What I want in life

Time flies...It's been one and a half year since i stop working. Many things has happen during this period. Can't forget the exciting experience of traveled to Switzerland/Austria and Melbourne, having baby made in Switzerland, enrolled for Master course in USM, so on and so forth....

During these times, I reflect a lot on what I want in my life. I used to thought that happiness is the most important thing in life to chase after and i still do. However how to keep feeling happy in life is a big challenge. In life, we sure have ups and downs. When we are happy, we must be grateful and when we are downs, we must always think that it'll gone through fast. That's how we learn to be happy.

Now that I'm expecting, my focus is on taking good care of the little one as well as myself and also my daughter. This is my short-term goal per se. Well, I'm kind of person who cant really think of the long term goal after all.

Lastly, I prayed for a smooth delivering and an exciting life ahead!

Looking forward to new member in the family

Yesterday I told my daughter, Kai Shuen that I'm going to see doctor for checkup and that her grandpa will fetch her back from school. She suddenly feel so excited and said to me "yeah mommy, are you going to operate and take out the baby from your stomach today?" Hahaha...she seems desperately want to meet and play with her sibling as soon as possible. I have to disappoint her by asking her patient to wait for another 6 months time. I'm glad that she is much more looking forward to the new member in our family than both me and her dad. She started to plan for many thing, eg. she want the baby to sleep together on her hello kitty bed, she wanted to feed the baby, she ask her grandma to help take care of the baby while she is away to school, she want to bring the baby together to the theme park and wave to the baby while she sit on the roller-coaster...all short of fun activities coming into her mind, sending us the signal that she's really excited about the new baby.

I was also feeling great yesterday after seeing the ultrasound scanning. The baby is moving actively and we can see the nose, hand, leg clearly; unlike my first baby where the doctor was using "not so advance" ultrasound machine which can't see the baby clearly.

I guess it is normal to have different feeling, experience and story on each and every pregnancy. This time round, I only have appetite on spicy and sour food. Not so much craving for durian, which is a lucky thing, as durian can casue high sugar level in the blood. Anyway, every pregnancy is a joy, anxious but unforgettable experience and I'm ready to embark on the journey once again! :)

Right brain development

I'm back to talk about what are some of the methods used for right brain development for kids following the first article release about why right brain development is so important for young kids.
The very key method used is flashing the flash card/dot card in the speed of .5 to 1sec to the kids. It's not meant for children to understand the content, but rather to try activate the right brain. As we know, right brain work differently from left brain. It can process fast and lots of information at one time which left brain cannot. Thus when we trying to inputs kids with lots of information at short time, the left brain will stop working and pass the job to right brain. Hence, this method is an excellent way to help activate the right brain.
Second most important method i felt is letting the kids listening more often to the songs, poem, classic Chinese teaching and so on, or read to them. Again, in this process, what we want is to develop the right brain which works with sounds better than text and not emphasize on the understanding of the content.
Next is playing some fun memory games or puzzle with the kids. One of the game i like to play with my daughter is to show her 10 picture cards, asked her to memorize it them flipped to the back and start calling out the picture's name one by one. If she get it right, I'll give her some cards as the reward. She played well especially when there is competition with Daddy :)
Of course there are more method that I haven't discover and will be glad to hear from you guys :)

Anyway,one thing not to forget is, the foundation to all this are still loving, healthy child. Don't even talk about brain development without a healthy body, soul and mind, isnt it?

What to do when baby cry?

Crying is a physiological process in the life of a baby. However, new parents will normally panic when their kids is crying. All normal babies cry to communicate with others as the they can't express their feelings in words. Babies will just cry if any uncomfortable feeling comes. This feeling includes hunger, wetting, too hot or cold, tight cloaths, pain ect. Some kids will cry if there is no presence of somebody around them. Crying without any cause is habitual in some babies. Since the reasons for crying ranges from simple causes to serious causes it should not be ignored and hence exact cause has to be identified and managed accordingly.
The following are some points which should be considered while dealing with a crying baby.
1. Dont ever shake the baby vigorously, it is extremely dangerous.
2. Don't let the pitty baby sleep with their wet nappy. Always check for wet nappy. Clean the parts and make it dry with soft towel.
3. Baby don't like hot environement. Check to make sure that air circulation in the room is good.
4. Tight cloths can cause irritation hence it should be removed.
5. Hug the baby with you. Pat her/his back or stroke her/his head slowly. Le her/him here your soothing sound.
6. You can also rock the baby gently in your arms and walk slowly in the room.
7. Check to see if the baby is hungry. Give breast milk and make her quiet.
8. If the climate is cold cover her in soft towel.
9. Turn on the music doll or music instruments and let her listen. Make sure the volume is soft.
10. Try a pacifier or help the baby thumb sucking.
11. Put the baby on the cradle and rock gently.
12. Sometimes changing to a different caregivers might help.

If you have done all this and the baby still crying, you may check for any sick symptom like below:
1. Press her abdomen gently, or pat on her stomach gently to see if the baby is having colic
2. Feel her temperature with the termometer to see if the baby is having fever.
3. Examine the skin from head to foot to see if there is any eruptive disease,nappy rash, measles, vesicles, allergy ect.
5. Check the nose for any discharge:--Coryza.
6. Move the head gently to feel any neck stiffness:--Meningitis,head injury ect.
7. Keep your ear near her chest to hear any rattling sound:--Increased mucus in wind pipes.                         (possible of pneumonia,bronchiolitis,asthamatic bronchitis ect)

If you see the above signs or any other abnormal signs, immdiately consult your doctor for proper treatement.

A Flashback of wonderful moment!

Yesterday I finally went to develop some of my daughther and family's photo. My memory flashback to the time she is just born. Can't believe I had gone through all this sweet and sour moment! Mommy love you, sweetheart!

Just born....

Able to smile when touched. Chubby and looks like boy...

Start to crawl

Learn to sit upright, face still looks like her father

Face start to change. Not so chubby and start to resemble mummy :)

Walking well and looks like a pretty girl ^_^

She is just adorable..Her cute pose!

Everday is playtime

Over the weekend, playing become more excited to my kid. Her cousins were around to play with her. They are good in creating some new and interesting games for her. This time, they hang a belon at the "rambutan"tree behind my mom's backyard and gave her a mosquito bat. Then, they ask her to hit on the belon. What a new and fun games they created for her and she does enjoying it very well! This is also a type of create and manipulative play where she gets the chance to exercise her hand and eye-coordination. I really enjoyed seeing her playing with her cousin with all the laughing and exercisng. So, who says kids needs expensive toys? :-)

"BIG" gift for her

My girl receive her "big"gift from her grandpa over the weekend. I meant "BIG" as in the size of the gift is to big for her. The new bicycle is for toddler about age of 2 and above, she barely able to touch the paddle now. Initially we wanted to buy for her a smaller bike. After considering that the smaller bike can only last for maybe 6 months time and she may not be able to sit on it anymore, we change our mind. It is always in dilemma when buying things for kids. If we buy something that just fit for her now, soon it cant be used, but if we buy a little bigger, then she may not be able to use it now, sigh...unless I am so rich that can afford to buy so many things at different stages :) Anyway, she seems to like her pinky bike so much and started to explore it happily.

So cheerful sitting on her bike

Cute baby <=> little monster

Sometimes kids can be so adorable and the other time they can turn to a little monster. :-)
Yesterday night, my girl was making noise running here and there doesn't want to sleep. I was so tired, it was already 10pm but she still can't sleep and want to disturb her grandma. I have no choice but to bring her downstair to the living room and play with her untill she feel sleepy. At around 11pm, she finally wanted to go to bed, so i brought her upstair. This time she laid on the bed quietly. Then she suddenly sit up and hold my index finger using her right hand while her left hand was holding her left foot. She use my index finger to tickle her left foot and laugh out loud. Her act was so cute. Oh man, my heart melt! The little monster has turn to a cute, adorable baby in just a second! :)

First Lego model

Playing Lego is a combination of manipulative and creative plays. Just recently, my kid was able to build her first ever lego model all by her own. I am thrilled to be the first person to witness this process. Immediately I gave her a big hug and complement. Watching her growing up and learning so well make me feel grateful and proud! Furthermore, I can now read my newspaper while she is playing by her own which previously need my attention all the time. :)  LEGO Ultimate Building Set - 405 Pieces (6166)

Cute baby talk

me           : kai shuen, do you want to eat banana?
kai shuen : Ai  (mean want in hokkien)
me           : kai shuen, this is called ba-na-na.
kai shuen : pa-ma-ma.... (haha..it really sound smilar. she only know how to pronounce papa and mama)

My child's motor skill has developed very well

Expert says that between 2 to 3 years old, children can run, jump with both feet together, hold pen or crayons and scribble on paper. This is the physical and motor development of the kids. However, my daughter has learn to holding a pensil and "write" on paper since 14 months. It was such an interesting discovery by her granny. Her granny give her a pensil  as she is trying to grab the pen from her cousin. Out of her surprise, she saw her holding the pensil nicely with its tip on the bottom and start scribble on a paper. Granny was so surprised that how come she learn to do it all by herself in the first time and was showing it to everyone at home :)
Here is the picture I took at her playing with the pensil at the coffee house. So focus...

Household chores kids can do as young as 1 year old

I start training my kid to do simple household chores like throwing her own dirty diaper into the dustbin since she was around 11month old and she enjoy doing it. It has now become her habit to throw her own dirty diaper every morning before going to bath. Children learn things very fast and one of the good habit i figure out is to train them doing some simple household chores. And don't forgot to praise them for the good work after they did it per your instruction. You can see their happy and satisfied face when you do so :-)

 

At around 15 months old, she learn to use the cloth to wipe and clean stuff. Chair, table, wall, her own toys, floors and other thing. I didn't really teach her how to do this but i guess she learn from us. Me and my husband normally do the cleaning when she was awake. She always making noise and want us to play with her as we busy, so i decided to gave her a piece of clean cloth as well and guess what, she start following us by cleaning the table, so good girl, right? Next, i plan to train her eating with her own spoon :-)

Separation anxiety

Many people told me that it is normal for children to have separation anxiety. But i do notice that they are not always feeling bad when their caregiver are away. When my daughter is playing with my nieces and nephew, she seems to be okay even if i say bye bye to her and leave her with them. Hehe..i guess she prefer to stay with her playmates rather than always stick to me, whcih is a good thing. On the other hand, if I were the only person stay with her at home, she seems to be nervous even though i just walk to the kitchen, which she can still see me from the living room. I really hope that suddenly one day, she can play her toys on her own at the living room while i am busy cooking at the kitchen, is that too much to hope for? :)

She can follow instruction - the doctor said

Today i bring Kai Shuen for her pneumococal boster jab. Once she enter to the hospital, she keep waving at strangers saying "bye bye", so adorable,  and people keep looking at her. As usual, she was runing here and there, climb the sofa, went in front of the stranger staring and smiling to them, while waiting to see the doctor. Finally it was her turn and we went into the doctor's room and i put her on my lap. Immediately she grab the toys at doctor's desks and then throw it to the floor. Doctor was surprised to see her so active and ask her to pick up the toys. She did it and doctor praise her for being able "to follow instruction"...haha, but the funny thing is, the doctor was speaking english and i dont think my girl understand English because i use to speak mandarin with her. I guess she just interpret doctor's body language as he pointed at the toy. No wonder expert always say that children will follow what the adult do and say, they are so smart that we may not even aware of.

Potty Training

Never in my mind that children can take off their diapers so soon until today after I read an article about potty training for children can start as earlier as 9months old. Wow, really so? I guess different toddlers have different timing but i dont think most of them will be able to sit on the potty or go to toilet themselves without going through training.
So, how to train your child to go toilet or sit on the potty-chair? I had did some research and also gotten some guidance from my mother-in-law. It seems like the most effective way is to take off their diaper and bring them to toilet or sitting at the potty chair more frequently. Of course for the first few days you might have to cope with the mess but it works for most of the child. Well, even though if it doesn't work, there are more ways. Some parents mention that singing the kids their favorite songs or music while they doing their business does help too. Compliment the child or given them a small gift like stickers everytime they use the potty does help too according to others. Anyway, if we had tried our best and it still not successful, then let's don't be dissapointed, maybe they are not ready and we should try again next month!

Ok, after sharing all the tips, it is now for me to try it out on my gal, hopefully it works, then i can save money on buying diapers :)

Her first slide play

I has been thinking to bring Kai Shuen to the children playground for sometime but it has been raining all the while until yesterday evening. It was a good weather and I decided to bring her to visit the children playground near to my housing area. I first let her try the swing but she don't really seem to enjoyed it very much and tends to climb down to her feet. So i let her walk around the park and do whatever she likes. She then observe the slide and wanted to climb up but of course was not successful because it is too steep. I carry her to the top and let her sit there wanted to see what see will do next. She is so smart enough to slide down all the way - this is her first time and she seems to enjoy it very much :). Mommy is so proud of YOU!

Children are observant

I always respect my gal's capability to know when we are getting reading to go out. Children have a very strong observation and natural instinct that might be powerful than adults even if they can't speak yet. Everytime when I or my husband is changing cloth, she will crying out loud wanted us to carry her. Seems like she afraid that we will left her at home alone, ha ha...

Last week even funny. We went to her grandmother house and coincidentaly her uncle was about to go out. Her uncle and aunty had dressed up and were waiting for the time to go out. She was playing with her cousin and all of the sudden she crying out loud just because her uncle pick up his car keys and walking towards the door. She run to her uncle and wanted him to carry her. I try to comfort her by saying that i will go out too but she just refuse to let me carry her. On the other hand, she allow her aunty to carry her because she realised that both of them are heading out as a family. I really salute her for how she can understand this point. I guess is through observation. Maybe she did witness a few times that both her uncle and aunty were sitting in one car going out before, so that has registered in her mind.

Kids are really smart these day and could sometimes manipulate adults in a way to their preferences....

Interesting play created by my daughter

I am always amaze looking at my daughter playing with her own. Recently, she likes to grab a handkerchief, holding one of its corner, then slowly scroll down to another corner using another hand. Sometimes she did it too fast and she miss the corner, she will do it again and again. Once she had both the corner holding on with her 2 hands, she will then put it nicely in the table and feel so satisfied, smiling and crapping hands. Such a simple task can interest her to do it repeatably and she feel so happy and satisfied. I guess she must be very proud of herself of being able to do that even though in our eye it seems to be so simple.

Children are really creative and innovative. They maynot need the modern technology and battery operated toys, what they just need is their own imagination. Now that i see her playing, i really agree to the Waldorf Education that shared by a good friend of mine.

Waldorf Education emphasized on the important of creative play by the children and they believe that we should give them the natural things like cloth, shelf-made dolls and clothespin to play around rather than those hi-tech toys.

Kid growing fast...

Children really grow very fast. I am so lucky to have the opportunity to share every moment of joy and sadness with her. She is going to be 15 months now and i witness the whole growing process. Now is capable of understand most of the instruction and words by us and of course will choose to follow or not to follow :).
Last sunday, we bring her to penang bird park and she was amazed at so much different birds that she never seen before although i can see her a bit scared as she hang tight on her father and dont want to come down on her feet.
In my opinion, it is always good to explore new thing to children especially through play. We as the parent, has the responsibility to help them explore new thing everyday. I dont trust in giving them many toys or expensive clothing but rather the quality time that spent with them is the most precious. Of course there are moment where i get angry with her too but i just have to control it and turn it to become a good leason for me and her.

Parenting is a journey and new challenges as well as happiness always await us....

Kai Shuen turn 1

Kai Shuen has achieve her first important milestone, turn one yesterday, Bravo!
She was wearing new dress and shoe to play at the jusco kids playground. so happily runing here and there until her father tired of chasing her :) and mom also busy chasing her taking her photo...

She look so happy that now she can walk around and go after those ge ge and jie jie who was in the playround as well. After half an hour of running around, she finally sleep in her stroller for 1 hour, must be very tired :-)