Ho Ho Ho........Holiday!!

18 months, 3 weeks & 6 days old.....

Finally, the much awaited holiday is coming. I'll be away from the office for 11 days. Woooohooo! And because Christmas is also approaching, my whole holiday mood is cheered up. Not to mention the sales too *slurp*.

This is the first ever year we purposely went out to see Christmas deco at the malls, because of you know who lar. Ethan was amazed by the Christmas trees and those dangling deco and it kept him in the stroller longer than usual. We went to the Sunway Pyramid and Mid Valley and I personally find that the deco at the Mid Valley is more appealing. I also went to Orchard Road, Singapore on 11 December 2007 and found that the deco was not as superb as I heard. My colleague also said that the deco was not as good as it was. Economy not good? Luckily it was only a detour from my official trip. If not, rugi lar.

On the way to the Mid Valley. Trying to put his socks on.

Bored! Trying to wriggle himself out of the car seat.
Managed to free his hands from the strap.

Ahhhhhhh.......Christmas tree at The Gardens.

Yay!!! Encore.......Encore!

Yesterday, we went to our first Christmas party of the year at the daycare. They organise it every year and we exchanged gifts. Ethan had a good time running around and parents were busy snapping photos (me too, of course hehe...) and chit-chatting. The carolling started at around 8 p.m. and the most happy person at that time was Ethan. Why? He was the only fella dancing around while the other kids stand by the side watching the performance. I tried to pull him back a few times but he just wriggled himself out of my grab and went to the centre and dance by the carollers. I was so 'segan' but at the same time proud of my little one. Too bad that the moment was not captured because the camera was not with me. Hubby stand at another corner holding the camera. Yes, just holding it! No photos no video. ARGGHHHHHH!!!!! How I wish I could turn back time and I would never ever ask hubby to hold the camera.

'Present! Present! Where is my mine?'

Warming up to the performance before he join them.

We will also be going back to hubby's hometown this year to celebrate Christmas. It has been more than two years since last time we went back. This will be our first trip back with Ethan and it's his first flight too. Can't wait for it. In the meantime, I would like to wish everyone

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAY!

Pacifier No More

18 months, 1 week & 5 days old.....

After 1 week, I think it's pretty safe for me to say that Ethan has successfully wean off the pacifier. YAY YAY!!!! No more worries that he will choke on the broken pieces. I have stopped giving him the pacifier since last Tuesday, the day I wrote the previous post. I bought another 2 pacifiers on that day as I was unsure whether or not to wean him off. It's like asking me to stop taking coffee, man. I can never do that. I even took coffee when I was pregnant, only reduced amount.

So, on that night I gave it a try and he slept without much problem. He took milk and water and dozed off not long after that. Actually, I was the one who was feeling like something was missing as I think pacifier is very soothing. I don't have the heart to force him. I was thinking if he whine or kick up a fuss and refuse to sleep, I will give it to him. To my surprise, he did not. Phew! Then came midnight when he will normally wake up looking for his dummy. I did not give to him either. After a few pat, he dozed off.

The routine continued until today and he will still wake up in the middle of the night whining. Sometimes, when patting failed to cool him down, I have to scold him. Then, he will go back to sleep. If I ignore him, he will come up to the bed or cry even louder. Oh yeah, milk helps too.

Now, I have three spare pacifiers.

Pacifier - Boon or Bane?

18 months & 5 days old.....

Since the previous post, there was no improvement in Ethan's chewing habit. He has punctured another 2 pacifiers and I bought another one last night. Since it's (very likely that this is) due to teething, there's nothing much I can do to prevent him from chewing on things. I just try to limit him from sucking the pacifier but when he cries, I would normally give in. His cries drive me nuts especially at night. Since he only want his pacifier when he sleeps, I think it's not that bad lar. The only thing is I have to keep on checking his pacifier to detect the tiny holes.

Last night, he woke up for milk and had difficulties getting back to sleep. Normally, I would just give him the pacifier and leave him alone. But last night, I slept with him and pat him back to sleep without giving him the pacifier. It worked. Guess I just need more perseverance.

This time, I kept the the punctured pacifiers and did a little test on them. I tore it apart with my bare hands and it's as easy as tearing up a sachet of Mc Donald's chili sauce. It's that easy. The hole (yes, only 1 hole) on the pacifier were very tiny, like only 1-2 mm in diametre. This tiny little hole can cause disaster if we are not careful. To all parents out there, please check on your kid's pacifier for this little hole. You have to pull on it in order to see the little hole because it's hard to see with our naked eyes.

This is the result of my little experiment.

See the danger? What if the tiny part come off while our kids are
sucking the punctured pacifier? The one on the left was
Ethan's old pacifier, which I kept as spare. The other one was
courtesy of my sister as Ethan punctured his pacifier at my mum's
house the other day and I did not bring extra one.

'Pokai' Month

18 months & 1 day old.....

First of all, I got 4 wedding invitations in December. Ouch! Big hole in my pocket. And then, Ethan's chewing habit made the hole even bigger. In the last 4 weeks or so, Ethan had destroyed 5 pacifiers (it's 5 ok) and 2 teats for the milk bottle. I suspect it's the work of the two cuspid.

He has been using the variable flow teat from Avent since he was 3-4 months old. I normally get my friend's help to buy it for me from Singapore. I paid only half of the price here. Luckily, if not more 'pokai'. I normally change the teat after 6 months of use or when it turned matt/dull. Now Ethan seems to expedite the process by puncturing them. Sigh......

Too bad I didn't take photos of the spoilt teat and pacifiers because I was so horrified and I dumped them into the dustbin straight away. I'm scared that he will swallow the torn portion and choke himself. I still remember the incident when a 1-year-old-plus toddler died because he was choked by a pacifier.

I have been thinking of a solution because I cannot be replacing the teats and pacifiers at this pace. For the teats, I will replace it with the soft spout. I think (and I hope) he will not be able to puncture it. My sister gave me a soft spout and a handle (like the photos below) when Ethan was born. The two things can be used with Avent's milk bottle and it functions like a trainer cup. I let Ethan used them when he drinks water but when he started using drinking cup (with straw) few months back, I put them aside. It's high time now to switch him to trainer cup for milk.

For pacifier, I'm giving him the old one, which I kept for emergencies (like now lar!). At the same time, I try to wean him off the dummy. Actually, he has been taking his afternoon nap at the day care without pacifier. But, it's a different story at home. It's already difficult getting him to sleep let alone doing it without a pacifier. I have tried a few times without much success but last night I managed to lull him to sleep without it. Unfortunately, he woke up in the middle of the night looking for his pacifier. Needless to say, I gave in.

(The one in the photo lasted only 2 weeks.)

One, Two or Three?

I'm contended with one, don't mind having two and doubt will have three. The question on 'how many children I want' always lingers in my mind. Until now, I do not have the definite answer. You know, people always ask 'When are you getting the second baby?' or they will tell you 'If you want a second baby, better get it now, don't leave the age gap too big, etc. etc.'. I always tell them 'Not now'.

If I ever want to have a second child, I would want to wait until Ethan is 3, at least. By then, I hope he will be more understanding when it comes to sharing. I miss his babyhood but the thought of having a baby again shudders me. You know, confinement, night feedings, vaccination (which will be followed by fever, most often than not).

For me, the only reason to have a second child is I want my children to have siblings. I have two younger sisters and I think it's a wonderful thing to have siblings. We are very close. We go shopping together and we always share clothes, bags, shoes, until now. My childhood will be very dull without them. I want Ethan to have the same childhood. I don't want to have more children just because I want someone to take care of me when I'm old. Furthermore, I don't want to stay with my daughter-in-law in the future. I bet she will have the same thinking like me now. Hahaha! Nursing homes are so good nowadays. Why worry so much?

Withdrawal to Citibank

It only take ONE day! I thought it will take weeks before I see the money because PayPal says this:

Your request to withdraw funds from your PayPal account to your card ending in xxxx has been received and is in process.

PayPal completes this transfer in 5-7 days, but your card issuer's policies may affect the processing time. For more information, contact your card issuer.

Sincerely,
PayPal

I withdraw the money from PayPal to my Citibank credit card on 12 November. I didn't bother to check my account after that as I thought it will never be done so soon. But when I check my account today, I saw the money has been credited on 13 November! That's fantastic. PayPal charge USD5 for the withdrawal and the exchange rate given by Citibank was 3.35. WOOOOHOO!

Whoaw!

Thanks to babybooned for the Happy Blogging Wish.


Apart from being really happy, I feel so honoured by her comment, which read as follows:

"because hers was the first mummy blog I've ever read (seriously) and reading about Ethan inspired me to start Gibran's blog *huge smile*"

I never thought that my humble little blog (I mean it) will ever, ever... inspire someone to start a blog. I'm contended with a comment or two from my readers. I started the blog to jot down those little yet important memories in raising Ethan as well as my journey in motherhood. Somewhere down the road, I started doing paid post. I want to THANK all my readers who drop by this blog and leave your comments, even thought it's tainted with paid posts :-). No matter how simple or short it is, I treasure it.

Now, I would like to extend this wish to all these mummies and I hope they will never stop blogging:
Sasha - blogosphere will be gloomy without your blablablas
Nadia & Jazzmint - love your scraps a lot
Etc-Mommy & Malaika's Mummy - love to read the notes on your little angels
Darren's Mummy - a totally devoted mother
Judy - thanks for all the help and tips on the paid posts
The New Parent - love your thoughts and tips on parenting