Week 76 – pushy, first outing in months, screen time

Long time no play date

Week 76:

Mar 7: Why is it that there aren’t more shorter videos available for toddlers to watch on YouTube instead of hour-long videos? I don’t want my young child who’s not even 2 years old yet watching a video that is 60 mins long. That’s ridiculous!! (Referring to “Ms. Rachel” in particular as so many moms recommended it in an online group).
On that note, I mention this because I have started giving bb some screen time lately — but no more than 10 mins. If you parent with screen time, no problem — no judgment at all — but our current approach is giving as little screen time as possible for her.
I’ve found a real life animals video showing different farm animals to her that was decent. I found a bus video that explains how a bus works, but I noticed that the images and video cutting was too fast. Bb is not ready to view fast videos like that. I guess next time I will try “sesame street” or “Mr Rogers” type of videos instead.
She continues to do the “shake head for no and nod for yes” with me and does it every time she greets me.
She eats well at the high chair on her own, but we realize that she can continue feeding when she’s not sitting in it. We get her to eat more this way and she sleeps better and longer at night because of it.
This past weekend, she had an outing for the first time in months since Omicron hit. She hadn’t been to her relatives’ house since 2021. She cried and was unfamiliar with the place once again and stuck to us.
When she eventually loosened up and her older cousin by just 5 months “played” with her, she actually took his toys and also pushed him and wanted to do things herself. -_- Why is she like this?
And when she did loosen up, she actually vocalized herself and loudly said “ba ba” or “bui gor” to the delight of her aunt.
I held her 5-month-old cousin next to her and bb didn’t have much of a reaction except to look at her face lol.
When it is time for nap, to change her diaper, or bedtime, she actually walks herself to the stairs to go upstairs. She knows.
I can ask her to point to me an item inside a story book and she can correctly point it to me. 😀
Brought out the rest of her books that were in storage and we began reading those again. Realized she likes reading so much that I’m going to buy more secondhand/cheap books from fbm for her. Already two of her books have tattered spines, which means she’s been using them a lot. As much as I want things to be minimal, realistic books will be a great item to bring into her play area.
Showed her how to thread through a string through her wooden blocks today as a new toy, but the concept is a bit new for her. Also, the string is not a good kind. Will find a better one and then let her play with it. These toys can be purchased but I can easily DIY this at home 😀
She knows when she’s thirsty and can grab her purple 360 cup to drink from the table. She’s much taller now.
At the family gathering, she noticed when her younger cousin’s shoes fell off and pointed it out and said “deet”. She observed her younger cousin so intently.
Mar 9: Didn’t mention this last week but her voice sounds a little “nasal-y” when she talks.
Yesterday, I went down to the basement to get something and I thought grandma was actively caring for her. I heard bb calling my name and it turns out that she went all the way up to the second floor to look for me! This was the first time that she went by herself upstairs. It was so dangerous! She could have fallen. She walks so, so fast now.
This past week, I started letting her watch 10 minutes of YouTube a day. I find videos of realistic things for her to watch like animals or vehicles and talk to her about it. She seems to like asking to watch the TV but her attention on it is about 10 minutes only.
But at the same time, I don’t want her to get used to her addicted to watching TV. She climbed up on the couch and was looking for the remote, but since it was getting close to her bedtime, I didn’t want her watching anything and didn’t let her. She scrunched up her face and cried a little bit but I redirected her attention to somewhere else and she was fine again.
This past week, I looked forward to our evenings after bb is in bed and we watch Korean dramas (finished up Alice in Borderland) on Netflix lol. It seems so stereotypical, but it’s the best time of the day when bb is asleep and we can just relax and tune out to a show..
Most days, I count down to when DH finishes work at 4:30 so I can be relieved of mommy duty. And I am excited for when bb goes to bed so we can start our nightly show.
We discovered a nearby creek with ducks swimming around in our new neighbourhood this week when taking a walk outside! It’s so nice to discover nature so close to our new place. 😀
This week, she loved eating blueberries and kept asking for more.
She can do and finish the farm puzzle on her own (!)
I pulled out a regular chunky puzzle for her to do, but it says age 3 and up. She is not ready for it even though she was curious. I don’t want her to play things where she’s not capable of yet and then feel inferior. On the other hand though, the wooden puzzle her grandparents got for her says age 3 and up too, but she technically is able to piece that one together already… 🤔
Just when I thought the projectile throw-up days were over since we haven’t had them in a while, she had two such occasions this week. Thank goodness DH or grandma is at home so I have help to clean her up.
Grandma is trying to get bb to pee or poo in the potty trainer. She did it once this week. Reading the “potty” books really help.
Bb is able to finish the sentences in the Chinese books. When asking her “what do you say when you greet someone in the morning,” she replies correctly “good morning” in Cantonese. Same thing for “good afternoon”, “good night,” and “thank you”. I’m pleasantly surprised at how well she remembered those things.
Sometimes when she says something, I don’t quite make out what it is she’s saying. She repeats it and looks at me intently and gets frustrated until I finally “hear it.”
We think there is a correlation between her eating enough during the day and her sleeping through the night. We try to give her more food throughout the day, but it is still up to her to eat it or not.
When putting her to bed at night, she is so used to her dad putting her into her jammies and sleep sack that when I try to help, she says “mm bay” (not letting you) and then pushes me out of the way. She adds salt on to injury by saying “ba ba” meaning “dad only”. 😂😂😂😂 DH and I laugh about this every time. It’s funny and interesting since I’m the one who exclusively puts her down for naps now and I also put her in a sleep sack during nap times and yet she lets me. So it’s funny that she can’t equate the same sleep sack procedure for night time too and only allows her dad to do it.
Been working out to Zumba or YouTube videos this week. It’s been good to get my heart pumping and body sweating again :3
I love when she sits in my lap and I read a book to her. She fits perfectly in my lap and it’s so snuggly. ^_^
When I ask her to “kiss” her stuffed animals, she actually knows how to do it. (We’ve actually never taught her how to “blow a kiss” as so many parents seem to do…)
We have a book that shows everyday items in French and it’s one of the best books I’ve gotten on FBM. She can identify the lemon in French and say it (“citron”). She says “anana” for pineapple too. It’s funny because DH pronounces some of the French words differently, so I’m sure bb notices the difference when we read to her.
I pulled out the plush food items for her this week to play with. Her play area is a mess. We need to put up some shelves and clean up her play area so it’s less of an eye sore.
I finally have a transcript to work on, but the procrastination is so terrible this time around.
She is outgrowing her clothes… some tops are short on her now and the seams of some of her pants are starting to rip…
This week, she learned to say “gor nay” (come here). She can also say “over there” (gor doe) and tells things to “chut nay” (come out).
I think it was last week that she started drawing with a pen. We gave her a pencil which is much better so she doesn’t leave permanent marks on the kitchen counter. She of course still got pencil marks on the counter though lol… It’s cool to see her scribble and leave lines on the paper — it’s like she’s actually “drawing”!
This week, she liked to play with a small cardboard box by sitting INSIDE of it like a cat 😂😂. She had trouble getting out of it because she fit so snugly inside of it.
She also played with two small plastic kids sized chairs by moving them from the basement on to her play area. She liked climbing on top and sitting on them.