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All about Ethan
I have always wanted a huge (at least 5 ft) Christmas tree for our home. Unfortunately this year, with baby around and all, we just did not have time to hunt for a nice one. We are rather perfectionist in nature, so nothing but the best would do. Next year then…
In the end, we put up our mini Christmas tree which we have had since we were dating. It’s even shorter than Ethan!
Anyway, in a short and brief introduction to our Christmas tree, Ethan wasted no time in “making friends”.
This morning, I received a poignant reminder of what Christmas really means in the form of a song from my brother’s entry in his Multiply site.
Who needs Christmas presents?… We already have the gift.
A truly wonderful song which I am going to share with Ethan when he grows up.
Check it out here.
We always think of Ethan as a musical person. Even while I was still carrying him in utero, I played music whenever I could. Classical music was his favorite and I could feel him kicking inside whenever we listened to the music. In fact, after he was born and I played the exact same tune, he would smile contentedly, as if he could remember the feeling of security the music brought.When my Mom was helping me out after delivering Ethan, she too sang to him often. It helped soothe and comfort him. And let’s not start about him being attracted to the TV every time I switched the channel to MTV.
Lately, apart from the Christmas carols, Ethan has also taken a liking to dancing to music. I would carry him and hold him while moving around to the music. He can’t walk yet, but I can hardly wait till he can, so that I can teach him to dance with me… I can really tell that he loves it when we “dance” together. His favorites are waltzing to Johann Strauss’s The Beautiful Blue Danube and doing the sexy rumba to Andrea Bocelli’s Besame Mucho. Oh by the way, Pete claims he has two left feet, so it’s just Ethan and me dancing most of the time.
Yesterday Ethan again proved that baby strength is no joke. How? He broke my cup handle.
You see, I have a cup which I place by my bedside so that if I am thirsty in the middle of the night, I don’t have to get up and go into the kitchen for a glass of water (lazy ma…). Now, Ethan’s cot is right next to my bed, and hence the cup is reachable through the cot railings.
He must have been a little bored with his soft toys in the cot last evening, because he reached through the railings and tried to grab hold of my cup. He finally managed to grasp the handle, and silly silly me… I expected him to hold on to it, and move it all the way up to get the cup, but our boy just held on to the cup handle and pulled the cup towards him – well obviously the cup was way too big to go through the cot railings and the handle broke! Aiyo…. there goes my cup…
Lately Ethan has taken a liking to blubbering, i.e. puckering his lips, making the “brrrrrruuuuu…” sound (aka blowing raspberries), and using his index finger to flick his lips up and down. Then of course he will indulge in the baby blabbering. Occasionally we do catch a few words like deh-deh (Daddy maybe?) ….., mum-mum…, beh-beh (waving buh-bye) and just a couple of days ago, something which sounded remotely like “Mummeee….”. (yay!)However, it is unfortunately an unwritten rule that girls mature faster than boys, and also that the fairer sex is more adept at picking up languages. Just a few days ago, I met up with a fellow breastfeeding mommy friend of mine for lunch, and she told me that her daughter (now 15 months’ old) can already count from 1 to 10! Amazing!
Well, we don’t know when our boy will start having conversations with us, but we certainly can’t wait… for now, we are constantly speaking to him like we would to another adult, and he would listen attentively, even laughing on cue sometimes. It’s true that babies can understand and mimic what adults say fairly easily, especially at this age, when their brain is like a sponge. Therefore, we need to remind ourselves (and also those around us) to be careful NOT to use words which we do not want him to pick up at this tender age. You’d be surprise what babies these days can absorb…
Now until that precious first word is spoken, we’ll have to content ourselves with:
Me: What did you do today, Ethan?
Ethan: Wa wa wa…bababa…..brrruu, bruuuu……!!!
Me: Wah….really? What else?
Ethan: Mamamummmm…..vavava…..bruuu, bruuuu…..!!!
Me: Have you learned to say “Mommy” today?
Ethan: Brruuuuu…bruuuuuu….!!!! (showing a toothy grin)
Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la…!!!
With Christmas about a week away, we are all in a Christmassy mood now. Festive decorations adorn the malls, Christmas trees are sprouting out everywhere and Christmas carols are played 24/7, transforming the hot and humid Penang into a “winter wonderland” of sorts.This year’s Christmas will mark Ethan’s very first Christmas and we intend to make it as memorable as possible, for him and of course, for us too. The layman would easily associate Christmas with presents, and although we too visited the newly opened Queensbay Mall to complete our Christmas shopping, we would like to eventually inculcate the understanding of the true meaning of Christmas to Ethan.
Christmas isn’t Christmas till it happens in your heart, so the song goes. So really, the presents we exchange during Christmas merely represents the wonderful act of giving and sharing from the heart, which form the essence of Christmas: LOVE. I expect that Ethan would be thrilled with the presents he’d receive each Christmas from now on, but in the years to come, I hope and endeavor to draw his attention to that lonely manger in Bethlehem, many, many years ago where the very first Christmas was celebrated with the birth of Jesus Christ. That was where Christmas started and will forever stay in our hearts.
Well, as a start, I have been singing him Christmas carols almost every day now: Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, O Come All Ye Faithful….you name it, I’ve sung it. I do it all the time, while changing him, while nursing him or even when riding in the car with him… I’m glad he is enjoying my renditions…maybe cos I have a sweet voice.. ahem!
We will be spending Christmas Eve in Taiping (Pete’s hometown) and Christmas Day in Ipoh (my hometown). I know everyone is looking forward to Christmas this year. So are we.
In essence, the majority of people in our community are still ill-informed when it comes to breastfeeding. Despite efforts to promote breastfeeding amongst new mothers (especially), many are still in the dark about this beautiful bonding practice, which ought to come as second nature to all mothers.A common problem we hear people have is whether or not the mother “has enough milk” for the baby. In fact, several days ago, this very same topic came up among my breastfeeding group at work about why some mothers claim that they do not have enough milk to breastfeed their babies.
With all due respect, I DO NOT believe the authenticity of this claim. I believe that all mammals will certainly have the ability to produce milk and breastfeed their babies. In the same vein, humans, being mammals, WILL have enough milk to provide for their babies. For those who claim they do not, there will surely be a good enough reason why they eventually can’t.
Some of the reasons why the “not enough milk” mentality came about:
A common misconception is that all mothers will NATURALLY (read:automatically) produce sufficient milk for their babies, when this in fact, is not true at all. All breastfeeding mothers, including myself, can confidently attest that breastfeeding takes a LOT of effort, countless sleep-deprived nights and persistence. Oh, and how could I forget the support of the people close to me?
Ethan is now 10 months old and I am extremely proud of myself for being so persistent and perseverant in exclusively breastfeeding him. My 6-month target for breastfeeding was altered to a respectable 1-year target when he was about 3 months’ old. And now that I have about 1.5 more months to go to reach the 1-year breastfeeding contract with Ethan, I can’t help but consider a contract extension. After all, if I have the ability to give him the best, why should I settle for less?
A shopping mall is never complete without the inclusion of a breastfeeding/nursing room. Going shopping with Ethan tagging along is a breeze because for a breastfeeding mommy, we didn’t need to tote along milk bottles, milk powder, bottle warmers and whatnot. So when the all-new Queensbay Mall opened in Penang just about a week ago, checking out the breastfeeding room was top on my list of priorities.I was pleasantly amazed at the thought that was put in into creating a very conducive environment for nursing mothers. There were 3 rooms available, all privately enclosed by draw-curtains (having a door would be better, but this would do anyway), 3 diaper-changing stations, a sink and a hot and cold water dispenser. There were also 2 sofas provided in the lounge area, presumably for daddies to rest their weary legs or just to read the newspapers. I also thought it was a nice touch that they also hung posters promoting breastfeeding on the walls.
Alas, my excitement was short-lived as during my 3rd visit to the mall, we encountered someone who was quite unclear on the concept of the breastfeeding room. One of the 3 breastfeeding rooms was occupied by a guy and his kid, who was taking a snooze! Talk about insensitivity!
…is my 2 front teeth, my 2 front teeth, see my two front teeth?!!!
We are all familiar with how that song goes, but how many of us actually know someone who could actually relate to that song? This year, if only our Ethan boy can sing, that would be THE most appropriate song for him.
Last Saturday, we noticed a faint glimpse of white protruding through his top gums. That’s why methinks he is teething again (top two front teeth, nonetheless)… This would also explain the numerous times he wakes up at night. SIGH. It’s so heart wrenching to see him go through so much discomfort just to grow teeth…
Ethan has yet again proven that he is one photogenic baby.Over the weekend, SIL (Ethan’s Koh-Koh) presented an early Christmas present to him: his first vehicle, which amazingly is a TRAIN! Anyway, this is a toy which is designed to aid baby in walking, something like a push-and-stride thingy.
Only to be used when baby is 12 months and up, it was no surprise that Ethan’s feet dangled above the ground when he sat on it. So he now just amuses himself with the buttons and sounds on this new gadget now.
We did manage to take a few shots of him on the toy train. Really really….and I mean REALLY cheeky shots. Whenever the camera got ready to capture the picture, Ethan would instantly flash a cheeky grin….without fail. Check them out:
