This is a post I made in the old blog on Tuesday, 13 February 2007 at 01:30 AM.

Joel went for his first follow-up vaccination last Saturday. At 2-months old, it does sound a little late for vaccination, but we decided to follow our PD’s recommendation that instead of having his Hep-B shot at 1 month old and T-Antigen + Hib at 2 months old, Joel will get all his shot at one time, thus saving on the doc’s fees. It’s great, of course, for those of us who know the high cost of caring for our babies during their first years.

It’s been two weeks since Joel started attending daycare at Sunshine Nursery Penampang, Eric’s alma mater. And just as I expected, he got a cold soon after. With so many kids around the nursery, it’s almost unavoidable. Nevertheless, through past experiences with then-little Eric, I knew just what to do. My husband was pretty concerned, though, so just to be safe, we mentioned about Joel’s cold to our PD, and he prescribed us a couple of medicine. I’ve learned throughout the years that Dony has very good instinct when it comes to our kids’ health, so I never took for granted whenever he thinks we should bring them to the doctor. Anyways, Joel checks out OK and his growth chart shows that he’s growing well, even better if I compared him to Eric when Eric was just 2 months old.

This is a post I made in the old blog on Tuesday, 30 January 2007 at 11:03 PM.

I found three strands of my hair turning white. I plucked one out, showed it to Eric and said, “Tua sudah Mommy, (I’m old already)” with a mock sad expression. The reply I wasn’t expecting was a teary, “Mommy mau mati sudah? (Is Mommy dying soon?)”

Oh no. Just the other day, my sister Lydia had the same predicament with her soon-to-be 7 year old daughter, Aishah, and my sis told me how she explained death, and that seemed to calm her down. So, I tested the same technique with Eric. There I went ranting, about how people who passed away are actually happier because they don’t have to worry about getting sick, having to work, needing to eat, that they are in a better place in heaven, that Jesus takes care of them, and all other nice stuff I was squeezing out of my brain hoping that I can explain it truthfully without being too over-the-top or harsh and turning ‘em into lies.

Did Eric fell for it? Hardly. It just brought more tears to his eyes even though he wasn’t sobbing his heart out. I looked at his dad sitting aside him on the next sofa, hoping for some back-up. All Daddy did was to give me a blank stare while sipping his Maggi (I mean, I can’t blame him — he WAS really hungry!).

So I continued to soothe him, and changed my tactics to explain to him what old age is all about, that getting old is actually fun, pointing out that everyone gets old, that he’s getting old too, when he grows older he gets to do more things like driving his own car, reading a book by himself, going out with his friends, etc (and purposely leaving out the “getting a job” part of it). “Do you understand now?” I asked. He answered sadly, “But when I grow older, you’ll be sooo old.”
“It’s okay, then. We can grow older together.”

A minute passed before he finally said,”I want to change to Disney channel 61.”

Phew.

This is a post I made in the old blog on Friday, 19 January 2007 at 08:12 PM.

The only guaranteed times when I can get a marvelous grin out of this doll of mine are during his early morning diaper changes and when he’s with his dad! *rolls eyes*

Can’t say I’m complaining, though… I mean, look at those cartoonish smiles! If your kid gives you a smile like that each morning, wouldn’t that just make your day?

This is a post I made in the old blog on Sunday, 14 January 2007 at 08:04 PM.

Argh! My memory card is destroyed!! There goes my pics of Eric in his concert costume, and our hospital shots of Joel when he was just a few hours old

I’ll have to rely on Dony’s camphone for now to take snapshots such as the one on the left. Joel has been doing a LOT of voluntary smiling this week, and it makes my whole family laugh for joy coz it’s so cute especially when he cooes at the same time This week, I’ve also decided to get him off from wearing his mittens so that I could teach him how to hold his own milk bottle. Eric managed to do that when he was 2 months old, so hopefully Joel can do so too. On his first mitten-free day, Joel made a few (count: four) battle scars a.k.a. funky scratches on his face which fortunately disappeared the next day. I think he learnt his lesson too — apparently, there aren’t any scratches ever since that day. So pandai.

This is a post I made in the old blog on Monday, 25 December 2006 at 08:42 PM.

Since I am still under “pantang”, I didn’t go anywhere except to Dony’s Uncle Paul’s house in Menggatal for a second, and even that trip was made after my hubby persuaded (then begged) for us to go so he could show Joel off to his relatives. Eric, on the other hand, was saved by his Aunty Bibi and cousins, and enjoyed the whole day with my family and relatives back in Tuaran.

Joel received his very first Christmas present, a set of colourful rattles which he would surely enjoy — thanks to their Aunty Julia! Eric meanwhile received from his aunt a billiard set which he is currently busy playing with while shouting either “Saya Manang!” or “Oh Yes!”

Here’s wishing to all our families, relatives, friends and acquaintances A Joyous and Blessed Christmas 2006.