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.