A Sweet Intro

This blog is dedicated to our darling boy, born prematurely at 29 weeks and miraculously survived all odds during his 57 days in the ICU. We named him Reagan, which means our "Little King", strong and brave enough to fight any battles. He is also our little king whom we worship with a lifetime of our love and kisses. Baby Reagan continues to amaze us with his awesome strength, big personality, joyful laughter and lovely smiles. This is where we share both our learning journeys and all the fun bonding time together.

Aug 29, 2013

A Tough Thursday

Today must be one of the toughest day of the week! My helper was sent back this morning due to some conflicts with my parents. It was so coincidence that my baby boy woke up on the wrong side of the bed and got pretty cranky the entire morning. I had difficulty getting him to finish up his lunch in time before he goes for his Heguru class. Usually I'm the one that prepare his meals and my helper helps me with the feeding every morning. I guess I've forgotten how difficult it is to feed my uncooperative boy who either prefers to glue his lips together tightly or bloats his cheeks like a hamster with all the food stuffed inside but still refuse to chew and swallow. I admitted I may have lost a little patience knowing that time was ticking fast and I never like to be late for any of his lessons. Baby Reagan put on a fierce fight which resulted in an outburst of tears.

Then the next meltdown came during his shower time as he cried all the way till he finished his bath. He was in a terrible mood, which in fact happens quite rarely. At first I thought he was too attached to my helper and doesn't feel right not seeing her the whole morning. But still, I wonder what much my 14 mths old really knows actually, that our helper has left and not be coming back again. It makes more sense to blame it on the negative energy I've been spewing the entire morning. His mood and change of behavior must have been affected by me. Sorry my darling boy, mommy promised to keep her temper and negative feelings in check ok?

After that rough morning, I coaxed baby boy throughout the traveling journey to his Heguru school. He burst out in tears again when he was required to sanitize his hands at the counter. I was quite taken aback because this was the first time he showed how upset he was in the presence of the people in school. Baby Reagan is usually a happy and attention-seeking boy who is always so eager to please people with his ever-ready cheeky smiles. Luckily it was not long before his teacher came forward to greet him. Baby boy recognized his teacher and was immediately back to his lovely smiley self again. The presence of his teacher works like a charm, which was quite a relief to me. Initially I was worried that his negative mood will last throughout his lesson, phew!

Baby Reagan loves to check out the stickers he pasted on his school's weekly attendance card.
Considering his morning's meltdown episode, I felt that his response to the lesson today was already better than my expectation. At least he still focus very well during his favorite song cards and alphabets activities, and most importantly, no whining or cries that could have disturbed the class....double phew phew!

So after class, my busy day continues...from grocery shopping to cleaning my boy up, preparing his snacks, vacuuming and mopping the room, packing his toys, forcing him to take his noon nap (which I failed), going through home practice with him, preparing his dinner, feeding him his meal (which took almost 2 hours today!), bathing him, coaxing him to sleep, packing and cleaning his toys and books, preparing the materials for his home lessons ..etc.

Another episode of meltdown happened again in the evening when I tried to make him finish his dinner. It was until hubs came home at night then baby boy calmed down and turned very sticky to him. He even requested for some cuddling time with daddy. Hubs spent some bonding time with him as they had fun playing with an empty water bottle and a long scratching cane which I don't know where they picked up from. His daddy has recently been really busy with his work and night classes, and had probably spent lesser time with baby boy since last week. It was then I wonder whether baby Reagan's sudden random crankiness today is related to daddy instead.

Well, hopefully darling baby boy sleeps well tonight and returned back to his usual cheerful self again tomorrow.

Aug 26, 2013

Puzzles Activity Station

We were thinking what to do with the old coffee table that my mom brought back from our old place,  and that's when I thought it'll be a good idea to use it as a temporary puzzle activity station for my baby boy. The height of the table was just nice for him. All his puzzles are usually kept in the toy box, but if I display them all out nicely on the table, he would want to play with them more often. 

I think it's probably time to bring in a proper kids-size table and getting him used to siting on a chair where he can do all his hands-on activities like puzzles and artwork. Gonna check out IKEA soon.

Aug 19, 2013

Songs Flashcards- "A, You're Adorable" & "If All The Raindrops.."

New songs flashcards for next month.

Song title: A,You're Adorable 

I love this song because the tune is catchy and its lyrics is full of love and positive praises to your baby. Furthermore, it also sings my boy's favorite alphabet letters! You can listen to the song HERE.

A You're adorable
B You're so beautiful
C You're a cutie full of charms
D You're a darling and
E You're exciting and
F You're a feather in my arms
G You look good to me
H You're so heavenly
I You're the one I idolize
J We're like Jack and Jill
K You're so kissable
L Is the love light in your eyes
M, N, O, P
I could go on all day
Q, R, S, T
Alphabetically speaking you're okay
U Made my life complete
V Means you're very sweet
W, X, Y, Z
It's fun to wander through
The alphabet with you
To tell you what you mean to me!


I used mainly my baby boy's photos to create the flashcards for this song.

 Song title: If All The Raindrops...

The first time I listened to it was from a show from Barney & Friends , listen HERE. My baby boy is not really into Barney (yet), but I think this is a really cute and happy song that I like to sing with him. Especially the part when we pretend to open our mouth to catch the falling candies, bubble gums, ice-creams etc from the sky, haha!

 If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops?
Oh what a rain that would be.
Standing outside with my mouth open wide.
Ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh.
If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops?
Oh what a rain that would be.

If all the snowflakes were candy bars and milkshakes?
Oh what a snow that would be.
Standing outside with my mouth open wide.
Ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh.
If all the snowflakes were candy bars and milkshakes?
Oh what a snow that would be.

If all the sun beams were bubble gum and ice cream?
Oh what a sun that would be.
Standing outside with my mouth open wide.
Ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh.
If all the sun beams were bubble gum and ice cream?
Oh what a sun that would be.

Lyrics pasted behind the cards


 

My 16 mths old food diary

Finally as promised, here is the  food diary of my 16 mths old (14 mths adjusted) from any particular week. Sorry for taking so long to post mine up.

Usually my boy wakes up at between 6-7am for a milk feeding, then his first meal (lunch) will begin at around 10-10.30am. He will take some snacks after his lunch or/and after he woke up from his nap which is usually around 2-3pm. His dinner starts at 6pm, follow by a fruit feeding. His 3 hours milk feedings still continues.
Everyday routine-

I add vitamin C and DHA liquid supplements catered for babies, into one of his milk feedings (usually his morning feeds) and a dash of flaxseeds and chia seeds into his lunch. Alternate days I introduce juice to him, either I dilute prune juice and put them in his bottle/sippy cup or let him drink from the straw of the Bert & Ernie (Apple & Eve brand) or Hansen's Junior juice box  ,which is organic, 100% juice and vitamin C and no sugar added. On some days I give my boy a little juice together with his meal as I read that vitamin C helps the body to absorb more iron from the meal he eats. As long as you make sure he does not take in too much juice that fills up his tummy completely!

Monday
Lunch - Salmon tomato Pasta
Snack - Peach + Blueberry yogurt
Dinner - Porridge
(Most of his dinners are porridge mixed with one type of green veg (spinach, broccoli etc), one type of root veg (butternut squash, carrot, sweet potato, pumpkin, beetroot etc) and one type of meat (cod fish, salmon fish. chicken or pork.)

Tuesday
Lunch - Sweet potato + Spinach oatmeal porridge
Snack - Steamed egg custard with minced chicken
Dinner - Porridge

Wednesday
Lunch - Chicken + Tofu + butternut squash brown rice porridge
Snack- Banana + avocado
Dinner - Porridge

Thursday 
Lunch- Buckwheat cereal with banana + blueberry + peach
Snack - Salmon + sweet potato pie
Dinner - Porridge

Friday 
Lunch - Tofu + pumpkin + egg yolk oatmeal porridge
Snack - Buckwheat pancakes with banana
Dinner- Porridge

Saturday
Lunch - White radish + pork meat + egg yolk brown rice porridge
Snack - Blueberry + peach + yogurt
Dinner - Porridge

Sunday
Lunch- Chicken + carrot + spinach noodle soup
Snack - Avocado yogurt milkshake
Dinner - Porridge

I'm still trying and experimenting new food , hoping to introduce him a wider variety of different textures and tastes to stimulate his taste buds. Will work harder in creating new and healthy recipes for my baby boy.

Aug 17, 2013

2nd visit to the S.E.A Aquarium

Baby Reagan's 2nd trip to the S.E.A aquarium was more fulfilling than the first because he is much older now and so was more attracted to the moving fishes, compared to the first time he went when he was still a baby.

But still, I think he had the most fun playing with the drums outside the aquarium.
Showcasing his superb drum performance to the public. Great-grandma was really proud of her little drummer.
At the aquarium
Baby Reagan fell asleep within half an hour inside the S.E.A aquarium. His earlier solo drum performance must have drained off much of his energy!

Aug 15, 2013

Wooden Puzzles

A plastic toy with flashing lights and sounds from Toy r'us , OR a piece of wooden puzzle.... I will totally opt for the puzzle! Wooden puzzles are one of his favorite toys now, or maybe I should say that I would prefer to watch him play with puzzles than any other toys. And that's because I'm so attracted and completely mesmerized by that serious and deep in thought expressions when my baby boy tries to figure out how the puzzle works.
I'm still trying my best to avoid using DVDS and gadgets like smartphones or Ipad to teach my baby boy. The limited exposure to television programmes and gadgets activities seem to play a part in cultivating his patience, prolonging his interest and attention span in reading and playing these puzzles.

 Of course hands-on learning activities and real human interactions definitely beats screen-time!

Aug 13, 2013

My 14 months old 's first visit to the library

Baby boy's concentration for books has improved after I started to read him at least one book a day. I always pick two different books first and get him to choose the one he wants me to read to him. And he kinda like the idea of being able to make choices. Since then, his love for books just took off from there.  

 I've always been on a look out for children books on sale, especially those that have hard covers, bright colors and large bold wordings. It was until a mummy friend of mine gave me the idea of borrowing from the library instead. The thought of bringing him to the library is both exciting and intimidating. Exciting because it has been a long while since I stepped into one and never once I thought of bringing my baby there. I mean library gave me the perception of a place only for adults and older kids, and not for babies because babies aren't supposed to understand the meaning of keeping quiet. However I was pretty confident that my boy is not going to create a meltdown there. In the first place he RARELY creates scenes in public, but you never know babies, they have times when they can be quite unpredictable.  

In the end, it turned out to be a pretty enjoyable experience at the library alone with my baby boy. I read a few books with him first, then I picked out a few for him to look and turn the pages himself. No fusses and no whines, he just sat on the children couch quietly looking at his books while I sat on a table near him, reading my own books. One of the librarians approached me and asked how old he is and praised him for being so well-behaved. Of course as a mummy, you do feel proud and pretty good of yourself when people you do not know come and give your kid a compliment.
Anyway he is able to last for at least a good whole half an hour, before he began to get a little restless and started pulling the books down one by one from the bookshelves. It is a sign that it's time to leave the place. 

Now I feel that my child-sized bookshelf is quite a good investment because Reagan can easily reach for his books and pull them down himself whenever he wants to read them. At home, baby boy enjoys spreading his books across the floor and just quietly flipping them one by one, and this is when I can take a quick rest.
 I hope baby Reagan's interest in books will continue for long as I enjoy reading to him as much as he enjoys listening to my stories.

Aug 11, 2013

Salmon Tomato Pasta

Omega 3 fatty acids in salmons have shown to increase brain and eyes development for babies and is one of the super food recommended for them.

Exactly the same recipe as my previous pasta , but this time I replaced the minced meat with salmon. Add a dash of Flaxseed and Chia seeds and viola~

Aug 10, 2013

Our Happy King @ The Garden By The Bay

I think it has been a while since we really stop at our tracks to smell some flowers along the path...
 Lush grass, spacious ground, gorgeous flowers, beautiful pavilions and magnificent waterfall ... The Garden By The Bay is one of the places to impress the old folks..
  as well as my boy who was in a total awesome mood today! His laughter was contagious and his grandma and great grandma caught his "Happy Virus" within seconds!
I asked my baby boy, "Are you excited sweety?" He pumped his fists on the seat and smiled like the cherry sunshine that day.
 After his short noon nap, he was fueled up with loads of energy again! We put him on the bench and he started crawling up and down in excitement and laughing hysterically by himself.
Our king thought it would be nice to spread a little happiness to everyone in the park. He kneeled at the edge of the bench and started waving to anyone who walked pass him! The different groups of strangers were truly entertained by him and  responded back by approaching to say hello or waving back at him. This excites him even more and he would gesture for them to carry him... our baby boy is a great attention-seeker today!
Daddy wanted him to appreciate the plants and flowers...
Once again, we are thankful and felt really blessed to spend another awesome day together with our baby boy. 

Some of the photos I took using the artmode function of my new cam!


Shichi-mamas & Little Dragons meet up

A meet up with my ex-colleagues from The Shichida Method, together with our little Shichi-dragons haha! It's nice to have a good mummy talk about everything related to our babies, sharing about the right-brain teaching and also our parenting styles. 

Aug 8, 2013

Letter of the week- d

Our "A Letter A Week" finally continues again....
This week we are doing the letter "D".

'D' says "d, d, dragons !" Baby Reagan is borned in the year of Dragon and I thought it would be interesting to introduce him these cute baby dragons sticks I made for him.
I use them to introduce counting 1-3, with the help of the plastic cups below.
 and I pasted bright red dots stickers to represent the quantity
Then I slit a hole on the top of the cups for baby Reagan to insert the baby dragons while we count them together.

A fun way to teach my baby boy to recognize the numerals and its quantity 
 So now I moved on to counting number 1-5 and this time I used little ducks! 
D says "d" "d" "ducks."
 Velcro is used to stick the ducks onto the laminated hard paper. I input him the concept of addition (+1) and subtraction (-1) as I sing the song "5 Little Ducks went out one day, over the hills and far away...." Then I stick or pull out the ducklings one by one after I display the correct number above.

My 14 mths old began to love this activity now because he enjoys it whenever I sing to him and he loves pulling out the ducklings even more!
Now it's time to think of my next letter-of-the-week "E" !