Chhori : growing up too fast

Posted on July 12, 2016 | 8 comments

I can’t believe how quick kids grow up. I believe it now when people say that all you need to do is have kids and they will grow up; you don’t even remember how time flies by.

Chhori is 16 months now and she constantly manages to surprise us.

chhori (3)

These days, she wants to eat her own meal. So she sits in her chair, she can strap herself in if she wants to and then waits for the tray to be put on the chair. Then she patiently waits for her food. Once the food is on the tray, she wants a fork and she feeds herself. It is so cute to watch her eat.

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I have to admit, she might grow up to be a patient one unlike her mum. It sometimes takes her few attempts to get her food on the fork but she is very persistent and keeps going until she has them on her fork. There were times when she got frustrated and threw her fork but she is getting better at it. She loves her independence.

It is easier for us as well. If there is food she can eat using a fork, like meat, pasta, noodles, veggies, fruits, we cut them into small pieces and give it to her and she will eat it all. Of course, she makes a mess as well but it is all a learning process.

I still haven’t given her rice and lito as she is not very good with a spoon and only 50% goes into her mouth. So that will be our next goal once she masters the fork. But we still are quite proud parents.

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She also managed to surprise me with her dancing. From very early on she has managed to copy the actions from the rhymes on Youtube but this one was very special. I didn’t know that AS was teaching her but he asked me to come to the living area on the weekend.

So when I got there, AS asked Chhori to bring a teddy bear. She got a big pink one and AS started to sing the rhyme “Teddy bear teddy bear turn around” doing the action with the teddy bear. I was pleasantly surprised when Chhori joined and did all the right moves with the rhymes. So the rhyme goes like this

Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Turn around!
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Touch the ground!
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Jump up high!
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Touch the sky!

Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Bend down low!
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Touch you toes!
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Turn out the light!
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Say good night!

Chhori was doing all the right action and the best and cutest part was when she was turning around, doing the full circle. She is doing it so well and I am so happy to watch. This father-daughter team means a world to me for sure.

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I am sure every kid goes through this phase and every parent has these happy moments. Please share yours and let me know what I can look forward to :).

Have a good day everyone and take care.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

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Healthy snacks: Roasted Chickpeas

Posted on July 11, 2016 | 1 comment

I find that eating healthy is not easy, especially if you snack a lot. I try my best to eat healthy meals and I am happy with that part but when it is the time for a snack, I eat whenever is available which means chocolate, cheese sandwich, biscuits and chips are on the menu too. Of course, everything in moderation is OK but sometimes I know I can go overboard.

Normally, I snack on fruits and dark chocolate at work so I don’t jump to eat other unhealthy options but it gets boring at times.

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I am so happy that I have recently re-discovered Roasted Chickpeas. There are many varieties of chickpeas and most common ones are beige, black, green, red and brown. They are all tasty and healthy at the same time.

chick peas (1)

According to experts, they add a low-fat boost of nutrition that supports healthy weight loss. If you Google them, you can find different ways to eat them but I just want to consume the roasted ones right now.

What healthy snack are you munching on? Do share some ideas.

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

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Weaning Chhori from night feed

Posted on July 8, 2016 | 6 comments

I am sure I have mentioned before that Chhori is still night feeding on a good night, she wakes up 1-2 times for a feed while on bad ones it is multiple times.

Chhori (4)

This routine didn’t bother me when I was home looking after her but since I started work, it started affecting my day. There were days when I was not functioning properly at all as I was sleep deprived days in a row.

Anyway, this was the signal for me to start looking for a solution to stop night feeding. I still wanted her to breastfeed for the next few months at least but I definitely wanted to stop night feeding.

So the solution was for me to sleep in a different room than Chhori. So AS and Chhori slept in our room and I slept in Chhori’s room.

chhori (5)

First night, she woke up the same as usual and started looking for milk. When she didn’t get it, she cried. She opened her eyes and saw her daddy instead of mummy and she cried more. It took AS a long time to calm her down and put her back to sleep. It was the same every time she woke up looking for milk.

I was in the next room so I could hear her cry and was so tempted to run, hug her and feed her. But I knew that was not going to solve my problem. She is old enough now that she doesn’t need night feeding as most kids over 1 year will not wake up multiple times at night for a feed.

The second night the story was similar but the cry was shorter and AS got better at calming her but I was still tempted to run over to hold her every time she cried. So on the third day, we decided that it is best for me to sleep in the guest bedroom which is further away from our bedroom so I don’t hear much at all. So I have been doing that for the last 5 days. I occasionally hear her cry but not much.

chhori (3)

Also according to AS, she is getting better at not crying even if she wakes up during the night. If she does cry, it lasts less than a minute and she is back to sleep.

We are hoping that in a few weeks, she will get better and will sleep through the night so I can go and sleep back in our room. I really hope this will work otherwise we will be back to square one.

I am loving my 6-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep for sure but AS probably isn’t 🙂

Please, please share any tips that will help this process be easier for me and Chhori. Thanks in advance.

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

 

6 Comments

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Chhori update

Posted on July 6, 2016 | 8 comments

Thank you everyone who sent me emails letting me know that you enjoy my blog or to let me know that my blog has helped you in some way or emailing to ask some questions or just to say hello.  I am trying to reply to everyone as soon as I can. I am really happy to answer question or help in any way possible so please do not stop writing.

I got a few emails asking about Chhori so here is an update.

chhori (3)

Chhori is 16 months now (I know it makes me feel very old) and is running around a lot.

When we are out and about, she loves to walk around so one of us has to be behind her at all times. She enjoys people and has started saying a few words like

  • Mama
  • Hi
  • Bye
  • Ma (grandma)
  • Ba (grandpa)
  • Pa (water)
  • Mum mum – food

AS constantly tries to teach her to say “dada” or “daddy: but so far no success.

chhori (1)On top of these words, she mumbles a lot. If I ask her what does a dog do, she will say “bow bow” and for a duck she will go “quack quack “ and cow is “mooooo”

Even though she doesn’t talk properly yet, she understands almost everything we tell her. I have named all her toys so when I ask her to pick one toy out of many; she understands what I am talking about. She uses lots of sign language and gets what she wants done using them. I have to admit, she has both parents wrapped around her tiny cute finger already.

chhori (7)

She also knows actions to many rhymes like “itsy bitsy spider”, “head shoulder”, “twinkle twinkle”, “five little monkeys” and quite a few more. I love to watch her when she does these actions as she looks super cute. (I know I am biased :))

chhori (2)

My parents, especially my mum is looking after her 5 days a week while we are at work. I am very grateful that they decided to come and help me. A few days a week, my nephew comes over too so my parents have their hands full. Chhori really enjoys my nephew’s company and she is always happy around people. I guess she is going to be one social being.

As it is winter here, it gets dark around 5pm these days. Every day when it is dark outside, Chhori comes over to the door every 5 minutes to check if AS and I are home yet. As soon as we enter the house, her face lights up and most of the time she shows her happiness by clapping her hands. If I ask her to come and hug me, she will run and hug me and plant a big kiss on my cheeks. I am so enjoying being a mum and I love her so much.

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Most of the day, my mum gives some update about the day and sometimes it is a complaint that Chhori refuses to eat some meals while other days about the fight between Chhori and my nephew. I think my mum loves to describe her day with the kids. I believe that there is a special bond between grandparents and grandkids.

Recently we went to a friend’s baby’s christening and Chhori surprised everyone including me by sitting on a high hair for the whole time and eating a normal meal. She loves using a fork so we take her eating set wherever we go. So she enjoyed roast duck, broccoli, potatoes, noodles and water melon. I break them into small pieces so she can use her fork. She loved it and was happy to sit and eat.

chhori (4)

Also during one of the parties we went to, there was music and people were dancing so she went around the dance floor and started clapping and did her own little dance and she looked so adorable.

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As a mum, I am very biased and love everything about her. I am sure every parent is like that. 🙂  Will have another updater soon.

Please share about your little one.

Thank you one again everyone and take care.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

 

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Becoming a mentor

Posted on July 5, 2016 | 2 comments

My workplace recently started a school based mentoring program to empower and support young people who are secondary students, to keep them engaged and introduce them to an alternate learning environment.

Image Source : http://www.med.emory.edu

I have always been interested to work with and help out young adults. Before this job, I used to be an IT teacher for students in diploma and advance diploma in a university. So when I saw the email floating around for mentoring, I signed up for it. The best thing about it is that most of the program happens during the lunch time which means I don’t need to compromise with the time I get to spend with Chhori.

Once I applied for the program I got a call for an interview. I was nervous about the process but it went quite smoothly and I was selected by the panel.

The program started 10 weeks ago and it was a great start. We met the girls we are going to mentor and had a few activities to get to know them better and vice versa.

From the first week, we have been meeting with them every Tuesday afternoon at lunch time and doing different activates.

I can’t believe that the weeks have just flow by and we have done cultural cooking, craft class, laser tag, self-defence class, speech class, African drumming class, sushi making class, yoga class and all in a fun environment.

Most of the girls picked for this program are average students who are a bit shy at first. As we got to know them slowly and they opened up and now they are really comfortable with us.

On the cultural cooking day, I made chicken momo and taught them how to wrap up the momo. I was surprised that they learned it so quickly and did a great job. Other mentors made pizza, frittata, calamari haloumi and scones and it was and awesome session.

Last week, we went out for lunch with them before their 2 weeks break and we will start the program again for another 10 weeks.

I am so happy that I signed up and am a part of such a great program to get involved with young people.

Have you done anything similar? Please share other ideas you have to get young people involved so we can use that for our next session.

Thank you everyone and take care.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

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