Proud of my girls

I had been so busy last month and I delayed taking Yan Yan for her 12th month vaccinations till Friday. Instead of taking her to her regular paediatrician at the hospital where she was born, I took her to Yiu Yiu's regular paediatrician instead. After the usual drills of measuring her length and head circumference, she asked me to stand and carry Yan Yan so she could inject at her thigh. I suggested to breastfeed Yan Yan instead (something the paediatrician, also a lactation consultant and breastfeeding advocate, regularly recommended during Yiu Yiu's time). So while Yan Yan got comfortable suckling away, the paediatrician poked the needle into her thigh, and there wasn't even a whimper from her – she happily continued suckling away.

For my records, she now weighs 8.6kg, is 76cm in length and has a head circumference of 45.5cm. I'm amazed that she grew 5cm in less than three months. She's definitely bigger and taller than her che-che, coz Yiu Yiu was around this height and weight when she was about 2 years old.

Later in the afternoon, after much procrastination, I went to the dentist for my supposed 6-monthly-but-dragged-till-12-monthly dental check-up. As with last year, I took Yiu Yiu along.

Playing happily while waiting for our turn

I was concerned that the decay at her two upper front teeth had gotten worse and there is now a visible black hole.

Can you spot my rotten teeth?

Since it wasn't bothering her, the dentist recommended leaving it alone as her permanent teeth will erupt in the next year or so.

However, she discovered several tiny cavities on Yiu Yiu's molars and recommended that those be fixed instead, since the permanent molars won't erupt until she's nine or ten. She immediately did a filling on one tiny caries, and to our surprise, my little champion was cool and calm throughout the procedure. She sat still and kept her mouth open and the dentist completed the filling in a jiffy.

She was so relaxed while the dentist checked on her mouth. She even had one arm under her head :-)

Cool and calm throughout, despite the many instruments in her mouth

It really helped that the dentist was really good in handling children and Yiu Yiu was very much at ease with her. In fact, she was really looking forward to the visit when I told her I'd be bringing her to the dentist. I'm glad she had a pleasant first visit to the dentist last year, so she totally has no dentist-phobia. She needs two more 30-min appointments to fill the rest of the cavities.

As for me, same message of needing to floss to prevent tartar buildup, which I find so challenging to do. Not that I hate flossing but having to care for both girls alone most nights, I'm lucky if I even get to do a proper brushing!!! And I had to replace the crown on one of my molars as it was chipped and food keeps getting trapped in the crevice.