Tag Archives: 13 mo

worry-wart

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i think mothers tend to worry a lot. sometimes necessary, sometime unnecessarily.

when Ollie was still waking up 4-5 times a night, I worried about the amount of sleep he was getting. Surely getting awoken multiple times a night wasn’t good for him? I then reinforced the two daily naps, just so he could hit at least 12 hours of sleep a day. Also, the two naps helped ensure my sanity as it gave me two hourly breathers before I deal with Oliver again.

when Ollie was going through a phase where he was eating 5 spoonfuls of porridge/cereal for each meal, I worried about how little he was eating. He was running all over the place and yet eating so little. Surely he was starving? It didn’t help when both his grandmas were going on about how petite he looked and had lost some of the chubbiness in his face. I made up by nursing him. At least he was still getting some nutrients.

now Ollie is eating A LOT. He wakes up at 7am, and goes “mum mum mum”. Fair enough, he sleeps through most of the night for the past couple of days, so he would be hungry. He has a cup of milk. He then has a breakfast of oatmeal with fruit puree, each spoonful topped with Cheerios at 9.30am. Goes down for a hour nap at 10am. Wakes up at 11am, walks to the fridge and goes “mum mum mum”. Hrm. Offer him a corn cake or a biscuit.

What? You want more? Umm, okay. How about a fruit pouch? Sure, cool, you finished it. It’s gonna be interesting to see how you are going to finish your lunch now. What? You want some of my bryani? It’s spicy. Oops..too spicy eh. Here, have some yoghurt. Riiiight. You finished the yoghurt. It’s now 12pm. I guess you are probably not gonna have lunch.

Cue 12.45pm. You guessed it. “mum mum MUM MUM”. And he finishes 3/4 of his rice porridge. Where did all the food before go to??

Then lotsa running around, dancing, peekaboos and doing what he does best, reading mama’s book upside down. We head out for a bit, more running around. Time for his nap at 3pm, and he downs another cup of cold milk. The weather is a little humid, the cold milk should cool him down a little. He sleeps for an hour.

Wakes up a 4pm. Walks to the fridge, pats the door. “Mum mum”. *sigh*. I swear, I now have this mental image of a teenage Oliver, being ABSOLUTELY blokey, scratching his stomach, standing in front of the opened fridge and thinking about what to eat. But yes, that is too far down the road. So another biscuit, more Cheerios, another rice cracker, water. A bit of quiet play with the iPad, some reading and puzzles, 5.45pm, he is ready for his dinner. Donald comes home, and Ollie is ready for OUR dinner at 6.30pm. Yes, he continues eating some of our dinner. Then there is fruit at 7.30pm, then a supper of milk with oatmeal & Cheerios at 8.15pm before bedtime at 8.30pm.

Where does he pack all that food?? I posted a question on FB about whether toddlers double their intake. I worried about him overeating. So damn if he undereats, and damn if he overeats. Haha.

He doesn’t poop. I worry about constipation. He poops twice a day. I worry that he has an upset stomach. Bah. Does all these worry not end? I didn’t think so. Probably not until they grow up and get married or something. Then it’s Ollie’s wife’s responsibility. Muhahah.

Ollie’s been doing some growing these few days. It’s really lovely to see more and more of that cheeky & smiley disposition. I did get really cross with him a couple of time when he has tried to poke his finger into the fan (thank goodness for the fan netting) and told him off. His little face crumbled immediately, and he came over for a hug. Aww. He understands instruction a lot better and is more willing to comply. And I love watching him interact with the feline boys. Ask him to give Marcus a hug, and he actually leans over and gives him a hug. I am thankful for a cheerful baby, it has motherhood a lot easier for me and a really pleasant journey.

Does make me wanna have more kids. =P Imagine all the giggling going on in the house! haha.

Category: Daily | Tags: , , ,

time out

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heading out

heading out

for the first time in a long while, Ollie and I spent the day together outside, just the both of us. Usually when we headed out, we would meet up with either D, or head to someone’s place to chillax for the afternoon before heading home.

so today, I had plans for us to go to the BabyCare Fair at the Singapore Expo to check out some stuff for Ollie (safety gate!!). The fair starts at 11am, but dear mama here decided that we will have breakfast at maccas so off we went at 8.45am in the morning. =P we had a lovely time over breakfast, sharing a kid’s portion of pancakes, and exploring the toy that came with the meal. It was a hacky sack. Ollie immediately went “ball!” but was a wee befuddled as to why this ball didn’t bounce, roll away and felt different. Nevertheless, still a ball and he is happy that he has a new ball. Toddlers. Right.

Anyhoos, we had a bit of a nonsensical chat on the way to the expo hall, and stood in the queue for the doors to open. He had a quick 30 min nap and woke up just after the doors opened. Niiice. We took a slow stroll around the stalls, got some new snacks for Ollie, checked out safety gates, cabinet and drawer latches (yes we are at that stage & it is driving me nuts!!), and scored some free yoghurt drops for the monster. Yay. Ollie was happy. Mama is happy too cos she got to do some shopping. =D

Then it was off to get Daddy some new pants (in new sizes….haha). It was..interesting shopping for men’s pants with a toddler strapped to me in front. Hrm. Ollie couldn’t get his hands off the pants I was holding. Finally picked one with Donald’s stamp of approval and apparently Ollie gave his stamp of approval too cos he knicked it out of my reusable bag and wouldn’t stop hugging it! Waaaat. Guess we can’t return it now. Whoops.

It was a good day out, sun was out, we got some good time together. It’s been a good week.

On another note, today is Day 6 of Ollie weaning off breastfeeding and we have been progressing really well. We started off weaning in the day since we found out that he was able to fall asleep in the carrier without needing to nurse to sleep. However, this was only if Donald was carrying him. And this was after Donald had been putting Ollie to sleep in the carrier at bedtimes for the past week or so after nursing. So I started weaning him in the day by nursing him when he woke up, instead of nursing him to sleep. He wasn’t too happy with not being able to nurse to sleep. Initially I would tell him firmly to “stop” squirming and fussing, which he would comply very quickly and snuggle back on me and fall asleep shortly. Subsequently, I would explain to him that there was “no more milk” and he would fuss a little while before accepting it. In the early days, it took me nearly 45 minutes to put him down for a nap, between him fussing and crying. Today, it takes me about 15 minutes with a little play time and giggles, a wee bit of fussing and then quiet down. Unfortunately, it still takes Donald 30 minutes to put him to bed. Haha. Maybe Ollie just craves for Daddy contact time. =D

With this weaning, my breastmilk supply has dropped a fair bit and I’ve decided that I’d still pump to mix it with cow’s milk so that Ollie will have his regular nutrient intake. I am cautious to not let Ollie have too much cow’s milk for now, and to progressively increase the amount of cow’s milk. It is a little fascinating to watch him down 100ml of milk in between gulps and sips using a straw since I never knew how much he drank before, and especially when it is soooo difficult to get him to drink water. *grumbles*

Am I worried about the loss of bond between Ollie and me that I got from breastfeeding? Not really. The quiet time we have pre-naps are good enough. He snuggles on my chest, and we have a giggle & laugh and he sleeps. I’m happy with that. I reckon we need more of these days together.

Category: Kids | Tags: , , , ,