Toddling into toddlerhood

4 more days to Chen An's 14 month birth"day"

In the past couple of months, he has achieved quite a fair bit. The most significant of all is that he is able to walk, without assistance, for as far as 20m at one go.

It is hard to pin point exactly when he took his first unassisted step...though G did upload a video when he took 4 unassisted steps. When he grows up, he will just be told that he started walking at 12 months.

And now, he not only walks...at time, he even tries to run (or maybe he is just trying to catch himself from falling forwards so he looks like he is running). And when he is really happy or excited, he does this cute little rapid step-on-the-spot. Then when he is really upset, he stamps his feet too (yes, like a little girl throwing a tantrum...something which G hopes he will not do when he is older)

Separation anxiety is slowly escalating...on an extreme day, he refuses to let G out of his sight. A few times, G has to sneak away to go to the toilet to attend to her business while J distracts Chen An...and a couple of times, distraction fails and he runs after G, screaming and banging on the toilet door. When the anxiety peaks (some sources say that happens usually at around 18month mark), G suspects he will throw himself against the door to try and barge his way through...

Besides physical milestones, he is also achieving a fair bit in terms of language. He can now "accurately" say the following:

Car
Bus
Brroom brroom (motorcycle)
Png....(aeroplane, with hands outstretched)
Mao (cat),
Gou (dog),
Guckguck (duck)
Bearbear (bears)
Kao (Cow)
Meh eh (Goat or sheep)
Gahgah (to go out - Gai gai in Cantonese)
Shehsheh (thank you in Mandarin)
Peh (please, while he is signing it)
Pa pa (scared, while signing it)
Yahyeh (paternal grandfather)
Nainai (paternal grandmother)
A-gerng (maternal grandfather)
Popo or Wa-po (maternal grandmother)
Lah lah (spicy)
Ott (Hot)
Mek mek (milk from bottle)
Ngeng Ngeng (to latch on for breast feeding)
Tiak (to press the button for traffic light)
Tek (while pointing at TV, means he wants to watch his children songs DVD)
Up (to be taken out of the sarong)
Pabao (to be carried)
Kwa kwa (when G's mum is playing mahjong game and she loses)
Mai mai (don't want, in Hokkien)

These are the more consistent ones...many times, Chen An just babbles to himself. The sounds he make are cute and G wish she can just record it all down and listen to it.

Health-wise, Chen An caught his first flu bug and had a pretty bad case of URTI. For 4 nights in a row, he coughed so badly that he threw up...and many times, he woke himself up when he gets a coughing fit. Poor little guy seem to have lost quite a bit of weight over this period of time. Luckily, the coughing has reduced and no more vomiting since yesterday.

And so, while Chen An toddles ahead, growing more independent (and therefore less obedient while he develops a sense of self), J&G continues to blindly find their way through parenthood. It will be a while more before they can even contemplate doing all these all over again...

Xxm turns o.n.e.

Last year, at this very moment, G was in the 2nd stage of labour..with a very stubborn xxm refusing to crown. (And xxm's gender remains a mystery)

Now, at this very moment, xxm (a very active little boy) is fast asleep after a day of fun and special treats...

Special treat 1: walk to nature park and play on playground that has sand.

Special treat 2: no porridge for both lunch and dinner. Instead, G's mum cooked mee sua for lunch and ate out for dinner - din tai fung noodles!

Special treat 3: Baskin Robbins ice cream cake for dessert!

No wonder he's exhausted...

Xxm also gave us a special treat today: taking steps by himself...though it's only 3 steps, it was gratifying to see that all the effort to train him to walk is finally showing some results :)

One year old...it has not been an easy year for everyone. Taking care of a baby is like going on a trip which you have no idea where and how to get there. Lots of trial and error, mishaps, unexpected discoveries, nasty shocks and pleasant surprises.

As Chen An enters the next phase of his growing up years, may he always be happy and healthy :)

Happy birthday, Chen An!

Baby panda morphs into a koala

Xxm turns one year old in a weeks time!

Had a rather successful bbq party over the national day long weekend. Despite the rather ulu location and unpredictable rain, many guests came and J&G are very grateful for that :)

Feedback from guests were good too. G's jiemeis were happy with the goodie bags, while others liked the food.

And, Chen An too is very grateful for the presents and ang pows! Though he did had a rather embarrassing moment of wailing out loud after stepping onto his treehouse cake...

Now that the chalet is done and over, Chen An seem to have "grown" suddenly in terms of his awareness and "language"

Most obvious sign is the boy is now super clingy to G. G cannot step away without him throwing a crying fit or frantic chase after her. His morning routine now includes a banging fest on J&G's bedroom door while G is changing to go to work. And not only is he mire clingy, he has become more whiny too. Even when G is carrying him, he still gets episodes of crying fits for no apparent reasons. Teething, maybe? Or just the growing awareness that he is an individual, which leads to a form of unknown fear (that he will be abandoned?)

Basically, this little panda behaves more like a koala and G is the only eucalyptus tree in the house.

On a less tearful note, Chen An is starting to "talk".
Buses, cars and motorcycles are known as "aaaaaahhhhhh!"
His ring stacker with a bear head is known as "bah....bear"
G is known as "mm...ama"
Hummingbird that flies to balcony window is known as "jeeeee!"
Children, regardless of age, are known as "ge...gorgor" and "zei...chei"
Bubbles are the one thing he can "say" most accurately, known as "bub per"

Rest of the time, he babbles and babbled which no one can understand, but it's such a delight to hear these cute sounds. Last night, all of a sudden, he started repeatedly babbling "dabada...bada!". G got it down on recording and listening to it makes for good stress relief

G is quite sure it's just a clingy phase he's going through...but how long will it last?

Not too long hopefully...cos G's arms are already aching from all the carrying!

August has arrived!

Oh dear dear dear...

G needs to start paying more attention to this blog!

Last entry was 4 months ago...and now, xxm is turning 1 year old in less than 3 weeks time...

This little guy is really painfully adorable. Now, he is crawling so fast, and cruising so well, the living room is his playground.

One moment, he's on the playmat banging his toy, next thing you know, he has climbed up the sofa and cuddling his soft toy. And then before you can blink, he scrambles down and crawls to the bedrooms.

Not one moment of quiet time...except nap, breastfeeding and occasional breaks he takes.

G is anxiously waiting for him to take his first unassisted step...he can walk quite well when he pushes a stool or the walker toy..but once he is hands free, he will drop down to crawl. Lack of confidence perhaps...

Feeding solids have progressed to porridge which need not be blended. G is now trying to teach him to feed himself with finger food. He should have been able to do so probably 2 months ago, but no one taught him and he got too used to being fed. He actually learnt pretty fast, only problem now is he doesn't know how to let go, so many times, the food goes into his mouth then he takes it out again without leaving the food inside. Then he lets it go and drops onto the floor...to sum up, a messy affair. Nonetheless, it's fun to watch him...and that self-satisfied look he gives when he succeeded in feeding himself one piece of food is worth the mess :)

To celebrate his upcoming 1st birthday, J + G are gonna have a bbq at changi chalet. Hopefully it'll go smoothly and xxm will have loads of fun and plenty of photos to look at when he is older.

On a side note, many of G's friends are expecting or have just given birth...G is starting to miss being pregnant, especially feeling the little one kicking and squirming inside. But...are J & G ( & xxm) be ready for xxm2....?

Leave it to the hands of fate :)

Time flies when you are taking care of a baby

Wow, has it been almost 8 months?

G has been trying hard to keep up with xxm's daily routine and this blog has unfortunately become the lowest priority. Finally, G has some time on hand to update the blog!

Xxm will be 8 months old in 4 days time...over these few months, he has grown from a little bundle of joy into a joyful bundle of energy...

His physical milestones are approximately as follow:
- rolled over back to front @ 3 months
- sits unsupported @ 5 months
- prone to sitting @ 7 months
- pulls to stand @ 7 months
- creeps @ 7 months
- crawls @ 7+ months
- take steps when held upright @ 6+ months
- cruising @ 7+ months

He is definitely a very mobile baby now...so much so that the living area had to be reorganized to allow room for this little one.

G is still breastfeeding him, on top of his 3 meals of solids. While he's not exactly a fussy eater, he gets sick of food quite easily. Feed him infant cereal and it's world war 3, but give him chwee kuey and he opens his mouth wider that a hippo yawning.

Xxm is a natural charmer with strangers. Once out of the house, he turns into the cutest baby who can get the attention of any stranger who happens to make eye contact with him. Random uncles, aunties, gor gor & jie jie have come up to him to play with him or just to stroke his cheek.

But at home he turns into a little terror who cries and screams for attention! And recently, he has started developing separation anxiety. Once G is out of his view, he starts whimpering and crying...at times, he even crawls in the direction that G has walked away.

In the next few months, xxm is gonna get more mobile and hopefully, he'll (and G's parents) cope ok when G finally goes back to work