the little one really likes this duck puppet we’d bought for adam some time ago at the zoo. it quacks to the tune of ‘old macdonald’, ‘london bridge’ and ‘are you sleeping’ in sequence. where adam used to cry when we introduced him to the duck puppet back then, the sight of this furry yellow object singing in melodic quackiness cracks aniq up. so we’ve taken to making our hands quack like a duck coz it tickles him silly.

his daddy prides in his nursery rhyme mash-ups, bastardising the originals by mixing them up. creative freedom, he calls it.

old macdonald now looks up at twinkling little stars on the london bridge which is falling down while itsy bitsy spider climbs up the water spout.

i think there should be a course available for new mums to teach them the proper way of singing nursery rhymes, complete with hand actions, facial expressions, vocal intonations, verbal emphasis, and even optional lessons for mother tongue ones. (you know, like ‘tepok amai amai’, ‘burung kakak tua’, ‘buai laju-laju’ and all its numerous variations, etc.)

i certainly would benefit from it, having had no prior experience in entertaining young infants. these things don’t come to me naturally, you know. what little i know come from watching endless repetitions of the barney vcd that dadam keeps playing at my mum’s house EVERY FREAKIN’ DAY, till the songs drum on and on in my brain even in my sleep.

i must say i’m best at itsy-bitsy spider (a.k.a. incy-wincy to some). he’s one heck of a relentlessly stubborn (and idiotic) arachnid, i must say, but the baby likes him. and what’s with this obsession with spiders, anyway? i’m sure you’ve heard of this arachnophobic girl who sits on a tuffet while eating some gooey stuff. she really should stay indoors and eat in front of the tv like most normal people do.

there is also an obsession with livestock, apparently. the baby really loves old macdonald, the owner of a famous farm where all those chicken and cows are reared to eventually become mcnuggets and big macs. gosh he must be one rich fella…. but i digress. i have so far only managed to imitate the sounds of:

1) a cow (moo moo)
2) a duck (quack quack)
3) a chicken (cluck cluck)
4) a chick (cheep cheep)
5) a pig (oink oink)
6) a horse (neigh neigh)
7) a sheep (baa baa)
8) a dog (woof woof)
9) a cat (do farmers rear cats? meow meow, in any case)

and this is where i run out of animals (and breath), so i include:

10) a baby (wekk wekk)

i’m not sure what old macdonald was doing with a baby on his farm, but i hope nothing michael jackson would be proud of.

their fingernails grow like weed, i tell you. every two or three days, and they’re longish again. must be coz of all that calcium with his milk.

but i actually like giving him a mini-manicure. sure, it’s not much of a challenge for now, coz their nails are nice and soft and a tiny snip is all it takes. wait till he’s bigger and more wriggly and squirmy, eh…

ok ok, so they’re not very even here, hehe. but that’s coz i trim them while nursing him.

always multi-task, remember?

i think i wanna open up a baby manicure service, coz i KNOW there are people out there terrified of cutting their baby’s nails! :D

five bux per session, anyone? i promise no blood, mine nor baby’s.

day time exercise:

night time exercise:

i think he exercises more than i do.

but other than that, most of the time he MRTs – Makan, Rehat, Tidur.

and time passes by like a speeding MRT too.

***

on another note, i smother him with kisses so much everyday that i might even leave hickeys on his cheeks soon.

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!

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

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.

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