The Parenting Thread

[Sam]

Congratulations Sam! So good that you already know the gender. We wanted to know but whenever we did the ultra sound, her legs were crossed!! I remember my wife getting frustrated and asked the radiologist, "How are we gonna find out now?" and he replied, "The same way your grandparents did... when the baby's born!"

It was kinda annoying for us not knowing though. Having to buy gender-neutral colours, and when people kindly offered hand-me-down baby stuff, we accepted it all - so my daughter still has various baby blue clothes

But the most arduous part was picking the name!! I recommend getting that sorted if you haven't already... it's amazing how much you can argue over a kid's name! Especially for us because we wanted to choose a single name that was trilingually compatible - and of course, we had to choose a boy and girl's name! Before we did this I used to wonder why some Asian parents choose completely different Anglophone and Asian names for their kids, and I thought that it was cool how some parents chose ones that were compatible across languages -- like one of my students, her name is technically Korean, but it's spelt and pronounced the same as an Anglophone name too; although I think it was a happy coincidence, don't think her parents had that in mind when they chose the name. But now I understand why most don't bother doing it -- it's a pain the bum!!

Thanks for the tip - regarding names, we only need to pick two (one English, one Chinese), though the Chinese needs to sound acceptable in both Mandarin and Cantonese (since my parents are from China, and I would like to teach my daughter how to speak Mandarin). Thankfully it wasn't too difficult.

Know what you mean by gender neutral clothes, but I suppose it's not such a big issue for babies.

Congrats Sam

My youngest will be 2 in January the time really does go quick. I find it such a conflict. I kinda want them to be more independent as I am already completely exhausted but I also dont want them to grow out of that cute phase around that age.

Thanks - it's hard to have the "best of both worlds" huh?

[GoktimusPrime]

Thanks for the tip - regarding names, we only need to pick two (one English, one Chinese), though the Chinese needs to sound acceptable in both Mandarin and Cantonese (since my parents are from China, and I would like to teach my daughter how to speak Mandarin). Thankfully it wasn't too difficult.

You thinking about sending her to Saturday Community Language school? Couple of weeks ago we went to an Open Day for a Japanese SCLS - they had an information seminar for parents and art and craft for the little kiddies. Saw a few of my students there who freaked out when they saw me there (gasp - teachers have lives outside school!! ).

[GoktimusPrime]

While I was trying to photograph my Encore Constructicons, someone decided to do a bit of photobombing!



Proving that Transformers can indeed be educational... someone decided to start counting Constructicons!

"Six! Six Constructicons, ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!" [thunder]

[mknell]

While I was trying to photograph my Encore Constructicons, someone decided to do a bit of photobombing!



Proving that Transformers can indeed be educational... someone decided to start counting Constructicons!

"Six! Six Constructicons, ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!" [thunder]

LOL that is so adorable!

[Sam]

You thinking about sending her to Saturday Community Language school?

Not 100% certain. I will probably speak it to her at home to encourage her, and hopefully she will be interested in learning (I don't like forcing things on people). Perhaps I will buy some dubbed anime from HK for the Cantonese aspect.

A question for all parents - currently when my baby cries I find it's usually because she's hungry or the nappy is dirty. In either case it is easily resolved. But sometimes I find she's just unsettled (even when I've burped her after a feed) and unhappy.

If you've come across a similar situation, how do you settle your baby? Thanks.

[GoktimusPrime]

A question for all parents - currently when my baby cries I find it's usually because she's hungry or the nappy is dirty. In either case it is easily resolved. But sometimes I find she's just unsettled (even when I've burped her after a feed) and unhappy.

If you've come across a similar situation, how do you settle your baby? Thanks.

There's different schools of thought about this. I would hold her and cuddle and pat her as I sing to her until she falls asleep in my arms (which sometimes would take a lot longer than other times). But others say you should just leave them in the cot and let them self-soothe and become more independent.

[Bartrim]

There's different schools of thought about this. I would hold her and cuddle and pat her as I sing to her until she falls asleep in my arms (which sometimes would take a lot longer than other times). But others say you should just leave them in the cot and let them self-soothe and become more independent.

I do what is called parental presence. Where you let them cry for 15 minutes or so. Then walk in, lay them down, give them a pat (never pick them up) if they have a mobile they like I put that on and leave the room. Wash, rinse, repeat. This worked well for me as my oldest boy was a terrible sleeper and nothing worked. This worked best for us and he now sleeps really well. So we did parental presence from day one with my youngest and he now sleeps 11-12hrs per night from the moment you put him down.

But every kid is different. You just have to experiment until you find what works for you and your kid.

[GoktimusPrime]

IMO vomit is the worst thing to clean up. At least poo is contained within the nappy and its vicinity... but vomit just gets everywhere and it's such a chore to clean (especially in the car); and after you clean as best you can, the smell lingers!

Any tips on getting rid of that post-chunder fragrance? Thankfully most of it was on the child seat, once I removed that 98% of the smell had gone from the car.

[5FDP]

The last time someone vomited in my car I had to sell it because of the smell. Once it gets into the upholstery you can't get rid of it. True story.

[GoktimusPrime]

Thankfully almost all of the smell was absorbed by the child restraint-seat. So I'm trying to get the smell out of that. I quickly rubbed it down with baby-wipes and paper towels as soon as I got home, then sprayed it with Glen 20. My wife later wiped it down with warm soapy water, and that got about 90% of the smell off, but it's still there. When my daughter got into the car yesterday after day care, she said, "(ユキカゼ)吐く、ベビーチェアくさい!" ("I vomit(ed), child seat smelly!") (at least she's accepting self-responsibility )

One of my colleagues recommended using vanilla I wonder if bicarb soda would work... <rubs.chin>