Cinderfella

I get why people say the first year is the best. Every week, every month, this little bundle transforms into an amazing tiny person. I never know when he will manage to push himself up from his arms in the belly position to start crawling (currently, he's beached like a whale) or when a pearly white will peek through his gums. But despite being an impatient person who prefers the 'Now', this waiting game is the best though.

Sentiments aside, my rave du jour is Pediped shoes. How cute are those little thingies?? I mean, I'm never one of those women who have 50 pairs of shoes; instead, I'm Ms.Practical who will have 1 pair of comfy shoes that will be worn to its bone. But I'm just going ga-ga over those adorable Pedipeds. In retrospect, I think minibeanie is just my Cabbage Patch doll whom I'm dressing up :D ...But if you're a parent, you'll quite likely know that a pair of Pediped costs an atrocious amount for something so tiny. But but... but, they are just toooo cute!

minibeanie is 5 months & 1 day old

The Best-est Christmas Present

It's minibeanie's first Christmas :) And as tradition dictates, we have our Christmas Eve dinner at his mummi's (grandmother) place. There is the usual spread: leg of ham, my almost famous graavilohi (salted salmon), three types of pickled herring, roe with sour cream and three different types of casseroles (potato, swede & carrot). It is a table that will feed an army let alone 3 adults (2 of whom are trying to lose some weight ;) and a little guy.

I guess minibeanie has been a good boy so far ;)

He seems to like the toy that daddy has gotten for him from Munich. For that matter, everything must be tasted & chewed on at least once!


We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! :)

God bless.

minibeanie is 4 months & 4 weeks

Baby wearing

A running joke is that a parent learns how to do everything with 1 hand. Making phone calls (the conference call function is real handy!), typing emails, making toast... it's a wonder how 1 hand can balance the baby on the lap/hip, keep his curious flailing hands from mortally endangering himself while the other hand completes the task set out to do. And so, even as I perfect the art of filling my Bialetti moka pot with coffee with 1 hand, I decided a baby carrier is called for.

A sarong sling doesn't work for me since it's such a struggle positioning the baby in the sling. I mean, I can never get it comfortable on myself - too loose and the baby is about to fall out, too tight and he looks cramped, too low and it's almost as if the sling is at my knee... Too many 'too's.

And so I was back on the lookout for something that is idiot-proof, safe and doesn't break my back. I narrowed it down to 2 choices - BabyBjörn Synergy & Ergo Baby Carrier.

BabyBjörn Synergy

• + good back support
• + use of mesh materials is good for warmer climate
• + baby can face front or towards you in front
• - no hip support
• - carries only up till 12kg
• - does not carry baby on your back

Ergo

• + good back support
• + good hip support
• + carries kid up till 5 years old (on the back of course!)
• + baby may be carried from the front (in-facing), back or hip
• + 1" thick shoulder pads for comfort
  
• - may be hot in warmer climate
• - does not allow baby to face forward while on your front

I've read rave reviews about the Ergo so we went to a store yesterday that stocked the Ergo carrier to test it out. DH was sold instantly. It was the hip support - carrying 40kg of mines and bazookas on your back does make one look at hip supports slightly differently ;) For me, the proof is in the pudding. minibeanie fell asleep in the Ergo as I was trying it out in the store!


minibeanie is 4 months, 3 weeks & 6 days old

ps. the shortest day of the year is over! From now on, hello to more sunshine!

Crap!

I think minibeanie has a cold. He'd a slight fever on Wednesday, forcing me to cancel a lunch date cum shopping trip in the city. No matter. Things however has taken a turn for the worse today. The fever is gone but his appetite is affected and he is down with diarrhoea. By 7 in the evening, he has had 7 poopy diapers!

Ear infection is ruled out with a visit to the clinic today. Well, so I guess we just have to ride this one out :(

Back to the subject of poop. Guess what happened when I tried to take the rectal temperature this morning? I felt something warm and wet... yes, poopy diaper #2 in progress! :D

minibeanie is 4 months, 3 weeks & 3 days old

Update: Feeding solids

Thank you, all of you who took part in the poll :) The majority of you started at 5 months although the weighted average is slightly over 5.5 months. My personal take is, I'll revisit the issue in about a month or so. Somehow, it doesn't feel like the right time yet.

The ideas given by Clara & Nonka (re: comments on the post) are highly interesting & unconventional by 'normal' standards. 'Normal' is of course a highly subjective concept -what's normal and acceptable with one belief system may be strange to another. By 'normal', I thus mean the Anglo-Saxon books and websites that I've been reading. A different approach doesn't mean it is wrong. Regardless, I do know with drop-dead certainty that I'll be feeding minibeanie on a diet as varied as possible. The epicurean world doesn't just revolve around potatoes and rice porridge as the Finnish system would have one believe.

... I suspect this is just the beginning of the food topic ;)

minibeanie is 4 months, 2 weeks & 4 days old

A day of MESS

Poop, throw-up, throw-up again & pee all in 1 day. Not in the diapers where the poop & pee belong but everywhere.

At 8:30, I was unceremoniously woken up by a loud thump in the bathroom that was followed by some Finnish cuss words. It was DH who was filling up minibeanie's bath tub with water. This was highly unusual since minibeanie never takes his bath at 8 in the morning. Then I discovered why, minibeanie had pooped and thrown up twice in quick succession so that him & daddy had been holed up in the bathroom for 1 hour 15 minutes. Little wonder for the Finnish cuss word that began with 'v'. sigh, like the saying goes, shit happens :P

To round up the day, as minibeanie was taking an afternoon nap on our bed, he peed. No biggie except that his diapers were undone! How on earth did that happen?!?! So I guess all the sheets and quilt need to be washed after this. The little devil!

chewing on daddy's thumb

U mean I can't do that?

minibeanie is 4 months, 2 weeks & 3 days old

A turn of events

minibeanie turned over for the first time today! :) It was obviously a huge effort with all the grunting & huffing and almost equivalent to a little Everest for the little 'un, I'd imagine. And when he was finally on his tummy, he couldn't get his arm out from under him and so, more grunts of frustration followed.

Sigh, I expect the baby-being-where-u-left-it era to end rather soon. For the past 4 months, let's face it, they stay where you leave them. Now, vigilance is increasingly needed because minibeanie still hasn't mastered the art of returning to status quo.

Success!

minibeanie is 4 months, 2 weeks & 1 day old

Baby swimming - Lesson #2

It was our 2nd baby swimming lesson today. minibeanie appeared to enjoy the water a little bit more than the 1st lesson. He seemed a little less tentative and even splashed a little and smiled. He even 'razzed' ("pfffffffftttt" accompanied by bubbly drool) which was his way of saying he was enjoying it :D

There were preparatory stuff we had to do at home even before taking the 1st dip in the pool. First off, we'd to lower his bath temperature to 32c gradually and then, he had to get used to the sound and sensation of the shower by showering with him. I guess that was scary to some little ones...

It was a small pool of 20m or so. There were toys such as ducks, pails, floating mats and tube floats bobbing around. 8 to 10 babies were in the group from 4 to 7 months or so (that's my guess, because they look like GM babies otherwise.... u know, similar to those humongous gigantic pumpkins) The session started by everyone forming a circle and singing a song with a little bit of splashing as warm up. Then, each baby & parents drifted off to do their own thing.

For our 1st lesson last week, we were instructed on the various ways to hold minibeanie safely. The objective was to get him acquainted to the sensation of weightlessness and all the sounds & sights at the pool. The most important thing was to have fun :) We think the overall experience was a little overwhelming for minibeanie because he had his "what's-going-on" look which was big button eyes, knitted eye brows & puckered lips forming an 'O'. He was a brave sport though and didn't bawl.

Then, for our 2nd lesson today, the instructor wanted to see if he still had the diving reflex. If minibeanie held his breath with water running down his face, he still had it which meant that we could proceed with diving next week! How exciting!! To do that, we demonstrated to him twice with water pouring out of a tiny pail; on the third time, the water went over his shoulder, before finally pouring the water over his head. Phew, thankfully, he hadn't forgotten 9 months of holding his breath :) He didn't complain which was a really good thing.

After a few more tries and horsing around in the pool, the half hour session ended with a group sing-a-long. Oh yes, some practicalities. Hygiene was paramount for obvious reasons. Everyone had to shower before getting into the pool and each baby had to wear a pair of swimming trunks or bodysuit with swimming diapers....just in case of u know what. Apparently, there were 11 poopy incidents last year which resulted in the company having to change the water in the pool at €400 a pop. I say, how embarrassing for the parents who had to put up their hands in the pool and say, "err... I think our son just pooped..." I would imagine every parent to swim as fast and far away from the poor tiny offender and his parents as they could :D


minibeanie is 4 months, 1 week & 6 days old

Wibbit

Parenthood brings out the Bollywood theatrics in all of us. We sing whether it's off-key or with silly lyrics made up on the fly, tell an entire story in 5 different voices and derive joy springing out from behind walls. Thankfully, it's generally easy to amuse minibeanie as he's by and large, a good natured boy :)

We'd some fun today at an Austrian cafe today. A game that never fails to occupy minibeanie is the 'Burp Cloth Tickle'. Just lightly trail or swipe the cloth from toes to face. It's amazing how much joy can be found in a sometimes cheesy smelling piece of cloth! :D


Apparently, "wibbit" is also a reeeeally funny word as we found out ;)

minibeanie is 4 months, 1 week & 3 days old

happenings...

Gosh gosh.... it's been a long time since the last the blog :P We'd been extremely busy what with my driving theory test, going-ons at DH's office, Christmas baking & minibeanie's 1st swimming lesson!

• Driving theory test - passed. just & just :D
• Going-ons at DH's office - will have more to update on this department soon.
• Christmas baking - made some butterscotch buttons dipped in chocolate & topped with candied orange. There are still the gingerbread cookies to go.
• minibeanie's 1st swimming lesson - it was fun! Once I get hold of the pictures we took, there will be a blog entry on it.

So, where does this leave us? Let's see... a week ago, we had some Dutch-Finnish friends over with their 3 kids. The youngest is Sara, 3 months older than minibeanie.

And here are the 2 babies 3.5 months ago, when minibeanie was just a 2 week old baby. He was such an ikan bili then! :D


Btw, I've also added a couple of pix to the A date at the movies post :)

minibeanie is 4 months, 1 week & 1 week old

Dark rhymes

As I began to recall my childhood nursery rhymes, I realized with some amusement that most are dark & morbid :D Well, here's the proof. The Rock-a-bye baby fell, Jack broke his head, Jill rolled down the hill (and probably broke hers as well), Little Miss Muffet got spooked by a spider, Humpty Dumpty is a runny mess and the 3 blind mice became '3 blind tail-less mice'.

If Disney was to have his way, the Rock-a-bye baby would dream about milk-land, Jack & Jill would have gotten their pail of water and ice cream at the bottom of that hill, Little Miss Muffet would have enjoyed her curd & whey without any creepy crawlies, Humpty Dumpty would have been a stuntman and survived the great fall and the 3 blind mice would have been pets of the farmer's wife ;) And they would all live happily ever after.

minibeanie is 3 months, 4 weeks & 1 day old

ps. just in case anyone is out of touch with their inner child...

Rock-a-bye baby on the tree top
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock
When the cradle rocks, the baby will fall
Down come the baby, cradle and all!

Jack & Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down & broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after

Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the King's men and all the King's horses,
Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curd & whey
Along came a spider & sat down beside her
And scared Little Miss Muffet away!

Three blind mice, three blind mice,
See how they run, see how they run
They all run after the farmer's wife
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife
Have you ever seen such a thing in all your life?
Such as the three blind mice, three blind mice

A date at the movies

It felt like a family vacation yesterday even though it was just a movie & lunch. Probably because it was a Thursday afternoon & DH had taken the day off - it felt so... indulgent & decadent! :P The movie was My Blueberry Nights, the 'Baby movie' of the month but that wasn't really all that important.

Upon reaching the cinema, we were greeted by the sight of the atrium having been taken over by huge prams & their chubby masters. They sat or reclined in their 'mobile chaise lounges' sucking their pacifiers ferociously and once in a while, let their wishes be known by a wail.

The screening was held in the largest theatre - 648 seats in all. On the eve of the movie, about 100 tickets were sold. Yet, it felt as if there were a lot more. Entering the theatre was a surreal experience. Yes, it had the familiar feel of a movie theatre - dim lights, rows of seats, huge screen, plush red carpet..but wait, there were toddlers totting about, babies crying and mums queueing for the microwave ovens! The first row was entirely taken for an obvious reason. Mums have created little away-from-home nurseries for their little sultans there with mats, toys & even a castle-tent! :D


Over the 'ping' of the microwave ovens & cries of the babies, we still managed to catch the banter between Norah Jones & Jude Law. As for minibeanie, he was a good boy. He sat captured by the large screen for half an hour before deciding he had enough and wanted to be fed. Then after, he fretted in the pram's cot and finally fell asleep in my arms.

It was a really nice afternoon diversion, not least because it was our first movie in... more than 4 months. The organizers had even put changing tables and brought in the popcorn man with snacks & drinks. And only 3% of the audience were big boys above the age of 18, popcorn man included. They should organize this is Singapore, I think it would be a big hit :)

minibeanie is 3 months & 4 weeks old

Feeding solids

I've been toying with the idea of feeding minibeanie his first spoonful but after some thought, perhaps I'll revisit the issue in a month or so. Reasons being: he can't really sit upright yet & there's a higher risk of allergies. However, our midwife had said it was ok to feed solids by 4 months so I suppose like so many questions on childcare, there are as many opinions as there are issues :)

Thus, I'm conducting a poll on all of you mummies/daddies out there, when do you first stick a spoon of goob into your baby's mouth? What food do you start with? rice cereal, potato? And what are some of the mashy recipes up to a year old? potato & carrot? broccoli? Leave your comments by clicking on the "comment" link below, will love to hear what you say!

More on the topic:
AskDrSears.com
BabyCenter.com

minibeanie is 3 months, 3 weeks & 3 days old

Get a grip!

It still amazes me the rate at which babies grow & how they are different 1 week from the next. And so it was exactly a week ago that minibeanie discovered the use of those 2 appendages - arms & hands. From passively looking at the dangly toys above him to grabbing and pulling; this seems to happen overnight. I fear for the fate of the monkey. ouch.


One funny development is how minibeanie always seems to hold his 2 feet up in the air over the past few days. We're still scratching our heads why he's doing that....nothing seems to be achieved by his doing so. I mean, they are just pointing skywards when he's supine :D Probably this is a precursor to him discovering the other 2 limbs?

Oh yes, razzing (making a wet razz sound or raspberries), he has gotten that down to a pat. ahhh-airr-pffffzzt... At which point, a burp cloth or paper towel is usually necessary & bless you if you happen to be playing the flying game at that precise moment and you're annointed by dripping drool.


minibeanie is 3 months, 2 weeks & 5 days old

Feeding problem

minibeanie hasn't been eating well over the last 3 days :( Over the weekend, he averaged 550ml when the long term average is over 700ml (the advantage of a spreadsheet). He will feed for a while and when he stops for a burp, he wails his head off and refuses to take the bottle again. Gas also seems to be a huge problem - lots of flatulence (since we're in polite society here ;). Yesterday, in a desperate measure, we massaged his tummy with a Chinese traditional oil - 'Ru yi you'. I'm not sure if it worked but the lingering smell is awful. Today, he continued with his drink-a-little-&-wail routine but it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps his teat is too small! After all, this has been the same teat used since he was a newborn. Maybe. The next sized teats were dug out of the cupboard, sterilized in a jiffy and refitted into the bottle. It's still too early to tell if that solves the problem.... we can only sit, hold the bottle & hope :)

minibeanie is 3 months, 2 weeks & 4 days old

Fathers' Day

It's DH's first Fathers' Day today! Since minibeanie's a little small for cards, the celebration largely falls on me then. I grilled a pork knuckle german style and roasted some potatoes. For dessert, it was a semolina cake (Mannakakku) with almonds and vanilla cream. Not bad.

minibeanie is 3 months, 2 weeks & 3 days old

To the movies

One of the most common grouse from parents of young children is that they can't remember when was the last time they went to the movies. Without babysitters, it's mission impossible. Then, we heard that twice a month, the movie theatre here holds a special screening for parents with babies! Wow whee, here we come!! :D For the regular price of an afternoon movie ticket, the theatre comes equipped with changing tables, microwave oven & hot water for milk. No need to feel guilty when minibeanie fusses for his feed or have the need to grope in the dark if he spits his pacifier flying out in an arc because the lights will be half dimmed. And to top it all off, a goodie bag is given to each baby. How cool is this??

Yeah, so I thought we'd be watching Finding Nemo (again!) or Lion King (argh..), then I found out it was My Blueberry Nights. Blueberry what? To my great relief, the imdb search was a lot more promising than having a name that closely resembles Strawberry Shortcake. No offence to movie buffs here.

surprise #1: It's a Wong Kar Wai movie!
surprise #2: It stars Norah Jones, probably my fav R&B singer
And the icing on the cake? (even though I'd get pinched for this)


It co-stars Jude Law!

And here's what the theatre looks like today when DH was on his way for lunch. To our friends in Singapore, the size of the prams here probably comes as a bit of a shock :P


Going totally off-tangent, feeling the need to get out of the house, I met DH today in the city after his work for some real chocolate :)

minibeanie is 3 months, 1 week & 6 days old

One red bean

Winter is unofficially here. It was -1.6C when we went for a long walk last weekend. But the coldest minibeanie experienced was -3.4C on Monday when I brought him for his monthly check-up. And here's the irony, minibeanie has heat rash.

Took me awhile to figure out that those little red bumps on his chest were not hives or something nasty. Yes, he had been cocooned in too many layers in his pram when he was outdoors. A onesie, pants, full-body padded overalls, fleece bonnet INSIDE a sleeping bag and COVERED by the pram's cover. I now realized it's an overkill. The poor boy. He must have become a steamed dou sar pau (red bean bun). And to make matters worse, 2 nights later, he was dressed in a thick long-sleeved onesie beneath a thick overall and slept under a quilt. The poor little thing.....

The bottomline? It isn't easy gauging how much is too much. I have a MIL who insinuates that minibeanie is not dressed enough by buying him whole-body padded overalls, padded mittens & booties and a woollen balaclava. That's another story though; don't get me started.

For now, a light cotton onesie plus pants is enough at home. Afterall, it's always a toasty 23C at home regardless if it's a howling blizzard or hail storm outside.


minibeanie is 3 months, 1 week & 5 days old

Games

People play games all the time. Mind games. Political games. But the games that we love most involve lots of drool. Here are 2 of our favourite games with minibeanie.

The Flying Game

Up, up & away! It involves having the baby on your shin and you bring your legs towards your chest as you lie on the floor. Good for the pilot's abs too ;) see the drool stain on DH's pants? and that's why a burp cloth is provided inflight.

Sitting Up

Who would have thought sitting up is a skill to be learnt? Apparently, even babies who have mastered the art of sitting could still topple over if they lose interest in sitting :D In this game, the baby lies on his back while he is being pulled up from his hands. Here, minibeanie promptly puts daddy's hands into his mouth.

minibeanie is 3 months, 1 week & 3 days old

Stuffed

"I think our baby can't breathe."

At 2am last night, minibeanie was wheezing and breathing with difficulty. Out came the 'thing' that was bought from the pharmacy a few days ago. It is a contraption that alleviates blocked noses since blowing one's nose is a skill that's only learnt at age 4, apparently. Thus, one end of the device goes into the baby's nostril while you suck at the other end.

A LED light directed at his nostrils showed that both were stuffed with simply humongous bogey. Great. Reaching in by any means is not an option. Firstly, have u seen how small a baby's nostril is? It's barely 5mm across. Secondly, add a squiming baby to the mix. Last but not least, the skin in the nostril is rather sensitive - no infections, thank you. We tried hovering minibeanie over steam before suctioning in the hope that the moist steam will soften the rock hard bogey. No luck.

Finally, we decided to inject saline. I made a lukewarm saline solution of 1 cup water, 0.5-0.75 tsp salt & 1 pinch of baking soda. With a syringe, 1ml of the saline was squirted into a nostril before DH sucked out the offending object with the device. As Borat would say, greaaat success!

On to a less sticky topic, here are 2 pictures taken this morning after minibeanie's 8:30 am feed. I'm also glad to report that he's regularly sleeping through the night now :) 12:30 was the last feed of the night. ....there are of course occasional 'bad' nights where he wakes up and refuses to be pacified by the tutti (pacifier) or me.



minibeanie is 3 months & 4 days old

3 months & counting

minibeanie is exactly 3 months old today :> It'd be nice to have a tiny cake to celebrate* but it'd probably all go to mummy & daddy's waistlines so I guess not.

We're finding out about baby swimming classes as they take in babies as soon as they're 3 months old. No, it's not about kiasu-ism as one may jump to conclude :D No freestyle or breaststroke to be learnt here, it's all about having fun & water confidence. We hope that after a few classes, minibeanie could dive. It's not that hard for babies actually; after all, they held their breaths for 9 months not too long ago. So before minibeanie loses his diving reflex which is just like any of the newborn reflexes (moro, rooting etc) , we'll bring him to the pool. And does he take after daddy who was a national swimmer? We'll see!

Here are the 2 groups we're interested in: vauvauinti.fi & pikkudelfiinit.fi. Amazing pictures.

Tomorrow, we'll visit a friend whose baby's just 3.5 weeks old. minibeanie has a friend to play with!

* first time parents celebrate every single thing! ;)

minibeanie is 3 months old

Gearing up

minibeanie is nearly 3 months old! How time flies. He's now a charming little fella who smiles & babbles if his immediate concern is not milk. He's also beginning to discover his hands. There have been a couple of times when he seemed to reach for and grasp DH's extended finger deliberately.






We went out for a walk on Sunday. The temperature is falling fast and it's now +6c in the day regularly. In fact, it was 2.4c when we were out walking. The cold weather brings about some wardrobe challenges. First off, we put minibeanie in a fleece lined whole body suit before putting the whole bundle into a sleeping bag in the pram. And it's true, babies do sleep really well when they're outdoors. On Sunday, he slept for more than 4 hours straight & didn't budge even when moved in & out of a car-seat.


minibeanie is 2 months, 3 weeks & 6 days old

Chocolate

There was a brief moment of sunshine today after days of autumn rain, so I took the opportunity to get out of the house. Thinking I'd run a long overdue errand, I popped by my school to pick up my graduation diploma. The graduation ceremony was in June but if I remember correctly, I was feeling like a ready-to-pop mummy elephant then & feeling non too graceful, so there I was, 4 months after the fact. And of course, the diploma was no longer where it was and I'd to come back another day.

It wasn't a wasted trip entirely because I found a nice chocolate shop at a mall (Kamppi) nearby. Aptly called Kaakaopuu (Cocoa tree), there was a nice selection of Belgian Leonidas pralines and a variety of cocoa drinks beside the obligatory espresso and cappuccino. I got a Cacao Maya that was a little espresso cup of rich, velvety albeit slightly grainy chocolate with a hint of chili. It wasn't cloying sweet; instead, it had the slight bitterness of good cocoa. The tinge of chili was just right. Hmm...a tiny cup of heaven on an autumn afternoon.
And minibeanie was a perfect darling the whole afternoon.

minibeanie is 2 months, 3 weeks & 1 day old

Hint to someone: a 125g box of Leonidas will do very nicely for Christmas ;)

More on sleep

This is the result of a BabyCenter.com poll which gathered more than 7500 respondents. 89% of 3 month old babies sleeping for 5 hours straight?? Okie... hmph, from my spreadsheet (yes, don't laugh. I've made a spreadsheet that tracks when minibeanie sleeps/eats/wakes/amount drank along with useful statistics), he had been sleeping for 5 hours slightly less than half the time. Then again, n=7, a rather small sample size. Let's see! :)

By what age did your baby start sleeping for at least five hours straight on a regular basis?

	89%	By 3 months
	6%	By 6 months
	1%	By 9 months
	0%	By 1 year
	1%	After his 1st birthday

By what age did your baby start sleeping for at least eight hours straight?

	71%	By 3 months
	17%	By 6 months
	4%	By 9 months
	2%	By 1 year
	3%	After his 1st birthday

minibeanie is 2 months, 3 weeks & 1 day old