Sleep

Sleep is something that is so uncertain for little Andrew. He can sometimes sleep through the nights. So I really have no idea why sometimes he can't! And if he doesn't, it is always at around 3am that he will stir and wake up. And lately, he will only go back to sleep after 2 hours of rolling, walking, fussing, chewing, bouncing, mumbling... It's the same if I gave him milk immediately or 2 hours later. Gotta work this out why is he waking up...

His nap time is quite fixed, by 1pm he will most likely need his nap. Sometimes it's 1 hour and most of the time is 2 hours. And occasionally it's 3 hours of nap. As much as possible, little Andrew should not nap beyond 4pm, 3pm is best. This is so he can sleep early at night. Most of the time, he will not require any patting or humming and he can fall asleep by himself.

At night, if he is super duper exhausted, he can sleep by 8.30pm. Otherwise it's 9.30pm. Anything beyond 10pm is very rare which is good because he will tend to wake up by 8ish and occasionally 9ish (whether it's sleep though the night or after his stunt sessions at 3am).

Most nights, little Andrew will still need patting and lullaby to help him fall asleep.But lately I am shortening the duration of patting and humming. If he doesn't fall asleep after a while of patting and humming then I will let him be and he will have his usual stunts of rolling, standing up, walk about, and the thing I wish he would stop doing, biting and chewing the pillows!!!!! Once he had enough, he will find his spot, usually my arm, and fall asleep.

Until now, we are still co-sleeping. I am not sure when will he be moving to his own room. For now I'm enjoying it - even if this means less space on the bed or getting kicked in the face! I am thinking maybe after he is toilet train or is able to TALK!!!!

18 teeth and counting

Baby, your teeth is growing way too fast! I'm so scared that they will rot before you turn 6 when your permanent teeth grows! We are 4 years away from that!

Little Andrew must be feeling so frustrated with the itchy gum that he is chewing EVERY TIME before he sleeps. The pillows and the blanket is smelling of his saliva which actually makes them all smelling like little Andrew! Haha!

We've got to break this chewing habit!

WIP: Self-feeding

At 20mo, we are still a long way from fully self-feeding cleanly but it's nonetheless good progress!

Last jab

Little Andrew had his last jab and it won't be until 4yo that he will take any more! Hooray!

The doctor did warn us as usual for fever and little Andrew seems ok.

We had to struggle the last few times we visited the clinic. Even just to take his weight seems to trigger off the scream machine. So we have been giving him some training at home with the scale and the thermometer.

He still can't stand still on the scale but at least he stood on it for just a split second! And the thermometer!! Oh boy. there was no way getting that thing into his ears. So daddy been letting him trying out out ear buds, and we started taking temperature at home with the handheld machine. He was ok after a few times. So at the clinic, he was a champ when I told the nurse to let me "poke" the machine into his ears. Easy peasy ;)

The hearing teat is another matter all together. He allowed the ear bud to be inserted but the moment the nurse switched on the machine, the scream followed soon after. So it's still a no go. Boo hoo!

My baby grows up way too fast

Each day little Andrew grows and I'm enjoying every moment of it. Be it happy days or getting-on-my-nerves days, I'm enjoying it all.

I told myself the boy gotta have more activities so he can grow mentally and intellectually or whatever-ly that he needs.

Little Andrew has just started to join a music class by Kindermusik. It's new to both of us and we are both learning together :) I'm glad that he didn't cry!!! Hahaha! So I think he enjoys it even though he hasn't a clue what's going on!

The main reason I need him to join this is for him to learn things and have some interactions with other children same or similar to his age. By joining this, I can also pick up some tips on what to activities can we do together at home.

Partly I have my concern and another reason for me to let little Andrew have more things to do/learn is the thought of him having traits of autism. His lack of eye contact really scares me coz that is the first thing you read about.

Even though we have only gone for one class, it has improved. I guess the other part that plays important factor is TV/iPad time. As much as I can, I am limiting or omitting those out of his daily routine. Today I did let him play for less than 30 minutes. He was happy with it and I'm glad he didn't throw a tantrum nowadays when I said it's times up and I proceed to switch it off.

And other skills that I thought he did well are:
- (sometimes) after stripping him, he will put them into the laundry basket
- (sometimes) after taking out his diaper, throwing into the bin and close the lid
- feeding himself with spoonful of rice scooped up for him. Am gonna let him learn to scoop it up himself soon!! Gotta be fun!
- Allowing us to brush his teeth. Though he sometimes like to bite it!
- Knows how to lift up his limbs when wearing clothes or putting up his legs when putting on his shoes
- Knows how shapes work and can differentiate the shapes

There maybe more things that he can do now that I'm not sure if I've listed them before. But I'm glad he is growing and hopefully he enjoys all the time spent with me!

Been a while...

Wow! I've been lazy updating lately... Sigh... Ever since the HFMD, little Andrew had 2 other incidents.

The first was a football injury. We were playing ball and then Daddy was talking to mummy and I only turned my head for that split second, and our little footballer did a header - onto the floor! Oh boy oh boy! This has to be the loudest ever little Andrew had ever cry! 

Just when the forehead recovered, another incident happened when little Andrew fell and knocked the back of his head. And daddy had no clue how could you possibly fell from the bed since you have already mastered getting down the bed! Besides the "tallest building" there was also bleeding. And this happened when I was at work! I drove madly home and off we go to the hospital. 

And when we arrived the clinic, little Andrew cried like there is NO TOMORROW at the sight of the nurses counter. And it got worse when we were in the doctor's room! You used to be a champion!!!! Sigh! I think little Andrew now hates going to see his pediatrician. Boohoo~

So heart-wrenching to see my little Andrew cried so much and in pain. During lunch little Andrew leaned back on the high chair and touched the back of his head, and he let out another one of his loudest cry :( During nap time, he just turned sideways by himself. so still in pain...

But when evening came and it's time for bed, it seems nothing had happen already. He rolled and turned and did all sorts of stunts before falling asleep on his back again.

HFMD

Poor little Andrew was diagnosed with Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease on Tuesday by his pediatrician. It was the worst news I could ever hear! It can't be real! I mean, he is cared for a home and hasn't come in contact with any other children because he doesn't go to playground and anything like that! Unless... shopping malls? Restaurants? Gawd, my heart sank when I heard those words!

It all started with Andrew's body feeling a little warm after dinner and after shower, he was SHIVERING!!! I checked, he's having fever of 38C. Hubs and I bought tickets for a movie and sis helped to watch his body temp. I told her if it hits 40C, just head to A&E. I put Andrew to sleep and left. After the movie, came back, it's 39.6C. Hubs said to pack up and go to A&E. Partly because we have no Paracetamol at home so best that we get the prescription and the only way to get it is A&E at 1am!!!! We drove to the TMC and the MO on duty gave checked on Andrew and gave him a suppository immediately and prescribed a 6-hourly paracetamol. We went home and Andrew's body temp was brought down to about 38C.

On Sunday, Andrew woke up for milk at about 8am. Made his usual 8oz of milk. While drinking half way, he vomited everything out. And looked like as if more than 4oz came back up!!! It was scary. I moved him to his side and he continued a bit more. There was even milk coming out of his nose!!!

For the whole day, he refused to eat anything. The only thing he had was Apple juice! And he had the most juice in a day!!! Other than that, nothing. He even refused porridge at night. Though out the day, his fever remains at 38ish. We continue with the suppository and paracetamol.

On Monday, the fever went down to about 37C. And he had milk in the wee morning and then at 10am. We were in KL and so we travelled back to JB, checking on his fever all the time. Andrew seems to be tired and sleep through most of the journey. By evening, his fever seems to have subsided but once it's close to the 6 hour mark, his fever would creep back up.

When it's time for his evening shower, I realised he has red dots appearing all over his limbs. It's not at an alarming amount but enough to know that it's not insect/mosquito bites!!

Tuesday morning I checked his body... NO WAY! More dots! And it's only confined to his hands and legs. It worries me. If it was roseola, it would have been all over his body not just his limbs... By now, his fever has subsided even without meds! So we went to the pediatrician to seek consultation.

To my horror, the doctor said HFMD after checking his arms and legs and confirmed it after checking his throat - It was a horrible sight!

Nothing much can be done, except to continue giving him paracetamol plus cataflam - both meds working together to bring down the fever and pain relief. We were given a throat spray that will help numb the throat so Andrew can eat.

Doctor told us to monitor his liquid intake and making sure that he drinks more than 500ml a day or he will be admitted for dehydration! NO WAY!!!

By Tuesday, Andrew's appetite improved and he had a mantou for lunch then rice and soup for dinner. To make sure he drinks lots of liquid, APPLE JUICE is the life saver.

By Wednesday, he looks much better. The dots are disappearing fast and his appetite is getting better. He drank his usual amount of milk and managed to eat his solids for lunch.

By night, he is having his usual amount of rice and soup plus a whole nectarine!  His usual happy active self is back!

Today, Thursday, I can hardly see the dots anymore!!! I've stopped all medication by today and he seems
to be alright.

 

 So today, I let him enjoy his dinner!