Category: Baby stuff

Everything about the baby

Innovations by Bryan

At almost 19 months, Bryan has become incredibly innovative ways in dealing with daily issues using his problem solving skills. Here are a couple of examples.

A Whole New Game
Bryan has one of those multi-functional toy boxes that facilitates different types of learnings on each side of the box. One of the sides is an opening that allows Bryan to reach in to the center of the box to grab the blocks that he’d insert into the box from one of the sides. But he’s outgrown the box a while ago.

Just recently we bought him a complete set of colorful wooden alphabets to play with because he just LOVES solving puzzles and match shapes of blocks. At first we thought alphabets would be kind of challenging. But within a couple of weeks, he knew exactly where each alphabet goes without any help. And because we always sound out the alphabets when he makes a match, he already knew how to pronounce a few of the alphabets. After a while, the game got pretty boring for him.

So one day he decided to invent his own game with the two toys — he dumps all of alphabets into the toy box. So instead of picking alphabets at will by looking at them, he spiced up the activity by randomly picking out an unknown alphabet and tried to match that specific alphabet he just picked out!

WOW!

Making the Association
Bryan is at the stage where he wants to help himself to everything he eats. And we allow him to make a mess most of the time to help build his self-confidence and fine-motor skills. But one of the challenges has been finding a cup size that he can comfortably hold on to for maximum control.

While having pancakes at a restaurant one time, we noticed the cup used for syrups was perfect size for his tiny palm to comfortably hold on to. So we cleaned and washed the cup and replaced syrups with water. He LOVED the cup. And he kept drinking and asking for refills with it like an alcoholic at a bar. It was really funny to see.

So last night Grace gave him a small glass of milk to drink and experiment with using different types of utensils. At first he was happy with using a straw and different types of spoons. But then he realized one of his toys looks exactly like the syrup container he used at the restaurant. So he went and dug it out and started happily scooping milk out of the mug and drank with it. It was fascinating to see how quickly he made the associations on those objects.

First Steps

Exciting times…

This afternoon we witnessed one of Bryan’s very first steps… freehand…. without holding on to anything!

He’s a bit of a “late walker” (according to some parents anyway; but we are not worried). So to see him taking this first steps was fun. We think he knows how to walk on his own (he’s proven that he can stand just fine as well), but he’s a little cautious about falling on hardwood floor (I would too). So we are letting him take his time with walking… Otherwise his other developmental skills are doing just fine!

Ah… joys of childrearing…

Story Time

I think it’s the cutest thing when Bryan finds his own amusements.

When he gets bored with this toys, Bryan will find his books, cuddled with this bear, and “read” out loud. Well, okay, he can’t exactly read yet. But he will flip through the pages and identify things/animals that he knows and say the words.

It gives us a great sense of accomplishment and joy to see this little human being growing and absorbing all this knowledge in his brain. What surprises us the most is his ability to comprehend a lot of things we say without baby-talking to him.

Ah~, Such as the joy of childrearing.

Parenting

People hate to be given parenting advices. But sometimes when you see or hear something not quite right, you just gotta say something about it, right? WRONG!

I’ve tried to offer advice here and there to some friends. But apparently people either get offended or simply ignore what you just said. So I am taking a stance that Brian’s mom taught me long ago: shut up until advice is asked for. But sometimes when I learned something new and it works, my excitment tends to want to break that rule… like what I learned from “The Happiest Toddler on the Block”…

So I guess I’ll just mind my own business…

Toddler Tantrums

Bryan has been showing some pretty “tough” tantrums since he turned 15 months. So like I previously mentioned, I started reading “The Happiest Toddler on the Block”. And yesterday, I was able to pick up the DVD from the library so that we can get a “cram” version of the book to start winning some battles. Much to my surprise, the techniques freaking WORK! It was really crazy to see that look in Bryan’s eyes like, “Wait, you understood me?” And it’s even more amazing when he just puts away his tendrum and starts cooporating (most of the time anyway).

WOW. The techniques from the book plus the sign languages we’ve been teaching him have really saved us a lot of parenting griefs.

Speaking of sign language, Bryan seems to be be talking a lot more than he’s willing to sign. But he still signs anyway because he gets praises whenever he does them. But we are just beginning to realize how much he’s REALLY understanding what we say to him. Sometimes we just babble to Bryan in adult language (you know, complete sentences and all). But as soon as we realized that he understands most of what we say, we were shocked and have since started paying more attention to what we say all the time…

Happiest Toddler, Hopfully

A while ago, Brian and Birgit recommended “The Happiest Toddler on the Block” as a reading reference for dealing with the infamous “terrible two” tantrums. They said the book will show Grace and I some insight on, not only how to deal with the tantrums, but also reasons why some of those emotional mood swings take place.

Bryan has been showing some classic signs of emotional yo-yos. So I decided it was time to pick up the book and get into it with some substance. Luckily I was able to get a copy from the library. And as my luck would have it, I picked up another one from Craigslist for $4! So now Grace and I can read the same book simultaneously…

Incidently there’s also a DVD for it. Unfortunately the library copy was so scratched up that it was unplayable. And I guess it’s not enough of a money maker that our local Blockbuster stores also don’t carry it… Tough luck…

I also got some audio books that Brian has been trying to get me to read the book versions of, some of which are by Malcolm Gladwell, which have been on my reading list for the longest time. Bless good public libraries.

Thrills

The last time we felt REALLY thrilled about Bryan was when he started using American Sign Language to communicate with us (his first sign was, not surprisingly, “milk” ). But this week we were thrilled again when Bryan was finally able to consistently free-stand for a few seconds at a time. Even though we know this is a sign of more “troubles” to come when he is finally able to walk and roam around on his own with an unprecedented freedom, the very sight of him being able to do it still excites us nonetheless. Even more interesting is that Bryan seems to understand what it means now that he is able to stand up longer than ever without help — he shows off this newfound skill every chance he gets.

I may have mentioned this before, but Grace thinks that kids who are able to speak early seem to walk later. And the opposite seems to be true as well as she observed. We will see if this “theory” continues to hold up with the growth of 5 other kids in our immediate circle of friends — Kevin, Tai, Prestin, Xinee and Ella (pretty international names, huh?).

Baby Sign Language

One of the things Grace and I think we made the right decision on as parents was teaching Bryan ASL. It’s saved us and Bryan SO MUCH grief in having to figure out what that little head is thinking! Ever since he started to comprehend and respond in sign languages, it’s made communicating with him a lot less stressful and actually more fun for everyone (even bystanders). And it seems like as a result, he’s a happier baby simply because we know roughly (sometimes EXACTLY) what he wants when he tries to communicate it with us. Verbally he also seems to be picking up words and phrases quick nicely. Although he can’t complete a whole phrase yet, he can comprehend quite a bit of stuff that adults say.

For example, among adults, if we say to each other, “It’s time to go. I’ll see you next time.” Before we do anything to suggest we might be leaving, Bryan’d raise one of his hands and start waving good bye. Grace has used several different ways of saying “leaving” and Bryan gets quite a few of them — in both English and Mandarin…

Grace also noticed that sometimes Bryan reviews words he’s used or learned during the day as he lies in bed at night before he falls asleep. He’d lie there and repeat: nuo-nuo (kiddie talk for cow), naow-naow (bird), sheh-sheh (actually, he pronounces its “deh-deh”, for thank you), jeo (walk)… etc.

Excellent. So the making of Nerd 2.0 has officially begun.

Demand

The other day Grace took Bryan to visit our neighbor and her cats. Before they left, Bryan refused to return one of those cat toy feathers. His excuse? He wanted it for one of our cats! While he was holding on to the toy, he kept saying “Wawa… Wawa…”

And as soon as they walked in the door, I heard Bryan screaming “Wawa! Wawa!” while victoriously waving the feather in the air. I guess now we enter the stage of “possession” when they start to form the idea of ownership. But we are more interested in the fact that Bryan has learned to use other objects to play with our cats and having a lot of fun doing it.
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Young toddlers — they are so cute and cuddly when they behave. But when they have tantrums, I swear they must be mini-devils sent to earth to make adults suffer. A couple of days ago I had a “debug-a-thon” for 16 hours straigt… 12 of which working with clients via emails and IM… And just when I felt like I could finally take a breather and go to bed at 4AM, guess who decided he had enough sleep? My “boss”.

After spending almost an hour entertaining him, I finally “ran out” of good mood and started getting impatient with him… That’s when Grace stepped in and took over.

I guess good parenting also means good collaboration between the parents. Grace and I try to take turns to make sure we are in best of our moods when Bryan’s around. If one of us starts to feel fatigue having spent a lot of time with him, the other person can usually tell and grabs Bryan giving the first parent a break. On that, we have GREATEST respect for single parents! Or… heck, stay-at-home moms/dads who are along with kids ALL DAY!

Super “Bombs”

Up until 2 days ago, stories of parents exaggerating about just how messy their babies/toddlers’ poops at one time or another were had been, well, just fairy tales.

Bryan had a diarrhea — I suppose this phrase alone should foreshadow what’s about to follow. And the problem with that was, he’s had a LOT of food prior to the “event”. So when it DID happen… let’s just say an atomic explosion had been witnessed where it shouldn’t have been witnessed. Even worse, I was contaminated with the “material” unknowingly until it was way too late — it was over my clothes, jeans, and it left a 10-meter trail.

But Bryan had the worst end of the stick. His lower body was practically soaked with the “stuff”, and EVEN he knew that this was HOLY SHIT bad (no puns intended). When I put him down on the changing pad, he kept his legs up high and just gave me a face (“Hurry up, buddy. This isn’t going to be pretty!” ). You probably think this can’t get any worse — OH YES IT CAN!

Wondering why his butt is so watery, Bryan kept reaching to touch his butt, which made the already frenzy experience even more dramatic. And then there was the part where I had to peel off two layers of his clothes, both of which were worn over the head, without the “stuff” touching his face (too much). All this was happening while his hands were waving around with the “stuff” on (in spite of me trying to whipe as much of it off as quickly as I could).

Bryan ended up having to take a second bath for the day.

Just when I was about to hit “Submit” for this entry, Grace frantically came running from the front door announcing yet another messy diarrhea that took place while they were at Costco. So we went through the whole routine again, except this time Bryan went straight to the tub!

We may laugh about it now, but both experiences have been somehowat traumatic for Bryan. He was very confused and cried as if he did something wrong (as we know, it’s a scientific fact that the universe revolves around toddlers). So we tried to keep the mood light and go through the notion that it’s okay to be messy sometimes.