Multiparenting Cayen & Cayson

On some nights I have to sing so many lullabies before Cayen will finally go to bed. On some nights like this, I get inspired while looking at the night light. So here it is .. Night light night light,  won't you be my star tonight  Shine bright shine bright Shine with all your might  YouTube Video

Being a typical kiasu mum, I am very careful with the food I eat and what I use for both my pregnancies. My mantra is "rather safe than sorry". Also, some of these things below are not that intuitive at all hence, I am writing down to share with all of you as you may not google as much as I do over everything.  Please note that I am not a doctor, so when in doubt, ask your doctor.  I am ordering this in order of common knowledge to the uncommon ones. Starting with the common knowledge ...  1. Don't eat raw foods   This means no salads, sashimi , half cooked beef steaks (sobs!) and runny eggs. Also, I am also careful of fresh juices and certain types of cheese if they are unpasteurised.  This is to avoid  risk of contamination with coliform bacteria, toxoplasmosis, and salmonella. Sources:  http://americanpregnancy.org/pregnancy-health/foods-to-avoid-during-pregnancy/ http://www.babycenter.com/404_is-it-safe-to-drink-unp...

Over the birthday weekend, we tried the very very big Chinese steamed seafood and mookata. Guess the steaming and the soupy part of the mookata makes everything a little less sinful , until the cheesecake . Haha. The swimming helped to offset the food a little too. Anyway, got him the Google Home for present . However , given that it's not launched in Singapore yet, most of the functions are not available. As of now, questions are limited to "what's the weather now", "what's the biggest planet?" etc. Initial verdict is that it's voice recognition is better than Siri but its ability to reply to chitchat is not like Siri yet. I.e. It doesn't reply with humorous answers. Anyway, will do a more detailed review when I have time to meddle. 

Since birth of Cayson, I've been falling sick almost every month. I even got a serious eye infection. It could be due to lack of sleep or a weakened body post the c-section. The ultimatum came in the form of a week long flu that started on first day of Chinese New Year, simply due to exposure to cold winds in my house on the eve. In that long dreary week, I basked in self pity - I could not carry baby due to fear of passing the virus.  I did not even have energy to break baby for a walk after dinner. I was so sick of being sick.  Then, I decided that something has to change. I got to take charge of my health because bad health means that one cannot enjoy anything in life, not even the company of your loved ones. And viruses can also spread to your family and kids too.  As such, I started reading extensively about what I can do to reinvent my diet and lifestyle, and also what I can do to improve the family's immunity using TCM principles overlay with western n...

Due to the cold weather, Cayson has started to have runny nose. As he's too young for medicine, I wanted to try this natural remedy I saw online - Wrapping feet with onions.  http://www.enlightenplanet.com/2017/02/attaching-sliced-onion-to-your-foot.html?m=1 As I was discussing this with Da, my helper told me that they also do that in Philippines , and that can also help to relieve leg pain. In fact , one can put garlic near the head too. Anyway, I decided to try the onion first. So here's what we did.  After 3 days of occasional runny nose ..  Night 4 : no aircon and stuff half an onion into the socks he's wearing Day 5: no runny nose or sniffles  Night 5: no aircon and stuff half an onion into the socks he's wearing  Day 6: no runny nose or sniffles  Ok, two nights are not quite statistically significant evidence that onions work but at least I have one more trick up my sleeves when confronted with flus. Apparently this works for adults too. Try it and le...

Cayen and Cayson gets along fabulously well. Cayson will laugh adoringly when Cayen tries to entertain him, and stop crying when Cayen sings for him.  Even if Cayson pulls his hair, Cayen will let him do so without flinching and even laugh about it. Cayen also takes care of baby by rushing in to help sing songs if he hears baby crying.  To achieve this, I think that these 6 steps have helped.  1. Manage expectations When Cayson was still in tummy, we tried to inform Cayen on the upcoming arrival. To initiate him, we bought some storybooks about being a big brother and babies to start the brainwashing.  2. Welcome gift  Before Cayson is borned, I bought some Paw Patrol figures (Cayen's favourite then), and gifted to him on day 1 of Cayson's arrival. It was baby's gift to him! Brownie point scored again!  3. Daily brainwashing   Tell Cayen that Cayson loves him a lot and vice versa. Exaggerate all the small things . "Look! Cayson loves you so much! He al...

I've been getting queries on how I lost my weight so fast , and look even slimmer than before Cayson. Well , here's the not-so-secret secret.  1. Don't put on so much weight in the pregnancy to start with  1) For someone who's average weight before pregnancy, average weight gain is about 12-14kg. (Don't take number for what it is because you can afford more if you are underweight to start with). For my first baby Cayen, I put on 20+ kg, about 50% of my original weight. For the next four years, there was this remnant 5kg that I cannot shed so weight stayed at 58kg.   2) For Cayson, I watched my diet and put on only 14kg or so. Now after 7 months, I'm at 52kg. So actually I also lost 20kg after childbirth, same as first time. But as I didn't put on so many kgs, the nett weight is a lot lower.  Note that you should eat sufficiently and healthily during pregnancy , but case in point is that I overate in my first, thinking that I should be able to shed the weight...

I read some articles before on how we should be careful about how we praise a kid. Later on, I was also introduced to the concept of a Growth Mindset at Little Executive that also covers it. "Growth mindset is about having a mindset that allows insight to emerge from failures, resilience to be built from mistake and every misstep an opportunity to be better." - little executive's website  Hence, since then , I'm very careful with my choice of words with Cayen . I do not praise outcomes or how smart he is , but will always praise his efforts instead. And with every teaching moments that arise, I will emphasize that we do something well because we have practised very hard and we never give up.  For instance, I told him about how I tried the Yin and Yang yoga today and it's really tough for me since it's my first lesson. And he asked me if the others felt the same. I said no, they were much stronger than me. However, even though if I was not good today, I will no...

As his classmates speak mainly English and we have somehow read more English books during bedtime reading , Cayen's Chinese has deteriorated a lot. Hence, to rejuvenate his interest, we started to read a lot more Chinese books at night. 80% Chinese and 20% English.  Also, Ah Pa started to teach him how to play Chinese chess so now he needs to learn how to read the characters in order to play.  This is also a good game as it requires him to stop and think - very good to practise impulse control and strategic thinking. I think he really likes the game as he would initiate it as one of the games we can play after dinner and we have been playing a lot last week as I was not feeling well and it's a good quiet game to play.  Lastly, to encourage reading, I told him that Chinese also has sight words (actually I don't know for sure). So as I read Chinese books, I pause to let him identify the few commonly recurring words. I started with 了 ，as he's quite tickled that every page ...