Meera's tent

I came across a blog that mentioned a really portable sleeping option for a toddler and after a bit of research I found this one in Australia. Initially I was a bit worried if Meera would be able to sleep. But I decided to have faith in Meera's easy disposition and give it a shot. We tested it out during our trip to the great ocean road. 3 nights of trial. The first night didn't go to well. She woke up a few times and cried out. I guess it was a bit disconcerting to be all covered up like that and so different from her crib. I wasn't sure if it was the bed or the room that was troubling her. But by the last night of our trip she slept ok on it (she still woke up a bit but this use to happen even when we used the play pen so it was nothing unusual.)

Will try to use it again for our trip to Tasmania (14 days) and hopefully she does ok with it...

20 Months

As each month rolls by I am amazed at how much Meera is growing up. This month we went to the health clinic for a 'well visit'. In Australia this service is provided free of charge. A nurse will measure up the child and give age appropriate advice. I was quite impressed. At least it's comforting to talk to someone to reassure you about stuff.

So here's the outcome of the visit: I finally have a proper record of Meera's height (85.5 cm), weight (12.17kg) and head circumference (46.2 cm). Based on the growth charts, she's very tall (97th percentile) so although she weighs a lot it's actually okay for her height. (I was a bit worried I was feeding her too much). Her head circumference remains quite small. But nothing to worry about. The nurse also advised me to stop giving her a bottle and switch to a cup (not sure about that!) and to reduce her milk intake to 500ml a day (right now she's getting 200 ml 3 times a day). I also give her cheese and yogurt so her calcium intake is definitely more than adequate. But I've read that this can affect the iron intake so I'm gonna start reducing her milk intake.

My mom was here for 2 weeks and it might have been a coincidence but Meera's vocabulary has really developed. She's also started to say 2 word sentences. 'Momma sit', 'open eye' (she wanted me to remove Mr. Potato's eyes). It seems like she says at least one new word a day. I really should document this but I haven't really got around to it...

On the eating front, all is going well. Have not made porridge in ages. I found a few books in the library with recipes for toddlers and that's helped me cook different stuff for her. Initially I was just steaming everything....steam rice, steam fish, steam chicken....boring. But now I've made her fish goujons (fancy name for fish fingers), roast chicken and pie! She's eating a lot better than us. But I am truly grateful that so far she seems to enjoy everything I give her (I hope this doesn't jinx things).

I also noticed that she's starting teething again. I can see all four canines pushing at her gums (feels quite hard) but none have actually pushed through.

Because my mom was here her schedule has been pretty off. Largely due to lack of sleep since we were out and about a lot. But she's still taking one nap a day which last anywhere from 1.5 - 3 hours. Bedtime is generally 9pm. And she wakes up around 8 am. Right now it's almost summer so it gets bright pretty early but it doesn't seem to affect her much. It's also getting warmer so some days we don't use her 'sleeping bag'. Ive been thinking about changing her crib into a toddler bed but not ready for this (me not so much her). Part of me is not sure she will stay in the bed without the physical barrier of the rails. Also I'm worried she would climb down herself while we're still asleep and get into mischief.

On another note, Jing and I went out on 3 nights while my mother was here and she had no trouble being put to bed by my mom. I don't know if she's still young or super secure but she didn't cry or ask for us. Hmmmm....... Also she calls my mom 'ah mah' although we kept telling her 'Grandma'. And for the 2 weeks that my mom was here she was always asking 'ah mah?' whenever my mom was out of sight. But after my mom left she hardly ever asked. I was a bit worried that she might miss my mom especially since she was always entertaining Meera but no issues there.

Personality wise Meera is starting to show her independent streak. At every meal 'put' (with repeating gestures) indicating I should put her plate on her tray for her to eat. And she'll say 'fork' or 'spoon' when she wants to hold them herself. She's also quite adept at giving commands like 'sit' (although she feeds herself, she likes me to sit and watch her), 'hold' (when she wants something), I guess it comes from hearing so many instructions throughout the day...

She loves to repeat what we say so we're using that to our advantage by reciting the alphabet and counting from 1 to 10. Already we can tell she's learning something. Sometimes after saying 'b' she'll continue with 'c'. The other day I was counting out loud and I stopped at 8 and I heard her continue with 9 and 10!

Also I manage to get a download of the Leapfrog Letter factory so she watches that quite a bit. She also loves watching the Peek-A-Boo one. She can even request for it by saying 'Poo ke' (?) and covering her face. I keep saying peek a boo but she keeps repeating poo ke back. Same goes for milk, she says 'nuk' (she doesn't sign it anymore).

We finally bought her a play kitchen. And she loves it. Everyday she's standing there pretending to cook something. After 2 weeks she still says 'cook', go to her kitchen and pretend play. It's quite fascinating to watch her at it. She even pretends that one of the bottles is soap and will 'squirt' some 'soap' and wash her hands.

19 Months

Another month has passed. With a lot to report. Melbourne goes through Daylight Savings in early October so that was something new for us. It was already starting to get bright by 7 a.m. So it makes sense I guess. Initially Meera was waking up around 8.30 but over time (maybe cos it was getting brighter earlier) she's started to wake as early as 7 am! Her schedule has been pretty crazy lately. There are days where she can sleep till 8.30 and then there are days where I can hear her stirring before 7 am. Most nights she goes to bed around 8.30 pm. Of course weekends are completely off schedule. Since we're usually out and about she sometimes only manages a half hour nap and if we get home late maybe goes to bed at 10pm. But she seems to make up for it during the weekdays and doesn't seem too bothered. There's been days when she sleeps from 8.30 pm to 8 am. 11.5 hours straight and I notice this messes up her nap time. She's also started crying when she wakes up from her naps. I don't know why. It only happens for naps. Can't figure it out. Hopefully its a phase. She seems to go through this every once in a while. I just pray that she isn't ready to completely stop napping. I need her to nap so I can get a mid day break!

Meera got her caught her first cold since coming to Melbourne. I blame myself for this. What started as a warm day turned into quite a chilly one and we were unprepared. So Meera was walking around with no sweater and the next day her nose was runny and she was coughing! We bought a Vicks Humidifier (recommended by Nani) which helped (I think). Needless there were a few sleepless nights thanks to this cold. But after 3 days she was recovering nicely. Lesson learnt though....never go anywhere without a sweater!

Not sure if I've mentioned this before but Meera can drink from a cup! For over a month. It's not like I regularly give her a cup to drink from (I worry to much about messes) but occasionally when we're drinking juice (her favourite) or milk we let her sip from our cup. And Miss Independent here has to do it herself. Jing has been letting her do it for quite a while before I actually allowed her to. I don't know when or how she picked it up but she does it quite well. And with hardly any spills!

I notice that Meera is quite advanced in terms of gross motor skills. However not so good with fine motor She still has trouble with the shape sorter (most times she just tries to force the pieces in. Not sure if its due to lack of focus, patience or maybe practice). I really need to concentrate more on this area I think.

We also taught her how to share and take turns. Usually when it comes to food. Amazingly she will wait patiently when we say to take turns.

She's also saying a lot of words now. But has yet to join 2 words together. She also makes signs for some things like drawing (when she sees crayons or wants to draw something).

On the feeding front, I've stopped making porridge for her. This has actually been quite difficult cos I now struggle with what to give her everyday. It was so easy with porridge since I just chucked everything in the slow cooker. Now I need to make sure what I cook is soft enough. I also need to make a variety of things since she gets bored if it's the same thing. She seems to eat less but maybe that's because it's now solid food instead of porridge which is mostly water (at least that's what I'd like to believe).

Playgroup

A common activity for most kids before starting preschool here is going to playgroup. I was initially quite hesitant to join as I am not exactly comfortable meeting new people (anti-social?) but given Meera's obsession with babies I thought it would be a good opportunity for her to interact with some.

There's actually a formal organisation for this which I think is handled by the government. So I checked it out and noted there were quite a few near our house. After a few calls I narrowed my choice to 3 possible groups. Unfortunately (or lucky since I wasn't too keen) it was school holidays at the time and even playgroups are on hold. So that gave me 2 weeks to mentally prepare myself to face this activity. I was kinda dreading having to go.

Finally the day arrived and I went. The first one was on a Wednesday. I was nervous! I got there and there were already a few moms there with their kids. Got introduced and asked a few questions and that was it. Most oft he time I had to look at/after Meera. She was soo excited. They had so many toys out and she was like a busy little bee hopping from one activity to another. She didn't seem too keen on the kids. I guess the toys were a major distraction. As for myself I felt like the new girl starting school midterm. Everyone had their cliques and I was all alone. Boo hoo! First time I've felt home sick since coming here. Luckily Meera kept me busy most of the time. The two hours passed. I survived but I was dreading the next day (I had another group to check out.)

The next day was at the same place but with different moms. Maybe I wasn't as nervous or better prepared but I had a better time this time.

One and a half years!

Yup....Meera is now 18 months! My baby is growing up. And the past month has brought up quite a few changes.

Meera's vocabulary is growing quite steadily. Most of the words are pretty hard to catch and more often than not she only repeats them rather than saying them spontaneously. And given her love of food most of the words are food related. I wouldn't exactly classify them as proper words but she attempts to make a sound which I (and no one else) can identify. So is that really talking??? For now her vocab includes hi, bye, baby, bread (more like 'buh'), orange (owenge), open, juice, wow wow (for dog), and a few others which I have yet to interpret. At the same time she is still using signs for some words like raisin, eat, down, phone, camera (she made up her own sign).

After we moved to the new house there was a few days where her sleep was disrupted (looks like this happens every time she sleeps somewhere new) but after a few days she went back to normal.

Right now our schedule is something like this:

8.30 am: Wake up, milk
10.00 am: Breakfast
12.30 pm: Lunch
1.30 pm : Milk then nap anywhere between 1.5-3 hours)
4:00 pm : Snack (if she's awake)
5:00 pm: Bath
6:00 pm: Dinner
9:00 pm: Milk then bed

I've started to switch her formula to S-26 since her previous formula is unavailable. So far she seems okay with it. I've also started to give her steamed rice instead of porridge a few days a week. She takes longer to eat (guess it's tiring to chew) but I try to be patient. Hopefully I can stop making porridge before she's 2.

She's also been quite keen to feed herself (not something I encouraged). So I've had to relinquish the spoon on quite a few occasions. It all makes for a very messy meal time but I try not to let it bother me. Recently she also likes to 'dip' her food in sauce. I'm guessing she's seen us dip food in ketchup and sauce and wants to follow suit. Here's a picture of her dipping her toast in egg yolk.





Since we moved to our house I've been a bit braver about going out with her alone. We've taken walks to the park (she loves the slide but not really keen on the swings) and I've also gone to the nearby centro with her in the car. I usually use a harness (or leash?) when I'm out with her.

Her current obsession is with babies (any child is a baby to her..even a 7 year old) and she loves animals especially dogs. Also still obsessed with food stuff (she insist on eating anything we eat). Strangely enough she does not insist on tasting our coffee or wine (I simply say 'No, this is... and she doesn't insist on it!) Not sure how come she doesn't raise a fuss...

On the teething front, all four molars have made an appearance. I was still expecting the bottom front tooth to come out so wasn't really paying any attention to the back. But one day I happen to get a glance inside and there they were! Maybe that explains her sleep issues.

17 months!

Once again....no photo to mark this date. (Strangely enough we have a lots of photos on this date but none of Meera!)

Physically do not have any measurements to record. But judging by how some of her clothes fit I'm guessing she's grown quite a bit (the dryer can only shrink so much!). Everyday she seems to change. I've tried to record some of it on video but very little success so far. The minute I whip out the video cam she wants to look at it so I can never get anything good to record. Her vocabulary has expanded: aside from 'hi' she can say 'bye' (sounds more like 'bai') and pao pao (when she wants to be carried). Funnily enough, her 'pao pao' is always said in a semi whisper sweet way even though she's normally screaming and crying at that point to be carried. It's like she immediately switches pitch and volume to say the word! Very cute and effective(!)

Another tooth (number 8) is making it's way out. This time round its the back left tooth (a molar?). Not sure when this started though since I was always looking out for the front left tooth to come out and never really bothered to check her gums. But today I was feeling around her gums and felt a pointy little bit.

Her schedule hasn't changed much (although at this point I can't really say there is a schedule). With all the things going on most days are erratic. But Meera has rolled with the punches. :)
She has been surprisingly adaptable. When we first arrived here she was waking in the middle of the night (still can't figure out why) but after a while she went back to sleeping through.

16 going on 17...

So I'm a little behind on the 16 month post. Hence the title...

Meera has changed so much! I'm pretty sure moving to Melbourne has a lot to do with that. Yesterday she said her first word....hi! Before this she does imitate certain sounds we make but nothing which I would classify as a proper word. But yesterday she said hi a number of times and occasionally along with a little wave. I made sure I recorded it and if I ever figure it out I'll try to post it online (don't hold your breath though).

As far as physical growth, I can't really say much. She looks about the same. Clothes still fit (So I'm guessing no major growth spurt). I spotted another tooth coming through...bottom right side. So this will be the 7th tooth so far. Compared to Aussie babies she's rather small sized!

Can see that she understands so much more nowadays. Signing has taken a back seat to all the things that's been going on. So pretty much the same stuff. She can sign cold (when we prompt her) but don't think she really gets what it means. But I can see that she really knows how to use her signs to get what she wants. Things like milk, cookie, down (when she wants to get off her chair) and finish (when she's done eating). Need to expand on this over the next few months.

Her daily schedule is quite variable right now. But generally speaking:

8.00 am : Wake up (earlier if it get's bright early - the blinds don't block out the sun)
8.15 am : Milk (7 oz.)
9.00 am : Breakfast
11.00 am: Light Lunch (she usually eats more when we go out for lunch)
12-1 pm: Jing's Lunch time so we go out with him
2.00 pm: Back home, milk than nap for about 2 hours
5.oo pm: Bath (it's quite cold here so only once a day)
6.00 pm: Dinner (again quite a light one since she'll eat a bit with us)
9.30 pm : Milk then bed

The schedule has changed quite a bit since our move here. Fortunately she seems to have adapted quite well. I used to keep quite a detailed record (or log) of her daily schedule (wake times, milk consumption, what she ate etc...) but not anymore. From here on it's all by memory (so it may be slightly inaccurate).

We only received our first shipment yesterday so for the past 2 weeks she's been eating a lot of jarred food and shop bought stuff. She managed quite well. I try to make sure she gets a lot of fruits (she loves kiwi and strawberries) but overall there's been a lot of chips (along with salt and oil) in her recent diet. Today was the first day I made porridge (just rice and carrot). I was afraid she wouldn't eat it since it's quite bland (no salt/ flavouring/ oil) but it seemed as if she couldn't get enough of it (kept asking for 'more' - another sign that she's mastered).

This is the first time I don't have a photo of her on the 26th (but 25 is close enough). Once again I blame it on the move! ;)

All our bags are packed...

for the move to Melbourne. Needless to say, the rest of our things will be coming by cargo (and man do we have a lot of things!)

Our flight departed KL on the 30th of July so we spent 5 nights before that in Westin (fully paid for by the company). As expected the 5 days were really jam packed with last minute errands so we didn't really get to enjoy the hotel stay. We did order in room service from Presto on the first night....


it was a really good dinner.

We were actually looking to stay in a service apartment but they were all fully booked (one hotel said it was 'Arab' season so many of the places were full). Luckily Westin had suites (I never knew that) so we got a one bedroom suite which had a small study (which fit Meera's cot). It also had a living area, kitchen and enclosed balcony for meals!

The five days there passed very quickly. Before I realised we had settled everything and were on our way to KLIA for our flight.

I decided it would be best to take the day time flight to Melbourne since I wasn't sure if Meera would sleep in the plane. And sure enough she slept a total of 45 minutes the entire 7.5 hour flight!

The company paid for Business Class seats so it was quite a comfortable trip (well, as much as it could be with a toddler) Overall though, Meera was quite good. She had her moments but the fact that I got to eat most of my meals and Jing managed to down quite a few glasses of champagne attest ot he fact that we were reasonably able to enjoy our flight (again keeping in mind we had a toddler with us).

As for Meera she was quite cheerful for most of the trip. There were a couple of meltdowns during take off and landing...she simply did not care to fasten her seatbelt. And when her naptime approached she got a bit cranky but considering her lack of sleep (I had to wake her at 6.30 am and she hardly napped after that) I can't say I blame her.

We landed in Melbourne around 7.30pm (it's 2 hours ahead here). It took a while to get our bags and stroller (which we gate checked but took ages to get back). By the time we reached the apartment it was almost 10!

The apartment is amazing. But that shall be part of my next post...

15 Months.

I can see so many changes in Meera. She's definitely growing up. Lately she's started running. It looks rather clumsy but she's quite fast! Also her 6th tooth has finally broken through.

As for her daily schedule, she has finally transitioned to 1 nap a day (or maybe it's me that has finally caved in to it). Initially I was a bit hesitant to reduce her naps. I guess I wanted her to sleep so I could have time to do my stuff. But I realised that both naps weren't going very well and I was spending more time trying to put her down for naps than necessary. The first few days were a bit rough. Which made me question if she was really ready for just 1 nap. But I decided that I would give it at least 2 weeks and by that time I could see a definite improvement.

So right now her schedule is:

8.30 am: Wake up
9.00 am: Milk (7oz.)
10.00 am: Breakfast
12.30 pm: Lunch
1.00 pm: Nap (1.5-2.5 hours)
3.30 pm: Milk (7 oz.)
6.00 pm: Dinner
9.00 pm: Milk (7 oz.) then bed

The nap is still a bit irregular. Sometimes she'll only nap for 1.5 hours. But there are days when she'll nap for more than 3 hours. So it's a bit difficult to schedule for now. But usually if her nap is a short one I give her a snack in between the milk and dinner since its so many hours in between. Overall though she gets about 12-13 hours of sleep each day.

Signing is going quite well. Occasionally she will sign milk and water (and actually mean it). Most of the time though she signs simply because she hears us say it. We've also been teaching her to nod her head for 'yes' and shake for 'no'. Not sure if she truly gets it though. Usually if I ask her something enthusiastically enough she will always nod yes!

A 'Full'filling Day

We had a really great time at the Jungle Gym in Bangsar. Just wanted to put up the pictures:





We also paid a visit to the Mothercare store there; its huge! Plus they had a lot of toys from ELC. Meera was quite taken with the toy kitchen. She spent a really long time (relatively speaking for her age) playing with it.

'More' Fishballs!

Today I decided gave Meera fishballs for the first time. And she loved it!

I was a bit hesitant to give it to her especially since she only has 5 teeth in the front and no molars. But I decided to try anyways. I quartered each one and put them in her porridge. After her first piece...she immediately signed 'more'!

Looks like she's getting the signs.

We're Moving....to Melbourne!

This has actually been an event that has long been anticipated. Jing was promised an oversea assignment for quite some time now. But till recently nothing concrete was ever mentioned. Then on the 20th of April (coincidentally on my birthday) his boss told him that it was definitely on and they were looking at July for the transfer. Yup. Talk about short notice. Of course who are we to complain. We are just glad that it's finally happening.

A part of me is still a bit shell shocked by the suddenness of this news. Plus the fact that we only have less than 3 months to prepare for it.

Today Jing's boss announced the move to his department so I guess its really happening (we still have to wait for our visas and medical clearance but I don't think that will pose any problems).

The Start of Tot School

From the time Meera was conceived I had started reading quite a bit about how to start 'educating' a baby. The information I came across was endless and quite overwhelming. There were lots of opinions and many were contradicting each other. Ultimately I decided that I would attempt to expose her to some stuff and see how she responded.

One of the earliest methods I tried was the Glenn Doman approach. I got a couple of his books and attempted to follow the instructions in it. However I found it was too regimented for me. I was never able to fit in all the 'exercises' that were recommended in any given day. There were so many different things to do and each thing had to be repeated too many times. After a few lame attempts I gave up. I persevered with reading flashcards but once Meera started crawling I had to give up on that as well. She simply would not sit still long enough for me to show more than one card a t a time!

I still felt that there should be something that I could do to encourage and improve on her developing skills. So I trolled the internet....and came across a lot of sites that were dedicated to exposing a toddler (to everything from alphabets to physics!) Some of these sites were so full of information that quite honestly I felt like a real slacker! the amazing thing was that these people had the time to actually do all sorts of activities with their kids and then BLOG about it! Hmmphh! Talk about peer pressure...

So one of the sites that I came across was called Tot School and it was full of links to others sites with parents of similar minds all trying to do stuff with their kids. So I decided to give it a go. Of course I was not as ambitious as most of them but I did incorporate some of their ideas. At least it gave me something productive to do with Meera. Beats sitting her in front of the TV!

So here's some of the stuff we did....

introducing the colour yellow....

PlayDoh...

Puzzles.

14 Months

The past month has seen a lot of changes. Meera seems to understand a lot of words. We've been pointing out her body parts and now she can identify things like eye, ear, nose, head etc... She still can't talk though. Earlier in this month she also figured out how to stack the rings of her Fisher-Price Ring Stacker (?). She's also started giving kisses! Up till 1 year, she would give flying kisses but that was it. Now when we ask for a kiss she'll put her mouth to our cheek. Sometimes she gets a bit carried away, giving kisses till my whole cheek is a slobbery mess....but I don't mind :)

She also understands simple instructions; like if I ask her to put her clothes in the wash pail (although occasionally her toys get dumped in there as well) and whenever she picks up stuff from the floor and I tell her to throw it she'll go to the bin and wait for for me to open the lid. So cute!


She's also started signing quite a bit. She can sign: milk, all done, eat, more and water. She still gets some of it mixed up and sometimes it's totally out of context but she's getting there. I need to make sure I sign more consistently so she gets it right.

She's also started waving to people. For a while, whenever I put her to bed, she'll wave bye-bye to me. The first time it happened I wasn't sure I was seeing right since it was quite dark in the room but after that I noticed she did it each time we put her to bed. So we would wave back and say goodnight. This didn't last for long though. A week later she started resisting naps. So I'm rocking and singing to get her to sleep. Sometimes she's wailing so loudly that I am practically screaming the words to 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' to drown out her cries. Jing and I are putting it down to teething (seems like we blame teeth whenever she acts up...). Lately her naps seems to be improving. I realise that if she naps too long in the morning she won't nap in the afternoon. Which is actually okay with me cos then she goes to bed by 8.30p.m. But I can see that she's really struggling to make it in the afternoon. So she's not really ready to go to 1 nap a day. For now her schedule is (roughly):

8:00 am - Wake up, milk (7 0z.)
8:30 am - Watch TV (usually The Wiggles, Play School or Your Baby Can Read CD)
9:30 am - Breakfast (finger foods, oats etc.). Followed by a bath
10:30am- Nap (If she sleeps for more than 1.5 hours I wake her up)
1:00pm - Lunch
3ish pm - Milk (7 oz.) then nap (this is usually 3.5 hours after she wakes up from the 1st nap).
6:00 pm - Dinner
9:15 pm - Milk (7 0z.) then bed.

13 Month Update

We took Meera for her MMR and chicken pox vaccinations. So her official weight is 9.7 kg (the scales at home showed 9.5kg..so quite accurate). Height: 77 cm (our measurement at home using the growth chart was only 74 cm so this is way off. According to the Dr. it's cos they don't really stand up straight so its more accurate to measure lying down) Forget her head circumference...
This time the jab was given in the buttocks but Meera was quite cooperative. Jing forgot his camera (first time!) so used my phone to take the pictures (not as clear as the camera but not too bad).

Finally, Meera is starting to understand the shape sorter. I bought it like when she was 6 months old and shown her what to do with it (although not as regularly as I should have). Last week she finally managed to put in the circle through the hole. It was just one piece but at least it's a step in the right direction! I am so proud. *beaming*

She's also started climbing stuff. Early in the month she figured how to climb up the bed in her room. So I started trying to teach her how to climb down with her legs first to prevent any injuries. She caught on pretty fast. Now she can climb up the sofa and her IKEA chair as well. Luckily she's quite cautious. I noticed that when she climbs up her chair (which is rather high) she has trouble getting down. She can't quite reach the floor and can't really maneuver her legs down properly so she will usually cry for help. Hopefully she doesn't decide to just fall off the chair one of these days.

Her teeth have also started coming out all at once. Up to her 1st birthday she only had 1 front tooth. But right now I can see 4 more on its way out. (Bottom front tooth, and 3 at the top!) I guess they're making up for the lost time.

Her schedule has changed a bit too. I was doing 4 milk feedings till around 1 year but I noticed that she was always refusing a feed every day. So then I dropped to 3 feedings a day and her typical daily schedule became:

9.00 a.m. : wake up, milk (7 oz.)
9.30 a.m . : breakfast (cereal with fruit) I also give her finger foods like banana or crackers.
It's usually quite messy so I bathe her after this.
10.30 a.m.: nap (1.5-2 hours)
1.00 p.m . : lunch
3.00 p.m. : milk (7 oz.), then nap (1.5-2 hrs)
6.30 p.m. : dinner
9.30 p.m. : milk (7 oz.) then bed

But recently though I notice that quite often her afternoon nap is quite disrupted. Sometimes she just spends the whole time babbling in her crib and sometimes she'll start crying so I go and get her. So for the past 2 weeks she usually takes only 1 nap a day. I tried putting her down for 2 but she refuses. Towards the end of this month she became quite clingy and refused naps unless I rocked her! Needless to say the past week has been quite exhausting. Looks like I'll be changing her schedule again...

ByeByeBinky

The title of this post is actually in tribute to a website I found with detailed instructions on how to 'help' baby give up the 'binky'.

When Meera first entered our lives I did not plan to give her a pacifier. I was not exactly against the idea but neither did I consider it something I would offer to her. But after a few weeks I began to realise than Meera was one of those babies than needed to suck (ALOT!). And since I was breastfeeding I essentially was being used as a pacifier! Initially it wasn't too bad but after sitting thru many nursing session that lasted 45 minutes I decided enough was enough! And so we introduced the pacifier. Over time I made sure that she only had it for sleeping times. A part of me worried about the day I would have to stop using the pacifier but at the time it was a god send!

After she turned 1, I figured it was time to let the pacifier go. However I knew it was going to be tough. I started search for suggestions on how to go about it (the internet was filled with ideas). There were basically 3 ways:

1. Cold turkey
2. Cutting the pacifier
3. Cooking up a story for your child (pacifier fairy, giving it to another baby, exchanging it for a toy...the options were endless!)

Option 3 was not really feasible. Meera is only 1 so I highly doubt a 'story' would be understood let alone work. This left me with option 1 and 2. As I was doing my 'research' I found a site detailing the exact steps to take for option 2. As I read it I admit I was a bit skeptical since they made it sound so easy. But I figured I had nothing to loose. If it didn't work I was going to have to take the cold turkey approach so it wouldn't matter if the pacis got mutilated in the process.

I decided to start this 'project' last Friday. So on Thursday night I took 2 pacis (Meera has 6 of 'em) and made a few holes in them. The next morning I put them in her crib for her nap. She took it and didn't seem to notice. Hmmm... I wondered if maybe it felt the same to her?

According to the site you are suppose to let the baby use these pacis for 2 days and on the 3rd day you are suppose to snip of a bit of the end of the paci. Well after Meera adjusted so well to the paci without holes, I decided to snip of the end the following day. So on Saturday I started the day with 2 other pacis with the ends cut off. I gave it to her after her bath just to see what she would do with it. She definitely noticed the difference. It kept falling out of her mouth...guess it was harder to suck? She'd pick it up and put it into her mouth but after a while she didn't bother anymore.

So when it was time for her nap I just put her to bed as usual. After a few minutes she started to cry. I guess this time the paci was too different. So I went in to her room, picked her up and sang a bit. Then put her down and left. She grumbled a bit but within minutes it was quiet. And she slept! Hurrah!

We went out in the afternoon so she missed her 2nd nap. I didn't bring any pacis along with us (she sometimes uses it for the car ride). We got home pretty late and Jing put her to bed. Had to rock her for a while but she managed to fall asleep by herself. I left the 'broken' paci in her crib but she made no move to get it. I expected her to wake up in the middle of the night searching for her paci but surprisingly she slept thru the whole night.

The next day was Sunday. She made it without the paci. I guess she has been weaned...

I must say it went a lot smoother than I expected. I'm not sure if the site helped? Maybe the holes made enough of a difference to her. Or maybe she was just ready to give it up...

Whatever it is, I will definitely be recommending it people. After all...it can't hurt.

Celebrating Meera's Birthday - Part 2 (Trip to Genting)

This was a rather last minute vacation. My brother got some free tickets for the Genting theme park so we decided to go up to Genting. This was the first time bringing Meera up there and I was a bit nervous about the weather. As I was packing her stuff I realised that she didn't really have a lot of warm clothing. Luckily I managed to find a few long sleeve tops for her. It's a good thing we were only going for a night. Any more than that and I would not have had enough clothes for her.

Initially thought of staying at First World Hotel, but everyone seemed to think that the room would be too small to fit Meera's play pen; so we decided to get an apartment instead. We booked at Ria Apartment. We heard a lot of stories about this place...it being haunted. But then every hotel in Genting seems to have similar stories and we had stayed there before without any 'incident' (of course this was like 10-15 years ago!). When we arrived I was quite disappointed. I think from the last time we went there they have not done anything to maintain the place! It was really run down. And not exactly clean. Luckily we were only there for one night and we weren't planning to spend all that much time in the room anyway.

Since we had free theme park tickets we decided to make full use of it. As soon as we set up our stuff we made our way to the outdoor theme park. We thought we would take a nice stroll to the park but we failed to realise that it was an uphill stroll! Also it wasn't exactly stroller friendly. There were lots of places with stairs so we had no choice but to walk along the road which was kinda dangerous since the cars and buses were coming and going! It took us quite a while to reach the theme park and by the time we got there we decided the next time we would drive!

Luckily the weather was not that cold. Jing and I didn't even need a sweater. Meera was only able to go on a few rides but it was enough for her I think. First we went on the carousel...


after that the flying elephant.



We walked around quite a bit just looking at stuff. Then we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. By which time it was already quite late so we went to the indoor park. We only had time to sit on the gondola ride.



Since our car was back at the apartment Jing went and got it and came back to fetch both of us (which was a lot faster since he could walk faster without the stroller).

Meera had no problems sleeping in the apartment. Thankfully! Can't say the same for me though. The bed was not very comfortable and our unit faced the main road so we could hear all the cars passing by throughout the night. Genting never sleeps!

The next day we got up early (no such thing as sleeping in with Meera around). Went downstairs to have breakfast (there was a mini-market/coffee shop on the 7th floor). Came back up, packed up all our stuff and this time we drove up to the theme park. This time we sat on the tea cup ride...



and the flying elephant (again). After that we went to the indoor park and sat on another carousel (which was much better cos it had music) and also a Ferris wheel.

Then we went for lunch (overpriced Bak Kut Teh which was quite good). By then it was already quite late so we decided to come back home.

Overall it was quite an enjoyable trip. Exhausting but worth it!

Celebrating Meera's Birthday

Before Meera was born, Jing and I had attended a few birthday parties for babies and our joint consensus was we would never spend so much on a party when our child had no idea what the heck was going on! So fast forward to Meera's big day and we still felt the same way. But I did want to do 'something' for her birthday.

Since her birthday fell on a Friday, it was easy to keep our guest list small. We figured just a small celebration with a cake at home would be good enough. Something to remember the day and not too overwhelming for Meera.



I had my heart set on getting a birthday cake in the shape of '1'. Luckily there was a Baker's Cottage near our home that was able to make this for us. Unfortunately I was not aware that this cake was 2 kg! And there was going to be less than 10 people to eat it. Well, we still went ahead and ordered it. I figured everyone could take some home with them. I was a bit worried about how the cake would turn out but when we went to collect it I was quite pleased. It was huge though!


We asked everyone to come by in the afternoon so we could cut the cake after Meera's afternoon nap.

I think Meera had a really good time. There was just 7 of us (including Meera) so not too overwhelming for her. We sang did the whole cake cutting thing; although Meera was too young to blow her candles. She had her first taste of cake. We also went out for dinner. Then we came home and opened her presents.

Turning 1!

Well.. the day has finally arrived. Meera is one year old! I can hardly believe how my little baby has changed in just one year. Now she's walking and talking (her own language,anyway). SO much has changed!

Since she started taking her first tentative steps, Meera's progress has come in leaps (pun intended) and bounds. She walks quite fast now and hardly ever topples over. Recently I notice she hardly crawls anymore and I realise it's cos she can stand up on her own. Previously she always had to crawl towards the wall/ furniture to pull herself up to stand and walk. But now that she can stand by herself its walking all the way. And she's fast too! Luckily I recently put an anklet for her so it helps me keep track of her movements when my back is turned....cos one minute she's sitting and the next her head is in the cupboards! Speaking of cupboards, I have consistently allowed her to open cupboards but not take anything out. Now I'm not sure if Meera has incredible restraint or she just doesn't know any better but till today she hardly ever tries to remove anything from my cupboards. Of course there are days when she disobeys but a firm 'No!' from me will usually stop her in her tracks. As I type this I'm crossing my fingers that I don't have to retract this now that it's out in the open.

I have come realise that I never put up stuff about how good/ easy Meera is simply because I'm terrified that the minute I mention how good Meera is its all gonna come crashing down on me! Like the gods are gonna realise they aren't being fair and give me my dose of 'difficult baby'. But she's turning 1 now and nothing has changed so I guess she was one of those 'easy' babies that parents pray for. Hopefully I can say the same for the coming toddler years!

As for other developments...she can finally wave bye-bye. We still need to work on her timing though....she only waves AFTER the person is no longer in sight. I've continued signing with her but so far I can't really make out if she's signing back. She does a lot of hand gestures but like her speech, it's nothing I can decipher. I am waiting impatiently for her to call me but still no sign of that! Her favorite 'word' is "deh" while pointing at something. So I'm constantly labeling everything. Hopefully something is registering in that head of hers!

She's also started to indicate what she wants by pointing. Like when I'm feeding her she will point to her cup whenever she wants water. Or when she spots something that catches her interest and it's beyond her reach; she will point.

We haven't taken her for her 1 year well visit so not sure about her growth. But I can see her losing a lot of her baby fat. I think she still weighs the same but she's grown taller so the weight has kind of distributed itself a bit.

No 'More'...

When I first came up with the name for my blog, I wanted it to reflect a new passage in my life. Motherhood. And at the time I was silly enough to think that there would be more to life that that. Flash to the present and I have come to realise that there is no more to my life (and this blog) than being a mother. Sad, or so i thought. The truth is, I have relished this past year. Although there are days when I find myself simply staring at the clock willing the hands to move faster, most days I truly enjoy being with Meera. I remind myself that time will go by in a flash and I must live in the moment.

A few days ago my boss got in touch with me to ask if I was ready to come back to work. It got me thinking....am I ready? When I told Jing about the call he asked me how I felt about it. I said, ''I'm ready but Meera isn't''. Truth is I'm the one that's not ready. As for Meera, I think she would survive.

Everyday, I see her growing and changing in so many different ways. From the little bundle that couldn't even focus on me to the toddling child that will look at me with a beaming smile as if to share a private joke with me. In those moments I realise that I don't need anything more.

Ask me again in a few months and maybe I'll have a different answer. I hear the toddler years are hell (on the parents!)...

Updates...

Instead of my monthly update of Meera, I figured I'd squeeze in a mid-month progress report since there's lots to report. *beaming*

A few days ago Meera finally figured out how to clap her hands. It was quite amusing to watch her discover this feat. At first she would tap one finger to her other hand. Then slowly she figured out how to touch both palms together. Could see she was really pleased with herself. Now she can clap on command and every once in a while when I praise her with 'good girl' or clever girl she'll give herself a standing ovation!

She also understands 'arms up' and hubby taught her how to shake hands. Been working on kisses but she doesn't quite get it yet.

Oh....I've also been meaning to mention that I'd been trying out sign language with her and recently she signs milk whenever she sees the bottle. But she also seems to make the sign randomly at other times so I'm not sure if she really gets it or not. Also her 'bye-bye' looks a lot like the milk sign too! Hmmm...

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

or Happy Chinese New Year! This was Meera's first one so it will be a pretty memorable one for me. Although she is still too young to fully realise what's going on I did want us to start a few traditions that we would be carrying out for the following years. This year Chinese New Year fell on Valentine's Day...so we had a different kind of Valentine's this year but special none the less.
Hubby's whole family was back for this festival so it was quite a fun filled time for us. We spent alot of time at Meera's grandparents place. Fortunately she adapted quite well to the change in her daily routine. From the reunion dinner, which went way past her bedtime....




To our one night stay at Shangri-La (courtesy of hubby's brother). I was quite worried that Meera would have trouble sleeping in the hotel room but she did just fine. She actually fell asleep with the TV on!

Ending with our annual open house at the in-laws place which went on till pretty late. We brought along her play pen so she got to sleep a bit. But I guess the whole week of unpredictability was a lot to take in cos she was quite fussy...





We also made a trip up to Penang (as mentioned in my previous post). But by this time I guess we were really pushing it cos Meera fell sick the day we arrived. I guess 15 days of festivities is too much for a baby not quite 1.

11 months old

As Meera reaches this age all that comes to mind is that pretty soon she's gonna turn 1! Can't believe how fast time flies. I seem to say this all the time nowadays!

This latest month came with a lot of new developments. Meera started walking. She also cut her first tooth. Although it hasn't really come out all the way, I can definitely see a bit of the front left tooth making its appearance. Don't know when the whole tooth will come out though...

She's been sick the past few days; and with that has had to take her first course of antibiotics. Poor thing had a really high fever followed by a terrible cough. Started in Penang so our trip this time was not as great as our previous one. We even had to visit the pediatrician while we were there. So we also got an official weight measurement: she now weighs 9.5 kg.

Recently she has started to sleep on her own. By that I mean I no longer need to rock her to sleep. I have actually been trying to do this for a while now. I would sometimes just put her in her crib to see if she could sleep but till recently she would always cry and so I would rock her to sleep. I didn't really mind rocking her since it she'd usually sleep off within 5-10 minutes. But at the same time I did not want to have to rock her as she got older (and heavier). Well, on the 9th I was feeling a bit tired and she was a bit fussy so when it came to nap time for some reason it seemed like I was rocking a lot longer than usual. So after a while I just left her in her crib and stepped out to get a breather. Miraculously, she slept! The following nap, I simply kissed her cheek, said goodnight and left. And she slept! I can hardly believe it but that's how it's been ever since. So no more rocking. Sometimes I miss holding her when she's asleep but then I look ahead to the time when she weighs a lot more and figure out I'm lucky she doesn't need me to rock her anymore. So it's a mixed blessing I guess...

Walking? Definitely!

Well just as I put up my previous post, Meera started walking (by my standards!). Last night to be precise. We were sitting in our family room waiting for her bedtime and one minute she was holding on to daddy's knee and the next she was walking towards the couch. Definitely more than 3 steps there. I was kinda stunned at first not really believing my eyes. I looked to hubby and he confirmed what I saw. After that we spent like an hour trying to capture it on video and camera. Poor Meera didn't get to bed until 10 cos her parents were too busy trying to record the moment! Luckily she was quite obliging and we got tons of pictures!

Walking Already?

Apparently by some people's standard...three independant steps from a baby IS walking. Huh!? Yup. So looks like Meera started walking when she was 10 months old but 'First Time Mommy' here had higher 'expectations'. Somehow I had imagined it would be alot more than just a few steps from the couch to my arms. I wasn't expecting a lot but definitely more than 3 steps!

So do I really consider Meera's tentative steps as walking? Well if only for the bragging rights that go along with it...then yes! But in all honesty to me 'walking' means a lot more than that (but I'll just keep that to myself).

10 Months Old

As Meera reaches her 10th month I can't help but wonder where has the time gone? Along with that is the realisation that in 2 months my baby is gonna turn 1!

A part of me can't wait for the new developments that come along with toddlerhood but a larger part is extremely hesitant. Am I ready for the next step? Will I ever be ready???

Up until now Meera has yet to take her first step (independently that is). However, she is quite adept at walking with our support. But today (the 26th) she took her first few steps towards me. From the sofa to my arms a grand total of 3 steps! Mommy is so proud :)

Have been trying to get her to do it again since then but so far nothing. A preview of things to come I guess.....

As far as other things, nothing much has changed. I can tell that she is slowly beginning to understand us. The word 'no' definitely gets a reaction. Every time I say it (along with my 'mommy' glare) she will stop whatever she's doing and more than likely start to cry. I try to say it as little as often but for some reason she loves opening the lid of the trash can which is a definite NO! For now it seems to be working quite well (although most times I would need to distract her with something else). I dread the day when the word 'no' is ignored. What then? Time for me to look into disciplining techniques.


I also wanted to post a typical day for Meera:

8:30 am - Wake up
9:00 am - Milk (210 ml)
10:00 am - Breakfast (oats/muesli with fruit)
10:30 am - Nap (usually for about 1.5- 2 hours)
1:00 pm - Milk (180 ml)
2:00 pm - Lunch (porridge)
3:30 pm - Nap (about 1 hour)
5:00 pm - Milk (180 ml)
6:00 pm - Dinner (porridge)
9:00 pm - Milk (210 ml) then bed

She used to take 3 naps a day up till around 9 months but recently her schedule is pretty much as above. I should add that this is a rough schedule. There are days when NOTHING is as above.

Bedtime is usually anywhere from 9.00 pm to whenever we get home (which can be quite late during weekends). Unfortunately (for me) she will still wake up the next day around the same time.

Solids are going well..which at this point is usually porridge. I have been putting off the finger foods for quite a while now (I am not eager for the mess that comes along with it). But I think I have to start soon... (since I don't intend to feed her porridge forever!)

9 Months and counting

For the past few weeks I can see that Meera is developing quite quickly. Lately I think she's beginning to understand the word 'no'. Whenever I say it she will pause/ hesitate before continuing what she was doing...I didn't say she was complying ;)

I also notice that whenever she's exploring stuff she will occasionally glance at my direction as if to check if what she's doing is okay. Like she's testing the waters or something.

Another development (which I wish would have been a little later) is she's trying to open doors. She's already figured out how to swing a door open and shut but most door knobs are too high for her to reach. So no problem there. But our store room door has a knob just above her head so it's a temptation just calling to her. I've caught her trying to turn the knob every time she passes it but so far she has yet to actually open the door. But its just a matter of time... Looks like another round of child proofing coming up.

First Family Vacation

Our annual trip to Penang was our first vacation since Meera was born. Being the worrywart that I am, I was quite prepared to cancel our trip this year. But hubby convinced me that everything would be fine and worst case scenario; we drive back home if it was really that bad. I don't know what I was so worried about (okay, the truth is I was convinced she would be unable to sleep in an unfamiliar place. Thus resulting in sleepless nights and a cranky baby)

Miraculously she slept fine! We brought along our Pack N Play and she slept in it for the 5 nights that we were there. No problem! I was quite amazed. For some reason I thought being away from her normal surroundings would upset her. So we left early to reach Penang in the afternoon to give her some time to adjust to her new surroundings. But by the time we reached I guess she was quite exhausted so she took a nap almost as soon as we put up the playpen. Guess she felt right at home at my uncle's place.

We spent 5 nights in Penang and she was a regular champ! She really handled the change well. There were a few late nights, missed naps, lot of missed solid feedings...but she just rolled with it. My Super Baby!

It was a really nice vacation. A lot of first for Meera: first time in a swimming pool...




first time at the playground...



I think she had a really good time.

And so did we!