Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

Sleeps a lot during the day.

Exclusively breastfed. Every 2 – 3 hours.

Asks to drink more frequently at night.

Umbilical cord came off on day 5.

More likely to cry and complain whenever she’s bathed daily.

Sleeps more like Anya when she’s a baby than Vai, who was a very light sleeper
(read: When Vai was a baby, he’d fall asleep when nursing, and immediately wake up and cry when I super gently tried to put him down on his cot or anywhere)

[7-day-old Brie : Baby acne and jaundice were still very obvious]

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Baby acne on her face and cheeks have mostly gone by now.

Still has a bit of jaundice now (and so she’s still sunbathed in the morning – if it’s not cloudy / rainy)

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Quick stats:

Birth weight : 3.22 kg

Length : 49 cm

Weight on day 5 : 3.025 kg

Weight on day 12 : 3.21 kg

Anya is one 7yo girl who takes a while to warm up to strangers.

She prefers to not react nor say much when asked by people about what she thinks of her little baby sister.

She’d probably give them her ‘I don’t know, I don’t care’ look, or just a cold shrug.

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She may not be all mad about her little baby sister.

She goes, ‘Eeeewwwww…’ when she sees her soiled diapers.

She may even act as if she only has her own world and needs to care about.

But.

I do notice how she checks on her little sister.

She likes to hold her little fingers and hands.

She likes to look at her tiny sister’s face and tells me, ‘She’s soooo cuteeee … ‘

And she too often asks if she can help out  when I bathe her little sister.

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Siblinghood.

It takes time to develop and grow strong.

And I’m privileged to be able to watch it grow day by day.

In our little home.

Someone recently asked me about Vai and how he’s doing, especially now that he’s ‘the only boy’ in the family (read: the middle child who has a big sister and a little sister).

My reply was, ‘He’s doing great. He really loves his baby sister, and he’s the usual silly self who likes to hug his big sister and annoy her too with his little antiques, … the usual things siblings do to each other’ =)

I must say though, that such a relationship doesn’t happen overnight.

Because I believe some ‘preparations or subtle interventions’ from us parents do make a difference. However little. However much.

Okay. Perhaps I should explain myself a little.

You see, one of the magnets on our fridge says, ‘Children see themselves through OUR eyes‘

And out of the many possible interpretations of that statement, I personally understand it as, ‘At a young age, children believe in our words, and they see / interpret their world according to how WE see it.’

Well.

Ever since I was pregnant with baby no. 3 (we didn’t know the gender for sure at the time), I often shared with him these two different scenarios.

If it’s a baby boy, then his little brother and he will be the ones who’ll protect Anya and me, especially in the absence of Daddy.

And if it’s a baby girl, he’ll be THE boy in the family.

I casually shared with him how he’ll grow up and be a man just like Daddy, how he’ll be physically stronger than Mommy and his sisters one day and how he’ll be THE young man who will look out and look after his sisters and me too, especially when Daddy is not around.

I told him how God loves us and HE has special plans for each one of us (ie. The fact that he’s given another little sibling in the family means that there’ll be even more wonderful things that he’ll discover, as well as things that he’ll need to learn too).

When Brie was born, Vai knew how he IS the ‘only boy’ out of our three kids, and whenever I casually tell him how he’ll be the one protecting his sisters, etc, … he’d smile.

And I can see from the twinkle in his eyes how he likes that special role.

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Of course the ‘opposite’ could have happened.

Adults (including us, his parents) could’ve jokingly teased and told him how being the only boy, he’s ‘stuck between two girls!’, how he’d ‘lose out whenever the two sisters gang up on him!’, or how he’s got ‘nobody, … unlike Anya who has another female sibling to play with!’, etc.

Personally, I believe there will always be two different ways of seeing / saying / conveying things to others, to little ones especially.

We could make things sound negative. Or, we could say / view things in a positive light.

I’d choose the latter.

And deep down, I do hope and pray that I too can influence my family in a positive way.

[Traveling light today. No DSLR. All photos in this post were taken with Canon Ixus 970IS, mostly by Vai]

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Did you check out this year’s RSAF’s Open House?

[Just in case you’re not familiar with the term, RSAF stands for ‘Republic of Singapore Air Force’]

It was held last weekend (28 – 29 May), and so Daddy – who would never want to miss it  – went with Anya and Vai, while Brie and I stayed at home (and enjoyed some ‘quiet’ rest time =)

[The kids brought along sunblock cream, hats, sunglasses, bottled iced water, etc. The three of them took the train to Eunos MRT Station and went to Paya Lebar Airbase via their free shuttle bus]

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Daddy and Vai were both fascinated and excited with the jets and planes. Like most boys normally would, I guess.

Anya however found it exciting … for the first hour or so.

After that, she’s more interested in drawing and writing somewhere where there’s shade or better still, aircon!

[The weather WAS warm and obviously airshows and most displays were all out in the open]

[Shot was taken by Vai]

But.

There’s one challenge that apparently caught her attention.

The Rock-climbing wall.

When she saw it, she told Daddy that she wanted to have a go at it.

[This girl never failed to surprise us. Like how she wanted to try out Flying Fox alone at 3.5yo for the first time! Click HERE to watch the clip on Youtube!]

Anyway, here’re some shots (taken by Vai) of her doing her first ever rock-climbing.

She managed to go half-way up all by herself =)

Well done, I say.

Because to Wilson and I, the interest, initiatives and willingness to try something that she’s never done before is way more important (and need to be encouraged and nurtured continually) than the actual result when she first gave it a go.

Looking forward to next year’s RSAF Open House!

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[Click HERE to see the many different family activities they had this year]

[Our 7-day-old Brie. Lucky to have caught her smiling away! =)]

Now that I have a newborn baby PLUS two older kids to care for everyday, three common questions I usually get from people are :

>> How are you coping so far?
>> Are the big sister (7yo) and big brother (4.5yo) loving towards the baby?
>> Do the elder kids help out?

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And … here are my replies =)

>> How are you coping so far?

First of all, I’m SO very thankful that Baby Brie was born on the exact day as when Wilson’s parents arrived in Singapore. Call it, perfect timing! (I personally believe that it’s God’s grace and His perfect timing for us. I’m constantly amazed at how God works wonderfully in our life!)

My Father-in-law was here for 3 days, but my Mom-in-law stayed for 10 days, ie. She’s leaving for Jakarta TOMORROW.

[My Mom-in-law has been a HUGE help in cooking food for us all everyday, doing the grocery and ironing our clothes. Can’t thank her enough!]

So, to answer the question, I’d say … yep, I’ve been coping okay =) I’ve been eating a lot too! (read: constantly feeling hungry as I’m exclusively breastfeeding baby Brie)

Am thankful for my overall good health too!

BUT.

I must say, REALITY will officially start tomorrow.

No MIL, no extra help from families.

Just us.

So, err … I’ll keep you updated on how things go =)

[Come and join me on Facebook. I share and post updates there everyday =)]

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>> Are the big sister (7yo) and big brother (4.5yo) loving towards the baby?

YES, they are.

They have been VERY loving towards the baby.

They want to carry the baby, they’d ‘sayang-sayang’ the baby. They’d hum or sing. Vai showers Brie with kisses on the cheek. They’d want to push the pram.

It’s really sweet.

[Off to find a spot to sunbathe Brie, while the kids entertain themselves at the playground, with their scooter or bike]

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>> Do the elder kids help out?

Now this is a tougher question to answer.

Because as much as they love their little baby sister, they ARE kids.

Kids with wants and demands.

And when their demands or requests are not met, I need to be ready to face these potential scenarios everyday :
– Tantrums
– Complaints
– Minutes of whining
– Rude talkbacks
– Unhappy faces and attitudes

Well, I find that THIS is the tougher part of having a newborn and 2 elder kids.

To me, it’s not so much about caring for the newborn and 2 elder kids. It’s about handling the attitudes and demands of the two elder ones that’s more challenging.

And, everyday, I’m learning to still stay calm while coping and addressing challenging episodes as patiently and wisely as I can possibly can.

It’s hard work!

[Good thing such episodes come and go, and sweet moments do outweigh challenging ones!]

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So. That’s how my first 10 days of being a Mom of three is like.

More or less =)

Will share more with you soon. Stay tuned.

Over the past years, I’ve written a few posts on the impact of technology in our lives, especially in the lives of our little ones.

[I shared how ‘Technology can be both good and bad‘, and also the topic of ‘Human Interactions versus Gadgets‘ earlier this year]

And today, I’d like to share how a child’s ‘natural curiosity and interest’ on mobile phones can be steered towards learning how to spell simple words too.

You see, I’m still using Nokia E63, and since I don’t play mobile phone games, I deleted them all from my phone. So, whenever my kids ask for my Nokia, they’d usually watch old videos of themselves, OR … they’d scribble all sorts of stuff on my ‘Notes’.

Anya, who is 7yo and can already read and write well, would sometimes create a ‘New Note’ and write sentences or short stories.

Vai, who is 4.5yo, on the other hand, prefers to randomly press on the keyboard and create random alphabets on the screen! =)

Now.

Since the beginning of this year, I’ve been teaching him how to read and write simple words at home. More like a ‘supplement’ to what he’s learned at school.

[Not a ‘compulsory’ activity where I’d pressure him to do worksheets daily though, as I believe at his age, he should be encouraged to LOVE to learn, and NOT be overly pressured against his will, which eventually will make him reject the whole idea of learning altogether]

So these days, once in a while, when he asks for my Nokia phone, I’d ask him if he could write simple sentences for me.

I’d say a sentence, slowly repeat the words, and he’d type them out one by one (note: ‘Predictive texts’ feature is turned off, so he’d need to type the alphabet one by one)

Sometimes he’s not sure of the spelling of certain words, and I’d then guide him (ie. Instead of immediately telling him the alphabets, I’d exaggerate and say the ‘sound’ of the alphabets in the word, so he could guess what alphabet comes next, based on the sound. eg. I’d go ‘Bbbeeehhh-Oyyyy’ … ‘Boy’ … ‘Bbbbeehhh – Ooooyyyy =)

Anyway.

This activity allows him to ‘revise’ the spelling of the words that he’s learned with me so far, WHILE using my phone at the same time. And, you can do this using the simplest mobile phone available, ie. No ‘applications’ need to be downloaded

And the good thing about it is, to him … it feels like he’s playing with my phone! =)

He doesn’t feel like he’s revising or learning how to spell =)

[Note: This little guy is more into playing with his Lego bricks and making jet aeroplanes, than writing or learning how to spell]

It’s quite a win-win situation, I guess =)

We thank God for this amazing gift.

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A quick note from me :

Still adjusting to our new daily routine, and I’m finding it easier right now to post status updates on Facebook while I’m ‘on the go’ (like how we found out today that Baby Brie has a high jaundice level, etc). So, do join me there on Facebook if you haven’t already yeah! (http://www.facebook.com/leonny.atmadja)

I will definitely continue to blog though =)

The weekend has been a busy one for our family.

Because we finally got to meet our littlest member of the family.

Who is a GIRL, btw =)

I’ve been sharing more on Facebook since the weekend (easier to access it from my phone, as I go about doing this and that everyday, even during my stay at the hospital =)

We’re all back home though, and I’m slowly adapting to life with 2 school-going kids and a newborn around =)

Anyway, I’d like to *again* say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who left such sweet messages and well wishes over on my Facebook.

Thank you so much.

We are indeed so blessed.

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And oh before I end the post, I better introduce you all first to the little girl =)

We’ll be calling her baby ‘Brie’, short for ‘Labrielle Hidajat’, which means ‘God is our Strength’.

Will share more about it and the ‘Birth Story’ soon!

[In the photo above, she’s just arrived at home, welcomed by the big sister and big brother. At less than 2 days old =) ]