Sakura is 13 months today and Junya turns 3!!!

Neither of them is a baby anymore😭

For Junya

1st month , 2nd month , 3rd month , 4th month , 5th month , 6th month , 7th month 8th month, 9th month , 10th month , 11th month , 12th month , 13th month , 14th month 15th month , 16th month , 17th month , 18th months , 19th month , 20th month ,21st month , 22nd month , 23rd month 24th month , 25th month , 26th month , 27th month , 28th month , 29th month , 30th month , 31st month , 32nd month , 33rd month , 34th month and 35th month here.

My baby boy turned 3 today. It really feels like I’m fast-forwarding my life and living in 8X speed.

36 months also feels like graduation. Many baby products are made for 0-36 months. Some of the baby apps end at 36 months. Because after the 36th, it feels like the big puzzle is now clear enough for you to figure out and putting small pieces together.

So he really really isn’t a baby anymore. He is a big boy who can do many things on his own.

Although he still feels so much like one, when I look at his peaceful sleeping face.

There are many new things that happened in the month before he turned 3!! Most of the time he is learning about independence, and here are some of his new challenges/milestone before turning 3:

1.Sleeping in own room

On his own bed, in his own room (room-sharing with Sakura). When we first moved in to this new apartment in Singapore, our plan was to have the kids eventually sleep in their own room. We started by putting Junya there with all his toys and books. It was ok for a week, until we started waking up every single morning with him lying next to us. After that he was very reluctant to sleep in his own room until I suspected whether the room was “clean” enough 😒.  (You know… got “dirty things”?) Or really got monster in the closet😒. So we gave up and moved his bed into our bedroom, and four of us slept in one room again.

But on Sakura’s birthday last month, I decided to just make a big leap and give it another try. This time I threw two petits into their own room altogether. Surprisingly it worked until now.

I guess Junya feels that it is fair enough that Sakura too has her own bed and is not special enough to always get to snuggle between mama and papa.

So yes, this works perfectly, that I successfully get both the kids to sleep in their own room.

(His fav pajama)

But soon enough I discovered another problem: Sakura usually goes to bed first. If Junya creeps into his bed, he may end up waking the little sister up because he just talks SO.MUCH. So now I have to wait for him to fall asleep on the couch in the living room and then carry him to his bed, half the time. -_-.

 

2.Fully feed himself

He has been eating on his own for about a year now, ever since Sakura was born. He just had to do it because I really, really don’t have octopus arms to be feeding Sakura, Junya and myself all at the same time. He feeds himself every time until his popo (grandma) comes to visit, of course. Then all of a suddenly his arms just decide to lose their functions to pick up chopsticks/spoons/forks😒. Can anyone tell me why grandparents ALWAYS want to chase the grandkids around and feed them like they are babies?😑

 

3.Go to toilet by himself

Toilet training was a bit of an ongoing battle for both me and Junya since he was 18 months, so I decided not to pressure on to this matter until very recently. The school did not encourage toilet training for the first term (maybe they think it will put extra stress on the child’s new school life?), so he was on diaper full time during school. I mean, it wouldn’t be very nice to have the teacher clean up after your child’s excrement all the time lol.

Recently though, I notice that he actually will go to toilet by himself when he was pants-less at home, but as long as he had his diapers on (in school), he would FOR SURE let go in it. So one day I just decided that this is it. It’s time to save some diaper money. I told the teachers that I am starting him on training pants the next day, and prepped him repeatedly by telling him, “Junya, you are on training pants today, it will get wet if you pee in it. You will tell teacher when you need to go to toilet, okay? You can do it.” He nodded.

And miraculously he followed through and made no mistake. It took only one day to have him fully toilet trained in the day.

So yea, I guess when they are ready, they are ready. Parents, just relaxxxxx.

I really saved a lot of diaper money lol. Sakura’s turn soon HAHAHA.

 

4. Get changed by himself

Junya can get dressed fully by himself. His shirt, underpants, trousers, socks and shoes. It’s just that 50% of the time he gets it: inside out/ front-back opposite/left-right opposite -____-. And going to school in the morning is a race against time so I still end up dressing him most of the time.

Plus, if I ask him to choose his own outfits, he will FOR SURE 100% choose his Gudetama shirt. -_-

Erm…

5. Into the pool

It may not mean a lot to other people but I was so, so happy when he finally can jump into the pool on his own without clinging on to me like I was about to murder him.

He was even willing to put on the goggles!!

If there’s one thing I wish Junya will excel in, it would be sports. Both the danna and I really don’t care so much about academic success (for now lol. Who knows we will turn into Tiger mom and dad later on!!!), for it did not mean anything much to us in our lives. My straight As all my school life (HAHA sorry ah humble brag) did not contribute much to who I am today, while the danna’s lack of any As at all did not make him a less capable person he is now. So yea, “A”s don’t mean anything to either of us.

Perhaps it is a Japanese thing, but the spirits of sports is deeply connected to the success in one’s life. I admire little school kids in Japan who go on outdoor adventures, and seeing them working and training hard in sports makes my heart flutter. Not to mention all the touching moments I see on TV during sports events, the Samurai Japan, Nadeshiko Japan, legendary figure skaters… all brought tears to many many people. Sports makes one strong, physically and mentally. That’s something that I don’t have and unlikely to ever have.

This is a video that went viral in Japan which gets me all teary every time I watch it, sharing it here!

You can watch it from 2:10 onwards:

Junya will be 6 when Tokyo 2020 Olympics takes place. I hope that he would be inspired to take on more interest in sports (unlike his mama hahaha).

 

JunJun says

(lying on his bed)

Junya: Mama I’m the small robot I cannot move. Mama you fix me!!
Mama: How? Ok I use a screw driver to open you up?
Junya: ok.
Mama: What should I do?
Junya: you put battery ok. I no more battery.
Mama: *inserts imaginary batteries into son’s back* It’s all fix now!
Junya: no mama! You cover! You cover the battery.
Mama: *puts back imaginary battery cover* -_- Ok all done!
Junya: mama you press start.
Mama: *presses imaginary button* lol
Junya: *starts moving*

*

Mama: Can you hold this bag for me? I have many bags and they are very heavy.
Junya: Mama, it’s not so heavy. Ganbatte!!
Mama: 😞
*

(lying on his bed being lazy)

Mama: Junya get up! Let’s eat dinner.
Junya: *not moving* mama I dropped into the river. You pull me up.
Mama: 🙄

 

For Sakura

Read Sakura’s 1st month, 2nd month , 3rd month , 4th month , 5th month 6th month , 7th month , 8th month 9th month , 10th month , 11th month and 12th month here.

Vocab

Remember last month I wrote that when I said some words, she will try to mimic although totally not accurate at all? I said “banana” and she would say “appa“.

Actually I finally found out what appa is.

It is “oppai” (boob in Japanese). She says “appa” while pulling and tugging my shirt, means she wants to nurse. That’s the word she says the most now lol.

She can also say “ah ter”, when she wants water. And “tttt” (phonic for T) for “star”.

 

Nod

After months of head-shaking, she finally learnt how to nod! One day I saw her doing an awkward neck exercise, turned out that she was practicing nodding!😂

Itadakimasu

Surprisingly, she picked this up without us teacher her! One day I found out that she put her hands together when we say “itadakimasu” before eating. I guess she learnt it by observing us at meal times ^^. She will also do it when I say “gochisousama deshita”.

Pointing

She has also turned into a single-handed Chinese zombie, like Junya when he was 11 months old. She is stretching an arm pointing to a random item at all time ^^.

Standing

She can now stand on her own!! She can’t walk on her own yet but she can walk pretty stably while holding my hand. ^^

Time to break out those fancy shoes! 😀

 

Eating

Sakura eats 3 full meals a day. Whatever I prepare for her, she usually finishes all. And then half an hour later I will either nurse her or give her a bottle of milk on top of the snacks in between. And whenever she catches us eating anything without offering her, she will be barking at us in a loud voice (“AHHH!”) until we share some with her😂…. In fact I am pretty sure that she eats more than Junya.

But… why isn’t she gaining any weight? T____T.

 

Sleeping on own bed

Sakura now naps and sleeps on her own bed (next to Junya)!

She typically goes to sleep at about 8pm, and will for sure wake up once before dawn (around 4-5am), I’ll have to pat her to sleep, and then she wakes again about 6am to drink milk.

 

Weaning Koala

One of the parenting questions I get asked the most is, when and how are you planning to wean?

Answer is, I don’t know.😂

When? I don’t know when I will be finally emotionally ready.

How? This one I may be able to share my personal experience.

Sakura was breast-fed since day one and had never taken a bottle until almost 1 year old. I have tried many times, she either spat it out at once, or chewed on the teat like a teether. She just won’t take it more than 1 sip.

I thought it may be the bottle’s problem, so I tried switching to straw cup. She would sip, and then spit it all out -______-. It was a lot of work every time I have to feed her.

The only way that worked (a little) was to let her drink from the bottle without the teat. For some reasons she was okay with this, but still she won’t be able to finish the whole bottle.

God knows how much formula I had wasted testing and trying all sort of methods -___-.

Recently I found out that she will take the bottle and drink at least half of it if I carry and rock her like a small baby lolol.

 

For Mama

Weaning

Read my previous post on how I successfully maintain my milk supply while traveling without my baby😂.

 

Traveling without cheesiepetit

I thought hard and long before I accepted the work trip to Japan. One, of course I needed to still have an income. Two, IT IS JAPAN. No question asked.

It would be the first ever time I am leaving Sakura for more than 30 minutes.. since the day she was born. So it was a big leap of faith. And to have things transiting smoothly, I started training her a month prior to my trip. Sleep train, bottle train, and to have her get more comfortable with people other than me.

Then, I had to trouble my mom to come all the way from Seremban to SG to help me with my petits because she was the only one who could take care of the kids (the danna had work commitments). And in order to help me jaga my kids, she had to trouble other relatives to jaga the two dogs… so it is really quite 大工程。

Before I left for the departure, Junya hugged me very tightly and said goodbye to me with a smiley face.

Bye bye mama. Ganbatte mama. Love you mama.” Just like what I say to him every day before school.

He didn’t seem to be upset at all. He’s quite cool like that.

Sakura on the other hand… she had no idea what was happening. Why mama will disappear for a few days… why she cannot smell mama anymore… why she only can drink from a bottle now… T__T

I said goodbye to her but she didn’t want to let go of me before I left, so I had to put her down, had papa carry her from the back while I ran away the opposite direction.

My heart aches as I was overwhelmed with a thousand worries.

I could not sleep at all on the plane 😭😭😭.

 

And then the next day I texted my mom to ask how she was.

“Very good! No cry at all, drink milk and sleep.” she replied.

My face was like:😮

Good good good, may it hasn’t sunken in yet.

Then later in the night, my mother reported to me again,

“She’s fine! No cry!!”

I was in disbelief… I replied, “no cry… at all?!😮 IMPOSSIBRUUUUUU“.

The next next day, her reply got even shorter, she was just like, “fine!”😂

I thought my mom probably just didn’t want me to worry so that I could enjoy my trip. So I asked the danna. He said, “totally no cry and drink milk very well.

I was relieved and slightly disturbed at the same time. Sakura… can live without me?🤔

She doesn’t need me?😮

SHE DOESN’T MISS ME?😥

Or… it is my problem?(that she only cries when I’m around?)😭

 

Moral of the story is…

Your kids will never miss you as much as you miss them. (sad but true.)

Haih.

NEVERMIND. That means more Japan work trip for me! WAHAHHAHA.

 

3rd Birthday for Mama

So it has been 3 years. Today I am celebrating my 3rd birthday as a mother. I have cried lots, but I laughed and smiled more. Sometimes I feel so tired and I wonder if this will ever end. Or I am just gonna die a tired mother. Sometimes I thought I was gonna just collapse and lose it all. Sometimes I wonder if I am doing enough, or good enough. Sometimes I hated being a mother, but most of the time I love it and am proud of it.

Sometimes people say that you shouldn’t compare yourself with other mothers because that’s how pressure and stress happens. I feel that it is just a lazy excuse to not do any better than you are now. Kyaraben is probably unnecessary and may be all for the social likes, but how awesome is it to master a new skill? And it takes A LOT of effort and time. I know because I didn’t have that kind of dedication to continue lol.

So I compare anyway. All the time. Or rather, I call it “reference”. Every mother is an inspiration to me. If I see other mothers who are doing less than I do, I feel good that I am doing extra, or learn to be more chill like they are. If I see other mothers who are doing more and better than I do, I take their tips and push myself to improve. Because you can never be the best, but you will always try to be the best for your kids, and you are the best.

So let’s all be the best for nobody else, but our kids.

Share: