because of numerous things going in all directions wildly in my brain, made worst by nightly wakes at the weirdest time to make sure the little man was not having the meal of his life feasting on his yummy thumb. For 2 weeks it became the most uncalled for routine

3.00. - Mama looked at the bb monitor and found the little man savoring on his right thumb. Mama pressed on the microphone function and went "No sucking. Remove your thumb", half asleep.
3.05 - Mama watched on and see no reaction by the boy then went "No sucking! Remove your thumb!"
3.06 - Watch on for another minute then go "NO SUCKING!!! THUMB OUT". "NO SUCKING!!!"

And then, the poor boy got awaken (and the Papa too). And so everyone in the house got interrupted sleep.

Thankfully, things got better this week as Papa found a solution to put a stop to the little man's unconscious nightly thumb sucking habit. Not something that tasted awful smeared on his thumb, but in the form of a pouch sewn around the wrist of his pj and... EUREKA! The magic pouch that puts everyone to sound sleep.

This is the little man and Mama, photo bombed by our four-legged buddy.

Our boy at 20-month

Over the past week of Mama's absence, Papa has taken such good care of the little chap and has managed to instill discipline in the little rascal (who has ways with Mama). In a span of mere 8 days, he also started chaining up words and can now better express himself. He now gives commands to Mama, e.g. over brekkie this morning, the little boy was saying "Mama eat" while pointing at his half-eaten biscuit, hoping that Mama will pick up his leftovers. He also started filling in the blanks (Mama went "1,2,3,4,5,6,..." and the little boy shouted "SEVEN!").

Mama sent the boy to school for his first official school day today and is absolutely delighted to find him participating in class activities, not having big fuss that Mama sneaked away in the morning while he was playing with the rest of the children. Keeping my fingers crossed that he will love the going to school routine and enjoy his time with the rest of the children.

Vocab galore

Little man at 18.5 months is like a sponge. Aside from the usual farm animals, he is also differentiating and identifying whale and shark, toad and frog. This morning, he amazed Mama by saying "Newt" and "Yak" and also started counting from 1 to 5 while walking down the stairs.

One of the most unthinkable word he's saying now (and often) is "dirt". While lying on yi-yi's bean bag beside Mama, he tried picking above Mama's eye, saying "dirt". Mama corrected him and he has now added "mole" to his vocab list.

Way to go, kiddy!

The little big boy at 18 months

Dear Utt

 

Isn't it amazing that it has been 1.5 years?

Thanks for showing us how to be better beings. And thanks for the love and attention. It sure feels good to be in the center of your small little world. Mama can't wait to show you more of it.

 

Lots of love and kisses

Mama

 

Dilemmas of parenthood

The nanny hasn't been here for 4 days now and we are doing alright. Papa managed to attend to his errands with Utt in tow on Day 2, a first for the pair and spent most of the day together while Mama was away at work.

Vday went by with plans that fell through since the nanny was away taking care of her own bub. Change of arrangements means a change of plans, nothing new with having a toddler. We went for meals as a family with Utt being an angel both during lunch and dinner, which was an incredible vday gift from the boy.

This morning Utt busied himself with the shape sorter, chasing Homer around with the walker, enactment of household chores done by the nanny, simply rolling around the sand bag, etc. And then I recall Ida mentioning the independent play stage that comes at a certain age and seems to be nearing for Utt.

I hugged him this morning and said I love him and wish he would never grow. Papa assured that I wouldn't like to be cleaning ass till Utt turns 40.

Taint

Those tiny eyes of his.

He watches and interprets, mimicking acts that translate into simple reflection of the big guys' mannerisms. The empty sheet before them, so white and pure as it was. The big guys watch on with awareness. The awkward consciousness compels them to be better persons, stronger than before.

For what they are is what he will be.

Parenting in a competitive world

This morning P and I went to the pediatrician with the little man for his MMR shot and 12-month review. To Mama's dismay, the pediatrician was in astonishment and was frowning throughout the session when she heard that the little man hasn't spoken his first word. Although he has been going gibberish for a while now, it has been done rather indiscriminately. He doesn't direct his "Mama mama" only to me and sometimes he goes "Baba baba" in Papa's absence. The pediatrician reacted like the little man is having some speech impediment and was talking about speech therapy for him if the first word doesn't come out. What came as an attack on our parenting skill was for her to judgementally say that we should stop using IT gadgets with the boy and how we should speak more to him if not he would be progressing slower than his peers. That was before asking us how we interact with the little man in a typical day.

 

Seriously? My boy is only 12 month old. And hello doctor, we don't own ipads. In fact tablets are so underused in our household that we gave it away to grandpa. Mama only let the little man watches Baby Einstein or listens to nursery rhymes from the Samsung in the car when he gets fussing on the way home after an evening out. Considering the distance, maybe he spend at most 10-15 minutes watching them. And little man watches TV like once per week, never more than half an hour. I am not judging parents who do use IT gadgets, but P and I have decided long before we had the boy that we would be subscribing to animated pedagogical agents, i.e. face-to-face interaction in interactive learning environments.

 

What annoyed me the most was the "your boy is progressing slower than his peers". Do I even have to tell a pediatrician that kids develop at different pace and mind you, this is not a competition. He is not getting a prize for walking at 9 month old or saying his first word at 11 month old. My son is only 12 months old, please give him a break. So what if he is picking up things slightly slower than others? He has a life time to walk and talk (and shitting into the potty).

So yes, we are changing pediatrician.

This whole incident at the pediatrician's reminded me of a chatty lad who was entertaining the little man while sharing his parenting knowledge with us (being a father of 3) on our way back from Singapore. We were chatting openingly and then came the "Where is he going to school?", "Singapore or Chiang Mai?"  question which we get quite alot since having the little man. Well, we were frank with him when we said we ain't that sure but Mama thinks that it is good to keep him by our side till at least he enters elementary school. And then he went "Oh, he will have a hard time coping with the syllabus in Singapore", "He will be asked to stay back for 1-2 years and will lose out to his peers". For one thing you know, I may have a genius son. Even not, what is the big fuss that he is 1-2 years behind? What exactly is wrong with us that we have to be driven by how our peers are progressing? Haven't we met enough people in our lives who were so motivated and topping their cohort but turning out to be people who were being slave driven and having not enough time to enjoy lives?

 

Right now, all I want for my son is to grow up healthy and happy. I will think about the rest later, thank you.

 

A note to our 1 year old

Dear Utt,

Mama survived the first year! Oh, motherhood... what a journey!

Thanks and lots and lots of love to you my sweetie pie. Thanks for bringing so much joy and laughters, and thanks for letting Mama learn so much about myself.

No hugs and kisses are enough for you.

 

Love always,

Mama 

Things to remember as a Mama #2

Little man's development

This past month the boy started pulling himself up to stand and has figured out how to sit after standing. He also begin to sit in a kneeling position. This week,  he also started cruising, moving from one piece of furniture to the next for support.

 

In the next few weeks or months, the boy may find the courage to let go and stand on his own. Then comes taking his first step.

 

It is a joy watching the little man learning new skills. Absolutely nothing beats this.

When the man takes charge

Today is the first day Papa is trying his hands in putting Mini to sleep all by himself, meaning bathing then feeding and singing the Mini lullabies before putting him down into his cot and sneaking out of his room.

And Papa did it!

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.10

Confessions of a Mama #1

This is mini at 16 weeks. A late post as he is in fact turning 17 tomorrow.

Mini man has been making vast improvements when it comes to sleep but Mama has learnt not to be overly proud of it as I always seem to jinx myself by doing so. Nevertheless, it definitely is a development that is worth celebration.

*Touchwood*

The plane ride back to Singapore would be the next big test for both Mama and Utt. Mama is keeping my fingers crossed that the comfort boobies are still in operation by then. There always come a time that you wish that the milk supply will never cease as nothing seems to ever comfort the Mini man better than Mama's assets. Whether we want it or not, the breastfeeding journey is gonna end soon and I am hoping with all my might that the weaning process is going to be fine for the both of us.

I am a self declared non breastfeeding fanatic but the past 4 months of putting Mini man close to me and having him feel comforted by boobies is an experience that is rather indescribable. Getting up in the middle of the night for the night feeds has given me a lot of thinking time, particularly effective in the wee hours as there is absolutely nothing else to distract you in the darkness when there is only yourself, the Mini and silence of the night. In the later months when the night awakenings were easier to handle and lesser in frequency, the night feeds were preciously treasured as time that Mama could reflect on events that took place in the day while looking down at the Mini who is at his cutest. When it comes to motherhood, you seem to be in control of nothing and this is probably what makes it the most challenging.

Sometimes in life, we just have to let others take the steering wheel. This time it is Mini.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.9

Patience is the key

Dear Utt

Mama is in awe how much and how fast you have grown. Last week you surprised us by dropping a feed and was waking up only once in 12 hours, giving Mama plenty of rest time at night. Although you somehow lost it yesterday and got up twice for boobies, Mama has learnt from you that as caregivers, we have to be very patient. After all, regression is part of growing up.

Mama

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.9

Hardware of a Supermom

1. Arms and wrists that can bear weight for prolonged hours
2. Well trained pair of legs for pacing the room while swinging/ rocking the subject
3. A pair of boobies that never runs low on milk supply

On top of the abovementioned essentials, the following are necessary to complete major tasks:
- Ability to ninja tip toe
- Arm speed when placing the subject

Happy Sunday!

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.9

Sleep deprived Mama

It was Saturday and the nanny's off day for the week. We had a great afternoon playing and putting Utt down for his naps then having our regular evening walks in the garden. And then night came and disaster happened!

Dear Utt,

Mama was so tired yesterday I believe I have rocked you very long (and hard) just so you will fall asleep without getting up in the next 30 minutes. Somehow you have been extremely difficult to put to sleep since you fell sick. Although you try many times to self soothe, it still took Mama lots of effort staring at the monitor hoping that you will not be getting up shortly after.  Mama hopes this is going to get better soon because man, this is tiring!!!

Mama

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.9