Tooth Trouble

Unbearable tooth ache sent me to the dentist yesterday an as I was dreading, I need root canal. If I had only gone a month earlier I wouldn't have needed it, but I needed pain to prompt me to go. But this whole dentist thing also just reminds me that I need to take Bilaal for his first ever visit to the dentist. It is actually long overdue and fortunately he hasn't had any problems with his teeth, but I've been told that children should go for a check-up and polish as soon as they have a full set of teeth!So now I first have to get thus root canal ou the way. But what I've done is to book my next appointment in the afternoon, so Bilaal will have to go with me and that will be his introduction to the dentist... role modelling in action! If he can see his mommy bravely enduring all that scratching around in my mouth it won't be so daunting when it's his turn. Of course this will only work if I actually am brave, Fortunately, with this not being my first root canal I am pretty confident that I won't be flinching with pain. Been there, done that, got the root canal so to speak. If anyone reckons my plan will backfire and have the reverse effect, let me know.

Hide and Seek the Bilaal Way

I can't see you, so you can't see me!

sleep progress

So I been taking my own advice and trying to get Sumayah to fall asleep on her own in the day. So far it works for the morning nap, but the late afternoon nap, when i am most busy is when she puts up a fight. Everytime she cries I pick her up to console her then put her down again, she sleeps about 5 mins in total then she cries again. But i look at the positive side, i'm getting lots of exercise walking up and down the stairs every 5 minutes! I do feel bad though that poor Bilaal has to entertain himself while I juggle cooking and sleep training in the afternoons. The good news is that her for 2 nights in a row now, she has fallen asleep by herself at the night sleep (about 10pm) and has now stretched her sleep to 3.30am. if she keeps this up, hopefully by the end of the week she will be going at least till 4.30am, that's my target for now. When she starts having more solids in the day I will target a later wake time, but she is after all only 3 months old!Speaking of the feeding issue, I'm thinking I'm gonna start her on veggies next week. Apparently sweet potatoe are the least allergenic followed by the squash family, so that's what I'll start with.

The big Eat 'n Sleep debate

Different people have different approaches to the whole sleep issue. With Bilaal I certainly had many a sleepless night until I sleep trained him at age 2. But reflecting back I think I could have achieved this earlier. But that raises the question when is the right age. I know the Baby Sense Franchise encourages it from early on already with their whole "put them down drowsy, but awake" concept. Problem with that is, it didn't work with Bilaal, nor with Sumayah, I tried it from the beginning and once again have a kid that needs to be 'put' to sleep. So I have this one friend who is lucky enough to have a 9 month old she can put wide a awake in her cot and leave the room for the little angel girl to fall asleep all on her own. She informs me that with the first one she wasn't so lucky and was desperate so she sleep trained him with controlled crying. So she did the same with her daughter from birth and hey presto! no sleep problems. Of course the other difference is that she has the cot in another room, I forgot to ask her if this was from the beginning, because I find I don't like to leave Sumayah to cry in the room when I know Yaasier has to go to work the next day. I would be easier if she was in another room, even though that would take away the convenience of having her within arms reach! So perhaps the alternative is to try getting her to sleep on her own in the day and evening?

For the past few nights Sumayah had been waking at about 1 am, then 2 am and finally last night 3 am, so it has been progressively improving. Everytime she wakes I pick her up and put her back to sleep. My aim is to try to get her to sleep till 5am from a 10pm bedtime. Granted she slept most of last night in my arms and I had a rather broken sleep, but I refused to feed her before 5am as she should be going for 8 to 10 hours without a feed at night (according to Baby Sense).

Let's see what happens over the next few nights!

Conversations with a 4-year-old

For some reason it really bothers Bilaal that I don't work, especially because before Sumayah was born I had my own OT practice and he sometimes used to come with me to the office after school. Since I gave up the practice he's asked me on numerous occasions why I don't have an office anymore. i've tried to explain to him many times that I gave up my job to be at home for him and his little sister, but my explaination seems to only bring up more questions. Most recently the conversation went like this...
B: Mommy

M: Yes Bilaal?

B: What does it mean to be fired?

M: When your boss tells you you can't work in your job anymore.

B: Mommy, did you tell your boss you have a Sumayah and a boy that's why you want to be fired?

M: What?! No I wasn't fired! I chose to stop working to look after you and Sumayah

B: Yes so did you tell your boss you want to be fired. How come you then don't go to the office anymore?

Then the other day Bilaal came home one day talking about this new girl at his school named Amy.

B: Mommy I think she's from Scotland.
Me: Why do you say that?
B: She sounds like she's from Scotland because she speak like that
When I asked his teacher about it, she said the girl is infact from England, but she's not sure if its from Scotland.

Then one day we were driving home from school and the conversation went something like this...

Bilaal: Mommy...

Me: Yes Bilaal?

B: How do people get married?

M: Well , 2 people decide they want to be with each other forever, then they sign a contract to promise each other they will stay together.

B: So can you get married if you a child?

M (with both amusement and curiosity): No why? Is there someone you want to marry?

B: Yes, but its a secret adventure

M: Oh it's a secret... is it someone at school?

B: Yes

M: is it Robby Rue? (His favourite friend Robyn)

B: No

M: Is it the new girl Amy?

B: Yes

M: Why do you want to marry her?

B: I like the way she sounds...

Then yestersay Bilaal was telling me about another girl friend at his school...
B: Mommy...

M: Yes Bilaal?

B: Eden's said her daddy told her she can go on a trip by herself

M: mmm (listening but not really)

B: Her daddy is unrespectable

M: Unrespectable?! (that certainly got my attention). What do you mean?

B: Yes because he told her she can go alone, so I told her he's unrespectable

M: You mean you told Eden her daddy is unrespectable? Do you know what that means?

B: I don't think he must let Eden go on her own...

M: but you can't just tell people their parents are unrespectable... what did Eden say when you told her that?

B: Nothing

M: would you like it if someone said that about your daddy?

B: No

When I told Yaasier about this conversation he said Bilaal probably meant 'irresponsible'! Where he comes up with these things I don't know!

Yum Yum

So the cereal eating is going well in the sense that Sumayah is enjoying it lots, but it hasn't really made much difference to her sleeping. She still wakes at about 2am for a feed??! I don't know if it's just habit or what. This morning I started giving the cereal in the morning too, because for the past 2 mornings she's been hungry between feeding times in the mornings. So we shall see how it goes tonight.

Our adventure with Food begins

Last week Thursday, on the advice of the nurse at the clinic, I started giving Sumayah cereal in the evening. I was so relieved she took to it very well. But at the same time, i wasn't really surprised. I know lots of people struggle with feeding so I feel very blessed that Bilaal never had an eating issue and hopefully it doesn't seem Sumayah will either. I think I just have greedy children... not surprising when they have a mother who loves to chow down! I was both excited and nervous to start solids - excited because it's such a new milestone in our relationship, but nervous because it means we are embarking on a whole new adventure that ultimately means more time, new problems, and the biggest one... it means my baby's growing so fast! Next thing you know she's gonna be crawling around the house scratching out all manner of things!