All About Your Child

This happened on Sunday, German police have taken a 7 month baby away from a German couple in Bavaria who are under investigation after putting their child for sale on Internet auction site Ebay!

The baby boy was put on sale on last Tuesday at a starting price of one euro (2.14 Singapore Dollars) and was withdrawn from the site around two and a half hours later. There had been no offers. (Seriously, who would dare to offer?)

You can find out how much is one euro in your Country’s Currency.
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(The explaination was ridiculous) The mother said it was meant as a joke but police failed to see the funny side (neither do I).

The baby boy is in temporary good hands now while his parents are detained for ‘attempted child trafficking’.

Oh boy! What a joke that I couldn’t laugh about!

As you know from my previous post, my friend just gave birth yesterday. She had arranged for a post-natal masseuse but this masseuse backed-out last minute.

She needs to find a replacement now. Any of you know of any post-natal masseuses? Doesn’t matter if its a Malay or Chinese. My friend is a Chinese.

Could you please email the post-natal masseuse’s name and contact number to angeline@allaboutyourchild.com ?

Thank you so much! That’s the Singaporean spirit right? Always ready to help? *wink*

My dear friend from secondary school, Xiuyan gave birth to her second daughter yesterday. It was a smooth delivery. Awww…what could be better than that ya?!

It was her hubby, Allan (same name as my hubby but very different in character), who broke the news to me.

Me: So what’s the baby’s name?

A: Haven’t choose the Chinese name yet, but I’ve got a meaningful English name for her….I don’t know how to pronounce. It’s spelled as P-H-E-D-R-E.

Me: Why choose a name that even the father can’t pronounce?

A: Not that I can’t pronounce, it sound something like PRE-DER or PRE-DAY.

Me: Hmmm….(doubting)…so what does it mean?

A: I forgot.

Me: HUH?!

————————————————————————–

So I did a search on Google and Yahoo for the name and found the answer from here .

Phedre is a girl’s name, originated from Greek. It means ‘the bright one’. Other names carrying the same meanings include Phedra and Phaidra.

From this other site, I found the pronunciation to be FEH-druh.

Those Greek names can be a real challenge sometimes, especially when it comes to pronouncing them.

SOURCE: Epidemiology, May 2008.

There was a study done in New York, Reuters Health, which reports that indulging in chocolate during pregnancycould help ward off a serious complication known as preeclampsia.

Chocolate, especially dark chocolate, is rich in a chemical called theobromine, which stimulates the heart, relaxes smooth muscle and dilates blood vessels, and has been used to treat chest pain, high blood pressure, and hardening of the arteries, Dr. Elizabeth W. Triche of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut and colleagues write.

Preeclampsia, in which blood pressure spikes during pregnancy while excess protein is released into the urine, has many features in common with heart disease, the researchers add…..

…..Women who ate five or more servings of chocolate each week in their third trimester of pregnancywere 40 percent less likely to develop preeclampsia than those who ate chocolate less than once a week….

…..Theobromine could improve circulation within the placenta while blocking oxidative stress, or it could also be a stand-in for other beneficial chemicals found in chocolate, Triche and her team note in the May issue of Epidemiology.

“Our results raise the possibility that chocolate consumption by pregnant women may reduce the occurrence of preeclampsia,” they write. “Because of the importance of preeclampsia as a major complication of pregnancy, replication of these results in other large prospective studies with a detailed assessment of chocolate consumption is warranted.” - See Complete Report Here

If you have read My Profile, you would know that I am a chocolate lover to the core. To be honest, I need (notice I didn’t say I want) to pop in at least one or two chocolates everyday to complete my day, even if its M&Ms, so use your wildest imagination of my fridge…*laugh*. Its a craving. Its an addiction. Its like coffee to my husband and to Slouching Mom. Without one cup a day, they feel empty in the fulfillment section of their souls.

So this news came as an encouragement for my desire. Many say its too heaty, causes pimples, makes you fat, too much carbohydrates, nah….for me, I just love it! Ooops! Let me clear the air, I’m not pregnant in anyway or any sooner or may never be pregnant again, so I know this news doesn’t really concern me, just felt like sharing, maybe, just maybe, you might be a chocolate lover too and IS pregnant right now as you read, so go, eat more now.

This was what we had yesterday….chocolatie Mother’s Day Cake….

To all my pregnant mommies, especially Lynn, go on, grab a hearty piece…*wink* Oh, I’m not that unkind, the currently non-pregnant mommies come and eat too….

I had a great Mother’s Day, simply because my boys were angels yesterday, that’s what makes Mother’s Day special, isn’t it? Your kids listen to what you say without you repeating a thousand times and the best part was, I didn’t need to break up any fights yesterday!

I love news like these!

A new study in Washington provides some of the best evidence to date that breast-feeding can make children smarter, an international team of researchers said on Monday.

Children whose mothers breast-fed them longer and did not mix in baby formula scored higher on intelligence tests, the researchers in Canada and Belarus reported.

……At 3 months, 73 percent of the babies in the breast-feeding encouragement group were breast-fed, compared to 60 percent of the other group. At 6 months, it was 50 percent versus 36 percent.In addition, the group given encouragement was far more likely to give their children only breast milk. The rate was seven times higher, for example, at 3 months.

The children were monitored for about 6 1/2 years.

The children in the group where breast-feeding was encouraged scored about 5 percent higher in IQ tests and did better academically, the researchers found.

Previous studies had indicated brain development and intelligence benefits for breast-fed children.

But researchers have sought to determine whether it was the breast-feeding that did it, or that mothers who prefer to breast-feed their babies may differ from those who do not.

The design of the study — randomly assigning babies to two groups regardless of the mothers’ characteristics — was intended to eliminate the confusion.

‘MOTHERS WHO BREAST-FEED … ARE DIFFERENT’

“Mothers who breast-feed or those who breast-feed longer or most exclusively are different from the mothers who don’t,” Dr. Michael Kramer of McGill University in Montreal and the Montreal Children’s Hospital said in a telephone interview.

“They tend to be smarter. They tend to be more invested in their babies. They tend to interact with them more closely. They may be the kind of mothers who read to their kids more, who spend more time with their kids, who play with them more,” added Kramer, who led the study published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

(That’s me, that’s me….)

…..The researchers measured the differences between the two groups using IQ tests administered by the children’s pediatricians and by ratings by their teachers of their school performance in reading, writing, math and other subjects.

Both sets of scores were significantly higher in the children from the breast-feeding promotion group.

Kramer said how breast-feeding may make children more intelligent is unclear.

“It could even be that because breast-feeding takes longer, the mother is interacting more with the baby, talking with the baby, soothing the baby,” he said. “It could be an emotional thing. It could be a physical thing. Or it could be a hormone or something else in the milk that’s absorbed by the baby.”

……Previous studies have shown babies whose mothers breast-fed them enjoy many health advantages over formula-fed babies.

These include fewer ear, stomach or intestinal infections, digestive problems, skin diseases and allergies, and less risk of developing high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. Read full report here….

Hey, non-1st time Mommies out there who have been giving excuses to breast-feed your baby, its time to change your mindset now!

Its true, at least for my boys. Keatkeat didn’t get much because of my MIL’s 8 unreasonable Objections to breastfeeding, but when I insisted on breastfeeding when I had Binbin, I see that Binbin’s mental and physical development IS truly more amazing!

Ever had preference over this? There was a report on Friday in Singapore Straits Times and these few days on Yahoo on Mother’s diet can help determine sex of child: Study.

The key-points in the article….

….a hearty breakfast laced with sugar to boost a woman’s chances of conceiving a son….Likewise, a low-energy diet that skimps on calories, minerals and nutrients is more likely to yield a female of the human species….

…..Beside racking up a higher calorie count, the group who produced more males were also more likely to have eaten a wider range of nutrients, including potassium, calcium and vitamins C, E and B12.

The odds of an XY, or male outcome to a pregnancy also went up sharply “for women who consumed at least one bowl of breakfast cereal daily …..

…..This research may help to explain why in developed countries, where many young women choose low calorie diets, the proportion of boys is falling…..The study’s findings, she added, could point to a “natural mechanism” for gender selection.

….While the mechanism is not yet understood, it is known from in vitro fertilisation research that higher levels of glucose, or sugar, encourage the growth and development of male embryos while inhibiting female embryos.

This has always been the question of “Do you actually have the right to choose? Whether you are getting a son or daughter is entirely based on God’s decision….”

I was the extreme I guess. Ever since I knew that getting a boy or girl is about X and Y, I believe that science do have its way of creating your ideal gender for your child. So I didn’t plan to start my baby-manufacturing-factory till I found a way to almost guarantee me a BOY!

I love boys! There are less worries, much less worries than when you have girls. For girls, you have to worry about their features, their mannerisms (do not sit with you legs open when wearing a skirt)….when they are in their teens, you worry about them staying out late, when they have boyfriends, you worry if they have already done it….blah blah blah…

There are also more cost involved for girls…their hair-clips, their dresses, their makeups, their jewellery, their shoes….but of cos’ everyone has been telling me that girls are still closer-to-the-heart even after they grew up, unlike boys who often say, “give me my space…” when they were only in their teens.

Anyhow, I still prefer boys. With Allan and I being so much like big kids, we can play ‘rough’ and go crazy without worrying, if they became too boyish unlike if we had girls.

So I read up! Bought this book, right after Allan proposed to me….it focuses more on diet than anything else.

But IT IS NOT COMPLETELY ACCURATE TOO, I realise. Until THE FOLLOWING HAPPENED: -

My regular customer, when I was running my bubble tea business, who became my dear friend now, paid over S$400 for a seminar on this.

Like me, she also prefers boys more than girls, but for a different reason. Being Chinese, boys are the ones who carry-on the surname, so they are more “treasured” than girls.

The speaker had a very unique method that guaranteed up to 99% of getting the gender you want. This S$400 seminar reveals the ideal position, the food to eat and most importantly when to do it. Ain’t I lucky, she shared with me for free!

Well I have 2 boys now and I credit it to this method. Unfortunately, my friend insisted that I DO NOT tell anyone else unless, she get some credit for it, or she will feel the pinch of paying S$400, while others get it for free…..SORRY girls!

My wish was to have 4 kids, 2 boys first and then 2 girls….but as most of you have read the post on how mentally stressed I am, I guess I won’t be making this 4-kids-in-the-family dream come true…*sigh*

(Disaster! The original post was accidentally deleted by my uncontrollable finger, can’t remember the exact words I wrote type, getting old… you know)

Today is my nephew’s 1st Birthday. We celebrated Weidong’s Birthday earlier over the weekend at Pasir Ris Coasta Sands Resort. When I was still half-alive, Allan brought the boys there on Friday to stay over, in hope that I may be well enough to go to the BBQ on Saturday.

When I reached there on Saturday noon, the whole family was kite-flying. My boys were enjoying themselves, running around by the beach with Allan. Writing on the sand, spotting dead jelly fishes, dead crabs and other dead sea creatures on the beach.

I used to enjoy such chalets, for different reasons. It is here, do I find laughter and it is here do I find freedom; free from worries and midnight knocks on the door.

What do you do when you can’t get a kite up?

Get help from the older folks, even if they are above 60 years old.

Look at that smile on my Mom-in-law’s face. *wink*

Flying a kite is great but not when the mosquitoes are biting all over your body. Look at the scratchy ManYee…… and the dark clouds at the background…..

We came across this pretty flower, when we were heading back to the resort as it started to drizzle. Its hard to see, or rather notice such beauty when you are staying at the city. Its really good to get away from the hustle and bustle sometimes. So refreshing….feeling better already…..

It rained dinosaurs and monsters for a long time. The kids were getting impatient, stuck in the chalet doing nothing but eat chips and watch programmes that doesn’t even catch their attention for more than 1 full minute.

“Can we go swimming now?”…..5 minutes later….”We can swim now, right?” You know how kids bug you like at housefly till you said yes! ManYee couldn’t wait, sneaked out on her own to see if the ‘Swimming Pool Is Closed’ signage has been removed

And so it did! Came back and announced, “No more sign….we can go swimming now!” While everyone was changing into their swim-wear, ManYee was lectured for 10 minutes for leaving the ‘house’ without telling anyone.

At 3pm, everyone was getting ready for the BBQ. Allan and I guessed that one rented pit ($16 with $20 deposit) from the Resort itself won’t be enough. So we brought our own pit, the rectangular one on the right.

Till this day, Allan and I have no idea how did this pit get into our storeroom. This is the first time we are using it. The scotchtape around the box is still nice and strong. Its been years since this thing sat on the top shelf of my storeroom….maybe Santa came and couldn’t find Christmas Socks, so he left it there….hmmm…maybe. *wink*

Stringing the food….This is the first time I wasn’t helping in anything, just lie on bed, getting up occasionally to take photos of the BBQ process.

So there was hotdogs, fishballs, chicken wings, satay, otah……

then came the prawns, pork chops, (inside the aluminuim foil) sweet corns, sambal squids, sambal prawns, sambal fish, sweet potatoes - orange and purple ones. Purple ones are rare, they are imported from Japan, super yummy!

Then came the moment….Winnie the Pooh birthday cake with one little candle….

the birthday song…..

cutting the cake…..

and presents……the sealion is from Keatkeat, the puzzle roller on his left hand is from Binbin and the lady bug is from Allan and I.

When we were leaving, every kid was saying the same sentence, “I want chalet for my birthday….”

In 4 days time, my little Binbin will be 3 years old. Its during such times, the very cliche question comes to mind, “How time flies.” Then I start going through the baby photos.

I call Binbin my miracle boy because I conceived him at a time that’s impossible to conceive. Hey, I am not referring to the ovulation cycle or about miscalculation. He was ‘manufactured’ on a day when there were no ovaries in me. Did I hear you say, “Huh?” Nevermind, just take it that God magically put Binbin into my tummy, that’s how the miracle kid came to this earth.

The day he was born at KK Hospital on 30th March 2005. He had a girly look, doesn’t he?

One week after he was born, we realised that he sleeps with his eyes half open (yes! 50%). You can see his eye balls moving left and right as if he is awake. Till this very day, his eyes are still half open when he is in dreamland. Some old folks say, its a sign of naughtiness. (humph)

As if being proclaimed as a naughty boy, even when he was not even big enough to defend himself, was not bad enough, Allan’s parents spotted the 2 “turners”  on the top of his head (seriously, I don’t know what you call this, so please tell me the name if you know).

They slapped with this conforming sentence, “This boy will be a terror. Very stubborn. Very naughty. Very disobedient.”

Sometimes it really makes you wonder what really goes through the minds of the older generation. How can that be related to a character or personality? All my aunts and uncles said I was the best baby, toddler that anyone could have ’cos I am faarrrrrrr from being naughty, and lo and behold, I sleep with my eyes half open too!  

This picture was taken on his first day of his 4th month. His fatty thighs could actually support him quite well. All thanks to breastmilk. So mommies out there who want a chubby little baby but do not want an overweight baby, Breastfeeding is the answer.

I breastfed him for 6 full months without any formula before I get back to work at my stall. Much longer than my elder one because Binbin was free from those classic objections.

Here’s the little one on his tummy. He could lift up his head and hold it up for more than a minute.
 

My adorable kid on his walker. Always love to see his smile, or laugh rather. Yup, my boy is more of a laughing boy than a smiley one.

Able to walk quite steadily on his own at 13 months. Just got up from a fall, still can see the tears in his eyes.

This was also the time when Allan and I called Binbin, ‘The Little Werewolf’. Why? Every month, there is bound to be a day, he would go crazy. I am not talking about tantrums. I really mean CRAZY. He would suddenly cry and shout for no reason and smash his head onto the wall. He will not stop even when the force of the bang caused him to bounce off the wall! He will just get up and bang his head on the wall again, till we hold him down for minutes. Its was bewildering. Thank God, those days were over. If not we would have trouble holding this 15kg boy down with his forceful struggles.

Since then, we realised that he had a very big threshold for pain tolerance. He can bang his head on the edge of the steel door, resulted in a dent on his forehead and he doesn’t even shed a tear. Remember my post on his unbelieveable ability to withstand pain? So far the only time he cried in pain was the bloodshed during earlier part of this year. Only such pain could make him wail. Amazing ya?

Right after his 1st birthday, we noticed that his development, in terms of behaviour, motto skills, intellectual and especially speech is extremely fast. Now he can perform whatever a child who is 9 months older than him do and sometimes can do even better.

That’s him last year, 2007 on Chinese New Year. This was also the photo which I sent to the Playhouse Disney Birthday Book.

Because of his super advanced development mentally, I tend to compare him with his elder brother who is 15 months older (I know its wrong of me but it just come naturally). Binbin is able to do certain things like cleaning himself after passing motion much better than his brother. He shits in less than 1 min. Clean and fast. Never had to worry about any mess when doing it out of the house. All he need is 1 - 2 wipes.

Binbin is a definite vocalist. So long as he is awake, its difficult to have peace for more than a minute. You either hear him babbling away, singing aloud, laughing or crying his lungs out. He spoke his 1st word clearly at 9 months and what’s that word? ‘MOON’. He was able to speak in a sentence of 8 words at 1 year old; sing a complete song at 18 months. Half a year ago, he was able to tell me the entire story of the 3 little pigs. Now he knows as many vocabs as his 4 year old brother.

I never had to worry that Binbin is not eating well, because eating is his hobby! He is ADDICTED to Vegetables. From anything that’s leafy to cucumber, carrot, cauliflower, potato; Favourite vege is broccoli, don’t you wish he is your boy?! *wink*  When other kids at Kentucky Fried Chicken is changing their coleslaw to whipped potato, my Binbin needs to have 2 servings of coleslaw in order to satisfy his desire. His favourite snack is a slice of Chesdale Cheese.

He is very special….not the normal special as in the hearts of the parents but special because of all the above….or rather unusual for a kid. Other than his cute actions he is always mistaken to be the twin brother instead of the younger brother whenever my boys are out with me.

Most kid’s favourite songs are the usual Twinkle, twinkle little stars or anything of that sort. But my boy grew up with Chinese pop songs, (although he can hardly speak a proper sentence in Chinese) his favourite is Fairy Tale from sentimental king-Guang Liang. This is Binbin, singing the chorus….

Another very peculiar thing about Binbin is his soft personality. He is very boyish in every way on the outlook. With the natural punky hair, he is rough in his behaviour most of the time, but he has a heart of a girl.

He is attracted to things in Pink. Until lately, he tries to control his affection because too many people kept telling him that pink is for girls. (Says Who!!! ) He loves to play with my sister’s Barbie doll Kitchen set too.

He is in love with Minnie Mouse. I feel perfectly great about that! Though many times the expressions from strangers are not very supportive when they see my 2-year-old boy holding on to a Minnie mouse (as if its his, which he grab it off the shelf the moment his feet stepped into the toy dept) and walk around with it as he examines the kitchen set for the Barbies to play.

Then off he went to press buttons which makes the ‘Baby-Alive’ doll blink and speaks, before he went off to the car section where he checks out for any new hot wheels models.

When we are ready to leave the dept, he would kiss Minnie (sometimes) and say goodbye before putting her back to where she belongs.

He likes to cuddle soft toys. When he is in a snuggling mood, he would hug his favourite puppy and bear to sleep.

So now if I tell you one of his favourite cartoon is Stawberry Shortcake, that wouldn’t suprise you in anyway right? Other than every cartoon in Playhouse Disney Channel, he is very much a challenger at heart. He looooovvvveeees to watch FEAR FACTOR and AMAZING RACE. His eyes hardly blinks till commercial break. Animal Planet is the next on the list. Animals just have a special link to the hearts of kids, don’t they?

Talking about animals, Binbin loves animals, errrr….but his excitement may cause some animals to have heart attacks. He doesn’t really know how to express his emotions, so what he does is, he would chase my neighbour’s dog and hold it down on the floor and say “catch you”, then he would release his grip again and let the dog run (which the dog definitely would in attempt to escape from the clutches of my boy.), then “catch him” again. To him its playing, but to the poor animal, its tormenting. Poor dog.

He is 100% mommy’s boy. He hugs me like a bolster together with his real bolster to sleep. He ticks my cheeks with his little index finger, whenever I look at him in the eyes, in silent admiration; and as if to break away from his shyness, he would say, “Mommy, you sooooo cute.”, squeezing my cheeks with his hands. He can say “Mommy, I love you” so many times a day, sometimes it makes you wonder if its true. Of cos’ I know its from his heart. Kids at this age don’t lie right?

Yup that’s my 2-year-old boy. I love you, Binbin! In 4 days time, you are going to have your very 1st birthday party. I owe it to you. Finally Mommy don’t need to work in stalls 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Hope you like the suprises that everyone has prepared for you.