Yuzhe -- 9 months

It's yet another month of milestone achieved for Yuzhe ^ ^

He's not crawling much, prefers to be held up, walking around instead. He likes to be carried, especially by the Mummy. Once he secured onto me, he won't let go easily when another person offered to carry him. Maybe he loves the Mummy's smell .. Ha ^ ^ He came to understand that things can be taken away from his possession and starts wailing out loud! This happens when Yuheng took away the toy car that he's playing with it. We can foresee the "toy war" going live soon when Yuzhe grows a bit older. Yuzhe starts babbling some sounds "ma ma mum mum ....", especially when he wants to savour our food too ^_^ So very cute. We've submitted his application for a new passport. So when are we going to travel? Hehe, sometime soon ..... ?

His usual weekday routine:

• 7 - 7.30am : Awake, drink milk 
• 9am : Go over to grandma's place
• 9.30 - 10.30am : Bath, drink milk, nap time
• 11.30 - 12.30am : Wake up from nap, lunch time, play time
  
• 2 - 2.30pm : Get ready for nap time
• 3.30 - 4.30pm : Wake up from nap, milk time
• 5.30 - 6.30pm : Dinner time
• 7.30 - 8pm : Home-Sweet-Home
• 8 - 9.30pm: Milk feed, Zzzz

However, he still wakes up few times a night, either to drink milk or asking for some patting/carrying. Perhaps this boy just needs more attention from us at night because we tend to focus more on Yuheng during day time.

Happy 9th month, my sweet little boy ^_*

Some updates

Yuzhe just finished his course of antibiotics.

He had a fever last Monday. PD examined and said that his throat was red. Given paracetemol and the leftose for the reddish throat. We faithfully gave him paracetemol every 4-6 hourly but his fever did not come down, remaining constantly around 37.6 - 38. Then on Tuesday evening, his temperature shoot up to a scary 39.4. Alamak, most PD clinics were closed during this time. I quickly brought him down to the 24hr clinic at TMC. The doctor-on-duty prescribed a bottle of antibiotics and requested the nurse to insert a suppository into his bum to bring down the high temperature. Due to the antibiotics, Yuzhe had rashes all over his face and some on the tummy. Oops, he looked real 'bad' and luckily these dots went off after 2-3 days.

A 'spotty' Yuzhe

Been real busy and tired these few weeks that I neglected this blog. We did not go anywhere over the weekends, just merely bringing the kids down to the playground / void deck / stadium to cycle and sweat it out. With 2 kids, it's hard to gauge a good time to go out. By the time we've settled with their food, it's time for Yuheng to nap. And when he woke up from his nap, it's time for Yuzhe to have his dinner and the routine goes on and on .... Argghh, looks like if we really want to venture out, we need to get out of the house early in the morning !

Learning Vision : First Excursion to West Coast Park

The little ones had their first excursion to the West Coast Park on 14 October 2009. They assembled at 8.30am early morning, had their breakfast and set off at 9am. Thanks to Teacher Daya, who sent us the photos and brief update on the trip.

Cookery Book for Infants & Toddlers

If you're running out of ideas what to cook for your dear boys and girls, ranging from 6 to 18 months, this book may be useful to you. I've bought it from the Popular Bookstore, recommended by my colleague. So far, I've tried out :

• Tofu with White Bait Fish
• Tomato with Minced Meat
• Tofu with Egg yolk
• Cabbage, Onion and Carrot soup
• etc etc

And the verdict is ....

My Yuzhe loves it ... Thankfully ^__^

Learning Vision @ Work - Review 1

It's about 1.5 months Yuheng started full-day class at Learning Vision.Within this short duration, we're glad to say he'd made good progress.

Most of the days, he looked forward to go to school in the morning. (Yes, there're days when he still lament over Teacher Rose and wants to go MMI instead) He's able to tell us the names of his friends, roughly what happen in school, activities they did and the food he ate. He's able to self-feed and not picky about food in school only. I confirmed this with Teacher Daya and she told me Yuheng is able to eat by himself and swallowed the vege also! (BUT, he's still very picky about food at home, only eats that selective group of food and refuses all vege) He enjoys the playground and gets very excited to tell us about it whenever they have outdoor play. I still don't know why, but he refused to bath in school, wanted me to bath him at home early in morning. My guess is that the school doesn't have that bath tub which he insisted to sit in it to bath every morning ^ ^

His conversation skills is improving also, building up more vocabulary. We converse mainly in Mandarin, at times mix in some English. We believe it's important to let them build up a good foundation of their Mother Tongue. Usually, when kids started off with English as their first language, they find it harder to master their Mother Tongue later on. Ha .. another reason is because hubby and myself are more comfortable speaking Mandarin with each other. Wouldn't it be weird if we speak English to our kids and the next moment we blurted with each other in Mandarin >_<

Err, it's been sometime the teachers promised us to send some photos of Yuheng in the school, and we're still waiting for it ..........

Children's Day Gift

Yuheng received a present from Learning Vision only a few weeks after Children's Day. Hmm, perhaps the supplier couldn't make it on time? Well, it's always late than never. He likes it very much and started 'role-playing' with the doll -- feed, bath and bring him on a ride on his buggy car ^^. So sweet of him.

Homemade Bags

Recently, I ordered 2 bags from the online spree. The L-size wet-bag cost $22.90, which includes shoulder length fabric straps and waterproof lining. The diaper clutch cost $14.90, sufficient to put about 4 pieces of diapers and a packet of wet wipes. The selection of fabric is so pretty that I don't know which one to choose! But it gets out-of-stock so fast that actually I'm left with only a handful of choices.

How I wish I have green fingers like them. They're able to transform a piece of simple cloth into useful and pretty things. Anyway, I'm lousy in sewing. I asked my mum to help me with those sewing assignments during the Home Economics days. But sometimes, I wonder what would it be like if I'm to go get a sewing machine and start again? Will I be able to accomplish something decent? Errr, but with my current "packed-like-sardine" schedule, I think I better don't waste money buying the machine and later on become white elephant again ^^

Look Ma, I Can Stand

Yuzhe in free-style standing position -- since he's around 7 months old. He likes Mummy to hold onto his hands and walk together. Haven't learn to crawl, wants to start walking now ^_^

Me Time

What's the best way to de-stress yourself from the kids frustrations, work commitments and undone chores?

For me, I prefer to take a break -- be myself even just for a couple of hours. It's a good way of relaxing and rejuvenising. I'll pamper myself by indulging in a wonderful shopping spree. If tired and hungry, just pop in any restaurant, order food from the menu and savor them slowly and peacefully. By the time I'm done, I should be more or less recharged but then, I'll be lamenting over the unnecessary spendings that I bought on impulse due to the 'de-stressing' part ^ ^

Anyway, the best de-stressing weapon in the world is my boys' laughter plus lots of hugs and kisses. And not forgetting my DH's one as well lor ^___^

Time for a haircut

It's time for Yuzhe to have a proper haircut, since 7 months ago, during the Full-Month celebration. Yuzhe is a 'sweaty' boy. He perspires a lot especially when drinking milk. So, by the end of the day, you can imagine what kind of smell his hair is like as it grows longer ^_^

Last Sunday, I actually dared to bring him alone to the salon myself. Ha, I think I wouldn't have done that during Yuheng's time. Maybe when you have a 2nd kid, you're more seasoned already or don't bother to think too much. Anyway, the haircut was a smooth one, except Yuzhe was feeling quite uncomfortable and moved about towards the end when his face and neck was covered with hair.

Now, he's looks handsome and tidy ^___^

A not-so-happy Yuheng -- having a cough

Skin Testing

To find out the cause of Yuheng's allergic cough, the Paed suggest we do a skin testing. A drop of allergen in question (usually a commercially available extract of pollens, molds, foods, pet dander, etc) is poked onto the skin. After 20 minutes, 1 out of the 6 poked areas has a red bump, similar to a mosquito bite. This bump is the positive control to make sure you're not under any medication. Since the rest of the areas showed negative result, we can be sure that Yuheng is not allergic to any dust-mites, milk, pollen etc. His cough is mostly due to the change in temperature, especially during the dawn hours. The Paed assured us he'll outgrow it as he grow older, not to worry too much. He jokingly told us that he'll always have runny nose whenever he touched down at London, Ha ....

I brought up the question of whether Yuheng is suitable to go Genting Highlands since he's sensitive to temperature change. The Paed's reply was, since it's a holiday, we don't really bother too much ;-) Of course, to play safe, we can bring along some medication to "stand-by". We're still hesitating to bring the kids on a holiday. Perhaps when our dear Yuzhe is able to sleep through the night with the most 1 milk feed bah >____<

Though just needle pricks, but Yuheng told me it's painful ....

End of my breastfeeding days

I've stopped expressing milk about 1 month ago. I'm happy to say Yuzhe is on total breastmilk for about 6 months. This is a great achievement for me, as I only managed to give partial breastmilk to Yuheng when he's about 2 weeks old. So why did I not persist longer?

My pumping time gets delayed when I need to attend to either Yuzhe or Yuheng. Sometimes, I get so tired that the milk supply is badly affected. I noticed the quality of the milk tends to get quite diluted also, compared to the first few months of expressing. Yuzhe drinks quite slowly and he'll reject if the milks get cold. Thus, we need to warm the breastmilk a few times per feed. This not only destroy the good nutrients from the milk but promotes the growth of bacteria when the milk is not finished up fast enough.

So with all these constraints, we think is better for Yuzhe to drink total formula. At least we won't feel the 'wastage' when we discard away the undrank formula milk. The duration to make a bottle of formula is also faster than waiting for the cold milk to be warmed up. This Yuzhe can yell so loudly that my ear drums can feel the vibration.

OK, it's time to post up my Medela Freestyle Breast pumps for sale now >___<

Yuzhe -- 8 months update

Our cutie 弟弟 is now 8 months old. The last measurement at 7.5 months showed he's around 8.3kg, still an average sized baby. I've stopped breastfeeding for about a month and Yuzhe is now totally on formula -- Enfaproc Stage 2. Refer to here for my breastfeeding story.

Yuzhe can sit very steadily now. He's exploring more by reaching out to pick up whatever is in front of him. Of course, whatever he picked up is sure to go into his mouth >_<. He's able to perform some backward crawls and turn himself around 360 degrees. We've switched Yuzhe to Pigeon normal bottle and he's now drinking faster compared to the NUK bottle. We're still struggling hard to wake up several times a night while staying awake at work. Actually the situation has improved slightly. We use 2 methods to counter this.

At times, he is really hungry, so we'll give him the milk bottle to satisfy his hunger. But sometimes, he just want something to suck, and since a pacifier doesn't work, we'll give him the bottle with water -- just lukewarm water. Hubby now mastered the trick of using 2 bolsters to 'secure' the bottle so that he can get some sleep. But arrrghh, whenever Yuzhe turns his body, the bottle will drop and he'll start wailing again. Usually this "suck for comfort" thing can last a while until he's satisified and go back to sleep.

My kind boss is always popping into my room to ask how am I and my reply is always "Sleepy and tired" The large pimples popping out on my face is a clear consequence of not enough sleep. I think even applying the best facial cream or mask will not help now. *sob*

Looking at these photos, aren't we glad that our kids are growing healthy and happy. Just forget about how many times we have to wake up last time to tend to them lor ...

Sleeping Through - When will it be?

Ever since we shifted to this new place, hubby and myself have never slept through a single night!

Yuzhe, until now, hasn't establish a feeding pattern. He's waking up at least 2x a night for milk, not to mention countless times of crying (most probably due to teething). We have to carry him in our arms and cuddle before he'll be satisfied to go back to sleep. Sometimes, he just want something to suck on (for comfort?) and we'll feed him with lukewarm water. We tried giving him the pacifier but was rejected. He pulled it out and bite on the plastic ring instead! The situation did not improve much even when the aircon was switched on during those hot humid days.

I think we really can't do much except to endure the sleepiness, zombiness and drink more caffeine during the day? Hopefully this phase will pass through one day and we'll find ourselves sleeping thru' the night finally >____<

Fortunately, my Yuheng is a deep sleeper. Despite the loud wailing from his little brother, he can still sleep sweet and soundly in the opposite bedroom :)

Ironically, though Yuheng and Yuzhe originated from the same source, both exhibit very different habits and styles. Yuheng, at around 7+ months, was already sleeping through the night, with his last milk feed at around 11.15 - 11.30pm. He did not have such a 'difficult' teething phase and I recalled he only fussed for a few days. He has a very fixed feeding and sleeping pattern, which makes life quite easy for the caretakers. He finished the milk very fast, and most of the time, emptied the bottle. He has a good appetite and usually finished his bowl of porridge during lunch and dinner.

Anyway, not trying to compare the 2 of them here. We know every child is unique. We cannot apply what used to be on No. 1 to be on No. 2. Every day is a learning experience when it comes to taking care of No. 2 and we're still at the early pages.

Lantern Festival @ Watten Estate

Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节）is just around the corner. As usual, we had a pre-celebration at the Watten Estate with the friendly Tenrikyo Mission School teachers, principal, students and their church members. What a wide spread of food, drinks, desserts and entertainment !! This year's participation rate is much higher also, with more youngsters students joining in. There's magic show aftermath but we left early, after the lantern parade.





Throughout the night, we receive comments that the 2 brothers look so alike and Yuzhe resembles the Daddy more. P was trying hard to recall the cartoon character that Yuzhe looks very much like. Towards the end, she finally remembered --- Bart Simpsons. Ha, do you think so?

One by one, down with Viral Gastroenteritis

Last Thursday, around 5am, Yuheng had a few coughs and vomited out phlegm. Later on, he vomited again, but this time mostly water. This happened for a few more times and we knew something is wrong. He complained he's not feeling well, stomach pain and feeling very uncomfortable. Before we left the house to go to the Paed clinic, we gave him some milo fearing he might be hungry from the vomiting.

After the Paed's diagnosis, Yuheng had viral gastroenteritis, commonly known as stomach flu. He's unable to take in any liquid, not to mention solids. Whatever goes in will definitely come out later and this will hinder the healing process due to the swelling of the intestines whenever he vomits. The Paed gave us an option to admit Yuheng. If admitted, they'll do a drip on him for 24 hours, at least he won't be hungry for the whole day. They'll also administer medication through the drip, helping to speed up the recovery. Seeing Yuheng so uncomfortable and in pain, we choose to admit him.

It aren't easy putting on a drip for a young toddler. The nurses have to coax and distract him and paste some nice stickers on the plasters to make it look "less sickly". Fortunately, throughout the 2 nights stay there, Yuheng is quite cooperative. He did tried to pull out the drip once but after much persuasion and coaxing from the nurses and us, he knew it's effortless to try to take it out. He'll hurt himself more in the end.

The anti-vomit and antibiotics work effectively after the first dose. Yuheng's vomiting stopped. Due to the previous hectic night, he's so tired that he slept most of the time for the first day. He asked for food and though we tried hard not to give any, it's tough when we're the parents of the sick child. He had some bits and pieces of biscuits and bread.

After a day's rest, Yuheng looked much energetic the following day. He started to ask to go back home. He's bored tied to the drip machine and confine to within the small room. The furthest we can bring him is outside his room, along the corridoor for a short stroll. It must have been a traumatic experience for him that he associate going to the Paed clinic for a review as "poking needles onto his hands again". We explained to him no more poking of needles and water bag, then he showed some agreement to go to the clinic.

Throughout these few days, we're grateful to our family members who have came to visit Yuheng, showering him with their love and concern. Also, with their help, we can safely leave Yuzhe with them, while we were too occupied accompanying Yuheng and staying over with him in the hospital.

This bout of virus is spreading quite widely that hubby and myself have succumbed to it. Both of us had stomach cramps, vomiting and cold shivers on Sunday. Fortunately, we try to rest whenever we can and won the battle against the virus. And yesterday, our maid too complained about stomach pain but no vomiting. We wondered if she also caught the virus from us. And this morning, Yuzhe vomited out some milk and was a bit feverish. We brought him together with Yuheng for his review and he too can't escape from the virus. Yuzhe caught a mild viral flu and was given some medication.

So you see, it's inevitable that the whole family will catch the virus together and fallen sick one after another. But, it's not a joke when both of us were sick and still need to attend to the kids. We really struggled to keep ourselves awake, at the same time enduring the painful cramps and constant cold shivers.

Poor boy with the painful drip on his left hand

Learning Vision @ Work - Second day

The day started with Laoshi telling chinese story to the children. After that, it's Teacher Daya who took over to have a playdough session. They're given some shape cutters to create shapes from the dough. Yuheng did his favourite "mini balls" and "hotdogs". Following are song singing and story telling sessions.

Perhaps yesterday is really just new environment. Yuheng displayed some negative behaviour today. He refused to join the group for shower and "loiter" around, playing with toys instead. He only took few mouthfuls of the soupy chicken rice and refused to eat anymore. When the children are all sound asleep, Yuheng didn't catch a single wink. Hubby came to take over my shift because Yuheng wants me to be around, though I only took half-day leave. Hubby told me Yuheng was enjoying himself after the rest woke up from the nap. They had outdoor activities and some tricycle rides. They stayed on until around 5.45pm and we all went back together.

Teacher Daya will be taking photos of Yuheng on Thursday as she'll be on leave tommorrow. These will be emailed to us to let us know how our child is doing in school, so as to assure parents that they're well taken care of at Learning Vision. I cross my fingers that Yuheng will enjoy his day at the school tommorrow.

the playdough session

Learning Vision @ Work - First day (14 Sep 09 - 1/2 day session)

As usual, we're the late comers, arriving around 9.30am. No more breakfast for Yuheng (last serving at 9am). Teacher Daya came to introduce Yuheng to his fellow classmates. There's 2 pigeon holes for him -- one to put shoes and another to put his barang. They have self-play until 10am, where the kids are free to take any toys and play. Yuheng got quite excited with the variety of toys and started taking them one-by-one to explore. The rest of the children are so "old-birds" that they don't seem to feel strange having another adult around, sneaking at them now and them.

At 11am, they're asked to keep the toys and gather at another corner. They sing some songs, follow by story reading. Yuheng looked so stoned throughout the story-telling session that the teacher asked me if he's going to cry. Actually, I think he's trying to figure out the situation -- why is he here, instead of at the MMI. On the other hand, the rest of the kids are busy talking, and responding to the teacher's questions as she read the book. Following the story book theme, they're given animal puzzles to play. Yeah, it's Yuheng's another favourite. He happily pieced one after another and proudly showed Teacher Daya his master pieces. I started to see some smile on his face afterall :)

It's time for shower after the brain racking game. All of them are supposed to carry their own bags and follow the teacher into the shower room. They're seated down, waiting for their turn to be showered. Yuheng got bored from the waiting after he's done. He came out and explored around. Soon after, lunch is served. Today's menu is bee hoon soup with vege and chicken. Just when I wonder how are the children going to eat such soupy food, they amazed me! They skillfully scooped up the soupy bee hoon with the soup and push it into their mouth. Ya, of course, pieces of food and soup dribbled all over their face but still, they're able to finish the whole bowl, asking for more servings. Yuheng too surprised me with his capability to self feed and even eat those greenish vege!! He too asked for a 2nd serving and drink finished the soup. And a meal is not complete without fruits and they're given bite-sized apples.

Wow wow wow, overall, I'm really satisfied with Yuheng's behaviour for the first day. He portrays a totally different character when in school -- more independent and sensible. Well, let's hope this will persist for the following days.

Learning Vision @ Work (NUS, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory)

After very careful and deep consideration, we decided to place Yuheng in a full-day school. From our observation, Yuheng cannot be left by his own. He needs someone by his side to play with him. He gets bored easily, thus he's always looking for things to do. When he's over at my parents' place, my mum still need to take care of Yuzhe, not able to give Yuheng 100% attention. When Yuheng is not able to receive the attention that he yearned, he'll not be happy, throw tantrum, as a form of seeking attention from my mum. This of course, end up in a crying, screaming situation, making everyone stressful and tensed up.

I'm not doubtful of my mum's capability and loving care towards her 2 grandsons. But, perhaps, kids nowadays really need activities and programs to occupy their day. Unlike our times, we just get out of our house to play with neighbours, jumping up and down the staircase. Nowadays, where do you see your neighbours' kids? Most just shut their doors whole day or they're not even at home until late night.

After a few shortlisting, we zoomed down to Learning Vision @ Work (NUS, Temasek Life Sciences Lab) mainly because it's within the vicinity of our workplace. The environment is the first factor that impressed me. It's clean and bright, with a playground just outside the centre. Though it's air-conditioned, it's kept at a very moderate temperature, not too cold for children. The infant section is separated from the toddler, though can hear them crying now and then. The teachers seems friendly and patience to kids. In addition, they'll update parents with frequent photos and newsletter via email of what Yuheng will be doing in school. This kind of rapport is very important especially when we're entrusting them our children in school for the whole day. At their age, it's quite difficult for them to express themselves and thus we can only know from the teachers' account.

My next post will be on Yuheng's 1st half day at LV ;-)