Sticky rice cake anyone?

Recently, for the past three weeks or so, we noticed that Peanut has become very sticky. UHU glue, glutinous rice, post-its kind of sticky. Where she only wants me, me, me!!! Not that I'm complaining, I'm kind of secretly enjoying the attention from her. Who knows how long this stage will last though. She might not want me anymore when she turns 3 or something *brushes away scary thought*

Everytime i come home from work, she'll struggle to be free from whomever is carrying her and insists that I hold her. And if I ignore her outstretched arms and puss-in-boots-from-shrek face, she'll come crawling looking for me while crying in this very ke lian way. You tell me how to resist her la, a heart of stone also can turn into tofu lor.

Am i spoiling her though by coming to her everytime she cries? I want to ignore her but she sounds so heartbroken each time that I I feel compelled to pick her up and assure her everything is alright. And i read somewhere that "babies cannot meet their own needs, and those who have their needs met at an early age will grow into secure, independent children. And just as fruit that is left on the counter too long will spoil, babies "spoil" when parents don't give them all the love and comfort they need."

I'm now looking at some playgroups that I can bring her to; to play and familiarise with other kids her own age, so she won't have a problem socialising when she goes to Kindy in future :)

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Over the weekend, we paid a visit to Pei Chyi and David for their baby's fullmoon.

Say hello to Baby Zach aka Muffin everyone. Congratulations to you both on this beautiful bundle of joy.

The past one week

The past one week has been quite eventful. Exactly a week ago, Peanut fell down the stairs. 3 steps down to be exact. it was very early in the morning when it happened. I was just coming out of the shower when I heard a loud thud. I looked into the room and discover that the mosquito netting door was opened and as I rushed to the stairs, i heard Peanut crying very loudly. I found her lying on her back, screaming her lungs out. She had woken up, and realizing that i was not around, she had come looking for me.

I shouldn't have left her alone :( . She was still deep in slumber when i woke to get ready for work. Usually when I go and shower in the morning, I will get DH to look after Peanut. However, that whole week, DH was away in Indonesia for work. I should have asked my MIL to look after her while I shower but she was still sleeping in her room. Never would i imagine that Peanut will actually woke up, climbed down the bed, pushed open the mosquito netting down and attempt to climb down the stairs. Cos usually when she wakes up and realised we're not around, she'll cry or shriek or whichever. That's why I left the wooden door half open and the mosquito netting door shut, so in case she cries, my PIL can at least hear her while i shower.

Thankfully and thank you God, she's alright. I brought her to the pediatrician that morning. The PD asked me a few crucial questions like did she faint?, (no) did she vomit? (no) has she peed since the fall? (yes) is she active? (yes). After checking all her limbs and reflexes, the pd certified her fit and healthy. *phew* She had a bruise on her forehead as a souvenir though, which went away after a day.

However, until today, I still can't get over the image of her at the stairs. It sends chills down my body every single time i think about it and it still upsets me. I'm thankful that the stairs has two turnings, so she didn't tumble all the way down the remaining flight of stairs. So, never, never assume that your child will be alright alone, even though she seems to be in a deep sleep. I have learned a very hard lesson, one that i'll never forget :( *goes and sit down in a dark corner*

A few days after the incident, Peanut got a fever and a slight runny nose. The fever hovered between 37c and 38c throughout the day. Every time she takes her pink colored medicine, her fever will go down, but a few hours later, it'll go up to around 38c again. Seeing that the medication didn't really work, my mum asked me to try the egg method. Which, i'm happy to report, is very effective! :) What is the egg method, you might ask? If you want to know, below is a step by step guide; an old wives method to bring down a fever in your child.

How to bring a fever down using a boiled egg

1. Get an egg, which has not been refrigerated. This crucial step is very important okie! It has to be an egg in room temperature, which has never been put inside the refrigerator before. Not sure what's the science behind it, but just do it lah.
2. Boil the egg.
   
3. Peel off the shell.
   
4. Wrap the egg with a handkerchief, and dab a bit of medicated oil /axe oil / parrot oil on the hankie.
5. Undress your baby.
   
6. Start with the head. Rub the egg gently from the top of the head to the chin in one sweeping motion. Rub the egg only in one direction. DO NOT go back and forth. Basically you rub as if you're throwing out the bad chi in the body away.
   
7. Once you're done with the head, you do it from the shoulders to the tip of the fingers, then from shoulders to the side of the chest, and from the buttocks the to the bottom of her feet. Front and back.
   
8. Then that's it! Throw the egg away. You won't want to eat a medicated egg. And who knows you might get the fever instead haha
   

This old wives remedy is taught by my mum who used this method on us when we were young. And weird as it sounds, it really works. Once I was done rubbing the egg on Peanut, her temperature went down steadily. From a reading of 37.4 before I rubbed the egg on her, it went down all the way to 35.8 half an hour after I rubbed the egg on her. Frankly, it was quite miraculous and you gotta see it to believe it. I should have just skip the medication (which didn't work) and work with the egg immediately. Having a sick child is just very stressful and worrying and I'm just thankful the whole ordeal is over and she's been fine ever since.

Our helper, who is Cambodian, saw me boiling the egg and when i told her what it was for, she told me they do the same thing back in Cambodia for fevers. Fancy that. Except that they don't peel the egg haha. Is this some universal, asian, folklore remedy which I'm finally privy to?? It's weird right, there were no internet, no google and all that before. How do these mothers, from vastly different countries, know how to use these methods long long time ago?? Who started this things? Who taught them? I guess we'll never, really know.





We brought Peanut out after she's well. One minute, she's happy and jolly, and the next..


..she's fast asleep. All within a span of a minute. If only I can fall asleep that easily. :)

Eating her favorite biscuit. She gets very excited every time i open a packet up.

The culprit. You can find this in many flavors in major Japanese shops selling food stuff. It's very similar to Baby Bites (it melts in your mouth so babies wont' choke on it), but Baby Bites is made in China, so no, I'm not giving my child any food made in China. *scrunches nose*.

Taurus: The baby on the packet reminds me of Amelia hehe

In one of her tantrums. She either wants to get out of the stroller / wants whatever is on the table / wants water / wants to go for a walk.

This time she wants my phone. *hi grandma!!!!*

And that's how my week went.

Bedtime

Bedtime is always a crazy affair for us. She'll go through my bag, she play with her toys, tears my books and the magazines, throws her flash cards around the bed, climbs up and down AND if I just take my eyes off her even for one minute, I can guarantee she'll be up to some mischief. She'll either be standing precariously on some magazines trying to grab something off the bedside table, or she'll be attempting to go near the tv which is a NO-GO zone. I can easily get a heart attack with all her antics.

AND if i ever take her away from all these fun, she'll scream so loudly the neighbor might think i'm abusing her lol. And the only way to pacify her is to give her a bottle of water. My gosh, she just loves water i swear! It's like my bribe to her. Offer her water and you'll definitely have peace.

She and her water. If I don't stop her, she'll finish the whole thing in one sitting. And her tummy will be so full of water you can hear the water swishing around in her tummy when i carry her *_* Her left cheek is a bit pink cos she fell on her cheek that day itself.While crawling wtf.

Getting sleepy. Always a good sign :)

Fast alseep. This is her utmost favorite position.

Oh and if you ever ask her how does her daddy sleep, she'll "snore" for you cos DH snores when he sleeps haha. Moral of the story is, don't do it if you don't want your kids to follow you wtf.

Byeeee!!!! *abrupt goodbye cos need to change Peanut into her pyjamas*

Progress update: 13 months

My eyes are really tired nowadays. I can feel it watering by afternoon. I think I still don't get enough sleep, 13 months after Peanut is out. But it's okay, anything for my baby! Even if i need to go through the day half alseep with loads of coffee. Perhaps this is causing my absent mindedness, you think?

The reason I don't get enough sleep? Most nights she doesn't sleep till 11pm no matter how much I make her, and she wakes up at least once during the night. Not for milk, but just for the sake of waking me up? it's usually around 4 to 5am in the morning and sometimes I'm so awake cos i'll be looking for her bottle or pillow or whatever and afterwards I'll have a hard time falling asleep. *yawn* This little jellybean seems to have boundless energy. She can never stay long in my arms and she always wanna get down and crawl on the floor. She still can't walk yet, she can only stand up with aid. Though she understands when I tell her to "stand up", or "sit down".

Other phrases that she understands: Lift up your legs (very useful when i'm changing her diaper haha), where's the fan or the tv (she'll point it to me), put down your legs (this one is for when she put one of her legs up over the high chair table like a samseng during dinner), finish up your milk (cos sometimes she'll drink halfway and go off to play and i have to tell her to finish her milk. She'll then go and find her bottle and finish it up). She understands "legs first!" everytime i see her nearing the edge of the bed. she'll then turn around and put her legs down on the floor first. Phew.

She knows how to point to her ears and stomach when we asked her to point it out. There was one time i told her to stop drinking so much water (she loves plain water) cos her stomach is so big and I tapped her tummy. Immediately she cried. Vain or what. And she knows how to put our mobile phones to her ears and says "owo". Pretty cute, she does new things everyday I'm so fascinated. I do wish i can spend more time with her, but being a working mum, there are things that you just have to let go.

She knows how to call me "ah ma" or "mama" and i know she meant me cos she'll point to me haha. And yes my heart melts each time she says it cos it just sounded so.....sweet. And after she says it each time I'll give her a big hug cos so terharu mah.

She also knows how to call Dada for DH, and Goo Goo for her Gong Gong. Can't say Popo yet, probably because it's harder to say it.

And everytime I say "give mummy a kiss!!!" she'll obligingly bow down her head slightly so her forehead is tilted forward and I will then kiss it. But she hasn't master kissing me yet though *still training haha* oh and she does it to her Minnie Mouse too. She'll bend down her head and let her forehead touches Minnie Mouse's nose.

Food wise, she eats everything we offer her so far. Bananas, papayas, rice, bread etc. But we still do not give her anything overly sweet and we still don't use salt in her porridge.

So yes, that's about it. it's getting more and more exciting each day!

New name

I have decided to give BigB a new moniker on my blog. From now on, he's now known simply as DH for Darling Hubby :) BigB seems to conjure up a wrong image. It makes him sound like he's a big, gorilla sized man, which he is not haha

Thought of the name 'Free Willy' but I don't think he will like it lol. Free Willy is a actually a famous movie in the early 90s and it was quite a huge hit. Anyone watched it or were you all still too young??! Lol. I always thought Willy is a dolphin until I googled it. It's actually an orca (killer whale)?? oh-kay, whatever, a dolphin would have been cuter but it was a really, heartwarming, feel good movie.

So yes, BigB, you're now officially DH! :)

Commuting

Since Monday, both BigB and me has been commuting to work together. This week is a trial run to determine whether we should do this long term, or until....*ahem* So far so good, though i need to wake up earlier, just so that we can leave the house by 7am. Well, the only 'setback' is that I need to stay back in the office to wait for BigB to finish up work. He works in a bank, and the hours are pretty unpredictable so I can't leave at 5:30pm on the dot anymore *sniffles*. It gets pretty lonely in the office though. 99% of my colleagues also leave at 530pm sharp except for this one guy, so the office is kinda quiet...

Well, on the plus side, the journey to work and home isn't that boring anymore. And we get to spend more time together. And the jam isn't that bad by the time I leave office at 7pm. :)