Farisha : Buttonning clothes

Farisha is 3 years and a half now. I'm happy that she grows up well and is an active child. She recently is able to button her own clothes, and by gaining a new abiluty, she keeps on doing it all over again the whole day.

Another thing that she loves doing is play with bicycle, as she has Fatimah's old bike to be hers now, she loves going outside and playing bike with her sisters. And if it's too hot to play outside, she will play it around the house.

Farisha : Play Outside

Farisha loves to play outside, but we don't have any backyard for her to play freely. Luckily, we live in a neighborhood that has friends to play with my children.

They play in the path between our homes, and we just have to watch and warn our children about the motorcycles or cars that pass by, although it's not often, because this path is cul de sac, so the vehicles passing usually belong to our neighbours and they run slowly.

Our children usually play with their bicycles, scooters or play hide and seek, running etc. Sometimes, they had quarrels among them, but usually, they will forget it in 5 minutes and play again.

I let my 2,5 years old Farisha play outside with her sisters and friends after her sister come home from school and have the afternoon bath. The plus side : when they play by themselves, they will learn to socialize and I can have my me time (which usually spend by cleaning the house. :-( )

Farisha : Don't pass the breakfast

What should my two year old child eat everyday? It was my question to myself about 7 years ago when I have my first child, she was a picky eater, and often refused what I offered her to eat. Those were stressing days when I had to think a lot to prepare the best and eye-catching meal so she would be interested to try a bit. Or tried to hide a vegetable in a scrambled egg, or inside a rice ball or inside a chicken meat. Sometimes the result worth the effort but sometimes it was left for me to finish what I had made.

But, it was the story of 7 years ago, when she was still the only child of mine. She is almost turns 9 now, and still a picky eater, but now I can use the gesture of making my eyes bigger to force her putting a pinch a veggie on her plate. Hahaha.

When my first girl turned 4, we gave her  a sister, and 2 years later, we presented her another sister. And thank God, the sisters are not picky eaters, in fact, they love vegetables.

Fahira, Fatimah and Farisha are the names of my girls, starting from the eldest. Now, Farisha is two years and a half and she is an early bird.

In my mind, being an early bird is a good thing a person can be, one can see a beautiful morning, enjoy fresh air and start the day with a good feeling. But in the realistic world I am living, having an early bird child means I must play with her while in my mind I'm thinking of the unfinished housework I want to finish before noon.

So, I choose not to be stress and better enjoy the moments I can share with her because time flies so fast, and suddenly she will be so big in a blinking of eyes.

So every morning when both of us awake and everybody in the house still asleep, I prepare her breakfast, because a full stomach would make a child calmer than if she is hungry. Skipping breakfast will result her to mess everything that I've done, simply because she is hungry.

The plus thing about my little girl is that she is not picky eater so I can give her anything I have on hand and then she will have her breakfast outside, while I took care of the plants ; watering, cleaning the yard etc.

Today her simple breakfast is rice and scramble egg with celery and shallots. Served warm.

Farisha : Post Mother's milk

Let me tell you what it feels when a mother decided to stop breastfeeding her baby ... . : hurt. Yes, it does hurt. It hurts the baby because she thinks her mother refuses her by not giving her beloved stuff. And it also hurts the mother because seeing her baby cry and begging for the thing that the mother can actually give to stop the sadness, but she doesn't, is a torture. It hurts the mother's breasts as well, as the milk continues forming in the breasts but stays there, making the breasts harder and giving pain to the mother.

But it must be done, for the sake of both the mother and the baby. The hurt feeling is part of the process. And like it is said 'No gain, No pain'.

Farisha is already 22 months old, and I decided to stop breastfeeding her. And following my success, I will tell the steps to stop breastfeeding baby, based on my 3 times experiences :

1. Pick a date
  Decide when you want to do it. In my case, I made 22 months as the limit and apply it to all my daughters to be fair. You can reasonize your own limit based on your milk production or the baby's health or anything you are experiencing. But, don't think to delay it until you think the baby will giving it up herself, because it won't happen, or at least I never know anyone who do. Chances are, they will keep sucking until they enter school age, and believe me I know some people who did.

2. Offer substition
  I introduce formula in the bottle to my baby a month before the due date. I chose the bottle with nipple-like top. And by giving it, I start decreasing my baby breastfed step by step.

3. Prepare your heart
  Because you will feel the sadness, plus you must be strong enough to refuse and saying 'no' when she asks you to open your bra. The first time I did this, I wonder if my baby still need me when she doesn't suck my milk anymore. But eventually, my worry didn't happen. Off course she needs me. Hey, I'm her mother.

4. Have her occupied all day
  She will be in the mellow mood, so have her doing things that she might like. These are what my Farisha does :


  Following dance on tv


  Write whatever she pleases


  Playing with cardboard

  
  Swimming

5. Have some snacks ready
  Your baby used to have your milk to fill her stomach, by eliminating it means she will need food more than her usual intake. Always have something to make her feel full, and by making her tired and full, it is easier for her to fall asleep (because it is quiet hard to have her sleeping especially if breastfeeding is her lullaby).

6. Plan B
  You are very straight in saying 'no' to your baby, but she keeps crying and taking up your clothes up. Your plan B is to scare your baby with the appearance of your nipple. I apply on red lipstick on my nipples and put some salt on it, and I say that my breasts are in pain. Some brave baby can't be scared so if she still wants to suck it, then the salt will have its function.
Off course, we have very clever baby who can wipe off the salt before sucking it. For this case, some of my friends use a bitter Indonesian spice called sambiloto that cannot be wiped once, and it has very bitter taste. So if you have this kind of baby, there might be some herb in your country that can be used, just make sure that it won't harm the baby.

7. Goal
  When everything's done, you will get the result. You will have a mellow baby for about 3 days and after that, things will be normal again. The hardest part in my experiences are "coping with my own mellow feeling" and "the part to make the baby sleep". But when things are done, there will be good feeling about it.

Farisha : My early riser, my social butterfly

Also,she's my morning alarm.

Little baby, less sleep. Whenever my friends discuss on Facebook about super interesting tv programs that air past 8 pm, I have no idea ; I'm asleep.

Farisha wakes up at 5 or 5.30 In the morning, then takes a nap at 10 for about 2 hours long (which is my time to do chores). She'll have her bed time at around 8 pm, and I,  consider myself quiet tired to take care of my three children and a home during the day, and the estimation of 3 wake up at night to breastfed, I made 8 pm as my bedtime as well. :-)

Sure, being a mother is such a bless, but it's the job that makes you pray to God to bless you with patience. If that makes you rethink of being one, you should know that lots of people are releasing their good side since being a parent (lazy be dilligent, childish be mature, etc), and that's including me.

When I look back to the time when I was a girl, I was not a very dilligent girl, I can't cook, I am just that cool with dirt, I don't know how to handle a crying baby. But, being a mother force me to do all those things I can't, and for me, it's "learning it the hard way".

Having three children ages 7, 3 and 1 year old is the beautiful bless for me and as I am thankful, I must be responsible too. Less sleep is in the package off course.

All of my children are early risers when they are under 2 and becoming less early when they grew older. My 3 year old Fatimah will wake up about 8 am while Fahira must wake up early (with whatever effort) as she has to go to school at 7.

And this one year old Farisha will wake up the earliest and ask me to play.


She likes having breakfast outside.


We take her sister to school.



And when she's finally asleep, I must do chores quickly.

And, being an early riser is not the only thing she is that consume my energy, she is also a social butterfly ! She always asks me to go out to play with our neighbours after taken the afternoon bath. We Indonesians commonly taken a bath twice a day : in the morning before school or work and around 4.30 pm.

And she drags me out like saying "Sorry, it's not time for a lazy afternoon". Haha.


But, it's actually a good thing that she has social skill. Who knows what she will be in the future.

Farisha : Mimicking

Farisha is already 1 year now. And she is learning to copy what her sisters do.

She will pick up the phone and says "ya"  and she loves disturbing her sister eating.

Farisha

Farisha Ramadhani, our youngest girl. 8 months old. She can already sit, crawl and try to stand. But she doesn't have anytooth yet.

She drinks breast milk and eat solid which I change every couple of days. Because the solids keep changing, she will eat the first bite suspiciously, taste it first before deciding to like it or not.

Here is a picture of her first bite of everymeal. Hahahaha.