The Little Drunkard

I know it sounds like a broken record when I say this but I can't say it enough. Kids grow so fast, what feels like a blink of an eye, and yet leave light years of memories. Very deep indeed. Our Jeev is a grown up baby and almost a toddler now, taking a few of his initial steps of toddling around before he starts taking over the space.

I could write a book on our journey of nurturing Jeev during his first year, but before I do that, I shall give a preview on one aspect of this journey. Just one word. Water.

So Jeev was a somewhat breastfed baby, I say somewhat because there were hurdles and humps along the way in achieving the full breastfed status. Since breast milk has high water content I did not feed him any water the first 6 months. 

Once I introduced solids at the 6th month, I tried feeding him water from the bottle, and he rejected it with a weird look that said 'that's not milk, are you cheating me?' I gave the sippy, this time, he did not know how sip from it altogether. 

Down and desperate, I succumbed to spiking the water with gripe water in the bottle for some extra taste to lure him into getting himself hydrated after his nice solid meals. It worked. Next mission was to slowly move on to the sippy or straw cup for water. Hopefully minus the gripe water.

Subsequently I tried several methods on sneaking in the colorful sippy but he just did not get the gist in using it. It did not help that water tasted like, well, water. 

I noticed that he was pretty curious about our cups when we drink water. I decided to give it a try. I let him sip some water from his cup in between and after meals. In the beginning we would react like he is drowning and losing breath, and later spit out all the water from his mouth. He seemed to prefer gargling each time. After many days, tries and changes of clothes later for both of us, he finally seemed like he was drinking some amount of water indeed. 

I continued giving water in cup after that, occasionally sneaking in a test run on the straw cup. It was an amazing day when he held onto the straw cup and just went on sipping water! Although there were several spitting here and there, I was a happy mommy.

And now after almost 2 months of sipping from the straw cup, water is his favorite drink of the day, during meals, in between meals, and after meals. And he has gotten so expert that he uses the regular straw cup without flow control. He loves drinking water so much that he finishes his water before his food. And during any possible contact with water, be it his bath or wiping his face, he lets his tongue out to taste all the amount of water he can!

Kids, they don't just grow up fast,they develop fast too!

Job Descriptions of a Mother

Ever since becoming a mother I realise I have been playing more than one role, and contrary to popular belief, being a wife is a tiny role after the kids arrive into the family. Especially since I am now a stay at home mother, the kids are pretty much everything that I am and do.

I am the project manager and master planner for my kids' day to day activities. I have to stay ahead of their developments and ensure their needs are met. Bottle teats need to be updated, pajamas and daily clothes to meet their growing size, solids transition from purée to mashed or semi purée, new solids to introduce according to their ages, and more! And sometimes the kids surprise me with a new eating ability which I had earlier thought too early for them.

I am also their nutritionist and personal chef as far as solids are concerned. For the baby, a thorough study is needed to ensure solids are given without any allergy risk. I cook an freeze all types of solids for the baby. As for the toddler, once trained to eat family food, I have to ensure the family food suits the toddlers taste and likes. Also I have a strategy to feed the toddler in events that mummy happens to be too lazy to cook. Hoping that the baby grows up into toddlerhood soon and get into the family food.

Being their PA I have to plan their schedules and appointments (as if) daily. Their bath time, meal time, play time, book time, tv time, outdoor play time, nap time, etc determines my rest time and prep/cooking time. Going by the schedule daily helps to settle kids better.

Personal shopper and stylist are roles that I get to assume occasionally, although having boys is not that fun when it comes to dressing the kids up. But I still so personally shop for them, be it online or in stores. I know a blogger friend who does a great job styling her pretty girl, yes Cas it's you!

Communicating with a baby and toddler is so challenging that I have developed communication skills of a superior level. Its no joke when you have to understand, react or even ignore the tantrums and demands from time to time, sometimes both kids at once.

All these operations going on, there has to be a health and safety role too. Not just hygiene, but I also have to ensure the kids are playing in a safe environment, and not fighting over some random toy, in which case this happens so often that I am permanently yelling to ask Sanju to leave Jeev alone. My highlight on this role has to be my training on Sanju on a strategy to take a toy away from Jeev, which is by handing him some other toy first.

I often wonder how do I actually survive doing so many roles, multitasking is in fact an understatement to my daily life. I try not to pressure and plan too much, and take it as a new day every day. Somehow our schedules and timings change on weekly basis depending on the kids' needs and moods as they are growing up.

When I actually sit down listing these roles, I see why I have no time for myself. It's like I am fully employed by my two kids in ensuring their daily activities. And I am paid with lovely heart melting smiles, giggles and kisses. This is the true joy of being a in this position.