Week 164 motherhood – flu shots, making beans, waving at strangers

Shredded paper meals

Week 164 motherhood with 3 year old and 10.5 month old:

November 2, 2023: Oh, no. It happened again. This morning, the baby rolled off the queen bed accidentally… sigh. I was in the toilet when it happened. The baby was pushing off the side of the bed off the pregnancy pillow and slid off. I heard a loud thud and then a cry and immediately knew what happened. DH was downstairs with the toddler and grandma was in her room. Sigh.
(The off chance that I ended up feeding the baby in the big bed and this happened… I had been sleeping with her in her own twin bed for all the other nights. Also, it was interesting this morning because I woke up with her lying on my chest like a pillow. She had fallen asleep like that after nursing!)
The baby cried hysterically for a few moments but appeared fine. Luckily, we had their flu shot appointment booked for later that morning so her ped saw her. She had her breakfast just fine and was behaving normally after she had calmed down. The ped said she looked okay too.
She was a trooper during her first flu shot. The baby cried only a little bit after the needle and then was fine.
On the other side, the toddler didn’t enjoy the experience at all. From the moment we told her she was going to get a flu shot in the morning, she already said she didn’t want to go and that she would just watch her sister get it. Good thing she still cooperated with getting in the car despite verbally not wanting to go. She was curled up in the chair with DH and started to cry once the nurse came in with the flu shot. The needle was fast but she still cried for a while after it was done. Poor child.
November 8: This week, the toddler made use of the “real” scissors and made “beans”. She has been cutting up the white pieces of paper to make “rice”. She used her dot marker to dot practically an entire sheet red and then used the scissors to cut off the pieces bit by bit to make red beans. She put them in her toy pot and in her toy kitchen to “cook” it. She has been serving her stuffed animals the rice. She expanded her menu by adding “noodles” too. She used the paper boxes that I received from a wedding (favours used to hold a bar of soap) and said it was a “rice cooker”. She also used the shredded paper inside of it as “noodles”. So creative.
I have been teaching her to hold the scissors with the pointy blades pointing to the floor. She can’t run or walk with the scissors pointing up; it’s so dangerous in case she falls. I remember when I was in school, the teacher taught us to hold scissors like they’re Mickey Mouse ears. I have been teaching the toddler the same thing too.
The toddler has been making more and more creative creations with the jenga blocks and magnetic tiles. This week, she made a trampoline with the jenga blocks as well as a long table for her peg people to sit on and eat at. She also used the cylinder blocks as “juice” to put on the table. So creative! She is only 3 years old. I can’t wait to see what else she will continue to make. ^_^ I am so happy that we limit her toys so she can use what she has available to creatively express her imagination. She can actually play for a long time by herself now. It’s so great for her development.
Did I mention previously that DH assembled the indoor trampoline for the toddler a week or so ago? (It was a birthday gift from her grandparents.) So now we have a small trampoline for her to jump and play with in the basement. It’s great for her gross motor skills to jump around and play.
The toddler, a week ago, asked me to make a swing for her Minnie Mouse stuffed animal. I attached the Medieval Times lanyard to the learning tower to make a swing for her and she has been using it as a swing for her doll. She asked me to make another one so that two stuffies can play on it at once, but I have only one lanyard at the moment to use (we have plenty, but we have to find it).
Every day, she declares that it is a birthday for a different stuffed animal that she has. And then she has to cook and make food for them. It’s so cute.
She designates the baby’s play pen area as her house and grandma has taught her to ring the doorbell and ask before she can enter. Despite not wanting the baby touching her toys frequently, the toddler likes to play alongside her sister.
This week, the toddler wanted to hold the baby so we let her hold her on the couch and bed with supervision. The toddler is starting to warm up more and more to her sister now that the baby is vocal and more interactive.
The baby is so funny — whenever she is in my arms and DH or grandma tries to take her from me, the baby actually shakes her head “no” and turns her head back to me. I can’t believe she can display this at this age already (10.5 months). I know that that the toddler didn’t do this when she at this age.
The baby also likes to be a jokester by laughing and giggling at us and shaking her head “no”.
The baby likes to go into her sister’s play kitchen to stand up and touch everything. She can only do this when the older one is not around lol. Otherwise, she is not allowed to be in her space.
The baby is SO vocal these days. Sometimes, it sounds like she is copying what we just said a moment ago.
She likes to climb on top of the two diaper boxes that we put in her “house”. She climbs up on top of it and eventually comes down. She likes standing up at the activity centre too.
The toddler is used to sampling foods whenever we go to Costco (or T&T). She eats everything.
The baby continues to be a great eater. She stuffs food in her mouth via her hands independently, but we still spoonfeed her.
She has her top tooth coming in quickly. We can see the white part of it when she arches her head back.
Recently, we notice that the toddler gets “traumatized” whenever we mention a certain few people that she is afraid of. She burst into tears when we brought up the person. DH doesn’t think this is normal and thinks we should get her to be looked at…
Post-dinner time is always so busy that I hardly never get to watch the baby get bathed. She is too cute with her chubs and rolls.
Her uncle was holding pieces of napkins close to her during dim sum and the baby was reaching and trying to grab it. It looked like she was a little pet cat trying to get catnip. So cute. Little tiger baby.
So glad that the toddler lets me cut her hair. She likes to choose between the orange or green scissor.
First time this week that when we were grocery shopping, the toddler sat in the shopping cart seat while the baby was in her car seat and in the shopping cart.
It was DH’s birthday this week and we finally and actually were able to go out for lunch by ourselves (the first time!). We were supposed to do this/attempt it when it was my birthday a month ago but things didn’t work out and we weren’t able to enjoy a meal by ourselves. We had about 1.5 hours before DH had to go back home to work. That time passed like nothing. Once we received our food at the table, we scarfed it down. I mentioned to DH that we don’t even savour our food anymore; we are so used to downing our food at the table because we know we have to eat fast because the little people need our attention. It’s kind of sad lol. Parent life… at least for the next little era of life. It won’t always be like this and it’s okay.
I was sitting with both kids in the play pen and realizing how much I enjoy being a mom and this stage of life right now. It’s so joyful because both kids are so young and innocent and anything makes them smile. I just have to make sure my cup is full and I’m fully recharged so that I’m patient enough and have enough mental and physical energy to play with them. After that, it’s all joy. I look forward to seeing them grow together and have them play together.
The baby can sit in her seat and people watch and wave at people. She is so social! She will literally start waving to people in her vicinity and if people don’t respond, she will grunt or vocalize herself to make herself heard and noticed. It’s 100% polar opposites to the toddler right now.
Now that the cold weather is here, it’s quite the hassle to get the toddler into and out of her coat every time we enter and exit the car. As most people *should* know, young kids in car seats should not be riding in it with a heavy coat on. It is dangerous because if there is an accident, the big bulky coat will actually have them slip out of the car seat. The car seat belts need to be firm and snug against their body to secure them in safely. When we are running errands, it becomes such a chore to help the toddler in and out of her coat. This is definitely one thing I don’t enjoy doing a few times a day. And the toddler always requests me to help her, so it’s not like DH can step in.
The baby loves to “sample” from each side and will alternate from breast to breast when I feed her in the bed. This week, she actually fell asleep while crouched over my body. She eventually moved onto the bed by herself. She has also been nursing while standing up in the bed. Haha, nursenastics! (Or gymnurstics.)
The toddler has been able to show me with her fingers how many items she sees. She can do one, two, three, four successfully. She is working on the five and up. Math them young.
No EarlyONs this week for once. We want to rest up before next week.
We had the “fall back” time change this week. It was really tough trying to get the baby to stay up until 8:30 p.m. (which is really 9:30 p.m.) before we bathed and showered her.