Strange Machines

Most recently, Jack and Jade have started waking up at night at the same time. Although they still take turns to wake multiple times – Jade twice to thrice and Jack anything from 3-6 times – it is usually only once a night when they wake in tandem.

But last night, twice, I ran into the bedroom to find both kids sitting up in bed beside the other, looking rather dazed. So I hugged them both and nursed them back to sleep.

Talk about a conspiracy but how cute it is to see the two of them sitting together in the dark.

Both times he decided he wanted to write something, so last week he grabbed a marker and wrote. He asked me, “Mom, what is C O O L?” I said, “cool” and he showed me his writing. I was so thrilled I kept the napkin he wrote it on. It is now on the fridge.

Today, just before bath time he asked his Dad for a marker. “I want to write, Dad,” he said.

He sat beside me (who was frantically trying to patch my WoW game to 3.3) and said, “How do I spell CAT?” I said C A T. And he wrote it. Then his Dad called him for his bath. He said “Hang on,” and told me he had a surprise for me.

He asked, “How do you spell your name?” I spelled it out for him. “Wow, that’s a long name,” he commented. “That’s why I gave you and Jade short names,” I replied.

So on an envelope, he wrote C H R i S T i N A. “Don’t look at it, Mom!” he hollered, as he ran for his bath. “It’s a surprise!”

(In other news, attempting to play WoW again despite crazy schedule.)

Me: Are you glad to have Jade in your life?

Jack nods.

Me: Why?

Jack: Because she’s so cute!

I must confess first. I was a TV addict.

After work, dear hubby and I would cuddle up in from of ole Faithful and watch our fave programs like CSI and munch on junk food. I could not live without TV.

Fast forward to year 2006 and Jack was born. I read that the cost of watching TV was the opportunity lost spent on other more creative and productive things like reading, playing, or talking to Mom. According to many peer-reviewed studies, kids who watch TV have less vocabulary than kids who don’t, and the latter are more sociable.

I was sold. I swore my kid would never watch television. Ever. And I had to set an example. The TV became a glorified plant holder and took up half the space of the living room. Surprisingly I found life without TV pretty alright, since we were busy with the kids and really have no more free time. I do fantasize about the days when the kids are off to college and I can finally turn on my 35″ TV and watch all the dramas I missed in the last 18 years.

As for the old clunker, we gave it away to an elderly neighbour who was thrilled to have it. She was retired and watching TV every day on a tiny 20″. We figured that by the time the kids were old enough to watch TV, our CRT would have decomposed and we could get a brand new plasma t.v. for $200. And let’s make it a Samsung plasma tv or a Panasonic plasma tv.

And is there credence to all the reports about increased sociability and higher vocabulary? According to people who have met Jack, he is very sociable with people of all ages and speaks non-stop like a Duracell bunny.

I don’t know about other children, but after 3.5 years of no TV, Jack isn’t fond of watching it and he would prefer to play or read than watch TV. He went through a brief phase of TV phobia, probably from something he saw on it at Grandma’s house. But he sat through The Lion King (his cousin was watching at Grandma’s) just last week (which from a child’s eyes, seems awfully negative about brotherhood and rather pro-revenge and violence). His first actually.

According to the scientifically-based Nurtureshock, kids pick up extracts from a story, so even if a story with conflict that gets resolved at the end, the child may simply pick up the conflict and not the resolution.

We can’t shelter our children from the media – heck I want my TV back one day – but the first few years are crucial to protect them from the effects of the media, much of which we as adults are already immune to or unaffected by. But children are vulnerable and judging from our viewing of the “children’s movie” The Lion King, I won’t be letting Jack watch any more till he is much older.

Photo credit: Vital Images

V of Vital Images kindly snapped some shots of us in our Walnut Boba Baby Carrier the other day when we were having brunch (yes, even Barney thinks it is cool now).

Psst… watch out for my review of the 100% organic Boba Baby Carrier in a couple of weeks. There will be a very special coupon code for you awesome readers to order your very own Boba. If you can’t wait, go check it out first at NAP.

This phenomenon is apparently not new, but it certainly is funny to watch! Jade has started crawling but backwards and gets mighty ornery when she gets backed into a corner.

Meanwhile she and her brother are getting along great! Every morning she chuckles when Jack goes to say good morning to her and he watches her while I go get washed up and water the plants, wash the diapers, etc. The great thing about having 2 is that they rarely miss Mom when she has to pop away for a short while. I can often hear them laughing about something funny Jack is doing to amuse his sister.

Today she couldn’t stop laughing at him balancing on the top of the couch while her Daddy carried her. I’m glad she has a wonderful sense of humour, except when she gets backed into a corner. :p

The kids and I had gastric flu last week (or was it the week before) and fart jokes were abound. With hourly wakings and tummy trouble all around, it was a wonder anyone got any rest.

All I can say about this sleepless fugue of motherhood is your body gets used to it.

Soon you too will be scoffing at your partner for needing to nap after a 5 hour stretch of uninterrupted sleep.

After all, you’re bright and cheery after 4 hours interrupted sleep with 2 kids in tow (albeit with slurred speech, a glazed expression, and a short-term memory shorter than a gnat’s, and that’s after a big shot of caffeine).

Note: tummies are better but still have an intense dislike for fried oily food and will rebel with aforementioned response if afflicted with.

Speaking of sleep, today Jack woke 2 hours early and fell asleep nursing while standing up as I was carrying Jade in the Boba carrier!

At a babywearing store opening last week, I got the chance to try on the Manduca baby carrier.

It felt great, very soft and made of 100% organic cotton. It wore and fitted and felt exactly like the Ergo, except for 3 differences and reasons why I would not buy it:

1. Design – Each of their bold designs have a cream coloured stripe (see pic) which I find rather unattractive. I felt that they should have kept the colour scheme a matching two-tone like the Ergo or a single tone like the Patapum. The cream may match some colours but not others like the black. They do however have limited edition designs which are quite pretty but cost more.

2. Usability – The release of the shoulder strap is different from the Ergo’s. I found this out when I had to nurse Jade in a hurry and when I tried to remove it the Ergo way, it didn’t work. It wasn’t a one-hand slide action. Pearline had to come to my rescue. Not immediately intuitive, not for Ergo users anyway.

3. Make – The plastic strip holding the buckle runs down the shoulder strap exactly where baby would suck. Note the picture of the woman carrying her baby on their landing page to see what I mean. Jade immediately clamped her gummy mouth down on the strap and I had to remove it a few times. The point of buying something organic is to protect your baby, so having baby suck on plastic kind of defeats the purpose of buying organic.

Still. All in all, a nice addition to the organic baby carrier family. If they change 3. But at the moment, I’d only consider it for an older child who won’t suck on the shoulder straps.

What I am considering is the new Boba baby carrier by the same people who brought you the Sleepy Wrap. At US$99, the Boba costs the same as a Patapum but it is organic and appears to wear like an Ergo and fit like a Patapum except without the complex leg loops to navigate baby’s legs through (see Ergo vs Patapum). Instead they have these awesome foot loops which baby can rest his or her feet in.

My concern as usual is the make. I’ll email them about their Patapum-like waist band and stuffing in the shoulder straps and see what they say.

Above is a picture of me on a sans makeup day with my Posh Beckham sunglasses babywearing 2 kids: Jack in the Patapum on the back and Jade in the Manduca.

And just like that, Jack toilet trained himself.

I think it was mid-week last week when he started telling me, “Mama I need to pee,” and managed to hold his pee, with his cheering contingent (aka me, dad, and Jade), made it to the loo, said he was ready, and peed to our exuberant joy.

Previously, he would tell me but he wouldn’t make it on time. This is because children can’t actually hold their pee (to make that trip to the bathroom) till they are 3+. But he never gave up and one day it just happened!

And it continued…

“Mama I need to pee,” he’d exclaim and we’d hustle ourselves to the bathroom excitedly and watch him pee, close the lid, flush, and wash hands with soap.

And now at home, he doesn’t need a diaper anymore. I am so proud of him! He did it all by himself.

2200: Late already. Dang. Put Jade’s diaper on and dress her.

2217: Jack finally dressed after bribery of stories I made up on the spot.

2228: Lights out. Jade nurses. Play Ranch Rush on iPod Touch. Third time already. Quite bored of it. Play Orions. Wonder if still remember after such a long break.

2312: Jack nurses along with Jade. Play Orions. Thrash computer with my fave deck.

0012: Yay! Jade and Jack are out.

0015: Go get supper. Check Facebook. Reply email. Eat some Kettle chips. Drink organic milk.

0035: Jade wakes. Sigh. Play Who’s Got The Biggest Brain game on iPod Touch. Attain Cyborg status by choosing most skilled tests on pro level. Bored now.

0056: Oh no, Jack stirring. Phew! He went back to sleep. Jade still nursing feverishly. Like a deep sea diver breathing.

0058: Try pulling away but she’s not letting go. Sigh.

0101: Try pulling away again but she still holding tight. Sigh. Gonna try to unlatch…

0104: Failed. Wondering if resident roaches eating my Kettle chips.

0109: Unlatched. Jade flailed but went to sleep. Returning to chips.

0147: Jack stirs. I spot a roach on my bed! Run out and get a rolled up newspaper, swat the bastard off, he falls on the ground. I whack but he escapes under the bed. Damn! And Jack sits up rubbing his eyes. Ma, he calls. And I nurse again.

0225: He’s done.

0310: Jack wakes up with a “Ma uh Nan”, sniffle. I’ve finished placing 2 more traps under the bed to catch that confounded beast. Tomorrow I’m buying industrial strength traps. Managed to order a nice silicone case, the Agent18 Flowervest (very pretty!), for my iPod Touch and download a couple of apps. Yawn. Will sleep after this feed.

0328: Jade is up. Does her hyperventilating sound and I hurry to nurse her. Sigh.

0348: Jade finally done. Can I finally sleep?

0354: Brushed teeth, turned off light and net, ready for bed. Checked for roach. None. Jack wakes. “Mom Nan,” he says. I nurse him. Jade wheezes. I cower in fear. she stops. Only sound is Jack drinking milk. Gonna try close my eyes now. Hope the roach gets stuck in one of my traps!

0403: Reclaimed boob. Gonna zzz now.

0607: Jade wakes. Nurse. Sleep.

0715: Jack wakes. Nurse. Sleep.

1050: Alarm goes. I press snooze 3x before reaching for the chilled packet of crysanthemum white tea with Jack still attached. I drink it and feel more awake. Time to get up.

Between the 0715 feed and now, the kids woke again, maybe twice but too sleepy to register.

The kids get 12 hours sleep each which is so important for the development of their brain.

Note: This post was written on my iPod Touch. Yay!