Andrea's Rambling Notes - once from Japan, now from Canada

::Andrea's Rambling Notes - once from Japan, now from Canada::

My notes and my memories: sometimes about a mom - sometimes about a wife - sometimes about a woman - sometimes about our life

::Author::

Name::Andrea
From::Small city/town, B.C., Canada
I am a short girl from the west cost of BC, Canada and I am a proud Canadian. I went to Japan in 2000 because my Dad told me I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't. He was right. I lived a good life found my husband from the other side of the world and have a beautiful daughter. Basically we lead a pretty normal life filled with normal ups and downs. We both come from different cultures: me Canadian, him Chinese. Living in Japan was a real eye opener about who I am and about the people I associate myself with. I lived and loved in Japan but the time to move on came upon us and in May of 2006 we left and moved to Canada: a huge move for us all. We are now trying to start up again, remodel our lives and create our future for our family. I now feel like a tourist in the country of my birth, my eyes see different and my life will be forever changed. This blog is my notes and observations of our life, our changes, our adventures and new beginnings. Welcome.
View my complete

::Recent Entries::

::Personal Links::

My Japanese Culture Teaching Notes

::My Family's Sites::

Alisha - a site set up by friends and family of my little sis

Phrax - my step-brother

Blue Mountain Stable

::Index::

An Index of past posts - the Japan Years

::Archives::

::Image Event Album::

My Image Event Photo Album

::My FlickR Photos::

www.flickr.com

::Tech Sites::

Tech2all

Blog Flak

::Extra Internet Info::

Canadian Atlas

National Geographic

Wikipedia

World TimesZones - please check this BEFORE calling me!

Currency Converter

eigoNavi - a pretty good language converter

The Samurai Appliance Repair Man - a funny repair site for N

::World News::

Generation Woman

Japan Times

Counter Punch

Japanese General Union - a must! read before working in Japan

::RSS Feed::

Blogarama

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Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Sleep is a luxury

JiXiang is making my nights hellish at the moment.
I am blaming this all on a growing spurt and keep reminding myself that ‘this too will pass’.

It used to be that she would go to sleep around 8ish and sleep very well until 3am. There might be the odd dream induced cry but it was quickly dealt with by a soft humming and pat on the back. She would then sleep until 7:30ish am, and be awake at the perfect time for getting ready to go to work. I was very comfortable with her schedule and she was sleeping well.

The dream has passed and the nightmare has set in. Sleeping is a luxury for me that JiXiang does not worry about. Her objective in life is to play, play, play, and eat until her tummy explodes.

I have a kid who eats TONS for dinner and has become an overly active monster. She pigs out during her 6pm dinner, has a bath and then is a full active freak for many more hours. She demands some of the dinner that we are eating and then pigs out some more breastfeeding. It used to be that she would have her nighttime breastfeed and then comfortably fall asleep shortly after. Now she breastfeeds bounces back up and starts going crazy in her playroom.

I have come to the conclusion that my breast milk should be sold as an energy elixir.

I have tried many tactics.

Don’t feed her until she is looking very tired. (This has failed as she just screams non-stop until I breastfeed her and then she bounces back up again.)

Try to make her playing as active as possible to make her more tired. We have done the crawling races, the hand held walking all over the apartment, as well as numerous other games. (This seems to work but she still pops back up after breastfeeding or being laid down in her bed.)

I have started warming her bed a bit so it is more comfortable. NOPE.

If she looks like she could pass out no problems by 6:30, we have let her fall asleep immediately after her bath. (Total backfire. She goes and wakes up at 4 in the morning all bright and chipper, ready for a new day.)

We have also just left her alone until she tells us she is ready for bed.

Unfortunately this last tactic has been the only one that works. The result is:
Monday: bed at 11:30pm
Tuesday: bed at 10:30pm
Wednesday: bed at 11:00pm
Tonight I am praying for close to 10:00.
NOT.

On an interesting developmental note, we have noticed some really amazing changes in the way she plays and does things lately.

My Monday night lady first noticed these changes this week. She noticed that JiXiang was no longer just fingering her little piano thingy to make noise. Now she is actually listening to the noise she makes. She actually cocks her head to one side and listens to the difference in the notes.

Last night she and I were playing together and I found (in the deep dark corner of her huge toy box) her little pan harp thingy. I started to blow into it and make noises. Instead of her trying to take it from me, she went over to her piano thingy and started to play notes, then looked at me to continue. We were actually creating our own little band.

She has not really been able to master the pan harp. She has not been able to figure the blowing out thing. Last night, after our band debut, she walked over to me and took the pan flute out of my mouth and tried to blow into it. Didn’t work so she put it back into my mouth. I over exaggerated my blowfish mouth and made some more sounds for her. After trying and having me show her a few more times, Ji succeeded in making a noise. I think I was happier than she was.

Then there are the kitchen cupboards. There are two cupboards that are JiXiang safe and we let her tear them apart. In the past it has been just that: tear apart, then move on to the next interesting thing. Well last night she tore them apart and then PUT EVERYTHING BACK INSIDE!! Li and I just stared in amazement. I told JiXiang, thank you, and she just complained because she couldn’t get the popcorn bag to stay in: it kept falling out.

My little girl is growing sooooooo fast. Today she is 10 months!!!

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Posted by (Top)Andrea::11/30/2005 :: 10 Comments:

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