Week 175 motherhood – preparing for kindergarten, spicy f, tantrums

Her first lunchbox meal

Week 175 motherhood of 1 year old and 13 month old:

January 18 to 24, 2024:

The secondborn is 13 months old now!
Kindergarten registration began January 19 for the firstborn!
To prep the toddler for going to kinder this coming September, I bought the bento lunchbox for her to eat from so that she can get used to eating from it (and get used to opening it because I don’t want her to not be able to while at school). DH made a beautiful breakfast for her with half a banana, bagel ham sandwich, apple slices, diced cheese, and yogurt (I would have loved that lunch as a child) and yet she didn’t want to eat it. Upon opening it, she asked if DH made it for her (yes) and then where she had to go. DH told her nowhere and that this was just for her breakfast. She didn’t want to eat it and preferred to eat the food from a nearby plate instead lol. Sigh. This child.
I can’t believe that by September, we will have a child in full-time school! We’ll have a child and not a baby or toddler anymore (the oldest). It’ll be time to move on to the next chapter (school-aged kids!) Time really does fly. I was just looking at photos from last year and the 1 year old was just a baby and so small and wrinkled and crumbled. Her features weren’t even developed yet. How did the time fly by so quickly for the little one? I really need my me time to feel mentally sound but time really does go by quickly… need to take more photos to capture the moments?
We registered online for her elementary school… when we did it, it asked us a few questions about the child for the teachers to get to know her better and how to welcome her on the first day. I asked the child these questions and this is what she answered:
Q: What makes you happy? A: Playing with my younger sister, mom and dad, and grandma (her words exactly).
Q: What makes you scared? A: (Sudden) loud noises, clowns, dark places. (I couldn’t believe that she remembered clowns. She was on point with it all.)(When she sees a clown on TV, she doesn’t like it and covers her eyes.)
Q: How does the child express themselves? A: By talking in Cantonese.
Q: What makes the child happy again? A: Being held and eating food. (She said this.)
Some of these answers are so cute and funny but absolutely true. I found it fascinating that without asking these questions ahead of time or giving her time to think, she answered them immediately on the spot and they were spot on. She sure knows herself at age 3!
She doesn’t speak English and only Cantonese. I worry about her first day when she doesn’t understand much and isn’t understood either if she speaks… But I was like that when I first entered kindergarten on the first day of school too. I didn’t speak English either but I turned out fine…
In fact, she has a leg up because she attends so many EarlyON sessions and definitely has heard people talk in English. In fact, the week we increased the number of EarlyON attendances (3 or so a week), I found her uttering lots of English at home. Random English words and phrases and songs in English too. She’ll be fine. 🙂
The child ended up eating from the lunchbox throughout the day and finished mostly what was inside by the end of the day. The next day, DH made another lunchbox with a different assortment of foods. She didn’t really touch it either and only picked from it. She chose the peanut butter lol.
The 1 year old is super playful. Grandma was tickling the centre of her neck which made her giggle and laugh. Instead of hiding, she would display her neck by arching backwards for grandma to keep tickling. Such a cutie. She loves holding our hand and walking on both legs now. She walks kind of sideways like a crab.
The 1 year old gets tired by 9 p.m. and looking to be put to bed by this time. She will cry “ma ma” or “ah ma” and rub her eyes. Poor thing. I usually am rushing through my shower (if I didn’t shower earlier beforehand) and brushing teeth and washing my face at this time. DH will be holding her while I finish up. When she isn’t overly tired, she will fall asleep with me nursing her on the first attempt. It’s the best when it’s this way. Otherwise, if she’s overtired, I have to switch from left to right side and keep doing it until she finally falls asleep. Sometimes, I feel that when I take deep breaths and calm down, she falls asleep faster too. If my heart is racing because I’m anticipating to get up to do something or I’m thinking about something, sometimes it affects her ability to fall asleep too.
In the morning, there were two times when her head was right beside mine. It’s like sometime during the night, she has scooched up right next to my head to be comfortable lol.
Our routine is we’ll sleep between 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., she’ll wake up a few times during the night to nurse, and then she’ll wake up naturally around 9 a.m. Sometimes 8:30 a.m., sometimes 9:30 a.m., but usually she’ll have her 12 hours of sleep. During the day, she’ll get tired around 12:30 p.m. and we put her in the car seat and she will sleep for about 2 hours. It’s been a good routine so far.
Her top row has four teeth now! Bottom row has four too.
The 3 year old used the chalkboard this week to draw some sort of multi-coloured thing with lines and boxes. First time she’s used several colours like this and she held the chalk really firmly in her right hand too.
Unfortunately, the spicy flu has fallen on our household. Last week, I was sick with a mild cold. No sore throat but just a bit of congestion with runny nose and coughing. No fever either. Oh, but I did have some body chills and my heart rate was going through the roof. My FitBit thought I was doing exercise most of the day (same thing happened when I was in Hong Kong actually and it thought I was doing exercise the whole day…). I was only sick for 2 days and felt fine again. I didn’t think to check for COVID-19.
- Grandma and DH didn’t feel well and it wasn’t until grandma did the test that she learned she was COVID-19 positive. DH did it too and he was positive as well. Sigh. He said he felt it was different from a regular cold because of the body chills. It’s their first time catching it. The 1 year old felt a little warm too but she was fine. The toddler had a short mild fever of 39 degrees and we gave her kid’s Tylenol. She napped and was all right too but very irritable and threw some ferocious tantrums again… We tried to check her for COVID-19 too but she wouldn’t have anything to do with the swab up her nose. When we did get some nasal fluid from her, it wasn’t enough to do the test unfortunately. We basically assumed she had it too since DH was hugging her and with her most of the day.
- I was so thankful that the worst two days fell upon us during the weekend where DH didn’t have to work. He still took 2 days off on Monday and Tuesday, but it could have been worse. I was glad that we didn’t have any pressing commitments or events during this time too. I did have to cancel my previously scheduled facial but that was just a minor thing. We didn’t attend the Cantonese class nor Zumbini or Creative Chefs (obviously). I was really grateful to my friend for dropping off a tray of eggs for us from Costco since we were running low. Everything else, we had done some groceries the day beforehand and were fine at home. I was completely fine, so was the 1 year old. I had never seen DH this sick before. Grandma was vomiting the first day and couldn’t keep foods down either. They’re on the mend though.
The 3 year old can bend her index fingers to make “glasses” with her middle finger. She can do it so easily.
The 1 year old loves to crawl up the stairs. She was able to climb up the learning tower all by herself too! I almost missed it when DH turned away. She could have fallen and I’m glad she didn’t. She’s so quick and not afraid, this one.
The 1 year old loves music. She will point to the “Old McDonald had a Farm” book and have us sing to her. Or she’s point to the musical mat to have it turned on. Or she’s point to the keyboard to make it play, but unfortunately the keyboard part seems to have broken and only the words part plays now. It’s so cute that she will move her arms at her side and “dance”. She has such an affinity for music since she was young!
The toddler wanted to accompany me during shower time and since DH and grandma were unwell, I took the 1 year old with me too inside the bathroom. She sat on her bouncer and was fine.
The 3 year old was fascinated with a piece of bubble wrap this week. She wasn’t able to pop the bubbles last week with her fingers, but she was able to do it this week. It kept her fascinated for the entire length of my grooming and shower. This is the ultimate classic fidget toy! Haha.
The 3 year old is hot and cold with her sister. She’ll fight with her and not let her to play or touch her toys but then turn around and say she loves her and will hug her gently lol.
Because of staying home all week, I have had the urge to go out and eat a meal by myself. Solo dine so I can eat in peace, anything I want, and have some me time. It’s been really tough this week looking after both kids when my 2 main helpers/guardians are not well and cannot help with the kids. I had the urge to go to Hana Don to have another bowl of uni don. I had the urge to go out and eat Japanese fusion pasta or Bingz burgers. I haven’t done that in forever…
I wasn’t present for this, but the 3 year old has thrown some epic tantrums this week. I was either not awake yet or it didn’t happen in my presence. I’m not sure why she has been so passionate this week? Is it because of my decreased presence? I had to work on some transcripts this week (audio transcription) or blog for some me time. The toddler is missing a lot of mom?
I guess because she’s been under the weather, the 3 year old started to take afternoon naps again this week. It’s funny because both kids don’t take the naps at the same time; it would be heaven if they did! The 1 year old naps from 12:30 to 2-3 p.m.-ish and then the toddler will nap from 3 to 5 or 6 p.m.-ish. Haha. Why can’t they intersect so the adults can fully rest?! 🤣
I also recovered from another episode of my HS this week by ingesting lots of Chinese “leung” chas (“24 mea” and “five flower” teas specifically). Phew. For a second, I was afraid that it was going to be a long ordeal like the tummy part but this time it lasted a week or so. From now on, I always have to remember to balance what I eat and drink so I don’t have too much inflammation in my body.