A nosy and scary surprise!

I am the eldest among a brood of 5. My mom is the eldest among a brood of 7. She was the first to have children. That makes me the eldest among cousins now counting to 29. I witnessed almost all 28 grow up. I guess that led me somehow becoming so maternal at an early age.

Despite having seen my siblings and cousins go through accidents in their childhood - may it be major, minor or in-between, I've vowed to be even more careful when I become a Mommy.

So I babyproofed as much as I can when Maia started crawling and cruising and walking and now running. I padded sharp edges and floors so falls are cushioned. I kept all sharp objects away from her reach. Despite all these efforts though, I've still witnessed Maia fall down our bed several times. The feeling of seeing her fall and not being able to catch her in time is heartstopping. I'd swim in an ocean of guilt for days after those incidents even with Tibs comforting me and telling me none of that is my fault. Mothers are supposed to protect their children and I failed on mine. But those thoughts started disappearing a few months back when Maia started to walk with ease and balance. She'd run without tripping. Most often, she'd refuse my offer to carry her. She's starting to be independent. 

With that, I've started embracing the idea of letting her be. I afterall wanted her to have the freedom to explore the world on her own as much as possible. I wanted her to discover things on her own because that was how I was when I was a kid and I really appreciated that from my parents. I wanted to be the same parent with my daughter.

Yesterday though, I got another wake up call.

Coming home from a running event, I was quite exhausted. So afer lunch we just had a short picture flash card session and then I called her into the bedroom so we can nap together. That's when she grabbed my hand and pointed to her nose. I saw her a few minutes earlier picking her nose but I fought the urge to slap her hand away because I was just too tired to do so. At that point though, she really looked irritated so I went to look what's making her nose so itchy. And voila, guess what I found stuck inside her nose:

Panicked enveloped me instantly. My voice was shaking while I called for help from Tibs and Ate Inday. I was so scared she'd suck this thing in even deeper I wanted to stop her from breathing. Good thing my panic did not rub on Tibs. He got that thing out of Maia's tiny little nose in no time. Thank God too that Maia never panicked as well. She stayed still the entire time her Dad was pulling that thing out of her nose.

Till now, we don't know where she got this thing from. I still don't know what it is. But I did discover one of her electronic toys broken with some parts missing. This could be attached to one of those missing parts. I already took all the tiny parts on that broken toy away. I wanted to throw the entire toy away but if you have a toddler you'd understand how clingy they are with things they've grown attached to. And I have yet to ask her permission to throw the toy away. So initial solution is just to take all the tiny parts away.

Sigh. Parenting is such a complicated task. I wish I can always prepare myself for the worst. But then again, learning is a step by step thing isn't it? It's always when things are difficult and complicated that we retain most of the things we're taught. So I learned a major lesson yesterday. I'm starting to dread the coming lessons though. **Double sigh**

A nosy and scary surprise!

I am the eldest among a brood of 5. My mom is the eldest among a brood of 7. She was the first to have children. That makes me the eldest among cousins now counting to 29. I witnessed almost all 28 grow up. I guess that led me somehow becoming so maternal at an early age.

Despite having seen my siblings and cousins go through accidents in their childhood - may it be major, minor or in-between, I've vowed to be even more careful when I become a Mommy.

So I babyproofed as much as I can when Maia started crawling and cruising and walking and now running. I padded sharp edges and floors so falls are cushioned. I kept all sharp objects away from her reach. Despite all these efforts though, I've still witnessed Maia fall down our bed several times. The feeling of seeing her fall and not being able to catch her in time is heartstopping. I'd swim in an ocean of guilt for days after those incidents even with Tibs comforting me and telling me none of that is my fault. Mothers are supposed to protect their children and I failed on mine. But those thoughts started disappearing a few months back when Maia started to walk with ease and balance. She'd run without tripping. Most often, she'd refuse my offer to carry her. She's starting to be independent.

With that, I've started embracing the idea of letting her be. I afterall wanted her to have the freedom to explore the world on her own as much as possible. I wanted her to discover things on her own because that was how I was when I was a kid and I really appreciated that from my parents. I wanted to be the same parent with my daughter.

Yesterday though, I got another wake up call.

Coming home from a running event, I was quite exhausted. So afer lunch we just had a short picture flash card session and then I called her into the bedroom so we can nap together. That's when she grabbed my hand and pointed to her nose. I saw her a few minutes earlier picking her nose but I fought the urge to slap her hand away because I was just too tired to do so. At that point though, she really looked irritated so I went to look what's making her nose so itchy. And voila, guess what I found stuck inside her nose:

Panicked enveloped me instantly. My voice was shaking while I called for help from Tibs and Ate Inday. I was so scared she'd suck this thing in even deeper I wanted to stop her from breathing. Good thing my panic did not rub on Tibs. He got that thing out of Maia's tiny little nose in no time. Thank God too that Maia never panicked as well. She stayed still the entire time her Dad was pulling that thing out of her nose.

Till now, we don't know where she got this thing from. I still don't know what it is. But I did discover one of her electronic toys broken with some parts missing. This could be attached to one of those missing parts. I already took all the tiny parts on that broken toy away. I wanted to throw the entire toy away but if you have a toddler you'd understand how clingy they are with things they've grown attached to. And I have yet to ask her permission to throw the toy away. So initial solution is just to take all the tiny parts away.

Sigh. Parenting is such a complicated task. I wish I can always prepare myself for the worst. But then again, learning is a step by step thing isn't it? It's always when things are difficult and complicated that we retain most of the things we're taught. So I learned a major lesson yesterday. I'm starting to dread the coming lessons though. **Double sigh**

Hello...Terrible Two's

A few weeks ago I had this conversation with Tibs regarding the Terrible Two's stage. I realized then that we are just 3 months shy of that difficult stage that we first time parents have been warned of and I told him it's probably best that we welcome it with emotional preparedness. He didn't take me seriously though. He even laughed at me and told me we'll never experience that stage because Maia's is going be called the TERRIFIC Two's.

Today though, the former said HI! to him at 5am. And it came two months early and at that point in the day where we've barely said Hi! to morning yet and you feel like a double espresso shot can't even do the trick.

Maia on her never before heard of Operatic Cry was lying on the floor. Alternating dance movements between arms flailing and rolling on the floor. It wasn't a pretty sight to wake up to. I could even smell Mr Migraine approaching. And what triggered all that was OREO. She wanted to eat OREO at 5 in the morning. And Mommy simply said NO. So off she goes with the Theatrics.

But as we all parents are on-call 24/7 we did what we thought was best. We let her cry her heart out. Tibs was fighting off the urge to laugh while I was desperately trying to move her back to bed so I can properly comfort her. But noooooo. To the little boss lady, I was a villainess disguising as Mommy this morning. She kept shouting NOOOOOOOOOOOO. NOOOOOOOOO! to me in between sobs, mild growls and howls. She pushed me away on the several attempts I did to comfort her. And Tibs on his way to the bathroom told me -- LET'S SEE WHO WINS THIS TIME. What an incredibly supportive cheer, no?

20-mins into the drama, she went out of the bedroom and into the arms of Ate Inday. That was when she stopped howling and growling. I heaved a sigh of relief. And went to brew myself a cup of barako.

Another 10 mins past and she forgot about that OREO incident already. She went to sit beside me on the sofa and demanded I read her a story. And we're back to lovey-doveys again.

Hello Terrible Two's. I will deal better with you next time.