Friday, June 30, 2006

FIRST bday 30-June-06

- Crystal is one year old
0first birthday
Crystal is having her first bday today !

-----Original Message-----
From: Dian Angela [mailto:Angela.Dian@sa...]
Sent: 2006年6月30日 10:12
To: Ding, Jenny
Subject:

Hai.. happy birthday buat anak mu ya... ^_^
Thanks and Regards,
Angela Dian

So surprise to get this email from Angie.
Yes, it's Crystal's 1st bday today.
Thanks Angie for remembering.

This morning Crystal pooped twice, the first one in her diaper and the second one while we were at the balcony. last nite she also pooped while i put her in walker for feeding her dinner. so we had to clean the floor, walker and washed her and her cloths.

i felt guilty for being too busy working mom. i didnt prepare much for Crystal's first bday present. after work, i went to Carrefour to find a disney doll. but didnt get what i wanted. then rushed up to the baby store nearby our apartement. finally finding a blue fish (perhaps one character in the "finding nemo"). also bought hello kitty shoes for her. and she likes the fish.

no birthday cake.
she had her first birthday cake in Chinese first bday celebration which was ahead of time (17 June 2006). Due to local Chinese tradition, call "zhua zhou" 抓周,which should be celebrated ahead of time from her 'chinese bday'. my parents-in-law call it 抓前 ( 抓 zhua = to catch, 前 qian = ahead of time, same tone with 钱 qian = money). where a lot of stuffs are put in front of the birthday girl, which will represent what she will be in the future. alamaaaak....complicated bener yak !
Crystal grabbed a pen. will she be a scholar? i want her to be a president ...hahahaha...!


11-Month-old's development
new thing:
butterfly, flies, knee, thigh, spider, frog, old man, baby, pimple, belly button, sand, police car new

people:
baked-bread seller, lu chai seller, shoe repairer

new word :
ye-ye (grandpa) , nao-nao (actually is niao niao, means pee), ya (duck), yao (medicine)

* when ask, "do you love mama?" she will say, "mama"

* where do you want to go? "da...da..." (liu-da means go for a walk outside)

* point out red or blue, blue or orange (pictures of 2 baloons)

* drive a hand-drive scooter, but of course still cannot do it well and cannot turn around

* how does lion scratch when itchy ? she will scratch herself. or she will use back-scratcher to scrath her body (17-Jun-06).

* shake someone's hand and kiss the back of the hand

* walk for 3~4 steps (around 12-Jun-06)

* walk up to 5 meter (end June-06)

* dance by shaking her own boots (standing by holding on the bed side), favorite song: jingle bell

* raise her hand for expression, "hi / hello !"

* squat for pee/poop (14-Jun-06). now she can squat down by herself everytime she wants to
pee or poop.

* sit up from lying on her tummy (17-Jun-06)

* take a piece of paper and move it back and forth as a 'fan'

* if we ask her whether she has had enough food, "可吃饱了?" she will put her hand on her tummy and say, "bao..bao.." (means she has enough food already).

* she likes to bring sandals to somebody else (with we holding one of her hand, the other hand will bring sandal one by one, she doesnt mix up with other sandals).

* put something into a bottle, can open a bottle cap.

* rub some powder on her own face / body

* first time falling from bed (21 Jun 06) , lucky there was plastic mattress on the floor

* stand up by herself from squatting position, however, she still cannot stand steadily for long time.

* move from side to side by holding table / bedside

* if i say, "spank mama... pinch mama .." she will slap me with her hand or pinch me, her pinch is quite hurting. same if i say, "pinch mama's ear", she will immediately pinch and pull my ear.

* spank her own butt when ask to.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

KFC and MacD

One day, my friend, Pauline Wen, took her 4-year-old son Zhang Anwen to Carrefour, and there is a KFC outlet.

Anwen : Mama, take me to KFC.
Pauline: KFC is junk food, it’s not good for children.
Anwen : No Mom, you’re wrong. KFC is not junk food. MacDonald is junk food.

The other day, Pauline took Anwen to Bai Huo Department Store. There’s a MacDonald nearby.

Anwen: Mama, take me to MacD.
Pauline: MacD is junk food, it’s not good for children.
Anwen : No Mom, wrong. MacD is not junk food. KFC is junk food.
Pauline : KFC and MacD both are junk food.
Anwen : if we eat junk food not very often, i think it will be OK.

Monday, June 26, 2006

touched

i'm so touched today by my lill girl.

this morning when i went out to work, she cried so loudly as i closed the front door. again i had to leave my heart at home. and this afternoon, when i got back from work... as usual when i walked thru the front gate, i would look at my apartment window, on the 4th floor, hoping to see my lill girl standing there, looking down, so i could wave at her. and there .. there she was! her grandma's holding her, looking down thru the window. she saw me! yes, she could see me from the 4th floor, and i heard her weak voice also saw her mouth saying, "mama.. mama...", waving her hand at me. i was so touched and almost cried, waving and replying, "eih... ! eih .... ! mama is coming home," and i rushed running up to our apartment.
as she saw me, she kicked her legs happily in her grandma's arms, reaching her arms to me impatiently. and when i carried her, she screamed and jumped happily in my arms, with her hands slapping my back several times.

oh my lill darling, how mama loves you so much ! to mommy, you are the world !

Saturday, June 17, 2006

week 51: SIT UP by herself

week 51

since last week, Crystal can walk for 3-4 steps.

i am always very proud of her, proud to watch her rapid development day to day.
now, before she reaches first bday, she can already pee and poop by herself by squatting down, so it will not make her pants turn wet or dirty. but of course she misses it sometimes.

she also can crawl up from lying on her tummy and sit up. it takes a lot of her effort to do so. and i enjoy watching her doing it. she did this on her 'move-ahead-chinese-first-birthday' (16-Jun-06). based on chinese tradition, when a baby reaches one year old, there is a ceremony call "zhua zhou".

and basically she can understand whatever we talk to her or ask her anything, as long as we ever teach her the words before. even, when ask whether she has had enough food, she will slap her own tummy and say, "bao...bao.." (means she has had enough food)

she can also ride her little scooter (which should be ridden by moving the steering left and right, so the scooter will move forward). this was bcoz she's often trained with the musical toy-train or toy car in the park, which have the turnable steering. =)
but of course we still have to sit with her in the back.

now she likes to bring shoes to everybody. but to me, she often brings and gives me my blue shoes and points at the door, which means she wants to go out for a walk.


pregnancy
i am proud of her since the very beginning.
i never had problems and never had to suffer during pregnancy. i could eat all the food, fruit, drink everything that i like (of course without alcohol of cafein content). never felt too tired for carrying her in me all the time, never had sleep problem, in all, no complaint during pregnancy.
the only complaint was she arrived too late compared to the predicted due date (due date was 23-June, she arrived on 30-June) while i was too eager to meet her asap.


the labor
during the labor, she didnt bring me unbearable pain and suffer. yes, somehow there was pain during the labor, but bearable, not as worse as i imagined. i had prepared my mental for the most 'to-be-said-so-painful' pain. even i didnt suffer so much during contraction. it took total 20 hours for her to arrive after my first contraction on around 5pm 29-Jun-05. (she was born on 01.08pm on 30-Jun-05) she was just in the right size to fit my size .... lol ... =) she was 3.25kg when she was born. and i didnt take any pain-management options. just took deep breath and sang during every contraction.

thanks to my mom and sister-in-law (Mery) for their most precious advise: should control not to push while the opening is still 0-8 cm. also to my mother-in-law's advise: to eat and also to poop before the labor. to me, everything was just so easy and smooth.
i remembered Lin even had thought that i would ask for c-section in the middle of labor process, since many of his friends, at the beginning wanted to have the natural labor, but then switch to c-section bcoz coundt bear the pain anymore. Lin also sent a towel for me to bite during the 'pushing' process. but i didnt need it. here in china, mostly the husband is not allowed to come into the labor room.

also thanks to the mommy who was next to me in labor room, she was quite calm during the labor process, she didnt scream at all. it encouraged me also i guess.

after she arrived, and while the doctor was cleaning and working on her, i was just so impatient to hold her in my arms.


first 4 days at hospital and after returning home
Crystal was never cranky or annoying since her very first days. she always slept so well every night. i never suffered those restless night. she just woke up for nursing every 2 hours. after nursing, she would return to sleep calmly till the next nursing time. even Lin's sleeps were never being disturbed by her.
she also seldom made the cloth diaper filthy. her cries for hungry, pee and poop were just different, that i could recognize. everytime she wanted to poop, she would give some sign. but often she just pooped in the middle of nursing time. lol...!
until her becoming first bday, she was only being cranky twice during night time when she was having fever.
she makes everything become easier and easier while in her 7th month, she could say "nai..nai..." (milk) when she is hungry.
now she pees and poops by squatting down. it's her great great grandma (my mom-in-law's mom) that taught her to do so. she often takes care of my Crystal during day time too.
Crystal now also can drink with her own drinking bottle, she can also use a straw to drink and she can hold a piece of fruit or food and eat by herself. again it makes everything become easier.


tantrums
we think that all babies are smart and fast learner. we have to cope with it, not to be tricked by our little baby.
if Crystal is screaming or throwing tantrums bcoz of wanting something, we dont want to spoil her. for example, if she wants our mobile phone or something which is not safe for baby, we dont give her, and when she begins to scream .. this is what we do:
we just let her cry or scream. sometimes we put her sitting on the floor or lying on the bed and crying. after several minutes, since she knows she just cant get what she wants, she will stop crying. and nowadays, if she wants something, we dont give her, she will not be too pushy anymore. she just cries few seconds, after that she will forget.
it's Lin that persisted we must do this way. i agreed with him. this is also what Jason or Echo did to their kids.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

naik gaji lagi nih

wah, naik gaji lagi nih hari ini (17%).
gak nyangka si bos, aku pikir mesti nunggu setahun lagi.
soalnya kalo gak salah ingat, baru Februari ini dikasih naik 7%.
tapi rasanya jadi biasa2 aja dg jumlah segitu itu, setelah tahu
i can worth twice as much (belagu banget yah ...?!)

tapi gak pentinglah.
yang penting bukan berapa duitnya sekarang,
walaupun kayaknya bakal menggiurkan juga yah!
yang penting justru kesempatan dan kejelasan.

Monday, June 12, 2006

baby's day


Crystal's daily schedule

6.30 get up and milk time (150cc)
6.45 play time on bed (sometimes listen to music from daddy's computer)
7.15 don’t want to play on bed anymore, want to get down
8.00 change baby diaper into cloth diaper, wear socks and shoes
8.30 breakfast
9.30 if mom’s at home, take a walk outside, sun bathing =) for around half hour
10.30 milk time (150 cc) and play around
11.30 1st nap
13.00 wake up and lunch time
14.00 play time
15.00 have some snack or fruit and play around
16.30 milk time (150cc)
17.30 2nd nap
18.30 wake up, time to go out to the park and play
19.30 dinner time
20.30 play around with mom
21.00 bath time
21.10 change cloth and put on baby diaper for bedtime
21.15 play on bed with mom, story telling time
22.00 milk time (150cc)
22.10 roll on bed for bed time, sweet dream, mommy & daddy love you!


How Lill Crystal Play
1. Favorite toys: santa claus with saxophone, lady bug, rubber duckling, little bear head


2. Books
* for baby under 1
* colors
* numbers
* little baby is 1 year old
* little baby is 2 years old now
3. Posters
* animals
* ABC
* Pin yin (chinese spelling)
* Numbers
4. Bikes: snow white tricycle, baby walker, scooter-bike


5. Go to balcony, look at flying birds and swallows, flowers and plants, catch flies or mosquitoes (in imagination), play with cloth hanger, or mop stick, while at night, look at the moon and the stars, look at the street/shop lamps
6. On baby walker, her favorite place is kitchen, play with cupboards, some vegetables; go to living room, play with tv on-off switch, go to wash basin cabinet, open the drawers, take out toothpaste, toothbrush, soap etc.
7. Learn new things around the house
8. Watch tv mostly is music program on tv with the adults, and she likes ads. Favorite ads: bao bao jing shui (a kind of mosquito repellent for baby)
9. Play with phone
10. Play with pen and paper

11. Play with plastic bottle and its cap (she could be doing it for 15-30 minutes)


12. Play in the park:
* sit on toy-train, toy plane, drive it (there is a steering wheel)
* pull-up / hang on the bar (just like in gym)
* play with sand
* look at ABC hung on a kindergarten fence
* look at dog and do dog barking
* look at birds and do birds flying
* look at rabbit, duck, chicken
* look at kite, plane, clouds or pale moon in evening sky
* play around with tricycle-bike
* learn new things
* socialize with other babies or the adults
* pick up leaves, flower petals, or other stuffs on ground
* on way home, look at fruit, lamps, newspaper, prawn, fish seller

Friday, June 09, 2006

picky baby

lill Crystal is very picky on food.
everytime if i get home and try to feed her dinner,
she will taste a bit for the first spoon.
you cant even imagine how smart every baby actually is !
they only cannot speak out.

if she thinks it's delicious and if i ask her, "is it delicious, my dear?" she will clap her hands or smile with her eyes and express thanks with her hands. but often this little piggy head thinks it's not delicious, she is too picky! she will shake her head for a "no..no..no.." for the second spoon, and pull her head away.

i have to play some trick in order to make her wants to eat more. if still she doesn't want it, i have to re-make the meal for her. usually she prefers cereal powder or porridge with steam egg. she also likes fish, shrimp, and pancake. but i try to feed her vege whenever possible. spinach and green bean is the best choice.

it takes almost 1 hour to finish her meal. oh baby, you think mama doesnt need to have dinner?

she likes any kind of fruit, including those with sour taste; and of course she likes all kind of snacks.

Monday, June 05, 2006

Our 2nd Anniversary

today it’s our 2nd anniversary.
after these 2 years, i learn to know lin more and more.
my most problems usually come from how to adapt with my in-laws, due to differences in culture, life style and way of thinking ...
and it’s all more about parenting.
thank you lin, for being such a very good bridge in between.

Success in marriage does not come merely through finding the right person, but through being the right person." (Barnett Brickner)

after these 2 years, we’re of course still in the process of ‘being the right person’ for each other. sure it won’t be a one or two year process.

thank you, lin, for being you and making me feel loved.
and thank you God, for we’ve found each other

p.s.
just before dinner, it was raining, and lin went out to buy some fried dumping for me, he came back with roses.





here are some nice poem / quotes about love and marriage


Marriage
Marriage is a dynamic process of discovery,
a journey, not an arrival.
It is a partnership in which two people can proclaim
their love and commitment to each other.
Marriage is starting to love, over and over again.
It is a life's work requiring trust and respect
for one another, thought and effort.
In marriage, being the right person is
as important as finding the right person.
Marriage means learning to share,
learning to give and receive love generously;
learning to be open, honest and understanding, and
learning to search for the good and the beautiful
in yourself and your partner.


The meaning of true love
It is sharing and caring,
Giving and forgiving,
Loving and being loved,
Walking hand in hand,
Talking heart to heart,
Seeing through each other's eyes,
Laughing together, weeping together.
For love that is shared is a beautiful thing
It enriches our lives and makes our hearts sing!


Love
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Love is patient and kind;
love is not jealous or boastful;
it is not arrogant or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrong,
but rejoices in the right.
Love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
Love never ends.

Source: click here

my nephew got a flu again

Little Chong-Chong got a flu (again!) 2 days ago.
i hope my blog wouldn't be his sickness journal ... since he got sick too often !!!!

i dont know how his parents take care of him.
seems they are always so careless. sometimes over-feeding him with watermelon, so he got cough and flu, some other time, bathed him while it's quite cold and let him play around without cloth so he got serious flu. the other time, let him drink cold milk and he got diarrhea and vomitted the whole day, sometimes he fell down from stairs to their apartment, some other times feed him again with watermelon and he got diarrhea.
this time, they bathed him at night, and the window was wide open, while there was strong wind outside.

since both children are being taken care together during daylight at my house, so everytime he gets a flu, somehow my lill girl will soon get infected, seems unavoidable. even i've asked her granny not to let my girl to be too close to her brother.

all this time, everytime if my girl got a flu, it's mostly bcoz of his brother. not only got a flu, last nite my lill girl also got a fever. s*** !

my husband ever told his brother several times to pay more attention on taking care of his son. i just asked my husband to remind his brother about this. Lin said, if he says this too many times to his brother, his brother will get irritated, probably will feel that we hurt his pride (that he can't take care of his own son). somehow he can't indeed!!!! fyuuuhhhh !!!!

i need to be more and more patient !!!!
i'm almost about to explode like an atomic bomb now!
why my lill girl has to always suffer the sickness she shouldn't have got!

calm down yenni... calm down ... !!! hu...hu......huuuu..... ! i need somebody to blow some strong cold wind to my head.


another thing i dislike on my lill nephew is that he is such a crybaby!!!! even when his mom goes to bathroom, he will cry. or he wants something, we dont give him, he will cry madly. and his parents often follow what he wants. while he is sick, if he cries, he will cough. if he coughs, he will vomit things he has eaten.

one more thing, i dislike from my in-laws.
if Chong2 pushes my lill girl, my in-laws say nothing. i suppose they would advise their son not to do such thing to his lill sister. lucky i was holding my girl at that time, bcoz she still cannot stand steadily. if i am not at home, my girl starts to be able to walk, what if her brother pushes her ? surely she will fall down. i worry that it could hit her head.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

ipar yang over higienis

orang rumah banyak yang 'sakit' nih ...
iparnya juga kayaknya 'penyakitan'.
yang waras dan rasional cuman suami gua.

orangnya over higienis. sama aja, merasa paling bener dan paling tau soal ngebesarin anak.
Jing jing sedang main2 sendok, terus jatuh ke lantai. cuman 1-2 detik, aku pungut dan aku kasih lagi main ke dia. dia langsung komen mesti dicuci dulu (kalo di pemikiran dia, habis cuci, disirem air panas lah...).
reseh banget sih!
perasaan ubin rumah gua bersih2 aja. paling setitik dua titik debu... gak akan napa2 ke anak gua. gak akan bikin diare. dan memang terbukti anakku gak diare setelah itu.

terus gua celetuk aja, terlalu higienis juga gak baik, ntar anak malah jadi rentan. ketemu kotor dikit langsung sakit. gak punya kekebalan tubuh.
tetap aja dia kekeh-merekeh dengan pendapat dia. ya udah gua diem aja.

terus bawel lagi semalam. masalah cuci piring. gua biasa cuci piring pakai sabun pencuci piring.
dia komen, itu gak bagus, dari zat kimia. gak baik buat kesehatan. mending cuci pakai air panas.
gua celetuk lagi, keluarga gua seumur hidup di indo cuci piring selalu pakai sabun pencuci piring, sampai sekarang toh sehat2 aja gak ada penyakit. trus dia bilang, jangka panjang kan belom tentu.
gua bilang, yang penting kan bilas bersih, habis itu, kalo lu mau, pas pakai, siram aja lagi pakai air panas.
suami gua juga nyeletuk, "lu kan paling sering makan di rumah makan/restoran. justru di sono yang paling gak higienis, semua rumah makan cuci piring pakai sabun pencuci piring, udah gitu asal bilas aja, air bilasan pun pasti kotor."

apa sih masalahnya? bener2 bikin bete ... kalo dia mau, dia aja yang cuci piring. reseh bener.
terus bokapnya lap mulut anaknya (Chong-Chong) sehabis makan. dia langsung ngomong, "apa barusan lap mulut Chong-Chong pakai kain lap meja?"
gila kali yaaaa ... !!!! emang bokapnya sendiri gak punya otak apa, lap mulut cucu pakai lap meja ?! gua celetuk lagi, "jangan kan lap mulut, lap pantat Chong-Chong aja bokap mertua mesti pakai tisu muka." (bukan tisu toilet gulungan).

sementara gua termasuk orang yang berpendapat, lap pantat pakai tisu toilet gak napa2 kok. gak usah over act-lah. anak gua bukan anak presiden, apa anak raja. tisu toilet yang gua beli juga yang kualitasnya bagus (bikinan APP lho ... anak perush Sinar Mas, made by indonesian..hahahaha...).

terus kalo dia takut zat-zat kimia, baik2 tuh jaga si Chong-Chong, anaknya semata wayang, jangan dibikin sering batuk, pilek, diare.... yang akibatnya dia tiap kali mesti nelen obat2an yang jelas2 juga bahan kimia.
kemarin si Chong-Chong pilek lagi. jadi siapa yang lebih bisa ngejaga anak sendiri?
cobalah benerin diri dulu, bercermin dulu apa dia udah bener, udah tau, udah bisa... baru komen soal gimana orang lain 'parenting'.


ada lagi tuh...
semalam kata ipar gua itu, papa mama gua kalo Jing-Jing ke sana, bisa memanjakannya (dan merusak) habis2an. ngelakuin apa aja bakal dibiarin dan gak dilarang. kok gua merasa nadanya menyindir yah ! karena gua membiarkan Jing-Jing belajar makan sendiri dengan sendok.

enak aja... dia sendiri yang memanjakan dan over act terhadap anaknya.
kalo gak, napa tiap kali anaknya nangis dan merengek2, dia selalu bilang ntar suami gua akan marah. kenapa gak dia sendiri yang marahin anaknya?
kok lama2 orang2 makin freak... ! atau gua yang freak ?