Tricia 2y9m

1) Left hubby and the kids in the car while I went to pray at a petrol station. When I was done, hubby looked like he was searching for something. He kept asking where were his glasses. I thought he meant sunglasses because he was wearing his daily glasses that time. When he couldn't find it, he asked Tricia... "mane specs papa?". Innocently, she pointed to his eyes. "Tu!" Wahahahaha. It WAS what he was looking for. It was so funny. 

2) Hubby has never been the one to scold Tricia but whenever Tricia hurt his feelings, he would give her silent treatment. There had been a couple of occasions where I had to teach Tricia to pujuk her papa by saying sorry and hugging him. Sometimes I nearly cried when she tried so hard but hubby still ignored her. However, recently, the table turned. Hubby was tickling Tricia even though she kept telling him no. When he wouldn't stop, Tricia gave HIM the silent treatment. I was so shocked. Her papa was begging her to say something... and kept laughing nervously... trying to break her silence. After awhile, he said sorry to her. Only then she stopped her silent treatment. OMG! I really couldn't believe it.
3) That same day in the car, Tricia suddenly made a statement that shocked me. "Mummy tu, asyik cium adik je." What????? Though I knew the statement is true, I just didn't expect it to come from her, at this age! So I said... but you never let me kiss you. Come here. She came to the back... but was quite a distance from me. I asked her to come closer to kiss her cheeks but she INSTRUCTED me to kiss her head. When I kissed once... she asked me for more. "Lagi... Lagi... Lagi..." Errr, why suddenly mummy kene bully?

4) It is known and expected that mummy will always bring her milk powder and can produce her milk on demand. When I told her, "susu takde". She looked at me and said "buat la". =_=

5) Took leave last Monday to scout for kindergarten. Went to see 3 schools. Hubby brought Tricia and I to the last one we went to. While talking to the teacher, Tricia said "papa... taknak sekolah nih". Err... quite surprised to hear her voice out her preference. The last school is nice... very elite but less "kindy".
The one we (Tricia and I) like is unfortunately quite far from the house. No transportation available. Unsuccessful to persuade Aleep's (Tricia's cousin) parents to move him to the same school, hubby told me to just go ahead if that is what I really wanted. He will work something out. I am really touched by hubby's gesture. So I guess we have picked a kindy already! Tricia is excited to start her session soon coz she's been telling everyone, "mummy bawak Tica pegi school". ^_^

Toilet training Tricia

I have been "slightly" peer-pressured into toilet training Tricia. Moreover, I wanted to send her to kindergarten soon and most kindergarten would require the child to be toilet trained. I can't depend on the maid to do it especially now that we were left with one, instead of two, to look after the kids. Since this weekend and next weekend would be a long 3-day weekend for me... I felt that maybe I should just give it a try. 

Day 1: Despite telling her many times to tell me when she needs to pee, she kept having "accidents" and peed in my room, the kitchen, the living room. She only told me after the accident happened. Whenever I scolded her for not peeing in the toilet, she cried and promised me to pee in the toilet the next time but then accidents happened again. 

The first two times was probably my fault. I didn't bring her to the toilet often enough. But the third time, I just brought her to the toilet 10 mins before. I didn't have the heart to scold her so many times so when she took her nap at 7pm, I told her to put on her pampers again. Enough training for one day.

I know my friends told me that I can't do it on weekends only. The training must continue during weekdays. But given the circumstances, it is not possible. I would stick to my weekends routine... until she is more in control of her bladder. 

Who knows parenting can be sooo difficult. =p

Haziqa's first solid food

Last Friday, at 5 months 5 days, I fed Haziqa with banana puree with breast milk added to it. She looked excited to eat her first ever solid food. Why I started relatively early? She just looked too excited whenever she saw me eating. I searched online and found that we could introduce solid food as young as 4 months. Just introduce one solid at a time so I chose banana as it doesn't require "cooking". Just cut the banana into small pieces, mash it, add breast milk and done! Anddd She loved it. She even cried a little when I was too slow to feed her. I didn't give a lot though. Let's start small first. Gave a bigger portion to her yesterday. And so far she hasn't poo yet. I hope it didn't upset her young stomach. 

IUD

Last month I called to make an appointment to see my gynae to put in IUD. Since my gynae is very bz, I only managed to secure an appointment after raya. Silly me I didn't write down the appointment date and went the week before. Woke up super early that Saturday only to find out I got the wrong date!

After that, Abby went to see her gynae and her gynae told her to wait for her period before installing hers (mainly coz she never went through normal delivery before). I got discouraged (since I haven't gotten my period yet due to breast-feeding) so I was contemplating not going for my appointment. My mom caught wind of it and forced me to go anyway. After consulting my friend, Dr G, I decided to go. However, we (my mom and I) woke up late that day so I went for the afternoon session. My mom took the number for me at 11.30am and we got the 3rd last number for the day. Arrived there at 3.30pm and only managed to see my Dr at 5.45pm. Kesian Dr saye ramai patient. When I entered the room, she joked "I heard you are pregnant". *jaw drop* ahahaha.

Anyway, my Dr said okay to put in my IUD. Yeayyy. Finally. Been trying to get it installed since my post-natal check up. But since I delivered via C-sec this time, Dr advised me to wait 3 months for the wound to be completely healed as she fear the thing would stick to my wound. Now I can testify to it. To install is not painful... it is just a bit uncomfortable. I just didn't expect that much blood after the procedure. However, I also think the procedure "induced" my period because the day after installation, I had a very bad pain at my lower back. And my breast milk supply was also affected. It was significantly less this whole week, which according to my friend could also be affected by period. Hope it recovers soon...

Haziqa dah sunat

After 3 attempts, we finally managed to send Haziqa for circumcision today. A week to 5 months, at 4m3w Haziqa dah sunat at Kilinik Sariah by Dr Sariah herself. She didn't cry but let out a "eeeekkk" a bit to tell me something was happening. Alhamdulillah all went well.

Love doesn't come easy

Hubby and I have always agreed that LOVE requires hard work. It doesn't come easy. 7 years of courtship before marriage had definitely thought us that. We had our fair share of ups and downs but Alhamdulillah, we got through the storms and kept running back to each other. But this post is not about spousal love... I want to talk about family bonds.

Growing up, I was not too close to my grandparents. I don't remember both grandmothers... and both grandfathers were too far away to be visiting me often. Today, looking at how close Tricia is to her grandparents, I feel happy for her. But her closeness doesn't come for free. I don't mean financially, though both sides of the family provided her with plenty, but I am referring to time and energy.

Let's face the fact... Tricia is not easy to look after. She is a bundle of energy that is very Very, I mean, VERY active. She's also nocturnal, like her father, which is the opposite of me. So when her father is out, and it is past mid-night, I would normally go to sleep so she either had to force herself to sleep (which is highly unlikely), entertain herself or disturb other people. Whenever we are in Bangi, she normally would have to mind her own business but when there's other people around, she would most definitely choose the last option. I am lucky to have family around to help me with her. When in Nilai, sometimes my SIL abby would take her in, sometimes my parents-in-law do. When in KL, either my mom or my brother would take on that job.

Mind you, my mom is 64 this year and my in-laws both are in their late-50s. They are strong for their age and are capable to take care of Tricia BUT they are not that young anymore. Having to keep up of that bundle of energy is definitely not easy. But they do it anyway and I am sure out of love. They sacrifice their time and energy to entertain this little stubborn being because she doesn't want to go to sleep. 

Is it all a waste? Is it worth it? Because of time and effort put in by them in raising her, she is, unsurprisingly, close to all 3 of her grandparents. She knows her routine to go to Atuk's and Wan's house during the day and during weekends or holidays, she now knows how to demand to visit tokma and cacik. She loves all of them dearly and it is because they effort they put in to raise her. It is not free. Love is not free. Love is hard work.
Thank you everyone, who loves her dearly and help us in taking care of her. We value your effort tremendously. Kiss kiss.