expatpetitemom

Oh yes! This month is extra special for us because we met equally awesome girlfriends at the church. Since we don’t attend daycare yet and mostly at home all day, we need and love this great opportunity of interacting with other kids. Despite the fact that we’re shy and typically ignoring each other at first, my mom said: “first friendship is the real thing”. Okay, so I’m trying to sound like Chloe there. But I hope you did get the message across. I’m trying to expose Chloe to kids at her age to see if she’s good at socializing and if she's better than mine. Well, it can be overwhelming sometimes with kids running and yelling all around but it can be peaceful too when kept at a small number. A group of 2-3 kids is ideal when mixed with older ones. Good thing, Chloe is not possessive with her toys except to her favorite shows on youtube and that she’s a social butterfly after all. We just have to put extra effort on her progressing language skills to chat and e...

**Enter the giveaway below and get a chance to win a 3-months free subscription from Kidloland** Given the chance, Delle will organize a Sports League wherein Chloe and her friends get to wear team jerseys or shirts, line up and run around the field for a good entertaining match while us parents, stay nearby, cheer or join in the fun chasing our kids , if not the ball. Ha! Great! We're not pushing Chloe to star in sports yet but it seems like her love for outdoor games and sports launched in a little early and automatically. I don't know about you, but from that moment she begged daddy & mommy to buy that soccer ball on display, in high-pitch tone with matching tears on her eyes, I know it's  a good match to her personality. Of course, it takes time and patience to discover her lifelong source of enjoyment. And I know, no two children grow at the same rate or develop an interest in the same things but while other kids at her age further along with vocabu...

Hi Mommies, Is shower time always a struggle with your toddler? Here are few tricks I borrowed from other mommies that might help you turn bath time into a super fun and amazing mommy-baby bonding :) When Chloe refuses to take a shower, I try to make it fun by adding bubbles and her favorite toys in the tub. Once she sees me carrying her toys and towel to the shower room, she will follow right away. I even squeeze a little bit of shampoo for extra bubbles and splash it happily just to keep her busy. I sing silly songs, nursery rhymes, play ball games and pretend like we are swimming in a big wide pool. But a few weeks ago I was in a dilemma with Chloe's thinning hair due to hair breakage and hair fall. Her hair tends to get dry so I try to get away from applying shampoo straight to her hair and managed to use a wet washcloth when rinsing instead of directly pouring water to her head. Then, inst...

My persona has changed since I gave birth to Chloe and you may be wondering how much adjustment I am dealing with? I’m talking about a massive 360 degrees turn of personality from young-and-self-centered-me to a-feeling-40-year-old-lady who have a say to almost everything (solicited or not)! In short I’m from blah to blah blah blah and blah. Lol! Everyone who knows me will tell you how extremely quiet I am. When asked about certain topic or opinion I’m completely mum thinking that whatever I have to say wouldn’t matter anyway, because well, I’m afraid I lack the experiences and guts. But I realized, with a new responsibility in mind I can do something truly great in this lifetime. I can be the voice of the voiceless through my writing. That’s when I took my blogging to a whole new level a.k.a the annoying proud parent. I think Chloe wants me to die with sweetness ayie :) And this mother’s day I want to give emphasis and address the poor health care (OR THE LAC...

While it’s true that I’m presently concerned with Chloe’s speech development I love the idea of exposing her to different languages aside from Tagalog presumably foreign ones like English and Thai. I know it would be extremely difficult for her to catch up and add more confusion to her slow speech progress but I’m looking into the longer-lasting benefits of hearing unique foreign sounds. And the catch is that kids learn languages more easily during these times while their brains are working feverishly great compared to mine. Yes, maybe she would have smaller vocabularies but I know she’s picking up countless words I’m telling her more than what she could actually say. I’m working on this by taking a video of her during our “study time with Chloe” sessions wherein I encourage her to repeat the words after me. This strategy works well when she’s busy playing or watching TV than forcing her to say it again over time. I noticed this when her Dad tried to copy my style but with a ...

The strange favorite of mine is how this little bunny follows me along and wants to be part of what I am doing. Being impatient at first, I tried to get things done quickly out of her sight. But I noticed her willingness to help and this eager desire to please me. She wants to be a good girl to mommy, I guess. Thus, the next time I did household chores like folding clothes; I let her keep her own garments inside the drawer, that’s her job! This role gave her a sense of incentive. One time I caught her nodding her head possibly taken aback by the idea that she’s a “big” girl now. The bonus point? Mommy got an instant adorable helper! I’m still in so much awe of her impressive ability to follow directions; “put it in the drawer”, “get your ball under the table” or “get your shoes and put it on”. Yes, I’m that sad statistics, the proud parent! J At this stage, she also has this never-ending questions of “ what’s that?” or simply “dat or sha” ( as my sister perceives it ) po...

Everything is a learning experience for me when it comes to motherhood. As a new mom living in a foreign country (away from my mother) I learn to love and adapt some ways in which foreign perspectives can add incalculable depth to my parenting styles - which is basically a mimic from my own upbringing.  I’ve been picking up clues and tips along the way essential to my child’s growth even before she was born.   And the first thing that caught my attention, which is currently one of my favorites, is how my Thai friends  gracefully braced themselves over children’s public behavior and giving their toddlers  A LITTLE MORE CONTROL OVER THINGS. And I’m not surprised by where this little action is leading to - nothing but clearly confident children . (I’m open to any of your arguments with regards to that last sentence hahaha ) I mean I found this fascinating because I was brought up in an environment with totally opposite POVs. They taught us to behave in th...

Dearest Chloe, I know you don’t understand languages by now but someday you will read this and smile. YOU MAKE THIS WORLD AS BEAUTIFUL AS YOU ARE! It’s the second year of your life and we’re celebrating your existence as usual. It gave me a kind of amusing floating feeling as I wrote to you how I mapped the upshot of your 2 nd birthday; how only a red hi-cut shoes goes well with your black little dress, how black backdrop will enhance the details of your party decorations, how seafood will bring new taste to lunch, that cake should arrive at 11 am sharp and that Daddy and me will only wear the shades of red." And we will stick to it" I told Daddy.  But truth be told, I wasn’t part of the uphill struggle at all.  I did little to nothing. And to make up for my shortcomings, my part of the show came down to this: to relay and narrate to you the true behind-the-scene story. I want you to remember and thank these people who became part of your own litt...