Walking around before the Zumbini class began

Week 174 motherhood with 3 year old and 1 year old:

January 11-17, 2024:

• We attended the “Songs, Rhymes, Stories in Cantonese” class.  It was held back at the Catholic elementary school that we visited one time last year with a friend.  I really like the EarlyON classrooms where they’re either situated in a standalone unit or the ones in a school where they have their own entrance.  I like that the shoes are taken off at the entrance and thus it is clean inside the room.  Sometimes, you have to walk through a school hallway to get to the EarlyON classroom and I find that tedious and not as clean.  Also, if you don’t have indoor shoes, sometimes they let you wear your street shoes inside (you wipe them off and use a cleaner) but it doesn’t feel clean at all.  Now that the baby is crawling and walking on the floor, I have to make sure that the centre is one of the cleaner ones before we go there.
• There were so many small babies in this class.  My 3 year old was the oldest one there lol.  Everyone else was crawling or just playing on the play mat.  The 3 year old liked me reading the Chinese books to her.  Meanwhile, grandma played with the baby by following along to what she wanted to play with in the classroom.  She was sleepy from her unfinished nap but of course perked up to play when we arrived at the classroom.
• Even one of the other guardians (a grandpa) noticed how quickly the baby was crawling.
• After the class, we drove nearby to pick up a bento box lunchbox.  The 3 year old cried when I didn’t let her come with me to pick up the item (but it was a porch pickup and so quick).
• It takes extra time to get the kids in and out of the car these days because of the cold weather.  We have to unzip and undress their coats (because they can’t wear their heavy coats and be in the seatbelt) and the 3 year old wants me to take off her winter boots too when she’s in the car seat.  She is super clean and doesn’t like her wet boots on (which is fine because it keeps the car clean too).
• I can’t believe how tall the baby is getting.  When nursing her, she passes my body width and her legs extend past and dangle out.
• She continues to have the habit of holding onto the other side’s nipple while nursing.  I saw a meme where other babies do it too.  Is this a biological instinct that helps stimulate the mom to make more milk?  The other day, she pinched the nipple enough that a stream of milk actually squirted out.. and then also she “turned on the tap and just left it running” 🤦🏻‍♀️.

Basically what the child has been doing for the last month or so (picture found on Facebook)

• January 12:  We went to the Zumbini class today.  This was our second time trying out the class but the first class of a series of seven.  We will be attending this class every Friday until the end of February (circumstance willing).  I really loved that the site was a large room inside of Aaniin Community Centre.  There was so much space and room for all the participants to move about comfortably.  Unfortunately, the usual Zumbini instructor wasn’t there.  I like her gentle and calm nature.  Upon seeing the gym mats on the floor, the baby and toddler wanted to play on it.  The baby was eager to crawl and “run” on it too (by holding grandma’s hand).
• The class was from 10 to 11:30 a.m.  It took some time for everyone to arrive and we began at 10:15 p.m.  It wasn’t as strenuous as I expected it to be.  The facilitators did some dances and songs and then rhymes and then songs with instruments/props (silk scarves, balls, bells, shaker eggs).  Both kids woke up early for this class today so the baby got tired really quickly and looked like she wanted to pass out while in grandma’s carrier.  She toughed it out though.  I think the music was also too loud at times.  The speaker could have been turned down (think of the loud volume that the little ears are being exposed to!)
• The toddler always wants to accompany me to the grocery store even if it’s a short trip.  She loves riding in the grocery cart and can now buckle in the seat belt herself as well (it’s those ones where you pull out and then clip into the gap space).
• January 17:  So glad that I can have a meal out with my friends for up to 3 hours now!  When the baby eats more solids, she needs less milk from me.  And DH and grandma can put her in the car seat for a nap when she’s tired.  Also really grateful that we can go out for brunch as a family and eat relatively well (when the kids are cooperative, it helps).
• I brought the kids to the Little Gym class at EarlyON Richmond Hill.  The 1 year old really enjoyed the climbing obstacles and slides.  The toddler played for a little bit but then when there were too many people, she retreated and preferred to read with me instead.  This was the first time also that their cousins joined them at an EarlyON session.  It was their first time to the program and I hope they attend more sessions in the future.  The kids don’t play together yet (they’re still young at 3.5 years and younger).  The toddler enjoyed the water play activity and she surprised me by saying she remembered playing with this at the Science Centre!
• Grandma was hungry because she didn’t have time for breakfast that morning so we took the kids to the next-door HK style cafe for lunch.  Not easy to eat with both kids out, but a high chair makes it easier.  The 1 year old loved watching others around us and the toddler was hungry too and scooped her own food despite having to sit on my lap.
• Toddler has been throwing gigantic tantrums lately.  DH and grandma took both kids to the library over the weekend after our brunch (so that I could have some glorious me time alone at home to work on transcripts and blog) and the toddler saw a plastic asparagus toy that the 1 year old was holding.  She wanted to play with it and then when they left the library, she refused to leave it behind.  Obviously we had to make her leave it behind because it was part of the library’s property, but DH told me that she screamed and screamed and cried.  When they brought her out of the library finally, she actually ran back and took the toy to hold.  Wow… these are some serious typical toddler tantrums that I’ve never seen her have before.  It’s like hysterical. 😦  So they resorted to taking the toy with them.  DH put it away once we got home and we will return it to the library another day.
• For Creative Chefs this past week, the kids made yogurt parfaits.  They had the mini cutting boards and chefs hat and apron for them to wear again (the toddler didn’t want to wear either).  I’m glad that she was able to practise her knife skills by cutting the strawberry and banana.  (That’s like the extent of the “cooking” — I think they need to improve on their sessions by having the kids do more hands-on activities… I will provide feedback.)  She scooped the yogurt and granola by herself as well.  After she ate a bit, she said she was full and then she went to play with the tongs in the bin.  I wish she played with it more because it’s good for her to practise using tongs.  She shortly wanted to join her sister in the other unit so we went over to play.  Despite all the jealousy, she still likes her sister and wants to be together with her.  She told me one morning “I really like little sister” (“oi ho jong yee mui mui”) and even used the word “love” another time too.
• My HS has been back this week and it’s been a challenge to navigate it again in the nether regions.  Hopefully it heals sooner than later.
• The 1 year old loves walking everywhere with the support of our hand.
• She accidentally got her little hand stuck in the toy where the ball runs down.  She cried and we had to help her get it out.
• Did I mention that I have to vacuum every day on schedule otherwise the 1 year old will be all dirty from the crumbs on the floor?  The 3 year old loves to watch me empty the vacuum canister.
• The 3 year old has been asking grandma to bath her and accompany her to sleep almost all nights this week.  Grandma is her favourite person lately.  But she also asks me to change her diaper too and needs me to do certain things as well.
• The 3 year old has been using her toy digital camera to take photos of every and anything.  Sometimes she actually does snap up some nice pics which is neat to see life from her angle.
• She is always taking things from her sister.. when she sees her playing with something, she’ll come over to take it.
• When the 1 year old is playing with something that the 3 year old doesn’t want her playing with, she’ll say repeatedly, “Mm bay hui wan goi gor!!” to the point that the baby will start shrieking in response.  And now, it’s gotten to the point that the baby will pull back from touching the item.  This is not good because the toddler is super bossy and it reinforces her actions and the 1 year old thinks she’s not supposed to touch certain toys.  Sometimes when I’m playing with her, she’ll softly touch something in fear she’s not supposed to.   This is how spoiled behaviour is learned…
• I’ll tell the 1 year old that it’s okay, that she can play with it.
• I gave the 3 year old a haircut recently and it was nice and really framed her face well but I noticed that her hair was very thick and heavy.  I used the thinning shears to further lighten her hair this week and it was so much better for her.  So proud of myself haha.  Also she was perfectly still and content for me to trim her hair.
• On the other hand, the 1 year old doesn’t like us trimming her fingernails at all!  Such a challenge.  Grandma has to do one fingernail in one sitting.
• The older one loves accompanying the younger one get changed when she has a number two.
• It’s so cute that the 3 year old was visibly chubbier this week for a few days.  The reason being that we had received a carton of chocolate milk in the Longo’s TGTG surprise bag and she kept wanting to drink it.  Extra calories and sugar = extra weight in her cheeks lol.
• One thing I forgot to mention was that when we were at the Family Stay and Play EarlyON session this week, I overheard one of the moms talking with another mom.  Mom #1 was saying how her daughter has a runny nose and it’s been going on for two weeks and there was no way that she was going to just stay at home because she wouldn’t want to.  She said that she always had a runny nose for two weeks.  She said that a fever, vomiting, diarrhea are different symptoms but that a runny nose was mild.  I was incredulous hearing to her say that.  The other parent didn’t seem to agree but also didn’t want to rock the boat too much because it was clear that mom #1 was very adamant and strong on her stance.
  • The other parent said something along the lines of, “Well, don’t you think that some parents wouldn’t like seeing a child with a runny nose?”  Mom #1 launched back into her tirade about runny nose being a mild symptom that she wouldn’t have her child staying home for.  So ridiculous, self-indulgent, and selfish!  I sure wish an EarlyON facilitator would have heard their talk and stepped in to inform her that NO, it was not okay to bring a child with a runny nose into the program.  It doesn’t matter if your child has a runny nose for a day or two weeks — it means they’re sick and shouldn’t be in contact with others!  In fact, these two were talking in Cantonese and upon seeing me look at them (probably in horror and disgust), they changed their language to Mandarin and in softer tones to not be overheard.  Ugh, selfish people.
• I was following the 3 year old who was pushing the toy shopping cart and putting the plastic grocery items into her cart.  Another younger girl came over and snatched a few items out of my daughter’s shopping cart.  My daughter clearly didn’t like that but she didn’t speak up or do anything.  I asked her, “Do you like others taking your stuff?”  She told me no.  I told her that she needed to speak up, to say “no” otherwise people wouldn’t know she didn’t like it.  A few seconds later, the younger girl came over to take more items out of her shopping cart.  This time, the mom was around her (this was actually the same mom #1 who doesn’t believe in keeping her sick kids at home).  I told the mom that my daughter doesn’t like others taking her toys but that she was unable to voice herself.  The mom didn’t even appear apologetic or that she needed to defend her daughter’s actions.  She told me that her daughter knows what she wants and likes to get it.  I told her, “Um, but my daughter doesn’t like it and just doesn’t know how to say ‘no’ yet”.  The mom told me that she does the same thing at home to her younger brother.
  • Wow, just wow.  THIS is what’s wrong with society.  We have parents who clearly are selfish and not considerate of others and not teaching their kids to behave appropriately in a social setting.  How rude and entitled.  Of course my child needs to learn how to speak up for herself in the future, but when you have these inconsiderate people who think the world owes them, this is when we have a society with selfish self-serving individuals!