Flowers are blooming....

birds are singing. I was supposed to post this a month ago, when the tulips are blooming in my front yard but......

Anyway, it's still not too late, it's still officially Spring. Tulips are perennials, so they come up every year.



I like these purple guys. They did not come up last year but this year, they popped up. I'm not sure what they are called.

Ok, the paperwork is submitted

This morning, we met with a service coordinator from Nassau Country Department of Health Early Intervention program to submit the paperwork to get Olivia evaluated for her stuttering.

I had mentioned in my previous post that she was stuttering and sometimes it can get pretty bad. At her 2.5 year old checkup, I asked the pediatrician about her stuttering and he said, if it is occassional, it's fine but if it gets worse, we should get her evaluated.

I decided to call the Early Intervention program anyway and I was glad I did. For the past 3 days, her stuttering has been getting worse. Every other word has been difficult for her to say.

I just got a call back from the coordinator that a billingual evaluation is needed since I speak mandarin to her (even though lately, it has only been english). So, I hope to hear from the speech evaluator soon to set up and appointment.

Olivia will be evaluated on her cognitive, social, speech and motor skills. She will only get therapy if she is delayed by 33% on any of those skills. I know for sure she is not delayed, she says many many words...so she might not even qualify for any therapy. Even the coordinator thinks stuttering is a gray area.

Anyway, we'll see what the speech therapist has to say. If Olivia does not qualify for therapy, maybe the therapist might have some suggestion on how we could work on the stuttering.

Conflicted

The American society puts a lot of value on independence. They expect babies and small children to be more independent than they are biologically ready to be. It also puts a lot of pressure on parents to push their children toward independence even when they are small babies and toddlers.

Since I moved here, I have been influence by the mainstream parenting approach where babies and toddlers are expected to entertain themselves, to learn how to self soothe etc. Since Olivia was 3 months old, she has been sleeping in her own crib, in her own room. She even falls asleep on her own, I don't even have to rock her.

This has helped me tremendously when I went back to work, as it allows me to get a good night sleep. I also think that Olivia sleeps better in her own crib, as hubby snores, which I'm sure would distrub her sleep, if she had slept with us.

Along the way, Olivia went through stages of waking up in the middle of night crying to wanting to come to our bed.

Lately, she only wants to sleep with us, which is fine with hubby and me. We like having her close to us. She will be our only child and we want to hold on to her childhood a little longer. The only danger is her kicking us in the head in the middle of the night!

However, I do sometimes feel a little conflicted about whether I'm doing more harm than good. After discussing it with a few Malaysian mothers, I decided to throw out the 'ang moh theories' and go with what works for us.

I'm pretty sure that one day, Olivia would want her privacy and nothing to do with us, and I don't want to regret then that I push her towards independence before she is ready.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my mother, my mother-in-law and to all the mommy bloggers that I have come to know through blogging. :)

This is what Olivia gave me for Mother's Day. It's an art decor done by her at daycare. The heart symbolizes me and the hand is her.


The middle is a photo taken by the teachers. I thought it was such a good photo of Olivia. She was even posing in it. Here is the photo of the photo.

Ouch! My poor baby

Last Wed, as Olivia walked through the door from daycare, I noticed a nasty abrasion on her nose. Hubby, who picked her up, kept saying she's ok, she's ok. The teacher said that she tripped, fell and rubbed her nose on the carpet.

This was how she looked.

Two days later, it turned into an ugly dark brown crust.

Then, by Sunday evening, the crust fell off (with the help of some rubbing from Olivia) and her nose is beautiful again. :) The skin was a bit red (not clearly visible from the photo) where the abrasion was but in time, it will be the same color again as the rest of the face.

Aahhh....how nice is it when you're young and your injuries heal fast.....

I'm 2 and a half

Hi, my name is Olivia and I just turned 2 1/2 years old. This is my first post in mommy's blog. I'm 30lbs 5oz and 36 1/4 in tall. According to my doctor, I'm doing well and mommy is doing great job. Even though I can walk and run and jump, I still like to be carried. No wonder my poor mommy, who is only 99lbs, is so tired at the end of the day and her body ache all over.

At 2 1/2, I have two 'vices' that my mom wished she would be able to get rid off sooner rather than later - diaper and pacifier. Yes, I still wear the diaper. Even though I know how to go to the potty when I need to pee pee or poo poo, I refused to do it consistently. According to the doctor, it's a control issue....whatever.

I use the pacifier during naptime and at night. It's soothing for me and I fall asleep easily with it. I'm not sure when I want to give that up. Mommy has tried a few times but with no success.

Since I'm in my terrible twos, I'm very defiant. Whenever mommy or daddy wants me to do something, I will say 'NO!'. Sometimes, when I get frustrated, I will hit mommy. Then, she will put me in the penalty box. I don't know why I hit, I can't control myself.......

Don't worry mommy, soon I will be three and I'm sure you have heard that three is worse than two....hehe.

That's all for now, I hope you enjoy reading my post.

Oh, and mommy will tell you how I got that nasty abrasion on my nose in the next post.