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..."

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.

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 :)

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.

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...

Grounded

Little Dan did a flip and a tumble from the bed to his crib -- in which the bed is almost the same height with his crib before we lowered it. After he showed us his skills, we decided to lower the crib with the fear that he might decide to just jump out of his crib and end up on the floor one day.

Crib lowered :)

Baby Dan not happy with what we have done

Caught in the Act

Sitting Pretty

Dan's attempt to go from crawling to sitting and back onto his belly.

Many Firsts

Two days ago, baby Dan discovered that he could switch from crawling to sitting up.

A day ago, he caught his first cold.

And today, he managed to go from crawling in his crib to sitting to standing by lifting himself using the railing as support.

Just Keep Crawling

Baby Dan mastering the art of getting around.

Out and About: Swim Play Date

Brought baby Dan for his first swim play date today. It was nice watching him interacting with baby Alex who is 2 months older, trying to touch him and grab him.

Daniel was very quietly observing what was happening the whole time. I would assume it is the first time he is out with other babies and moms and also being in a new place.

I guess it takes time for babies to learn how to play with their peers. Let's see how it goes the next time.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

How easily entertained Daniel can be sometimes.

London Bridge is Falling Down

On Baby Dan's inquisitiveness towards the towers I build with his blocks.


Hmm.. Wonder what mummy's doing..

*crawls closer* Oooooo... A TOWER!!

Let's see what I can do to help...

*Tower crumbles*

My thoughts: I could totally relate to the scene of a toddler building his blocks and the younger baby demolishing it with the toddler running and shouting: "Mummy, look what the baby did!!!!???"

To Carrots or Not To Carrots?

Second day of carrots on the menu, Baby Dan's not sure whether he likes it or not. 

Cry-It-Out

We marked Dan's sixth month over the weekend. Though a short six months being with him, it seems that we have spent years together, I guess it is because he has not left my side since day one.

Looking back the past six months, what I dread the most about babies is the crying. I never knew before that it would be so tough. 

At five months, we decided that it was time to start to put Baby Dan on sleep training, as he could only fall asleep on the breast. After painstakingly trying different methods, at the last resort, we decided that the only way to go was the cry-it-out method. 

From the name, cry-it-out, you would probably be able to guess, it means to let the baby to cry. However, it does not mean letting the baby cry if he has a problem. This method means to allow the baby to cry under controlled conditions, knowing that he is fed, changed, not too cold or not too hot and do not have any prevailing illness or anything that is bothering him, ie teething. 

After checking with the doctor that he is healthy, we started the first night:

5.30pm Bath

6.00pm Massage

6.30pm Feed

7.00pm Put down to the crib awake

As expected, the first night started off with a terrifying shriek and non-stop crying and screaming. We were supposed to enter the room and say good night at every 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes intervals and leave the room. After close to an hour, he finally fell asleep. We agreed to start the programme and see how it goes for 3-5 days, if all goes well, we should see a decrease in cry-time.

After 3 days, the crying decreased to 30 minutes and by the end of the fifth day, it was a record time of 15 minutes. 

It was excruciating, going through the whole experience with Mi, hearing your own baby scream his lungs out. However, I think it was for the best and I am quite glad we went through it and it went well.

To date, Baby Dan sleeps much longer during naps and at night he gets the idea that mum and dad will not be there to pick him up he will just cry a little for maybe 5 minutes or less and fall asleep.

Disclaimer: Never try this before the baby hits 4 months. As a newborn, he needs all the comfort and support that you can give, there is no such thing as spoiling a newborn.

Seeing Red

Baby Dan attempting to crawl towards my freshly pedicured red toes.

Sleeping Through the Night

Last night has been the third night that baby Dan has slept through the night. He slept from 8pm to 3am without a stir last night, which was great for us and a great milestone achievement knowing that some parents have problem getting their babies to sleep at night. Fingers crossed this will not be shortlived. It's funny how our bodies work, Dan started to sleep thriugh the night after he hit the 5kg mark as what experts noted. Now we are hoping he will start to learn how to self soothe himself to sleep and nap. As he's still nursing to sleep and has to be rocked or cry to nap.