leonny's everyday things

July 2005

Still learning 29 July 05


Evidently, drinking from a glass, and doing it on your own, isn't all that simple.


Check this out: pain no more! 27 July 05

	I guess her teething pain is over. These last couple of nights, Anya's been sleeping throughout the night REALLY well. And I literally mean it. She now sleeps around 11 to 12 hours each night. AND, when she does wake up, she doesn't look for her milk bottle any more! New-found fact: As babies grow up, they get thirsty less often.



Fun in the shower: the way it should be 26 July 05

The start of something great 24 July 05

	A friend of mine gave Anya a blue, padded 'toilet seat'. It's nice and comfortable, but most importantly, ... it's STABLE. I got a plastic one before, no padding, the one that you're also supposed to place on top of the toilet seat. BUT, it wobbled whenever Anya made even the slightest move! Got her pretty scared! Well, I can imagine how insecure tiny kids feel when they sit on such a high 'chair' with a big hole and lots of water below! I've also tried a 'potty' that you put on the floor, too. But Anya prefers to stand and walk away everytime I let her sit there. So to me, this new toilet
seat is just great!! Anya can't get down by herself and she can play with her toys as I go 'Ssshhh... ssssssshhh... ' and 'Nnnggggg... nnnggggg....' for a few minutes! Anyway, it's official ... Anya is getting toilet trained, people! And I hope she gets used to the idea of life without diapers very soon.

Lost. Gone. 23 July 05

Yeah yeah ... I lost my handphone. My very first time sigh Since the phone itself is quite old, I'm honestly more annoyed with the fact that I lost ALL the numbers in my phone book. And, now without my 'mobile' phone book, I get to realise how little I remember other people's phone numbers! And this is baaaadddd! Especially since I used to remember sooo many phone numbers in my head (Hmmm, this is before the invention of mobile phones, of course. Hehe). Ccckk, ckk, ckk... you see, this is a classic example of how technology often makes us exercise our brain less.
Anyway, if you haven't copied down all your phone book somewhere, I suggest you do it very soon. Nobody plans to lose any of their belongings, but ... things happen, unfortunately.

Mommy, it's painful!
22 July 05

These last couple of days, Anya cried in her sleep. And I couldn't seem to do anything to calm her down. She'd stop crying, tried to sleep, and 5 minutes later, she'd start crying again. At first I thought she's just being grumpy. She's probably just very tired, I thought.

But then she cried again during her afternoon nap. Now, that's weird coz it never happened before. I went in to check her out and I saw her crying with her eyes still closed and a finger in her mouth. Ooo ... she's teething! Her fourth molar is coming out and I guess it really really hurts. Oh poor baby!

Books, friends and websites say that during the teething period, the gums are swollen and tender. Some say that during this period your kid may get diarrhea, fever and stuff. Well, when Anya's first few teeth came out, she's alright. No fever, no drooling, no loss of appetite. Everything's just normal. I guess it's only when her molars started to come out that she cried at night. Even then, it's just that one night. She's alright the next day.

This time, she did have a bit of diarrhea and vomitted a few times. But I'm not sure if that's because she's teething or because she just came back from Jakarta (hmm, it's kinda a well-known fact that food preparation there is not that 'hygienic'). The doctor said she's got stomach flu (After dinner on the plane, Anya vomitted just 15 mins before we reached Singapore!). The thing is, although she vomitted and all that, Anya's still normal, I mean ... no coughing,

no cold / runny nose, no fever.

Some suggest that we get one of those teething gels that are designed to numb the pain. But we kinda disagree with the whole concept of 'avoiding pain altogether'. If kids are all protected from feeling all kinds of pain, they'll grow up thinking that pain is not supposed to be part of their life. Which is not true. Of course we do help her ease some of the teething pain, not by applying gels, but by letting her chew on carrots, etc.

Oh well, I hope it's over soon so she can enjoy her naps again and have a good night sleep!

... aaaaarrrrrrrhhhhh ...
20 July 05

It was 2 am and I was in the kitchen, doing a few stuff before going to sleep. I reached for Anya's milk tin and suddenly something frantically wriggled, jumped to my hand and leapt towards the back of the fridge. It was a BIG house lizard! I went into a huge panic attack, and I think all our neighbours heard my 3-second-scream! I think, I was still in my 'shock mode' for a good half an hour after that. Pretty shaken, and it was terrible! *sigh* Someone with a huge phobia would surely know how unimaginably shocking it is to physically encounter your worst fear.

Now, the 2nd incident of the day:
I was happily washing the dishes earlier that same day. I held one plate up and use my other hand to scrub off some stubborn marks when I suddenly heard a loud crack and glass shatter. Then I saw lots of blood. Blood on the sink. Blood spatter on the floor. Blood on my hands. Apparently the plate cracked and it slashed my thumb. Quite a deep cut, actually (it started to look like one of those scenes from ER!). Boy I'm glad my hubby's around at the time. He came to my 'rescue' within seconds and helped me treat the cut and all. Anyway, it was all okay at the end. I had gauze pads wrapped around my thumb and Anya kept pointing at it and said 'tu-tu ... tu-tu' (it's supposed to be 'thung thung' which means: 'pain' in chinese dialect. Hehe...)

Moral of the story:

- Keep a box of first-aid stuff handy in your house. Make sure you've got all the basic stuff in there too (read: things other than just panadols!)

- Save your 'desperate' scream for help for 'real' emergencies so the people in your house take you seriously and come to help real fast!

- Accidents could happen to us at any time, anywhere. Not necessarily when we're on a plane or in a car. And if we're safe and sound today, we should be thankful to God for that. I truly believe that we're often spared from many 'unfortunate' incidents, without us actually knowing it. And even IF we do get to experience something that's not to our liking, it's alright too, because if life's always so convenient, how can we ever learn anything from life?

Little feet, giant steps 19 July 05


Watching her grow day by day continues to amaze me. From a tiny baby who couldn't even roll over to a little girl who toddles around, ready to explore the big world. I have to say the amazing journey of human growth is way beyond what our brain can ever imagine and understand. How a tiny embryo grows into a baby. How the brain and other body parts slowly yet consistently develop inside mommy's womb. The whole process of childbirth. How the baby grows and picks up all sorts of skills. The miracles of life are all around us. We can see them everyday and everywhere. And yet, isn't sad and ironic that so many of us often forget about the One who's behind them all?

Holiday summary
18 July 05

OK ... now I can finally have some time to write. The kid's asleep. Hubby's out playing tennis.

During our holiday, Anya got to meet ALL her cousins! Considering that they're usually so far away from each other (Jakarta, Lampung, Melbourne and Singapore), it's really great that they all get to meet and play together. They're all much older than Anya though, so she's kinda like a little 'doll' to them. Hehe.

The thing is, her 'stranger anxiety' kicked in really hard as soon as we landed in Jakarta. The fact that she had to suddenly interact with SOOO many new faces within such a short period was kinda overwhelming. Especially when she had to meet all 34 relatives of mine at one go. She became VERY clingy and cried so very easily *Sigh* It must've been very stressful for her. A tiny girl in a such a huge world. AND of course as I expected, just when she started to get comfortable with everyone, it's time to leave Jakarta! Aaaahhhh...

And oh ... we took Anya to the Safari Park!! We stayed in the car and trailed slowly behind the other cars. It's so much fun! We saw so many animals really close and some of them even walked by our car. Tiger. Zebra. Deer. Antelope. Llama. Buffalo. It's better than going to the zoo, I reckon.

Anya got so excited of course. The creatures she often sees on TV and books suddenly came alive right in front of her eyes. She flapped her arms, did a monkey move and roared like a tiger. Hehe.

Overall, I'll say 'Jakarta is the place to ...':

> enjoy yummy food and desserts.
Those sold on the streets may not be prepared as 'hygienically' as we want them to be, but they're yummy! (oh well, like they say, just eat the food and don't worry about the kitchen!)

> test out your level of patience.
Its constant traffic jams and SUPER slow internet connection usually manage to drive people up the wall 8 out of 10 times.

> see and experience what 'regular flooding' is really like.

Oh well ... anyway, despite all that, we still enjoy our yearly holiday there.

Yup, I'm still alive 17 July 05

	Aaaahh, we're back from our little break. Went to Jakarta. Had a great family reunion. Ate lots of yummy food. It was SO refreshing! Much needed for all three of us, I guess. AND I'm still in such a holiday mood. Urfff. Anyway, I'll write more soon and share my holiday pics. Look out for more, people!