1st Day of Preschool

Today was Chloe's first day of preschool.  She woke up in a good mood and was ready to tackle her new journey.  She did so well that if you didn't know it was her first day, you would've thought she's been there a long time.  She was like a preschool pro.

Immediately after we arrived, she dove right into playing.  She completely made herself at home.  She explored all the different rooms and checked out the different books and toys.  She didn't need to warm up at all.  At one point as I was talking to the school director, I noticed she waved hello to a parent as she dropped off her child.  Then she waved goodbye to that same parent as she left.  There was no stranger anxiety at all.

About 45 minutes later, the director (who is also one of the teachers at the school) announced that it was story time.  She started walking over to another room as the children followed.  Randy and I stayed behind the crowd to observe Chloe's reaction.  We were proud to see that Chloe followed the group without prompting or needing directions.  She just followed the herd and sat down in the circle along with everyone else.  She remained seated and quietly listened to the story.

We took the opportunity of her being engrossed in story time to quietly sneak out.  She had no idea we left.  I went on with my day wondering whether she cried when she realized we had left; whether she ate her meals; whether she drank her milk; whether she napped; whether she wet her pants; whether she paid attention in class; etc etc.

While Randy and I were on our way to pick her up after school, we made a bet on whether she cried this morning when she realized we were gone and whether she will cry later when she sees us again.  My money was on her crying on both occasions.  Well, I lost all my money.  The girl didn't cry one weep all day long!  When she saw us walk through the door, she happily greeted us with a joyful "Mommy! Daddy!"  and then she proudly showed us the lego pieces she was playing with.  The teacher gave us a quick run down of her day and it was all positive.

1. She did look for us once after story time, but she was quickly distracted by something and forgot she was looking for us.
2. She drank all her milk.
3. She ate most of her food.  The only thing she didn't really eat was the carrots.
4. She didn't have any potty accidents.
5. It took her a little time to settle down to nap.  She kept wanting to get up and play (which is what we expected).  But she eventually did fall asleep.
6. She got along with everyone.

Overall, Chloe adapted to preschool really well on her first day.  I credit this to two factors:

1. She has an easy going and outgoing personality.  The fact that she is not shy or afraid of strangers makes for an easier time to adapt to a new environment.
2. She has had experience with group settings because her babysitter had taken her to her son's preschool for drop-in play once in a while.  Those drop-in play sessions consist of free play, group story and singing times, and snack times.  Therefore in a way, Chloe had been exposed to preschool-like settings in the past.  The only difference is this time she was all alone without her babysitter nor us in sight.

All in all, Chloe had a really good first day of school.  We could tell she had a lot fun along the way because her excitement carried on well into the evening.  The little chatter box kept talking and laughing, talking and laughing all the way home from school, throughout bath time, throughout dinner time, and on and on until she finally fell asleep at 10pm.  We could not turn off her enthusiasm.  We didn't want to turn off her enthusiasm.  If only we could bottle it all up and save it forever.  

Chloe's 24-Month Checkup Stats

Height: 33.25 in (30%)
Weight: 24lb 12 oz (30%)
Head Circumference: 48.8 cm (90%)

Chloe had her 24-month wellness check on Friday 12/2/11.  In the 6 months since her last checkup, she grew 2.25 inches and 3 pounds.  That's a mighty good growth spurt if you ask me!  In fact, if you look at where she stands as compared to other children in her age group, whereas at 18 months she was in the 28th percentile in height and 13th percentile in weight, she is now in the 30th percentile in both categories.  That's right, she went up in both. Way to go Chloe!

Chloe's Second Family

Yesterday, Friday 12/2/11, was Chloe's last day with her beloved babysitter, Auntie Felicia.  姨姨, as she calls her, has been like her second mother ever since she was 2 months old.  Over the course of 22 months, Chloe has built a strong relationship with 姨姨.  Every morning she looked forward to going to 姨姨's house.  When it was time to go home at the end of the day, sometimes she didn't even want to go home with me.  That's how highly she thinks of her 姨姨.

As we prepared her for preschool over the last couple of months, I was also dreading the arrival of Chloe's last day with Felicia. I felt sad for Chloe to have to leave someone she loves so dearly.  I myself felt sad that we had to leave behind such a good caregiver for our daughter.  Felicia had been a god-send for us and we counted our blessings everyday that our daughter was in good hands.  On top of that, I wasn't sure if Chloe understood that a long farewell was approaching.  To be honest, I didn't think she understood.  But just in case she is smarter than I thought, I've hyped up the fun of going to school and meeting new friends.  Hopefully that would soften the impact of leaving 姨姨.  I also refrained from telling her that going to school means she could no longer go to 姨姨's everyday.  I didn't want any bad connotation attached to the idea of school. 

Finally this past week, I couldn't refrain myself anymore.  I finally said to her, "Chloe, this is your last week with 姨姨.  Next week you are going to school. Ok?"  I think I said that to her twice this week and each time she replied differently.  One time she just curiously asked "Gool?".  The other time she actually said "No gool.  Go 姨姨".  So...did she realize what was about to happen?

Finally on Friday morning, the bittersweet end was here.  In the morning, I told her, "Chloe, today is your last day with 姨姨.  You have fun with 姨姨 ok?"  Chloe replied, "Ok Mommy. Have fun Mommy."  Her reply made me think she didn't know what was going on.

Randy went with me to pick up Chloe from Felicia's this last time.  I needed Randy to go with me because I knew I was going to cry.  Yes, I'm weak and sentimental that way.  Sure enough, tears did roll out of my eyes even though I fought really hard to keep them in.  Felicia was teary-eyed as well.  Both of us remained calm and composed, however.  We didn't want to alarm the kids.  The kids, including Chloe, Keith and Max, showed no signs of sadness.  It was a regular pickup session in their eyes.  In fact, Felicia told us that when she told the boys Chloe will not be coming over next week, the boys thought Chloe is about to go on vacation.  When Felicia told them it was because Chloe will be going to school next week, Max excitedly asked, "Is she going to my school?"  This proves that all three of them are still too young to understand what farewell means.  Which is probably a good thing.

Before we left, we took this picture of Chloe and her second family.  You can see how happy they are together.

Even though this was a last farewell as caregiver and care receiver, this was not a last farewell altogether.  We are making a point to visit often.  We do not want Chloe to forget 姨姨 and all the things she's done for her.  At the tender age of 2, I know Chloe will probably forget a lot.  But we promise to do the best we can to prevent her from forgetting too much.  We have to have frequent get-togethers and play-dates to preserve this close-knit relationship.  

Happy 2nd Birthday Chloe!

Happy Happy Birthday to our sweet little Chloe.  Two years ago she came into our lives and since then she has been bringing us joy and love ever since.  Here's to many more years to come.


Below is my photo project to forever capture her sweet look on each birthday as compared to previous years.

2nd Birthday

2nd Birthday

1st Birthday

1st Birthday

What A Difference

The final results for my prenatal screening test to screen for birth defects such as down syndrome, trisectomy 18, etc came this week.  And what a big difference it is this time as compared to the results we got when we did the same screening test two years ago when I was pregnant with Chloe.

The result we got with Chloe was a "screen positive" with a risk assessment of 1 in 130.  That meant Chloe had a 1 out of 130 chance of having a form of birth defect such as down syndrome.  That was compared to a "normal" assessment of 1 in 384 for a woman giving birth at 34.  That shook us out of our seats.  We saw it as our chance of having a baby with a birth defect having grown 3 times the normal.  We were so disturbed by the result that we ended up opting to take a somewhat evasive procedure called a CVS to find out the exact chromosomal makeup of the baby to make sure whether or not she did or did not have a birth defect.  Fortunately, praise the Lord, Buddha, Allah, or whoever is watching over us from above, Chloe's chromosomal makeup came out perfectly normal.  All 46 chromosomes are there.  No more.  No less. We don't know what we would've done if we were to find out she did have "a problem".  We felt, and to this day still feel, very fortunate that we didn't have to ponder such a situation.

Fast forward 2 years later, the result for this pregnancy is a "screen negative" with a risk assessment of 1 in 40,000.  That's right, 1 in 40,000!  The "normal" for a woman my age is 1 in 200.  What a relief it was when we saw the result.  No more early scare in this pregnancy like we had with Chloe.  This is not to say we are completely out of the woods and the baby is guaranteed healthy and normal.  But because our risk assessment in so low, we do not have to undergo the evasive CVS procedure.  But then again, because we are not doing the CVS, we do not know definitively that the baby is normal.  1 in 40,000 is still a chance.  It's just a chance that is small enough to let us temporarily breathe a sigh of relief and not worry about this until the baby is born.  Please I pray to the Lord, Buddha, Allah, or whoever is watching over us from above, please let our baby be healthy and normal.

Useless

I feel very useless today.  A muscle spasm right under my shoulder blade is making it hard for me to drive.  My field of vision is very narrow because I can't turn my head too much and my general movement is slower due to limited use of my muscles.  I don't want to take a chance of getting into an accident, especially with Chloe in the car. On top of that, lifting Chloe in and out of the car is not easy either.  I also don't want to make things worse before I can get some medical help.  As a result, Randy had to drive Chloe and me to the babysitter's/work today.  On top of his busy schedule, he has to carve more time out to be our chauffeur. I've already been of less help at home due to the pregnancy.  He's giving baths to Chloe more often because it's harder for me to lift and squat.  I'm tired often.  And now this.

I need to get this muscle spasm fixed before he heads to the Philippines for business in a few days.  This is not a good time for unexpected situations at all.  *UGH....*


UPDATE (10/21/11):
I went to the chiropractor yesterday.  He was able to reset one side of my neck.  The other side had a nerve that was so swollen that he couldn't reset it.  He told me to ice it every hour to get the swelling to go down and call him today.  The icing worked.  I'm a lot looser today.  There's still a little knot and stiffness but at least I regained a lot of movement and am flexible enough to drive again.  I think everything should be back to normal in a couple of days.

Thank you JMT for offering to help.  I should be fine now.

Bottle Weaning

Ever since her 15-month check up, Chloe's pediatrician has been pressuring encouraging us to wean her off the bottle.  We tried and we tried.  But every time she tastes milk coming out of a sippy cup/straw cup/regular cup, she would spit it out as if it was the most disgusting thing she ever tasted.  For stubborn little Chloe, water and juice can come out of cups, but milk must come out of a bottle.  No negotiations.

This past Saturday, she finally came around.  Before I gave her her first milk that morning, I asked her, "Do you want milk?"  She answered, "Yeah".  I then asked her "Would you like milk in a cup?"  She answered "Yeah".  I clarified with her that I was going to give her milk in a cup and she said "Ok".

I quickly seized the opportunity and served her milk in the straw cup that she regularly drinks water with.  To my surprise, she finished all the milk that was in it.  I had served her milk in this very cup before in the past and she had rejected it wholeheartedly.  I have no idea why she suddenly accepted it this time.  Was it the power of words?  Did she accept it because I had asked her permission first?  She does understand a lot more language now versus at 15 months or even at 18 months.

Whatever it is, I'm really glad we are finally successful in weaning her off the bottle.  Her 24-month check up is coming up in about 6 weeks.  This time we can proudly tell the pediatrician that she is no longer on the bottle.

Preschool - Registered

Back in May when we toured a few preschool prospects for Chloe, our top choice asked us to call back one month prior to Chloe turning two to inquire whether or not they have space for her.  Chloe is turning two in a little more than one month.  I called the preschool last Friday to inquire about their availability and hoped to officially register her for school.  The preschool director told us they only had one opening left and there are a few families interested. In order to snatch up that last space, we needed to go in first thing on Monday morning to fill out a contract and pay our deposit.  We did exactly that and now I'm proud to say Chloe is officially registered for preschool!  Her first day will be Monday, December 5th.  I better get my tissues ready for her first day of school!

Potty Training - Days 3-7

Today completed Chloe's 1st week of potty training.  In summary, she did way better than what one would expect from a 21-month-old on her 1st week of potty training.  She ended the week with an accident-free day.  That's impressive.

Overall throughout the week, she went some (as in successful trips to the potty) and she wet some (as in clothes and training pants).  The highlights worth mentioning were:

(1) Every morning from Day 3 to 7, she successfully went to the bathroom first thing after she woke up.  Two of the mornings she actually woke up with a completely dry diaper.

(2) Day 5 (Saturday) was the first day since potty training started that we were out and about for most of the day.  To keep the training consistent, we took her portable potty with us so she can go somewhat privately in the trunk of our car.  We also put her in training pants for the first time to prevent messy accidents in public.  She wasn't successful in going in the portable potty at all.  We can't blame her.  "Performing in public" is very difficult after all.  We will keep trying for sure.

(3) Day 7 (today) was a huge success.  She had absolutely no accidents all day long.  No even once.  She was in the same outfit when I picked her up after work as she was when I dropped her off in the morning.  I couldn't believe my eyes. But the babysitter confirmed - she was accident-free all day.  That includes the #1 and #2.  Her success continued even after we got home and then went out briefly to grab a quick bite.  This was the kind of day one would expect after more than a month of training.  But it happened after just one week.

With all the progress she's shown in just one week, her potty training is by no means complete.  She still has a long way to go.  From here we continue to expect days/times of progress and days/times of set back.  To expect accident-free days everyday is just setting her up for failure and setting us up for disappointment.  Not to mention it's just not realistic.  Overall I am already very proud of my little baby.

Potty Training - Day 2

I AM SO PROUD OF CHLOE!!!  Whereas yesterday she didn't pee or poo in the toilet even once on her first day of potty training, today, on just the second day, she peed 7 times and pooed 1 time in the toilet.  That is HUGE improvement.

When she was at the babysitter's during the day, she was taken to the toilet every 15 minutes.  Throughout the day she probably repeated the routine 20-30 times.  Of these 20-30 times, she successfully pee peed 5 times and poo pooed 1 time.  Whereas yesterday she wet her clothes 3-4 times, today she only wet her clothes once.  Talk about a fast learner!

Then at night after we brought her home, of the 4 times we took her to the toilet, she pee peed 2 times.  Both times she asked me before doing the deed, "more water?" I said, "yes more water."  That seemed to have been her cue because both times, she peed after that little dialogue.  So whether it's "pee pee" or "water", she now knows the concept of sitting on the toilet means letting it flow.  LOL.

Potting Training - Day 1

Today, Tuesday September 6, 2011, was a big day for Chloe.  No it wasn't the first day of school.  It was the first day of potty training!  At 21-months, I'm not sure if it is too early to start, but the babysitter seems to think she is ready.  We know it will take a long time for her to master this new skill so we are going in with a lot of patience.

To prepare for this big adventure, we bought Chloe a lot of underwear to wear during the day in lieu of diapers.  I also packed a lot of extra clothing for the babysitter knowing she will wet quite a few each day.    As expected, there wasn't much "action" on the potty this very first day. In fact, there was no action at all. Every 15 minutes she was put on the toilet for 2 minutes to try to go.  Nothing happened.  On the contrary, at least on a couple of occasions, the second she exited the bathroom and went back to play, she "let the water flow" and wet her pants and her surroundings and called out "water".  This was all expected.  We also know not to discourage her by reprimanding her for her mistakes.  Positive encouragement is the way to go, literally.

Even though she was not successful on the toilet today, I still think there was at least one tangible progress - she now knows potty time equals going to the bathroom and pulling down her pants. That's one big step forward.

Extra Sweet Lemonade

Yesterday Chloe loaned Daddy her toy food basket and together they went to pick lemons from our lemon tree.  We made lemonade from Chloe's loot of lemons and it was extra sweet.

Random Things That Chloe Says

Last night Chloe said two things that made me laugh.

(1) When it's time to eat dinner, we usually tell her "It's dinner time" or  "食饭饭".  Last night, when Randy called out from the kitchen that dinner was ready, Chloe excitedly ran to her high chair and said "Eat time!".  I have no idea where she got that from.  We may occasionally say "time to eat", but never "eat time".

(2) When I brush her teeth, I usually say "擦牙牙".  Last night, she pointed at the medicine cabinet and asked me to open the "door".  After I opened the cabinet, she pointed at her tooth brush and said "There's To-Yee 牙牙".  (Note: She's pronounces her name "To-Yee".)

Oh...the funny little things she says...

No More Excuses

I stopped exercising very soon after I got pregnant with Chloe.  Randy and I even cancelled our gym membership shortly after Chloe was born.  Our excuse?  Her name starts with C and she's almost 20 months old.  She takes up all of our time so we can't go to the gym anymore.  It's time for Randy and I to stop making excuses and start doing something about our physical health.

Last week Randy bought a weight set and bench.  Today we bought a barely-used treadmill from a family friend.  With our home gym in place, we can now exercise at home. The excuse of not having time to go to the gym is no longer valid.  The plan is for us to hit this home gym each night after Chloe goes to bed.  For the past week Randy has been active on the weight bench.  Tonight I started running on the treadmill.  I feel really good after 36 minutes of combined running and incline walking.  Lets hope that we can keep up this healthy routine.

Good Baby

Chloe was a very good baby this entire weekend.  She ate when she was supposed to eat.  She slept when she was supposed to sleep.  She played nicely.  She listened to everything (almost) we said.  She said "please" and "thank you" without prompting.  She was happy.  She was silly.  Every second with her was enjoyable.  I hope this continues forever and ever and ever.  But of course we all know that would be too good to be true.  She's a kid, and like all other kids she will act up every now and then.  I'll take the good side of her whenever I can and I'll savor every moment.

@ Deer Hollow Farm

Words Chloe Can Say

Going back to the 18-month development questionnaire we answered during Chloe's 18-month check up, when I answered "yes" to the question "Can she speak 8-40 words?", I really didn't know the exact number of words Chloe can speak.  I never took a tally.  That question stirred my curiosity so I went ahead and made a list of words Chloe can say.  I have the list below.

The parentheses are the way she says the words.  I probably missed a word here and there.  As you can see, her vocabulary is 100+ words.  And it's still growing since she picks up new words almost every day.

1. Airplane (airpane) 
2. All done 
3. Apple 
4. Auntie (Yee Yee, Cantonese 姨姨) 
5. Baby 
6. Backpack (bokpok) 
7. Ball 
8. Balloon (moom) 
9. Banana (nana) 
10. Bath (bak bak - as in Cantonese 洗白白) 
11. Bear 
12. Beep beep (when driving her car) 
13. Bib 
14. Bird 
15. Book 
16. Bread (bao bao - Cantonese 包包) 
17. Brother (gor gor - Cantonese 哥哥) 
18. Bubble 
19. Bye bye 
20. Car 
21. Cheese (deese)
22. Chicken (gai gai - Cantonese 鸡鸡) 
23. Clean up (neen nup) 
24. Copper (bopper) 
25. Corn (gorn) 
26. Crying (Nying) 
27. Daddy 
28. Doggie (Wo wo) 
29. Duck
30. Eat (mum mum - Cantonese) 
31. Elephant (elfant) 
32. Eyes 
33. Face (mien mien - Cantonese 面面) 
34. Feet (guek guek - Cantonese 脚脚) 
35. Fish (yue yue - Cantonese 鱼鱼) 
36. Flower (fower) 
37. Full (bao bao - Cantonese 饱饱 ) 
38. Giraffe (Uh-raf) 
39. Give (bay - Cantonese 俾) 
40. Grandma (Ma Ma - Cantonese 嫲嫲) 
41. Grandma (Por Por - Cantonese 婆婆) 
42. Grandpa (Gung Gung - Cantonese 公公) 
43. Grandpa (Yeh Yeh - Cantonese 爷爷) 
44. Hand (han) 
45. Hat (mo mo - Cantonese 帽帽) 
46. Hello (ah-low)
47. Help 
48. Hi 
49. Home 
50. Horse (ma ma - Cantonese 马马) 
51. Hug 
52. Jacket 
53. Jook jook 
54. Kiss 
55. Let's Go (let go)
56. Lie down (fun dai, Cantonese 瞓低) 
57. Light (dung dung, Cantonese 灯灯) 
58. Lyon (Nyon) 
59. Milk  
60. Milk (nai nai - Cantonese 奶奶)
61. Mini (as in Minnie Mouse)
62. Mommy
63. Monkey 
64. More 
65. Night night 
66. No 
67. No more 
68. Nose (bay bay - Cantonese 鼻鼻) 
69. Okay (oday) 
70. Open (Omeem) 
71. Pig 
72. Please (Peez) 
73. Po Po (Cantonese 抱抱) 
74. Poo poo (boo boo)
75. Pop (bop) 
76. Pound (as in fist pound, but she says mound) 
77. Rabbit (wabbit)
78. Rusty (Uddy)
79. Scrub (gub or cub)
80. See you (as in I see you) 
81. Sheep (beep) 
82. Shoes (dues) 
83. Sit (tor tor, as in Cantonese 坐低)
84. Sister (deh deh, as in Cantonese 姐姐)
85. Spoon (moom)
86. Socks (mut mut - Cantonese 袜袜)
87. Star
88. Sun
89. Teapot (beebot)
90. Teeth (nga nga - Cantonese 牙牙)
91. Thank Q (thank you)
92. Tired
93. Tummy
94. Turtle (Turto)
95. TV
96. Uh oh
97. Uncle
98. Uncle (Kau Foo - Cantonese 舅父)
99. Wash (as in wash hands)
100. Water
101. Whale
102. What's That (what dat)
103. Where are you?  (vier you)
104. Words (dee dee, as in Cantonese 字字)
105. Yay
106. Yeah
107. Yogurt
108. Yummy
109. Zebra (beba)  

18-Month Check-Up

Chloe's 18-month check up was last Friday. Once again she checked out well. Everything looks good and healthy.

Her stats are:

Weight: 21 lb, 12 oz (13th percentile)
Height: 31 in (28th percentile)
head Circumference: 48.2 cm (89th percentile)

Comparing to her 15-month stats, she grew 1 lb 6 oz and 0.75 inches in 3 months. That seems to be very little growth. But she's still on the chart so it's nothing to worry about.

Similar to her last check up, this time we also filled out a questionnaire to gauge her development. This was a long 4-page questionnaire so I can't remember all the questions. Here are a few I do remember.

Can she feed herself with a fork and/or spoon?
Answer: Yes.

Can she drink from a sippy cup?
Answer: Yes.

Does she point at things with her index finger?
Answer: Yes.

Does she point at and call attention to interesting things to you?
Answer: Yes.

Can she point out certain body parts when asked?
Answer: Yes. She knows eyes, nose, hand, feet, tummy.

Does she sleep through the night without a midnight feeding?
Answer: Yes.

Can she speak 8-40 words? (I think those are the numbers but I can't be sure.)
Answer: Yes.

Does she run?
Answer: Hell yeah she does.

Does she make weird gestures with her fingers near her face?
Answer: No. (I think this question relates to autism screening but that's just my guess.)

Can she walk up and down stairs?
Answer: Only with help. We have no stairs at home for her to practice! We need to work on this.

Roseola

Two weeks ago on Saturday May 21, Chloe suddenly developed a fever. Our thermometer registered it at hovering around 100 - 101, which is still considered a low-grade fever. Since she didn't show any other symptoms, we shrugged it off as teething. (Actually, I was hoping she was teething because with only 6 teeth at the age of 18 months, she has a lot of catching up to do.)

The fever persisted until Tuesday when it suddenly disappeared. On Tuesday night I made sure she didn't show other symptoms of any kind. I specifically checked her body to make sure there weren't any rashes. Everything looked clear and I felt confident that she was okay. Maybe it was indeed teething that caused the fever.

Then on Wednesday morning, lo and behold I noticed a rash on her neck. I took off her clothes to inspect the rest of her body. I noticed the rash was all over her torso and neck. None on her face, arms, or legs. The rash was pink and flat. When I saw the rash I immediately knew what condition/illness she had. The tell-tale symptoms of having a sudden fever with no other symptoms followed by a body rash told me she had roseola.

This is where I have to give credit where credit it due. I first learned about roseola less than a year ago when my friend YW posted on her Facebook wall that her baby BW had the illness. A few weeks later another friend of mine, GH, also posted on her Facebook wall that her baby had it too. As a new mother, I always keep my eyes and ears out for anything baby-related. With two of my friends having experienced this condition with their babies within weeks of each other, it really stirred my interest. I looked up roseola online to educate myself of what it is in case my baby were to get it in the future. Sure enough, Chloe got it and I was prepared for it because of my friends and Facebook. This "heads up" that I had helped to prevent me from panicking when I saw Chloe's seemingly unexplained rash. So thank you to my friends and thank you to Facebook.

Even though I knew what it was, I still called the pediatrician to confirm my suspicion and to get formal instructions on how to treat it. Based on my description of Chloe's symptoms, the doctor confirmed that Chloe most likely did have roseola. She told me no treatment was necessary. Just let the rash run its course and it will go away on its own. She assured me that this condition is very mild and Chloe shouldn't be feeling any discomfort at all. She instructed me to call again or bring Chloe in if her condition doesn't improve in 4 days or if the rash changes dramatically or if other symptoms occur. She even told me that the rash will probably get worse before it gets better because it had just started. Sure enough that night the rash multiplied around her torso. Whereas it was sparse in the morning when I first noticed, by night time it was very dense. By the next day it started to spread to her arms and legs. But by the 3rd day the areas where the first rashes developed (neck, stomach, and back) started to fade. Then the next day the neck, stomach, and back had all cleared while the rashes on her arms and legs started to fade. By the afternoon of Saturday May 28, all the rashes were gone and my baby was completely back to normal. Thank goodness for the internet and for the pediatrician's guidance to keep me from worrying too much for my baby while she fought this illness.

So what is Roseola? Below is WebMD's overview of it. But first here are two pictures of Chloe's rash at its worse stage.

What is roseola?

Roseola (roseola infantum) is a mild illness caused by a virus. It is generally harmless and is most common in children 6 months to 2 years of age. It is rare after age 4.

What causes roseola?

Roseola is caused by two common viruses. The viruses belong to the family of herpes viruses, but they do not cause the cold sores or genital infections that herpes simplex viruses can cause. They are spread through tiny droplets of fluid from the nose and throat of infected people when they laugh, talk, sneeze, or cough. Roseola mostly spreads from infected people who don’t show symptoms.

If your child has roseola, keep him or her at home until there has been no fever for 24 hours and he or she is feeling better.

What are the symptoms of roseola?

Roseola often starts with a sudden high fever [103°F (39.4°C) to 105°F (40.6°C)] that lasts 2 to 3 days, although it can last up to 8 days. The rapid increase in temperature may be the first sign of roseola and often occurs before you realize that your child has a fever. The fever ends suddenly.

After the fever ends, a rosy-pink rash may appear mostly on the trunk (torso), neck, and arms. The rash is not itchy and may last 1 to 2 days.

In rare cases, a sore throat, stomach ache, vomiting, and diarrhea occur.

A child with roseola may appear fussy or irritable and may have a decreased appetite, but most children behave almost normally.

How is roseola diagnosed?

Roseola is diagnosed through a medical history and physical exam. The doctor often knows it's roseola if your child had a fever and now has a distinct rash.

How is roseola treated?

The roseola fever can be managed with acetaminophen (such as Tylenol), ibuprofen (such as Advil or Motrin), or sponge baths. If you give medicine to your baby, follow your doctor’s advice about what amount to give. Do not give aspirin to anyone younger than 20 years of age because of the risk of Reye syndrome.

The roseola rash will go away without medical treatment.

Should I worry if my child has roseola?

Roseola generally is a harmless viral infection. Like any illness that can cause a fever, it can cause fever seizures, which are uncontrolled muscle spasms and unresponsiveness that last 1 to 3 minutes. The fever seizure is caused by the rapid increase in temperature in a short period of time. After a fever has reached a high temperature, the risk of a seizure is probably over. Fever seizures are not a form of epilepsy.

Department of Social Services Community Care Licensing Division

If you are researching for a preschool for your child or curious about how well your child(ren)'s current school/daycare facility is complying with the rules and regulations surrounding their child care license, you must check out the Department of Social Services Community Care Licensing Division website.

In my research for a preschool for my child, I came across this website. It raised a red flag on one of the top three schools I am interested in learning more of. In a list of licensed child care facilities in my area, this particular school came up with the license status of "Probationary" while the statuses of all the other schools are simply "Licensed". This was the red flag that prompted me to pursue further. Why is their license on probation? Unfortunately, the website doesn't provide this information. To view the licensing file of any facility, one would have to personally go to a regional office and request for a review. I called our regional office to see if I could get more information before I make the trip.

The woman who helped me was very helpful. She read to me all the information under this school's file from the last three years (which coincides with the amount of time its license has been put on probation). With over 15 entries, the complaints/violations this school accumulated in the past three years ranged from a mild violation of staff to child ratio on a certain day to a serious complaint of a teacher pushing a child down on his/her chest to get the child to lay down for a nap. Other serious violations included cutting bread on a meat-cutting surface, children found in the bathroom during nap time without shoes and socks on and unsupervised, staff members yelling at each other thereby scaring the children, staff members not knowing who is in charge when the director was out, foul smell in the kitchen due to old food being discarded improperly, etc, etc. I was stunned by all these violations from one single school. One would never guess the inadequacies of this school when visiting its website. With all the pictures of smiling children, testimonies from satisfied parents, and a convincing curriculum, the website painted a very pretty picture of this school. And with the number of children still enrolled, most of the parents are probably unaware of what's going on. It's vital to keep abreast of the licensing status of your child(ren)'s school even if all seem fine on the surface. You wouldn't know what you will find.

After I had heard enough about this school and all its violations, and needless to say after crossing it off my list of contenders, I inquired about two other schools on my list. To my amazement one school had only 1 minor violation in its 13 years of operation and the other had only 2 minor violations in 16 years. With this information in hand, I am ready to visit these two schools in person and hopefully be able to choose one for my child.

I am very glad I came across the Department of Social Services Community Care Licensing Division website (http://www.ccld.ca.gov/). This is a very useful resource for parents looking for a dependable school/child care facility for their children. Please make use of it. Even if the website doesn't raise any concern about your facility, do not be shy to call your regional office to inquiry further.

Bachan

Our babysitter had a medical emergency last Thursday. To give her a chance to rest and recuperate, we kept Chloe at home for almost a week. Since it happened suddenly, we had to scramble to make arrangements for Chloe’s care in the interim. I ended up taking 1.5 days off work. Randy took one day. Randy’s mom (Chloe’s Bachan) took 2 days off and came over to stay at our house to watch Chloe the remaining 2 days.

We are so fortunate that Randy’s mom was (1) able to take the days off on such late notice and (2) willing to do so. Not only was she willing, she practically jumped at the opportunity to spend time with her grand-baby. I know of grandparents who live so far away from their families that they cannot help when help is needed. I also know of grandparents who are not so inclined to chip in even though they love their children/grandchildren dearly. With these in mind, we are grateful for such a doting and helpful Bachan.

Side note: Not only did Bachan come over to watch Chloe, she even cleaned our stove, range hood, microwave, and toaster oven and weeded our backyard while she was here. Where did she find time to do all this while taking such good care of our little rascal? This shows it IS possible to keep a tidy house even with a little one in tow. We obviously have lots to learn from Bachan. We should have her over more often. :)

Teething

The last couple days and nights, my happy baby was taken down drastically by teething. Her gums were swollen. She had a fever that wouldn't go away. She wouldn't eat. She wouldn't play. She couldn't sleep. She was irritable. She clung to me or Auntie Felicia all day and all night. Even Daddy wasn't welcome and that really hurt his feelings. This was the first time she experienced so much discomfort due to teething.

Fortunately this only persisted about 2 days and 2 nights. Now she's almost completely back to her normal self. She's playing. She's laughing. She's silly. She doesn't need us to hold her all the time. She's sleeping back in her crib again. She's eating her solids. The only thing she's not doing is drinking as much milk as before. Compared to the last couple of days, this is already vast improvement and Randy and I are smiling ear to ear because of it. Nothing makes us happier than seeing our baby happy.

15-Month Stats

Chloe had her 15-month check up on Friday. Here are her current stats:

Weight: 20 lb, 6 oz (14th percentile)
Height: 30.25 in (45th percentile)
Head Circumference: 47.7 cm (90th percentile)

I was glad to hear she caught up with her height. At 12 months, her height was in the 20th percentile. Between the 3-month period between 9 and 12 months, she only grew 0.75 inches. In contrast, between the 3-month period between 12 and 15 months, she grew 1.5 inches. When I heard she grew less than 1 inch at her 12-month checkup, I got a bit worried. Now I feel much better to hear she's back on track with her growth.

As to her weight, I'm not worried that she is only in the 14th percentile. I know babies' weight gains tend to taper off as they gain mobility and start to burn off more calories. Chloe eats well. I have no worries that she will eventually gain back the weight she's burning off with her constant running around. It just begs the question - why can't I burn off more calories and lose some of these extra weight when I'm constantly chasing after her???

Now on to her head circumference. She's in the 90th percentile once again. She's been in that range since birth. What can I say? The girl's got brains...at least room for it anyway. :P

Laughing Gas to "Take the Edge Off"

This would be interesting to witness in the labor room. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/02/13/state/n105743S09.DTL

Don't you like how they keep saying pain management helps to "take the edge off" of labor pains? Well, we need management for the spikes and thorns too, not just the edge.

Leehom Wang 王力宏

I haven't been following up with Cantonese or Mandarin Pop since I left my Chinese TV job, but recently I've been listening to some on You Tube. Here are two that I really like from cutie pie Leehom Wang 王力宏. Enjoy.


你不知道的事




需要人陪

Random update of Chloe's progression

Chloe's ability to comprehend what we say has progressed quite noticeably lately. Even though she still cannot respond by words, her actions show she understands what we say. A few examples are:

(1) She was running around my parents' house. I told her in Cantonese to go press on the Snowman and dance. (This is the snowman she danced with in the video Randy posted on FB.) She immediately changed her course and went to the snowman, pressed on the button to activate it, and started dancing.

(2) She was running around our house. I told her it's time to change her diaper. She stopped. Looked at me for a split second and then darted off...to stand right in front of the changing table.

(3) At the school that the babysitter's son goes to, the teacher asked Chloe where's Gor Gor (This means "big brother" in Cantonese and that's what Chloe calls the babysitter's sons.) Chloe couldn't answer, but she went over to the babysitter's son and stood next to him.

I get so happy everytime she responds to our spoken language. It just shows how quickly our baby is growing up. Next up would be her meaningless rambling turning into meaningful words.

Sleep Training

Chloe had been able to sleep in her own crib without our presence since June. But for some reason, around the holidays she suddenly started to reject her crib and cry every time we try to put her down. She ended up sleeping in our room in her play pen for about a week. Some nights she even cried in the middle of the night and ended up sleeping in our bed because we were too tired to deal with her antics. We brought this to her doctor’s attention and the doctor pretty much gave an executive order to start sleep training before this new habit gets too strong to break.

We started the sleep training with her late morning nap on Saturday. She had just finished her mid morning meal, so she was full. We changed her diaper, so she was clean. We kissed her, gave her the binky and told her it was time to take a nap. As expected, she started crying the second me put her into the crib. On the doctor’s order, we left her crying in the crib, left the room and shut the door.

She continued to cry, heart wrenchingly and nonstop for an hour. We watched via the video monitor as she roamed around the crib trying to get out. Through the crying her binky fell out of her mouth and onto the floor, where she had no way of retrieving. Without the binky, she cried even harder. Eventually she got tired, laid down and fell asleep.

45 minutes later, she woke up, realized she was alone in the crib and cried again. Although 45 minutes is considered a short nap, it was enough to rejuvenate her until the next nap. We also couldn’t bare another round of crying. Therefore we decided to free her from her confinement. It was a big relief to see her smile again when we picked her up. I was afraid she would remember what had transpired 45 minutes ago and give us a temper tantrum and/or guilt trip. Fortunately a 1-year-old is not capable of such attitude.

Later on that night, when it came time to sleep, we once again put her in the crib alone after making sure she was fed and cleaned. But this time we threw in three extra binkies in addition to the one already in her mouth. When I saw the binky fall out of her mouth during the previous crying session, I made a mental note to throw in a few extra ones in case she drops it again. This move proved highly affective. The extra binkies not only functioned as replacements, apparently they also functioned as a distraction to her emotions because after only 10 minutes of crying she started to play with the binkies. The crying ceased. She suddenly didn’t seem bothered by being alone anymore. Again we monitored her and this time it was actually amusing to watch her play with the binkies, rolling from one side of the crib to another. 40 minutes later she fell asleep.

From one hour of nonstop crying earlier in the day to just 10 minutes of light crying at night, this was a huge improvement. I started to feel better about letting her cry herself to sleep. As a mother, it’s always difficult to see your baby suffer through an uncomfortable situation.

Sunday night we continued with the sleep training. (We didn’t do it at nap times because we were on the road and she napped in the car.) Learning from the previous night’s experience, we once again gave her extra binkies before we left the room. As before, she cried the hardest at the moment we put her in the crib and left the room. But this time, she didn’t cry a long stretch before giving up. Instead she cried for a minute, stopped to play with the binkies and then maybe 5 minutes later let out another few cries/whimpers. These intermittent cries persisted for one hour and 15 minutes before she finally fell asleep. Is this improvement? I would say so because the crying wasn’t constant.

But as I thought her dependency on us started to improve, on Monday she exerted a lot of separation anxiety. When we arrived home after I picked her up from the babysitter’s, she wouldn’t let me out of her sight. In fact, she wouldn’t even let me put her down to play. She clung on to me like a monkey to a tree. Even her favorite toys couldn’t distract her from me. Then as I started our nightly routine in prepping her for bed, she started crying. From washing her face to changing her diaper, she whined because she knew what was coming next. Sure enough as I bent over the crib railing to put her down on her back, she screamed out in heart wrenching terror. I released my arms and stepped away from the crib. She immediately got onto her feet and walked to the edge of the crib reaching her arms out to me. My heart was torn to pieces watching and hearing her cry for me. I was ready to swoop her up and take her back with me as Daddy came in with an old iPod which he had just bought for her. She initially refused the iPod and continued to reach for me. After a couple minutes of coercion, she finally accepted the iPod (thought still whimpering) and turned her attention away from me. That was when I made my escape.

She played with the iPod for about 40 minutes before she fell asleep. She only let out a light cry on a couple of occasions. Again this seems to be improvement because the crying was limited to the initial couple of minutes when I put her in the crib. However, this time there was a different factor thrown into the mix – a toy. I don’t know if this toy, or any toy for that matter, would be another bad habit to break in the future.

As we continue Chloe’s sleep training, questions are floating in my head. Is sleep training really necessary? Is it really that bad to let your baby co-sleep with you? There are believers and there are non-believers. I unfortunately fall in the middle and can be teetered one way or the other depending on who I am talking to.

Arguments in favor of sleep training: You don’t want her to still be in your bed when she turns 16. Having your baby sleep in your bed is not good for your marriage. The crying is just her way of manipulating you to get her way.

Arguments against sleep training: It’s cruel to let her cry. How can you leave her in her cold room all alone? You are causing her a lot of anxiety and any form of anxiety is bad for her emotionally and psychologically.

Is that true? Are we really causing her anxiety? Are we messing with her emotional and psychological well being? If so, we need to stop this immediately. But if we stop, the last few nights of torturous crying would have been in vain.

Alas I think there is no turning back at this point. We have to finish what we started. We need to stand by our initial decision and give her time to learn. Otherwise it wouldn’t be fair to her. After all she does show signs of improvement – from one hour of nonstop crying to barely a couple of cries (albeit with the distraction of a toy). I just hope she learns quickly and we can all leave this behind us and move on.