It’s been quite some time I have been thinking about some matters related to the baby class we’re currently joined in. Since it’s not a review, I wouldn’t spell the name.
This class is where the parents are also participating in the class. The facilitators are child psychologists that help you to explain the activities and then they give the job for every family to do it. It is just once a week class for an hour, on weekend. It should be good one at our first expectation.
After two terms joining this class, we realize something about Langit. She is the type who can’t and actually won’t join any activities that don’t give her enough interest.While the other kids are sitting with their parents doing the activites that have been assigned to them, she makes us busy chasing her here and there. Last term, she was really interested in little broomstick around the corner. So, everytime we come to the class, she went to the back of the corner and took the broomstick.
It was surely beyond our expectation knowing our little girl is this type of student. But, worse part about this one, it is enough to make one of the so-called psychologist doesn’t (really) favour her until at the point of ‘leaving’ her behind. I realized this thing after few first weeks of the class but didn’t talk any of it to anyone. The only thing for sure, whenever Sunday came, I felt something hard on my chest,even harder when le husband is not around.
The bell rang when one day le husband threw one sentence told me that certain facilitator didn’t really like her. Ouch, it’s stung and hurt, knowing even le husband who was occasionally absent realized it too. Then, it was pretty obvious, wasn’t it?
As I was being a teacher myself twice in a school, I know this type of student is surely not teacher’s favorite. But then, it was a huge heart-breaking when this type of student is your own child. This class is not only excluding the baby, but also make us feel like an outcast parents. The judgmental look was there and said it all.
However, joining this class also gives something good for us. It’s eye opener and mind-enlighting. We become knowing our baby better and what kind of things we should improve as parents.
Long before, I know Langit is absolutely an introverted-child. She likes being with herself and doesn’t really fond of others, especially strangers’ presence. She doesn’t like to be touched by others too. Even when she and me of are being in the same room, she can play by herself.
She is an observer. She’s not the type who learn things obviously doing trial and error in front of people. She will observe first and then doing it without others knowing. Like going up and down through the stairs all by herself safely, for instance. While most of other children around her age still need assistance and guidance when they’re climbing stairs, Langit has been doing it all alone for some time and it has been okay, Alhamdulillah. Others may say I am careless. But, before that, they just have to witness how the baby is doing it.
In the future, it’s our homework to help her make things work when she should have to be in other circle but home. Being introverted is not something you should ask everyone to understand.
It’s okay to be an observer, but there will come the time when she has to sit, listen and do what she has been assigned. It’s okay if she’s not interested in something, but there are still rules that she has to obey, whether she likes it or not. It’s okay to enjoy herself alone, but there are things that she can only achieve better when she is doing it with other people.
Knowing there are some people who don’t really fond of your cute little daughter exist is surely on another level of heart-breaking. I believe, she will even have to face this kind of people alone later.
It’s not our job to make everyone love her because she is being what she is. But, it’s our job to prevent he to be intentionally unlikeable because of what she does to others and how to deal with this kind of things. She will later learn and understand these kind of people are present to give her lesson and toughen her. She just have to use her brain and heart to overcome this.
It seems that looking for a formal school in the next few years should be carefully selected from now. At least, having teachers who have the least willing to understand every students differences would be a great help to us as parents and the baby herself. How I wish to meet a teacher like the one in this article.
Well, it’s Monday though. Let’s start working (on our problems) now.
Bon Lundi!
Woohoo! It’s just another four months to go to the complete two years of breastfeeding. When people said time flies so fast, I would say that years were surely fast, but I live it by days. Days are long.
The twenty months have been like a roller coaster ride. What To Expect The First Year has given a head up that there’s no job which more physically and emotionally taxing than parenting in the first year. Then, for the second year, I would like to add intelligently challenging after both aspect.
Her abilities in many things have been improving significantly, including in speaking. Words start coming one by one clearly. She is getting better at expressing her feeling through some actions like crying, nagging, or any kind of actions that amuse us.
Feeding has been easier and more flexible according to my standard. Currently, we have less rituals. Breakfast, lunch, and early dinner still go as usual. Snacking becomes optional. Sometimes she has it, sometimes not. And that is okay, as long as the three meals done properly. She is totally into a proper portion of meal. Rice and its companions are the key to the peaceful day and night.
She has less sleep during the day, but I don’t mind. Because by 7-7.30 pm she has gone to bed and sleep tightly until morning. During the day, when I am too tired to watch her, I just let her play alone while I am having a quick nap.
She also starts imitating several things that she sees from us like doing some praying movements, watching herself in front of mirror while wearing a hijab, putting some things to her ear as if she talks on the phone, sweeping and mopping the floor and other things. Toddler can be this amusing minus the nagging.
Things that I constantly do also have started showing its result. Like some of daily habits that I teach her for months, she starts doing it automatically. I couldn’t be more proud of her.
Then, Happy 20th, Langit Senja! Keep healthy, happy, and funny like you always be, dear. I love youu!
My mother was one the most visioner person I have ever known. Her thoughts were mostly beyond what others could see. Most of the time, everything that she said in present time, likely to be true in the future.
She liked to keep things that she thought will be useful in the future. Not a short term one but a very long time in the future. Thanks to her, I saved a lot of money from buying some important baby stuffs. These are not only something small like clothes or sheets, but things that you couldn’t buy at the same quality even if you do have the money to buy it. These things have been kept for years neatly and nicely.
The crib has been here for more than 30 years. Me and my siblings have our pictures taken inside this crib. Not only us, some of our cousins used this crib too. Langit is lucky enough to be the first grandchild in the family so she has the chance to sleep in this legendary bed.
This rattan play yard was bought when my cousin was born 10 years ago. My mum bought it with the thought her daughters would surely need this once they had babies themselves. See, she was rarely wrong. Langit enjoys being inside this box a lot. It will soon being moved to my little sister’s house since she needs it more than us when her second child is coming.
Well, this one is freshly built this afternoon. After my sister texted that she would take the rattan box by next week, I keep thinking the replacement of that box. Although it is no longer urgent to keep Langit inside a box, I like the idea of keeping her personal space where she can play and rest, both upstairs and downstairs.
I keep searching any alternatives to replace the box and thinking of buying the second one. But, most of those were above my budget. I don’t eager to spend on something that is not really urgent.
Then, the idea came. Instead of play yard or similar thing, I thought about a baby pool. A large one. But again, it’s quite weird putting a pool inside the house. It doesn’t look good for me. Until I remembered about this tent.
It has been here for 26 years. It was bought in 1994 when we stayed in Manchester for two months. We used to play it often when we were young. We really loved it. It wasn’t big so we had fights deciding who would sleep inside the tent.
The good old memories were flooding inside my mind while me and le husband built this one together. It gives warmth remembering the good old days we had and it is such a pleasure to share this happiness to Langit. She looked so happy and couldn’t help keep smiling when the tent was ready with all her toys inside.
Unlike the current trend nowadays where people do pre-loved sales of their used things like bags, clothes, shoes, my mother often reminded us not to sell things that we have bought. It’s either you keep it or you pass it to other when you’re no longer use it. She was strongly against getting money from selling our stuff, whether when we’re in need of money or not. So, until now, we send out a box or two of unused clothes, shoes, bags, or tableware every few months and give it to our regular recipients.
Along with that kind of mindset, a good taste also follows. Those bags, shoes, clothes, cupboard, bed sheets, or whatever it is, I don’t know how she found such good quality and chic ones. She truly had good eyes. Last four years, I haven’t bought any shoes and bags. The real shoes and bags. I have been using hers. Luckily, we have the same shoes size.
Whenever I think about my mum, I can’t help being emotional thinking how lucky I am having her as my mother and how desperate I am to be as good as her to my daughter.
I had my greatest honour as a child of being able to be next to my mother on her last days. I wish to have another one as a mother.
I wish to be remembered like I remember my mother by my child(ren). Whenever they think about me, they will be happy and proud of having me as their mother.
Selama satu setengah tahun mengurus Langit (90%) sendiri, saya banyak belajar hal-hal yang selama ini saya tidak pernah terpikir bahwa seorang bayi kecil bisa melakukan hal-hal seperti yang orang dewasa lakukan. Hal-hal ini pun bahkan sering jadi pertanyaan orang-orang kenapa atau bagaimana karena memang mungkin hal-hal tersebut agak jarang ditemui pada anak seusia Langit. Dan ya itu, saya pun sebelumnya ngga terpikir tentang hal-hal ini. Oke, kata ‘hal-hal’ sudah diulang terlalu sering. Jadi, mari dielaborasi.
Tidur sendiri di kamar sendiri
Umumnya, yang sering saya liat biasanya bayi yang baru lahir tidur entah bersama orang tuanya dalam satu tempat tidur atau tidur di box bayi sendiri dalam satu kamar. Sejak pertama kali Langit pulang ke rumah, dia sudah langsung tidur di boxnya sendiri di kamar sendiri. Ini banyak sekali ditanyakan orang-orang.
Alhamdulillah bukan sekedar ngga apa-apa, tapi sangat menguntungkan buat kedua belah pihak. Kebetulan dari awal memang ada dua kamar di atas.Ketika adik saya menikah dan keluar rumah, kamarnya kosong. Jadi, ketika Langit lahir, saya dan pak dokter pindah ke kamar adik saya yang lebih besar sedikit, kamar saya untuk Langit. Langit tidur dalam satu box besar, seperti ukuran tempat tidur nomer 1, tapi tinggi, berjeruji juga berkelambu, dan tidak seperti box-box jaman sekarang, box ini kokoh sekali.
Bayi kecil di boks besar
Box ini merupakan box yang sama persis seperti yang saya dan adik-adik gunakan kurang lebih 30 tahun lalu. Ibu saya penyimpan barang-barang yang baik. Box kayu jati ini masih sebagus dan sekuat 30 tahun yang lalu. Bahkan, beberapa sepupu saya pun juga tidur di box ini. Bahkan lagi, kelas berapa SD pun saya masih tidur di box ini. Enak. Ngga kasihan?
Justru saya agak bingung kenapa harus kasihan. Oke, mungkin jawaban selanjutnya akan terdengar agak egois, tapi ini kenyataan. Tidur malam itu merupakan salah satu hal yang paling saya suka dan paling tidak suka kalo itu diganggu. Dengan tidur terpisah seperti ini, di bulan ketiga saya sudah tidur malam semaleman tanpa terbangun. Langit pun ternyata, dia ngga bisa tidur selain di boxnya sendiri. Tau dari mana? Saya pernah ajak dia tidur di kamar saya, dan gelisah bolak-balik ngga berhenti. Ketika dipindahkan di boxnya, langsung diem dan tidur. Ngga usah orang lain, Pak Dokter sendiri pun awalnya suka ngotot mau tidur bertiga. Tapi, jadinya itu membuat semua ngga bisa tidur. Jadi, ya apa untungnya. Tempat tidur saya pun bukan ukuran King atau Queen, jadi emang cuma nyaman untuk berdua. Kesimpulannya, kasihan sama sekali bukan kata yang tepat.
Kalo malam nangis kedengaran?
Jelas kedengaran. Orang kamarnya sebelahan persis, hehe.
Ngga repot-repot bolak-balik?
Awalnya iya, mungkin repot, buat orang. Buat saya ngga. Kebetulan, saya sama sekali ngga bisa nyusuin sambil tiduran. Jadi, kalo ,mau nyusuin saya ke sofa ruang tengah. malah lebih banyak lagi kan bolak-baliknya. Jadi, kalo malam nangis saya ke kamarnya, angkat, trus nyusuin di ruang tengah. Sudah selesai, taro lagi di boxnya, saya kembali ke kamar saya, tidur.
Buat saya, tidur sendiri ini salah satu hal terbaik dari hal parenting yang saya terapkan. Langit pun jadi tau mana yang merupakan teritori dia.
2. Jadwal yang (super) teratur
Saya sudah ngga bangun malam lagi sejak Langit usia tiga ke empat bulan. Tentu ada beberapa saat pengecualian. Tapi, umumnya secara keseluruhan, saya bisa tidur semaleman. Saya adalah orang yang sangat terjadwal. Meskipun saya kerja hanya seminggu tiga kali, tapi saya selalu ingin jadwal harian teratur. Sampai satu setengah tahun ini, jam 8.00 pagi, Langit sudah selesai makan jus mangga jeruk, makan nasi sepiring, mandi, dan ngemil pisang sambil main di luar.
Saya menolak untuk berkutat dengan urusan bayi nonstop karena saya mengerjakan semua sendiri. Saya mau punya waktu istirahat dan jeda antara satu hal dan hal lain. Waktu dan durasi jadi hal yang sangat penting. Sampai bulan lalu, Langit tidur masih sehari tiga kali. Pagi, siang, malam. Tapi, belakangan, mungkin udah lebih besar jadi udah lebih banyak main. Kadang dia hanya tidur pagi atau siang aja. Tapi, malam sekitar jam 19.30, dia sudah masuk kamar dan tidur. Sampai pagi. Itulah saat shift saya selesai. Karena lewat dari itu, saya juga akan jadi uring-uringan.
3. Makan Pedas, apa saja dan (sangat) teratur.
Ini mungkin akan agak terdengar entah sok tau atau pamer, tapi, kalo mau dilihat lebih jauh, mungkin bisa jadi tips. Alhamdulillah, sampe saya menulis ini, saya belum pernah merasakan namanya GTM atau gerakan tutup mulut. Dari awal dia tumbuh gigi sampai sekarang giginya hampir penuh, ataupun ketika sakit, makan tetap berjalan normal.
Jadi mau bilang makannya gampang?
HAHAHAHA, jelas tidak! kenapa hahahanya pakai huruf besar? karena saya jarang dapet kata gampang dalam hal apapun di hidup saya. Termasuk soal makan Langit. Awal MPASI memang agak terjekut juga karena kok cepet amat ni makannya. Tapi, seiring berjalannya waktu, pelan-pelan dia mulai ngemut, dan hal ini terjadi berbulan-bulan. Sampai saya kadang frustasi sekali. Tapi, kata ngga makan itu ngga berlaku dalam kamus saya. Jadi, saya tetap kerjakan kasih makan sehari tiga kali, dengan maksimal durasi sejam.
Biarpun makan diemut, tapi Langit sama sekali ngga pernah nolak makanan. Dia akan selalu buka mulut. Dia pun makan apapun yang disediakan dan dia sangat suka makanan berbumbu atau pedas. Saya punya satu sambel yang selalu dicampur di nasi apapun makanannya, karena emang nambah selera. Sambel bikinan rumah ya. Bukan botolan. Kalo yang dewasa, makan sambal itu dengan teri basah yang digoreng. Langit makan sambal itu dengan apapun.
Langit sudah makan seperti orang dewasa di umur 11 bulan. Jadi, saya ngga perlu masak sendiri untuk dia. Oya, di rumah kami makan masakan rumah tanpa penyedap rasa bermerek dan bukan pemakan nugget dan lain-lain. Saya belanja sendiri pasar untuk semua bahan makanan, yang masak mbak yang bantu di rumah selama 20 tahun ini. Saya terus terang agak fleksibel terhadap garam, tapi agak ketat terhadap gula.
Dia makan semua jenis ayam, ikan, daging, sayur. Beberapa ketawa waktu saya bilang bahkan pare pun dia makan. Iya, Langit makan pare dan ngga terlihat menderita. Dia hanya ngga bisa ngunyah kalau makanannya manis atau rasanya agak hambar. Telor dadar jelas bukan favorit dia.
Waktu mudik kemarin, hampir semua sepupu, tante dan keluarga Pak Dokter terheran-heran ngeliat dia makan dengan sambel seperti itu. Tapi, mungkin itu yang membuat saya ngga pernah merasakan GTM. Saya lihat anak kecil ya kaya orang dewasa aja. Semakin besar makin tau rasa. Makanan dengan rasa yang hambar atau terus berulang pasti akan buat bosan.
Langit tidak pernah makan satu rasa. Misal, Bilandango, tahu santan, terong balado, dan sambal dabu-dabu. Duh, itu enak bangettt. Dan terbukti, makannya emang cepet banget. Atau beberapa hari lalu, Rawon, labu siam, dan perkedel jagung pake sambel. Untuk Langit, dagingnya daging giling. Belum bikin sendokan baru udah mangap lagi.
Selama ini makan sambel itu, Langit ngga pernah mencret. Toh, saya ngga mungkin kasih dia semangkok. Cukup untuk beri rasa di makanannya. Cukupnya saya tentu beda dengan cukupnya orang lain. Jadi, mungkin bisa dicoba kalo pas anaknya lagi GTM.
Langit makan besar tiga kali. Pagi, siang, sore. Saya tidak mau berurusan lagi dengan makan setelah maghrib. Dokter anak saya waktu kecil selalu bilang, bayi rewel malam umumnya karena dua : lapar dan sakit. Selama dua hal itu ngga ada, dia akan tidur nyenyak.
Tapi, emang makan dari sore aja ngga kelaperan? Hm, kemarin malam Langit masuk box jam 7.15. Sampai detik ini saya nulis jam 5.45, dia belum bangun sama sekali semaleman. Kenapa? karena perutnya kenyang dan alhamdulillah sehat. Dan, ini terjadi umunya tiap malam:)
Langit makan duduk dari awal dia mulai makan dan saya ngga punya kursi makan khusus. Sekarang dia makan duduk di kursi meja makan
Awalnya pake kursi ini yang umurnya udah 26 tahun. Ngemut masih sambil senyum.
Udah bisa kabur dari kursi sebelumnya, pindah kesini. Pose tetap ngemut.
Abis bisa kabur lagi, sekarang pindah kesini, yang mana udah bisa kabur juga kalo ngga ditungguin.
Semua pakai kursi yang ada di rumah. Sayang uangnya buat beli kursi sendiri dan ngga ada yang ngasih juga. Seperti yang terlihat juga, semua dalam pose ngemut makanan-___-.
4. Belum pernah minum obat.
Sebelum melahirkan, saya ngga terbayang akan menyusui. Setelah menyusui, saya juga ngga terbayang akan menyusui sampai hari ini. Di atas semua itu, saya ngga terbayang, menyusui itu bisa membantu saya sampai usia Langit 20 bulan, dia belum pernah minum obat apapun. Jadi, sekarang mau bilang ngga pernah sakit?
Hehehe, jelas bukan. Langit jelas pernah demam, pilek, tapi memang jarang dan dia belum pernah minum obat. Kami punya sanmol di rumah dan itu isinya masih sama seperti waktu awal dibeli. Ayah Langit dokter, anaknya belum pernah minum obat.
Ketika Langit mulai terlihat kurang enak badan, hal yang langsung saya lakukan adalah menyusui lebih sering, menyodorkan air putih lebih banyak, dan memperkuat apa yang dimakan. Di hari pertama dia demam, saya akan secara suka rela bangun beberapa kali malam karena tidurnya agak terganggu dan saya akan nyusuin sesering dan selama mungkin. Biasanya, di hari kedua demam sudah turun, pilek muncul. Pilek ini yang mungkin lebih lama. Tapi, saya ngga terpikir juga untuk kasih obat karena itu akan sembuh sendirinya. Saya juga tambahkan jam kena sinar matahari paginya.
Saya sama sekali bukan anti obat. Waktu satu kali Langit pilek yang buat saya sudah agak lama, saya bawa ke dsa nya. Alhamdulillah banget DSA Langit ini bener-bener satu visi misi sama saya. Bukannya kasih resep, dia malah bilang ditingkatin aja asupannya. Boleh madu sedikit pake jeruk nipis. Duh, pokoknya anjurannya sesuai banget sama prinsip saya. DSA yang sejalan dengan kita itu sangat berharga lho. Tapi, ya benar aja, ngga berapa lama pileknya pun selesai.
Hal yang perlu digarisbawahi, poin keempat ini sangat erat kaitannya sama poinnya nomer tiga. Saya rasa nomer empat ini bisa ada banyak karena poin nomer tiga.
5. Introvert, mandiri, dan penyendiri
Langit punya 1,5 orang tua intorvert dan setengah ekstrovert. Saya introvert sampai ke tulang terdalam. Ayahnya masih setengah-setengah. Menghabiskan banyak waktu dengan saya sepertinya agak menular juga ke Langit. Dia ngga terlalu peduli kalo pas main dengan anak seusianya dan lebih suka main sendiri. Makanya, saya sekarang agak sering bawa dia keluar, ya meskipun dia lebih suka main sendiri tapi paling ngga dia lihat anak lain seusianya.
Kadang saya harus mengerjakan sesuatu dan saya ngga bisa awasin, juga ngga ada orang lain di rumah. Makanya di rumah saya punya dua play yard, di atas dan di bawah. Kalau saya sedang sibuk, atau mau mandi, saya taro dia di play yard dan dia main sendiri. Ngga nangis dan ngga keberatan. Dia tinggal pencet tombol musik, lalu dia main sambil baca atau tiduran atau ngoceh sendiri sambil nunggu saya selesai.
Karena kami tinggal di lantai dua, naik turun tangga jadi kebiasaan. Saya ngga menyadari sebelumnya, kalo Langit benar-benar memperhatikan ini. Tanpa bermaksud untuk sok tau, sekarang saya sudah bisa membiarkan dia naik turun tangga sendiri. Ini mungkin terdengar bahaya, tapi, mungkin juga harus liat dulu cara dia melakukan hal ini. Dia naik dan turun dengan sangat hati-hati. Tangga di rumah punya dua tangga datar. Mungkin juga karena sudah terbiasa, dia juga jadi tau kapan harus berhenti dan melangkah naik atau turun. Kecuali dia ngga sengaja, anak ini emang anaknya yang hati-hati. Contoh lain adalah main piano. Awalnya dia harus didudukan untuk duduk dan main piano. Satu hari, tanpa saya liat, dia sudah duduk rapi sendiri atas kursi piano, yang kebetulan agak lebih tinggi dari piano upright pada umumnya.
Waktu saya menyaksikan cara dia naik, saya bahkan heran sendiri bagaimana dia bisa terpikir cara-cara seperti itu. Mungkin itu ya kenapa dibilang tiga tahun pertama otak dan kemampuan bayi berkembang pesat. Mereka bahkan melakukan hal-hal yang ngga pernah dicontohkan untuk menyelesaikan masalah yang dihadapi.
Kenyataannya ngga seseram gambarnya. Itu cara dia naik.
Setelah manjat, lalu dia akan nungging dulu seperti ini sebelum pindah ke posisi merangkak dan duduk rapi.
Saya hanya agak ketat soal makan yang hampir semua masih saya yang kerjakan. Hal lain seperti Langit harus taruh sendiri baju kotor di keranjang pakaian kotornya, pipis di kulset, minum dari gelas sendiri, dan hal-hal lain, saya biarkan dia melakukan sebisanya sendiri. Pada akhirnya, kita ngga akan bisa terus ada di samping anak, bukan?
Kalau ada orang yang bilang ibu yang urus anaknya sendiri bisa buat anak jadi manja,karena selalu ada dekat ibunya, mungkin lima hal di atas bisa jadi jawabannya. Justru dengan urus sendiri, saya jadi bisa menerapkan apa yang menurut saya penting dan baik buat saya dan Langit tanpa dicampuri orang lain.
It took about 30 years for me to finally having a chance to do mudik while it only took 1,5 years for Langit to experience it.
This year, after four years of marriage, we went to Solo, where le husband’s family were living. He still has his grandmother there. We went on the second day of Idul Fitri and… went back the day after. Haha! No return ticket were available until Tuesday so we just chose to go back on Friday’s last flight.
Overall, the first experience flying with the baby was beyond my expectation. All processes went smoothly, no delay at all and one thing that I was really grateful, although it’s a row with three seaters, depart and return we got all seats in a row only for ourselves. Both passengers next to us, depart and return didn’t go on board.
We flew with Citilink because they depart from Halim which is only 15 minutes from home. So, no need to leave home too early and the possibility of meeting traffic jam is pretty low. Since the depart flight left at 6 pm, I couldn’t imagine how I should wake up earlier than 2 am to prepare everything, especially for the baby.
I have never been brave enough to go somewhere without the baby has her stomach full. This one too. I prefered feeding her earlier than leaving with the thought she could eat later somewhere or on the plane. Feeding is my ultimate concern for the baby (and me, of course. I refused to face a feeding battle outside home or a house).
She fell asleep on the waiting room before boarding and woke up when we were about to take off. I started to offer her breastmilk, biscuts, or anything that prevented her from having her ears umcomfortable. But, maybe we, mothers, sometime worry too much. On the contrary, Langit seemed enjoying the flight. She was busy reading in-flight magazine during take off and landing. In between she sit in the middle, either reading, drinking , and eating banana. So, the depart flight was pretty successful.
For return flight, we took the last flight at 17.45 pm. It was as well on time. Usually, Langit starts feel sleepy after maghrib and she did too when we were on the plane. By the time we took off she fell asleep while being breastfed. She continued sleeping almost throughout the journey. Woke up for a moments twice or thrice and cried out loud with her eyes closed. The return flight was done quite good although it wasn’t as peaceful as the first.
I learned from yesterday’s experience some things important to be done or brought when travel with a baby or toddler. First, Baby carrier is a great help. During check in, getting through baggage checking when you have to put all your belongings on the belt, it was absolutely make it easier having the baby being in the carrier. For an active toddler like Langit who can’t help herself to touch everything around her within her reach, it was quite tiring chasing here and there. So, Baby carrier will be your right hand. According to the officer, only Garuda that allows stroller to be brought inside cabin. But, I saw several passengers during depart flight brought their kids on stroller. So maybe other than Garuda, there are others aircraft that allows stroller. But then, stroller is quite uneasy to be brought here and there. It’s bulky and heavy compared to baby carrier. You can’t just shove stroller to your bag. While carrier, just fold it and done.
Snack and drink. Like the depart flight, Langit prefered drink her water than breastmilk and I realized that it was okay. So there’s no need to push your breast to your babies. They want to enjoy the flight so they told you to enjoy it too.
Full stomach. Even for only five spoons, it is still very much better than feeding the babies with just anything we think we could find later. Hunger is the key to a cranky baby. Langit was not really fit that day. She had fever even until return. But, luckily, she never refused food. She ate breakfast as early as 3.20 am for depart flight and ate dinner as early as 3.40 pm.
The first hardest steps were taken. Let’s be ready for wider, further, and longer steps, shall we?
It’s been quite a while since the last sharing of Langit’s updates. I missed her 17 and 18. Some circumstances happened prevented me to write on time.
So, she is now a 1,5 years toddler. Getting bigger, taller, clever, and one thing that is quite tiring, she is getting everywhere around the house, messing all opened drawers, or everything within her reach.
It made me so fussy at first. But, as time goes by, having a toddler teaches you to let some things go. Like having a clean tidy living room as those ones in a magazine has. I learn to let go by not sweating too much small stuff like when she spoiled her milk, my babbles were getting shorter and I just wiped it. For me, it was an accomplishment.
She starts to understand some things like using spoon to feed herself, putting her dirty laundry on the basket before taking a bath, climbing the piano chair and seated herself well and play. She starts to babble clearly in words too.
It’s another six months until the time to wean her from breastfeeding. I hope we both can do well of weaning with love and peace. I keep telling her that sooner she will be a big girl and no longer able to have any breastmilk. She might not understand well, but I just keep talking.
Well, that is that. Let’s have a bit more sleep on this 25th day of Ramadan!
Self-reminder for me due to recent circumstance which bothered my mind, shaken my emotion, like a lot. I have known before long that the world out there is not a comfortable place. Lots of mean people could hurt you physically and mentally. But, not until I become a mother, I feel the real pain of being treated pretty bad by others related to my child.
Ah, so another lesson to learn here.
Dear self, just remember this :Those who despise you will be the ones who toughen you.
Thank them.
Let’s do at least this much for your child, dear fellow mothers. So maybe the world becomes a bit nicer place.
I often heard the phrase being parents is one of the most difficult jobs in the world. Back then, I just knew that as a common line. Until recently, then i think the phrase is not really true. Being parents is ABSOLUTELY the most difficult job in the world.
The writer is currently having a very low self-confindence as a mother due to some circumstances. Not much to tell but surely she feels pretty anxious. She really hope her mom were still here to comfort her.
She feels a bit pressured and confused whether she has been doing right or not. She surely makes mistakes, but of course those are not permanent.
Parenting is one rocky hard journey that doesn’t allow you to quit nor having days-leave. You keep climbing no matter how tired you are until you reach the top.
Not applying to this job is advisable when you’re not mature, strong, and ready enough.
It’s like the Mac user motto :
Once you go Mac, you can never go back.
It goes same with this. One way ticket, no return.
I didn’t remember being this late writing about Langit’s monthly post. Not because I am quite busy or do not have enough time, but I just have something that is quite disturbing which makes me a bit less spiritful to write.
So, in the beginning, I put a title The Seventeenth Month and Confidence Crisis for the post. But, I decided to take the second one out. Let the post month keep being all about my baby.
As the previous post said, she has been doing good on this month as usual. Alhamdulillah, she has been healthy, funny, and makes me raising my voice whenever she doesn’t chew and swallow her food for few minutes.
She starts joining a baby class every Sunday. I am thinking about writing this in a separate post, later. If I have the mood.
Well, guess I won’t write too much. You keep healthy and happy, little girl!:*
The title might sound unrelated, but let see how it goes.
So, I’ve been pretty anxious about the baby’s weight for the last two months. Actually, this weight stuff has been my constant concern since early days. I didn’t know back then that I will keep worrying about this until now.
I once wrote that Langit is more to height than weight. There were several times that I was really working hard to increase her weight. One of them was the last two months. I’ve been checking her weight on manual scale at home but it didn’t show any significant progress. Whenever I put her there, it showed the same spot. Then, after that, I kept increasing her meal portion, snack, in short, any intaked she could have.
Since we had no vaccine schedules for the last two months, so I didn’t do visit at all. Alhamdulillah, Langit has been healthy too. Along these seventeen months, never we visit pediatrician other than for vaccine schedule. So for the last two months, I really had no idea how the weight was doing and it made me pretty anxious.
I intended to buy digital scale few days ago so we could have the exact number at home without having to visit the hospital. But, then I forgot. Until today, I have been planning this and that all night.
I called Century whether they had the digital device or not and they said they had it. I have checked it online, but I am not really keen on online shopping, so I didn’t buy it. I just needed to know the price. But, when I heard the price that Century had, it was pretty shocking since the number was almost ten times higher. I knew I wasn’t crazy enough to buy such expensive digital scale just because I was afraid to visit hospital.
I went for exercise then unusually went straight home. It was very fortunate that I decided to do grocery shopping yesterday. Arrived home, the baby was still sleeping so I had time to wash, had lunch, and prepare Langit’s too. When I finished those all, the baby woke up.
I still hesitated about the hospital visit until the very last minute. I wasn’t scared about the doctor nor the hospital. They were all very nice. It was the weight result that scared me most.
Anyone can think I am exaggerating. Anyone can think that weight is just a number and there are lots of other more important things than just worrying about weight. I myself agree about that. I keep talking to myself that she is healthy in spite of her weight. She moves actively, eats well, sleeps well, good motoric skills, and so on. But,I can’t help worrying still.
I can’t ignore the WHO growth development. Whatever my opinion says, the curve won’t lie. It shows the real evidence about how actually the baby is doing in real numbers. Constant weight is something that I should be aware of.
A baby should at least achieve certain increasing number every month. It shows her health status. Whatever evidences I stated above will sound more like denials if I don’t pay attention to this.
Okay, back to the today’s scene. So, I checked on her crib, tidied it up, breastfed her and called the hospital for registration. When it’s done, I changed her clothes then mine, then I booked an online taxi. This online taxi app is such a big help. The hospital was close enough from my home, but I couldn’t drive by myself with the baby. So, this online taxi is really genius idea. It is comfortable, simple with reasonable price.
Arrived at the hospital, surprisingly we got a big number like 13. It was a bit unusual. Went to the first floor and the nurse asked to measure the baby’s weight, height, and head circumstances. My heart was beating fast when the baby stepped on the scale. Remembering exactly a month ago, my heart broke too bad after seeing the number this scale showed before polio vaccine. Remembering how it ruined a whole day and weekend for me.
I really couldn’t believe what I saw when the number stopped changing. Was it real? Really? Cincaaa??
It showed me 700 grams increase since last month!!!
She had polio shot on March 12, today is April 12. It is exactly a month. Above one year, a baby is expected to gain 200-250 grams per month ideally. We had 700 grams! Wohooooo!!
The time when I saw the new number, it felt like a really big burden lifted from my heart. It felt like every single thing that I have done was nicely paid. And, to be assured that this scale at our home is obviously broken.
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Never once I thought before that such simple thing can feel like a biggest achievement. Never thought before I could be this happy with just a mere 700 grams of a person weight. Feels like I have accomplished something so great. Whatever people say, this thing matters for me. Maybe some part of motherhood is about being happy about whatever your baby achieves. No matter how small it is.
I have been taking care the baby alone most of the time. From the time she wakes up until the very moment she asleeps. I prepared every single meals, snacks, feeding her for hours, clean everything after that, playing and doing things with her, all without any other human being help daily. So, I won’t be too ashamed to claim and say : this is my achievement. No one shall take credits for this.
I hope we will continue doing well and I won’t let myself loosen tou.much after this.
Ah, I also found out my review about the hospital on this blog was displayed nicely there.
So happy to see this.
Today deserves a big shout of Alhamdulillah to thank everything happened. ALHAMDULILLAH!
Thank you for that bloody 700 grams which made my day.
A Penny for My Pensieve 