B A B Y L O V E

Nugra's short story

2008-09-24T04:50:00.000-07:00

This is a short story Nugra did a few weeks back. I was playing with the MemoPad on my BB, typing details about myself such as my name, my age, my office, etc. My goal was to show Nugra the idea of introducing oneself to another. He took the bait and started to tell a story about his dog. Enjoy!

"Nugra is in home. Nugra has a dog. His name is Doggie. And he has a nose. His nose is one small nose. When it is itchy, he scratches with his feet. And he is hungry, he likes rice and bones. Big bones. Doggie likes big bones. But doggie does not eat small bone. Now he likes to drink milk. When he is asleep, he sleeps on morning and he wakes up at home. And the car beeps, we hear the horn, like this: beep beep. And Doggie barks like this woof woof. And pakde pujut open the gates. That's all today. Now we have to go to bed. Bye bye. Sweet dreams. We see you next time. Not now telephone. You have to go to sleep telephone. Good night. Sleep tight. "

Reading Aloud to Your Children

2008-09-15T08:23:00.001-07:00

A new friend from work just lent me her book titled "The Read-Aloud Handbook" by Jim Trelease. For those of you interested on the content: "the book offers proven techniques and strategies, along with reasons, to help children discover the pleasures of reading and setting them on the road to becoming lifelong readers".

I went straight to Chapter 4 "The Dos and Don'ts of Read-Aloud". What I learn from here is that you must always try to engage the audience, starting with the first time you show the book to them Ask them what do they see from the cover, can they guess what the story would be about, amd it between ask them of what they think will happen next. And to never use book as a threat, which happened before in my family, because the children can change their attitude about book once they see that we use it as a weapon.

I tried it rightaway. I have recently bought Keiko Kasza's books from that new friend. I was planning to save them for birthday gifts for Nugra's or Kahya's friends. But I got so intrigued by one of the cover and decided that I am going to open it, read it to my children and purchase a new one.

The book is called "Dorothy and Mikey", it has 3 short stories about a friendship between 2 hippos. I was drawn to it because I want to expose Nugra to more social story to help him interact more with his peer. Needless to say that I think I made the right choice, Nugra like this book instantly. I think he can see himself in the same situation, the situation where he always want to be the winner or when sometimes he want to just be left to play alone. I was hoping he can pick up some of the conversation in this book and replay it in his daily situation. Nugra is notorious in scripting, that is repeating what he saw and/or read from books or movies. So book like "Dorothy and Mikey" or other social story book is much better than fiction books that he likes alot.

The last chapter from the "Read-Aloud Handbook" has a list of books that are good for reading aloud. I search them on Amazon.com and decided to purchase these items:

"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" by Barret
"Eddie: Harold's Little Brother" by Koch
"Ira Sleeps Over" by Waber
"Miss Nelson is Missing" by Allard
"The Seven Silly Eaters" by Hoberman
"The Wolf Who Cried Boy" by Hartman
"Two Times the Fun" by Cleary

Kahya's first week at Playgroup Gita Niti

2008-04-22T00:57:00.000-07:00

Last week, the nanny was called to prepare Kay's lunch. Kay already sat nicely and waited patiently for his meal. The teachers and other nannies are still busy chasing around his classmates. After his meal is set, his nanny left him so he could learn how to feed himself. Not long after that, when the teachers are ready to lead prayer, they were shocked to see that Kay's plate is already empty....... LOL..... Poor Kay, he was so hungry that he could not wait for his friends to get settled down.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from XL GPRS/EDGE/3G network

Self Introduction

2008-04-10T00:40:00.000-07:00

So this is the material that I have been going through with Nugra since last week. The goal is for him to be able to introduce himself and to talk a little bit about himself.

So it the sequence is
* My name is.....
* My birthday is on....
* I am .... years old
* I live at Jl.....
* My mom's name is.....
* My dad's name is....
* My brother's name is....
* I live with my.....

The next step is to talk more about his school, his friends, things he love to do, etc. My goal is by the end of next week, Nugra will be able to do all of the above without any cue. And after that is to be able to answer questions correctly involving all the previous details.
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Casein Free Gluten Free Soy Free

2008-04-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

Starting last year, when Kay's eczema was at its worst, I decided to go casein free gluten free and soy free. Soy was the only allergen showing positive on his skin prick test. However I observed more itchiness and hyperactivity when casein and gluten were included in his diet.

So, I changed his whole diet and below is the list of what food he can have.

Breakfast: Regular flavor oatmeal by Quaker, fried japanese ubi, vegetable fried rice, home made french fries.

Snack: banana, apple, orange, pear, plain rice krispies cereal.

Lunch/Dinner: rawon, japanese sukiyaki, salmon croquette, empal, lamb or beef meatball, fried gurame, spaghetti aglio olio with salmon, vegetable soup

I am currently looking for more rice-based meal or snack to enhance Kay's diet. I will post lunch and dinner recipes later this week.
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"Ayo main"

2008-04-07T02:32:00.000-07:00

Kahya is getting more and more verbal. Some phrases he uses everyday are " ayo main", "mama where are you", "see you soon", "hai mama". He knows almost everybody's name in our home. The pronounciation is still not clear and we repeat the correct way to say them everytime so he would mimic it. According to Kay's speech therapist, he is good at imitating 2 syllable word that ends with vowels, such as "papi dadi mami pipa" etc.

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First mobile blogging

2008-04-06T00:20:00.000-07:00

This is gonna be my first mobile blogging from my brand new blackberry (thank you honey :)). So hopefully this works.

I am so excited to do this since I can write all the details on my children's progress right at the moment it happens.

As of Kay, this is his second week on speech therapy. Pak Rahmat, the therapist, told me that Kay is his best patient on his "under 2yrs-old" category. Kay is able to sit for the entire 60 minutes session and follow all the instruction willingly. Kay is now able to do 2 word commands such as: "ayo main", "mama duduk", "minta elmo". He also has learned good manner and always say "permisi" and "makasih".

As for Nug, I am now teaching him basic information about his birthday and his age. I am planning to teach him about his home address and phone number for this week material. I just realized how important repetition is and I must always remind myself to be more patient with him.

So I am posting this now. Crossing my fingers ;)

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First day on Speech Therapy

2008-03-26T04:18:00.000-07:00

March 26th, 2008 is Kahya's first session of speech therapy with Pak Rahmat. It was more to play therapy since it is still very difficult to make Kay sit for the entire 60 minutes. Pak Rahmat brought flash cards and plastic animal toys to get Kay's attention. The goal is to broaden his vocabulary and practice making correct sound.

As of Kay's first week in total Bahasa Indonesia, we are amazed at how quickly he picked up some of the children's songs. He likes the tune of Burung Kakatua, he could sing the first sentence....."burung kakak tua"...and also "topi saya bundar" .... just because the tunes are the same. He is also able to sing "cicak cicak di dinding".

English or Bahasa Indonesia?

2008-03-21T17:46:00.000-07:00

So.... Kahya needs speech therapy. We went for evaluation with Dr. Ira at Klinik Pela 9 last wednesday, and she confirmed that Kahya needs more stimulation to push him to talk more. She, and the psychologist Ibu Anne, suggested that Kahya does speech therapy for 2 times a week.

Now, I am debating whether to do it in English or Bahasa Indonesia. We have a really good Bahasa Indonesia therapist, but since Kakak Nugra is now speaking mostly in English, I wonder if it is wiser to do it in English.

I googled and found this good site about early speech and language development:

http://mommyspeechtherapy.com/

The author is a mother of two children who is also a speech pathologist. The sites contain exercises and tips that you can do at home.

Nugra's Yearly School Performance

2008-03-21T05:28:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, March 15th, we were invited to Nugra's end-of-school-year performance called "Indonesiaku". We came to school around 8 to give plenty of time for Nugra to get dressed and ready. The costume was a pair of black shirt and pants with songket balapak. He was also wearing songket-patterned head-wrist band.

The performance started at around 9. The kids entered singing "Berkibarlah Benderaku" while waving their miniature national flag. Kakak was very good, he smiled and very proudly sang throughout the opening number without any hesitation. The second song was "Beungong Jumpa" with all the children dancing Tari Saman. Following that, all the children sang "Yamko Rambe Yamko" with choreographed pom-pom dance. The next song are about becak, kancil and kuda lumping. I am giving 2 thumbs-up since the school prepared lots of props for this performance. The second to last performance was "Pepaya Mangga Pisang Jambu" song. Kakak Nugra acted as Tukang Buah Apel. This was an interactive number, the parents were given opportunity to act as buyer. The school give us monopoly money as props to be used to buy the fruits. Lastly, the children leave the stage by singing "Sayonara".

I am very very very proud of Kakak Nugra. He is very comfortable, very relax, very confidence in all of the show. He remembered all of his songs and dances. He was able to calm his nerves and regulate himself. All of the therapy has paid off. I am again, a very very happy mother.

Tackling food allergies

2007-12-24T03:49:00.000-08:00

Kahya woke up this morning with some eczema on his faces. It is on his corner of his left eye, right eyebrow, right chin, and on both lower arms. It could be from the Blackcurrant ice tea he drank the other day after he finish playing at the PlayMall. Or it could also be from the Elle&Vire YagGo yogurt we tried on these past few days.

I am thinking of going completely Casein Free again for another 2 weeks to see if it will bring improvement to his hyperactivity and frequent tip-toe walking. This is a good link of how to start a Gluten Free Casein Free (GFCF) diet:
http://www.talkaboutcuringautism.org/gfcf-diet/gfcf_diet_10_weeks.htm

What I am afraid of going completely Casein Free is that he will be calcium deficit. I am now supplementing him with 1 tsp of Osteocare which contains Calcium 150mg, Magnesium 75mg, Zinc 3mg, Vit D3 1.9 mcg. But I think I will give it a go starting tomorrow. As of supplement, he is now still on 1/2 tsp CLO from ChildLife and I added 1/2 tsp of Liquid Vitamin C (125mg).

As for Kakak, I am suspecting a Yeast Overgrowth as he is still tip-toe walking despite all the therapy and progress he is making in speech. This is a good link of checklist when something is does not seem quite right:
http://www.talkaboutcuringautism.org/medical/whatisit.htm

Kakak is scheduled to see Dr. Ira on Monday January 7th for his 3-months evaluation. I am hoping to hear some good news. I will also discuss the congestion on his nose and possible yeast overgrowth with advice on good probiotics.

New Supplement for This Week

2007-12-17T02:12:00.000-08:00

Yes! A new supplement regimen for Kahya, he is now taking 1 tsp of Osteocare and 1/2 tsp of ChildLife Cod Liver Oil. I stopped ChildLife Cal/Mag on him since he was developing rashes on his cheeks after the 1st week of use. I really think that we need to do IgG Elisa test on him. Since the prick skin test result only shows that he has major immediate sensitivity to soy while the delayed sensitivity that are actually the cause of his eczema.

The link of description of IgG Elisa is below:
http://www.betterhealthusa.com/public/282.cfm

OK, got to get off the computer now as Kakak is nagging me to play a game.

Fighting Eczema

2007-12-11T20:25:00.000-08:00

It was six months ago when Kay had his first eczema case. It started with a rash on his chin, that just got thicker, more red and looks like a clustered of small pimple. I already suspected an allergy reaction when we switched his formula to Pediasure. However, he was gaining a lot of weight and I just put that thought aside. Then it started to get worse right after I tried the vegetarian dinner and switched his milk to soya. The eczema was spreading to all his cheeks and neck.

We brought him to our pediatrician, which ask us to switch the formula to another soy brand and start watching out for Kay's diet. As an allergy sufferer myself, I know how it feels when you have eaten something bad. I am very allergic to fruits, the only fruits that I can eat are oranges, apples, papayas and watermelons. So I weaned him rightaway from my breast since it is more difficult controlling two person's diet instead of one.

Then we played around with different skincare treatment promising to cure eczema. Some has been sucessful, some has not. But with the help of Dr. Syawitri Siregar, we has managed to take control of his eczema. She tested Kay and it turns out that soy give him a positive on skin prick test. The other allergens such as milk, peanuts, dust tested negative.

As of today, the eczema is under control. Kay is off milk and dairy product (on Casein Free diet) and he is also rarely eats wheat (so almost Gluten Free). Skin care includes twice a day shower with Lactacyd and followed rightaway with Decubal lotion for his face and Vaseline for his body. He only eats rice, potato, rice pasta, carrots, beans, beef, salmon, apples, pears and banana. I am putting him on 1/2 tsp Cod Liver Oil for supplement.

Sensory Processing Disorder

2007-12-11T04:37:00.001-08:00

This is a link to a website containing free information and support to parents with child diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) or also known as Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID).

http://www.spdbayarea.org/

Here is another link about the importance of Fatty Acids on optimizing brain function, and findings on how children with ADHD, ADD and other neurological maladies often is caused by defficiency in fatty acids.

http://www.diannecraft.org/FattyAcidsArticle.html

My children supplementation program

2007-12-10T03:37:00.000-08:00

Kahya is now taking 1 tsp of Calcium/Magnesium and 1/2 tsp of Cod Liver Oil both by Child's Life. He started the CLO on Sunday December 3rd and Cal/Mag on Friday Dec 7th.

Nugra is now taking 1 tbsp of Calcium/Magnesium, 1 tsp of Cod Liver Oil both by Child'sLife, 1 tsp of Becombion Plus and 1 tsp of UltraGreen Juice by Natural Farm.

Kahya is still off milk and I can really see the difference on how calm he is now. No more screaming just to get my attention. No more spinning and bumping himself all around the room. More eye contact.

As for Kakak, he is just so superb. Talking all the time, both English and Indonesia. I am very very pleased. He is having a playdate tomorrow with Torrents at his place. Torrents and Kakak shares the same room at Sensory Integration therapy.

By the way I realy want to buy this book "Optimum Nutrition for your Child's Mind" by Patrick Holford.

Book Review

2007-12-10T03:18:00.000-08:00

I bought 2 books recently in order to understand better about Sensory Processing Disorder and to look for non-medical treatment.

The first book is called "Out of Sync Child" by Carol Stock Kranowitz. This is by far the best book in explaining sensory integration problem. It has different sections with typical case of children with tactile, proprioceptive and vestibular hipo and/or hipersensitivity. Each section start with comparison of kids with sensory problem to kids without sensory problems. Afterwards, the author include a checklist and suggestion of sensory diet suitable for the sensory profile.

The second book is "Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma and Allergies" by Kenneth Bock MD. I don't like this book simply because I think the author is too harsh on giving his anti-vaccination opinion. The example of the little boy whose "soul was taken" after the MMR vaccination is so scary that I began to doubt my decision on vaccinating both my children. If the reader is looking for medical and biomedical intervention than this is the book since it gives lengthy detail on nutritional, supplementation and medication therapy. The book also have a dedicated section on "Healing Program" which is a very complete article to be discuss with reader's care provider.

The Playground

2007-12-02T05:31:00.000-08:00

Went to The Playground at Kemang this afternoon. Got a full 60 minutes of total body workout for Kakak and Kay. Kakak is definitely better at his vestibular system. He crossed the high beam, walking with one hand holding on mine. This was the boy who 3 months ago crossed the high bridge by crawling.

As for Kay, he did not seem to like the swing now. This is quite strange, since on Jade's birthday party he was loving it so much. Well well now... no reason to become paranoid... But anyway I have started Kay on the 1/2 tsp CLO diet as of today. And if no eczema return, I will add up the Cal/Mag and vitamin C for him.

Kakak is also very talkative now. He likes to start talking about the direction whenever we are going out. "Which path Ma?"...."We turn left or right"... "Go straight Mama?".... "Is this your office Mama?"...."What color is your office Ma?".... hehehehe..... I am sooo relief...it took a very long and hard way to get into this... And I am planning to the best that I can so that he does not need anymore therapy by grade school.....

Safeyya Mahatis Simanjuntak

2007-12-02T05:26:00.000-08:00

I am officially the proudest aunt in the whole world. My newborn niece was born in Houston on December 1st, 2007 at 12.04pm, measuring 7.3lbs and 21 inches. Mom told me that she has a head full of thick black hair. Could not wait to see the pictures :)

ASTOR

2007-11-30T00:06:00.000-08:00

addicted to it... has to have it everyday... hmm....

I downloaded this article about fatty acids deficiency in children with dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD. will post the summary of the good informative part.

This morning, I went to Pela with Kakak to observe his weekly SI therapy with Ibu Indah. I am quite please to see the progress, he was able to focus and perform the program despite having 2 other kids in the same room. I wonder if the 1tsp CLO I gave in the morning was the cause. Hehehe too soon to tell but I do believe in good nutrition and all the "Your Body is Your Temple" stuff.... :)

Lazy Tuesday

2007-11-26T18:51:00.000-08:00

Only one class on Tuesday, and it's with MUFY. I wonder how many will show up today... it's so annoying that with bad grades their attendance is so poor... Well... at least I am doing my best... the result is up to them...

Anyway... I am beginning to wonder if Kay also has the same problem as Kakak. Maybe I am just being a paranoid (which is so me, by the way). Kakak is still on the same diet, 1 tsp of Ultra Green Juice, 1tsp of Becombion Plus, and 1 tbsp of Cal/Mag. Since this is the 3rd day, I will start with CLO tomorrow if no allergic reaction by the end of the day.

As for Kay, I will start the reading program again. It's been on and off since the sitter left for Lebaran.

Supplement Week 1

2007-11-25T01:55:00.000-08:00

So.....after reading a few chapter from "The Out of Sync Child" by Carol Stock Kranowitz, I decided to give Kakak a try on the supplements. I bought Calcium/Magnesium and Cod Liver Oil. Will start with 1 tablespoon of Cal/Mag tonight.

"Magnesium calms the brain"...and so other supplement like Essential Fatty Acid and GABA. Kakak has always been very difficult regarding his sleeping habit. Especially lately, he doesn't do naps and even without that, on average it will take him until 8:30 to finally doze off....