Latest creation using wooden Jenga blocks from the 22-month-old toddler (also see how the magnetic tiles are used)

Week 151 motherhood of 2 year 10 month old and 7.5 month old: 

• Aug. 3:  The baby slept 6 hours straight for once in a long time!  We wondered if it was because she had congee for dinner last night… (carbs kept her full for longer).
• The toddler built quite an elaborate 2D display using the Jenga blocks.  So proud of her.  She put a dime on top of a peg doll and put one of the peg dolls inside a sculpture she made using 4 triangular magnetic tiles.  Love it!
• Aug. 9:  This week, the toddler started doing some new thing where she holds the bottom part of her eye socket down and looking foolish and asking me to take a photo of her.  Silly girl.
• The baby sleeps so well and snuggled within the confines of the bed using the pregnancy pillow.  I alternate feeding each side of the breast with her and turning each way as needed.  I’ll sit her up and burp her too and keep doing it until she sleeps.  These days sometimes, she doesn’t fall asleep as quickly as she used to.  It’s only when she’s really, really tired that she’ll fall asleep on the first feed.  And then I can scooch away/roll away.  But mostly, I fall asleep with her.  I actually sleep more these days than I ever used to.  I have bonus naps with her.
• We attended a drop-in EarlyON Family Stay and Play class just in time for the circle time at 11 a.m.  The toddler has gone backwards a bit and doesn’t say her name by herself at circle time anymore.  She either asked me to say it for her or didn’t say anything at all, which made me say her name for her.  She’s unpredictable.
  • At this EarlyON session, the usual sand table was replaced with a straw table that had plastic animals embedded inside of it.  So neat and another great sensory activity.  The toddler asked why there was no sand and why there was hay instead.  The toddler has such a great memory for everything.
  • The toddler really likes playing the toy which is like a house and has four doors on each side of it with a ring of keys attached to it.  You have to use the correct corresponding key in order to open the four doors.  The toddler needs help using the keys as she doesn’t know how to insert the key correctly the right way into the key holes yet.  She really enjoys this game.  She was looking to play it and saw that it was taken already by another child.  She waited until it was available and then we picked it up to play.  We realized that after many uses (it’s such a popular toy) that one of the keys has been squished and thus can’t fit into the keyhole to open the door anymore.  The toddler kept asking why it was broken and I repeated my explanation to her many times.
    • (There was actually another boy playing with it first and after he was done, that was when we picked it up to play.  The little boy had the “nerve” to come over and say it was his toy to play with first and tried to grab it back.  I firmly told him that he wasn’t playing with it anymore and that it was our turn.  Good thing the mom was next to him and told him he had to share.  Also, there was a facilitator nearby who watched what happened and also diverted his attention to another toy that was available instead.  My toddler always has her toys taken from her by mostly boys.  She doesn’t know how to stand up for herself so I have to.  It’s also unnerving how many male kids seem to think it’s okay to just rush in and take a toy from another child.  Where are their manners?  Luckily, the mom was next to him in this case and told him off, but many times, I’ve noticed that the child’s parent was not nearby and thus didn’t teach the child about sharing.  It’s unfortunate.)
• At this age, the toddler can peel tangerines by herself to eat as well as hard-boiled eggs, bananas, and open yogurts.  I love it and I love her independence.  I know when I was at this age, I was still helped out by my parents and other caregivers.
• The baby this week has enjoyed gnawing on whole carrots, mashed bananas, lots of spoon-fed congee, baby oatmeal, egg yolk, peanut butter, peppers.
• We pulled out the old and handy-dandy Fisher Price portable booster seat for the baby to sit in and she was happy in it.  I can’t believe it’s that time again for the baby to be able to sit in this chair.  I still remember when we got it for the toddler to sit in way back then.  At restaurants, the two kids are pretty calm.  The toddler likes to sit in my lap still.
  • (There was one time this weekend when we visited a restaurant and the baby was put in the restaurant’s high chair for the first time that the toddler saw this and finally, and for once, wanted to sit in the high chair too.  So we had two kids in two high chairs at the table.  It was nice to finally have my lap back to myself haha.)
• We tried to do our beloved food-hopping activity with the kids and grandma this long weekend.  We visited three spots before the oldest child was tired and didn’t want to walk anymore (we made the mistake of not bringing the stroller).  It was hard to get the toddler to keep walking as she was distracted by wanting to walk on the pebbles instead and then wanting to sit down because she was tired.
• When it was drizzling a bit this weekend, the toddler wanted to bring out the small white toy umbrella for use.  She was cute standing under it and holding it.
• When we eat out too, after she’s full, the toddler likes to yank one of us out to walk with her — either around the restaurant if there’s space or out to the street.  She’s full and wants to stretch her legs and can’t sit for long at the table — totally normal.  It’s actually not the greatest for us to sit for that long anyway but I’m so used to it and that’s how I enjoy my food.
• This week, the toddler has been loving all sorts of fresh fruits — cherries, bananas, oranges.  I’m glad she is a fruit lover.
• Her grandpa commented that she’s more happy and cheerful these days as an older sister.  She does tend to smile more than before her sister was born but it’s not like she was unhappy before (lol).
• The toddler says that she doesn’t like the new double stroller we got for them.  She likes the “old new” stroller instead — the Graco double stroller.  She doesn’t like the Joovy one because it is more cramped and she sits behind her sister lol.
• The baby plays so well in the exersaucer.  DH noticed this too.  She actually knows how to touch the spinning shaker globe and flip the mirror and then turn to the other side where there’s other toys.  She also knows how to ring the bell and chime toys.  She really takes a liking to sounds and music.  She always likes holding the toys with bells and jingles at EarlyON centres too.
• This week, we ventured to Stouffville’s EarlyON class for Creative Chefs in lieu of the Aurora one.  The reason being that I scheduled three things to pick up along the way from Facebook marketplace (and also I wanted to check out what the Creative Chefs class in Stouffville offered instead).  The kids made fruit yogurt smoothies and guacamole with Tostitos rounds!
  • I was a little crestfallen to know that the facilitators didn’t do much instruction or teaching here either before the kids made the food.  I still love the Thornhill location where they actively taught the kids how to make the food with lots of hands-on skills throughout.
  • The class was very organized though.  There were frozen fruits in bowls, yogurts in measuring cups, ice blocks, and plastic cups for the kids to scoop the fruit and yogurt and ice into.  After they selected their fruits, the cup was given to the facilitator to blend everything together in a mixer.  The toddler watched as her choices were blended up in the mixer and came out as a deep purple drink.  It was too cold for her to drink right away so she let it warm up to room temperature before she drank it.
  • DH came to the class and was the one who helped the toddler scoop out the avocado from its skin onto the cutting board, put it into the mortar, and then showed her how to grind it with the pestle.  Then the smashed avocado was put into a plastic cup, at which point the facilitator gave us some Tostito rounds to dip into the guacamole and start snacking away.  The toddler really enjoyed eating the guac and chips.  She loves crunchy snacks.  She had sips of the fruit smoothie from time to time too.  So “tan” at the snack table while she watched other kids eat too.
    • Unfortunately, I watched a mom in distress as her youngest daughter accidentally kicked and spilled the cup of smoothie on to the snack table.   When everything was cleaned up and the cup was knocked over a second time, the mom immediately grew angry again and started scolding the daughter in Cantonese, saying that she was “useless” and naughty for spilling the drink.  We all know it wasn’t the child’s fault.  The mom maybe felt embarrassed that her daughter couldn’t “behave” in public?  She further added more toxic statements like “You’re so naughty, I’m bringing you home” and “Why are you so bad?”  I really felt bad for the mom because she was clearly having a frustrating and stressful moment but also that she doesn’t see clearly that her words paint a very toxic and hurtful environment for her kids.  If she is this in public, I can’t imagine how much worse the words she will use to scold her kids at home.  It reminds me of my own Chinese upbringing and how this type of language is very normal and common.  So many Chinese moms think it’s okay to speak to the kids like this and it hurts the child’s self-esteem in the long run.  I hope she learns and corrects her behaviour for her kids’ sake.
  • The toddler really enjoyed the toys here at this Stouffville site.  She played briefly with a busy board that had locks and switches on it, a colour matching board activity, a magnet ball activity, different sized wooden boxes with items in it (very science-y), cutting a play cake in the kitchen, and then the almighty sensory box where there were multi-coloured pebbles in it!  She scooped the pebbles from one cup to another.  She got to use a cup-like scissors too to try to scoop the pebbles into, but this was very new to her fingers for fine motor skills and she wasn’t able to do it yet.  As she was slowly learning it, two boys noticed her playing and immediately charged over and took over the space.  Ugh.
  • One of the boys’ mom apologized but it’s not like she asked her boy to move and make space for my toddler to keep playing.  And where was the other boy’s parent?  It’s frustrating that my child is a passive type and gets “bullied” or “abused” by these kids who just rush in and take over a play space.  Thankfully, it was five minutes to circle time so we soon left to wash our hands and get ready to read a book and sing instead.  (If I hadn’t opened the lid of the sensory box, the kids at the centre didn’t even know that that activity was available that day.  My toddler was the first and only one to play with it initially that day.)
  • I loved that the facilitators sang food-related songs for circle time.  Instead of the usual “choo-choo train” song, they even made it a “food train” song that day.  There were so many food-related songs that I had never heard of:  Fork, knife, spoon; squeezing the ice cream/freezer; popcorn lap song.  There was just one I recognized which was the peanut butter one.  So creative that they chose food songs for the Creative Chefs class.  I liked that the facilitators were into the songs here at this location.  I also liked the selection of the toys at this location more.
    • The toddler kind of froze during the songs and didn’t want to participate in the motions at all.  She was learning by observation though which is very important.
• When I’m eating something and the baby can’t have it, she’ll watch and look at me and look like she wants to eat it too.  I feel bad that she can’t have it (especially if we’re out and we didn’t pack some baby food for her).
• The toddler likes swinging on the neighbour’s tree swing these days.  She’s come out of her shell and not shy about playing on it anymore.  She previously liked to just lay down on it and have me swing it around.  Ever since she saw the neighbour’s kid sit in it and hold both sides of it, she prefers it this way too.  She has the biggest smile on her face as I push her.  Summer memories for sure.
• I’ve accumulated all sorts of inflatable items for an upcoming trip.  It just so happened that all these items are inflatables lol.  Inflatable bed for the toddler, inflatable arm floats and swim ring for swimming, inflatable air bed for flying, inflatable bath tub for bathing the baby (and toddler if she wants).  Haha, it’s just too funny that everything is an inflatable.  Also got some disposable swim diapers for the kids too ($5 and $8 from marketplace — cheap and cheerful).
  • After we brought the inflatable bath tub home, we put the baby in and she fit perfectly.  She can even sit in it for play time for regular play too; not just for bathing in the hotel bath tub.  Once the toddler saw the baby sit in it, she wanted to sit and play in it too…
• One of the final things for this week to blog about:  I was so angry and upset after this happened, but I got all of my steam out.  Here’s the encounter anyway:
  • I was standing next to the toddler while she was sitting and swinging happily in the tree swing.  An elderly female neighbour walked down the street towards us and we waved hello.  It was the second time we had seen her.  She must have felt very comfortable now that we had seen each other twice and immediately launched into conversation mode.  It was the type where you couldn’t get half a word in because she was so into herself and just blabbing away.  That’s fine and all because some elders are like that.  The issue was when she pointed at my stomach and asked, “So when is the next one coming?”  I stopped dead in my tracks (figuratively) and couldn’t believe what she had said.  She thought I was pregnant.  *face palm *.
  • I can’t help it that I was bloated and my shirt may have made it look like I was full below the breasts.  But I am also postpartum and in any case, no one should make that assumption without having proof because then it’s a case of being extremely rude and making things awkward.  I didn’t know what to say or how to respond (especially because we were conversing in Cantonese and I couldn’t think on the spot in Cantonese) that I blurted out casually, “Oh, I’m just fat.” (I couldn’t believe I had to say that…).  She said something which I totally don’t remember because I was so startled at this exchange and then that’s when I said, “Well, I just have had another baby so of course it’s maybe why I have that…”.  And then that’s when she probably realized her mistake because she said, “Oh, then you’re not fat.  It’s because you just had a baby ha, ha, ha.”  I couldn’t look her straight in the face after that and my body language must have shown I didn’t really want to talk to her anymore either.
  • I turned away and shortly she decided to resume her walk.  It was interesting though because she walked past our house and then crossed to the other side, looked around at the houses, and then turned back and walked back the way she came.  Except this time, she was walking on the other side of the street while looking away.  My guess is that she must have felt ashamed (I sure hope so!) and didn’t want to engage in any other conversation because she knew it was awkward and she said the wrong thing.  I just couldn’t believe that that happened and I was flabbergasted at the exchange.
  • I knew that she was an older lady who probably didn’t understand current social norms (you’re not supposed to point out someone is pregnant if they have a little bit of a muffin top or bloat.  You just can’t say anything unless and until they’re actually popping with a watermelon-like belly.  It’s such a sensitive topic.  What if I was trying to get pregnant but unsuccessful?  What if I was bloated from IVF treatments to try to get pregnant?  [So, so many couples these days rely on medical treatment to get pregnant.]  What if I had suffered a loss and that’s why I was bloated?  What if I was just postpartum?! [Which I am]  Or what if I just have some excess weight?  I can’t be a little chubs and HAVE to be rail-stick skinny?  Geez Louise!)
  • I was so upset and angry.  Ranting about it to DH and my mom helped me feel okay again.  DH couldn’t believe it either and asked me immediately to identify the neighbour in our community chat so he knew who it was.  Just a big yikes and awkward moment for her and another (unfortunately) upsetting encounter for me.
  • Why do people think it’s okay to comment on my body?  I don’t go around asking if they’re pregnant or not.  It’s so rude.  It’s the 21st century.  People (especially the older 60s and above) need to LEARN that this is unacceptable.
  • (The first time I was postpartum and someone I didn’t know asked if I was pregnant was a real estate agent when we were touring an open house [he was trying to make small talk].  I actually openly told him at that time, “Um no, I’m not pregnant” and I could tell he IMMEDIATELY knew that he had said the wrong thing.  We barely acknowledged him when we left the house because he was so awkward and rude.)  Sigh, when will people learn?
• Also had my second postpartum tui-na massage this long weekend.  This time, the masseuse was so strong and powerful that I felt like I was being attacked every couple of seconds each time she stroked my back/arms/legs.  It was so intense.  I felt so sore all over for two days after.  I know tui-na massages are great at pinpointing the pressure points to focus recovery and maintenance of certain parts of your body, but this was the most intense and painful massage I’ve had in recent memory.
• Haha, more to add:  The baby has two teeth coming through this week!  Both tops of the teeth are visible now and despite that, she doesn’t bite me when nursing.  Yay!  So glad.  Also glad that she is growing teeth and able to eat more soon!  She can finish a large half bowl of congee in a sitting (with a break in between).
• I still see the numbers “44” or “14” or “4_4” all the time.
• The baby has graduated to size 3 diapers now!  (We finished all the of size 2s and she can fit the size 3s anyway.)
• Poor baby has a bit of congestion or cold…  I noticed her voice sounded a bit low and unusual and then before I knew it, we heard her cough a little bit.  She was still playful and eating normally though.  Her eyes had some pus in it too which I removed (like when she was sick with RSV and a cold last time).  No fever or anything else.  And this means no meds for it either and we will let it run its course.  She napped for much longer than usual today too (from 2:30pm to 5:30pm).  I hope she recovers soon.