Aidan leopard-crawling

Head & shoulders, knees & toes

He's got a fascination with body parts I reckon, not in that horrible macabre way like serial killers are, or models, but he loves grabbing and gripping my fingers, stroking my arm, holding my hand so he can fall asleep.

And when he's awake, he'll spy my toe and try to gum it, spy my elbow and try to gum it, spy my chin and try to gum it.

Maybe he thinks they're just really big versions of the veggie rusks he likes chewing on.

I'd like to think he just loves his mama very, very much.

Ooh forgot to mention about our trip to Sydney!

Here're some highlights:
1. Coughed my way through the trip with a cold. Especially in the rain. Gagh.
2. Ate at Billy Kwong's (delish!) for dinner and Marigold (delish!) for yum cha.
3. Bought my hoodie and found Emu Oil for Aidan!

The latter's really important... Aidan's eczema's really bad, and all the creams and lotions and steroids (yes! steroids! he's been put on cortisone cream) don't seem to be working too well. A doctor friend who's a dermatologist suggested emu oil 'coz a lot of her patients have anecdotally mentioned it's worked really well for them. We shall see...they've a money-back guarantee anyways.

Mobiles and mobility

The day has finally arrived. Or rather, is in the midst of arriving. Aidan's starting to crawl! And he's getting quicker by the day.

He can do this leopard-crawl/squirm thing with his body, and uses the function of his well-defined toes to inch his way to wherever his target is. And it's usually the shiny metal leg of the dining chair.

Man, what upper-body strength! If I had half that much strength, I'd be, well, erm, fitter. But he can hoist his ENTIRE body up using just his arms in order to gum the chair leg! His butt actually lifts off the ground! Picture a koala perched on a eucalyptus tree, and there you have it.

It's just the most adorable thing to watch. I'll sit some distance away from him, and dangle his favourite ball or a set of jangly keys and coax him to make his way over to me. He starts up sitting, then lunges forward so his hands are on the floor, flattens his body and starts wriggling side to side. He'll twist and turn and push forward with the tips of his toes until he eventually reaches me. That is if he doesn't get distracted halfway by another shiny object of course. By, hurrah, he's here!!! Woohoo, what a smart strong boy! Wait till he starts crawling properly, then he'll REALLY be a headache. Gotta get me those stair-gates so he doesn't tumble down.

Thing is, with him being so mobile now, I've to keep rescuing objects from his slobber...like wires, remote controls and mobile phones. SIGH! A "NO! Aidan. NO CHEWING ON WIRES!!!" gets greeted with a silly grin. As if he were saying, "Aww shucks mum, I know you said no chewing on wires, but look at me, I'm too cute to really listen to you 'coz I know you'll let me get away with it won't you...won't you?"

"And I know you said that mobile phones and remote controls aren't safe for me to nibble on, but hey, I'm a tough little bugger and isn't it more fun when the TV channels keep changing randomly while you're watching it anyway? Teeheehee..."

Growl. He knows it. Wait till a small thwack lands on his chubby little thigh! (Altho, having tried it once, I've concluded his skin's too thick to feel anything 'coz he just blinks at me and carries on...) Anyhoo! I should take a video and post it up (Sidenote: reason why I haven't been posting video is 'coz my camera takes really huge files and I can't upload it on blogger or youtube! Humph. So I have all these great videos for you guys to see... it's just sitting in my camera. Boo...)

In other news, we saw the Maternal health nurse today, and it seems Aidan's a little under is projected weight for his age. She says it's normal with kids his age being active and all (and he is VERY active), but I realise he can and should be eating a lot more solids than he is right now (which is about 1-2 teaspoons of pureed veggies). So I'm upping his intake and just now I gave him 2 serves of his usual carrot...which he took forever to finish but he did eventually. So I'm supposed to add to his diet some meat too (like shredded chicken), and maybe some rice porridge (chok) with fish. He likes drinking from his sippy cup which is great! Bypassed the spout lid, and went straight for the curved sippy lid. Cutey patootie!


We got ours from Stevie-boy, who works at Heinz and gets stuff cheap from the Heinz mart! He gave us this plus the weaning-bowl set Aidan has - so sweet! Only thing is, the Heinz mart sells them in just one colour...so my boy uses a pink and purple tumbler and bowl & spoon. Hey, he has no issues, I repeat, no issues with it okay! Boys can like pink - think (urgh, hate this overused term) metrosexual! We are raging against the matriarchal machine that dictates women dominate the pastel-colour market. We are raging against the patriarchal hegemony that says boys who like pink are effeminate and hence weak pansies. We defy the monolith that is today's socio-cultural influence over our lives!!

Ok lah, you got me. It's free, so we keep.

7 months and counting!

Booo.... I think I've caught someone's cough 'coz I'm feeling scratchy in the throat and my head hurts a little. It's a combination of tiredness (not to do with Aidan this time - I've been really engrossed with a book I'm reading and have sacrificed sleep to follow it's compelling story), and dehydration. I'm guessing at least.

Yesterday, Aidan was running a temperature - about 38.1 degrees. Worried me a fair bit, but for a kid who has a fever, he's pretty alert and bouncy! Kinda reminds me of the time my brother had a fever - 40 degrees! - when he was about 2 years old. He was hospitalised, but my mum said he was jumping up and down holding onto the edge of the cot. What a trooper; maybe Aidan's inherited the Wong family resilience. I have to say, all of us growing up hardly ever fell sick. Praise God for good health!

That said, I do hope I recover soon...praying for healing. Hack gack cough wheeze... I really wanna recover before our weekend trip to Sydney for our anniversary! EG arranged it - with Shawn and Wency who're going too - so I'm really looking forward to it!

ANYHOO! Baby Aidan's turned 7 months today! He's growing so quickly...wow can't believe time's passed so fast! Happy 7 months bubba! Love you heaps you adorable you.

Food glorious food

So, we've just started on avocado, and had carrots last week, and he seems to really like it!

Thing is, I also think it's what accounts for his lethal, and I mean LETHAL farts.

Man, if there's one thing he's inherited from me, it's that (haha)!

Here I am, just watching TV with him by my side, or cuddling him in bed. And pwhooh suddenly there's a pong in the air. And it stinks!

"Baby! Is that you?!"
And like any other farter, he grins to let me know he's pretty proud of it.





Oh yeah, it's our 3rd anniversary today!

More progress...

Quickly now, some new updates on his physical development:

1. He can almost crawl. It's a pose he does sitting up, with one leg in starting position and the other propping him up. Then he either falls forward splat! Or he sits back again.

2. He gets SUPER excited about certain stuff...especially his brown jar of DermEze. Give him a colourful ball or some other toy, no reaction. He only starts gasping and flapping his arms with the little brown jar!

3. He likes making the kissing sound with his lips, and he's recently learned how to make a smacking sound with his tongue, so we're constantly wondering if he's sucking on something in his mouth. Plus he's learned how to suck on his lower or top lip - too cute!!

I Love You, Baby!

Sit Ubu Sit!

Now I mentioned before that Aidan's doing really well at sitting. In addition, he's been pushing off on his haunches lately, which leads me to believe he might start crawling soon! He can push off, and sometimes ends up flat on his belly (often looking like he's swimming 'coz his limbs are flailing about), or sometimes he's able to return to a sitting position.

Everyone's been so complimentary about his growth. He's sitting really well, and is really sturdy for his age. But if he DOES start crawling soon, oh gosh look out! He loves to chew on wires and remote controls, so it seems EG's love for electronics is hereditary...

Anyhoo! Here're some recent pics of him at our Easter Camp. Enjoy!

AIDAN'S EASTER CAMP PHOTOS

SIX MONTHS!

Yup today my big boy turns 6 months old. Can't believe the time has passed so quickly - what an achievement!

To date, he's:

1. Started on rice cereal, but still spits it out
2. Has drunk some water from a bottle, but still doesn't like it
3. Doesn't really like drinking infant formula - still likes the comfort of mum!
4. Is able to sit up without assistance and play with his toys
5. Likes making this 'clucking' sound whenever he's upset. It's his version of whining, but he really sounds like a chicken! People find it adorable; it was to me at first, but gradually turns annoying when you listen to it repeatedly hehe....
6. Isn't sleeping through the night, but that could be 'coz he's still nursing a cold and cough. I can hear the phlegm in his throat when he coughs, poor bubba!
7. Has baby eczema on his cheeks, neck and elbows :-( But that's not stopping us from attending thr Sids n Kids fundraising photoshoot!

Look Maw, I caud a big one!

I left Mr Snotty-nose (he's been nursing a cold since Tuesday) on the couch with his paper flash-cards today, to have a 'read'. He attacked it with gusto, as expected, trying to grab a hold of them (they're half-A4, length-wise).

I walked over to the kitchen counter to finish up some washing, and looked up to discover Aidan the Barbarian. The intrepid explorer of Soh-tartica, having foraged for food in the parched wasteland of the icy desert (read: my living room), had finally captured his catch of the day.

Hope?

Today's been particularly hard morning... mostly 'coz my poor bubba's got a cold and was up at 2am, 2.45am, 3am, 3.30am, 6am, 6.50am.

Poor thing. And poor me!

Later that morning the lady from the hospital conducting the long-term study on women's experience at the Royal Women's Hospital and childbirth and parenting, of which I'm participating in, rang with the usual questions. Although I didn't score high enough to warrant a recommendation to see someone for depression, she could tell I was having a hard time. She ended off saying I should ring my maternal & child health nurse, and also that she's had 3 kids, and though it was hard to do control crying at first and she hated it, it made all the difference in the long run when it worked.

I think it was the last statement that did me in - it sounded hopeful.

I'm so tired of hoping!!

I'm so tired of resurrecting faith each day, hanging out there on a limb, wondering what it is that I'm doing wrong or differently that prevents me from achieving the same results as others who've gone the same way. When Paul talks of pressing on in faith, I wonder if he meant motherhood.

It's tiring to believe everyday, but it makes the Christian walk and its perils clearer to me. Suddenly the Psalms make deeper sense.

Here's what I'm grateful for though:
1. He's not terminally ill...or that sick for that matter. Just a touch of the sniffles. Imagine having to constantly shuffle your child to and fro between home and hospital, and the waits and queues and praying he'll recover. Thank God for his health!

2. My mum, who's been a support over the phone. E-Gene, who's been a constant source of strength.

3. Aidan's still got his cheerful disposition, and eats well.

Tomorrow is a new day.

Brave

There are days when I question if I'm being a good mum or not...like y'day morning when I left him to cry for an extended period. And then he got pricked (I think) by a mini safety pin that was holding his pillowcase together. If I'd just checked in on him sooner.... and yada yada the internal admonitions carry on.

I'm gradually building a reserve to block out his crying and remind myself that he has to learn to resettle himself, and that he's not hurt, hungry or wet, just completely indignant at the lack of attention. It's either him or me, mate - either he learns to return to sleep on his own, or I'd have to keep checking in on him every 2 hrs in the middle of the night when he fusses! Although today he realised after awhile he wasn't gonna get picked up, so busied himself by chewing on his pillow, and batting the toy lamb we have tied to the bars of his cot. How cute!

I'm thankful that his day-sleeps are getting better; he can sleep for up to 2 hrs sometimes! Wow! That's if he sleeps of course hehe... but in those breaks I get to do some housework, or like today, just read my Bible and soak it in. Which is a luxury, and something I couldn't afford everyday since Aidan was born. Plus I got to chat with my mum today about his development, and how to handle the difficulties of broken sleep. I'm starting to read the book she gave me for my b'day last year, or being a Godly, purposeful mum...it's really dawning on me how important that role is...and how difficult! Sigh...

Honestly, I had a bit of a break-down on Sat night when EG was about to step out to attend a friend's buck's night. I was meant to go for the hen's as well, and bring the bubba along, but begged off, coz we were just too tired and I was falling sick - plus we'd attended a wedding and an engagement party earlier that day. But anyhoo, just the thought of another lonely night with A, and another sleepless night after, was more than I could bear! I just started sobbing into my noodles - how pathetic! And EG didn't feel like he could go, but I convinced him to eventually - no point 2 people moping about the house. But I got better after, just had to steelve my resolve and check in on him every 15 mins to reassure him that everything's all right. We wrapped him up in his caterpillar wrap that night, and he slept better. Maybe the previous nights he was cold, or maybe he feels more secure being wrapped? Who knows?!

This morning he rose at 2.30am again, and I turned the monitor down wait for 15 mins to see if he'd resettle himself. Next thing I knew it was an hour and 10 mins later already! The poor bubs' been crying for that long! I rushed into his room, and he was whining, not quite full tears, in the opposite corner of his cot, the baby monitor upended, his pillow tossed aside. Guilt washed over me again...

I'm learning, daily, what it means to lead a Godly life that can be taught to him... and how to be a Godly mum. I just need so much wisdom and strength and endurance for this. What a journey...what a desire for hope that each day would be better than the last.

Oh, but I do love him so.

Another one bites the dust

Here're more milestones!

1. Aidan's started on solids already. The first day he was a bit iffy (scrunched face up) but the next day, he took a bit more of his Farex rice cereal. Woohoo! This is my favourite look:



2. He STILL hasn't consistently slep through the night, but he's doing much better with his day sleeps. We've been trying to re-train him and allow him to cry so he gets the idea of being independent and resettling himself to sleep.

Just now, at 2.15pm EDST (that's easter daylight savings time), I popped him into bed with the pacifier, WITHOUT singing and rocking and swaying, and he slept! He fussed a little, which i'd expected, then surprisingly he stopped (as I through the garbage out), I peeked in and he was just looking around his cot. Down I went again to do the laundry, and when I popped up for a peek again, he was asleep! WOW. Hope he can do this consistently...

Anyhoo! If you wanna see Aidan eat rice mush, lookie here

They are back!

Yup, my family is finally back in Melbourne with me. So good to finally have them by my side. Aidan has grown so much since I last saw him. Not sure if he actually recognises me but he still smiles when he sees me so that must be a good thing.

Anyway since they came back Sarah and I decided that we need to get Aidan back on track with his feeding schedule. No more holiday mood, and man, it's hard. Basically it meant that we had to stretch his feeds a bit more and yes...let him cry a lot more. Our main objective is to teach him to resettle himself, which he hasn't been able to do since we went back to Singapore cos there's always someone to pick him up when he cries. Sorry matie, no more of that.

Today was Day 1 and it has actually gone a lot smoother than I had expected. Yes he cried when we tried to get him to sleep. Yes he had to endure (we had to endure it too) 15 mins of crying before we went to pick him up and put him back down again. Did that ALL day. Don't think that we've ever heard him cry so much, so much that his voice has gone a little hoarse. We had to keep reassuring him that we love him and Saz and I had to reassure each other that we are doing the right thing as well.

Yup, trying to get him to sleep through the night comes at a price. But we'll push on...now onto Day 2. The crying continues...

My babies are coming back!

As I type this both Saz and Aidan should have boarded SQ237 enroute to Melbourne. So in about 7 hours time, I'll finally be reunited with my family.


I can't wait...


...I better get some sleep.