On the subject of names

Emmanuel and I toyed with the idea of naming our son Zornorph (Destroyer of Worlds), yes with the parenthesis as well. Obviously the idea just became a bit of a joke.... And if my first child was to be a girl, then it might have been Sabrina (Queen of the Universe). These names came from games, I think. anyway, we had to bow to convention cos it's not our life, so better not to make our children's lives more difficult than it already is.

pulling himself up

Ethan's able to pull himself up from a sitting position to a standing position if support is provided. My boy is growing everyday!!! Looks like he might avoid the crawling stage completely. We'll see. I hope Ethan takes more readily to some mushies. Not much interest so far. I find it hard to get out of this "ah-soh" mode unless I stop breastfeeding.

Ethan in tub at my mum's 

series of Ethan laughing while sitting up by himself. He's stable enough to even flial his arms around :p
 


series of 3 photos 


these were taken early May 

Signs of the first tooth

Ethan's lower gums have a white ridge appearing just to the left. My Mom spotted it yesterday and of course showed to the proud mommy (i.e. me). Hmm, it's amazing what we get thrilled with.

Ethan also managed to balance in a standing position for what was probably a second or two, without support from chair or me.... Not quite considered standing, but considering it's before he's full 6 months quite an achievement!!!

Freedom, reliance and walkers

I have been wondering about walkers. Emmanuel and I decided not to put Ethan in a walker cos we heard that they delay the baby learning how to walk cos they start to rely on the walker instead of learning how to balance. We had thought to wait until he's almost one and then put him on one of those front weighted trolley things so that he can use that to help himself learn how to walk. The difference with these thingmajigs is that Ethan should have learnt to balance on his own by then.....

But just the other day, I was thinking again... Ethan's not inclined to crawl and he's impatient. My mum's got a perpectual backache and now sees an ostheopath to help manage the pain. Am sure it's got something to do with Ethan wanting to be carried ALL the time. Ethan wants to be free, he's curious and learning, so lying on the bed isn't much fun.

That got me thinking again. Maybe we should let him have the joy from the freedom of movement. Heck if he learns to walk slower, at least he can zip round the house on his own two legs. If he falls, well, he should start learning that he can fall and it can hurt. Mummy, daddy, gong-gong and mamak cannot be there all the time to cushion him, though we will all try, fatigue, backache and all.

Maybe I think too much. There's no need to extrapolate the question of walkers into a methaphor about freedom and reliance and the consequences henceforth. Maybe like Ethan, I should just try to reach for the next toy, grab a kiss from a loved-one and just enjoy the day.

Storing for the future

I hug Ethan every morning and smother him with kisses, even if it's 5am in the morning when he's decided that his day has started. No matter how tired I am. I look at Emmanuel, my husband and Derek, my brother and remember that when Ethan grows up, he won't want his stuffy old mom to hug and kiss him, so I'm storing up. Now. Every morning and every night, I treasure these times when I get to hug him tight and he still wants me to.

Ethan standing and jumping, all gums!!! 

Ethan on 7th May, on the bed, looking cute to snare more playmates 

Semi-solids - battle of wills

After 2 weeks, I made a second attempt to introduce semi-solids to the little tyke. The first time was unplanned, Ethan was too hungry cos Emmanuel and I spent half an hour putting his high chair together. We were both sweating buckets in the hot humid late afternoon and Ethan was 2 hours past his last meal. We tried 2 teaspoons of nestle rice cereal with 30ml of EBM, warned by some to be too "sweet".

Ethan's a hot baby and rapidly decided the hot chair and the all this cooing to try to put stuff in his mouth wasn't working out. The attempt was aborted in seconds and Ethan taken to an aircon room to enjoy his favourite left boob/right boob.

The second attempt, carefully planned for Sunday 15th May, was to be an important milestone witnessed by proud grandparents and Emmanuel's high end Cannon digital camera. I dressed up (kinda). This time I had bought a whole packet of Gerber rice cereal, said to be "not too sweet" and thus won't "spoil" babies. I had 50ml of precious fresh EBM and mixed the amounts carefully.

Ethan shrunk to the side of the high chair furthest away from the spoon but we managed to spoon some into his mouth and he swallowed some. It was considered a mini success.

I needed Ethan to start liking semi solids cos I had intended to slowly then wean from breast as his intake for semi-solids increased. This will mean less fatigue for me and a gradual return to my pre-preg clothes and feeling more like the old me.

So it's a disappointment when in the last few days, Ethan demonstrated his lack of enthusiam for semi-solids by crying, wailing, projectile spitting, puking and drooling out all the carefully prepared different sorts of semi solids. My mother tried cereal in a bottle in the evening and wasted another 50ml of EBM. On Monday, cereal with 120ml Mamex was finished across 2 sessions over 3 hours - not too bad. On Tuesday, crying and refusal to swallow from bottle or spoon. So my mother tried a jar of organic apple and apricot baby food. The first mouth was projectiled to a distance away. The second spoonful was puked out along with whatever EBM left in his little stomach.

Today I heard my mother stewed $5 worth of beef steak until she got the beef essence to cook porridge. More crying and wailing. My mother has decided to only try a month later.

Ethan and I - notice the bags under my eyes? And Ethan has hair standing up high above his head. That's why I've never had Ethan shaved. 

He's my daddy 

Ethan just past his one month birthday at Chinese New Year 

Ethan finally flipped!!!

without struggling that is. Ethan was able to flip by himself by 3 months but since he really hates to be on his belly, he hasn't had much practice. he really doesn't like to flip either. Ethan prefers to stand and at the tender age of 3.5 months, Ethan wanted to stand and be carried face front so that he can see stuff.

Yesterday Ethan actually flipped while playing, without encouragement and without stuggling. Then he moved forward a little so that he can cram my boob in his mouth, all on his belly. Like all first-time mums I was a little concerned about Ethan's not caring to flip or be on his belly. I compensated by trying to get him to sit. Am proud to say he's been sitting by himself since just before 5 months without support.

Ethan still much prefers to stand, or walk or jump and has been able to stand holding on to a stationary object from 4.5 months. Ethan can hold onto the edge of the sofa and maintain a standing position, until he decides to walk, and then he falls :-)

Am curious now to find out if he ever will crawl, guess we won't know til we get there.

In the beginning

Hey! Never thought I'd be one to blog but guess now there's a worthy topic. My beautiful baby Ethan.

BTW, it's raspberry bubbles cos Ethan likes to blow raspberries and has been blowing them for about 2 months already, when he was three months old.

Ethan was born 1st December at 3.405kg and is the pride of my life.


Ethan at the hospital when first born 

From 3 weeks ago, Ethan's been able to sit by himself, no support! no hand holding and he's not supporting himself with his hands either. Will capture a pic for all to see soon!

We're planning to make a second attempt at feeding Ethan some rice cereal this weekend. We hope this time it'll be better planned and managed.