the adjustment - week 1

Caleb was crying everytime ibu wanted to bring him down to the playground.
but once he was at the playground, he got distracted and forgot his mommy :)

But...it was still hard for both of us..
I don't like him crying so badly everytime he got separated from me.
I wished he knew that it is okay to leave mommy because after a while he can see mommy again..and that he will still have lots of fun eventhough mommy is not with him.

But one day he came home from playground, running to me happily.
I told him "see how happy you are after playing at playground..so next time don't cry when you leave mommy okay"

and since that day...he never cried anymore...when ibu said "let's go downstairs", he will take his shoes and I will put them on for him..then he will wave and say bye-bye to me (this is cute!), and go out and close the door.
I am so relieved.

Last monday I even tried to leave Caleb alone with ibu at home..just to see how it went..if he would cry looking for mommy..or if he would just be fine.
it turned out..he was fine. he didn't cry.
the only problem is that...he still refused to be put down to sleep with ibu.
he also refused to be fed by ibu.

so I'm still getting nervous about coming back to work because these 2 aren't settled well yet.
and it's just another 5 days left before I work! sigh...
My back up plan is to take turn with hubby...so I will go to work in the morning and be back by 2. While hubby will leave house after he feeds Caleb, which means around 1pm.
We will settle his nap and his meal before we leave him with ibu.
But my plan is to keep trying on training ibu so that Caleb can take a nap and have meal with ibu.
I know ibu is nervous too because of her previous failure...sigh...but this has to worked! please..please..please...

The copycat is in action AGAIN!

OMG

I can't believe this.

When Caleb started to walk, I wrote this in my BB status: there's a toddler walkin around in my house
and the next day I changed into : a toddler in da house

at that time noone copied anything I wrote about Caleb.
Well, yes of course...because her son still couldn't walk yet at that time.

But recently I read her post about her son started to walk already and guess what she wrote in FB?
yup..exactly the same thing: there's a toddler walking around in my house
and today her BB status is: a toddler in da house

I can't believe this!!!
that means she read what I wrote and memorized it and she had even planned that she would steal these words once her son could walk!!!

But this time I just took it lightly..not so emotionally like last time..
(cuma ngga habis pikir aja...herann ada orang kayak gitu! hahaha)

"tetu"

Caleb is always a fan of biscuits, cookies and basically...SNACKS!
He can eat alot of it!!

Today he tried to show me how nice a biscuit is!
He was eating it and suddenly put the biscuit on my mouth and said "Eat! Eat!"
So I took a bite and guess what he said: "tetu", which means: thank you

Ha! I can't believe he expected his mommy to say thanks to him for sharing his biscuit!
hello mister...Mommy gave you that biscuit! hahahahhaha..

Caleb's Vocabs development

Caleb's vocabs by 16m

English

1. Car
2. Cow
3. duck
4. dog
5. cake
6. fish (*fi)
7. robot (*bot)
8. apple (*ple)
9. flower (*wowe)
10. turtle
11. clock (*cok)
12. bear
13, lion (*arrgghh)
14. pig
15. nest (*ne)
16. egg
17. drum
18. heart
19. key
20. moon
21. pants
22. ant
23. tree
24. banana (*nana)
25. ball
26. bike (*bak)
27. train
28. pea
29. hat
30. bird
31. pig
32. ladybug (*bug)
33. tiger (*ger)
34. bee
35. butterfly (*ba ba)
36. truck
37. clown
38. star
39. owl
40. head
41. chest
42. go
43. bye bye
44. more
45. dont want
46. eat
47. milk
48. biscuit (*bik)
49. bottle (*baba)
50. spider (*spa)
51. daddy
52. mommy (*mama)
53. ibu (*buk)
54. Book
55. bible
56. uncle (*cle)
57. Alphabet: A and O
58. Numbers: 2 and 3
59. grandma (*ma)
60. grandpa (*papa)
61. our dogs name: chico, casey, zendo (*co, keci, dodo)^^
62. watermelon (*nemene)
63. caterpillar (*cepece)
64. no
65. yes (*ya)
66. yogurt (*gurt)
67. barney (*baba)
68. flashcard (*card)
69. cheese (*chee)
70. pampers (*pampie)
71. baby
72. girl


I know the last 2 words, he's really working so hard to say it and it really sounds cute when u hear him say these words!! :D
some of the words are also not perfectly pronounced, but most importantly is we understand what he means to say

Indonesian:
1. sudah (*dah)
2. bobok
3. enak (*nak)

Other than these words, he can actually understand many things that but he can't say.
Like when we ask him to put on his shoes, he will take his shoes and give them to me. Or he will dance when I ask him to dance.
he knows where is hand, teeth, toes, etc
he knows sun, leaf, grass, grapes,orange, elephant, etc though he can't say the word but he will point it correctly

we are still working on some more new vocabs
still practising ABC and numbers everyday
oh boy..we've alot to do! :)

Be Selfish

I have a friend who just gave birth 3 months ago and she is now a stay at home mother (SAHM).
When we were chatting on BBM (Blackberry Messenger), she told me how she felt guilty leaving her baby at her mom's place so that she could take a break window shopping at the mall. She felt that she was being selfish to satisfy her own need to have some 'me' time.

and this is what I said to her:

Dont feel guilty for being selfish. We-SAHM- need to be selfish sometimes. Our 'me' time is important so that we can keep our SANE in order to have a balanced life.
It is not good to be burned out. When we are tired emotionally, we tend to lose temper easily and get impatient to the people around us, including our baby.
SO don't feel guilty. Take a break. Be selfish when you get the chance to do so.
I also tell myself the same thing whenever I get the chance to spend some 'me' time..like during my recent trip to sby, I went to salon, shopping, facial...leaving hubby alone with Caleb at home.
I did feel guilty..but then I told myself...I hardly get this kind of chance..so let's be selfish this time and enjoy while I can. you deserve this. WE deserve this.

Anyway, a happy mom begets a happy baby.

The helper is really here!!

yupp my new helper is here now!
it's so great to have her...she cleans house well, and cooks really nice food too!
OMG...I really put on weight because of eating too much in indo..and now with all the nice food she cook..how can we diet????

And Caleb with ibu (that's how we call the maid)??

Oh... Caleb..Caleb... what's wrong with you dear?
3 weeks ago you liked ibu so much and always waited for the time when ibu could bring you to playground..but now you cried like hell when ibu wants to bring you to playground.
this clinginess he brought from indo isn't over yet!! sigh..

whyyyy...whyyyy must it happen now when time it's getting near for me to go back to work next week!!!

he is so attached to me. all he wants is mommy. Nope..not daddy..even with daddy, he would scream 'mama..mama!!'

sigh...


sigh........

but good news and hope! I just read a blog saying that teething can cause clinginess.
phew... I do hope it's teething. He now has 15 teeth in total..with new 1 molar and 2 cuspids coming out. and I could see another 2 swollen gums.
I do remember that there were times when Caleb was also super clingy and cranky..that was a few weeks before he was having that 7 days fever and that was when his 1st molar cut through.
So yes..it's probably just teething.

OH dear Jesus..please let everything goes easy for both of us at the time I need to leave him at home for works.. *cross finger*

the story about the trip

Hi all...

I am back with the story of our trip in indo.
so how was it?
hmm...well, it wasn't the best trip but definetely it was alot better compared the previous 2 trips.

How it could be better?
Because this time hubby get to take care Caleb when I took my chance to go to salon, shopping at pasar atum, facial and run my errands.
Yeah..finally the wife got a chance to enjoy such treatment! yayyy... :D
I even got the chance to get a massage 3x while I was in sby..hmmm...NICE!

and we also went to Batu and Malang. Everything went well. we enjoyed the view and the food.
Caleb also slept well in the car and when he woke up, he wasn't cranky too although he had to be in car for 4 hour journey (due to traffic!!)

But...

yes..there's 'but'.. because:
1. Caleb was having fever and rashes 3 days before we went back to indo. But this time he was actively playing though he had 38C fever..people may not notice that he was sick! that's why we decided to continue our plan to go back indo.
2. the first week in indo (before hubby came), I couldn't leave house without Caleb at all. He suddenly became so clingy to me and refused to play or to be near everyone else but his mommy!
this is super strange!! Because one week before in Singapore, he was okay with grandma carrying him and play with him. but suddenly when we arrived in sby, he totally refused grandma.
3. Fever and rashes subsided on day 5, and I could see a molar cutting through! hmm...see...the fever was due to teething..AGAIN! but thank God it was much a better fever this time.
but oh well..Caleb wasn't sleeping well too for the first 5 days in indo...but he still took naps well so I could catch up my sleeping hours when he napped.

well..so...because of these 3 'buts', I could conclude that this time vacation is not the best but definetely better than before.

Recent caught in the act!

Caught his cute actions:

1. trying to sing along with barney "twinkle twinkle little star". Although he was babbling and can only hear the word 'star' but he's definetely singing!

2. Dance and sing " aa..aa..aa..aa" with barney (dunno the title of the song)

3. put grandma's vitamin bottle inside laundry basket..and grandma spent the whole day looking for it.

4. immitate grandma yawning and giggling non stop after that

5. grab the thermometer and put it on his own ear!!

^^

Caleb's fave show

1. BARNEY!!! he lovesss this show so much.
2. educational videos like baby einstein etc
3. Miss patty cake
4. High 5
5. Hillsong kids live concert

^^

Caleb's Vocabs

For a 15 month old boy, I'm quite impressed that Caleb can say quite alot of words already.
I know that most of the kids around his age have not yet talked, and that's normal. Most kids start talking by 2 or 3 years old.

For Caleb..he's okay. I can say he's pretty good.
He can memorize so many words now and even say the word. Although some words are not in perfect pronounciation, but the most important thing is we understand what he means. Even my mom who has only been with him for 2 days, can already understand his words. SO I guess that means he's pretty clear enough.

Well he can say these words:
car, ball, milk, tree, bird, flower, star, bear, duck, cow, truck, clock, book, girl, baby, bible
and many many more..can't remember one by one..
and some difficult words:
butterfly... he say "ba", banana "nana", robot "bot", etc

And he also knows ABC now..but his fave is A. :)
I really hope I can continue teaching him and see more improvement even if I have started working later...

This month's fever

My goodness...will we have to go through this every month???

yes... Caleb is having fever AGAIN!
suspect that his molar n cuspid are cutting through
But this time no flu..and he is still active and playful
you may not know that he is actually sick
even last night when the fever reached 39.7C, he was still smiling to me and refused to sleep
but wanted to talk and talk

The thing is..we have a planned trip to indo and we're leaving this Sat!
you know I have trauma going back..because previous trips were never pleasant for me
first, caleb's separation anxiety and teething. second was my grandpa passed away and both hubby n Caleb were sick too. All previous trips had drained me!
It is really discouraging for me to go back again...but I have to!!! because I got to see my dentist soon as I need to fix my tooth before it got painful. We all know it's not worth going to Sgp dentist..as the cost will even be more expensive than our flight tickets+dentist fee in sby.
So this time around..I really pray for God's favor that this trip will be a REAL FUN to all of us..

I hope in another 2 weeks, I come back to you guys with an update that we all have a BLAST in indo! Hope so!! *cross finger*