Memories Frozen in Time: Daughter#1

Showing posts with label Daughter#1. Show all posts

Showing posts with label Daughter#1. Show all posts

April 26, 2008

Goodbye Diapers

Good news everyone. I thought potty training my baby would be hard, but it was not at all.

My daughter will be 3 years old next month. She is potty trained now; and there is no need to use a diaper anymore. Last week, I started my daughter on wearing her underpants without a diaper, when she goes to sleep. So far, she hasn’t wet the bed. My secret is that I woke her up in the middle of the night and at 5 o’clock in the morning. The first two nights, she cried when I asked her to go pee; but the next morning, she was doing well. Last night, I was surprised because I didn’t have to ask her to go pee; but suddenly, she got up from the bed and went to pee. Wow, that is awesome for her at that age to do like that.

Both hubby and I are very happy watching our daughter grow up and learn new things.

April 15, 2008

Communication Problems

A week ago, we went to our pediatrician for a well check-up and to receive vaccinations for my youngest daughter. At the waiting area there were two children playing, they were ages 6 and 3 years old. Again, I started to compare my 3 year old daughter to the other 3 year old child. The 3 year old girl was talking a lot and was communicating well with her mom and her sister. My daughter is almost 3 year old, but she isn’t fully talking yet. To tell the truth, she talks a lot, but she talks mostly in unintelligible baby talk. She has a small vocabulary, but she doesn’t speak many complete sentences. When she does attempt to say something, it’s not very clear what she’s trying to say. But with my coaching, she can say sentences after me and understands what I say, and she responds.

She is very intelligent, especially when it comes to problem solving and puzzles in the computer. She can read and repeat sentences after me. She learns everything very fast, except for talking. She is quite smart and right with everything else, and she understands what you are asking her to do. Should I be worried about this? Ease my troubled mind.

February 18, 2008

Picky Eater

Jo tagged me about 8 Random Things about my daughter but to be specific I will talk only one. My daughter is a picky eater. I think for her age, she is under weight. She is not interested in adult foods. But her favorite food for breakfast is cereals and milk. I am giving her yogurt, just to add flavors and add nutritional value. Most of her foods are finger foods.

She is almost 3 years old, but she can’t feed by herself alone. She can only use a spoon, when she’s eating an ice cream or her favorite foods. If I give her a proper meal and let her use the spoon, she is only good for 2 to 3 bites, then after that she will stop eating. So, what I did, until now, I am spoon feeding her like a baby. If I won’t help her, she can’t eat, and I am scared that she will get sick.

I have observed this kind of situation of some of my friends in the Philippines, I thought they are spoiling their children, but it’s already happening to me. So, I was wrong.

December 27, 2007

Reading Practice

This is my daughter's reading practice. She is 2 years and 7 months old.

video

December 03, 2007

Building Words

I have come to a new realization; never underestimate a child's understanding. I realize now,they are capable of so much more than we think they are. My daughter's generation is different, children learn fast. Maybe it is just because there are more opportunities for children to learn. If I am not wrong, I could have read at age six; though I know that each child is at a different level of their abilities to learn.

About four months ago, I was worried about, what I thought was, my daughter's slow development. I felt that there were many things that she should have already learned or should be doing. From that time, I have been teaching a different lesson everyday. She has done pretty good; and now, I cannot help but to think that she is a smart girl for her age.

She is only 2 1/2 years old, but she has started reading simple words now. I have written words and asked her to read them; to my surprise, she reads the words without any hesitation. I cannot say that she is memorizing the words, because I have asked her to read them in random, and there are NO pictures to help her with the words. I am not sure if she knows how to read, I think she is too young for this. But whatever it is, this is a good start for her.

These are the words that she can read:
Apple | Boy | Ball | Bird | Cat | Cow | Doll | Egg | Enter | Exit | Frog | Girl | Heart | Horse | Igloo | Jet | King | Lips | Log | Monkey | Moon | Net | Pizza | Queen | Rain | Rose | Sun | Star | Tiger | Van | Wig | Yo-yo | Zebra | Zipper

Update 12-06-2007:

Ant | Ax | Baby | Bag | Bat | Bed | Bee | Book | Bus | Blue | Black | Brown | Cake | Can | Car | Crayon | Dad | Dog | Drum | Duck | Drip | Elephant | Fan | Fish | Flower | Foot | Feet | Five | Fork |Glue | Green | Hair | Hand | Head | Horn | Hot | Hug | | Hen | Ink | Jump | Key | King | Kiss | Mad | Mouse | Nest | Nose | Orange | Pan | Pen | Pig | Pumpkin | Ran | Rat | Red | | Rose | Rug | Six | Snake | Ten | Train | Tree | Umbrella | Vacuum | Violin | Wet | Window | Zero | Zoo

In Random:
Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday

Blue | Red | Yellow | Orange | Black | White | Green | Pink | Gray | Brown | Purple

Circle | Square | Rectangle | Oval | Triangle | Star

November 26, 2007

Preschooler Activities

My daughter will be three (3) years old in May 2008. At this age, she is ready for school, as a Pre-K student. Pre-K is not obligatory for you to enroll your children; but if you want to expose them to other kids and in preparation for Kindergarten, it is advisable to do so.

Hubby and I have decided to enroll our daughter in Pre-K for the school year of August-May 2009. In preparation for this, I started introducing and teaching my daughter for Pre-K learning activities. As a mom-teacher, it is hard for me to teach a very young innocent child. My daughter cannot hold still and does not pay attention. Then I came up with different ideas, just to catch her attention. Everytime we played together, I was teaching her too; we were only playing, but she did not know that was already a part of her learning.

I have also searched on the internet about Pre-K learning activities. It says that one of the first things to do is to teach them by saying, writing and spelling their name. So everytime I asked her name, I wrote it on a dry erase board or paper. By the way, she knows how to turn on, log in, and off her computer; so I have installed a password, using her name so she will know the letters. She can also spell words whether capitalized or lower case letters. I did everyting, but she could only say her name.

Before we went to sleep on November 22, 2007, at one in the morning, I asked my 29 months old daughter to spell her name. WOW! All of a sudden she spelled her name. Up to know she still doing it.

Photos Here

October 31, 2007

Cold and Flu Season

fotosearch Cold season is upon my household. Both the kids are sniffling. It started with my eldest; then she passed it to my one month old baby. Both of them are feeling better now, but I think, hubby is getting sick too. I am the only one who is not sick; I hope that I will not acquire this cold, because it will be a misery for me.

We went to our Pediatrician; there were many children in the sick waiting area. Not all of them had the same type of illness, but they were all sick. I think, cold and flu season has come early this year. Be safe, cold and flu can last for a long time, and it is just around the corner. A virus is more active in the colder weather because of its ability to survive in less humid conditions.

Keep the humidity up in the house, this will help settle the dust that carry bacteria and viruses; remember that fresh clean smell after a good rain! The humidity helps to clean the air. Also, because of the “dry” air, viruses and bacteria are attracted to environments that we provide. Notice that static build up when it is cold and dry outside, just touch your car when you get out and you will notice a shock. The same but warm environment builds up static from clothes dryer. They humidity that you add to the air can get rid of this static build up; and the attraction that those germs have for us is also lessened.

Winter is coming, stay warm!

October 13, 2007

Potty Training Initiated

About two months ago, I started training my eldest daughter to use the potty. I tried, maybe, for only two days, then I stopped. I know it takes a while to train a two year old child to use a potty; but, there are reasons why I wasn’t persistent enough to do the training. I was eight months pregnant; it was hard for me to bring my daughter in the bathroom to sit on her potty. She never had much interest, and it has been a long and difficult process for me to do this job. Also, I was focused on teaching her the alphabet and other child development tasks. It was hard for me to do two things at the same time, so I gave up on her potty training.

I realized, since my husband is on leave for three months, I could leave this potty training responsibility for him. So we started the potty training of my daughter on October 5, 2007. For the first time, she successfully peed in the potty! On the next day, we asked her to go in the potty, and after a few minutes of sitting there, she peed in the potty again! Then on the third day, without suggesting for her to go in to potty, she went there by herself and peed again! Until now, she is using the potty when she feels like peeing. WOW! I am impressed.

Whew! After a long process and stress to all of us, yesterday she initiated to poop in the potty.

We still have a long road ahead of us, but it has been so nice having her initiate the whole potty training this time.

September 23, 2007

Journey to Excellence

I always had somewhat of a difficult time making friends with young mothers who have young children. I am not sure why that it was so difficult. But, it was always difficult to hear them always talking about their children. One mother says, my child is smart and a fast learner. Another mother says, my child can dance and sing at the age of 2 or so and etc. I became tired of hearing those praises from mothers about their children. I would think that they are too proud, because they were always bragging about their children to everyone, because it’s their own blood.

Now, I have my own child, and I just realized those feelings are normal for the parents, especially the mother! About a month ago, I wrote an article of a child’s development; I was talking about my daughter. I was worried and wondered why she wasn't saying many words at her age. For the past six weeks, I've seen her interest to learn things. So everyday, I have not stopped teaching and introducing to her to new words. Believe me, she is 2 years and 4 months old now, she can already speak many words. She can even recognize the English alphabet, numbers (1 to 10) and different colors in a random way. Not only that, she can also find and knows where all the alphabetical keys are on the computer keyboard. Is that amazing? I certainly am amazed, if no one else it!

I spend time with my daughter on the computer for at least two hours a day. The materials that I am using are from the Starfall; and that is how much she has progressed in just six weeks.

I am not saying my daughter is smart or whatever. I think we, the parents, are on the journey for their excellence. If we are not there to mold them, how they will learn? As a parent, I am very proud of my daughter!

August 21, 2007

So It Starts!

I just realized it’s been a week since I last updated this blog. I actually do have somethings to blog but just don’t have the time to sit on the computer. It’s all about my daughter who demands my time by playing with her, I have been entertaining her most of the day. When I am on the computer, she always grabbed my hand and say no, no, no…ha-ha-ha. She knows the word “no” now. Am sure, she will be saying this later, “Mama, stop using the computer, you play with me”.

Between her, cooking, chores, errands & etc… it’s been hard to blog.

She’s been saying many words now. Aside from books, this is my way of teaching her, a slideshow pictures on the computer and ABC from Starfall.

August 10, 2007

Child Development

I have been a reading baby information website. It is about 75% of normal 15-month-olds should be saying at least five words consisting of “mama”, “dada” and at least 3 other nouns.

As a stay-at-home-mom, your role is to take care of the family, especially the children. I cannot avoid worrying so much about my baby’s development. I am wondering why, when my daughter reached to 24 months old, she wasn’t talking yet. She could only say “mama.” As I observed, with my friend’s children in the Philippines, they started to talk as early as 15 to 18 months of age.

Although, I can admit, I can't help but feel a little jealous; because I did not understand why my daughter is not as advanced as the other children. Some friends told me that we cannot compare children’s development and expect them all to be the same. Some will develop early and some are late.

One thing that impressed me with my daughter is that her motor skills are very good. She can perform along with action songs by dancing, raising her arms, stamping her feet & etc. So my friends appreciate her, because their children cannot do the same as my daughter does. The only difference is that she is not talking yet.

Just a month ago, my baby girl turned to 2 years and 2 months old. I can’t believe it, she started talking! It’s just like everyday there is a new word. And now, I question myself, how did she learn those words?

Oh, what a nice feeling when my baby starts to talk. My daughter can repeat words after me.

As of now, these are the words that she can speak clearly:

Water, wacker (crackers), juice, mama, papa, barney, elmo, poo-poo, pee-pee, blue, ouch, I’m sorry, you’re sorry, tita Bembem, tita Kathy, book, look, cat, dog, elephant, apple, grapes, ball, bebe (baby), bubbles, shoes, tren (train), airplane, yes, okay, wow, bye.

She can also recite the numeric numbers up to 1 to 10 and the ABC Alphabets but only me can understand her.

July 30, 2007

Life with a Toddler

These are the challenging and exhausting:

Cooking for her meals.
Preparing snacks. (yogurt, fruits, crackers & etc.)
Feeding.
Guiding to eat and drink her milk by herself.
Teaching how to be independent.
Playing together.
Everyday, keeping her toys in the drawer.
Reading a story.

July 21, 2007

Weaning From the Bottle

When it comes to weaning from the bottle, the process can be difficult, but it's worth it in the end, for both you and your child.

I've seen many parents giving their children bottles at age 3, but weaning from the bottle can actually be done around 12-18 months of age. At this age, I didn’t try to wean my baby from bottle feeding, because I was concerned about her milk intake. Most of my friends said, when their children started to drink milk out of a glass, the intake of milk was less than feeding from a bottle.

This time, I am encouraged to wean my two year old daughter from the bottle for her dental health. If she will continue with her bottle it may cause of tooth decay.

The first five days were hard to deal with, but she's doing better now. She's been drinking milk out of a glass for three weeks now. I haven't seen her missing her bottle. After her heavy meals, she can drink five (5) onces of milk in a total of 15 onces everyday.

July 16, 2007

The Laughters

A few images of my daughter's
laughters from 2005 to 2006.

July 09, 2007

My Daughter's Foods

Bringing up a child is full of tears and tantrums and laughter.

My two (2) year old daughter had just graduated from drinking only milk. She can eat some table foods like an adult. She can even use a spoon to eat her oatmeal. Wow! It’s hard for me to believe how she has a good appetite, and she gets hungry quickly too.

At first, it was hard for me to prepare her meals. We would try to feed her what we would be eating, such as foods that we would buy at a restaurant or what I prepared for our meals at home. I usually prepared vegetable salads and sandwiches, but these meals are not the type of foods that she would eat. Now, the only difference is that we will eat the chunky portions, and my daughter will eat the ones that I cut into small pieces and those foods of a smoother texture.

But later, I found out that they are not that hard to make at all. I learned to prepare meal size portions and place them in plastic containers for refrigeration, for meals enough for up to 3 days. Now, with more experience, I enjoy more and more by experimenting and making new and different batches of baby/toddler foods.

These are some foods that are handy for me to have in the kitchen: Oatmeal, pasta, steamed rice, chicken stock or beef stock, regular milk, ground chicken, cereals and etc.

May 25, 2007

A Light Scratch

Just to give you a short update of what’s going on here.

I am getting busy everyday of the upcoming arrival of my husband soon...very, very soon.

I didn’t see my hubby for more than three months because I am on vacation in the Philippines with my daughter.

In preparation for my hubby’s arrival, I bought beach wears for our family vacation. Most of our itineraries are beaches. I didn’t even allow my daughter to go out for almost a week now to play with other kids to avoid accidents.

Unfortunately, this is what she got yesterday.

May 14, 2007

Complimentary Foods

I just want to express how blessed I am to be filled with love from friends and family on my daughter’s 2nd birthday. This is also the second time she celebrated her birthday in the Philippines, and again, all birthday expenses sponsored by my family.

It is just good to feel surrounded by my warm and loving family. Thank you for being part of my life and for loving me as I am. Soon, my vacation will be over, I will miss you so much.

April 27, 2007

Sharp Eye

My two year old daughter comes trembling to me with fear everytime she watches this animated scary movie and yet, this is one of her favorite past time videos. She had seen this movie at least one hundred times or more. It scares her a lot when she sees the animated creature. She eventually ran and hides under the table while her eyes keep still on the television set.

I appreciated the way it appealed to my imagination. It offered me funny and witty vocal performances to enjoy. The animation is beautiful. It is filled with little touches that help define, such as using a real little girl complete with nonsense words and songs.

The little girl in the movie is of the same age as my daughter. She could not talk yet. But whenever she wants something, she just cries and screams.

It’s been a week now since I stopped her from watching that movie. I noticed my daughter tries to imitate the way the little girl in the movie screams everytime she doesn’t get what she wants. My daughter seems to like to be like the girl cast. Good thing she now forgets about that cast in the movie.

I do have many collections of educational videos such as, Barney, Elmo, Sesame Street and many more. Sometimes, I let my daughter watch a non-educational children videos, just like what I am talking about.

But I realized, toddlers are very observant and can easily comprehend whatever they watch. Children should be watching educational movies and learning materials suited to their early age.

January 10, 2007

The Great Escape

I'm having an internal blog update, I can't post and publish any entry. Be back posting on Wednesday.

Does the title sound familiar to you? It is the title of an old war movie filmed in 1963. But this time, there is a remake, starring my daughter.

When she was six months old, my husband and I decided to build a 2 feet wall around our bedroom, for her safety. We put a mattress on the floor to keep our daughter from falling out of the bed. We did not care where we slept as long as it was safe for her.

I would say, she is considered a toddler now. She gets all enthusiastic about climbing everything. She loves climbing whatever’s nearby: the chairs, tables, toys and everything she can climb on and with. No matter how many times I have tried to stop her, the more determined she is to climb. I think that she has been planning her Great Escape.

It’s been a week now since she’s been climbing over the wall. Suddenly, I was surprised and scared; because, someone grabbed my skirt! I was relieved to see that it was only my daughter. I saw how happy she was. I was pretty sure; no one had helped her to escape from behind the wall; but I had no evidence. At last, I caught her in the act! I took a photo of her last night. I think it was cute and funny, so I want to include some of the evidence of her Great Escape.

December 20, 2006

Pouty Lips

A collection of my daughter's pouty lips.

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