Friday, August 31, 2007
on the Glen Cove beach
But he was too tired to really enjoy the scenery. It was about 10am there, past his bed time so he was sleepy and cranky. (look at his sleepy face!! ^_^)
New York - Day 4 - Dancing
The songs that made him dance are “Give Thanks to the Lord” and “Rejoice in the Lord Always”. I will teach him to dance for more songs in the future and I hope soon he would understand and remember the phrases of the (gospel) songs in his head so that he would know that GOD is with him ALWAYS!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
New York - Day 3
I know I have to do something about the jet lag but I am a litte reluctant to fix the time problem as soon I would have to fix it again when we arrived in Singapore in 9 days. On the other hand, this could not possibly go on -- how could I have the energy to go out in the day time when at night I need the energy too for Caden? and Caden need to be awake at least for his auntie's (Paul's sister) wedding!
This is new for me! Few people told me that you should forced your kid to be awake during the day and soon he would adjust to the new time zone. I did try to wake him up a few times but he looked really sleepy that he would soon drifted off to sleep again in no time.
PS: the pictures were taken in the morning before he took a bath.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
New York - Day 2 - a day in the hotel
Eating has not been good either here in the hotel. Caden refused to sit in the high chair that the hotel has provided (maybe because it was new), so he would go around the room and I would have to chase him here and there.
Caden then slept at 10 am. I was thinking of going to a nearby mall but every time I saw him sleeping so peacefully, I would postpone my outing to the next hour…then the next hour….then the next hour…until it was 6pm and I felt it was too late to go out….and I told myself to go out the next day.
He woke up at 8pm today!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
my milk is gone??
I wonder why and the answer could only be I was too tired or stressed out (if that’s what people called it) taking care of Caden. But it was only for ONE day!! I still have another nine more days to go!!!
I think I am too pampered in Singapore. With a maid and a baby-sitter to help me take care of Caden, my work load is so much easier. And now, when I have to take care of Caden by myself, my body is angry and demanded help! ^_^
I am not saying that I don’t like to take care of Caden. Though it is hectic and tiring for me, I enjoyed and treasure my time together with Caden. I won’t forget this trip forever!
[This means, I will have to buy formula asap! Definitely my milk supply would not be enough. I hope he would take the bottle as good as mine]
New York - Day 1 - Super Jet Lag
It took us 45 minutes to the hotel. Bathed Caden and put him to sleep. He was so tired that he cried all the time. I tried to do it as fast as I could so that he could go to sleep sooner.
I rocked him to sleep in a sling and then I took a deep breath, congratulated myself that I have survived the most difficult part of the journey, remind myself to be patient and take one day at a time!
Paul came into the room (thanks God!). I told him to wait in the room and look after Caden while I took a bath.
Caden slept from around 2 pm to 9pm. He had his breakfast at 9.30pm. Sleep again at 11pm and woke up at 1.30am. Had lunch at 2am. We played in the room for some time and when I see that he is bored, I brought him outside -- walked around the hotel and to the hotel lobby. Back at the room at 4am, then sleep again until 7.30am. Of course followed by dinner at 8am. He definately in Singapore time zonee!!! ^_^
My throat seems to hurt even more! I hope I won’t fall sick and hope Caden won’t catch it, too!
Monday, August 27, 2007
SQ 26 -- Singapore to New York
Caden didn’t eat that well in the plane. I tried to give him the weaning meal that Singapore Airlines had made for him, but he hated it, he vomits it out! Luckily it wasn’t that much and no one knew! Hehe….
I let him do whatever he wants just so he won’t be screaming and wailing and disturb others in the plane (it was a full flight). I was only hoping he won’t be sick due to lack of food and rest.
I could not leave Caden with the stewardess at all so he followed me everywhere I go, including to the restroom. Yup! I took him inside the restroom when I need to pee (luckily I did not have to go for the number two hehe…).
[Though my throat hurts, I told myself not to drink too much as I would have gone to the restroom more often!]
I would have to wait for him to sleep before I can eat. He would be all wrapped up inside the sling then I ate only with my right hand. There was time that I choose to eat a steak and realized that I could not cut the steak using one hand – I tried to bite it using my teeth but it did not work. Luckily the stewardess was kind enough to change the steak to chicken rice.
Both Caden and I were so exhausted when we arrived in New York! After 22 hours flight, I really want to get to the hotel ASAP and have a bath for both of us!
Caden was exceptionally quiet, he was so tired and it was way past his (Singapore) bed time. It was 12pm New York time (12am Singapore time) -- 5 hours past his bed time. But I can see that he wasn't able to sleep as the whole new area and scene was too overwhelming for him. Poor Caden!
it's finally here!
Well, it’s HERE! And I have decided to bring my little one along *pray hard everything will be okay*
The flight departed at 11.50pm from Changi and we left home at 9.30pm. Caden was already asleep since 7.30pm but of course he was fully awake by the time we arrived at the airport.
The picture was taken at almost 11pm! I believe this is the first time Caden was awake this late! But I was just glad that he was not cranky and seemed to enjoy his first night out!
Unfortunately, since this morning, I felt my throat hurt. I could be down with a flu (oh pleaseee nooo!!!). I am not sure how this could happen because I actually had eaten lots of fruits for days!
My feeling and thought: I was groggy and was hopping for the best for everything in this trip!
good bye, Singapore!!!
For sure, he would eat Gerber can food and baby cereal most of the time. Unfortunately his appetite have not recovered yet so now he still hates everything that we gave him. With his screaming and wailing, I just hope the person next to us in the plane would be somewhat deaf so he would not be bothered by us.
On top of everything, HEALTH would be the most important thing! I will still try to be patience when Caden would skip a nap or two or even skip his meal times (though I do hope he will drink lots of milk -- weather it's mine of formula) but, I will pray (hard) for our good health throughout the trip!
This also means, the blog entries will stop here for now. If possible I will try to update it there but if not, I will update it when I come back! Good bye for now!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
@ Vai's
He turned one a few days ago.
HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY, Vai!!
Vai (right) and Anya (left), Vai's older sister, posing with the cake!
The birthday boy were JUST woke up when the picture was taken!
PS: Caden slept at 9pm today! ^_^ We went home from Vai's at 8!
clarke quay
Friday, August 24, 2007
having fun...
It was raining very heavy. So again, for the second time (for the same reason), Caden's swimming lesson was cancelled. I decided to bring Caden out to play and took him to Paragon (they have small indoor playground at level 4).
Caden had so much fun! I put Caden in a carousel and a batman-like car and AGAIN I tried to put some coins in it...he was okay with the carousel but not with the batman...he demanded to be carried once it moved! Well, I agree that the movement was too frantic for young kids like Caden.
I am sure very soon, when he know how fun and enjoyable it is to play with those moving cars, he would begging me again and again to put more coins in it. ^_^
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
united square...
It has changed a lot since then and I just realized that they have a lot of enrichments centres for kids and other kids stuffs [at that time, looking for kids stuffs was the last thing in my mind]
I tried again to put Caden in one of the play cars and put a dollar in it. Once the car moves and make sounds, Caden was streching his arms, looking for me to carry him. So he was only riding it for maybe a minute. Then I did another experiment, I put him in another car (but this time I did not put any coins), and he was fine! Haha...so next time I know!
Anyway we met Astrid and Noah for late afternoon meal (after lunch, before dinner) at 4pm in Globetrotters -- a kid friendly family restaurant. The restaurant has a small playground in it -- Caden and Noah were having fun there while the mommies eat their food. ^_^
Fun outing...we should do more of this!
Monday, August 20, 2007
flu shot #2
Sunday, August 19, 2007
sunday school
I believe the most important thing would be the fact that I have to make church a priority over everything else. I have to encourage Caden to make church his first place of socialization as well as a place for education and spiritual growth.
"Train a child in the way he should go,
Often people put school activities and family time ahead of attending church regularly. And that give a wrong signal to a child. If parents teach him that it is okay to miss church for whatever you would rather be involved in, they will continue this habit as they get older.
By insisting on regular church attendance, I hope I will be showing him how important that priority will be for the rest of his lives. This is actually how I was taught by my parents, and now that I am older, I still cannot get away from it. I have seen how important church fellowship has been to my existence as believers of God and I want Caden to learn the same thing, too.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
theme: Up Side Down!
Buttt….the Saturday class was overly packed! There maybe about more than 20 kids inside the gym and not to mention the adults (some of them even have both parents inside). Caden was a bit confused and didn’t seem to really enjoy his time there. The teacher, teacher Nurul, had to scream his voice or else it would not be heard (I am sure if this is teacher’s Amy’s class, her voice would not be heard at all!).
Caden demanded to be carried most of the time or he would just play around her suster or I. I think he was just confused, the venue is the same but everything else is different – even the teachers are different. Every time teacher Nurul or teacher Zuriel try to make friends with Caden, he would cry and cling to me.
In the end, Caden was playing just by himself, with a hole on one of the game set there. He put himself in and out, looking at the hole as if it was some kind of weird thing that he never seen before. He put his legs or fingers in, took them out, look at me, and did the same thing again. ^_^
meeting tante Anne
Btw, Anne is currently 5 months pregnant.
Caden was too exited when he met tante Anne and om Jaya that he was smiling, giggling, laughing, talking the whole time. He ate EXTREMLY well too! He allowed the spoon to be inserted in his mouth (continuously ) between the smiling, giggling and laughing that he finished his lunch in less than 20 minutes.
I am so very happy with how Caden ate very well and how he looks very happy and cheerful today. I do hope he would be like this 24/7 - 365 days/year and that I would not have to meet the bad side of him (especially when I am in US). *yeah…I will keep wishing!!*
But the bad side was that, we could not make him stay still! And that means, no good photo of us with Caden looking at the camera! :(
PS: He was not that bad at dinner time, too. I hope today would be the turning point of him to eat well again.
Friday, August 17, 2007
trying out things...
I let him try new things and let him explore by himself, too (although I don’t really keen with him crawling around the area). I think overall, he enjoyed his trip here especially when the weather has not been good for the past two days and we’ve been stuck at home or malls the whole time.
PS: Caden has been able to walk much better (less tip-toeing) with help and standing erected by himself for a few seconds more often.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
one big, one small
Btw, Caden's eye lashes has grown! Yeyy!! and it may look like daddy's -- long and all curled up!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
cutting the nails
Unfortunately, I have not tried (not even once) to cut Caden’s fingernails or toenails. When we had Ai Ayun, she was the one who cut his and now I have suster to do it. At first, I was a little bit scared but since I always have someone else to do it, I took if for granted and did not even bother to try it.
Until I realized that soon, I will be away from suster for almost 2 weeks and I have to cut Caden’s nails every THREE days!!! Oh no!!!
[This is the only thing that I am not able to do YET in taking care of Caden. I can bath him, play with him (of course), feed him, clothed him, change diapers, make his porridge, etc…you name it! But not cutting his nails]
Monday, August 13, 2007
week 3
We have tried everything; changing the type of rice, replacing the meat to pork only (he used to like pork more than beef), trying one by one the veggies on the porridge, and so much more. I even play with him during meal times, although I read that one shouldn't do that -- "meal times are not play times!," say the experts. But, even then, none of them helped. He would laugh with us (yes, he laugh more often nowadays) but scream and get annoyed again once we bring the spoon to the front of his mouth.
So lunch and dinner are pretty messed up now. Most of the time, Caden would only eat about 5 spoons of porridge then he screams. When he doesn’t scream too loud, I would let him be and keep feeding him the porridge. But when it gets worst, I would usually try to calm him down by changing the type of food – to baby yogurt, baby cereal, Gerber can food, fruits – basically anything that would make him eat.
Breakfast time usually much better than lunch or dinner -- consist of baby cereal and a jar of Gerber food (different flavor everyday – usually fruits).
It’s only 12 more days to our US trip and Caden has not recovered from this eating problem yet! If this continues, I think Caden would come back looking like a skeleton (though I don’t mind if I look like one! *smile*).
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
precious collections
He is almost 11 months now but his hair doesn’t look that much different as when he was a newborn. I did shave his hair when he was 1 month old, 6 months old and 7 months old but I had promised myself that I would not shave his hair again as I had terrible experience with the last one.
First time we went to doctor here in Singapore, the doctor asked if Caden’s father is a Caucasian *laugh* because he said, Caucasian baby do have very thin hair when he is young but will outgrow it when he is about 18 months old. Caden was sometimes mistaken to have a mixture of a Caucasian blood when he was young because he has thin and light brown hair -- not now…he has small Chinese eyes and he gets his dad's dark skin.
So I bought Caden lots of caps and hats – most of them are from the US as there are very limited (almost none) caps (I prefer caps then hats) in Singapore or Indonesia for children under the age of 3-4 years old.
I bought him this whole lots of caps not because I am embarrassed of him not to have hair (or Caden felt unsecured without it …hehe…) – I know for sure it will grow because Paul and I do have hair *smile*, but I like to see him wearing caps, he looks funkier and more stylish with them.
Looking at his collections, I feel that he is growing fast (especially in his head circumference area). Maybe because we see him almost everyday, Paul and I don’t really feel that way. Every weekend, after 5 days away from home, Paul always asks me, “Why Caden look the same as last week? Why doesn’t he grows any taller/bigger?” But when I look more closely, there are lots of his clothes, caps, socks, and shoes that are too small for him that I had packed nicely for the next one to come. ^_^
Thursday, August 9, 2007
on diet
Now that I am dieting, I am watching my vitamins intake more carefully -- I need to eat my vitamins everyday.
I do hope I will get back to my pre-pregnancy size soon. *finger-crossed*
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Happy 42nd birthday Singapore!
Today's itenerary started with The Little Gym class as usual. Then we went back home for Caden to have his lunch and a quick nap while mommy went to doctor for a check-up.
[A mom asked me if we were Singaporean -- she thought how patriotic we were with the red t-shirts....haha...nope! It was just for fun!]
Then we went to Millenia Walk and Suntec City. Watched the circus outside the Millenia Walk for a while, use the underground tunnel to go to Suntec City and did a bit of window shopping there.
Took pictures at almost everywhere because Caden wasn't in the mood for smiling and I really want to have a happy picture of us (at last we managed to get him laugh -- after I kissed him a few times! -- right before we went into carpark).
Went to see the Koi Garden in Suntec City (I never knew that it was existed). Caden and I had fun there, he was talking a lot (the e-eh, a-bu-a, and ssstt sound) while looking at the small turtles and fishes.
In the end, when we thought he was sleepy, I found this boat and sat him there and curious to see his expression. Well, he LOVED it! He forgot that he was sleepy and grabbed the steering wheel right away and turned it here and there (he may be imitating me when I was driving).
Although the boat did not give any sound or move in any way (it did not except any coins -- I think it was broken), we could not get him out from there! It took us more than 20 minutes and a few tricks just so that he won't cry when we carried him out from there.
Fuihh..what a exiting day today and again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SINGAPORE!
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
tantrums
Today, I came across this article:
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Question: My 10-month-old has a terrible temper. If you try to take something from him or stop him from doing something that might hurt him, he screams until he's red in the face. But when you give in, he's fine. Is there anything I can do to change this?
Answer: Hold him, tell him he'll be okay, and distract him with another activity or object. He'll quickly forget about his complaints.
Babies have an amazing — and often aggravating — ability to make demands. But your baby needs to know that you care about his feelings, even when he expresses them by screaming or flailing his fists. It may look like he's throwing a fit, but he's really seeking reassurance. As long as you stick with your original decision — for instance, that he can't play with the remote control — no one can accuse you of "giving in." You're just giving her what he needs.
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“Ok! I know I am wrong!” was the first thought that came to my mind. I know I have not been strict enough with him and if this continues, Caden would grow up to be a spoilt-brat that would cry or scream to get what he wants as he knows that we will give in at some point.
I start to think about this three days ago when I was watching suster feeding Caden (as I wrote in previous article that he is been acting up quite bad at meal times) and he started throwing out things that was put in front of him.
“Caden, please don’t throw things away or I will not give it to you anymore!” suster said.
But after a few seconds of screaming, she gave him back the teether.
Then, I realized that I did that sometimes, too! And I know that it’s not good! I should change and do something about this!
After a few thought, here is what I gather:
1. It has to start from me => I should be more firm and stick to my decision – therefore I should think first before I say it and better don’t say it if I am still not sure if I am going do it!
2.Then I should teach suster and be an example to her.
I don’t think it’s easy for me to do this. Well, of course like any other mom, I would want Caden to be happy so when he wants something, my instinct always tell me to give it to him. But I know if this is continues, he would grow up to be someone who always has to get what he wants and everything has to be in his way. Wow…. For sure, I would not want Caden to grow up that way.
I just hope that GOD would give me more (a whole lot more) wisdom and patience in bringing up Caden.
Monday, August 6, 2007
at the playground
Interestingly, Caden wasn’t that much exited in the playground as to at home. He seemed confused – there was not even a single smile on his face; where he was laughing hard at home, right before and after we came down. Maybe the fact that this was just one of a few days that he was ever playing in the playground is to blame.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
words
As early as 4 to 5 months, a baby would begin to use his tongue, lips, palate and any emerging teeth to make sounds (ooh’s and ahh’s in the first month or two, and babbling shortly thereafter). But since Caden’s teeth only emerged at almost 9 months, he was rather slow (I say) in making any sounds. Well, just like an old man with few teeth left, he would not be able to talk or rather, we would not be able to catch what he is trying to say compared to someone who has more or complete set of teeth.
Teeth are great for chewing, but we also need them to talk. Different teeth work with our tongue and lips to help us form sounds.
[If you love to sing "la la la la la," you can thank those teeth every time you sing a song. Pay attention to what happens to your teeth and tongue every time you make the "l" sound.]
Now, Caden only able to say ‘a-bu-a’, ‘eehh’, and ‘sesh’ (as if you are trying to tell people to keep quiet – you know, with your index finger in front of your mouth) sounds.
He is also able to communicate with others. Such as when we talk to him, he often replies with an ‘eehh’ and when I responded to him (sometimes with another ‘eehh’), he would replied with another ‘eehh’ or ‘a-bu’ or a scream. ^_^ *very cute*
As much as I want him to be able to say ma-ma or da-da, I think I would have to wait until he develops more teeth and curiosity in experimenting his voice using his tongue, teeth, palate, and vocal chords to make all sorts of funny noises.
Sometimes I couldn’t resist replying Caden in baby talk. But I know, if I want to encourage him to speak the right way, I should start speaking to him and replying to his babbling with full words or sentences.
PS: As for screaming, he had mastered it a long time ago and I think he loves it because now, he screams more often and it gets louder and louder every time.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
perfect weather...
Once I saw even a little bit of sunshine, I decided to bring Caden out for a swim but unfortunately, the pool water was still too cold due to previous raining and lack of sunshine. I decided that we shouldn’t swim; we were only playing by the pool with the toys that we brought and went up after half an hour.
Today was different. The sun has shine for the past 2 days and today, it was even brighter -- "a perfect weather for swimming," I thought. At 4.30pm we went down to the pool to find out that the pool water was warm enough for us to swim and the weather could not be any better than this.
We had a great time today. I played with Caden on his underwater skill a few times (just so he won’t forget) and at the same time I let him play and have fun, too.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
officially a 'big bird' now!
Once again Caden would be the youngest one here in the new class. He was a bit shy and a little bit clingier than last week, maybe because there were a whole lot more children in the ‘birds’ class and most of them are able to walk already.
I hope next week Caden would be more adventurous as usual.