Discipline, discipline, discipline

Carmel is reaching the "terrible 2 stage" much earlier than we expect!

These phase is not just A phase and we understand now. Not only our little one learned his little steps and babbling words, he learns to express himself emotionally by throwing tantrums. That's the terrible part. Though we knew it's a matter of time that he learns the correct 'expression', we will have to be patient with our little tot! Simply by venting his frustration when he couldn't communicate well or couldn't get the things that he wanted, he will throw tantrum.

Last evening, he was crying non-stop for 30 minutes for the first time during our ride back home! He started throwing tantrum after we refused to give him more chocolate cake. So we all adopted the 'ignore him' tactic by not giving in to him. It was a painful yet cant be help situation which lasted 30 mins. Sigh and he only stop after we reached home and in my arms...

After all this drama, we have to 'educate' him what he did was a bad behavior etc and teaching him to apologise. It's just the beginning of our "mother/father & son discipleship"...

Spelling Bee

As a parent, we face great challenges to discipline and educate our kid. Not forgetting instilling positive attitudes and good social skills to them!

Every parent will believe that their child is a smart kid and i'm shy to say i'm one of them too :)

Carmel loves to read despite such tender age and he is learning new things at a lightning speed! Few days ago, out of curiousity, I started teaching him spellings. I will spell out the words like bus, car, cat, dog & pig and asked him what it means. He is able to tell me! Experts says children are able to absorb more things before 3 yrs old, so we will teach him whenever possible :)

More than words

Words are forming out from Carmel.

Carmel started with single vowels like car, duck, (butt)erfly, chair, cat, circle, square, dog etc At 19mos, we began to hear 2 vowels and his first word was purple! It was loud and clear. Weeks ago, we were on our way back home one weekdays. As Dennis was parking his car, Carmel called out "Park Car". I wasnt playing attention at first, then I realised what he was saying! It was so audable. He is also forming his own thoughts, he can now differentiate between Big and Small.
We tested him by asking him which is a big car and which is a small car. He always mentioned to point the correct object and say out aloud!

I'm getting more and more excited to hear him babble :)

My niece - Charis Lee Jia Xin

Carmel has a new cousin! My little niece was born on 9 Oct'08 at 1056am at 3.2kg, 50cm.

She has such a lovely refine look :) Cant wait for them to grow and play together..

SAHM for me?!

Recently the questions of being a SAHM flashed upon my brain again as I was very upset with my boss. It was a no-point of return kind of emotional distress that I'm going thru now, like divorcing!

So, until I became one, then I can really know right! Most of my frens who are SAHM told me they have no regrets and career can wait but not their childhood. This was a real push factor for me cos I enjoy spending time with my son! I just need a bold step to declare 'Resign'.

Carmel just turned 18 mos. I can see him learning to express more and his ability to understand things are getting better. He can call his grandparents, say a few words here and there and recognise numbers 0-10! This little brain is amazing and absorbing everything we teach him!
Another factor to consider, to spend more time teaching him etc

Will I give up my lifestyle? How will my hubby support me? Too many questions... I need an answer...

Lord this is my prayer!

'Mama' mia

Carmel had his pnuemmocal and chicken pox jabs last sat. Funny thing was he wasnt aware of his 1st jab as i turned on his fav 'Wheels on bus' cartoon to distract him but he's quick to know his second jab and cried alittle.

He's weighing 11.3kg now, without much weight gain but PD said is normal. He's going 18 mths next month for his routine checkup and final jab.

I'm overwhelmed that Carmel finally called me 'Mama' weeks ago! It is truly an amazing feeling, having to hear him call me. I hope to post the video here soon... stay tuned!

How many words can he says?

At 16 mos

Weight : 11.2kg
Height : 72cm
No of words he can say
1) Duck
2) Cat
3) Bus
4) Car
5) Dad
6) Eye
7) Eight
9) Butt-er-fly
10) Ba-Nana
11) Ball
12) Ah-choos

Mind your own business

For the first time, Carmel did his 'business' in the toilet just like an adult way!

My mil suggested to start letting Carmel get used to potty so we got him a potty seat, that kind where u put the potty seat on top of our regular toilet bowl. We find that Carmel usually does his poo poo in the morning so she tried letting him sit on the potty seat. After 3 or 4 times, he managed! Frankly, the sound of the 'droppings' actually thrills me!

He's 16 mos now and we will look forward to a diaper free day someday!

fAceBook

Check out my bangkok fotos at my facebook

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=24227&l=0217b&id=542424581

1st trip to Bangkok (22-25 May'08)

Bought Carmel and whole famil(ies) to Bangkok on 22 - 25 May'08. This was his first trip overseas. STay tune for more photos...

I can walk

10 May 2008, Sat (14 mos)

Finally Carmel took his first bold steps on 10 May'08 at 14 mos! We were at church nursery where he took his first 'maiden' steps. He has been cruising for months and holding on to us to walk and i knew he will walk pretty soon.

It really took us by surprise that he just stood up and walked. I guess he was excited, seeing alots of kids walking around the nursery room.

Looking forward to more fun time with him!

St*r

Create Fake Magazine Covers with your own picture at MagMyPic.com

13months

There's just too much 'developments' that Carmel has achieved over the past few months and just not sure how to pen it down (not being boostful here okie :P)

Well, I started this blog hoping to pen down every special events and milestones for him so that when we looked back, we can remember the details...

13 months milestones

1. Walk with support. Able to stand handfree for few seconds, climb stairs, shake hands, wave, blow kisses, pray for u!, clap hands
2. Can recognise & point body parts
3. Can recognise numbers 1,2,3
4. Can recognise and understand basic commands like what do you want? Where u want to go?
5. Can recognise family members & pet dogs!
6. Can recognise automobile ie bus, motorbike, van, lorry, tractor, dump truck etc
7. Can recognise colours ie red, blue, yellow, white, green, black
8. Can recognise animals ie elephant, dog, duck, sheep, cow, pig, cat, lion, frog, etc

Let's hope for the next major developments that Carmel can learn!

1-yr old birthday

We celebrated Carmel's 1-yr-old birthday on 9 Mar'08 (Sun) which is 3 days before his actual birthday ie 12 Mar'08.

We invited families and close friends over to our house, catered from Chilli padis and had a beautiful Winnie Pooh No 1 cake from Creative Bake.

Here are some photos taken! Carmel 'enjoyed' himself and refused to go to bed that nite and slept only after 11pm! What a hectic day for us! But I'm glad all things went well and hope for many more birthdays to celebrate :)

Last one standing..

Literally, this was the last packet of ebm stood inside my freezer. D day was 9 mar'08 (sun). The date stated on the packet was 21 Dec (Fri) and written 'wine' (i remembered i drank wine that night before i pumped my milk out).. Carmel will turn 1 yr old on 12 Mar. Even though there's none breastmilk for him in the day, I still breastfeed him at night and i'm taking it slowly to wean him.. to enjoy every moment I have with him :)

his first constipation! Ouch!!

painful as i wrote. last nite carmel couldnt pass motion. His stools were 'stucked' and it was so hard that he couldnt pass it out.

For the past 2 days, he din poo and it was quite normal for him not to poo for 2 days. however, we realised that he might hv sufferred from not drinking enough water. Just days ago, we started giving him powdered milk Enfac. I'm not sure if this is a result of that! But this is definitely a nightmare for us... I was changing him to pj and realised he wanted to poo. I quickly moved him from basin to the toilet bowl, but he let out a cry. To summarise, both of us argued how best we can help him relieve his pain and we couldnt have imagine we could have reacted this way..

But thanked God, he calmed down after 20 mins and managed to poo his ever HARD stools!
(ps... as parent, must always remember to stay calm no matter how painful your child is feeling so that you can think straight and do the right thing at the right time!)

恭喜发财, 新年进步

2008 was Carmel's 1st Chinese New Year. What a hectic New Year, visiting relatives and frens and not forgetting all the angpows received!

Milk runs low

Carmel is a lucky boy to have his mummy's milk for 10mos and 2 weeks now.

My freezer which used to be full with my ebm, is now half empty (or to be exact, about 40 packets left, which will probably last him for about 1 month). I told hubby that we can start to buy ice cream :P

Well, on the other hand, I feel 'sad' seeing my 'stock' runs low (worrying will my son drink formula?)My friend told me Enfac series is the best among so many brands of milk powder. I guess I cant be biased cos I cant be a milk cow forever.. The day will definitely come when he has to drink formula.

Being a SAHM (what's tat?)

I came across an article which just strikes me at the core of my heart...

Since this is a pretty long articles, I shall just post the link here

http://www.parentingjoy.com/content/view/25/44/

Hello New Year... goodBye 2007

Welcome to the new year 2008 and I realised this is my 1st blog entry for the new year!

Over the years, somehow I always felt sad when a year has ended. 2007 was a happy one for me, cos I gave birth to my baby. I'm looking forward to 2008 and years to come, eager to see my boy reach his milestone... eg walking, talking etc

He's now much mobile now, crawling everywhere, including crawling up the stairs, balcony...
(beta start to safe-proofing the hse!) plus standing up!