Happy Halloweeny... Arrggghhh...

This is Dan Dan first year of trick-or-treating and also daddy and mommy's first. If I had done this before, I would have planned it better. Luckily, he's still too young to understand what this is all about and won't blame me for the uneventful trick-or-treating.



We planned to take Dan dan to Tanforan Mall to go TOT because he's so cold outside. Thinking the mall would be a safe and warmer alternative. Unfortunately, mommy had a late meeting at work and by the time I picked him up at daycare and get to the mall, it's almost 6 p.m. All the stores were out of candies and we only got THREE candies out of all whole mall (even though this is not a big mall). Mang.. that's horrible! Thank goodness, Dan Dan didn't know any better and he wasn't very into it anyways. When we got home after dinner, it was already 7:30 p.m. and it's getting cold. Daddy would definitely not let me take Dan Dan out and I was too tired anyways. So we stayed home and gave out candies for 30 mins before Dan Dan's shower and bedtime routine.


Luckily, because of the mid-day doctor's appointment, I had Dan Dan with me most of the day until I dropped him off at day care at around 2:30 p.m. There's a Halloween party at work and I brought him with me and showed up his little pirate outfit. Of course everyone said he's a cutie pie, and my staff got to meet him for the first time. Since I work at a different office now, my other co-workers haven't seen Dan Dan in a long time. It's nice for them to see and play with him again, even though we didn't stay for long. Instead of partying, Dan Dan was mostly interested in playing with all the cabinets, doors and drawers. At least Dan Dan wore his pirate costume all day!

Separation Anxiety?

So we went to see the pediatrician today to find out if Dan Dan had an ear infection that caused him waking up almost every night. Turns out he's fine and despite some ear wax, no ear infection. So we just talked about the sleepless nights. Since there hasn't been any stress or change in Dan Dan's life or routine, and he wakes up at various times, the doctor said it's probably separation anxiety. This is what she suggested:

- a small night light because he might be scared when he wakes up and doesn't see mommy
- mommy will need to sleep in the same room with him to soothe him if he wakes up crying (not whimpering or whining in his REM sleep)
- do not pick him up or turn on the big light; just pet and soothe to make sure mommy is here
- once he seems better, move the mattress in his room a little farther away but still in his room
- eventually mommy goes back to her room

Doctor also recommended the book by Dr. Richard Ferber, 2nd edition of "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems". She said it gotta be the 2nd edition, as the 1st edition has some controversial methods. Of course this is the doctor that's famous for the Crying-It-out Ferber method. As the doctor said, there's much to the CIO method than just letting your kid cry. I guess that's a very broad generalization and misunderstanding of his method. I'll see if I can find that book at the library so I don't have to buy it.

I am hoping Dan Dan won't wake up tonight as he's too tired today and we got him a nice fluffy pillow, just like how he likes to sleep on our comforter. He slept well last night, hopefully he'll sleep well tonight again. October is almost over, I am hoping for a better November.

It's that time of the year to get sick...+... sleepless nights

We are all sick this week. First it's mommy catching a cold, then spreading it to daddy. Lastly, Aidan caught it, too. I think daddy and mommy got it a lot worse than him. He just ran around with a runny nose and coughing a little. With us, we had to call in sick from work.

We're supposed to go to a Pumpkin Carving event and a Halloween party yesterday. But since we're all sick, we just basically stayed home and didn't do much. It's a shame coz I wanted Aidan to wear his pirate costume. Actually, I wanted the whole family to wear the pirate costumes. Now we'll just have to resort to Halloween day trick-or-treating and pray for nice weather.

More sleepless nights for Aidan. I am not sure what has been happening to him. He hasn't been sleeping well for this whole month of October. Spooky! I think there were about 5 nights in October where he slept through the night and I actually got to sleep through the night. He's been waking up screaming for no reason. When we're on our trip, it took me 2 hours to get him to sleep, which I could understand because it's a new environment. But even before he went on the trip, he's been waking up.

2 nights ago, it was so bad that he woke up screaming like someone was torturing him. I worry our neighbors would call the cops and think that we're torturing him. Took me a while to get him back to sleep... with us. Last night, because we're all not feeling very well, daddy had to actually sleep on the couch, while mommy slept with Aidan in bed. Of course I didn't sleep very well because I worry Aidan might roll off the bed. I had to periodically wake up to check on him.

I hope this is only a developmental stage and this will pass. October is ending soon, and these night terrors (maybe?) or nightmares (maybe?) better stop!

So much to say...

So much has happened since my last blog. I've been wanting to write all about it: S. Cali trip, sleepless nights, and pumpkin patch experience. However, now that time has passed, I don't feel like writing everything down anymore. Maybe just a brief update.

Oct 10-13
We drove down to S. California to visit Disneyland, California Adventures park and Legoland. We first stopped at Harris' Ranch for some yummy meat and then dinner at Downtown Disney. I had one of the best Mac and Cheese at Catal Restaurant.

Second day, we went to Disneyland. Overall it was a great experience and I think Aidan had fun. The only lousy experience was trying to meet Mickey Mouse at Toontown. There were soooo many people (you couldn't tell when you first lined up), and the line was moving super slow. We just left after half-way through Mickey's enormous house. California Adventures was fun as well. Aidan's favorite was the water park. Anything water was fun to him! The same day after California Adventures, we drove down to San Diego, checked-into Doubletree Del Mar and headed out for dinner. The following day, we drove up to Carlsbad to Legoland. I was a little disappointed. I heard this is a great park for little kids, but Aidan was a little TOO little. He didn't meet most of the height requirements (34") but he did spend a lot of time at the water park area. It's more fun if your kids are over 34" because the lines weren't that long and kids all seemed to have fun. We drove back home the following day.

What I learned from this trip, is not to jam packed so many theme parks! I should have stayed in Anaheim another day, instead of driving down to San Diego. Just too much too little time. Also, next time we're definitely flying. Sitting in a car with a 21-month old is not fun anymore. It was too long a drive for Aidan and for us.