Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

A friend of mine gave Anya a blue, padded ‘toilet seat for babies’ (that goes on top of your toilet seat). It’s comfortable, and most importantly, it’s STABLE.

I had a plastic one before, the one without padding. It wobbled whenever Anya made even the slightest move! Got her pretty worried!

I’ve also tried a ‘potty’ that you put on the floor, too. But Anya prefers to stand and walk away everytime I let her sit there. So to me, this new toilet seat is just great!! Anya can’t get down by herself and she can play with her toys as I go ‘Ssshhh… ssssssshhh… ‘ and ‘Nnnggggg… nnnggggg….’ for a few minutes!

Anyway, I hope she gets used to the idea of life without diapers very soon.

I lost my handphone. My very first time! But since the phone itself is quite old, I’m honestly more annoyed with the fact that I lost ALL the numbers in my phone address book!

Now that I’m without my ‘mobile’ phone book, I start to realise how little I remember other people’s phone numbers! This is BAD! (especially since I used to remember SO many phone numbers in my head, before the invention of mobile phones, of course, hehe.

Ckckck. Technology can make us exercise our brain less!

Anya’s been crying in her sleep these past few days. And I couldn’t seem to do anything to calm her down. She’d stop crying, tried to sleep, and 5 minutes later, she’d start crying again. At first I thought she’s just being grumpy. She’s probably just very tired, I thought.

But then she cried again during her afternoon nap. Now, that’s weird because it never happened before. I went in to check her out and I saw her crying with her eyes still closed and a finger in her mouth.

OOOH. She’s teething! Apparently her fourth molar is coming out and I guess it’s been her so much pain. Awww,

During a child’s teething period, the gums are swollen and tender. Some say that during this period your kid may get diarrhea, fever and stuff.

As for Anya, when her first few teeth came out, she’s alright. No fever, no drooling, no loss of appetite. Everything’s just normal. When her molars started to come out, she cried at night. Even then, it just happened on one night. She’s alright again the next day.

This time, she had diarrhea and vomited a few times. The thing is, I’m not sure if that’s because she’s teething or because she just came back from Jakarta. The doctor said she’s got stomach flu (after dinner on the plane, Anya vomited just 15 mins before we landed in Singapore!).

The thing is, although she vomited and all, Anya’s still normal. I mean, no coughing, no runny nose, no fever.

Some say, to help ease the teething pain, you can apply teething gels or let her chew on carrots, etc.

Oh well. I hope it’s over soon so she can enjoy her naps again and have a good night sleep!

Watching our child grow day by day continues to amaze me. From a tiny baby who couldn’t even roll over, to a little girl who toddles around, ready to explore the big world.

I have to say, the amazing journey of human growth is way beyond what our brain can ever understand.

How a tiny embryo grows into a baby. How the brain and other body parts slowly yet consistently develop inside mommy’s womb. The process of childbirth. And how the baby grows and picks up all sorts of skills once outside the womb.

Miracles of life are all around us. We can see them everyday and everywhere. Yet, isn’t sad and ironic that many of us often forget about the One who’s behind them all?

My 1st incident
It was 2 am and I was in the kitchen, just clearing a few stuff before going to bed. I was reaching for Anya’s milk tin when suddenly something wriggled, jumped to my hand and leapt towards the back of the fridge! It was a BIG house lizard! I went into a huge panic attack, and I think all our neighbours heard my 3-second-scream!

I was in my ‘shock mode’ for a good half an hour after that. Shaken, and rather traumatised, I must say. Someone with a huge phobia would understand what I went through better, I suppose. You know, how terribly shocking it is to personally encounter your worst fear THAT close!

My 2nd incident:
I was scrubbing a plate earlier that same day when I suddenly heard a loud crack and glass shatter! Then I saw LOTS of blood. On the sink. Blood spatter on the floor. Blood on my hands.

Apparently the plate cracked and it slashed my thumb. It was a deep cut (looking a bit like one of those scenes from ER!). Hubby’s around at the time (PHEW!) and he came to my ‘rescue’ within seconds and helped me treat the cut. I had gauze pads wrapped around my thumb and Anya kept pointing at it and said ‘tu-tu … tu-tu’ (it’s supposed to be ‘thung thung’ which means: ‘pain’ in chinese dialect. Hehe…)

Moral of the story:
– Keep your ‘first aid box’ handy. Make sure you’ve got all the basic stuff in there too (read: other than panadols!)

– Save your ‘desperate’ scream for help for ‘real’ emergencies, so people in your house take you seriously and come to help real fast!

– Accidents could happen to us at any time, anywhere. Not necessarily when we’re on a plane or in a car. And if we’re safe and sound today, we should be thankful to God.

I truly believe that we’re often spared from many ‘unfortunate’ incidents, without us actually knowing it. And even IF we do get to experience something that’s not to our liking, let’s learn to see it as part of life’s journey.

Because, if life is always so convenient, how can we ever learn anything from it?

Family reunion
During our holiday, Anya met up with ALL her cousins! They’re all usually ‘worlds apart’ (Jakarta, Lampung, Melbourne and Singapore), and so seeing them all get together was just nice.

The thing is, her ‘stranger anxiety‘ kicked in really hard as soon as we landed in Jakarta.

And I guess it’s because she suddenly interacted with SO many new faces within such a short period. And it was simply too overwhelming for her.

She met all 34 relatives of mine at one go. And we sort of moved houses too after a few days or so.

She was VERY clingy and cried so very easily. It must’ve been rather stressful for her. A tiny girl in a such a huge world. AND just when she started to get comfortable with everyone, it’s time to leave Jakarta! Hmph!

Safari Park
We went there with my in-laws! We all stayed in one car and it’s so much fun! So many animals to see, and some of them even walked by our car. Tigers. Zebras. Deer. Antelopes. Llamas. Buffalos. It’s better than going to the zoo, I reckon.

Anya got so excited of course. The creatures she’s been seeing on TV and picture books seem to have come alive right in front of her eyes. She flapped her arms, did a monkey move and roared like a tiger. Hehe.

Anyway. When it comes to Jakarta, I’ll say it’s a place to … :

> enjoy yummy food and dessert
Those sold on the streets may not be prepared as ‘hygienically’ as we want them to be, but they’re yummy! (as they say, just eat the food and don’t worry about what happens ‘in the kitchen!’)

> test out your level of patience
Its constant traffic jams and SUPER slow internet connection can drive people up the wall!

> see and experience what ‘regular flooding’ is like
But it depends WHERE you live when there’s heavy rainfall, I guess.

We. Are. Back!!

Had a little break. Went to Jakarta. Had a great family reunion. Ate lots of yummy food. It was all SO refreshing! Much needed for all three of us, I guess.

AND I’m still in such a holiday mood.

Anyway, I’ll write more soon and share my holiday photos.

Be back soon!

Anya’s eyes glow each time she sees a corn cob, and so I gave her one to try out today!

Loved it!