Little Miracles

A whole new view

February 17, 2007 in Ethan, Milestones | No comments

Finally we fixed Ethan’s new car seat today (new car seat for the New Year mah…).

All this while since birth he had been using an infant car seat from the Graco Travel System, and had been sitting rear-facing. Since this new convertible car seat is to be used for babies 9 kilos and over only, it had been sitting in our house for the past several months (yes, I am very proactive and bought the car seat soooo many moons before). Pete commented that Ethan’s new car seat is even more luxurious than our own seats, as it had leather trimmings too!

So anyway, we fixed the car seat for him today – Front-facing. Babies can face front only if they are a minimum of 9kg and one-year of age.

We were about to load him into the car and set off for Taiping, but our boy decided it was time to fall asleep just before we left. I was a bit worried that he would wake up in shock because of the different front facing view if we loaded him while he was asleep. Thankfully, he woke up right before we were ready to go.

As soon as we loaded him, he looked really confused. Then he began to ease into the surroundings and very soon was pretty much enjoying himself.

“I can walk now!”

February 16, 2007 in Ethan, Milestones | No comments

Ethan took his first steps today!

You know it was funny… as we were approaching the baby sitter’s place to pick up Ethan after work, Pete said that he couldn’t wait to play with Ethan today, cos he had a feeling he would learn how to walk today. And whaddya know… he really did! He began by standing up unsupported (smiling all the while) and then began inching his way forward. Pete and I were ecstatic!

We don’t have a camcorder yet, so I used my trusted Nokia phone to capture about 20 seconds worth of the priceless moment.

Wobbly though he may still be, it was a precious moment for our little family. What an awesome way to bring on the Chinese New Year cheers!

1-year Progress Report

February 14, 2007 in Ethan, Milestones | No comments

I am so so bad at writing reports, and I know this is really really late (our boy is already past one year), but anyways, I’ll just write a brief one.

Weight
9kg as of last visit at the PD’s

Height/Length
73cm

Teeth
Still 4 in total: 2 central top and bottom incisors.

Motor Skills

Has started taking a few baby steps, but is still not brave enough to go further.
Crawling skills have improved, and I think Pete and I have lost some weight ourselves just chasing after him when he crawls.
Able to consciously turn on the light button on his Graco music/light box which is fixed on his cot.

Communication & Social Skills

The words “Daddy” and “Mommy” are beginning to sound clearer now.
Can wave bye-bye, but only to the baby-sitter.
Is quite possessive of his toys and stuff he holds. When we take it away from him, he will scream loudly in protest.
Shows affection to Pete and me by biting us. I have had so many bite marks on me… it starts off looking red and the next day it will be blue-black.

Food
Started introducing egg yolk to Ethan. Also, pasta…but it appears like he doesn’t really dig pasta, preferring porridge instead. Pete reckons Ethan will soon grow to love chicken rice. Just like daddy.

Friday’s on a Saturday

February 11, 2007 in Ethan, Shopping, What's Cooking | No comments

We visited Queensbay Mall today to complete our Chinese New Year shopping, and stopped by T.G.I.Friday’s for dinner. At Friday’s, for one adult meal we ordered, we were given a free kid’s meal (provided the kid was there as well).

Pete ordered the BBQ burger and I ordered the pan-fried fish fillet. The free kid’s meal we ordered was the spaghetti.

The food was excellent (yes we walloped the spaghetti too). The company was spectacular. And Ethan had so much fun…….. Psssst! He even took home a red balloon as a souvenir!

One-year Checkup

February 9, 2007 in Ethan, Growing Up | No comments

We took Ethan to see Dr Jessica today for his scheduled one-year checkup. We decided to go during the night clinic at GMC; from experience, we need not wait too long at the night clinic.

We were ushered in after about 10 minutes’ wait 🙂 Ethan started playing with the blocks in Dr Jessica’s office and smiled happily. She asked us about his progress: what he could do and say…and then took his height, weight and head circumference.

Ethan had his MMR (mumps, measles and rubella) vaccination today too. I nursed him while Dr Jessica administered the jab (studies have proven that the trauma from the jab will be significantly lessened if given during a breastfeeding session). Well, Ethan boy bawled immediately as the needle went in…poor baby… and yet, less than 30 seconds later, was his cheerful self again.

Doctor told us to monitor for 5-7 days as he could develop fever from the jab.

Yay Daddy!

February 9, 2007 in Ethan, Food & Feeding | No comments

Pete has not bottle-fed Ethan for quite some time now. He used to do it when Ethan was much younger, but at home I nurse Ethan direct, so we hardly ever give him the bottle.

Yesterday evening, there was some EBM left over from the sitter’s place when we took Ethan back, so Daddy was eager to feed Ethan the rest… and the clever little fella finished every single drop!

I remember when Ethan was a few months’ old, I had to hide myself sometimes when he was bottle-fed. In fact, I didn’t feed him the bottle myself until he was like 5 or 6 months’ old! By and by as he grew older, he willingly took the bottle from me and from Pete too. But you know, we never have to worry that he is overfed, cos he will know how to push the bottle away when he is full.

NO to Pacifiers

February 9, 2007 in Breastfeeding, Ethan, Parenting | No comments

The use of pacifiers for babies have long been touted as an *easy-way-out* method to calm babies (read: shut them up). I guess that’s why they call it the *dummy*. The usage of pacifiers causes nipple confusion especially in the early stages of breastfeeding, is easily soiled and just yesterday, I was saddened to read the news that it caused a 14-month old baby to choke to death:

Toddler chokes to death on pacifier
JOHOR BARU: A 14-month-old baby boy suffered for almost 90 minutes before dying, after he accidentally swallowed his pacifier at his babysitter’s house.
The victim, whose parents work as factory operators in Singapore, was sent to his babysitter’s house in Taman Johor Jaya here yesterday.
It is learnt that the parents have been sending the baby to the babysitter for more than a year.
Yesterday, the babysitter put the pacifier into the baby’s mouth when she went to prepare his milk at about 10am. When she came back to check on him, she was horrified to see that he had swallowed the pacifier.
She tried to pull it out but it was stuck in the baby’s throat. She rushed him to a nearby clinic but the people there could not extricate it. By the time he was taken to Sultan Ismail Hospital at 11.30am, he was pronounced dead on arrival.

I am glad that we have NEVER once used a pacifier with Ethan. Mom had also never used a pacifier for my brother and I when we were babies. Of course initially it was difficult because when Ethan needed to be calmed down, we had to talk, sing, soothe, rock and nurse by offering “the human pacifier” to him. It has all been worth every bit of the effort as there is no need to break him from the pacifier habit now.

Mixed Feelings

February 8, 2007 in Ethan, Growing Up, Milestones, Parenting | No comments

Yesterday evening when we picked Ethan up from the sitter’s, she proudly announced that Ethan had begun to take his first baby steps. Although still wobbly, she said that he was holding on to a chair and then very gingerly let go and took a few steps towards her!

Pete and I were ecstatic! Imagine, from a non-mobile infant to a crawl-everywhere-and-opens-and-closes-all-doors baby and NOW to a soon-to-be-free-roaming toddler! Wow… next milestone! Check!

However, I can’t help but feel that I would sometimes miss out on important milestones like these, being a working mom and all. So even though I am jubilating over his first few steps, I am a little sad that I wasn’t there to see it. C’est la vie…

Ah well. Maybe, hopefully… I will be there to witness the first few REAL steps, not the unstable ones. Hehehe…. me being my kiasu self now.

Oh, by the way, yesterday evening after we brought Ethan back home, I saw him take 1.5 steps from one side of the cot to the other! So I’m happy. Hee.

Alamak!

February 6, 2007 in Ethan, Funny Moments | No comments

There’s something about the word “ALAMAK” that tickles Ethan’s funny bone every time we say it. If he is on the verge of tears, all we need to do is to *pretend* we dropped something and exclaim, “Alamak!” and he will start giggling!

It all started a few months ago when I was changing him and I accidentally dropped something (his tube of Drapolene, I think). I (genuinely) said “Alamak!” and he started laughing. I tried with “Aiyo!” – also same results.

To this day, we don’t know why he loves to watch us dropping stuff and saying “Alamak!”, “Aiyo!” or “Aiyaaa!”. The very sound of his giggles just brightens our day.