Week 180 motherhood – walking lots, numbers song in French and Mandarin

Walking everywhere!

Week 180 motherhood with 3 year old and 14 month old.

February 22 to 28, 2024:

It is so cute seeing both of them stand next to each other while they are playing next to each other. One is only slightly taller than the other (by a head). I try to capture the photos but I don’t always have my phone in my hand (I don’t want to have my phone in my hand all the time anyway).
The 14 month old is walking, walking, walking all the time now! She moves fast.
She also loves climbing on chairs and sitting on them by herself. I don’t know what it is about the chairs or sofas but she always like to sit on them. She was able to climb on top of a chair and stand on it too. Danger danger!
We introduced chopsticks to the 3 year old. She can’t grasp it just yet but when I gave them to her initially, she was eating some kind of napa cabbage which she was able to hang on top of her chopsticks. She was so mighty proud of it. She kept using the chopsticks for some of her other foods but it didn’t always work. Fork and spoon are still the go-to utensils for her for the time being. I don’t think I used chopsticks until I was much older as a kid anyway. I also have to find the chopstick “holder” thing which will make it easier for her to hold them as well. For now, she is using the mini versions.
We attended the Songs, stories, rhymes in Mandarin program at EarlyON. It was about an hour and a half of Mandarin songs and stories. We had attended this program before. I didn’t anticipate that they were going to feature all Chinese songs relating to the lunar new year though. It meant that we barely knew any of the songs (or at least I didn’t). I also found it unwelcome that because the facilitators could tell that I couldn’t understand Mandarin fully that they at one point tried to explain to me what they were talking about (the Chinese rhyming couplets). Um, I’m not the only one who doesn’t fully understand Mandarin, right? Why was I the only one outcasted? It felt really awkward and unnecessary. I remember the time that we were doing Mandarin class too and there was a South Asian lady. I am quite sure she didn’t know the language either but the facilitators didn’t try to explain anything to her either. So why now and why me?
The facilitators brought out the dragon for the kids to dance with. The 3 year old didn’t want to dance so I held her as we went around the circle. One of the facilitators gestured and said that she was old enough to stand by herself to dance (because the other kids at the program that day were mostly 1 year old). I found this disturbing because just because a kid is older, it doesn’t mean that she wants to dance either. Clearly, they should have noticed and observed that my child is more clingy and likes to be with the adult so why did they feel like they needed her to dance if she didn’t want to? And why bring her “age” up? I don’t understand these facilitators sometimes. Aren’t they supposed to be trained in early childhood education?
What I did like about the program at the end was their thoughtfulness. They prepared store-bought tong yuan (sweet Chinese dessert in soup) for all the kids and adults to enjoy as part of Lantern Festival. So special! Both kids really enjoyed the hot and sweet treat. The 3 year old had 4 tong yuan and the 14 month old had 2 tong yuan! I had one and grandma had one too. It was a really nice after-program snack that the staff went over and above for. I really appreciated that.
The 14 month old really liked going up to the facilitators to look at the pictures and walk around during the program. She is one of “those” kids now. When I attended these programs with the 3 year old previously, there would always be energetic kids who walk or crawl around whereas my older child would stay stuck with me on my lap. Now I have one of “those” kids too. It’s so interesting. I love that she is so social.
I was able to go to No Frills after the program with the older child and we did some grocery pickup easily. So glad that she can be cooperative most days.
We’ve started letting her eat in the car while it’s in motion now too. We didn’t used to because I didn’t want her to have the risk of choking. But now, she seems old enough to eat. With that being said, I still wouldn’t give her hard objects like nuts or garlic peas to eat in the car in motion.
We finally had my friend come up with her son for a playdate so DH revamped the family room. He put the green IKEA kid’s table and chairs there as well as the new blue rug we got from the liquidation warehouse. It’s so cozy there now!
The 14 month old likes to draw with the chalk too.
Whenever we say the 3 year old needs to wash her hands, the 14 month old will hear “wash hands” and immediately pull up one of her sleeves and stick out her hand to be washed too. It’s so funny. She is so consistent about it every time too.
When both kids are sitting together and the 3 year old isn’t bullying upon her sister, they are really cute together. 🥰
We attended the Black history event at EarlyON centre where a black author came in to read a book and have some activities for the kids. It was really sad because there was only us and one other EarlyON family who showed up. I already could tell that the event wasn’t really popular because the pre-registration online wasn’t even full (and it usually is for special events). I couldn’t anticipate that only two EarlyON families would show up though. We were already 10 minutes late too and I was shocked when we arrived that there was barely anyone there. The facilitators even tried to pull some of the families from the upstairs Family Stay and Play to attend the event but I didn’t see anyone come downstairs. What did they end up doing was inviting the next-door daycare and their 3/4 year old students to attend. It was cute to watch them come in.
The 3 year old saw the colouring utensils on the table with paper, so we got to colouring when we arrived. When the daycare students came in the room, we were ready for the book reading from the author. I didn’t like that the author seemed to cater the book reading to the group of daycare students. Didn’t she know that the event was actually initiated by the EarlyON program facilitators? I wonder how the other EarlyON parent felt. She wasn’t engaging enough for the young ones either. When it ended, there was no fanfare and we just left.
I learned something new: I heard from the daycare teacher that the colouring pages were something new for her students. Apparently, they don’t let them have colouring pages usually. They want their kids instead to draw from their imagination — kind of like open-ended play where you want the kids to have unstructured play time or play things. This was very good to know.
When my 3 year old was finishing up her artwork, she actually flipped over the page and didn’t colour the black and white sheet. She ended up drawing her own things and sticking the stickers on it instead. Good job and good show of “unstructured” play.
My friend came over with her 7-month-old son for a playdate. Upon hearing that my oldest has an issue with treating her sister nicely, my friend tried to ask her why she didn’t like her sister, etc. My child has improved a lot from when others visit. She was sitting with grandma for a while but then gravitated towards me when grandma had to leave for a doctor’s appointment. She even answered questions from my friend too, which she never does. There was a lot of attention seeking between both kids that afternoon and my friend saw first-hand what happens at home. The 14 month old also didn’t sleep in the car seat that afternoon either. She must have been too excited because she knew that someone new was in the house. DH was on site working too, so it was just me and both kids.
When my friend left, I nursed the 14 month old and she passed out in my arms for the first time in a long long time. My sweet baby.
The 3 year old figured out how to play with the suction cup toys. We had brought this with us to Hong Kong but she only took them out and moved them around. Now she figured out how to make each one stick to each other (it takes some sideways sticking for them to suction). She made some cool shapes and Xs with them. Good stuff. Open-ended toy with lots of pieces yet again haha.
Her play space is so messy. She is like a typical “mouse” where she hoards things and scatters things everywhere — or is that just what a regular kid does? Haha. She chooses to play with “garbage”. Any time I have a cardboard box — big or small — or piece of paper or a plastic tub or something to throw out into the recycling bin, she says she wants to play with it. Sigh. So tough to throw anything out because she wants to play with everything. I mean it’s great that she is resourceful, but half the things she wants to keep she doesn’t actually play with and it will end up floating around the rooms as junk.
I finally had some time to clean out some things this week. I hadn’t cleaned up her play space in a long time. I remember I used to do it nightly when she was a 1 year old. Things were easier back then because we had fewer toys. Now her kitchen toys are all mixed in with the shapes and 90% of the wooden blocks can’t be found anymore either. DH must have put some away… but still, so messy.
The 14 month old loves to sleep on top of me these days. She will nurse me by lying on top of my body and then gradually fall back on to the bed to sleep. Or sometimes, she will just sleep on top of me.
We attended the Family Zumbini class on Saturday together — the 5 of us. It was held in the bigger room at the Gibson Centre this time. So fun and I loved moving around to the songs and dances. I know every single song now. I can sing them all haha. I love how the facilitators remember us too.
The 14 month old was able to retrieve the musical instruments and props by herself when the facilitators brought out the box. She knew what to do and walked to get them herself. Haha, what a big girl. The 3 year old is still shy and wouldn’t do that. The 14 month old actually walked out across the room to the other side of the circle too. Brave girl. It was fun playing with the silk scarves, drums, bells, and the dragon came out again for the kids to hold and dance to. They actually let the parents take photos this time? I don’t think that should be allowed because they’re minors but no one asked the parents to not take their phones out, so… 🤷‍♀️
I liked that DH got to participate in Zumbini again this time.
While at the “Amazon warehouse”, the 3 year old is now used to us browsing things from there and behaved quite well. She was patient. We were there for 1.5 hours! There’s just never enough time there haha.
While we were at the Vietnamese restaurant for dinner, the 14 month old took a walk around the restaurant after she was full. She loves to walk around and even wanted to enter the kitchen but of course I didn’t let her.
Grandma is borderline diabetic now according to her doctor and so she has started a very strict regime of eating cleanly, to the point of buying lots of vegetables, soy milk, and barely intaking any carby carbs.
At the final Creative Chefs class for February, the kids made tuna wraps using canned tuna, mayonnaise, lettuce, and cucumbers in tortilla wraps. Again another very easy recipe for the facilitators to arrange. The 3 year old chose no cucumbers in hers. Surprisingly, after she made her wrap, she only ate 3 bites or so and then said she didn’t want it anymore and to save the rest for her dad. I think she wasn’t full but just that she didn’t enjoy the taste of it. There were only 2 other families this time. The 3 year old also washed her dishes again this time. We left early as she didn’t seem interested in playing with much and we had read a few books already too.
I dislike it when there are so few families at the EarlyON programs. It’s so awkward there (we were the first ones there and the second family didn’t arrive until like 10 minutes later) and the toddler also doesn’t get a chance to see other kids at play or get used to others. It’s too bad that the other families didn’t show up to the class.
The 14 month old walks so cutely. She walks wide with her legs spaced out. The 3 year old was copying the way she walked too lol.
The 3 year old requested me to sing the “numbers song” in Mandarin and French this week — many times. A few times in Cantonese but mostly in Mandarin and French. She said that she likes hearing it in those languages. Yay, I’m glad. It’s a chance for me to practise my limited Mando and French too.
This week also, we’ve been playing the “Tap your toe” song because we hear it at Twinkle Toes. I know all the lyrics and what comes next too.
Speaking of which, this was our last week at Twinkle Toes this week. It was the fourth and final class! Only the 3 year old attended with me this time because the 14 month old was showing signs of sickness (runny nose). I was bracing for being one of the only families in attendance this week but THANKFULLY it wasn’t the case! There was us, the usual other family, two others, and one extra one (that didn’t know it was a pre-registered class) — so 5 families in total! The theme this week was “around the world”, so we did songs and dances from different countries around the world. It was really fun and educational. We used mini flags, a dance “around the may pole” from England, a Chinese song with wooden fans, a Korean dance, an African dance with drumming. It was really fun. I’m glad that the 3 year old listened and didn’t need me to carry her during the program. I don’t care if she doesn’t dance or sing but if at least she can stand on her own or hold my hand, then I’m happy.
For once, because there were so many families in attendance, it felt like a really great program. It was so awkward the second class when it was only us at first (and then the other family joined and I’ll never understand why the facilitator didn’t wait for more people to arrive before we started it). Even the program facilitator came out at the end to join us and I loved her energy and how she sang and danced joyfully with us. It was fun!
We went for another playdate with our friend at the EarlyON centre but unfortunately had to cut it short because the 3 year old’s nose was really runny and she outright said she didn’t feel well. Thus, we left before circle time as it didn’t feel right to stay and also it was a better chance to leave before infecting anyone else. Sigh. Too bad we couldn’t hear the wonderful facilitator host circle time again as she did it so well last time.
A few times this week, both kids like to play with me upstairs. We will sing and listen to songs on my phone. The 14 month old will explore the room and walk around.