THE REAL {AND OFTEN TERRIFYING} SIDE OF PARENTING, AS TOLD BY THREE-TIME POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION SURVIVOR, MAMA SAIGH: FORMER TV REPORTER + PRODUCER, TURNED FULL-TIME MOM, WIFE, BLOGGER + CONTRIBUTOR FOR THE JASON SHOW. WE WERE MINNESOTA EXPATS LIVING IN SINGAPORE FROM 2012-2015, AND ARE NOW BACK IN MN AS A FAMILY OF FIVE {2 PARENTS + 3 KIDS}. FOLLOW THE EVERYDAY REALITY SHOW THAT IS OUR LIFE, ON INSTAGRAM (@MELISSASAIGH). IS IT WINE O'CLOCK YET?!
AJ took Linna to the park today, and this is how they spent their time...
Poor little bug was so dizzy, but she looks like she had a blast after that spinning session!
We also went to Vivo City to have some lunch and take Linna in for her first hair cut. While we couldn't bare to cut Linna's hair just yet, AJ decided to take Linna shopping at Toys R' Us instead:)Maybe we'll try a hair cut next week. Something needs to be done about her little mullet, but it's so hard to say goodbye to her "baby" hair!
I love when Papa buys me presents!
AJ did this for 20 minutes in the HOT and humid Singapore
weather. Dad of the Year!
Since we'll be in Singapore until November 11th, we'll be missing our election by a few days. So today, I registered to vote overseas. I'm not at all a "political person", but when it comes to having my voice heard and being a part of decisions that will shape my daughter's future, you can be certain that I will be a part of our country's presidential election!
One issue on the Minnesota ballot this year that I am very passionate about, is the freedom for ALL loving couples to marry. To be clear, I will VOTE NO on November 6th, 2012 (well, I will be sending in my ballot earlier, but I will still be voting NO). It makes me so sad to think that Minnesota could pass a constitutional amendment limiting the freedom to marry for committed and loving couples. Why does the thought of two people of the same sex having the right to get married scare so many people?
What if my daughter falls in love with another woman when she's older, and they want to celebrate the unity of marriage? Marriage is a beautiful commitment between two people who love each other, and I can't imagine her not being able to express her love in the way that I was able to do with my husband. I want my daughter, and all people, to have the same rights as everyone else, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, or race.
According to the last census, 16% of the more than 10,000 gay and lesbian couples in Minnesota were raising children. That's a lot of people, and in my opinion, ALL of these couples should have the right to celebrate their love in the unity of marriage. Why would we ever want to limit this freedom?
The beauty of living in America, is that we are all free to express our own opinions, and we have a say in our political process. Even though our individual vote plays such a small part in our election process, it's SO important for each of our voices to be heard. I hope that one day, my daughter is able to look back on this blog post to see that her mom decided to be part of the decisions that shape her future.
Whether you're overseas, or living in Minnesota, please do your part and register to vote! Let your voice be heard, and participate in the many decisions that WILL have an impact on not only our lives, but the lives of our children.
Linna is well on her way to becoming a self-sufficient adult. Earlier this week she gave up her bottle, and today she started feeding herself with a spoon! She dug her spoon right into her bowl, and brought bite after bite of her dinner up and into her mouth. She seemed pretty pleased with herself, as she should be. Now, about that walking...
After months of trying to come up with a game plan for how we're going to stop giving Linna a bottle, this week, she decided to give it up all on her own. HALLELUJAH!
Linna has never been super attached to her bottle (or "ba" as we call it), but at a year we decided to limit her bottle feedings to once at night. Since bed time is our cuddle time, her bottle kind of played a big role in putting her to sleep. We also played with the idea of waiting until we returned to Minnesota to get rid of the bottle, as we have a 19-hour plane ride coming up in a month. However, three nights ago while Linna was having her bottle, she decided to chew off the entire end of the nipple. So... BYE BYE BOTTLE!
I kind of freaked out at first because she won't really drink milk out of her sippy cup, so her 8 oz. night time bottle was her only milk intake throughout the day (it's recommended that children between one to two years of age get 12-24 oz. each day). She does however eat cheese, and I make her smoothies with yogurt in them. After the "nipple-gnawing fiasco", I decided that this was going to be the end of the bottle, and Linna would just need to learn to drink milk from her sippy cup.
Since that night, Linna hasn't had a bottle before bed, and I just give her milk throughout the day (with her meals) in her sippy cup. She also has a sippy cup of milk before bed. She may be drinking the same amount, if not more milk than she was with her night time bottle feeding. I also give her water and orange juice during the day in her sippy cup (along with a liquid multi-vitamin).
After eliminating the bottle, Linna is still sleeping through the night (7:30 p.m. - 7:30 a.m.), and nothing really has changed. At Linna's one-year pediatrician check-up (before we left for Singapore), our ped suggested that we get rid of the bottle sooner rather than later, as kids can grow more and more attached to it. Although it was a bit of a messy situation (milk everywhere), I'm thankful that Linna bit the end off her bottle nipple, and made an easy transition into the bottle-free world!
Although we're now a bottle-free household, this means my baby is getting further and further away from being an actual baby. I guess I need to consider her a toddler now, and work on having another baby;)
Since we're in Singapore, it's only fitting that Linna take some fun Mandarin classes, as Mandarin Chinese is spoken by many people who live here. We enrolled Linna in a few classes at the Chengzhu Mandarin Centre of the Julia Gabriel School, located in the Rochester Mall. It's just a quick MRT ride there and back, and well worth the trip!
Art project time.
Snack time.
Our classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and they last about an hour and a half. They ONLY speak Mandarin Chinese in these classes, which not only helps Linna learn, but I picked up on some things as well. There's music, dancing, play time, snack time, art projects, and of course playing with other children. Some of the children speak only Mandarin, while others speak a little Mandarin, some English, and other languages as well.
The teachers (or "Laoshi" in Mandarin) are so animated, and play very closely with the children. They do a great job showing an object or demonstrating a movement, then saying the Mandarin word very clearly for the children to understand. I learned how to say "hello" (ni hao), "thank you" (xie xie - pronounced "she she"), and "monkey" (houzi) during our classes so far!
Linna's first art project at Chengzhu.
We especially love the theatre performances that the teaches do in class. The Chengzhu Mandarin Centre's objective is to motivate students to express themselves at their best, and theatre plays a big part in this. Linna was glued to each and every performance in our classroom!
The teachers also lead the children in songs and dance, and even have a live keyboard player, which all the children flock to. Linna literally rocks out during this time in class! The girl loves to dance.
The school provides a snack and juice/water at the end of class, which is most of the kids' favorite part of the afternoon. We always go home with one of Linna's art projects, which we proudly post on our refrigerator in Singapore. This school also has SO Many fun toys! It's just like our ECFE classes in Minnesota, where all the toys are brand new for each child, so they could play for hours.
If we were in Singapore for a longer period of time, I would register Linna for these PlayNest classes. Linna is having a blast and has met other children from all around the world. I wonder if she's actually absorbing the information she's being taught.
Two Minnesota mommy and baby thumbs up for the Chengzhu Mandarin Centre!
I was very excited to see that Patch News in Minnetonka wrote an article about Singapore Sam this morning! I love that this little green frog is not only connecting MY family with the first-graders at St. Mary's in Worthington, MN, but it's allowing others to follow our adventures in Asia as well. Thanks for the nice article Patch!
A Minnetonka resident is using her trip to the other side of the world to educate a classroom of students about other cultures.
Melissa Saigh, her husband AJ and their 14-month-old daughter, Linna are living in Singapore temporarily for AJ’s job. The Saighs arrived in August and plan to return to Minnetonka in November.
The family smuggled a guest with them on their adventures. He is a green stuffed frog who goes by the name Singapore Sam, and he has become a learning tool for a first-grade classroom in Minnesota.
Melissa's aunt, a teacher at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Worthington, sent Singapore Sam with the Saighs to connect her students with other areas of the world. The story was featured recently in the Worthington Daily Globe.
The Saighs have snapped photos of Singapore Sam at all the places they've visited in Asia, such as Thailand, Chinatown and the Singapore Flyer.
"Every now and then, I Skype with Mrs. Johnson's first-grade class at St. Mary's, and the kids can ask questions about basically anything they want," Melissa wrote in her blog Minnesota Baby "Mrs. Johnson says they have been following our adventures in Singapore daily."
Melissa is a former television producer and Minnetonka Patch reporter turned full-time stay-at-home mom, mommy blogger and on-air brand ambassador.
