Trial run

Craig and mommy took off the whole of last week to spend time with family in Malaysia. With the introduction of a direct flight service from Singapore to Ipoh (where I'Ching's parents are), it's a breeze to travel to visit C's PohPoh and GungGung. While I traveled there alone with C, Brian joined us over the weekend and flew home with us last night. My solo flight with C was not bad at all - he merely fussed a little but settled down soon enough. Of course, it was a really short flight - an hour and a half.

Craig enjoying the company of GungGung:

As expected, C was showered with much attention and affection by his maternal grandparents. He also got to take a dip in his cousin Ru's inflatable pool. Now that he is over five months' old, we reckoned that it is time for us to take him swimming. And the inflatable pool was an opportune trial run before the real thing. C had a splash - kicking his legs as he floated around with mommy's arms around him. We think he's ready for the real pool!

Working out

Together with a few mothers from the circle of February moms here, we took Craig to a baby gym trial class. It was a lot of fun for both parents and baby. While it was obvious that C enjoyed it thoroughly, he was exhausted halfway through and fussed a little. Here are some fun shots from the outing.

"Let's stretch those legs!" (Pix credit: Loke Kit Kai)

"Shyann, where do you get all this energy from??? I'm exhausted!" (Pix credit: Kris Tay)

Five months old!

Craig turned 5 months old yesterday. It is hard to believe how rapidly time has flown by and how much this tyke has grown! He has always been a cooperative baby and as he grows, he is increasingly easy to care for. A friend remarked that he has spoiled his parents!

Here are some updates:

Milestones:

1. Sleeps through the night: 8 pm - 6 am

2. Rolls over back to tummy and this morning managed to roll back to his back from tummy

3. We started him on a little rice cereal 2 days ago and he seems to like it - knows how to open his mouth as the spoon approaches

Likes:

1. Music - especially jazz (he especially loves Ella Fitzgerald!)

2. Kisses - loves to be kissed

3. Smiles - though he frowns a lot, if you smile at him, you will most definitely get a wide toothless grin back - even when he is very tired

4. Playing with his toys by himself - sometimes, he gets impatient when we hold him too long. He wants to be left alone to play with his toys or practice his new motor skills

5. Being read to - he would look at the page we are reading and touch the page with his little fingers - as if he understands what it is about!

6. Being carried face-out on his carrier when we go out - he gets so excited, he would start kicking his legs furiously!

Scare tactics

Last week on my way to the grocery store, I encountered an eerie sight at the building next to ours. It looked like some kind of creative/artsy installation but in reality they were some elements, which represent death in the Chinese religious culture, placed at the mailbox of someone who owes an illegal loan shark money. I have blogged about this phenomenon before - click here

What you can see stuck to the rocking chair are Hell money notes that are usually burned during funeral rites. It is believed that the dead, in netherworld, would receive them and hence have some pocket money to spend! A page ripped from a newspaper's obituary section was also part of the ensemble. The message? "If you do not pay up, yours will be next!"

What fascinates me about this particular case of illegal loan collection is how creative the scare-shame tactics have become. If this particular "installation" was found in an art exhibition, it would be deemed expressive or artistic. But at the ground floor of a residential apartment, it's plain disturbing!

Fourth of July outing

Daddy explaining to Craig what happened on July 4 a long time ago:

"I think I'm going to devour some hotdogs!"

Guess who found his thumb?

Having fun!

First July Fourth

Today is Craig's first July Fourth. The day had a perfect start when he snoozed with us, after waking up to a feed at 6 am, till 9 am. Typically, when he wakes up at 6 am, I would change and feed him and then have him on our bed for awhile before we start the day. We would play with him (last few days it has only been me as Brian leaves for work at this time). He would then fall back asleep for a short nap about an hour later. But this morning I was too tired to play with him as I have been nursing a sinus-migraine for the past 3 days. So, I left him to play on his own between us on our bed. I soon drifted off to sleep and the next thing I know, I found the little boy sweetly napping next to us.

To get into the spirit of day, we are planning an early evening outing at the July 4 Fun Fair organized by the American Association here. We look forward to the jazz, hotdogs and fireworks. Hopefully Craig will not be tired and we can stay for the fireworks display.

Little boy and his big feat

It has been fascinating to watch Craig grow from an unresponsive newborn to an infant with a fast emerging personality. While he is fondly known by many as the frowny baby, he is, on the contrary, a pretty happy boy. Nowadays he is hardly short on smiles, giggles and laughs. A little over two weeks ago, he also did not hesitate to make his displeasure known by turning all red in the face, screaming and kicking when we gave him his bath - this little boy has a temper already! (Typically bath time is his favorite but on days when he's over-tired, he gets impatient and cries).

Lately feeding time has also been a tug-of-war with him trying to either fight off or grab the bottle. The pictures below captured one of the episodes when he actually held on to the bottle on his own. We suspect that he will soon be able to bottle-feed himself!

This morning just before Brian left for a day-trip to Malaysia, the little boy gave daddy a little surprise - he finally rolled over! Unfortunately, his elated parents forgot to capture the moment on camera. Little C seemed very pleased with his achievement and kept trying to repeat the feat all morning but he only managed one other roll-over after the first one. Frustrated, he was fussy and nap time has been a challenge all morning until an hour ago when he finally gave in to Mister Sandman.

On a sleepless night as this...

I thought I'd post a recent video clip of Craig chillaxin' on his swing to his baby jazz and Oball. Nana will be happy to know that he is increasingly fond of his swing. Note how he expresses his delight by kicking his legs - very cute! Meanwhile, I'm hoping this will be the last posting that is done in the middle of the night i.e. get over this darn jetlag already!

Solo across the Pacific and back

I, I'Ching, was supposed to arrive home by Saturday 11:55 pm. That meant I would get to spend half a day on Sunday with my mom and sister (who was visiting for a day) before they leave for Malaysia. But the plane I was scheduled to fly on had mechanical problems at O'Hare airport. So, the flight was delayed for five hours. That meant I would miss my connecting flight in Tokyo. By the time we were finally airborne, we were almost seven hours behind schedule! Needless to say, I missed my connecting flight in Narita and had to stay a night in Tokyo. I was so frustrated throughout. I finally arrived home to the big gummy smiles of Craig at 7 pm on Sunday. Took me almost two days to travel from Chicago to Singapore! Unbelievable! But, I am thankful that I'm finally home.

I cannot believe that the dreaded week is finally over. I had a very good week in Chicago, though. The conference where I spoke at went really well and I made a lot of new friends. Also managed to squeeze in some shopping time but mostly for baby stuff - like sippy cups, booster seat, etc. These items are twice the price if we were to buy them in Singapore.

Craig and daddy did really well with PohPoh as well. He was wonderfully easy throughout the week and I know that PohPoh will miss him dearly as he totally stole her heart! He is laughing and smiling so much nowadays. PohPoh insists that the pleasant disposition comes from his dad...hmm...

Craig looks like he's SO ready for bed:

With GrandAunt Karen:

I was planning to celebrate Brian's first Father's Day with a nice meal out but alas, United Airlines ruined my plan. We will try to make that up sometime this week.

Now that my major assignment in the US is over, I am counting down to my SAHM days which begins on July 1. It will be an interesting transition for me. Though I will not be on full-time employment with RZIM during the coming 12 months, I will nonetheless fulfill the local speaking invitations I received prior. I do look forward to being able to travel to Malaysia to see my parents with C more frequently. Meanwhile, I need to get over my jetlag...

Love in excess

As I, I'Ching, contemplate with dread my departure to the US for a week this Saturday, the impending Craig-blues is being sweetened by visits of family members - first, my sister over the weekend, and then my mom and her two sisters in a few days' time.

The last time YiYi (as C would call her) saw the little chap was almost two months ago and, boy, has he grown since! On Saturday when YiYi arrived, Brian was on a day-trip to Malaysia. So, C had all the attention from us two ladies. We took him to the mall after his late morning nap and did not get home till evening. It was wonderful to catch up with my sister while Craig had a great time showing off his new social skills to his YiYi. Needless to say, YiYi was duly impressed. Giggles, funny faces and baby-laughs were in excess over the last three days. In fact, the little boy played so much and got himself so over-stimulated that bedtime tonight was an unusually tearful affair.

All smiles in YiYi's embrace: 

Meanwhile,  little Mr. Spock has no idea what's in store for him the next two weeks - the care and pampering of PohPoh but the absence of mommy. Let's hope PohPoh and daddy will be distraction enough for him to not miss me too much. My suspicion is that I'll miss him more than him me.

Baby monitors

It was one of those things we expect to happen - just a matter of when. Well, it did - on Friday evening. We were interacting with Craig and making funny faces at him like we normally do when I noticed that his body felt a little too warm. So we took his temperature and discovered that he had a slight fever. We quickly decided that we'll give him a brief bath before we add a little baby paracetamol into his bottle. 

He was his usual self when we prepared him for his favorite time of the day but when I lowered him into his bathtub, I noticed that for a split-second his eyes rolled back like in a fit. While I have heard that some babies experience seizure when they have a fever, I did not expect Craig to react this way as his temperature was not that high. I immediately screamed out to Brian that something is not right and lifted C from the bathtub onto the changing table. As I placed him on the table, I noticed another split-second eye-roll! I was so scared I panicked! Throughout, other than those two moments, C was his usual happy bath-time self. 

I hurriedly dressed him up while Brian called the pediatrician. The doctor suggested we bring him to the hospital nearby. We called one of our friends close by who works as a nurse at the hospital's ER to ask about the procedures involved. She promptly came over and after observing C for a half-hour, she suggested that we monitor him overnight instead of bringing him to the hospital. C really did not seem sick at all - he finished his bottle like usual. So, we decided to give him some medication for his fever and see if his temperature goes down.

We monitored him all night taking his temperature every half hour. It was the longest night! (We're sure that many more will come...!) I had him sleep with us so that we can observe him better. Thankfully his fever subsided rather soon after his first dose of meds. 

By 8:30 am the next day, we were already at the pediatrician's! He examined C thoroughly and found nothing wrong with him. In fact, C seemed quite cheerful while he was being checked out. The doctor advised that we have his blood and urine tested just to be sure. So we did and the results showed a viral infection. We were told to continue to monitor him but the infection should clear in a day or two. True enough, since that first evening, his fever has not returned. He was a little subdued yesterday but today he is mostly back to his normal self. What a relief that Craig's first non vaccine-related fever is over!

I must say that our sweet little one is a brave boy. First, while his blood was being taken, he cried but when we tried to distract him and talked to him, he smiled back though I know he was still in pain as the nurse was still drawing blood from his heel. And throughout the two days when his little body was fighting the infection, he was not particularly fussy. He still smiled and cooed when we interacted with him. 

Is it possible to love someone too much???

The verdict is still out on the Bumbo (notice the Vulcan a.k.a. frowning eyebrow!!!)

While we were at the doctor's we also measured and weighed him: he weighs 6 kgs (that's a little more than double his birth weight) and 62 cms long (that's about 25 inches)!   

Ah - now that he is better, tonight we can have a better night's sleep!

Enjoying his toys: Perfect eye-hand coordination

 

Eyes wide shut

Many have asked us what is the color of Craig's eyes. To be honest, we don't really know yet. Babies normally have black/blue eyes when they are born and the color will eventually evolve into their permanent hue after a few months. Well, C's have turned from the black/blue almost dark gray tone to the present brown-olive green. We're equally curious how his eyes will finally look like. I'm not sure if these pictures faithfully capture the color of his eyes but what do you think?

He is finally able to sit in the car seat and stroller without much fuss - yay! We think the solution was the little clip-on fan we added. Poor guy must have been steaming in the seat the last few times we put him in the seat. Seen here is him asleep while we ate our dinner peacefully at Botak Jones. 

News

After much consideration (and prayers), we have decided to take my boss, LT, up on his offer: that I take some time off to care for C while Brian takes over my work responsibilities. This means Brian will have to take a year's leave of absence from his doctoral research to do this. This is possible as Brian and I are trained in similar areas and hence the versatility of him doing my job. This new arrangement will begin at the end June after I return from a work trip to the US.

We are very thankful to the local Board of the organization I work for for their flexibility and understanding. Our initial plan with C after I go back to work was to put him in childcare for half a day and then B and I take turns to care for him the rest of the day. However, my work requires that I travel quite extensively in the region. And, to my surprise, I cannot bear the thought of leaving my young baby so often for extended periods of time. Besides, childcare is SO expensive in Singapore that we can barely afford it. When C is older next year and requires less one-on-one care, I will return to work (this is part of the agreement with the Board) and put him in playschool - which will be cheaper.

So, considering all factors, we believe that this new arrangement would work out great. I am very excited to be a Stay At Home Mom for a year while Brian is very enthusiastic about his new role.

On an unrelated matter, it is 5:45 am now and for the first time C has slept through the night (so far!) and here I am up since 3:30 am and not able to go back to sleep! Go figure!

Updates: Craig and my mom

We took Craig for his third month vaccinations a few days ago and got a chance to weigh and measure him. His weight is on the lower percentile at 5.33 kgs (that's 11 plus lbs) but he is a chart-topper for his height/length at 61 cms (that's exactly 2 feet). While I'm a little concerned about his feather-weight (he is such a small eater!), the pediatrician  says that his weight is perfectly acceptable. We are very thankful that he's healthy and growing.

A few days ago he gave his first laugh/chuckle - it was so precious! Since then, he's been laughing at us or with us when we play or talk to him. Yes, Jan, his laugh is the most wonderful sound in the world! Though affectionately known as the "cute frowning baby," he sure smiles a lot these days.

Someone commented on how long he looks in this pix.

A lot of you have been wondering about my mom. I am pleased to inform that she is doing very well. She is able to walk slowly now. While she still experiences a lot of pain - especially in the evening, she is quite glad that she is mobile again. In fact, she is planning to come visit us here in the Lion City next month! Thank you all for your love and prayers.

Name-calling

Here are some names we use on the little chap:

1) Squirmy McSquirm

2) Mr Big (as in big eyes)

3) Fussy McSquirm-a-lot

4) Bubbles

5) Slobber King

6) Charlie Brown

7) Mr Drool

I'm sure more will be added to the list soon! 

Frowning in his sleep! (Pic credit: Simon Fong)