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Misha has a new-found interest – experimenting with colours. She was given a box of oil-pastel crayons at school (which I had kept hidden for some time so that she won’t misuse them, such as doodling on walls etc…) as part of a gift-exchange program.
One day while we were reading a book about ‘a pirate boy and his hidden treasure’, she began describing objects in the book by its colours, such as yellow duck, red toothbrush, green ball, etc…I was suprised that she could recognize the different colours and remember them well. I decided to take out the box of crayons which I had hid from her and let her get her hands dirty by colouring away.
I drew some pictures on a piece of paper and asked her, “What colour goes here?” while pointing to a tree trunk. “Brown!” she replied. Amazed, I pointed to the little umbrella which I drew. “Blue!”, she claimed, probably because she had a small blue Mickey Mouse umbrella which we bought from Kiddy Palace.
I think I probably needed a bigger fridge to put up all of her ‘drawings’.
Her first year was full of developmental changes, and the more obvious one was her physical side. She looks more and more like P by the day, and we notice a mixture of our characteristics when we both were younger. She has bits of my agility, and pieces of P’s wits and stubbornness.
Between years one and two the changes have seemed to be more verbal. She’s gone from the basic “no’s” and “nak’s” to three and four word sentences. She has developed preferences and opinions, and is not shy about sharing them. Like the other day, when I was checking on her diaper (yes, we are still trying hard to toilet-train her, and it *will* happen later if not sooner), she quickly turned to me and said, ‘Mommy, don’t touch my backside’. And when I covered her head with a towel, she giggled and said while pointing to her head, ‘Eh look, like Bik Nana!’ (mimics my sister because she normally wears a headgear in P’s presence).
There are times when she showed us her ‘heck-care’ and strong-willed attitude by refusing to listen to us (we’re still working on this, by the way). But it takes a bit of a gentle approach to reason with her to make her understand why she had to do what we told her to. For instance, like wiping her wet hands with a towel, and throwing used tissue paper into the dustbin, and keeping quiet while her brother is asleep, etc. For P and I, the communication piece has been huge – it’s allowed us to understand her needs better, and learn more about who she is.
Back at her childcare centre, we get a couple of positive feedbacks about her from her teachers. We were told that she has been actively participating in class activities. She can count from one-to-seventeen (skipping fourteen and sixteen in between) and also counting one-to-five in spanish thanks to Dora, and memorizing numbers and alphabets. She recognizes simple shapes like circle, triangle, square, rectangle, star, heart and oval. She knows her primary colours (and again thanks to Dora for the Spanish version as well).
She is learning fast and I hope she would explore more newer things in future.
Happy Birthday, Misha! Sorry that we (mommy & daddy) did not cook up a birthday bash for you this year like we did for your first birthday. But we hope you enjoyed the Mickey Mouse cakes you had hand-picked for yourself. They were tasty indeed.
Lots of love,
Mommy.
Dear Mummy,
My teacher says I have made a lot of improvement in school. I learn new words and speak up more, I participate in all the class activities, and enjoy getting along with teachers and friends. She also says I like to sing in class, erm, loudly! *grins*
Oh, and I think I’m not the only one learning new things. My brother is also picking up a few tricks of his own. I think he’s able to stand by himself now, just as long as he has something to hold onto. He likes playing with me, I think…
I will update you again with my progress. Until then, here’s some photos I’d like to share. Take care, Mummy.
Lots of love,
Misha
Nope, I wasn’t talking about chocolates that melt in your mouth. I was referring to my two kids, Misha and Mika, actually. Last Saturday, we had a great bonding time. The three of us had breakfast at TM’s McDonalds. We wanted to get ourselves Big Breakfast meal, but unfortunately they ran out of sausages because their grill was out of order, so I ended up buying us Hotcakes meal instead. Of course, *that* was not part of Mika’s diet. I had prepared some baby cereals for him.
Since I was the only adult handling two kids that day, I had asked Misha to stay put at the table while I get food. At that time, Mika was asleep in his stroller. Thankfully I was greeted by a very nice old couple who offered to keep an eye on the kids while I queue. It’s rare to find people like that these days, especially stangers, but their kind gesture really made my day!
Anyway, after breakfast, we headed to Emiko Arts and I asked Misha if she would like to paint. She agreed. Since it was her first time, things got a little messy at first, but it turned out pretty nice. A bit untidy but who cares, it’s art, right? 
Once she’s done, we headed off to the library to spend some time reading. Misha got excited at the sight of so many books around her. She picked up a few books that caught her attention and asked me to read to her. I think she enjoyed herself that day.
“Hope no one minds if I sit on the floor…”
What’s it like not seeing my bo-boy for three days? Horrible I tell you!
It’s Day #3 today, and I’ll be bringing Misha for a return visit to the doctor to confirm if
she’s a-okay to go back to school come Monday so I can bring my little ‘gendut’ home tonight.
Misha, on the other hand, is recuperating fast. She’s beginning to eat again. *yay*
And she seems happier now. I’m not certain if she seems so due to her getting better, or because we get to spend some quality time at home together without her little brother around. Hmm.
Me: “Misha, where is Mika?”
Misha: *thinks for a moment, then smiles*
Misha: “a-yi aus” (Yayi’s house)
Me: “Can Mummy bring Mika home?”
Misha: *shakes head*…”no”
Me: “No? Do you want to see Mika tonight?”
Misha: *nods head and smiles*
Meanwhile, I was informed that Mika is enjoying his stay at his Yayi’s house.
edited: Mika’s back! *yay*
I received a phonecall from Misha’s form teacher today informing me of some tiny spots on her palms & feet. Her temperature was measured at 37.4 deg c so that was still alright. When I arrived some time in the afternoon, she was already being isolated in the principal’s office.
Just a couple of weeks back, her centre had one reported case of chickenpox, but they had taken the necessary measures to contain the virus. I was advised to bring Misha to the doctor for confirmation as to whether this is a case of HFMD or chickenpox. We went to see the GP, but she couldn’t confirm the case and referred Misha to a specialist. I later made an appointment at 7.15pm at the Children’s Centre since the clinic reopens after 6.30pm on weekdays.
Once again, the doctor’s diagnosis was not conclusive since the spots on her feet are mostly clutered at her toes (which is rarely so for HFMD, whose blisters are mostly clustered on the sole of the foot). She did mention that one tiny dot on her palm do resemble a blister in the case of HFMD, but it could also be something else. When the doctor checked on her mouth, there was no trace of any ulcers (phew). I was then asked to monitor her situation for the next three days, and if her condition worsen tomorrow, I should return back to the clinic for re-assessment. So we shall see…
In my earlier post, I did mentioned that Misha’s appetite had improved slightly, but for the last two days she was back to refusing any food (and now even milk feed). I am not sure if it is due to a her being unwell, or discomfort (or it could be teething too). She kept on whining and crying whenever we attempt to give her food/milk/water (I’m used to this by now).
Here’s some info on HFMD: http://www.hpb.gov.sg/health_articles/hfmd/
From the symptoms checklist,
In the news today (April 1st, 2008): 702 more HFMD cases reported
To Misha: Hope this is just false alarm, okay? Mummy and Daddy got plans this weekend tau. Take care, and eat well!
What started as a sheer dry cough, ended up in a series of phlegm hoarking and endless convulsive barfing. Since last Wednesday, Misha was having what we thought was just a mild cough. She had it a couple of times before but it hadn’t turned too serious to warrant a visit to the doctor.But this time it turned so bad that on Friday night we had taken her to see her pedriatrician.
*happily playing while waiting for her name to be called*
That same night we had mixed her prescribed Promethezine into her milk feed after she had refused to consume the medicine on its own. In less than 10 minutes, she started to cough out loud with what sounded like accumulated phlegm in her throat. All of a sudden, she began to throw up all of her milk along with traces of whatever she had back at school *erghh*.
The next day, she was feeling slightly better. We went out for a late lunch at Yew Tee, and she was being her jovial self once more. …pictures while waiting for food…
Here we go again – a nerve-wrecking moment we haven’t had in a long time. For the past two days, my girl has been extra clingy, extra whiny, extra cranky, and extra mad (mad at me, mad at P, mad at her toys, her food and everything else imaginable). Even her mood swing changes faster than the eye could blink!
We tried to console her and put up with her needs, but nothing seemed to work. Ada time tu dah geram sangat tangan ni pun jalan jugak. But that made things even worse. We couldn’t figure out why the sudden change in behaviour – until we saw her stuff her fingers into her saliva-covered mouth right to the back of her teeth. Now why hadn’t it struck us earlier? She’s growing her last set of baby teeth – the second molars!
Recalling her previous bout of teething incident some long months ago (the first molars), I remembered it wasn’t a pleasant experience at all. I’m talking about excessive crying, sleepless nights and things of that sorts. Her temperature had shot up to 40 degrees celsius, and she was *nearly* rushed to the hospital. And now we’re probably about to go through it again! *Oh, horror* Thankfully she hasn’t had a temperature this time (so far), however her nose has been running mucus all day long.
Tomorrow it’s gonna be a day off from school and a visit to the doctor. I’ve been giving her gripe water for now. Can’t think of any other remedies to try except letting her munch on some cool carrots (which she disapproves).
Let me know if you have any other working remedies for teething – I’d love to hear them!
“Mommy needn’t forcefully make me cry this time. I did it on my own.”
Monday, Dec 3rd, 2007, was Misha’s first day at school. P & I had accompanied her and spent the full day at the centre. We noticed that she could get along well with her centre mates, although most of the time she was caught playing by herself. She got quite comfortable, nonetheless. One thing good was that she didn’t complain or make a fuss when other kids snatched her toys away from under her nose. She would divert her attention to other things.
The only worrying part is that she barely eats despite their daily servings of healthy meals. For breakfast, the centre had served Honey Stars in a bowl and a cup of milk. She *did* munch a couple of “stars” using a spoon (although with slight difficulty as she’s used to eating Honey Stars with her hands). But she *did* try and somehow managed on her own. Her milk was, however, untouched. At lunch, she didn’t eat her porridge. She shook her head no when her teacher even tried to feed her. She *did* however finished one slice of apple. For snacks, she took 2 feeds of waffle with syrup and refused to eat the rest. Her milo was, once again, untouched. Apart from that I think she did quite well.
We’ll just wait and see how she progresses over the week.
More photos at my multiply page.
In many cases, it is normal for some toddlers to show signs of jealousy when they acquired a new sibling, while others regress and simply want to go back to being a baby all over again. Misha falls under this (latter) category of kids where her regressive behaviour is noticeably visible. These days, she will:
(a) flail her arms and legs about during diaper change,
(b) not wanting to hold her own bottle but having someone hold it for her during milk feeds,
(c) having someone feed her instead of eating on her own,
(d) whining about and make baby-like cries when she needed something,
(e) lying down on the baby-rocker more frequently than her baby brother does.
Every day my patience is put to a test, especially since I’m the only person at home looking after the two kids when P’s out at work. This, along with the daily household chores – minus the cooking because I just don’t have the time nowadays. (Wonderwoman should give me a pat on the back for trying 
)
Reminiscing her baby days…
On a positive note however, she does shower her baby brother with lots of love and affection. Every now and then she will kiss him on his cheeks and stroke his head and/or arms gently. There are times when she wants to “look after” him like any grown-up would. She’ll say things like:
“Keeka, piz o kway…” (read: Mika, pls don’t cry…), or
“okei, okei…shh, shh, shh…keeka, shleep…” (read: ok, ok…shh, shh, shh…Mika, sleep…)
Sometimes, she’d even read to him at his cot…
And when I’m busy bonding with the little one, she will preoccupy herself with a substitute – putting it to sleep and even burping it!
