Terrible 2 has arrived...

Karen might only be 17 month old but we are feeling the full effect of her Terrible 2. Gifted with a set of powerful lungs, the ability to scream in the highest pitch imaginable, the tantrums she can dish out are unbelievable. The first time she had a tantrum was approximately 2 month ago. She threw a fit because she didn’t want to go upstairs and kneel face down over on one of the floor mat, with her bums up high to cry. That first tantrum was seriously funny to see. She wasn’t trying very hard and would look up now and then to see if I’m paying attention. I continued to do my chores and ignored her. When she started to try harder, I decided to just leave her in the hall crying on the floor mat and go upstairs with my clean laundry.

Karen looked up only to find that no one was in the room with her, even the dogs had left her and followed me upstairs. She stopped crying to look around the house for us; I was observing from the stairs so I called out to her and told her we are all upstairs in the bedroom, she can join us when she’s ready. She crawled up the stairs and was caught by surprise to see me at the landing waiting for her, immediately she bended forward and buried her face on the stairs to continue her tantrum. That, was a priceless moment. I had to stop myself from laughing out loud. I picked her up because the stairs is a dangerous place for tantrum throwing but once she was safe in the bedroom, I continued to ignore her until she gave up. That first tantrum didn’t last long but I couldn’t say the same for the tantrums she can throw now.

Karen still doesn’t or couldn’t express herself vocally but she could understand us perfectly. While I know that speech is something that every kid develops in their own time, being unable to express her needs or wants makes it more likely for her to be caught in frustration. We had a whole series of outburst during this Christmas season and it was made worst by her teething (I spotted 4 new teeth!!), persistent fever and allergy (cause by a new medication for the fever), all happening at the same time. The poor kiddo was spotted in red, with a swollen face from the allergy and swollen gums. Luckily she is probably too young to remember her 2nd Christmas and this will just be a small phase in her life to come.

Cross Post from Multiply "Karen's baby step"
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Forgotten my password to Multiply - Karen's blog

You know you haven't blog enough when you've forgotten your own password.... this is bad.

Since we started daycare for Karen officially (as in we actually started payment ), our lives have been one busy week after another. I guess when one is trying to adapt to a new schedule, and when a good friend is coming to visit soon, making a new change work (and cleaning and tidying the house for our visitors) becomes a challenge. We've learnt to cook with Karen running afoot, we've learn to feed her anything so that she can have her breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and a snack before dinner (if dinner is late), then dinner and milk for just-before-bed. Yes, she's an eating machine, will and can consume anything....

We've learnt that since chores are endless, we'll need to take time to slow down once in a while and simply enjoy what we have. With the fine summer weather and long daylight, we'll take a stroll around the neighbourhood after dinner to simply wind down. All our dependants (2 dogs n a toddler in a stroller) enjoy the slow walk. Every now and then we'll let Karen walk on her own with Kiki's old puppy leash so that she can walk her imaginary dog. Karen's usually pretty exhausted after day care and is happy to sit in the stroller during the walk and goes to bed around 8pm. She is enjoying her days there and I will blog soon about that (I hope) because I want to be able to remember all those silly stuffs she did in the day care centre.

Cross Post from Multiply "Karen's baby step"
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3rd day of Day Care

Picture taken at the Auckland airport watching her grandparent left for Singapore

I found Karen playing outside with the other kids, for the fun of it, I didn’t “announced” my presence, I just sat by the bench in their play area and watch her for a minute. The silly child ran past me twice without realizing I was there! Haa.. Even the staffs found it funny. Yup they say, your kid is pretty absorbed when she’s playing.

By the 3^rd time running past me, she looked at me for a moment then ran to me for a hug. Then she held my hand n drag me to the door! She was impatient to go home! This kid certainly knows what she wants.

Today’s report had an additional attachment, a simple report saying that Karen had fell and hit her head in the centre, and they didn’t call me because other than a bump, she seems to be alright. However I should observe her closely and bring her to the doctor if she isn’t well tonight. More details were hand written by the staffs that had witnessed it and they told me how it happened. I wasn’t upset or surprised; As long as she’s fine, a few bumps or bruises are to be expected. In the report, one of the items was “Action taken by the stuffs:”, and one of them wrote, “Lots of cuddle”. That’s so cute.

Karen had a really good 3^rd day. She wasn’t totally without tears but there were short and few. They noticed it usually happens when she’s indoor and is bored with all the toys. If she’s outside, she’s ok. She loves the songs and dance, the water play and is good during meal times (that’s no news to us but the staffs seems to be fascinated by that particular behavior, I wonder if all the other kids gave them grief during meal time) She still doesn’t like to speak much and is very independent. But she conform to the routine well as witnessed today when she woke up early from her nap; she found the rest of the kids were still asleep, so she lay back down n wait for them to wake up.

Seeing Karen coming home with that bump on the head, a small bruised on the thumb, in a pair of soaked shoes, wearing sand filled clothing, and carrying a stubborn ink mark on her face that won’t come off. She looks like she had thoroughly experienced all that life can offer, in one single day, and came out just as strong and happy. I’m so proud of my little bubba.

Cross Post from Multiply "Karen's baby step"
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Our kid has Singaporean blood

Karen might be “manufactured and produced” in New Zealand but we’ve found out she has Singaporean blood.

Report from the 2^nd day of Day care

“Karen is always the first to get ready for meal time” – Kiasu, scare that the food will be all gone

“Karen is very loud when displeased” – Singaporean are usually very loud with our complaints. Lol…

“Karen had a 2^nd helping during lunch” – I can bring this kid to buffets in Singapore and she will make it worth the price.

“Karen keeps saying ‘Ai-Ya’!” – haa… Singapore slang! She must have learnt that from her grandparent and us. The reason why it was brought to our attention was because one of the staffs was a Singaporean 19 yrs ago. She recognized the word and was so amused by it.

According to the staffs, she showed her displeasure couple of times during the day but was otherwise pretty alright. She won’t let them remove her coat or wipe her running nose and so they left her alone else she “complains loudly” again. ;P

 

Enjoying her meal of pasta and broccoli

 

Cross Post from Multiply "Karen's baby step"
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More kiwi Slang

Dear SG,

Here's more slang I've learnt in the land of the long white clouds. Slangs that a mother should know...

Buggy/Pram - baby stroller
Bubba - baby
Creche - daycare center (took me a year to realise it means DayCare!)
Dummy - pacifier
Kindy - kindergarten
Lolly - sweet, candy
Nappy - diaper
Nana - grandmother
Ta - Thank you
Muftie - casual dressing

Isn't it interesting?

with love from NZ,
J

Karen cake eating video

Dear SG,

I've never seen someone enjoy a cake as much as she did. Had to post this. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x10n2b_6foQ

with love from NZ,
J

Karen's first day at Day Care

With my parent back home in Singapore, Karen had to go to a full time Day care center. We found one that gave us a really good vibe less than 10 mins drive away. We've been bringing her there every day for the past 2 weeks to get used to the place and people.

Here's the report from the teaching staffs today - her FIRST full day (and all by herself) at the center.

"Karen have a very loud voice....."

lol... ok, if you've guessed it, she screamed and cried the house down an hour after I've left. For the past 2 weeks, one of us would always accompanied her and it's only for an hour or two, not throughout the day. According to a staff, she sound more angry than frighten. That sounds a lot like little Karen whenever she doesn't get her way or she couldn't make us understand what she wants.

"Karen loves her food..."

That's no news to us. Karen has always been easy to feed. She's even good with spicy curry. Staffs say she loves meal time, she will happily sit and finish all the stuffs they put on her plate. She gets breakfast (i'll prepare that), morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea. So she's really good during meal time.

"Karen loves the sand pit...."

Oh, I could tell when I took off her jacket to bathe her. Tons of sand and BISCUITS fell from her jacket sleeves. I think she was saving them for later....

When I arrived at the center to pick her up at 5pm, she was sitting at the kitchen table (cute kiddie size tables and chair) by herself sucking on her pacifier, sulking! Ha.... I wasn't surprise nor upset because I kinda expect her to be exhausted by the new routine. I did let the staffs know that if she proves to be too much, give her the pacifier. It's not the most ideal but it does calm her down especially if she's sleepy. She is used to 2 naps instead of 1 and she isn't used to waking up that early in the morning.

All in all, we think it's been a successful day for everyone. ;D

Picture shows Karen finishing a piece of blackforest birthday cake all by herself.

Cross Post from Multiply "Karen's baby step"
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High Fever in the night

Just when i thought i'm going to have a full night rest... :p

Karen had a bit of fever the day before and it became a really high fever at midnight on Wednesday. She was so hot to touch that when I measured her temperature it was 40 degree! What a shock! All I could think of is cooling her down. I opened the windows to get some cold air in, switched on the laptop and get her favorite Youtube playlist running to keep her entertained while I grab the gears. She hated the wet cloth on her face and head but was happy to undress and put on cooler wear, she was also willing to have a cool drink from her drinking bottle. And each time I coaxed, she would drink a little more. She was so lethargic that all she would do is to lie down and watched the programs. I gave her another dose medication and bless our good fortune, she was happy to take that too!

Andrew's working night shift so I tried calling him but he couldn't pick up his phone. I left him a sms hoping he would be able to come home soon. If I couldn't bring her temperature down, we might have to bring her to the doctor. Fortunately, her fever did came down to 38 and hover around that range. As soon as her fever was better and she felt better, I tried to get her to go back to bed. She was asleep in an instant. Poor kid. Daddy came home right after she had fallen asleep. He had to measure her temperature again and wake her up to be sure she's alright. lol... Karen was protesting because she wanna go back to bed.

We brought her to the doctor the next day because her fever keeps going right back up. She was given some antibiotics and that did the job. Although she won't eat anything for the day nor would she drink her milk, she would drink water from her little straw cup. That evening we gave her a bit of ice cream as a treat since she still hasn't eaten anything or wanted any food. lol... she must be feeling better by then because she was so pleased with the ice cream.

I'm just thankful that she was really cooperative during the "height" of the fever and that the dogs were very well behaved too. Both dogs kept to their bed corners and didn't bother me when i was running around the house looking for stuffs. They didn't even whine to go to the bathroom but stayed quiet throughout so that Karen can sleep. Sigh, I hope we won't have to go through that again. (wishful thinking! Yeah right!... )

Cross Post from Multiply "Karen's baby step"
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It's raining again

Dear SG,

No I haven't forgotten you but wow, time does flies! I ought to keep up, keep healthy and keep going. Life is still good because we are making it so (as always and it helps to keep looking for the bright side of life). ;)

It's raining here again because winter is upon us. We won't see snow in Auckland but other parts of NZ are snowing. What's different? SG should be experiencing the height of summer soon while we are getting into winter. And when it rains in SG, out comes all the umbrella that has been sitting in the carrying bags, the drawers or in the car waiting to be put to use. In NZ, we've stopped carrying umbrella because it's not a very effective way to stay dry. The rain could be so strong that it blew the umbrella away or bend it out of shape. Or it could be so fine that the wind would carry it under the umbrella and onto your hair/face/body. *roll eyes* A rain coat or a jacket with a hoodie will work better. So, if you ever decided to come over for a holiday, leave the umbrella home and experience the joy of walking in the rain with us.

with love from NZ,
J

Karen's first haircut.... by me!

Took a couple of minutes to blog about Karen. She’s certainly growing up fast. It makes us realize how quickly time flies when you are occupied and kept busy caring for a little being. She’s crawling now and is constantly attempting to stand without help. I had to change her to a pull-up nappy because she won’t stay still long enough for us to change her. I asked Tony (age 64) at work, how did they do it back then? He said, once they are pricked by the nappy pin ONCE, they learnt to stay really still when we changed them. LOL… I think children now are so fortunate and pampered.

Last few days, I’ve been attempting to trim her hair. I allow it to grow because she looks so much like a little boy baby that I thought a bit of hair will make some difference. However, it’s getting long and messy (and she still looks like a boy). First try on her fringe and the straight line across makes her look really silly. So I did another trim last night. On the bright side, this 2^nd trim is a little better than the last, on the negative side, I’ll have to vacuum my room this weekend because I trim her hair while she’s playing on our bed. Sigh…

Before trimming her hair

After the first attempt....

The final result after having lots of hair on my bed.

Cross Post from Multiply "Karen's baby step"
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Karen on the trip back to Singapore

The 10 hours flight wasn’t as bad as we imagine it to be. The seats were separated into columns of 3. On the flight to Singapore, I was assigned a seat alone where the bassinet was, while Andrew and my parents took the 3 seats behind me. Another kiwi couple was seated next to us with their one year old toddler girl.

At 5 month plus, Karen wasn’t crawling yet and all she wanted was to be carried. I kept her close, pat her to sleep in my arms and the bassinet was mainly use to hold all her stuffs. I doubt she spent more than 2 hours in that bassinet. However, I won’t be able to do without it, it was really handy having her bibs, toys, and bottles within arm reach inside the bassinet.

It was also fortunate that Karen was distracted by the toddler next to us. She would spend her time in the plane just observing what the one year old was up to. The tod’s parent however wasn’t having an easy time. There was one time when their kid burst into tears refusing to nap even though she was exhausted. Her dad cuddled her in his arm in the seat next to me and Karen. While the toddler was waving her arms around screaming, Karen reaches out and touched her hand. The tod immediately stopped crying and tries to touch Karen’s hand. They keep fingering each other which were really sweet to see. All the fingering and hand touching calms the tod down and she eventually fell asleep. By then Karen starts fussing a little and I immediately walk her around the cabin which promptly sets her sleeping too.

About the toddler , her dad and mom are both New Zealander and she’s born oversea. They brought her back to NZ for a visit and were on the way back to England. On the other hand, Karen’s born in NZ and was on the way to visit Singapore. Talk about irony.

Cross Post from Multiply "Karen's baby step"
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Another Video update on Karen

Dear SG,

It's a new beginning and it's going to be a wonderful year ahead. We know it because we are making it so. Here's to share the latest video of Karen to our friends and families. :)

Baby speaking


Trying to speak and communicate. It's late at night and way past her bedtime but we just got back from the mall and she won't sleep. But she wanna talk.


First food


Karen taking her first food. Rice cereals.


Sit ups


Karen doing her sit ups.


Silly Antics


Karen loves to put something on her face then she would try to kick it off. The problem is, she looks like she is suffocating whenever she did that. Usually we'll remove the article on her face and she will smile when we did that. And then she will do it again....


Karen and her stuff toy cow


Karen playing with her stuff toy cow. She's teething now and since the only thing she could reach of the cow is its hoof, she tries to put that into her mouth. We thought it's time to teach her to be gentle with animals... :p

with love from NZ,
J