First Day at School!

Joash turned 18 months last Friday and today is his first day at playgroup! He did marvelously well. (So proud of him!) In the morning, Joshua took him to school alone as I was afraid he might be too clingy if I were to go. At first, he ran after his Daddy and fussed when Joshua walked away but the moment Joshua was out of sight, he was fine.

According to the teachers, he was well-behaved the whole morning and ate well. However, when it came to bath-time, he watched the other kids being bathed, went to a corner, sat down and started to cry. The principal noticed that and assured him that they won't bathe him. It was then he calmed down. (We all agreed not to bathe him there initially so as not to traumatize him) This boy sure hates bath-time! I'm surprised that he figured out on his own that his turn to be bathed might come... So clever!

I went to pick him up at 1230pm only to discover that he fell asleep there and was napping with the other children! It was great that he was comfortable and secure enough to sleep there without any fuss. Not willing to interrupt his nap, I told them to call me when he wakes. Half an hour later, I was told to go down.

I arrived expecting him to be glad to see me. Instead, when I called out his name, he looked up from his toys and then went back his playing without even acknowledging my presence!!! *sound of heart-breaking* I asked him if he wanted to go home with Mummy but was ignored. By the fourth time, he looked up only to give me one of the toys as if wanting me to play with him there. It sure took some time before he finally lifted up his arms to be carried by me. Though I must admit that my feelings were a little hurt but I thank God for answering my prayers that he would adjust well to the school environment.

I guess he just resembles me in this aspect since I also went to school on the first day happily in the past without turning back even to look at my mum who was leaving back then... :P Hopefully Joash won't act up in the future days to come and will continue to enjoy the playgroup. *double grin*

Joash's school bag and water bottle with his name

His school uniform

Video of him listening intently to his teacher
(Note: Joash is the one in white cos he spilled milk
on his uniform during breakfast and was changed earlier on)

I testify

I testify of God's faithfulness and goodness!

The past half a year had been really nightmarish in many aspects. As I mentioned before, it was a walk through the valley of darkness with my acute pregnancy ailments. With me unable to care for Joash as per normal, he probably felt "abandoned" by me. He must have been thinking: "Why isn't Mummy carrying me anymore? Why isn't she playing with me as much and keeps lying down? What happened to hide and seek and going out for trips? Why are there so many different aunties coming to our house and play with me instead of Mummy?"

My emotions were so out of control especially the time when my pre-natal depression was at its peak and I could not stop screaming at Joash for being fussy. But my Abba Father in heaven was merciful to remind me of Psalms 23 and prompted me through the Holy Spirit to recite it till I calmed down. Praise God that it worked and I could resume caring for him despite my depression. It was an incident I pray would never happen again with the help of my mighty God. I shudder whenever I think of how much the frightening episode could have prolonged if not for God's intervention. I'm grateful that Joash seemed to have recovered from his shock quite quickly after I regained my sanity.

But through these tough times, God causes good things to happen too:

1) It taught me about letting go. We are but stewards of the children God gave us and in time to come, there'll be stages of letting go as they grow up and become independent. I learn to trust that God is the only One who can ultimately be with Joash all the time.

2) I see how God causes my husband, Joshua to rise up as the head of the family and take care of Joash and I. He had been the most amazing husband: giving up his own leisure and rest to care for Joash whenever he's home, massaging me almost every night to ease my discomforts, taking over the chores when I couldn't complete them and saying 'no' to activities that he would have enjoyed doing but would have tired me out or made things difficult in caring for Joash. The most wonderful things is he does it all without complain! It has truly deepened the love and respect between Joshua and I as we weather through the storms together.

3) Joash is now so much closer to Joshua than before my pregnancy due to the extra time he spent taking care of his son. Joash now shares that sweet bright grin with Joshua when it was only reserved for me in the past. He is also willing to kiss and hug his Daddy while before, he would only do that for me. I'm truly glad to see this great improvement in their father-son relationship.

4) Despite all the problems and the need to adjust to many things for both Joash and I, our relationship, by the grace of God, has not suffered in the process. I'm grateful to God for giving me supernatural strength to give Joash tender loving care when the need arises and allowing Joash to respond in trust and love towards me in spite of all my limitations. I love the precious moments that I enjoy constantly with Joash: the hugs and kisses we share when Joshua brings Joash to our room in the mornings, Joash running in delight into my arms, the sparkle I see in his eyes whenever he sees me, Joash looking for comfort from me when he hurt himself and babbling to me as if telling me of his complaint, the way Joash embraces me from behind and when I pretend I couldn't find him, he'll pop his head to my side and give me a cheeky grin... There are just so much that I can thank God for!!!

5) I've so many Christian friends who helped me regularly and prayed for me that I dun know how to thank them all! One acquaintance from a church mothers' group I join gave me "The Bible Promise Book" and it really helped me during the darkest moments of my pregnancy journey. There were many verses which I clung onto and Psalms 9:9 was one of them:

"The Lord also keeps safe those who suffer. He is a safe place in times of trouble"

If you are one of those who had helped me or prayed for me, I thank God for you from the bottom of my heart. You've shown God's love to me.

Even though my sufferings are far from over (take today for example: despite being Mother's Day, I could not celebrate much cos I had been dizzy and unwell the whole day), I am grateful that there had been improvements. I remember I broke down in tears of thankfulness the day I could eat a MOS burger and drink my favorite ice milk tea without throwing up! Thank God for new mercies everyday and I look forward to seeing my baby girl in 3 month's time! :)

2 more coming right up!

This time, the molar came out a week earlier than the cuspid. Interesting...

My Mum's birthday

Last Saturday, we treated my mum to a birthday lunch at Lao Beijing and later to some cake at Secret Recipe. Here are some photos for remembrance. :)

Family photos before the cake

My Mum with Joash

Together with my brother and his fiancee
Note: Joash was totally mesmerized by the birthday candle...

Together with us
Note: Joash is still distracted...

My mum feeding Joash with a bite of her birthday cake
Strawberry Cheesecake... Yummy!

Developmental Milestones

Joash drinking from a normal straw.

Don't worry folks, it's orange juice in that cup. :)

Although Joash's agility and sense of balance are very impressive, he is rather slow in other areas in his development. It took him months before he, at long last, stopped playing with his finger food and put them into his mouth to eat. He only started to really drink from the straw cup in earnest without spitting the contents out half a year after I bought the item. Recently, he finally masters the art of drinking from normal straws when before he only could drink from the soft straw of the Mag Mag cup and refused to suck from regular ones.

It is a good thing that I've never been in a hurry for him to learn independence or self-care since he'll have a lifetime of doing that soon enough. Or else, I would have been really frustrated with him.

Now, he is starting to attempt feeding himself but I can tell that he is far from ready as he insists on gripping the spoon at its tip with only his fingertips, thus limiting his control of the spoon, and has the tendency to hold the spoon facing down, which means most of the time, he is not getting any food even though the spoon goes into his mouth. I'll offer to help him but he just stubbornly refuses so I can only wait for him to lose patience with not eating anything despite his efforts and eventually hand the spoon back to me.

Meal times have officially lengthened in their duration.

P/S: He has been very interested in holding onto my mug whenever I drink something but no matter how I teach him, he still has absolutely no idea how to drink straight from it. *laughs*

Bath-time

Thank God that the transition to bathing without the bathtub went without a hitch, except, of course, he still hates water. He will scream murder whenever the water is running, whether or not the water touches him. It really puzzles me especially when he seems always so eager to play with the water during hand-washing and will protest when I pull him away. Strange kid I have here...

First Salon Haircut

Whenever I hear people (strangers, friends or even relatives) asking me whether Joash is a boy or girl, I deem it time to cut his hair. But given my pregnancy's approach to the final trimester and Joash's lack of cooperation during the last haircut, I've decided that I'll spend the 20 bucks to let the professionals do it with the proper equipment.

Joash was calm and well-behaved with the TV
and the musical toy to keep him occupied

In the end, it was the vacuum which did him in.
Look how hard he wailed. Poor frightened chap...

Ta-da! It was done!

BEFORE

AFTER

With this boyish haircut, I doubt anyone will ask me about his gender for a while to come... I hope. :P