Sleep tight, baby

Last weekend I rearranged furniture at home. As I've just bought a new sofa set, and started rearranging our living room, everything else followed (with the rearranging, that is): the area under the stairs, the two bedrooms upstairs.

For me, the hardest area to "rearrange" was our bedroom. It's where all three of us (Neil, me, and Lia) sleep. Originally, we put our large bed and a single bed side by side, so that Lia, who sleeps on the single bed, can still reach for me when she wakes up in the middle of the night. But last Saturday, I removed the single bed and replaced it with Lia's toddler bed--one with railings so she won't fall off. Although I still positioned it beside our large bed, it was different from the single bed because there were railings between Lia and me.

That night, Lia didn't complain when I told her she'd be sleeping on her toddler bed. We held hands between the railings while she fell asleep. But, in the middle of the night, she woke up and cried out in surprise. She climbed back to the large bed and snuggled between me and Neil.

When that happened, I sorta wanted to let Lia be. It was okay for me to let her sleep with us (actually, I secretly wanted her to sleep beside me as long as she wills!), but she had to learn about independence (or something like that, hehehe). So, when she finally fell back to sleep, I transferred her to her bed.

It took a long time for me to sleep again that night. I wanted to laugh at myself for "missing" Lia because we weren't snuggled together anymore. :)

Oh well. I have a loooong way to go. I'm sure there'll be more moments like these while she's growing up!

My little ladybug

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Originally uploaded by micaela.

Here's Lia in her Halloween getup--and it won her Best in Costume in our office trick-or-treat!

I thought she wouldn't wear the darned costume. We had dress rehearsals weeks before the Halloween, but every time we wore it on her, she'd try to take it off and cry.

Fortunately on trick-or-treat day, she didn't give me a hard time with it. I guess with all the kids wearing costumes, she didn't mind anymore.

:)

Mom's favorite words (of Lia)

Lia was a noisy newborn baby. That's not just because every time she cried, she cried her lungs out and woke up even the farthest neighbor. She was also very chatty, and she reacted to stimuli by speaking up (even in babbles). Whenever I talked to her, she'd talk back, and she'd always smile or stick out her tongue.

When Lia was about 5 months old and discovered that it was her own voice speaking, she was delighted. She screamed and laughed whenever she could.

When she started to speak "Dada", "Mama", and her first favorite word, "No!", I knew she'd never stop talking. Not only was she getting accustomed to speech, she was loving every syllable.

Now, she's starting to be conversational (much to our delight). And, she talks the whole day! Funny thing last week - her voice had become hoarse (I really don't know if it was from talking - bet it was).

Here are some of my favorite words/phrases, straight from Lia's mouth:

• "Huh? What you saying?"
  
• "Oh my God!"
  
• "What you want?"
  
• "Why it's like that? Because..."
  
• "Whel al you?" (Where are you)
  
• "Mommy's inside the phone!" (while talking to me on the phone)
  
• "You have umbrella?" (asked when it's raining)
  
• "Why?"
  
• "Why?"
  
• "Why?"
  
  

=)

Lia hates sand!

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Originally uploaded by micaela.

And here's proof. She cried, she squirmed, she screamed if we put her down and let her walk on sand.

This was her first time at the beach and she didn't like it. So not like mommy, huh.

We're hoping it's just first-time jitters and that she'll eventually learn to love the beach!

Is your child being bullied?

Wow. My title looks like those of self-help articles/books. But no. I chose that because Lia is being bullied.

I don't know, "bullied" may be a strong word, but I don't have any alternative for it yet. But what do you call this situation: Lia greets the kid with an enthusiastic, "Hi!!!" and she receives a "No, Lia, don't come near! Don't play with me!". And when Lia attempts to get near the kid, the kid pusher her (in front of me), and then does a hand gesture that says "I'll knock you off".

Almost every time, the kid does something to Lia and Lia ends up always verbally abused, and sometimes physically hurt. And Lia keeps on wanting to play with the kid, while the kid shoots her with dagger looks and an extended "Don't, or else" arm.

Just this week Lia went over to where the kid was, said "Hi!" and the kid twisted Lia's foot. How about that, huh?

Neil is just so mad, he wants to pinch the kid the next time he sees her. Uh-oh. Me? I still don't know how to deal with it. I just assure Lia of our love every time!

Terrible Two's -- not true!

That's because we're experiencing it from Lia -- and she's not even two yet! Her favorite words: "Ayaw", "No", "Don't like". And when we're scolding her she scolds us back. Actually, there's no use scolding her because we just end up laughing.

How do we deal with it? We give up. Really! Because we've learned that if we keep warning her to not do this and that, she only either laughs it off, or does it again and again.

Oh well. I guess toddlers aren't at all adorable if they weren't so smart (or smart alecky)!

Cuts and bruises

Yesterday, Lia acquired her second bruise of her lifetime. I found out about it when I called home to ask about my baby, and the helper informed me that Lia's knees have just been scraped. The neighbor's kid pulled Lia towards her, and with Lia's smaller steps (the kid was 1.5 years older), she stumbled and scraped her knees, plus bruised her finger.

I went home with six cups of ice cream yesterday just to cheer Lia up. ;p

Lia had her first ever knee scrape around three weeks ago, while running along the stretch of the garage. She wouldn't let the nanny hold her hand, so there. She knew it was her fault; she told us the story of how it happened, later that day.

I wonder how she feels about her physical injuries? My first ever memory of my knees being scraped was when I was around 4. I was playing near a parked Pepsi truck. A great idea struck me - I climbed onto the truck, holding on to Pepsi bottles. Of course, I fell. Voila, my first ever bloody knee bruise. I ran home crying, and my mother poured (yes, poured) half a bottle of alcohol onto it. I believe my howl was louder than a hundred dogs'. From then on, I was very careful not to get myself cut/bruised. The memory of the searing pain of the alcohol was just too much.

Unperturbed. For now, that's how Lia is with her bruises and insect bites. ;)

Lia's second Christmas

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Originally uploaded by micaela.

I'd say Lia enjoyed her 2005 Christmas than the previous year's. This time she appreciates things - and guess what comes out when she opens her gifts. A loud and sincere "WOW!". Hahaha!

Mom and Dad bought her a VTech toy. She appreciated it all right. But the next day, when Lia got a bike from Ninang Anna and family -- well...just look at the pic to see the pure joy on her face!