Week 147 motherhood – distracted nursing, police officer field trip, splash pad revival, back to the office

Special EarlyON session where we got to meet a police officer and sit in the cop car!

Week 147 motherhood of 2 year 9 month old and 6.5 month old:

July 7: The baby starts licking her lips and making “chewing” motions whenever she sees us eating at the table. I think she is so “wai sik”! She is quite good and eager to eat food.
July 8: We attended an EarlyON class again. We arrived just in time for the circle time in the last hour. There were so many kids and parents at this one. The toddler was able to say her name out loud correctly when we went around the circle for the “choo choo train” song. Yay! The baby woke up from the car seat in time to join in the fun too. This one doesn’t like to miss anything. 😅
The “choo choo train” song was sung. The “freeze dance” song too was played. The toddler loves that song but refused to move and dance during it. I know she was absorbing and listening to it though. She, as usual, didn’t want to be picked up and placed in the air during the “Zoom zoom zoom” song either.
She loved the free play time. She worked through some lock box play and key play, peered at the sand box but abandoned it once another boy started playing in it too. She was actively placing fake food items into the grocery cart but retreated when the same boy came over to play. He basically stole the cart away from her. I didn’t say anything and the parent just let him do it. I need to speak up for my child…
The baby played with some toys for the first time too at an EarlyON centre.
The toddler requested to go back to the library/community centre where we went before. She enjoyed picking books and listening to me read to her. Then she enjoyed stacking the big blocks (the main reason she wanted to come back), fed some chicken and cereal to the plastic farm animals and dinosaurs, played with the bead maze toy before she got tired and actually told me, “Mama, I’m tired. I want to sleep in the stroller”. She constantly wants to sit in the stroller but her sister’s car seat is attached, so I have to say no. We can’t carry the baby’s car seat with the baby in it for too long of a distance; she’s getting really heavy!
I also think I sprained my left wrist a little bit today. It hurt when I was trying to take the car seat out of the car… how do other moms who are my height fare when taking the heavy car seat in and out of the vehicle?
I put the baby on the hammock/tree swing from our friend’s and she was confused at first and then smiled and laughed. The toddler didn’t want to try it at all. Different personalities at play.
The baby started baby oatmeal and really polished it off. She enjoys being fed by DH. During dinner time, she looks towards him and waits for him to prepare food for her. She can’t get enough of solids. She’ll eat for maybe 5 to 10 minutes and then visibly look uninterested in the food once she’s had enough.
The toddler is able to wash her hands by herself. All she asks for is that I take the learning tower over to the sink for her. She uses the filtered water tap to wash her hands (easier for her to reach instead of the big one at the kitchen sink). She likes to turn on the tap herself, grab the soap dispenser by herself, dispense the liquid soap by herself, rub her hands, and then turn on the tap again to rinse her hands. Little miss independent.
If you try to help her with a task that she can do, she gets frustrated and could melt down. If this happens, you have to immediately undo what you did before the meltdown escalates. If her mood isn’t good/she’s too tired, the immediate undoing might not even work and she’s go into full meltdown mode.
I realize I am like this too sometimes — as in, I get annoyed if someone wants to rush in to help me with something that I can do myself.
I can’t believe that the toddler is turning three years old in just about two months’ time! It’s shocking. (Realized this when people ask me how old she is and I no longer say “two and a half years old”. Instead, I say “she’s turning three in September”! Crazy. Can’t believe we’re almost in middle of July too.
DH resumed going back to work in the office for three days a week this week. Sigh/boo. No more relying on him to watch the kids for a brief break during the day at lunchtime or throughout the day in general. No more handing the kids off to him at 4:30 p.m. sharp. A new normal/era begins. This new routine means more EarlyON sessions and outings for the four of us (grandma, me, and the two kiddos). (Also means more regular TGTG pickups since DH will be commuting and able to pick up things on the way home.)
The toddler can finish an entire banana by herself. She asks me to peel it for her but then she is able to hold and eat it independently.
We had a scheduled 8-hour power outage at the house. We prepared everything beforehand so that we wouldn’t have to get items from the fridge in the morning (before we yeeted out of the house). I had to guard and make sure the toddler didn’t go to the fridge in the morning before we left the house because she’s able to open and access the fridge independently usually. That’s how she retrieves her yogurt snacks.
The toddler copies and eats what the baby eats. When the toddler saw that the baby was trying out peanut butter, the toddler wanted peanut butter on a spoon too. When she saw that the baby was eating baby oatmeal, she was curious about it too.
I cut the baby’s nails with a regular adult nail clipper these days. No need for the baby nail trimmer or even baby-specific nail clippers. I love the convenience of not having more items around the house. The baby lets me cut her finger and toenails while lying down on the bathroom counter (the same place where we change her diapers). We barely use the changing table with this baby. With the toddler, we used it all the time.
The toddler willingly lets us trim her nails too. If she sees me doing it, then she asks me to trim them for her too. Sometimes, I have to do such tasks without her in the room. Otherwise, she’ll want to do it too and it takes longer to get things done that way.
- Same idea when grandma wanted to go to the backyard to water her plants and wanted to sneak out to do it because if the toddler saw her, she’d want to go with her to the backyard too. However, despite her stealth attempt, the toddler noticed it and requested to go with her to water the plants too. Haha… the toddler is so alert and notices everything.
The toddler’s front teeth finally has fewer stains now. It was quite unsightly before. She’s improved her dental hygiene habits because she wants to brush her teeth herself now too. DH and grandma will still help her supplement brushing her teeth, but the toddler is able to brush more efficiently when she is the one holding the toothbrush.
- On that note, we seem to go through toothpaste so quickly in this house… I guess it was because she was overbrushing and using a lot of the toothpaste previously.
July 12: I had a bad oopsie accident as a parent… I was nursing the baby to sleep as usual while side lying on the bed. Only this time, the baby kept fussing and wouldn’t go to sleep. I tried to nurse her and then eventually let her roll around on the bed because sometimes that’s how she falls asleep. Only this time too, I was really tired and fell asleep myself… and then I awoke to a loud “thump” and the baby crying. The baby rolled off the bed. 😥😥😥😥 I quickly went to pick her up and she was crying so loudly and clearly in pain. Oh, my heart. Grandma heard the loud thump from downstairs too and came up to console her. This is the second time that we’ve had a fall with this baby. Oh, no. I felt so bad. She had a noticeable red bump on the right side of her forehead too. DH was at the park with the toddler. I texted him to let him know and he came home immediately.
It’s not like the baby was on the side of the bed from the start. She was actually lying sideways on the bed. Somehow, as I was asleep, she rolled to the side and then turned a corner to be able to roll off the bed. Sigh. We have since put pillows around her to prevent her from falling. But first, I actually fed her in the armchair as usual again to prevent another fall… Sigh.
In the days since then, I’ve pulled out the U-shaped pregnancy pillow again and used it to shield the baby from rolling off accidentally off the bed again. It’s working. Sigh.
DH used ice to rub the baby’s forehead and the red egg immediately cleared up. Phew. I was so glad. She was also laughing and behaving normally, so I didn’t feel like we needed to go to the ER to get her checked out. DH did ask whether we should or not, but I remember the last time we did, the doctor said it was good we waited before going to the ER after the accident because if anything were to come of it, the symptoms wouldn’t show right away and we’d have to wait half a day for it anyway. The baby’s completely fine and normal. The bruise became a little yellow two days later, but there is no more visible bump. She’s okay. 😌
Grandma and I were doing some cleaning in the basement (the toddler was napping for once!). We put the baby in the exersaucer for the first time. We plopped her up with a thick blanket (exactly the way we did the first time the firstborn played in an exersaucer) and she sat in the seat (with toes touching the ground) and played with the moving parts and jingling bells and toys on there for a good period of time. Yay. She was good at tugging the jingly toys and grabbing them with her hands.
The baby can kind of sit independently for a few seconds. We haven’t done too much practising though.
The baby is super distracted these days. When we were out dining with relatives this weekend, the baby didn’t want to nurse. I had to take her to another empty part of the restaurant for her to have nothing to look at for her to nurse successfully for about 7 minutes. I read in the December 2022 babies group that other babies at this age also have the same problem! They are so interested in what’s happening in their surroundings that they can’t focus on nursing straight lol. It’s so funny and cute. One mom even commented that this led to her switching to formula directly because the kid was so distracted and couldn’t nurse to fullness. My baby will suck for a few seconds, unlatch, look around, suck again, unlatch, and then repeat.
The baby likes to tug on the zebra window chain and play with it when she’s sitting in my lap at the kitchen table. She can’t pull it out or put her mouth on it, but she’s always interested in playing with it.
The way that the baby falls asleep in the bed after nursing is amusing. It’s like she’s fallen over like an animal/horse. DH and I muse on it and he calls her a “farm animal” the way she’s sleeping. It’s so cute.
We attended an EarlyON special event where a police officer was invited to speak. He actually didn’t have a presentation prepared so all the kids were invited to his patrol car, sit in it, see the flashing lights, hear the sirens, get some York Regional Police branded stickers, and ask questions. All of the kids are so young (0 to 6 years old), so it’s not like we could have sat through a lecture or anything anyway. It was the toddler’s first exposure to a police officer/enforcement officer up close and personal. Officer Daniel was super nice and approachable with the kids. He took photos with everyone too. The toddler didn’t actually want to get in the back-seat of the car, but I went with her and we got a photo taken. She didn’t want to sit in the front seat, but I did. She took off afterwards to look at the construction people at the construction site at the next-door school instead. She was more interested in that.
The police officer gave the baby (who was awake already in her stroller) a sticker and also patted her on the head lol.
There were some activities and toys set out by the EarlyON staff. The toddler played with the wet mops, the spray bottle, sidewalk chalk, red paint, balls in a basket, and there were some dinosaurs on a mat. We left shortly after the police encounter.
The toddler always wants to sit in the stroller even though the younger sister is sitting in it (via the car seat). She always wants to do what the baby is doing (or eating).
We revisited one of the splash pads that we went to last summer. The toddler enjoyed the water play so much last year. Upon finding the water shoes and having her wear them this year, the toddler said they weren’t comfortable and we realized that she’s grown out of them. Oh, sad. We’ll have to get a new pair of water shoes for her this summer. It makes sense though. We got them size 7 for her last year and they fit perfectly. These will be hand-me-downs to the baby next (not like these were brand new for the toddler either. I got them on marketplace for $5 only last year!).
When we arrived at the splash pad and turned on the water (there’s a manual button for it), the toddler showed hesitation in playing with the water. I was surprised because she loved so much last year. I showed her what to do by going closer to the water and actually got sprayed by the water that suddenly turned out lol. I let out a scream and I think this made the toddler even more fearful of playing. Instead, she said she wanted to play at the next-door playground. Alas, we changed out of her crocs and shorts and we played at the regular playground for a while. It was after a while that the toddler wanted to play with the water so we went back to the splash pad and actually played with the water more this time. Yay! The next day, she said she wanted to go back to the splash pad (but it was a bit gloomy and not hot enough for it).
It’s funny when I was holding the baby and bringing her legs to the water, she held back on it when I tried to bring her to it again (the water was very cold). She was so strong and actually crossed her legs so I couldn’t bring her legs to the water lol. Smart. But then as the sun warmed us up, she was okay with the water and let me wet her legs again on the next go. New sensation for her.
For BLW news, she tried rigatoni this week. She is so good at holding the piece of pasta and bringing it to her mouth. She also bit off a very soft piece of carrot and spat some back out. It’s a bit nerve-wracking to watch her eat the whole thing because there’s a risk of her choking, but it’s also the point of BLW so the baby can learn how much food to put in her mouth and to learn the gag reflex as well. We are always so impressed when watching this one eat.
She loves using the num num spoon to eat oatmeal, peanut butter, and any other soft mushy food.
Grandma told me this morning that she seems to have the first bit of her first tooth coming up. I washed my hands and put a finger in her mouth and indeed, I felt something hard. Ah, I can’t believe she’ll be teething soon! No wonder she can be a little more fussy these days. I hope she’ll learn to be gentle when nursing!