I was reading my old (private) blog about sonshine's routine and was surprised that his routine at about 8-10 months old is pretty much similar to babydoll's! I then decided i should record her routine too (in case i have a 3rd kid!).

Babydoll usually is up at 8-9am. Sonshine wakes up at about 9am. I would wash them up and let the girl crawl around the house while the boy plays with his toy or watch a tv program.  The boy and i have our quick breakfast. Some days i would lure the kids into the playroom and we'll do some activities or rather she will play Miss disruptive while sonshine tries to do some activities.  

About 10-11am, she would be due for her nap. Normally, if she wakes up early at 8am, she would take her nap at home, if its late 9am-ish, then she would fall asleep in the car on our way to sonshine's school. While she is asleep, i dress sonshine and i up for school. 1130am- we're off to school!

If she's asleep in the car, i would happily drive myself to nearby malls after i drop sonshine off and wait patiently in the car till she wakes up before we, ladies, go shopping! Otherwise, i would go straight home for my lunch. Either way, i would head home before i leave again to pick the boy up. After i ensure that my tummy is satisfied, i would feed the lady her solids. At this point, she isn't fantastic with her meals so i prepare her meals that is fuss free like instant cereal!

When she is not fussy and sleepy, i would take this time to read her books and do flashcards with her. It is tough doing this when sonshine is at home because he tends to want to join in and make alot of noise thus distracting the little one. Otherwise, she is very willing to sit on my lap and let me read 4-5 books to her. I can tell she enjoys our reading session! Anyway, that is why i choose to read and do flashcards with her at this time when big brother is in school.

Her next nap would be due at 1-2pm. Again, she usually takes her nap at home otherwise it would be in the car on our way to school. Her naps usually last 20-30mins.

By 3 pm, we are all home again. Sonshine takes his snacks while babydoll continues her floor expedition. At 4pm, i would pack the kids into the room. Depending whether they are tired otherwise i would play alittle while with the both of them or read. by 5pm, the kiddos are asleep and this is where I take my nap!! MY FAVOURITE TIME OF THE DAY CAN YOU TELL??!!

The kids are up from their nap by 7pm just in time to greet papa when he comes home! Dinner for all, daddy plays with the kids while i take my shower.

Babydoll is off to her lala land by 9pm-ish. The boy....well....erm very late. After he showers, i am back to work- i read books with him while he drinks his milk. This is where my day ends! Or not, i have to put the boy to sleep because my dear husband needs his 'me' time so i have to sacrifice my bedtime for my dear dear husband.

This is my life. How fun isn't it? ;P

Food

They say babies are ready to eat solids at 6 months. I waited for you to turn 7 months. I was excited, i even convinced daddy that we NEED an Avent steamer-blender to prepare your food. Of course, that was just a WANT. But, you didn't entertain any more than 1-2 baby spoons of food. So, off to the shelf the blender went and i waited.

I tried again at 8 months, but you would cry relentlessly whenever i place you in your chair. I even screamed at you once being so disappointed that you refused to eat yet again. Each time your bum touch the chair you would wail. Even if you would eat, all the puree would somehow leak out of your mouth, making feeding you really messy- which made me very annoyed. I gave up, i packed the blender to shelf again. Daddy also suggested we wait till you are ready and screw what the books say. If you are not ready to eat, you are not ready to eat.

I'm glad i heeded daddy's advice because now at 9months, it is such a pleasure feeding you. I noticed how you would look so longingly at our food and letting your saliva drool right down to your neck. Instead of a full solid meal, i decided to tease you, interest you to eating by giving you snacks here and there. I pinched bread, gave your Gerber puffs which you oh so love. The teasing worked, because you ate well when i first fed you with the jar food. I decided to test your interest first with jar food instead of wasting time in the kitchen. VIOLA! You ate and ate. So off to the kitchen i went! First, it was sweet potato and carrot. No, you didn't like that. :( Then i tried pumpkin- you loved it! Then i mixed the pumpkin with the sweet potato-carrot combo, it worked! Today, i fed you my favourite combo banana, avocado with pear-YUMS! You were lapping it up- much to mama's delight.

I am glad i waited for you to be ready. I am glad i didn't insist that you eat that would've scarred your first experience with food. I am glad we screwed the damn 'experts'. :)

The other day, we were all in the toy room patiently waiting for daddy to return home. When finally he emerged through the door, you immediately turned your head toward him upon hearing his voice. Your eyes met and you dropped all that was in your puny hands, turned your body and steadily crawled to your papa until you reached his feet. You set yourself up on sitting position, looked up to daddy, and bounce up & down as if to ask him to carry you. Which daddy wouldn't? Of course, papa immediately scooped you up in his arms- you were in absolute bliss.

Daddy put you right back on the floor, left the room to change. But you were relentless. You crawled out of the room, looked left, looked right and followed daddy's trail. You stopped only when you were right back at daddy's feet and into his loving arms once again.

Oh how You melt our hearts babydoll!

Dear babydoll

As i am typing this, you are cruising along the television console and say 'bababababba'. Oh, you are my little delight!

At 9 months, you are exploring. Crawling at every corner of the house, cruising along any and every set of furniture in the house. Eating, biting, munching & god-forbid swallowing, every paper, string, dust, toy, card- just about anything your puny hands can get hold of.

Before you were this mobile, big brother would readily say 'I love!' when we asked him if he loves you. But from the moment you crawled & destroyed his lego and train station creation, he's answer has become 'i DON'T love!'. :I well, who can blame him?

We are in the midst of the Chinese New year period and your crazy mother fed you Mandarin oranges! You LOVE the oranges and would immediately perk up on seeing anyone with oranges! I have the right to believe the first word you've respond to is 'ORANGE!'.

You seem to have a huge appetite when i feed you jar food but would never fail to gag & refuse when i feed you my homemade food?! Daddy says that shows alot about my cooking. :I

We love to hear you coo. You would let out a high pitch 'AAAAAH!' whenever you discover new corners in the house or new toys. You are still doing the 'bababababa' and 'mamamamama' and 'gagagagaga' thing. How cute.

Like your brother, you are a happy kid. You are generous with your smiles to anyone and everyone. I love how you make strangers so delighted when you flash your toothy grin at them.

Although i tell everyone you tend to be more difficult i.e cry more. BUt to be fair, you were not given the full attention i gave to big brother. You have to fight for my attention. So is it a wonder that you cry louder and longer? We didn't have the second car when big brother was at your age, so i carried him whenever we took the transport. But now that i have to ferry big brother to school, i've no choice but to leave you wailing your lungs out in the car- back and forth.

But still, you are a happy little girl by nature. Like your brother, i can generally leave you on the floor to explore on your own. You don't quite need me to accompany or entertain you. But still, i have to keep a watchful eye because you tend to put the smallest of things in your mouth - something i never had that with big brother. You scared the wits out of me when i discovered a small piece of lego in your mouth!

Baby girl, you are such a sweet delight. Such a blessing, such a joy. I am glad you've joined in this family. I wouldn't have it any other way.

8 months

Babydoll is now 8 months old. She is impossibly mobile and squirmy. She can't quite stay at one place for long. Looks like i've got one active kid in the house.

At this moment, she is crawling but unlike her brother, it isn't her forte. She'd rather be carried by me particularly. Her separation anxiety is quite severe, i can't quite leave her alone for longer than 5 minutes. But i don't mind because i know when she's my age, she would be out there in her own world.

She has also started to cruise. She loves to pull herself up to stand and cruise. She is also babbling. Oddly, she babbles 'mamammamamamamama' whenever she is in distress or 'bababbababababa' when daddy is in the driver seat and she's trying to reach out for him from the back. And whenever she sees her beloved big brother she babbles 'ge ge ge ge'. But i don't think she is speaking in particular.

She dislikes her toys but loves anything paper, string, plastic and oh legos. I've sworn to myself that i'll never get her another toy- at least not now.

She still hates the car seat and cries bloody murder whenever we're in the car. So mama has to endure her wails ringing endlessly while driving. Quite a feat, if you ask me.

I love my babydoll, she is such a cutie. I love how she responds to me with a toothy grin. She smiles easily and love that about her (but cries equally easily too!). The world is a much better place with her. OK i am bias!

oh and she absolutely hates eating. At 8 months, i have NOT started her on regular solid because she gets quite nasty and cries. She is also spitting out her food...hmm another sonshine in the making.

If you put me through a parenting examination, i'll probably fail it. Have i nursed the baby to sleep? Check. Let the kid eat in front of the tv? Check. Allow the kid to eat and play iphone? Check. Potty train the kid late? Check. Let the kid sleep late? Check. Still feeding the 4-year old his meals? Check. Oh well.

Of course, i do see the reasoning and benefits of avoiding the above. However, i've decided to chill and be cool with it. Here's how i think

I feel that these are lifelong skills that the child will eventually learn. So what if your kid was able to sleep through at 5 months? So what if your kid was potty trained at 1? My sonshine boy was late to do all that, but he eventually achieved it all. Is he worst off than your kid? Is your kid smarter than mine? Absolutely not.  

I used to feel like a failure because my son was still nursing to sleep at 2 years old, still needs us to spoon feed him at 4 years old. But then again, have you heard a normal 35 year old man still needing to be nursed to sleep by his mother? Or seen a man bringing his mother to his business luncheons so that he can be fed by her. Enough said. So i figured, he will eventually be weaned off this baby habits. True enough, he was off the boobs naturally- no training was involved, no crying, no stress. He was just simply ready. Same for his potty training. Truth is, there were no accidents during the so called training. I deliberately waited for him to be ready to be off the diapers and the wait paid off!

To me these are not like behavioral issues or related to values/morals that need to be corrected early. These are developmental issues and sometimes cannot be rushed. Just like no one would rush a 5 month old baby to walk, right? So why insist the child to sleep through the night if he's not ready? If your kiddo is ready by 5 months, by means go ahead and train her. But what if she is not? Why introduce a young infant to stress just so you can have some rest? Sure, the experts say all 5 month olds are physically ready to be sleep trained but is yours emotionally ready?

I also get criticised alot because i allow my 4 year old to play the iphone during meals, because we're still spoon feeding him. I also get alot of 'You shouldn't' looks when i tell people my son sleeps late. Again, i felt like i was a lousy mother. But i've since taken another perspective. People do not know the hell we went through just to get the boy to eat. We had no choice but to let him sit in front of the tv, play the iphone etc during meals. WE HAD to do it. I mean, which parent would bear to see their kid not eating and under weight? And yes, i've tried starving him but believe me, it didn't work.  I'd much rather he comes to the table happy and willingly rather than to have him come reluctant, tearful and stressed.

And who says a kid who sleeps in late is not getting enough sleep? Yours sleep at 8 but wakes up at 6. Mine sleeps at 11, wakes up at 7. Yours nap for 1 hour, mine...(are you ready?) 3 hours! Both gets the same total of sleep! The difference? Your kids get to spend less time with the working parent on a weekday (because yours sleep in early). Mine gets to spend some good time with his working father everyday.

Personally, there isn't any right or wrong in this. It's all about your family's objectives. For us, we refuse to put our kids through intense and stressful training just so we adults get some convenience in our lives. For us, we put his eating above everything else. We don't want a scrawny kid. We want our kids to sleep later so that they can have some play time with my husband (so long as they have enough sleep in the day) and not have him rush home everyday only to kiss them goodnight.

What's your objective?

Someone's got new shoes!!