Updates for Nov'10

Since my last post, I'm about 25 weeks pregnant now. So far the little one inside of me has been rather active, I can feel his kicks and movements at various times of the day. The detailed scans and gynae visits have all shown that he is growing fine too, so just have top hope for the best. As for me, I guess I do get a bit more uncomfortable if I sit for too long. Somehow the tummy just feels a bit more tight and perhaps expanding, causing a slight feeling of 'being squashed'. Haha. I guess I can't eat too full now too for each meal, otherwise I can get pukey and feel very indigested.

We have also decided on a name for our second son...and he shall be called Matthew Tan :) As for the Chinese name, I think we'll take a while more to decide.

With regards to Kendrick, he's been a great to be around with, until the recent 2 weeks when he has somehow changed in his behaviour. Before I go into that, I thought I'd just update on his developments so far - He's able to pee and poo in the toilet bowl/potty for the day time already. But as for feeding himself, he's still rather lazy and not that good at it! He's also very into words and numbers. He not only remembers the spelling of lots of words, he can also write them out. His favourite activity now is to write all the words he has seen or encountered, like 'frog, log house, piano, radio, apple, pear, etc etc. The list just goes on. I'm quite amazed that he can remember the spelling of quite a lot of words actually. However, he does not seem to show much interest in drawing pictures. I'm still trying to teach him to imagine in that area and learn to draw some pictures. But he tend to lapse back into words and numbers instead... He's also such a fun to talk to, especially since he can say the most interesting sentences which you didn't expect him to say. Probably all picked up from what we say as adults.

However, his emotional behaviour changed a little in the recent 2 weeks, especially after we came back from a 5 day Hong Kong trip. He started crying again every day when he went to school. But after a while when he is in the class, he'll be ok. He also started crying at night when we want to leave my parents in law home. He insisted on staying with his grandparents and would continue to cry and throw a tantrum all the way home. When we scold him nowadays, he seems to cry more easily too, at the slightest bit. Gosh! I'm trying my best to be patient with him but there are times when it can be quite frustrating!! Anyway, I'm really praying that all these needy and attachment behaviour would gradually ease out. I can't tell if it's another case of separation anxiety happening all over again, or that he's growing bigger and suddenly became very aware of his emotions and feel the notion of 'love'. He will keep telling us that it's because he loves us or miss us. Much as it is very sweet and lovely, but his over-clingy and refusing to listen at times behaviour is a bit too much to bear. Some of my friends say it's some sort of reaction to me having my second child. Perhaps it is, perhaps it's not. It's not an easy time for us to deal with Kendrick, but I hope that like every other phase he has gone through, this will ease out soon!!

And Baby #2 is a .....

We went to the gynae this morning for the usual monthly check up. Baby has grown much bigger indeed and definitely very active. We can see Baby moving quite a lot while the doctor did the ultrasound scan. I can also feel more movements nowadays that are much more distinct compared to the initial spurts. It's still not that strong kicks yet, but definitely baby movements!

Anyway, the doctor made some measurements and estimated Baby to be around 302g, which he said was normal. He also let us see where was the face of the baby, the hand, legs, spine and heartbeat. My blood tests results also all came back quite well, no issues, just that my blood sugar level was a little on the high side of the suitable range. Well, finally the doctor also helped look at different angles for us to tell whether it's a boy or girl. To be honest, even before he confirmed it, I was quite sure I saw the birdie!! So yes, we are expecting another BOY!! Haha...I guess I'm not too surprised neither am I too disappointed. I just wish for the baby to be healthy and strong. I guess Kendrick will have a didi to play the same boy's stuff in future....

Ok, now I will have quite a bit of time to start thinking about names already...:) Next week we'll be going for my detailed scan, so hope for the best too. Till then, will update again.

Baby #2 is on the way :)

Finally I have time to upload this entry about my baby #2...At first I was waiting for my first trimester to be over. Then after that, things got a little busy but finally, I decided that I should really take some time to blog about it.

Well, as at now, I'm about 17 weeks pregnant and this baby will be due in mid March 2011. I really thank God for this blessing which finally came in June. We've been trying for slightly less than a year for this second child. In the process, I've consulted my gynae a few times and also went on a very short TCM treatment. Which was why I could not quite believe it when I finally got pregnant. We were really happy and all I could think about was that the baby be healthy and strong with a heartbeat.

My first trimester this time was a little bit worse than the last time. I had more nausea and was sensitive to more food. There was always this taste in my tongue which I really disliked. I also started to have insomnia around 8 weeks into pregnancy. That was a real torture not to be able to sleep in the early morning. Actually till now, I would say I have not had really good sleep in the longest time. I still wake up at least once to pee at night and at times will be awake for a good 1 hour before falling asleep again. However, like the last time, I do not really have any particular food cravings and can generally eat better, even in the first trimester. Now that I've moved into my second trimester, things are certainly much better. The funny taste in my mouth is gone and my appetite has also improved a lot. Burping is also something which is consistent to my last pregnancy. I also started to feel some very slight spurts of movement from my baby since last week. It's a matter of time I'll start feeling the baby kicks more surely and that's something I really liked :)

Anyway, I'm now looking forward to the next appointment where hopefully I'll be able to confirm the gender of baby #2 :)

My first scan at 5 weeks+ where the pregnancy sac can be seen. Baby is just a small little bean

At 7 weeks, baby has grown more now. We also heard the heartbeat

At 11 weeks, baby is suddenly so big already. We saw the baby move about quite a lot when the doctor was doing the scan :)

At close to 16 weeks, we wanted to see if we can identify the gender, but baby was in a sitting position so it was not obvious yet!

Kendrick's developmental updates

My dear Kendrick is now already 2years 9 mths old. What a lovely time it has been these couple of months as he has progressed quite a lot in his speech, the things he knows and understands, what he likes or don't like etc.

I guess one major developmental update is that he's around 80% toilet trained already. I started to train him to pee in the potty at around 2yrs 4mths. The timing was somehow quite right as he was able to control his pee and notify us of his need after a few rounds of training. Nevertheless, there were some mistakes we made - like how I made him pee sitting down initially. It took a while before he was willing to stand up and pee. Again, that happened just 1 day suddenly when I let him try to do so (prior to that he was unwilling). Perhaps he slowly understood that boys had to stand up and pee while girls sat down :) The next step was how to get him to pee in the toilet bowl as he was afraid to do so. In the recent 2 weeks, just by an opportunity when the potty was not accessible at the point he needed, I told him to try doing it in the toilet bowl. Again, this sudden willingness just took place out of the blue and from then on, Kendrick was not afraid of peeing in the toilet bowl. With that, we have tried a few times to bring him out without diapers and he managed to pee in public toilets :) So proud of you my son. But the biggest achievement that tops it all was that Kendrick finally tried to sit down on the potty to do his poo poo. This was really my headache as he had for a long time only poo-ed in his diaper while standing up. He had this psychological fear about sitting down. And just 1 week ago, he again surprised me by willing to sit down and try to poo it out (with a reward at the end if he did so). So with that, my little boy is really growing up fast!!! What's left is only the overnight toilet training which I think will take a while more....

On other aspects of his growth, Kendrick is really into words and numbers in recent months. He's learned to count from 1 to 100 and has started a little in addition and subtraction. Simple concepts of counting which he somehow picked up just after a few rounds of explaining to him. As for words, he's really into spelling now. This was also not something that I purposely taught him, but instead it just happened that he started to want to recognise words and spell them. It could be due to school or due to the fact that reading books helped him to generate that interest and also playing the kids scrabble toy that we bought him. That's one of his favourite toys now. Kendrick is thus able to spell /recognise quite a few words like: cat, dog, car, bed, radio, piano, in, out, door, sun, moon, bear, the, pig, cow, zebra, tiger, lion, top, pot, hat, one - to - ten, etc. It's really quite interesting to see him suddenly grow in leaps and bounds. The way he talks to us now also makes him sound like a sensible 'little adult'. Conversations with him are never boring :) In fact, being with him is never a quiet moment too unless he is sleeping. This little boy is really talkative.

In terms of his behaviour towards strangers, well I must say that this still needs some time for improvement. He's still quite a shy boy in front of strangers. Getting him to greet neighbours or other unfamiliar people is really tough. But on the other hand, I guess once he overcomes the initial fear, he will start talking and talking like he does among family members.

So much more to teach and nurture this boy... I can only ask for more patience for him. At times it's just so easy to get angry and threaten him. But I guess I can never stay angry at Kendrick for long cos he's just so adorable in our eyes :)

Some recent photos: Here's one after his hair cut. Decided to cut a bit shorter with a bit more slope for him. His hair can grow out thick quite fast

Hugging M&Ms!

Kendrick 'upgrades' to boy's underwear :P

Sesame Street Show Live (10 Sep 2010)

We bought tickets to the Sesame Street Show Live a few months back and so the day finally came last Friday evening where we brought Kendrick for his first 'Live' show. Since it started at 7pm, we had an early dinner at Leisure Park before walking over to the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Upon reaching the indoor stadium, I was certainly glad that I bought the second most expensive ticket category as we were really near the stage. Our seat was just the 4th row from the front. I guess it does feel a lot nicer and more exciting to be up closer to the performance.

Surprisingly, it started on time and soon enough the characters were out dancing and singing on the stage. Kendrick was a little taken aback at first, but he soon soaked up into the atmosphere and was quite intensely watching all the characters perform. I must say the coordination and energy of all the characters were really good, all very smooth and the show just went on non-stop till a short 15 min break around 7.45pm. After the break, it was another 20 mins or so of performance and soon the show ended. Overall, I thought the timing was just nice. Any longer and I think Kendrick would be bored already! Haha...

Having dinner at the food court in Leisure Park

Before we entered through the Premier Entrance

Some snippets of the performance. Most parents were also videoing most of the show

We walked nearer the stage to have a photo taken during the intermission

I guess Elmo was really the cutest character of all! But when we asked Kendrick who he liked a few days after the show, he actually said Big Bird!

Finale of the show - some characters came down and lots of kids and parents went forth to shake their hands. Last opportunity I guess. Can you spot Kendrick being carried by his Papa? :)

After the show ended, we had a light supper at Burger King's and then it was home sweet home :)

Recovered!

We went back for a follow-up check up with the ENT specialist on Saturday and when he checked Kendrick's ear, he told us that the fluid has cleared. That meant his ear infection cleared which was likely a sign that the adenoids shrunk. As such, he did not recommend a further scope of the nose but told us to observe that in future if Kendrick has block nose problems or complain of ear pain, etc, that we should come back to see him. Otherwise, no more medication required.

I was really relieved to hear the good news!! All week I was rather worried for him! As for his bruises on the nose and head, it has been clearing slowly and by today, it's not so obvious anymore. Just hope that it will fully clear by another week.

Sigh..my poor Kendrick :(

What an eventful weekend it has been for us! An unfortunate accident took place last Friday night but that led to a discovery of another matter, so perhaps it can be called a 'blessing in disguise'.

What happened was last Friday evening, we brought Kendrick to meet my parents for dinner at Changi Village. After that, we went back to the chalet that my Father booked for the weekend. We were exploring the chalet for a while and not long later, somehow all of us were each distracted doing something. And in a quick turn of events, an accident followed. Well, Kendrick actually climbed onto this chair and stood up. But in a second, he lost balance (since the chair was not very heavy) and fell down, face first! Neither of us were able to rush in time to grab hold of him and prevent the accident. Sigh. Kendrick was obviously quite traumatized by the fall as it took us quite long to calm him down and stop him from crying. As he cried, there were even tinges of blood that came out with his mucus. Thankfully, that was it, no serious bleeding. We checked his face and hands to see where he was injured. It was quite apparent that the forehead started to swell slightly. His nose bridge area as well. After getting a reaction of pain when we pressed his nose, Dear felt that we should send him to see a doctor right away.

So off we went, at 9+ pm to Mt. Alvernia 24hr clinic. It was certainly a long way there from Changi!! Well, we finally got there and waited for our turn to see the doctor. Luckily, Kendrick was still able to walk and move about with a normal level of alertness. The doctor checked on him and suggested that we should do an X-ray of his nose, just to check whether there was any fracture. I felt really terrible that Kendrick had to go through an X-ray so young, but what choice do we have? We needed to be certain. So we went ahead with that and waited again for the doctor to see us for the diagnosis. Being just a normal GP, he could not be fully certain from the X-ray film whether or not there was a fracture. Hence he recommended that we see an ENT specialist the next day. You can imagine how worried we were then - I was really sad that what if it was a fracture and eventually Kendrick's nose would be distorted or something!!

Nothing else could be done that night and we were all really tired out. We got home at almost 11pm and quickly settled Kendrick and got him to bed just before 12am. The boy was tired and slept easily. The only worry I had for the night was if anything else happened. Again thankfully, he was fine and slept quite well through the night. On Saturday morning, as I looked upon Kendrick's face, I could see that his forehead was slightly bruised and the area between his eyes were a little swelled. Feeling sad, I quickly contacted the ENT specialist for an appointment. We got a slot and headed to Novena Medical Centre in the late morning. I must say the doctor certainly was so much more professional and more reassuring. The good news was - Kendrick DID NOT suffer any fracture. The swelling and all were just a result of normal bruising and should heal in a week or so. However, being an ENT specialist, the doctor also checked his ears and throat and discovered that there was fluid in his inner ear drum. This was nothing to do with the fall. It was linked to his recent incidents of flu. The doctor therefore required a further scope of Kendrick's nose to check and be certain of the cause of it.

My poor son actually bravely went through the whole process of endoscope without moving and without struggling!! I'm just so amazed at him! The doc said it was not painful, but I'm sure it wasn't that comfortable either. Anyway, this led to the discovery of adenoids (a mass of lymphoid tissue situated at the very back of the nose) that were quite swollen. That resulted in blocking the middle ear bit which prevented the fluid from flowing out. Thus, Kendrick in a way has some form of ear infection. The doctor suggested treatment via antibiotics and a nasal spray first for a week before accessing the situation again. In the worst case scenario, a surgery is required to remove the adenoids. Gosh...you cannot imagine how I felt...I mean it may not seem like a very very serious problem, cos it's quite common in children, but imagine if we didn't go to the ENT specialist, how would we have known this problem existed??! And in the long term, what if it caused some worse danger?! Sigh....so in a way, I thank God for letting us discover this matter under such an unexpected circumstance.

I can only hope that the medication works for Kendrick...I really don't know how I'll feel going back to the doctor next Saturday... :( But I'm just thankful Kendrick is still very cheerful, active and lovely, despite a slight swollen look on his face. Really pray that he will continue on his path of recovery and be totally fine!!!

Outings

With Kendrick's HFMD cleared, we took some time to bring him on some outings since it was the National Day long weekend. On National Day itself, we headed to Marina Bay Sands Hotel as my Aunt's family had booked a room there for the weekend. My family and all came by to watch the parade on TV and also the fireworks from the hotel room. It was a city view so the fireworks were spectacular at eye level!! Kendrick enjoyed himself too running around in the room and looking at the city view from the glass windows.

Family shot in the hotel room

We visited the Sky Park too which was crowded with people that day

The Infinity pool that was on the sky park was also packed with people who were waiting to watch the fireworks and fighter planes fly past

The next day, we brought Kendrick for some play time at Polliwogs. He enjoyed himself better than the first time we brought him there, and it was only towards the end when he really let go and 'shouted' out loud as he slide down some of the slides many times. I guess this boy still needs a lot of encouragement before he really dares to venture off by himself! There were only certain parts of the maze that he dared to go over and over again by himself. Anyway, we had fun that day and I had the chance to happily eat my Japanese food at Waraku which was next door :)

End of HFMD (7 Aug 2010)

I was so happy when Kendrick's HFMD finally cleared by the end of the week! Really so thankful that his case was a rather mild one - with 2 or 3 mouth ulcers at most and just some rashes/spots on his hands and feet. Other than that, he was a rather happy and cheerful boy all week, eating and playing his toys even though he was mainly confined to home.

Right after his illness was over, we had to clean up the place and his toys too and change his bed sheet, etc. Despite all that work, I'm just so happy that I can hug and kiss him again - missed doing that the whole week!!

Kendrick making some funny poses...

HFMD

It's been quite a while since I blogged about my dear Kendrick's development. I guess it's the lazy Mommy effect at work! Nevertheless, now that I'm doing so, I'm sad to say that Kendrick is down with HFMD! It started last Friday night when I suddenly noticed the spots on the palms of his hands while brushing teeth for him. I checked his feet too and saw a couple more spots and immediately, I suspected it might be HFMD. That night felt terrible as I was rather worried, so couldn't sleep well either. The next day, we brought him to the PD and she verified it was indeed HFMD. There was nothing much we could do except to let the virus run its course. If he had fever, then just give him fever medicine. He had 1 mouth ulcer at that point of checking, so hopefully it does not get too bad in the next few days.

Generally, I would say Kendrick's situation seem fairly mild. Yes, he has rashes on his hands and feet, but not much fever and he's quite cheerful, playing his toys etc. The only difficult part is for us as Parents to help keep things clean. We had to clean up this toys and also constantly ensure that we wash our hands and keep hygienic if we touch him or the things that he played with. Thankfully, I have some friends who experienced this with their kids, so got some advice from them as well! Gosh...couldn't quite believe that I have to go through this. But with kids, I guess anything can happen?!

Well, I really hope that Kendrick will recover fast... I really long to hug and kiss him and tell him everything's going to be ok! It's so painful to have to restrain some of this closeness for the time being...especially when Kendrick wants to hug me voluntarily.... :(

Kendrick, we'll fight this virus together! Mommy and Daddy love you lots....

Taking the Circle Line to visit The Helix Bridge

We brought Kendrick to take the circle line MRT for the first time so that we could stop by at Promenade station to visit the new Helix Bridge. We sat off in the evening and the weather was really overcast that day. Not very good for pictures, but at least it didn't rain. Kendrick was quite happy and excited to take the MRT as it's something we seldom take. The circle line was was a pleasantly nice journey, not too crowded at the time we took it down and back. So we reached and took a quick walk along the Helix Bridge and checked out the new Marina Bay Sands resort from afar. Haha...guess we'll plan to go there another time :)

Here's some photos we took at the bridge and also Marina Bay Sands resort behind us...

Updates for Apr - May 2010

Time flies, it's already May and Kendrick has been attending his playgroup class for about 5 months now. We just went for a Parent-Teacher session today to find out about his progress. Overall, he seems to have learned a lot academically, but there's certainly room for improvement in terms of some gross motor skills, being more independent, gaining more self-confidence and doing things comfortably even though he is in school. We really hope that we can guide him towards another level of improvement in that aspect!

It's funny when you think back about how he was just a little baby who only made cooing sounds back then....and now he's a energetic toddler who can say so much and make decent conversations with you...my boy ah..Mommy will certainly miss this phase of your life a lot! Admittedly, Kendrick's vocal and speech development has made good progress very early on and like now, he loves to sing, and he can even sing hymms that I've taught him via my hymm book :) He seems interested in spelling words too, perhaps a start towards learning to form words by recognition since they learn phonics in school. Kendrick is always asking us how to spell various words that he knows.

Dabbling in music is also something he seems fairly keen on, given that he sees his Aunt play the piano at her home. Kendrick has improved from just banging his hands on the piano to playing note by note with his fingers. He has even tried to play do-re-mi at times. Well, more dabbling in this and hopefully by 3 or 4, we can start him on learning how to play the piano.

We also started to toilet train him in terms of peeing. I've been wanting to try this out and finally took the plunge to do so gradually. The thing is, he understands a lot that we tell him and so it's just a matter or whether he wants to learn. Hence, we started letting him go diaper-less whenever he is not sleeping. We would remind him that if he needs to pee, to let us know and we will go to his potty. He peed on the floor a few times but I guess we are making some progress. He's been able to control his pee for a few hours and has learnt to say so if he needs to pee and successfully peed in the potty a couple of times!! I was really so happy about it whenever he was successful! I guess we are making small progress indeed...so we will just have to take it slowly and continue to encourage him on :) As for the night training, I think I'll have to hold that back a while more...I imagine that to be a next level of nightmare! Haha...As for the poo poo part, it's also another challenge to get him to sit at the potty. There seems to be a stronger psychological barrier on his part to not want to try that. Hmmm..perhaps we'll make progress once he is fully able to go diaper-less?? Gosh, this phase of training is certainly not easy!! Lots of patience needed indeed!

Till the next update, here are some recent photos we took:

Kendrick at a playground in AMK

We went on a short trip to Penang in early April and here's some photos we took...

We also visited Hort Park in Singapore for the first time. Quite a nice place to walk around. Love this green lawn area too

Hopefully we can make it to the Henderson Waves another time!

Just some updates...

It's been quite a while since I last blogged about Kendrick...Over the last few months since he turned 2, Kendrick continues to amaze us in the way he communicates with us. He speaks pretty well and uses full sentences most of the time. Sometimes talking to him can be quite interesting and funny as kids are just so innocent in what they think and say! Sometimes they just give you the most unexpected answers that are cute yet logical! In school, we were also told by the Principal that he can communicate quite well, just that he's still rather shy and don't always answer questions asked by teachers. But back at home, it's a different story! So chatty in front of family members. Kendrick's favourite song at this point in time is still the ABC song, which he can interestingly 'modify' to make it sound like a rap instead :)

Of course, there are still the challenging aspects of watching him grow up..the growing rebellion streak, the naughtiness to deal with, and the toilet training bit! The last item is the greatest challenge for us now....really don't know how to make him sit at the potty to poo :( He always insist that we go away when he wants to poo and refuse to do it sitting down. He understands the concept of what we are trying to teach him, but he just refuse to learn.... :(

Most recently, Kendrick also fell sick. Somehow, he started having this viral fever that went up and down for about 2.5 days. At one point, it went to a high 39.6 degrees. We immediately brought him to see the doctor and they inserted this thing into his butt to bring down the temperature. We also had to sponge him at home. Thankfully, his fever went down eventually. But as I write this blog now, we seem to see another symptom of something happening...some rashes seem to be appearing on his body, especially starting from the lower part of his body. Being a parent is certainly not easy, you feel joy and stress all at the same time! Just hoping that he will recover fully as soon as possible since he also has cough with phlegm. Thank goodness next week is the school holidays break..hopefully he will get well by the end of the week :|

Till the next update, here are just a few key photos taken in the recent months:

Chinese New Year Eve at home

Chinese New Year Day 1

Chinese New Year Day 2 - lunching gathering

Chinese New Year Day 3 outing

Visit to Universal Studios Singapore!

Attending Great-Grandmother's birthday lunch - Here's Kendrick with his baby cousin, Krel who is being carried by their Ah Gong

On the last day of school for the term, Kendrick has a mini excursion to Hay Dairies Goat Farm with his classmates