Nathan@10mths

It's the end of another month, and Nathan just passed his 10mth last Saturday. In less than 2mths, he'll be celebrating his one yr birthday!

He accomplished much thus far. Once he attained the ability to crawl, there's no stopping at all. He could open the cabinets, dig things out, open and close the drawers, as if exercising his arm power. He likes throwing things on the ground and see it bounce around with that 'ding ding' sound. He even learnt to 'bounce' a ball. He would pinch it with his little hands, then throw it, sometimes at a far distance, then he would crawl towards it and do it again. He would follow the ball around. Or he would do the same with a plastic cube, or book.

Standing up has been one of his favourite, and very exhausting past time lately. He could hold on to the sofa and pull himself up to standing position. These days, he likes to pull on wire cords too, like that of the phone and fan. Of course, those are 'no no' boundaries. It's been difficult trying to discourage his adventures.

Since his wt has stagnated at 10kg, I decided to introduce meat to him. Past 3 days, he's been fed fish, threadfin fillet. the ones from the market's fresher, but I had ran out of them and bought them from NTUC instead, boy you can 'smell' the difference. Nathan smelt of fish the entire night after dinner. Even a bath couldn't rid him of that distasteful ordour.

He still prefers 'watery' meals. So I always have a bowl of water beside his bowl of puree food to aid in his swallowing, and speeds up his feeding time too. I tried boiling soup. I put pork big bones, some carrots, onions and boil it for over two hours. Scooped out some for him to be mixed with his grains and freeze the rest. It seems to work, he enjoys meal times more with tastier soup, and put on another 100g in 2 days.

Past 2 nights he slept well too. Didn't have to wake up for feeds, but his waking hours have been early, like 7-7.30a.m. Maybe cos of the noise dad makes to prepare for work, or would he want a goodbye kiss from dad too? I'm glad for the sleep through nights, but hope he can wake a little later, that would make my new day fresher.

Handiplast

Nathan's got a little blister on Mon. Didn't know how it all started. But strangely, it didn't seem to affect him single bit. He would even use his other thumb to prick it, in fact, he burst the bubble while doing that, and no irritable sound was heard.

Similarly with mosquitoe bites. He had so many bites once, and the swollen dots didn't bother him at all. In fact, I was scratching so hard, and his wounds just looked redder every day, yet I didn't catch him scratching them.

It's cool with babies, isn't it, that things like itchiness do not irritate him as much as us, grown ups. Is that one of the beauties of being a baby then?

Tiring Sunday

Nathan woke up super duper early Sunday morning, perhaps he missed church service the sun ago due to CNY visit?

It was 6.30a.m., he was making some noise in his cot, we chose to ignore him for a while, then I realized he was actually standing straight up in his cot, using the railing as his support. He wasn't crying, so we decided to let him be on his own for awhile more till 7a.m. "Let's go for breaskfast at Macs?" asked me. So Chong got up reluctantly.

Off we left the house half past 7, and had our breakfast. Then, Nathan took his first morning nap, and waking up soon after at 9 when we reached church. He stayed awake throughout the entire service, staying rather quiet, not fussing at all in his pram. We had 2 houses to visit, first to Carol's place for brunch, arriving at 11a.m. Nathan was still wide awake, excited to explore a new place and see an old friend, Ian. We had our second meal of the day in peace.

Soon, he started fussing, rubbing his eyes, wanted to be carried, we got the signal that he needed to sleep. We set off for home. He knocked out almost instanteously in the car,to our relief. But poor boy, soon to be woken up again the moment the car was parked.

Just when we thought he would continue his nap and both could rest, since we woke up that early, he refused to doze off. He wanted to play. So I made his lunch, bathe him, and an hour passed, we set off again, to Andrea's new place at Changi. And our dear boy was fast alseep during the journey. Upon arriving, he opened his eyes again.

Somehow, he knew that we reached a new place, and his eager heart anticipate what new adventures he could forsee. At least he could take short naps along the way, quite an adjustable boy. Unfortunately, when babies don't sleep enough, they're just not nice to play. He wasn't a good sport at all, wanting to be carried, couldn't be left on his own.

So, we were both thoroughly exhausted trying to appease him the entire day at our friends' place, in the end, there wasn't much catching up at all with them. He 'spoilt' it, but those were what 'little' sacrifices mums and dads got to give with a baby around.

Good grief, he doze off again at around 8.30p.m. and we bid our goodbyes. He slept all the way home, had a quick shower and pat him to sleep. I could see that he was very very tired, listless and no energy at all. After his milk, he slept sweetly from 10.p.m and to our pleasant surprise, all the way till the morning 7.30a.m.

Thank God, we hadn't had such a restful sleep for a long long time, I couldn't remember the last time i slept through the night without interruption!! Our baby slept like a baby last night.

Do Kids play with one another?

Well, I don't think so until they're about school going age, say 4?

What I have observed about Nathan with other kids is that he often likes to go up to them and touch/ hit/ play with their faces. I wonder what he was thinking when he does that. Was it his 'friendly' gesture towards them, or was he simply being playful or naughty? I certaintly hope it's the earlier not the later.

It is fun watching how kids react and respond with one another's touch. Nathan was touching Sara's face, Sara merely remained motionless, she had no reaction or whatsoever. Maybe she likes being stroke that way? And our boy, he likes it even more when his friend doesn't object.

It was hard trying to bring them together to take pictures too. Mums had a big part to play, by either physically bringing them closer together, or say repeatedly, 'hey, auntie wants to take pic, go over there and SMILE**.'

I personally think it's by far more challening and fun to take candid shots of kids at play than some good old boring studio bridal shots...

4X birth wt in 10mths

Yes, we're very happy with his progress. Like what our PD would often say on our visits. Nathan was a premie, so he was closely watched, and his growth escalated within 2mths.

It seems like yesterday I was at the hospital, waiting to deliver. That night, friends came to visit. Shortly after, Dr Poon came, and he said we were going to take the baby out!! Panic struck. And within the next hr, my tummy was deflated, and Nathan's out in the ICU. Everything happened in a flash. And now, 10months past, I've been home alone with Nathan for 10mths. Wow, how time flies. Have I accomplished anything at all, well, I certainly learnt a great deal about motherhood, cooking, feeding and basically, caring for a baby.

Past one month, Nathan managed a few milestones. He started crawling, well, the proper way, forwards, steadily now. Latest interest, plucking out the safety corners I've put up at the TV table ever since he started moving around independently.

He's got 4 teeth now, two at the bottom, and two front teeth. His teeth are white and sharp. I have to look out what he has his hands to these days cos he could scrap off anything with his teeth.

I started feeding him a whole apple too. He can't finish all by himself of course, mostly eaten by me, he just does little scratching with his teeth.

He likes to pull on things to help support himself upright. Soon, he'll be walking. He is an adventurous kid, you know.

Over the new yr visits, many people have commented at how well behaved he is, allowing anyone to carry, and won't be fussy over toys or people. His toys were snatched once or twice, he wouldn't make a sound, whether he is aware or not, we're happy with his good temperament.

He does make little noises. We wished he would 'talk' more. He sounds really cute with his baby talks. We wouldn't know how to respond, usually we laugh, or maybe that's where he stopped??

Nathan's cute, I hope we're not bias.

New Year Celebrations

This was Nathan's first Chinese New Yr! And not unexpected, he was the centre of attraction wherever we went.

Friday before the new yr, we were at Chong's brother's new pl for reunion dinner. His eldest son, Jo could keep his hands off Nathan. He likes him so much, kept wanting to carry our baby. Jo is great with Nathan, he likes it in his arms.

It was a good time visiting relatives whom we only met every CNY. And Nathan's adored by all, especially the elderly folks. They love his 'thunder' thighs, and Nathan has a good temperament, he would allow anybody to carry him and pass him on like a parcel, he wouldn't mind it at all. We were joking about it, that if he were kidnapped, it would be hard to notice since he's so fine with strangers.

We were so exhausted from the festivities, Nathan too. Well, this yr, he could only sit and stare when we had steam boat and the new yr goodies, come next yr, he should be able to be an active member at the table. I'm sure he's looking forward to that.

A Horrid night

I mentioned in my blog just yesterday how well Nathan has been sleeping past 3 nights, and then on the 4th night, he gave me terror.

He was unusually active at night. Perhaps due to the late excursion we had at the supermarket? We reached home by 10p.m. and soon gave him his milk and changed him into his pj. His eyes were still wide opened with no sign of tiredness, we sat down and watched American Idol. By 10.45pm. I thought it was way past bed time, 'let's proceed to the room.'

Nathan was still happily tossing around, playing on our bed. Chong was fast falling asleep, I sat Nathan in his cot. A moment later, he started crying. I took him up, cuddled him and tried to nurse him to sleep. But he refused milk! He just wanted to be carried. So, I painfully stood and rock him to sleep, it was 11.30p.m by the time he went into merry land. I laid down to rest.

At 2.30a.m. he woke up with a sharp cry. It made me jump out of bed. I carried him up instantly. He looked fine, perhaps a bad dream? tried to nurse him back to sleep, but he wouldn't. Another round of rocking, thought he fell alsleep, but the instant I placed him down on his cot, he started crying again. Think this went on for at least 3 times before he finally slept, that was 3.30a.m. Then, thankfully, he slept through till 8 in the morning.

It was nights like this that made me really frustrated. Doubled up the trouble when Chong starts snoring. Here I am suffering, there, daddies having a great dream. I had to calm myself down and be reminded that he's got to wake early and work the next day, whilst I could take my naps.
Sigh, may God be extra gracious towards mums.

Car seat terror

Nathan is still not used to sitting alone in the car seat, which makes me really upset, cos that means I have to find the 'perfect' timing if I were to drive out with him. And even though I may have the car all week, the thought that he would be screaming his lungs out later makes me want to stay home and snooze my time off instead, which makes another day boring and dull.

Yesterday's timing was perfect when we headed down to Mums and babes fellowship down town. He has just woken up from his 2 hrs nap, fed some milk and changed for the outing. He looked happy enough to set off. Buckled him in, and I decided, maybe I should start talking to him while I drove. Everything looked fine. Since the journey would take us some 20 mins, I ran out of things to talk about, I started praying. When I pray with him, I can talk about almost anything, and makes the monologue more meaningful.

He was good. The prayer was working! throughout the car ride, he was quietly listening, to me and his eyes were gazing out of the window, looking at the falling rain. Praise God, we arrived safe and sound.

And there he met his friends. Every kid's running around, all except him, still at the sitting and crawling stage. Another Nathan, 1.5yrs old loves our baby. He would come round him, hug and kiss him on the cheek, twice he did that. How loving, a boy this young. Well, he's the pastor son, you see... Nathan was a good boy for that 2.5 hrs we were there. Sitting and playing by himself while I chatted with other mums. I was so reluctant to leave, cos I somewhat knew that his good temperament is soon coming to an end. But I had no choice, everyone's leaving. So we walked to the car, the moment I buckled him in, he started making that 'sad' grumpy noise. I hurriedly closed the door, opened mine, and zoomed off.

The whole journey, he was wailing at the top of his voice. I sang, and prayed, made squeeky noises, all to no avail. I gave up, just tried to drive as fast as I could. He cried all the way home. By the time I parked, opened his door, he was a soapy boy, face all wet with tears, swollen eyes and a red nose. A very pitiful sight. I hugged him for a few more seconds before we went up home.

I really drag such moments when I could do nothing to appease him. This boy just needed a hug from mum but she was driving. I hope he never remembered such painful experiences and with age, he would soon get used to car seats and car rides.

whites or yellows

I had an interesting observation lately. There are indeed many differences between the west and east, and either for the better or worse, we asians are fast catching up and becoming One with them, or, we are trying to be like them. After visiting a few cities, globalization is on the move rapidly, there are hardly any gaps between them, in terms of fashion, you find similar brands, and people, Chinese are flooding the streets.

Lately, I had a few enncounters with caucasian mums with babies. At Krabi, we met with quite a few families with young children. And when mums come together with our babies, the first few exchanges are often the same, 'How old is he," "what's his name?" In fact, on the very day we arrived at our hotel, the Thai staff asked the exact same questions. As a tourist, the next qn would be "Where are you from?"

I wonder who customized all these questions, and how did it come about that these qns had become the 'standard' for all. I haven't been surprised by anything new. Maybe I should come up with a few someday. Perhaps, 'What has your little one been saying lately?' That would be interesting eh, and I'm sure the conversation would last much longer compared the usual ones.

Sleep and Day naps

This wk's been a breeze cos Nathan's sleeping much better. Perhaps he saw it coming that dad and mom are going to train him to sleep through the night, he's been waking up only once since Monday, compared to before, he wakes at least twice to three times.

Day time, he's been taking two naps, each lasting about an hour or more. On Tuesday, his nap took a good 3 hours! Imagine the freedom I had. Did everything I could think of doing.

Nathan's finally learnt to crawl forward. Took his first few steps yesterday. He looked really cute with his buttocks swinging from side to side. At the same time, he's very eager to walk too. Today, I just saw him lifting himself up to standing position from sitting by holding on to the yellow sofa. He was trying to move himself around, but fell buttocks down on the floor. Give him another week, think he'll be able to take his steps soon.

As I see Nathan grow everyday, I can't stop singing praises to God. It is God, my good shepherd and souverign father who has protected us, and given us joy to live each day. How can I ever outgrown my dependence on Him, for the more I live, the greater my need of Him in every area of my life, without God, I am indeed but dust, nothing to remember of, nothing to marvel about. With Christ my solid rock, I can stand firm despite of storms, and face the challenges that lie ahead. We know we are enemies of the world while we are set apart for christ. Whatever the trials, we pray dear Lord, keep us rooted in your embrace.

Milestones at 9.5mths

Quite a few milestones at 9mths.

First of all, his first set of teeth (bottom two) came out, and just this week, a third tooth (top front) surfaced. He would look really cute with his two front teeth by the time his birthday arrives in April.

He loves to use his thumb alot, to point, pook, and suck too. Whenever he's given a new toy or food, he would first test it out with his thumb. Sometimes he would hit so hard I was afraid it might cause fracture, but he seems fine afterall.

His first consonant sounds, 'nae' Occasionally, I do hear him say 'ma'. But the usual is 'a', as in 'a' for apple.

Just yesterday, he could move a few steps forward with his arms supported.

Over the weekend, Nathan had three new toys, a round about walker and a tricycle from my dad, and we also loan a walker from Pagon, a good friend whose girl just turned 1. I wanted to take a shot of the two babies together, but Nathan turned out to be a bully, he hit Beth's face with his fists, poor girl, broke out in wails.

It all started with Chong playing face hitting with him some months back. Whenever they have rough play, Chong would sit Nathan on his tummy, and boy would lie down and hit dad's face with his hands, he can hit really hard, uncontrollable strength at his age, you know.

This week it has been hard changing him and bath time's a struggle too. After Krabi, it seems that he's been frightened, whenever we put in a lying down position to bathe or change his diapers, he would start wailing, in fright. Unless he is distracted or amused, he would cry until he's been picked up. I hope this will past soon. Else I'll never be able to clean him well and thorough.

Past 2 nights, he only woke up once at about 4.30-5a.m. after nursing, he slept again. Chong kept reminding me about training him to sleep through the night coming long wk end, but I really doubt I could perservere.

This wk's new food, pumpkin seeds, ground with flax seeds, mixed in yogurt. I couldn't find baby yoplait anywhere, decided to use yoplait petite miam instead. The portion is just right, but they're all falvoured with sweet fruit, of course, tastier for baby. Bought frozen brussel sprouts too, another super green veggie. Took a handful, threw them in hot boiling water and boiled it for 3-5mins, then peel off the shell and fork mash, smell quite sweet, Nathan likes it. He tasted cheese too, melt it in oats, yum yum. Oh, his poo was green yesterday, probably cos of the sprouts and pumpkin seeds, both bright green.

His weight flunctuates every now and then, hit 10kg for a couple of days, but this wk, dropped to a constant 9.8kg, wonder if his intake of water's playing the trick.

Made him drink milk from a spout, hopefully, he could give up the nipple teat altogether before he turns 1, he drinks water from a straw now.

Hmm, quite a list of accomplishments this month.

Krabi continued

Chong failed to convince me that evian mineral water would do well for Nathan, so I brought along 1.5l cool boiled water from home. That made the bags really heavy, plus his 6 changes of clothes, some packs of biscuits and toys, of course. We went full and came home light.

2 new things I've tried with Nathan - bread and straw. These are his milestones at age 9mths! I pinched from a large piece of bread and fed it to him. The first bite looked strange and cautious, he would squeeze his eyes together as he chewed on the 'foreign' item, but a second and subsequent tries, he would open his mouth to receive it gladly. And with the straw, the weather was too unbearable, nathan was flushed! I decided to feed him some water, and so Nathan had his first taste of evian mineral water from Sheraton restaurant. He liked it. The water was cold, and tasted quite sweet too, like home.

I finally am convinced that babies really don't register much until age 3. We tried to encourage him to watch the sun rise, or sun sets, enjoy the cool sea breeze, or the nice chirping of the birds, or flutterings of the leaves in the wind, well, to no avail. He would sometimes turn to the direction we wanted him, but cos of some noise which caught his attention, otherwise, he likes looking down on the floor, as if seaching for some things, it's often only grass or sand, or looks up to the ceiling at the lightings ...

I had only 2 complains about the hotel we stayed. First, there weren't many facilities we could hang out, and everything you needed, you got to pay the extra. Chong wanted his shirts ironed, but it cost almost 5 bucks per piece. There was only a gym, which Chong went twice, and a nice big pool, which made it quite worth our stay. But there wasn't any ping pong table or tennis court, which we looked forward to. High class place, what to do? Next door at sheraton. they had everything, even a kids club. But it was crowded with whites, and noisy too, and a pathetic pool. The spa we had on the last day was refreshing for me, but for Chong, he said 'it could have been harder.'

The most pleasant thing we both enjoyed during our stay was the tranquility of the hotel. There were only about 12 persons staying, the pool looks quite empty and we had ample space to ourselves, with absolute silence, only the waves and the wind.

Nathan's bio clock worked fine everyday. Since Thailand's 1 hr behind us, he would sleep by 9p.m. and becos he slelpt early, he would wake early too. And so, we would be up by 7a.m. and go for breakfast. Twice, we were the only ones at the rest, how nice, vip treatment indeed.

One afternoon, we rented a dvd, 50 first dates, our favourite show, i cried all over again. Nathan watched it with us.

First holiday overseas

The three of us went to Krabi last friday and came back home Tues evening.

It was Nathan's first flight. We flew budget TigerAir, it was pleasant. He was well behaved, on my lap most of the time. He played with his 'banana' toy, drank some water, had his feeds, bounced around on the seat, made a new friend sitting behind him, and soon, we arrived in 1h30mins.

Next we took a cab to our hotel, Nakamanda. The ride was another 40mins, Nathan fell asleep, Chong and I marvelled at the beautiful cliffs that surrounded us. They were amazing, so high and straight. A pity we didn't catch anybody climbing, but I'm pretty sure many climbers do make their trips here.

We were greeted by friendly staff at the hotel, given our welcome drinks, and Nathan immediately became a star there. We were shown to our room, and proceeded to the restaurant to have our very first Thai meal. It was sumptuous, hot spicy tom yum soup, green curry, red snapper and veg. Yummy. A friendly waiter volunteered to carry Nathan, and he didn't object at all, and so the both of us enjoyed our meal without interruption. That was the hospitality we received on our first night at the resort.

The next few days were rest and relax. Swam, strolled along the rocky beach, hotel visits next door. We tried not to go out to the sun too much cos of little boy, he always seem so quiet and still whenever we're out in the heat, think he felt drowsy with that heat on his head, a hat didn't quite help.

Went down town, but it was a wasted trip, so hot, and nothing interesting that caught our eye. We had to reside in a cafe to have cool drinks before walking further and soon ended up having massage in a resort. Nothing to shop...

Oh we had our first tuk tuk trip too, just a short one, cos the walk was too far. Cool!

Next few days, everywhere we went, Nathan never failed to be the centre of attention. Girls giggled at him, and other tods and babies smiled and wanted so much to play with him, but he just sat there starring, wondering what they wanted with him.

It was a good trip, all of us were healthy, no one fell sick. Nathan was good most of the meals, slept early every night, ate well, swam well too.

Thank God for a good short get away for the Sin family.