Headache

Teleportation

After hours and hours of discussion of how to teleport from city to city to cut travel time, we found a way -- we FLY!

Dan and the Cockcroach

Yesterday, Dan found a dead cockcroach at the corner of the room. Before I know it, I saw something black in his mouth. I looked at the floor and shouted for Emil to take the bits of cockcroach out. Dan actually pulled out the legs, part of the wings and stuffed part of the roach in his mouth.

Hair Pulling

Strangely Dan has been starting this new habit of pulling his hair when trying to sleep.

After googling it seems to be quite common in babies. http://www.babycenter.com/0_hair-pulling_11553.bc

The Cocoon

My desperate attempt for Dan to nap -- to swaddle a 10kg Dan in a single size blanket. coccoon

Look Mummy -- No Hands

Dan is starting to stand without support for a few seconds. Had fun time at the playground today.

We Heart <3 IKEA

It was so much fun at IKEA yesterday. Babies are always the ultimate toy for parents.

Time for Play

It is nice to attend playdates. Baby Dan gets to explore new toys and we -- the mums get to chat about babies. Hope to be able to host one in the future.

Doing the Wave

Out of no where, Dan started flapping one hand and then stopped. Emil started asking is he trying to wave? I played along and waved back saying 'Hello!' Surprisingly, Dan flapped his right hand back with a smile.

Quack, Quack - Said the Rub-a-Duck

Tried to check out how to clean a rubber duck and stumbled upon this site - Rubaduck - Rubber Ducks. What else? Anything and Everything that you would like to know about rubber ducks. http://www.rubaduck.com/
They do have sites about everything these days.

Waterplay Splatter

Water was the theme for today. Brought Dan for a swim. The sky opened with cats and dogs. And we ended it with a splash.

Like a Butterfly or Intoxicated?

"Babies are actually brilliant butterflies who are flitting around in the garden and exploring, and we are the caterpillars who are inching along our narrow grownup, adult path."

"Babies' learning is likebeing in love in Paris for the first time after you have had three double-espressos. That's a fantastic way to be, but it does tend to leave you waking up crying at three o'clock in the morning."

- Alison Gopnik - 

Goo-Goo Gaa-Gaa

It is facinating how much babies learn. I guess nature has its' way.

Baby Dan has been practicing his vocal chords since birth by crying. And then came the "Ah"s, the "Goo"s. Followed by "Ga-a", "Ta-ta", "Da-da", "Ma-ma", "Ba-ba". The sounds that he is making seems to be starting from the throat, then the tongue and then the lips. Interesting as it seems.

He has also started to relate certain sounds with what he is feeling or doing. For now, I can only catch that when he is tired, he will go "Mmm-ma-mam-ma..."

What's Your Occupation

Hate it when you are required to fill in forms that ask about your occupation and you are required fill it in. I wonder whether 'wife and mother' is a accepted entry instead of home maker or house wife?

Dropping the Spoon

Today during lunch, Dan was happily playing with the utensils as always. Dropping it as I picked it up for him. Until I picked up the spoon for him. Instead of playing with the spoon that was passed to him, he dropped it immediately after I handed it to him. I picked it up again and he deliberately dropped it again.

Tonight, after his milk, Dan could not sleep, so I decided to walk him around a little. He started doing the head banging and squirming in my arms. Then he reached out for my glasses and started swinging it in the air. I put him down in the crib. I lied down beside the crib to see what he was up to. To my surprise he fell asleep, sweeping his hands holding on to my glasses.

Beach Boy

We had our first vacation on a beach with Dan for a week. I was not too sure whether I would like it as there were too many things on my mind -- being out of my comfort zone. What would he eat? What if anything happens? Would it ruin his schedule? etc, etc.

It turned out to be great. We really enjoyed the weather, the sea, the sun, the beach. With some additional planning, everything somehow turned out fine. They hotel management was quite accommodating when it came to preparing Dan's food in the kitchen and they helped prepare hot water for his bath and gave us an extra single bed to be placed on the floor next to us.

Dan being Dan -- the baby, could not stop exploring the sand. What is this white stuff on the ground that is sticking on my hands, feet and face and eyes and everywhere and I cannot get rid of. Once placed on the sand, he started crawling directly into the sea -- Why is the water coming in and when I am chasing it, it is going out. And OOOO.. the ground is so soft, and when I pat it it splatters. 

Some highlights while we were there: 

- Emil passed him a spoon and immediately, he took the spoon and scooped a spoonful of sand and put it in his mouth.

- The sea was so clear that we saw about six reef sharks circling close to the shore in search for food in the morning.

- Dan had an extraordinary display of his problem solving skills when he climbed from floor to bed to bed in order to reach the paper bag he wanted and moving back from bed to bed to floor with the paper bag.

I am a Man of Steel

Ever since he started teething, he seems to be drooling a lot. A lot means - there is constant flow of drool from the mouth and needs a change of t-shirts almost every diaper change.

He also has been putting everything into his mouth. Not sure whether it is the teething or the exploring.

Another new found trick is to dig using his pointer. Our bookshelf has a hole on the side due to some nailing, baby Dan decided the best thing to do is to help enlarge the hole by digging. 

The wallpaper is peeling off and baby Dan decided to help us remove it. The couch has a hole in the corner and has been taped up and he decides the best thing to do is to remove the tape and make a bigger hole. 

Curious creatures, these babies...

Baby Dan, trying to charge himself

Head Banging

It started maybe a month or two back when little Dan is seen to do some head banging like in the rock and roll concerts when he gets tired. 

Drinking from a Straw

Out of curiosity, I replaced baby Dan's sippy cup with one with a straw and he managed to suck water from it. Way impressed :)

A Dog's Bark

Dad brought Dan for a walk one day to visit a neighbour. The neighbour has a dog, the dog greeted them with a wagging tail. However, out of a sudden the dog started to bark right in front of my dad and Dan. This gave Dan a fright and he came wailing home while my dad tried to comfort him. He had such a shock that he was clinging onto my dad and did not want to be placed down.

Now, I guess he has a phobia with dogs that when he saw Tiger -- my uncle's dog, he started to fuss and started being clingy. It took him a while to calm down.

This morning, I brought him to see Tiger, while Tiger was lying at the porch, he started staring and after a while, attempted to touch Tiger.

Later in the afternoon, the gas man came and Tiger started to bark. Dan started to whine. I guess it reminded him of the day the dog barked in front of him.

I Hate Mosquitoes

Baby Dan is currently spotting a rosy red bump on the right cheek.

Pearly Whites

We have just spotted a pearly white tip showing on the bottom left of Dan's gums. More updates coming up soon. :) My mum tested it by allowing Dan to bite her finger and she confirmed it. 

Up We Go

We brought Dan out yesterday to meet my grand aunt. There is a short flight of 5 steps separating the living room and the kitchen. Baby Dan decided to explore the world beyond the living room and started climbing up. What impressed us most was that he started climbing with his hands and the sole of his feet. We were expecting that he would have used his knees to support himself instead.

Cosplay Day

My little cousin's idea.. Daniel in her clothes...

As adults, don't we just love to dress babies up as dolls? Not sure whether they will appreciate it when they grow up.

My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ Tonari no Totoro)

On the Menu So Far

We have started on single mash purées and now continuing to let baby Dan try out more complex taste and textures.

Point to ponder: Would you serve baby food that you would not eat?

Blended Kai-Lan and Chicken with porridge

Nom, nom, nom...

Pumpkin and Pear in the Making

Pear Purée from Mum's Kitchen

Pumpkin and Baby Star Pasta

Ahhhhhhh....

My Little Adventure

Another flight back to my parents. This time we decided it would be best to fly straight home. After the little adventure over the last trip -- missing both the flight and the train. I made sure I double checked the flight details and left home early.

The night before I set the alarm 3 hours before the flight so that I had the time to prepare, leave the house, catch a cab and arrive at the airport 1 hour before the flight departs for check in. The problem was that I was so trashed from packing and making sure I did not leave anything behind, I could not get up the next morning when the alarm rang and put it on snooze -- bad idea. In my mind, no worries, there is a "back up alarm" if all fails. In the midst of everything, part of my mind was in nightmare land, that I had yet again missed the flight.

Baby Dan, my "back up alarm" rang. As always, when you need him to "ring" on time he does not. Looking out of the window, I saw the first light of the morning, that was what hit me and caused me to jump right out of bed. I swiped Dan out of his bed, onto the changing table, changed him, changed myself, made sure all windows were closed, double check my packing list and hit the road. Lesson learnt again -- never rely on your "backup alarm"  if it is a baby. We were lucky that we manage to catch a cab and be there on time.

Nothing much has changed since our last visit, only that baby Dan is now a lot more mobile. My dad has set up the bed for him and made sure there were barriers set up. However, Dan being a little explorer, understood that he is in a new place and decided to make full use of his nap time. After putting him to bed and assuming that he would be taking his full nap of at least half an hour, I left him in the room and started to prepare lunch. While I was preparing lunch, my dad decided to join Dan with his nap. Dad entered the room, and to his surprise, he did not find Dan in bed, he found him in the TOILET exploring! >.< I guess now with Dan more mobile, more precautions have to be made.

There is No End

When you are a mum, your day never ends. You do not sleep, you only nap.

Messy Day Turned Water Play

It has been quite hot and humid these few days. Therefore, decided to take baby Dan out for a stroll today. It is strange that some how it tends to be very breezy along the beach and the air is very still around our block. Along the way, we bumped into some people filling the beach with sand. I guess I can say people here do care a lot about maintenance.

We went for some shopping and got Dan some baby rusks. On the way back, he started to scream of hunger, so out of desperation, I opened the box of rusks and gave a piece to him. Maybe that was not the best idea as he started chomping away and the rusks started to crumble away, most of it ending up on the stroller, on his shirt, on his fingers and around his mouth. Passers-by must be commenting what a dirty little baby and what a irresponsible mum this is.

When we got home, I immediately prepared dinner for Dan. Porridge as the main course and the remaining rusks with apple sauce as dessert. Dan decided to have some fun by flapping his hands and porridge kept flying off the spoon as he hit my hand. Porridge was every where, on the tray, on the floor, on me... Then the best thing to do is of course to squish and mash the porridge bits that ended up on the tray of his high chair. I gave in and decided that we could have some fun after dinner as well.

With all the mess on the high chair, I thought the best way to wash everything off was to hose it off. So I stripped Dan for his shower, and put him in his high chair for his bath as well. It was fun, at least for me, I do not think baby Dan was that excited with me showering him compare to his usual spa in the tub.

Earthmover moving new sand onto the beach

Dan with rusk on his nose, shirt, stroller belt, diapers, legs...

Huh?

Porridge everywhere... A mum's nightmare...

This is so much fun!

No? Mummy, you don't think so?

Little Mr Messy

A different bathing experience

Not sure if I like it

Cranking It Up

Not sure what is happening. However, baby Dan has been moody these days. Especially hating it when he is in his high chair or when it is close to meal times. He has not teethed yet, so maybe teething? We will see...

Matthew Says

Over the weekend, we went to visit my little niece to celebrate her full moon..

Baby Dan got a chance to meet the new addition to the family and his older cousin - Matthew

Matt a jovial little dude has always been enthusiastic to play with Dan. Aaron, the younger one was down with flu and was at the clinic.

Matthew suddenly popped: I have two brothers. One is at the clinic and one is this.*points at baby Dan.* aww~ so sweet...

While baby Dan was taking his nap, Emil had some colouring session with little Matt. I assume that colouring must be boring for a little kid. Especially the main surfaces that remain blank. So Emil had to do the wide surfaces while Matt did the details, ie the star on the Christmas tree, the ribbons on the presents, etc.
Matt told Emil while colouring: I want to colour everything rainbow colour. Then he started just randomly colouring across the whole page.

The colourful world of a child. Should one impose barriers and lines like in the colouring book to a child's creativity?

Sweet and Calm baby Joelle

Matthew pointing at Dan

Matthew showing his work of art, in which he coloured the candle holders in different shades while Emil did the main surfaces.

Yet again, Matt colouring the ribbons and the star and scribbling all over.