::BABY:: Where is my mummy?

I don't have the habit of getting my hair trimmed regularly. But once in a while, whenever I do get to my salon, I let my hairstylist make decisions for my hair. This time round was no exception, EXCEPT I didn't realise I now have a little boss to 'report' to.

 

This was before I had a haircut

 

Ivy suggested I go for the bangs look, and then pretty much went on to decide for me on the cut.

Since cut + wash + dye + blow would take too much time (I always stay past opening hours whenever I dyed my hair previously), she suggested I make another appointment to dye my hair since this time round I also want to bleach it (for a funkier color ;p)

 

But here's what Part 1 of my visit to the hair salon resulted in:

 

Major perplexed/confused baby who stared at me and then broke into a cry when I started speaking to him. Poor baby must have been so confused at this motherly figure who looked so much like but yet not exactly like his mummy!

Thursday evening: My mum had to help put him to sleep that night..

Friday: His face cringed when he saw me the next morning, only giving me a slight smile when I lifted up my fringe and thereafter ran into the safety of his gong gong's arms.

Sat: I was out on Friday night and he was already sleeping when I got home. He didn't get to see me until Saturday morning. Well, he did see me when he woke up for night feeds, but he's usually half awake during those feeds. But somehow, I guess he was still preoccupied with the weird mummy figure, he didn't sleep well that night. Some time in the night, he came and peer over the me lying down (hair difference not obvious) and smiled at me. And then lie down in contentment beside me. It was hot, he flipped and flipped and couldn't get back to sleep. So I got up to close the windows and on the aircon. That was it. He didn't see his mummy get up to close the windows. He saw the weird mummy and proceeded to crawl towards and sleep nearer to papa N -_-"

 

In the morning, he wasn't afraid of me anymore. He gave me a death stare and wouldn't let me touch him!

 

Took me a while to reintroduce myself to my baby!

Here's to our successful reunion!

Now, should I go ahead and dye my hair purple??!!

::BABY:: Milestone!

This week we celebrated D's birthday. I am talking about his first OFFICIAL birthday, not one of those half birthdays or quarter birthdays that papa and mommy threw on their whim and fancy just for the sake of celebrating. :D

 

I made these and sent them out through FB and whatsapp.

 

 

ONE

How did that happen so fast?!

We were just grasping around in our new roles and playing along with the parenting part. We've had our tears and laughter, agreements and disagreements, the good times and the bad times.

But each month, we look forward to the new surprises that unfold before us as D grows older. He keeps our endorphins level high with his new-found tricks!

So our days easily became months and those months just turned into a year!

 

Happy ONE YEAR OLD baby!

I really like this photo

D was playing peekaboo with the dining napkin over at a friend's wedding

::BABY MILESTONES:: Tamper tantrums

We didnt know what we signed up for when we went into a Joint Venture.

Each month, a surprise or surprises unfold themselves in front of us in the form of this little human being, which make us laugh and cry all at the same time. Oh! The wonders of parenting!  

Thankfully there's google on hand to equip ourselves with the latest information on what to expect during each month's developmental milestones! And hey! It is actually not so bad!!! Not so bad when you understand what you have just experienced, how long you are gonna experience it and that your baby's behavior falls under the the normal category according to general statistics!!

This month, we got the TEMPER TANTRUM!

Or maybe it was our little drama king at work -_-"

Nonetheless, we did get some form of ugly screaming, wailing, flailing, stiffening and kicking.

When that happened, we tried ignoring him and sitting farrrrrr farrrr away from all the drama. Ended up getting a baby who ended his drama..............and who then crawled over to our legs and begin his drama! lol! I didnt know to laugh or to cry! That's papa, sitting calmly in the background of all that drama, and mummy taking snapshots instead of pacifying him. I even got the act on face time to show the gramps! That's how we chose to deal with it - IGNORE. We want him to learn that throwing a tantrum doesnt get him anything!

 Here's what a parenting site has to say! 

Eleventh Month Baby Milestones: Communication

Eleven-month-olds realize that they’re unique people. They have a strong sense of their likes and dislikes, and they’ve learned to use their emotions to get what they want -- like throwing a temper tantrum when you try to take away a favorite toy. Your baby may already have discovered the word “no.” If so, you’ll probably be hearing it a lot.

Communication begins to take on a more mature rhythm at 11 months. Babies at this age can engage in a regular back-and-forth conversation. When you ask a question, you’ll get a response, although you probably won’t understand most of that response. When you name something -- like the family dog -- your baby can point at it. You’ll also probably notice that your baby has a longer attention span and can focus on you or a game for more than a few seconds at a time.

Source from: http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/baby-development-11-month-old

That's exactly what we experienced during the 11th month! :)

::BABY:: Sunburnt

I would have considered myself as an experienced mummy after being one for almost a year. I see to most of D's needs personally to make sure he is cleaned, bathed, groomed and fed. They may not always be on schedule, like how we would let a sandy D nap on our bed before he gets a bath or how we would let him scratch his face before we decide it was time for a nail trim. But thing is, they get done. Medically, we have even upgraded ourselves with enough knowledge to not have to run to the PD whenever.

 

But last weekend, we let our son become THIS.

 

I actually only found out hours later when I got him ready for a bath when I saw 2 shades of skin tone on him -_-" Talk about being an experienced mother! heh! Luckily he is still quite a happy baby under that painful lobster exterior. He didn't even fuss a bit! I just applied aloe vera gel very liberally over the night and the sun burnt miraculously disappear the next day!

 

It actually started as a happy occasion in the morning, where we brought our 2 babies to ECP to meet the other furbabies. 

 

There were a total of 4 furbabies, D and a 5yo. We got busy attending to the babies' needs, and chasing tails because every few minutes or so one of them would go wander off from the pack that, no one noticed our alfresco dining table was getting hot with the mid-day sun.

 

The doggles were smart and were already hiding under the table most of the time.

 

I remembered borrowing G's portable fan to cool D down, wiping off beads of sweat from his head on top of trying to feed him, hydrate him and picking up his minion which he dropped so many, MANY times.

 

Here he is being caught red handed trying to throw the minion (which we just picked up) back onto the floor again!!

And I also remembered looking under the table and having mild panic attacks when I did not see this baby several times! 

 

So at the end of the day, we had 2 very tired babies - Good thing being under the sun tire them out!

They KO for good amount of time that day!

 

And now we also know to keep a cap and the baby sunscreen handy at all times!

::BABY:: The Scary Green Monster!

When the only thing between him and mummy was the scary green monster that sucks things through its long black nose >.<

 

 

He crawled and paused several times in front of the monster.

And then plucked up enough courage to get past it! 

But when he decided to give it a go to get to his favourite person on Earth right now, it was a ZOOOMERANG and he went past the thing without stopping!!

 

That's my boy!!

So cute and hilarious watching him grow up like that!

 

Development Milestone:  Developing fears! ;p

::BABY:: Matchy Zebra Outfit

It's always harder to dress up the male specimen.

Boys' clothes usually just occupy a smaller area in the shop and I always find myself 'accidentally' browsing into the girly racks, only to have to retract back to my tiny shopping space.

 

But I figured since I am already deprived of the endless possibilities of dressing up a real life Barbie, I might as well milk the best out of what I have.

 

So besides the usual rompers, tshirts, jeans, shorts and jumpers, we have actually increased D's wardrobe to include superhero outfits (that's mostly male exclusive! err, yay!!), and recently, some animal outfits ;p

 

Before he gets too old to object having a dog cling on to his ankle, like this:

 

 

Or having a ridiculous animal tail on his butt, like this:

 

Outfit from Chatuchak market

Soft toy from Mothercare

 

AND COINCIDENTALLY,

Almost squealed when I realised how mitchy matchy we were!

Never thought you could do a mitchy matchy with a son right?!

::BABY:: Tasting Strawberries!

It's always nice to find ourselves in a baby-friendly restaurant whenever we have our little diner in tow. We make do with his pram otherwise, but it's always a bonus when he gets a high chair and be seated at the same level with us at the table.

 

DA PAOLO pizza bar is definitely very baby-friendly in this aspect!

D got himself a kids' menu, a colouring pencil and paper, a cup of cold water with straw - all of which he couldn't appreciate right now because he's too young for a kiddo sized meal (and I brought along his jar of Heinz food), cant hold a colour pencil yet and hasn't learnt how to drink from a straw (and who gives a baby icy cold water?)!

 

He also got A LOT of attention from the waitress, which he didn't reciprocate after a while and finally some free strawberries from the chef!

 

I figured the only thing my son could do to at least show his appreciation was to eat the strawberries! After all, that's something he is very adept in - EATING!

 

BUT. 

 

My little man didn't quite appreciate the strawberries too!

Excuse me while I go teach my son some manners ;p

::BABY:: First Swim!

From a baby who hated his baths during the first month, D grew to love the waters.

These days, bath time takes a little longer because we will have to do the splash splash splash and the kick kick kick. His mood takes a change when we put him in a tub. He doesn't even mind when we pour water over his head. There was once papa accidentally let him slip under the water in the tub, and he frantically pulled the submerged baby up only to find a grinning smiley baby. ;p So hubs had a theory that babies know how to hold their breath under water! But of course I didn't allow him to test out the theory any further! grrr..

 

Anyway, so we thought D might be ready for the pool!

Babies can swim from the moment they are born. A lot of baby spas offer a clean and controlled environment for little babies to swim in. But we didn't want to pay that kind of money. So we waited until he was old enough to go to a public pool.

 

Here's our happy little man, decked in his BATMAN swimsuit!

My man's got a charming smile! :)

 

D practising his kicks and grabbing on to his favoritest bath ball.

 

The water was cold but he didn't mind at all.

So I think we have would be doing a lot of this on a regular basis! :D

::BABY MILESTONES:: At 10 months

D's development this month had been nothing short of amazing!

 



1. Sit up from a rest position

He started doing this occasionally a few weeks ago and must have mastered it perfectly while staying at the gramps place for a week (while we nursed and quarantined a case of adult HFMD at home). I had no idea when I collected back my baby until it was bedtime and I had a hard time pinning him down to sleep. The whole of last week, he slept at 10pm instead of the usual 830pm because bedtime routine now involves some sort of wrestling to pin the sleepy baby down. Repeatedly. Or until he's drained from all the struggling, flipping and sitting, which usually takes forever.

 

2. Pull up to standing position from sitting/stand holding to someone or something

This month, he started doing this more confidently. And he looks like he's going to start cruising soon! Uh oh! I smell trouble!

 

Which brings us back to the new bedtime routine mentioned in point #1.

"Hello Mummy! *waves bear bear* You thought I was sleeping??"

 

3. Clap hands
We found him clapping his hands spontaneously last week while he was in an extremely happy mood one evening. It's not on cue yet though. He only does it when he feels like it.

4. Stand momentarily
He loves it when he is able to do that. And gives us a proud toothy grin whenever we start praising him for that few seconds of 'performance'!

5. Babbling
His dictionary consists of only dadada, mamama and dehdeh at the moment and it is not directed at us. Sometimes we thought we caught him repeating certain word after us, like 'flower' but it happened so fast and only once, we can't be too sure.

6. Crawling
He still crawls with the backside, but we saw him once or twice doing the doggie crawl!

::BABY:: Passport Photo!

This happens to be my favourite month of the year!

We have made some plans to spend my Big 3 out of town because N happens to have a biz trip right smack in the midst of my birthday!

 

It was a debate whether to spend my milestone birth year celebrating only ME. And the final plan was that I would fly in on the evening of my birthday to meet N while leaving D to the care of our parents. But there is this constant nagging guilt about leaving a big part of me back home while I go celebrate something important in my life.

 

And so, we had the craziest decision made this morning to bring D along for our trip in 2 weeks' time.

Even if it doesn't materialise, doesn't hurt to get his passport done first!

What crazy ideas my parents have in the morning! Now my first ever publicly available photo in the government database is that of a hair-standing, mucus stained, badly scratched and mouth wide-open unglamorous shot!

 

I look cuter in other normal circumstances

::BABY:: Two Front Teeth!

Who knows one can be so excited over something as normal as cutting teeth?!

When we first spotted tiny pearly dots protruding out from D's gums, we got carried away trying at every chance we got to pry open his mouth to take a closer look.

 

I remember the initial discovery went something like:

N: Mummy, did u see his new teeth?

Me: No. Really??!!

And we proceeded to check it out together until little one got angry and started screaming us out of his face. And as some sort of self defence, he learned to clam his mouth really tight.

 

On several other random occasions I proceeded to perform same stunt again. But D mastered the art of his newfound defence skills.

 

We saw it occasionally when he was crying, but never had the chance to take a good look - one long enough for us to stare at them in awe and exclaim how cute they were!

 

But VIOLA! I managed to capture these in picture!

Look at that cute little teeth!

I can finally stare at them for forever!

 

So we have just incorporated a new morning regime for the little man.

This, and singing: This is the way we brush our teeth....so early in the morning!

Parenting is teamwork.

 

On D's tooth cutting journey:

He got it done easy peasily. We are glad we didn't have an extremely cranky baby while the teeth tried to make their way out. We bought 2 teethers way before but didn't have much use for those. I only gave him about 3-4 toothiepeg sticks in total before those pearlies appeared. On hindsight, he probably had some itchy gums which he tried to self-sooth all by himself:

So itchy!!! Chomps!

Thank You for making it easy!

::BABY:: Celebrating 9MO!

We braved the haze on last week to have a mini celebration for D's turning 9 month-old!

It was a mini celebration in a Japanese-Italian fusion restaurant in CCP - we saw that they have a cake that looked reasonably 'baby-friendly' on the menu.

 

D's 9 month-old Strawberry Cheese Souffle!

He couldn't stop staring!

 

So I held up his spoon to catch his attention for the camera!

 

I want to eat cake!

 

He was making a lot of noise after we finished the cake. I had no more tricks up my sleeves/no more snacks in his bag. But there was pineapple at the salad bar...SO...

 

D had his first taste of SOUR!

:p