07.31.06
Posted in Livy at 10:29 pm by tina
Livy finally learned to cry in a limited and acceptable timeframe (around 15-20 minutes) and falls asleep on her own, and she’s getting her night routine down quite well now.
I don’t know what’s wrong with me but I’m sad that she doesn’t need my holding any more. To ‘celebrate’, I sat on ‘the couch’, the ONLY spot she feels comfy, and held her the entire hour she took her afternoon nap… staring at her very very cute face and her snuggly body that pressed tightly against mine.
Such a pathetic pushover mom am I!
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07.27.06
Posted in Livy at 12:41 pm by tina
Dear Livy,
Where should I begin? I should have known from the moment you decided to come out… so out of the schedule and so on your own term.
God knows better to send you to us as our baby girl. If you were my first born, I don’t think I will ever wanted another kid. You just have to have your way in EVERYTHING you do.
Thankfully we’re more relaxed as second time parents. Thankfully I know that even if I don’t put you on any schedule, the daycare teachers will (surely I will have to endure being the ‘incompentent mother’ who can’t give them your schedule because you don’t have any). We took training your big sister so seriously and so personally. With you, it’s actually kind of funny how we keep on losing to our own three month old baby.
But you make up in other ways. You can coo and ‘talk’ and just make me melt with one look at your beautiful face. You started to love the mobile in your crib now. This morning you cooed and talked to the turning mobile for an entire 30 minutes, setting the record time of waking without being held.
It seems so long ago when we had you six weeks ahead of your schedule. We definitely don’t see any traces of that little tiny kitten any more. What we have now is a chubby and loud baby, the Chen trade mark.  You’re a perfect snuggling bear. Maybe that’s why we don’t really mind holding you all the time.
I decided that you’re more like daddy: the stubborn,  high-maintainance, but too cute so you get away with everything. I think we’ll have a tough time when you’re a teenager, but we’ll deal with that when the time comes.
Love you always, Mommy
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Posted in Maddy at 12:18 pm by tina
Dear Maddy,
You’re my sweetest big girl! With Livy being the high-maintainance baby sister, sometimes I feel so bad not having extra energy and time to spend with you. You take it all the strike, although I do see the little long face and teary eyes once in a while.
You climbed into mommy-daddy-bed the other morning while I was exhausted. You used to wake me up anyway but lately you let me have my rest.  I closed my eyes next to you, and you pecked my head and gave me this sweetest kiss. I think I said “I love you too” in my head and fell asleep. Nothing gave me better dreams.
Livy was in my arms when you came in this morning. I knew you wanted to give me a hug and kiss but couldn’t. We both knew better not to wake up you-know-who. We sent each other blow kisses instead. You’re always so loving with Livy, never showing any hostility even if it meant that she gets mommy or daddy instead of you.
You’re so proud of being a big sister. When we go to our usual restaurants or when I pick you up from school, you like to annouce “This is MY baby” I hope you two will become best friends growing up.
We did tease you a little bit too much this morning. I told you that if you woke Livy up, you’ll have to stay home and take care of her. You broke down crying “I want to go to school. I don’t want to take care of Livy.” It was pretty funny but I’m sorry for making such a serious joke knowing that you love going to school.
I see that you added new crew members at school. It’s nice to see that you’ve made new friends since you’re really private as a person like me. I think we will have an intimate birthday party for you this year. Birthdays are big deals and it should be celebrated with YOUR close friends (I would want it that way.. a little celebration with all my close friends instead of a big party with everyone I know). You wanted a Curious George Birhthday Party and that’s what we’ll have. I think it’s a great choice considering more than half of your crews are boys and your girlfriends are not the girly girly type.
I love you sweetie. Thank you for making our transition to a family of four so easy. Thank you for not having any regression of any type to add to my stress. Thank you for simply being you.
Love, Mommy
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07.26.06
Posted in Livy, Parenting at 2:37 pm by tina
After I struggled to get up and spent some time with Maddy before she headed to school this morning, I was totally exhausted… so tired that I know I can’t deal with any crying, so I took the spoiled baby into bed for a half hour nap.
When I woke up, the clock read 11:40. I could have slapped myself!! Of course Livy was sound asleep. Why wouldn’t she be.. she’s next to me. So much for my determination in the middle of the night to get us on a sensible schedule!Â
On the bright side, I woke up refreshed and happy. Livy woke up cooing and grining, and was forgiven instantly for making a fool out of her mommy again…sigh.. so the vicious cycle continues. We shall start again when her afternoon nap time comes.
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Posted in Livy, Parenting at 2:39 am by tina
Just when I thought we had her bedtime routine down (because she went to sleep on her own for four nights in a row), Livy decided that there is no fun in that and returns to her screams the moment we put her down. Not only that, she also decided it is not to her benifit to skip any meal, so she is back to wake up at every meal time.
After much sleep deprivation and not able to do anything during the day, I am growing more and more resentful of her ’schedule’, which is non whatsoever. She is on the “If you hold me, I might sleep a few hours. If you don’t hold me, I’m crying all day and bringing you down with me” schedule. Our nights are all messed up because we can’t be sure exactly when the child will actually go down to sleep. Even if she does, it’s probably because she’s being held.
So this is what the life of Attachment Parenting is like. Now I’ve done it and experienced it in comparison to Baby Wise/Baby Whisperer Parenting, I like to declare that it is just about the most unproductive and stupidest parenting decision we made (although to my defense, she was a premie and we catered to every whine of hers from the beginning)
I’m determined (again) to put her on a good schedule so both Livy and I can funtion normally like two happy people instead of two irritable ones.
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07.22.06
Posted in Livy at 7:12 am by tina
I always knew that Livy is even chubbier than Maddy with the way she eats and the stats the doctor gave us, but it really cracked me up yesterday:
I had added a little more water than usual in her baby tub, and the child literally floated. I couldn’t keep her butt in place. 
Happy Three-month-old, Livy!
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07.21.06
Posted in Maddy at 7:55 am by tina
It’s funny to see how comfortable Maddy is in front of the computer. Ever since she learned how to use the mouse, she’s been exploring all the games on the playhousedisney: From matching shapes; finding numbers: spelling out words (she shows no interests in playing any games with alphabets otherwise but can sit there and do her word game on the computer forever).
Her latest trick: “Print”. Some of the activities are “Print and Color”. Usually she asks one of us to print for her. I decided (really out of laziness) to show her how to do it herself. She got it just like that. Finding the “print and color” button first, and clicking on the “print” when the printer screen comes up. Then she closes all the necessary windows like a little pro and waits patiently in front of the printer.
She’s also learning the arrow keys by playing a JoJo Circus Gather the Animals game. Not quite master the concept yet, but she’s getting there.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she starts her own blog the moment she learns how to write!
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07.20.06
Posted in Maddy at 9:13 pm by tina
We’ve seen dramatic improvement at the new school for the past two weeks.  It has become a lot more structured and kids are given multiple reading times (including assigned reading where they read the books themselves) and singing times and there are always stations set up in the mornings now.
We had a conference with the director this morning and found out one of the reasons the class seemed unstructured was because there was a trouble kid with behavior problem and the teacher had to spent the majority of her time just to control the child. After they worked with the parents on different options, the child was asked to leave the school. It says a lot about how the school is not just about getting money since there are still plenty of spaces left for the older kid classes, and we’re very glad that they made the stand to weed out the troubling kid so the rest of the classroom doesn’t continue to suffer.
The director went through their curriculum with us (because I’m a high-maintainance parent). We’re pleased with the phonics program they are implementing, and pleasantly surprised to find out that the phonics is done on the 1:1 basis with each kid and not in groups. We’re also happy to find out that they teach both Spanish and French words to kids (they have a weekly theme word they learn), and they are starting the computer lab with the kids soon (not that Maddy needs any more computer time, but we still think it’s a plus).
It was wonderful getting to know the director. She used to be a director at Primrose (not the one Maddy went to, but a closeby location), so she knows the best practices of both preschools.Â
We had discussions with Abe’s parents as well. It was a relief to find out that Abe’s mom also had sleepless nights before (We couldn’t decide which school is better); however, it looks like we’ll be staying at the new school for now and see the progress at the new school.
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07.19.06
Posted in Maddy at 11:28 pm by tina
Maddy: Mommy, look here. There are a lot of cloth in here (pointing to her hamper), you should wash my cloth.
Mommy: What? Why do I have to wash your cloth? They are YOURS. You should wash them!!
Maddy: No I can’t. You should wash them (with her serious tone)
Mommy: Why?Â
Maddy:Â Because you like to wash my cloth.
Mommy: What? No I DON’T.
But yes, I will wash the child’s laundry tomorrow… not because I like it… only because I love you, silly girl… that and because I don’t see a maid doing it.
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07.18.06
Posted in Maddy at 9:48 pm by tina
Mommy:Â What are the school days?
Maddy: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Mommy: Very good.. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, THURSDAY, and Friday!
Mommy: How about Saturday?
Maddy: Saturday is soccor day and Little Gym day.
Mommy: How about Sunday?
Maddy: Sunday is church day.
Mommy: very good. Can you tell me what are the school days again?
Maddy: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and TUESDAY.
Need to work on our Thursdays.
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Posted in Maddy at 9:41 pm by tina
My big girl turns 35 month old today, and I’m trying to treasure the last month of her being “two-years-old”.Â
She is amazing. The other day she went upstairs and found a bib for Livy after my complicated instructions. I had re-organized all the drawers and moved Livy’s stuff around. I half waited downstairs for her “Mommy, I can’t find it”, but she came right down with a bib in hand.
She started to color with precision. Not just with one color all over the coloring page, but with different colors carefully drawn within the boundries. She controls the mouse like a pro and finds all sorts of learning games on playhousedisney that we didn’t even know existed.
Other times, she IS still a little girl. She loves it when I do the silly “bad dreams go away; good dreams put in your head” routine. She still insists on putting bandaids on her fake booboos.
Although she is shy and quiet when we’re outside, she never stops talking at home from the moment she wakes up to the moment I leave her room at night. We’re amazed at her understanding of grammers: do vs does; he vs him; both vs all; present/past/future tenses. She has them all down.
She can’t wait to be three, but I want to keep her just the way she is.
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07.16.06
Posted in Livy at 10:55 pm by tina
Due to our own faults, the rockings and holdings and walking around were getting ridiculous again and we decided to put our foot down and have Livy sleep trained once for all.
The child screamed one hour and forty minutes straight yesterday. Ok, with only five minutes in between while she whimpered and gave daddy false hope that she’s “done” only to re-start her never-winding-down cries. I conceded after one hour and left the house to go grocery shopping. Fourty minutes later, daddy conceded and picked her up.
She gave daddy this really ugly mad look after being picked up. Sure she then drank her milk in no time and went down without any further protests. She slept nine hours straight without making another sound after that. If she could talk, she would have said “That is not the point. The point is that I won”
I dreaded her bedtime tonight, and I was so not looking forward to her crying specially she was wide awake after her bed time milk. I said my good-night, kissed her, put her down, and went downstairs so I can be as far from her cries as possible.
I waited and waited for the dreadful battle, which we’re losing, to start. It never did. I went up to check on her 15 minutes later only to find out that she is fast asleep. There is a God!
On ther other hand… if her stubborness and determination in crying reflect just 5% of her personalities to come, we are in some big big trouble.
=======================Â
7/18Â Update on sleep training:
For three nights in a row, we put her down and she had gone to sleep on her own WITHOUT any protests. No whimpers; no cries. She even smiled at me when I went to check on her yesterday then closed her eyes. Good for her!!
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