baby A -17 months old

Baby A had again lots of changes this month. He's able to do and say more than ever.

Favorite toy/play:  Cutting play food that are attached together with Velcro. He has not mastered it yet so he practice it a lot.  To my delight, he's more into dolls now and like to push the doll I made for him  in a baby stroller. He's able to balance the flimsy plastic stroller now but I still bought him a wooden one for Christmas. Since J/W plays the piano, baby A always wants to join in and can actually make some nice tunes on it. He also love to look and have us read books to him. He'll say, "book" when he wants you to read. Some of his favorite books are Baby Einstein Alpha book set, Nemo music book, Goodnight Moon, and Time for Bed.

Words: This months, he's able to imitate more words than ever and can say Nick, Izzy, Nai-nai, Yeh-yeh, most of the alphabet, quite a few of the numbers, like one, two. Most often sound A makes is, "mmnnnnnnnnnn", meaning no. He says that almost every time we tell him we are putting him to nap and also when other people tries to ask for a hug or he doesn't like something. He can also say, "Yes" pretty clearly. I bought him a pair of new sneakers, and asked him if he like it, and he said, "Yes". :) He is able to understand of course, a lot more than he can say. Milk, he still says, ma and still signs if he wants to eat.  He say mommy, daddy very clearly. He also says, "Jiejie (sister), and Bro".  We taught him "please" so now he says more please. :)

Sleep: He's getting much better and usually goes to bed anywhere between 8:00-9:00 and wakes up at 7am. We moved his bed time later since it helps him wake up later. Baby A still takes a morning nap on most days for 1 1/2 hours (still cries about it) and but most of the time skips the 2nd nap. If he does take one, it is usually at 5pm. He will usually sleep for another 1 1/2 hours and then goes to bed at his normal time. At night time, he knows and wants to sleep so usually doesn't cry.

Eating: Baby A is in general a good eater. He continue to likes fruit a lot and because he has so many teeth, can eat slices of apple. He is also starting to eat and like English raisin muffin. He's still not keen on oatmeal.  We gave him a taste of chocolate, and he love it. Now when we ask, who wants a piece of chocolate, he enthusiastically says, "Me, Me!" :) We are also adding coconut and almond milk in with his normal rice milk.


Personality: The first thing people notice about A is that he is very observant. He watches and studies what you are doing very intently. So a lot of times, people are surprised what he is able to do. A is also very happy and playful child, though other people may not quite see that at first. He's still very reserved when it comes to other people,esp. adults. If we are around, he is def. not letting other people hold him and will cry loudly.  But he will wave and say bye and delight you with his smile.  A is also very strong willed child, since day 1. He will drag us by hand or sometimes by the leg to tell you to play with him.  He gets frustrated pretty easily.  The other day he was playing with the phone but the battery was dead so he can't turn it on. Out of frustration,he threw the phone. He is also at the stage where he is testing his vocal chords and likes to scream.

Large/ fine motor skills: Baby A is running all over the place. He will also stomp and tap to music. He is very strong and loves to hang on the rings or on the bars of trampoline, usually for 15-20 secs and then do a drop on the mattress below.   Excellent fine motor skills too. He drew an heart on my bday note. Every time I use the restroom, if A is there, he flushes the toilet. If he can reach the door handler, he can open and close that door. He's also turning on/off TV. When A eats, he uses forks, spoon, chopstick for poking just like we do.  He is also able to drink from a normal cup and sip from a straw a while ago.

All in all, A is doing excellent. So far, he has not been sick at all. All he had was a little runny nose and the chiropractor we go to recommended we use Aroma Siez from Young Living to help him feel better. It worked great, very soothing smell.  I'm praying it stays that way through winter.

Next up, potty training. Baby A will put his hand on his butt to tell you he needs a diaper change so I think he's ready.  

16 months

This was a really great month for A. To start off, he is more or less sleeping through the night though he had couple relapses waking up at around 3 am for a couple of days. We have adopted to check on him at 15-30 minute intervals, giving him a bottle of milk but never picking him up.   Eventually, after an hour or so or crying, he falls back to sleep. It's hard to hear him cry for that long, I admit, but I do think there's good to it. For one thing,  I have noticed that by not picking him up and not letting him sleep with one of us, he's waking up later as in around 8 to 8:30am vs. 6 or 6:30am. I'm guessing it's probably because he's sleeping deeper when he's sleeping by himself verses when he's sleeping with one of us.  This is also starting to push his nap later, so instead of napping at 10, he's beginning to nap around 1pm.

He's also becoming more playful and is enjoying to play with toys more. His favorite toy are ones where he can close and open by himself like Bakugon and plastic eggs. He still likes his shape sorter a lot but gets frustrated when he cannot put the shape in the bucket.  Much to my chagrin, A is at the stage where he loves to dump things out and if  someone builds, he enjoys in knocking them over. Naturally, he loves to go wherever his sister/brother goes, but mostly, he gets upset is I don't stay to play with him, even if I'm just going to use the restroom and his brother/sister are in a different place doing work.  As a result, I have rearranged furniture so there is a room where the the older children do work, and A can play. 

Brother and sister have been teaching A lots of words and gestures, but esp. brother W. A loves to copy. His favorite words are "but", "woof", "this", "more"," baby", "ball" (both in ball and hug in Chinese when he wants to be held" etc. Oh, when he's mad, he does great tap dancing. :) A big challenge right now is getting him into his car seat.  Usually, we have to distract him with something or bribe him with a date/cookie. Sometimes, it's nearly impossible to get him in.

A has always been a fruit baby, so he continues to like strawberry, orange, and grapes. He also like Chinese buns, dumplings, and his favorite, eggs. What will I do without that food? Thankfully, he also enjoys steamed broccoli and cauliflower.  We have also switched him from milk to rice milk and coconut milk and he's doing well with that. He also drink a lot of water and don't mind it at all. He's also starting to drink water from a cup.

Ever since A was a baby, he hated blankets, hats, and socks. So I know he's not to like his mittens and it was indeed so. But after staying outside in the chilly weather with his hands exposed, he's coming around and will let his mitten stay on.  Hopefully, he'll keep his hat on and appreciate it's warmth. I'm also hoping he'll let his slipper stay on once it is winter so he won't walk barefoot everywhere in the house.

That's all for now.

Encouraged

Baby A is 16 months old, and he can be dropped off at gym and at our church's nursery. Now I know I will most likely not be paged or called. Yesterday, at church, he whined while being dropped off, but when we picked him up, staff told us he did really well. Not one tear was shed. He played with all the children, played with himself and played with the staff. So I'm encouraged in that area.

Now if I can figure out how he can sleep through the night, it will be great. A is still waking up at 12, 4-5, then usually 6pm. So it is still rough as he's usually wide awake and wants to eat and then ready to play. But yesterday, after feeling exhausted, I put him back to bed at 8:45 and surprisingly he only cried for a while before falling back into sleep.

Making progress: Starting Gym

I can finally go back to gym. The key is for the care takers not to hold baby A but simply to let him cry/scream for a while. Then after sometimes, he stops crying and will start playing. This is what people at our church told us last Sunday. They believe it's a control thing whereas daddy think baby A is still wary of strangers and don't feel safe if they hold him.  Either way,  I told the workers at the gym. It worked and I was able to work out for an hour. I was really worried at first but was thrilled they did not bring baby A to look for me.  Baby A is now just 16 months and he's getting better with strangers. He is most willing to say bye. His kiss is putting his cheek on yours. He usually reserve that only for mommy and daddy.  It is still extremely difficult to school the children while A is awake and that is like 95% of our day... guess I'll have to work with him on that. One step at a time.

A Breakthrough

Today (8/26) we left baby A in our church's nursery and actually did not get paged to be picked up at all. SHOCK!! He was crying when I left and I was sure I would get paged in 5 or 10 minutes, but after the songs, the greetings, and even the message started, still no pages. I was impressed.

Later we found out he cried 1/2 hour, then started to play happily. I'm impressed with the lady who works in there. I'm also glad baby A did not scream therefore I think workers in the nursery dealt with the cry better. Hopefully, this is start of baby A's independence in the Moon walker room.

Update on J/W

I know I have been MIA about J/W, but today I thought I'd post a little update on them. This summer they spent 3 nights at a Christian camp 2.5 hours away from us and they LOVED it. W has also been to circus camp and will have a comic art camp very soon. He's def. very into art and spend a lot of his free time drawing comic and making up stories. We sent J to a classical Russian ballet school this summer and while it is very nice,  it is much farther and more expensive than her current studio. So we are still praying about that.

They also both took a class called "Sheep to scarf" and got to wash, card, spin, dye and weave wool. W had a little rough time and required help. His favorite part was carding the wool while J's favorite part was spinning. They both also took a cooking class and learned from a French chef taking home with them samples of Braised beef, Risotto, homemade dressing and English Trifle. Everything was made from scratch which is nice but little too consuming esp. with a 1 year old in the house.

As we are gearing up for school, they took a DORA(reading) and DOMA(math) assessment at letsgolearn.com courtesy of OXFORD school.  A kind lady @ Oxford interpreted results for me and she put everything in a positive light. I know the kids were relieved and happy since they thought they got many wrong. he-he. The test do add/subtract questions based on how you answer them.

Regarding W, she says, "As you can see, W scored very well in every sub-area of the DORA test.  His reading comprehension score is especially impressive, scoring at an almost 9th grade level!  Way to go!! (I'm totally shocked about this.)

W's DOMA score reveals that he is also doing well understanding math.  Considering he is going into 3rd grade this year, he is at a wonderful pace with his skill level. "
Way to go!

~J's Results:

J did very well in every sub-area of the DORA test.  Her reading comprehension level is super!  I am so happy for her!  She also shows impressive abilities in oral vocabulary!

Her math test also reveals that she is doing well understanding fractions, measurement and especially number skills.  Excellent work!"

baby eats

Some food baby A actually swallows:

hard boiled eggs

mini chicken dumplings

grilled squash from our garden

cheese (seems like the boy really likes diary)

little rice

French Toast ( bread, 2 eggs, little milk, vanilla extra, butter in pan)

Honey Hoisin chicken ( 4-6 boneless chicken breast, 1/2 cup hoisin sauce, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup white wine/chicken broth, 1/4 tsp. ginger; cook on high 4-5 hours)

I have been trying to get him to eat oatmeal, but not having much success.



 I Would like to try Soulemama's recipe of "leftover oatmeal" muffins  
(1 cup cooked oatmeal, 1 egg, 1 TBSP melted butter, 1/2 cup milk, 4 TBSP honey/sugar/maple syrup, 2 TBSP baking powder, 1.5 cups flour, plus 1/2 cup 'extra somethings' - raisins, chocoloate chips, berries, etc. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.)


On the good side, he has been drinking my green smoothie with beet. Hoping try out more veggie/fruit juice.  Yesterday, he actually ate little avocado together with banana. So I think I'll get some more avocado and mash it with banana to give it another try. 

On a random side note, Daddy's favorite Blueberry buttermilk pancake - recipe found here