my little boy's growing up

the date's 24 april 2009.
it's been more than half a year since my last post. talk about being consistent... *sheepish grin*
i'm always put to shame when i see how some others update their babies' blog so conscientiously.
for now, it's going to be words.. as it's the easiest. i don't have pics with me right now. so reading this will have to do.

kienan's really growing up! (and i'm saying this with a tinge of sadness)
he's 2yrs 3mths and 4 days old today.
he's in dreamland as i'm typing this.
the things he learns and picks up nowadays really amaze me. and i can't help but really feel so proud of him and how he's grown and developed.

here are some things i love about our little boy...
- how he responds by saying "i love u, mama" whenever i tell him that i love him
- how he wakes up in the morning, sits up, smiles, looks at me, and says "good morning mama!"
- how he insists that i sleep next to him and hug him when i put him to bed (though i really have to start trying to get him to sleep without me lying next to him. and he refuses to let kevin put him to bed when i'm at home.. which isn't really a good thing. here's how our conversation with him goes:

mama: kienan, papa will put you to bed tonite, ok? papa will sleep with you on the mattress and mama will sleep on the bed.

kienan: no, mama sleep with kienan on mattress. papa sleep on bed.

(and if kevin still continues to sleep next to him on the mattress...)

kienan: don't want papa (tries to nudge/push him away). only mama.

(following which, he gets up and comes to the bed and insists on sleeping with me on the bed).

*faint*

kienan's 2nd birthday!

time for me to post some updated photos of kienan...

we celebrated kienan's 2nd birthday earlier... on 16 Jan 2009.

somehow, the 2nd birthday party isn't a big a hoo-ha as the inaugural 1st birthday party.
this time, we only had close relatives for kienan's 2nd birthday.
it was definitely more fun this time, because he's now aware of what's going on.
and he knows that we are celebrating his birthday! :)

the photo on top shows kienan's birthday cake. i got it from awfully chocolate and decked it out in colourful m&ms so that it would look more like a toddler's birthday cake! and since kienan is such a fan of mickey mouse, i ordered some cupcakes from this nice lady (from Regina's Oven) and bought some mickey mouse cupcake picks to decorate the cupcakes... kienan loved it!

our family photo! (on the left is a yummy agar agar doggy that kienan's grandma made!)

(L-R): gong gong, grandma, kienan (looking at who, i don't know!), nai nai and ye ye

finally!!

in case you are wondering what the title of the post is all about...
kienan has finally been weaned!!! praise God! :)
so, you must be wondering.. how did i wean him?

if you've read one of my earlier posts, i've been considering weaning kienan off the breast since a while ago.. just that it's been quite tough battling it out with him at night. and i decided that i had to take leave for a week in order to wean him, so that i wouldn't have to go to work looking zombi-fied...

so, this was the plan:
- mon to thurs: leave him at my MIL's place overnight. (this meant that he didn't come home for 3 consecutive nites..) it was really quite sad for me, cause kienan hasn't been away from me for more than a night since he was born. but oh wells... i had to make a sacrifice.. and it's time to learn how to release him, instead of insisting that he be with me all the time. (don't want him to grow up to be a mummy's boy even when he's 21 right?!)
- thurs nite onwards, he comes back home, and i continue to reinforce the fact that "mummy doesn't have anymore milk" and that he has to drink milk from a bottle.. and we will make the milk for him. :)

he came back on thurs, and he still asked to be nursed...
since we'd already decided that this was the time to wean him, i had to keep to my end of the bargain and tell him that "mummy as no more milk". he was so upset he cried and bawled... i felt so sad to see him like that. but i had to persevere.... after a good 20 mins of insisting that he wanted to nurse at my breast only to hear me say that i don't have any more milk for him.. he finally said, "mummy, make milk".

it's amazing to see how he really comprehends us now.. i confirmed with him that "mummy is going to make milk and put it in a bottle", and he echoed "mummy make milk in bottle". following which, i promptly made the milk in a bottle for me, and gave him his bottle to "shake shake", after which, he lay down and said, "mummy, open". and then proceeded to down the bottle of milk after i uncapped it for him.

my little boy has grown up! wow... it was a bitter-sweet sensation when i realised that he has reached a point where he's ok to not nurse.

it's monday today, and he's been home since last thursday night.
i'm really thankful that he's been alright to taking milk from a bottle now.. of course, he has been trying his luck at getting me to nurse him now and then. but he usually relents and takes the bottle after i firmly tell him that "mummy has no more milk for you".

lesson learnt here about weaning:
- consistency in saying "no" to nursing, and giving him lots of reassurance and love when he's not being nursed.

kienan now likes to tell me, "mummy, big hug", whenever he wants to nurse and i say no.
it's as though this is the other way i can show him how much i love him... it's like his "fall-back' whenever i say "no" to nursing him. and i make sure that i shower him with lots of big hugs and kisses in return for not nursing him anymore.

okies, this is it! a super long post about how kienan is finally off the breast! :)
thank You, Jesus! because it's really all in His time... and God made it such a smooth process...

fyi, the ticker-tape counter for how long i've breastfed kienan has finally been removed.
and i'm proud to say that i've been able to nurse him for 20 months!!!

i'm such a cow... moo....

back home after the fireworks

ok... i'm typing this just before i go to bed. it's been a great weekend. kev finished his reservist just before national day, and kienan's gong gong and grandma (my parents!) booked a room for us to view the fireworks.. it was really nice to be able to see the fireworks up close!
and, it was great fun to have some relatives over to enjoy the national day parade. it was a good way to feel patriotic. after all, not every day is national day.
stay tuned for pics that were taken over the weekend.. they are all in other ppl's cameras right now! will post as soon as i've got them! :)

the milk battle...

as you can tell from the ticker-tape thingy at the top of the blog, kienan's been breastfed ever since he was born. while i'm proud that i've been able to breastfeed kienan for such a long time, i feel that it's time for me to weane him.

i've learnt quite a bit about kienan's character from this - that this little guy's really persistent! he refuses to take the bottle when i'm feeding it to him. and his favourite words at night when he sees me at home after coming back from nai nai's place... "drink milk.. drink milk.. pls drink milk"!

the milk battle, or rather, the whole weaning battle will have to commence soon.. probably sometime in september, when i can afford to take leave from the office. keep both of us in prayer pls, that kienan will understand that it's time for him to stop nursing at mommy's breast, and that i will be patient through this whole episode!

one thing's for sure though... i don't regret having breastfed him for this long a period of time. the feeling of closeness when kienan is nursing is amazing, indescribable!
but he IS 18.5mths old now.. and it's high time he's weaned...

hope that i'll have good news to report in time to come!

marvel-lous comics?

i was really impressed with kevin (kienan's papa) for doing up this comic strip thingy...
and it's so nice to have something done by kevin put up on the blog.
these pics were taken during our melbourne/sydney trip last June (2007) when we were there for the hillsong conference.

you can see how much kienan has grown since then...
i can already see how i'll miss his baby-ness as he grows older...

kienan was really happy to see his papa home today, and spent some time making funny drum sounds... he loves looking at himself in the camera too. so you'll see him walking towards the camera now and then to try and see what's going on. he's such a cutie!!!
(pardon the formatting... i dunno how to rotate the clip!)