all the small things
i noticed him doing it a few times, but thought nothing of it till mum pointed it out and got excited.
he’s pushed his upper body upright with his arms for quite some time while on his tum tum.
now he can have proper face-to-face conversations with his “friends” before he sleeps or when he wakes up. :)
i showed his new trick to his daddy, who was also amused.
so, little things like this make us new parents excited, eh? tsk.
ten more days before he turns three months! lets see what else you can surprise us with till then.
meanwhile, he and i have a date at suntec now! ta!
poo bear: part 2
as i mentioned, his body is following its own schedule by now, and that includes his bowel movements. we can safely predict that he’ll drop the squish-out-of-diapers-and-drip-on-the-floor bomb every two, or three days, at most.
but what we can’t predict is which part of the day he’d do the doo!
i knew it was the third day of his ‘investment’ in the ‘bank’ when we went to orchard on friday, so i armed myself with extra clothings, muslin cloth, and plastic bag, at the same time psychologically preparing myself for the inevitable.
the lunch at hyatt with the colleagues went well, he’d slept through most of it, and i woke him up in time to coo and gurgle at them before we left.
still no poo.
went next door to nurse him – did you know far east plaza now has spanking new parenting rooms with hot water dispenser and b/feeding bench? wow! – and met with the Husband. changed diapers.
still no poo.
decided to move the car out of far east to somewhere cheaper, and while waiting for an empty lot…
POO!!!! GAHH!!!
squishing out of his diapers onto my hands, while he looked on, oblivious (again) to the ruckus raised.
so, into the car seat he goes, and off to his oma’s we went! (since she hadn’t witnessed first-hand this particular act of grossness.)
and rather than scream for his bottom to be wiped dry… he slept.
ngaha!
thankfully, he’d waited till his daddy was present before he did it. or else, it’d just be me and him, on orchard road, with steaming hot poo down my hands, a sight to behold.
but ya know what? that’s alright honey. i’d love a little challenge… so BRING IT ON! :D
ahoy!
since he likes being carried upright and since he’s earned his right by proving that his neck is strong enough, it’s the Husband’s turn to bear the weight. the little one’s legs would kick the air as if willing the old man who’s carrying him to walk faster.
but he’s allowed in there only when he’s awake and alert. wouldn’t want his poor neck to hang like an unconscious duck’s when he’s fallen asleep, no?
his oma is amused by his insistence that he be carried upright and frontward. (he’d fuss if he’s held horizontally like a newborn, except when he’s in the sling, where he curls up happily, snug as a bug, as if back in the womb [where all men eventually subconsciously want to go back to haha].)
his oma thinks he doesn’t resemble a two-month-plus old baby very much.
we don’t think so either.
flash in the pan
dear people at ‘K/i/d/s T/o/o/l/s”,
we would like to suggest that you either fire your copywriter, editor, or printer. (or all three.)
in our pursuit to be flashcard-flashing parents, with ambitious hopes burning in our hearts that we could give our infant a headstart in his mental development, we immediately pounced upon your red-black-white product.
sad to say, we judged the box by its cover, approving it upon seeing the address printed at the back, assuming that the product was created by an expert panel of professionals located at 45A springfield road blackburn north victoria 3130 australia.
however, after purchasing and flashing the said cards, we were both bemused and outraged. it turns out that the expert panel of professionals apparently come from china. (see ‘made in china’ label.) well, either that or them australians seriously need to go back to school.
i present, exhibit A.
“twinkle twinkle little star. how i wonder where you are? “
- obviously up above the world so high, you twit.
“show your baby: with your hand open and close action show how the star twinkle.”
- i don’t even know where to begin correcting this.
exhibit B.
“carefully points towards your baby’s eyes and says: here are your eyes. “
- sure, i shalls does thats. *rolls eyes*
exhibit C.
“point at each petals and shows to the baby, these are the petals”- *flashes red ink pen and slashes all over cards*
perhaps they think parents won’t mind the grammatical boo-boos because they’re targeted at infants who can’t read.
but hell yeah, i mind! you’re responsible for not only educating babies, but their parents too, you know. perpetuating bad english is a crime.
now, where can i get a refund? (and restore my faith in flashcards?)
sleepcrawler
people sleepwalk, but he sleepcrawls.
he’d move at least 90 degrees clockwise (or anti-clockwise depending which side he sleeps on) and a few good inches forward from the original position we place him in the cot. and somehow always gravitating towards the corner.
even when we moved him to the other end of the cot.
and he’d continue sleeping even though he’s headbutting the cot bumper or the soft toys i’d tied tightly on the cot railings to prevent any potential head traumas.
so this is what they call a naughty sleeper, eh?
i’d prefer the term, er, active sleeper. :D
bottled up
our bodies are in tune to each other now that we’ve established a routine that more or less works for us both. with him sleeping through the night, my body’s internal alarm clock buzzes right about the time he’s supposed to wake up. the buzz coming from my aching boobies threatening to burst, that is.
after nursing him, we’d go back to sleep, and after an hour or so more, i’d wake up and pump away the leftover achiness…
it takes a much shorter time now for me to fill up the bottle.
i realise that i have never left him behind to galivant by myself or with the Husband since he was born, and now that i can pump enough for a few feeds, i *think* it’s about time i/we do.
hmm. it HAS been a while since we’ve gone to the movies…
so what happens to the milk that i’m bottling up?
i bring it to mum’s so he’d get used to her and the bottle, once a day for now.
but it’s not as easy as it sounds, really.
see, there’s a VERY demanding toddler in the house as well, whose jealous cries have to be attended to immediately by his too-soft-hearted and obliging grandmother.
mum had just started giving aniq the bottle when out comes adam, crying to tear her away from the baby. and what did mum do? she gave aniq back to me, with the bottle. and what did aniq do? he cried because he didn’t want the bottle when he could clearly smell my teteks next to him. and what did i do? i passed him to the maid coz she offered to try, and as soon as he was in her arms, off he went, as if by magic, chomp chomp chomp on the bottle, looking up at her as if registering her face as The One Who Feeds When Mummy Wouldn’t, and breaking my heart to pieces.
and i just sat there, frozen across them, my heart in my throat, resisting the terrible urge to pull him away from her.
to me (and i really mean to me, and maybe not to others), feeding my baby is something intimate and emotional, a routine no less, but one that bonds us, hopefully, for life. it’s me meeting his most basic need, right up there above shelter and warm clothes. i want that bond to be forged between him and his grandmother, of course. but with the maid, a stranger to the family? you can guess my answer.
i know it sounds silly to you who entrust your maids with your babies, and i’m not saying she’s a bad, evil, smelly person or anything. it may seem childish and selfish, but… i simply don’t want them to bond at all. :S
mum has missed the point about the whole bottle issue. i wouldn’t have bothered asking her to feed the baby if i knew she’d give in to the uber-manjafied first grandson and shove my little one aside so easily. i might as well nurse him myself since i was right there, if not for that bottle of milk which would otherwise go to waste.
and i’m worried when the time comes for me to go back to work and mum has both of them under her charge, coz it looks like the older child takes precedence over the younger child, and the latter will likely be left in the hands of The One Who Feeds When Granny Couldn’t.
a day in the life of a…
COOL HUNK.
“first, must get self dressed, after purging milk all over self and mum. oops, left a puddle of it on the floor too. sorry, mum, can’t help it. but ah feeeel good after that, erm, little merlion incident. see, i do a para-para dance for you.”
“after a long time waiting, i met another cool hunk. oh, and his WIFE too. when i grow up, i want to be tall just like them. they are as tall as that giant in jack and the beanstalk, you know.”
“the uncle’s wife was quite funny. i like her. i kept staring at her long hair and her moving lips. i call her The Madwoman. she kept talking to me in a high-pitched voice, like hyena, my mum said. what’s a hyena, mum? anyway, she made me laugh. hihi!”
“when they were leaving, they wanted to take me along. they even tried to trick me into saying goodbye to my mum and dad, and called themselves mummy and daddy. they almost got away with me, but i was smarter than they think. i gave them a yelp, and they quickly gave me back to mum and dad. nyeh nyeh!”
“thank you for trying to steal me, uncle and aunty! good effort, i must say. try again next time, ok? maybe in two years time, when i am heavier and have learned to throw tantrums.”
… cool hunk
“we met with my other girl friend whose name starts with A… Alya!”
“mum, why can’t i wear a hat like that too? anyway, dad carried us during dinner. he’s strong, you know, my dad.”
“at first i wasn’t too sure about sharing dad’s lap with someone else, but it’s ok, i like alya. hihi!”
“however, i don’t know why she cried when i tried talking to her. maybe she doesn’t like me. :(“
“we walked around town, and mum made dad buy me yet another pair of bermudas that are too long. i hope i can fit into them soon and be an even cooler hunk. after all that walking, mum gave me some milk (see, i left some milk stains on her too, ngaha!) and i’m sure her milk’s drugged, coz i got high and fell asleep.”
“of course, i slept like a chicken and woke up again soon enough. why is mum always taking pictures? ooh, there’s alya. she’s looking at me! maybe i should act cool and give my ‘thinking man’ look. mm.”
“yawn. so tiring to be a cool hunk. take me home, momma!”
let’s talk
he turned two months.
see how i’ve been relegated to the back seat of the car these days. erm, yeah, i know i know, we’re supposed to put him in the car seat, but… i’d like to think he’s safer in my arms.
please don’t report us to the traffic police.
anywaaay, on his second-month birthday, he… SLEPT and SLEPT and SLEPT some more. must have been the nice rainy weather. couldn’t have been due to tiredness from hard labour or anything. heh.
we’d gone shopping for a cupboard to store his increasing amount of possessions. i SO cannot imagine where we’d stuff his things in the future. you know, like toys and hmm, school books. (thinking far here.)
ok, update on what he’s up to these days.
he talks!
well. in his own language nevertheless.
he especially loves babbling to his oma. (and looking at the camera, macam mini-star in reality show gitu.)
incidentally, ‘talk’ is our current favourite coldplay track. hee.
“Well I feel like they’re talking in a language I don’t speak / And they’re talking it to me..”
into the groove
i’d like to make a serious complaint against the inventors of this rubber mat.
whatever possessed them to create and market this abominable thing such that almost every household with a baby unthinkingly purchases one for diaper changing??
not only does it smell bad (rubbery!), there are grooves, for heaven’s sake! didn’t they try it out on real babies whose diapers have poo? that squishy yellow stuff gets easily stuck in between the grooves, turns crusty, and takes a bit of squinting to find and scrub them out.
and not just poo, even powder gets in between the grooves, and won’t come out even after hosing it down with water.
grr.
ok, rant over.
