If your child gets upset when you leave her now, she’s right on schedule. Twelve to 18 months is prime time for separation anxiety, a psychological term that means your toddler can’t bear to be without you. The best way to handle painful farewells is to keep them short and sweet: Say goodbye with a quick kiss and head out the door. Your toddler’s tears will subside soon after you’re out of sight. It’s hard not to feel guilty, but in the long run you’ll help your child become more independent. - from Baby Center mailers

The bittersweet thingys of being a parent. Ayra doesn’t do this much; most days she will still be asleep when I head out the door (but Daddy always gets to play with her in the mornings hmmph!). This is fine with me, but I just love her in the mornings. The sleepiness still in her eyes, the messy bed-hair, the ‘masam’-ness of her neck and face! But she never fails to show u that smile that sweet smile even with half-closed eyes. No matter how hard it is to get her to bed at night, she (usually) wakes up cheerful.

But there was 1 occasion lately when she was up early and she and Daddy was seeing me out the door. I carried her for a while and kissed her goodbye but then she refused to be passed on to Daddy and clinged to me and criedddddddd her lungs out! I had to leave, I was already late then, but tears welled up my eyes leaving her crying like that (yeah yeah Mommy is a bit of a cry-baby also lah).

Ayra never had problems with the maid. The maid adored her and vice versa. Sometimes, she WANTS the maid even though we’re around. When we have our dinner, we always put Ayra in her high chair and usually she sits still. That is, until she sees the maid walk by hahaha. Then she’d want to be carried. In other words, she has never refused the maid before. But this morning she did. When I tried to pass her to the maid (I left for work late), she clung to me and again, cried when I pried her off. It’s so hard to leave the house when your child cries out for u huh :(

We gotta work on the separation anxiety issues, as it’s affecting me as well. I sooooo don’t feel like going to work on days she cling to me :D

We had Ayra’s first birthday party on Saturday. It was our first time hosting a party of any sort on our own and planning it has been tiring but then so much fun! We had fun preparing the guest list, party packs (thanks to Hetz for the ideas), food for guests, decoration etc.

 

I think all in all we had a total of about 100 guests including kids, of which about 70 turned up. The house was so full of people and kids! Food menu was baked macaroni, roti jala with curry, laksa kelantan, egg sandwich, finger food like nuggets, drummets and cocktail sausages. Desserts consists of watermelon, cuppacakes and brownies made by MIL. And of course, the birthday cake itself which turned out just beautiful and yummy too!

We decorated the house with balloons (hung and loose on the floor), some confetti thingy and a birthday banner thingy. But this is the only pic of the decor hahaha.

We had ample toys for the kids and babies in the house. We also cleaned and put out a small plastic toy hut, a slide and a trampoline under the shade outside the house for the older kids to play in. But the trampoline ended up being used as a table instead hahaha.

And some pics of our distinguished guests and Ayra’s friends

miss hannah

ammar

yazid

aliff

gorgeous mia

chubby aidan

handsome irfan

aliff and zuhayr

ashley and mia

iman

bright-eyed nayla

pretty natalie

adam

I’m not gonna post any adult pics over here, after all the party’s for the kids yeah? (And so as not to invade anybody’s privacy here)

Our usual photographer wasn’t around, neither was ted so we asked a good friend to become our photographer. But because of the busi-ness and ‘kecoh’-ness of the day, there was sooo many pics we forgot to take! Like there’s no food table pics, no pics of the 3 of us only, no pics of us with each of our guests! Isk isk isk if only I could turn back time, I would have taken all these pics as memory. Butttt, if there was no one to take pics, there would be even lesser pics yeah since we’re too busy entertaining guests and making sure there was enough food on the table. So I guess it’s fine that at least we have pics of the day :)

All in all, I think (and hope) the party was a success. It was great to meet up with old friends, great to make some new ones (as in bloggers I’ve never met before who came!), great to see everyone mingling and talking and taking pics (Hubbs commented that so many mommy-bloggers are into SLRs!). No kids wailing, the house was buzzing with conversations and laughters. The kids sure had fun I think, playing and running (and even pulling each other’s shirts and hair). Too bad there’s no pool for them to take a dip in! I tried to make sure everyone I invited know at least 1 other person there but I see they ended up making some new friends too! I only hope no one got bored as I was soooo busy running around I didn’t have much time to stop and chat with everybody!

Ayra behaved really well throughout too, she didn’t cry (much) but she insisted on being carried most of the time. Maybe she’s overwhelmed with all the people in the house. I’m just thankful she didn’t scream her head off. She even had her nap while being carried in the sling!

She had loads of presents consisting of toys, books and clothes. I think there was equal amount of all the items and her parents are happy for them too! Hahahaha. (Now mommy gotta refrain herself from buying any of those items for the next year as there’s plenty!)

To everyone who came, THANK YOU. We had fun throwing the party and we hope u as guests had fun too (and wasn’t bored to death).

A knackered Ayra at the end of the day

The day after, Ayra’s youngest uncle had his party at Kids Zone in Hartamas Shopping Centre. We went and checked out the place with Ayra and let her have some fun too. Ok, this post is already too long. I’m gonna let the pictures do the talking now.

Ayra and the birthday boy

All in all it was a really fun and fulfilling (and also tiring) weekend for the 3 of us. Now I wonder if we will have the same capacity for Ayra’s 2nd birthday hehehehehe.

I have 2 posts to blog about. One is of our weekend of parties and another one abt the day Ayra started walking. But since she walked on the same day of her party, I believed that has a higher priority, so the party post would have to come later.

Yup, 26th April is the day Ayra started walking for real. 12 months and 6 days. In actual fact, she started taking her first 3 steps when she was 11 months old, but she needed to be tricked to walk then so I won’t count that in. We would hold her hand and walk with her and then let our hands go, she will continue on for about 3 steps and then sit down. Hahaha. That was against her will, so that doesn’t really count as official right. On Saturday morning, we stood her up, called her to come to us, but instead she went in the other direction and walked towards the tv and toys, about 5 steps in all. Hahahahaha. Then she did it a few more times, coming to us, going to her toys etc etc. And yeah we got a video of her doing it here.

We were sooo ecstatic as per other parents when ur little baby officially becomes a toddler, right? It was sooo cute watching her walk like a duck, with her hands out at her side and the nonchalant face, like ‘hey I could do this already la, what’s the fuss?’ We on the other hand, were cheering really excitedly. What proud parents we are!

We were sorta afraid she would forget how to walk come the next day, but then the very next day she started standing up all by herself from the floor, walking across rooms, dodging people trying to catch her, and walking in and out of rooms! I lost count after 20 steps! She mastered walking within a day!!! That’s my girl…..

Now stop growing up too fast ok… mommy and daddy will miss u as a baby soooo much, especially ur baby smell and antics.. *sigh*

Yes a sleeping beauty she is not. Of all my worries and woes and trials and tribulations as a (still newbie) parent, I believe the biggest hurdle (well other than taking care of her when she’s sick) so far in taking care of her has been in putting her to sleep. And no, it doesn’t really get any better with time. Really.

The only way I know of putting her to sleep is either by carrying her in the sling or by breastfeeding her to sleep. At night and on weekends when we’re home, the latter is the only way she will sleep. The sling thing is for when we’re out (yes she will absolutely NOT sleep in the stroller, no matter how fast or slow u push it).

Now, even though it sounds easy just lying down on my side and waiting for her to fall asleep, it is by no means easy. Not at all. Nowadays, the shortest period she will fall asleep is half an hour. The longest? Up to 2 hours, no joke. This has done no good to my back, lying motionless for that period of time (of course on many many occasions mommy fell asleep before she does). And it doesn’t help that this girl reaalllyyy does fight sleep, or as the Malays call it, lawan mata. Really really. She won’t just lie down still to sleep, even getting her to stay lying down is a battle on its own. She will roll over and get up at every opportunity she gets. And even putting my legs on her won’t stop her. The unbelievable thing is, the moment sleep comes and her eyes close, THAT’S the exact moment that she chooses to roll over and get up. Just so she will lose the sleep and get her big wide eyes all open again. She will sit up and then mommy has to start the whole process all over again with her wide awake. I think she does this for entertainment, just to irk her parents.

And changing her bedtime doesn’t help. She will do the above if I put her to sleep before she rubs her eyes and look tired. And what will happen if I put her to sleep only after she shows the signs??? She will cryyyyy and cryyyy and refuse to be breastfed, held or carried or anything else. She will just roll over, sit up and cryyyyy the pitiful-lest cry ever. The worst Ayra u can ever see is an over-the-limit-tired-and-sleepy Ayra. Almost nothing can get her to stop crying, much less go to sleep on her own. Last night it took me an hour and a half to pacify her to sleep past her bedtime, even though she cries with her eyes closed out of sleepiness. Sheesh…. how she loathes sleep. (This is really weird if u ask me, both her parents are sooo loving sleep hehehe)

The only solution we have is taught by the maid. We swaddle her like a newborn baby. Lately, I give her 3 chances to sleep without us tying her up. After the 3rd time she rolls over n gets up, swaddled it is that night hahaha. Thing is, she’s used to being swaddled during the day when she naps with the maid (yeah the maid has her own ’special powers’ to get Ayra to sleep and no I don’t have the same powers and it cannot be learnt by a mother who the child knows has milk in her breasts) and so she doesn’t really mind. She doesn’t protest as she’s being bound tightly and mommy and daddy is happy she can’t roll over and get up once she’s tied. But yeah her head’s still free and she does the pulling-the-nipple-in-the-other-direction trick a few times too many. At least this way she sleeps faster, though I still prefer she sleeps without being bound. It does look a tad bit uncomfy to me.

I am still a bit worried about her sleeping patterns as well. She sleeps at abt 10-11pm every night, wakes up an average of 3 times per night for snacks and wakes up at 7-ish on weekdays. That makes less than 9 hours. She naps about 1.5 hours in the morning and less than an hour in the evening or sometimes not at all. That means she’s only getting 10.5-12 hours sleep when the books says she should be getting 13 3/4 hours sleep in a day. Doesn’t help that she is an extremely light sleeper and will wake at any sounds, even when someone opens the door.

Any advice out there on how else do I put Ayra to sleep and on her sleeping patterns??

But as a note, sleeping problems aside, I must say I am truly grateful and thankful that she is an easy baby to take care of in other terms. She eats and drinks well, she behaves well in public (save for the occasional voice tests), she is easily entertained, she haven’t destroyed that many household items and she is just a fun-loving, lovable, adorable, happy little baby. Alhamdulillah….

Ayra turned 1 yesterday. Much as I wanted to, I couldn’t find time to blog yesterday. Today, I’m on EL just coz I didn’t feel like coming to work and I wanted to spend more time with her hehehe.

As per other mothers out there, the day your lil baby turns 1, u get all nostalgic inside; remembering exactly a year ago how u pushed her out, remembering the first look, the first kiss, the first touch :) How she was only 3.3kgs… only 51cms long… and exactly at 11.21 a.m. how she came into the world…

This was how she looked like then. Ohhhh how she changed with time! It’s amazing comparing her old pics and now… how from a spindly baby, she became ultra chubby, and then lost some of the baby fat to become what she is today… Maybe I should post pics of her since birth to a year old but I believe I’ve done that some months ago.. (too lazy to dig up my archives).. maybe in another post I shall do that.
I don’t have a baby anymore.. I now have a toddler! How time flies… we’re used to having a baby around in our lives, now we have to get used to a toddler. Since she turned 1, it also marked our 1-year anniversary as parents. Though I still think I am an amateur parent, still learning how to deal with a child…. when will I (if ever) become an expert at parenting???

Ok now what can she do at a year old? Let’s see…

1. She is soooo entertaining I tell ya! She can’t walk yet, or more like she actually can but prefers not to. She loves to hold on to anything and pull herself up, take both her hands off whatever she’s holding on to, look at us and smile and laugh and even clap her hands! She can stand for longer periods now, coz she knows we love it when she does that hahahaha. Now when will she be ready to take the step alone…. it’s ok Ayra dearie.. take ur own time!
2. She absolutely LOVES music. Any music. Be it ad jingles on tv, or a cartoon song, rap, rock, her musical toys, her Daddy’s guitar sounds, anything at all. She will dance to them. Sometimes it’s just a subtle nod of the head, sometimes harder head-banging, sometimes she will bounce her whole body up and down, sway from side to side, or twist her body left and right. She got a few dance moves and she just loooves showing them to us, be it at home or in public hahaha. We so love this side of her!
3. She has uttered her first word. And surprise surprise, it’s DADDY. She can say it perfectly. At first we thought it was just a coincidence, but she only says it when Daddy is around and she’s done it many times! I am soooo proud of her and no, I am not bitter one bit she chose to say Daddy instead of Mommy :)
4. She can point to wherever she wants us to take her. She can also lead us by holding her hands while she walk (or more like run) to where she wants to go. If we let her hands go, she will immediately sit and scream hahaha. What a way to let her desires known.
5. She will call out “hey” to us when she wants to call us. This is really funny hahahaha. Like a short-cut to calling anyone around.
6. Learnt to press buttons using her thumbs. NOW she can finally play with her remote toy hehehehe.
7. Has 6 teeth now. The other 2 top teeth just cut through (and she drools a lot as the result hahaha) so now she has 4 top teeth and 2 bottom ones.

I do believe there’s more milestones but I just can’t remember them right now isk isk. I was thinking this would be a really long post but then I’ve told what needs to be told. I am just gonna sit here and slowly digest the fact that lil Ayra is now 1…

Happy Birthday little kiddo. Mommy and Daddy love you loads, to the moon and back and everything else!