Grabbing the round fruit

Week 143 motherhood of two year eight months old and 5.5 months old: 

• June 10:  The week started off with dim sum with my grandmother as well as polluted air (from the Quebec and Ontario wildfires).  Other than the dim sum lunch, we had been staying indoors and keeping our windows closed.  For the first time, the toddler agreed to wearing a mask in public!  She had always been unwilling to wear it, but DH was able to coax her to wear one.  She wore it during the 5-minute car ride to the restaurant and then once we arrived inside, she whipped it off so quickly lol.  To her credit, DH did tell her that once she arrived at the restaurant indoors, she could take it off (the mask to mainly protect her from inhaling too much of the fumes/smoke).  She cooperated and wore the mask again when we left the restaurant and into the car (but she took it off once she was in the car seat).
• I was impressed that the toddler actually finished an entire siu mai.  I cut it up for her using scissors to make it easier for her to eat, but I was still surprised she finished the whole thing.  She ate some rice noodles and shrimp spring roll (grandma removed most of the crispy parts) too.
• I was trying to nurse the baby during dim sum using the nursing cover, but she wouldn’t really latch.  Finally, I took her to the restaurant where I changed her on the changer (thank goodness they had one) and then used toilet paper on top of the toilet and sat there for about 5 minutes to nurse her.  Yay!  What a difference now that as long as I am able to sit, I can nurse the baby.  The baby was much calmer after being fed and was able to sit in uncle’s lap in his arms for a while.  And then once we left, she conked out in the car seat and slept.  Yay!
• June 14:  We had a nice social weekend this past with two friend contacts:  One where DH’s friends visited us for the first time (the toddler was shy and didn’t want to look at the visitors for first half of the visit — she had her eyes shielded with her hands).  I was impressed that our friend could tell that the baby was grunting and trying to pass gas.  I ended up having to change her because she had a blowout and then fed her.
• The other outing was us visiting DH’s friends’ new house for the first time and we enjoyed a barbecue lunch too.  The toddler saw the almost-2-year-old boy again for the first time and played with his toys in their house.  We loved the singing cactus toy and had so much fun with it.  The toddler was not very shy and able to express herself freely and had fun with the toys too.  She really enjoyed the sandbox in the backyard.  The baby was easygoing and happy to be held by the friends.  I nursed her two times during the visit and when she got tired and needed to sleep, we put her in the car seat, rocked her, and down to sleep she went.  (So easy!)
• The toddler was able to take her first bowel movement on the toilet this week!  She had the potty seat on the toilet and successfully went.  Yay!
• This week, the toddler has been changing her own diapers and clothes.  Yes, she is certainly capable of being potty trained even more now but she still refuses to do it and chooses voluntarily to do her business in the diaper (most of the time).  We can’t force her and nothing has really helped to encourage her to move forward.  We will just have to keep waiting until she is ready.  It could be any day where suddenly she’ll say, “I want to use the potty and not use diapers anymore”.  Let’s see when that day will come…
• The toddler also likes to put diapers on her stuffed animals and change them.
• The toddler actually removed her own diaper herself this week and put one on herself too.  The first couple of times, she wasn’t able to do it but she has been able to do it since.  DH told me that the toddler is now capable of taking off and putting on her clothes all by herself — everything from her shirt to her pants to her socks and shoes.  She can do it all.
• We didn’t attend any EarlyONs this week, in-person or virtually, because the toddler was starting to show signs of a cold.  Sigh.  Not again!  She had some runny nose and mucus.  At the same time, the baby had some mucus in her nose too.  Sigh.  Also, grandma started to have a fever and cough as well as nauseousness /wanting to vomit too.  She stayed in bed for almost the full day on Monday.  It was pretty tough for the rest of us to handle both kids without help that day.  Thankfully, she got much better the next day.  Both kids also have mild symptoms of a cold — just runny nose for the toddler and the baby’s nose was a bit stuffed up but not so bad that she was congested.
• This week saw my first use of the Flashfood app and just like Too Good To Good, I’m addicted already haha.  We got some great discounted fruit and produce, 31 bananas for just $2.99, over 50 lemons and limes, and 94 cents for some chocolate milk.  I haven’t had chocolate milk in so long.  The toddler really enjoyed it too and kept wanting cup after cup of it.  I figure chocolate milk is better than us eating sweet treats all the time; right?  Haha.
• The baby is able to turn not just from her back to her belly now with ease but also from belly to her back!  That was fast and only took a week.  She can keep herself occupied while on her belly and looking around the play area.  She can flip herself from back to belly a few times too and be content.  But after about 10 minutes, that’s when she starts crying and needs attention.
• The toddler takes away the baby’s toys sometimes.  We’ll give the baby a toy and the toddler will go to grab it from her… Obviously we teach her not to do that, but the toddler is being her toddler self… She doesn’t know how to share all the time yet.  Sometimes she does, but sometimes she doesn’t.
• The baby seems to suck harder and bite down harder too this week.  I have to pull away from her when she bites down too hard.  I can’t believe that next week she’ll be starting solids!  I wonder if she will drink less milk upon starting solids?  I wonder if she will like solids and end up eating a lot?  I wonder if she will be more full during the day (and night) from eating the solids?  During the daytime, she usually still feeds every two hours on the dot.  During nighttime, she hasn’t given us the 7-hour stretch or 9-hour stretch of sleep again, but they range between 4 and 5 hours for the first chunk.
• I can’t believe it’s mid-June already.  Every week seems to pass by so quickly.
• The best part about the two girls interacting so far is that the baby really likes the older sister and will laugh and giggle on her own when watching the older sister play.  The toddler could just be talking or doing something ordinary, but the baby will watch her and laugh and giggle.  It is the darnest cutest thing ever.
• The toddler continues to ask questions and talk about every little thing and has the best memory.  I was talking to DH about picking up a surprise bag sometime at the new Village Juicery at Yonge & Sheppard and how to go about doing that sometime and then a few days later, the toddler asked us what “Yonge & Sheppard” was.  She didn’t pronounce it exactly correctly, but we recognized it as such.  She asks us random things that she remembers like this from our conversations all the time.
• She also remembers that the dino stuffie is found at Walmart while the tiger stuffie is found at Shoppers lol.
• Sometimes I have to ask the toddler to repeat herself because she doesn’t say the intended word or words exactly like it is in English and I can’t make out what it is.  Even after asking her to repeat herself though, I sometimes still don’t know what she’s saying. 😅
• Despite not attending the EarlyONs in person, I also didn’t sign up for any virtual classes this week.  I guess I’m a bit tired of them too and want a break.  I also prefer the kids to play at home instead of watching a screen.
• The baby LOVES watching TV screens and our phone screens.  Whenever the living room TV is on, the baby will turn her head to watch.  Maybe we’ve encouraged her from a young age to watch the TV because we were participating in the virtual EarlyON sessions?  Anyway, it’s good to take a break from them.
• It’s a contrast to the toddler (yet again) who didn’t show much interest in TV when she was young.
• In contrast, the toddler loves to read and look at books.  The baby, on the other hand, will stay and listen for a page or two and then look away from the book.  What?  How can the baby not like books already at this age?!  It’s such a difference.
• Also, it goes to show that the EarlyON location we attend matters.  We suspect that the kids got sick with the mild cold from the EarlyON session that we attended last week.  It was a new venue and one that I commented felt crowded, cramped, and like the space wasn’t very clean or airy.  It was stuffy when we were there.  And there was that one boy who had a runny nose.  Maybe the kids caught the bug from there.  From now on, we’ll find and stick to the tried-and-true EarlyON sessions that are bigger and spaced out.
• Because I’ve been side lying with the baby and feeding her that way, there are a few times this week where she doesn’t prefer to sleep in the armchair and likes to nurse and sleep in the bed.  It’s probably much comfier for her.  However, I don’t want it to be a habit either.  If we are out and about, there’s no way for her to be able to sleep on a flat surface like the bed at home.
• When we put the baby in the high chair with the eating tray, we’ll give her a toy or two to play with.  She usually likes to munch on it.  Even when I’m holding her sometimes, she likes to gnaw and munch on my hand.  The toddler never did this as a baby.  She never actually chewed on any toys.  (Each baby is, again, so different!  I love it.)
• This is how I know the baby is biting down harder too.  She sucks and munches so vigorously on my hand when I’m holding her.  DH commented that it’s like she’s a vacuum (with the amount of force and suction that she has).