Almost A Year

Evan, 11 month old

My baby boy is getting older. Though he is probably not gaining so much weight. He looked slimmer, not very fatty and chubby, but healthy, grow, and develop well. I enjoyed watching him mastering new skills day by day.

At his 10 month old age, I could say he was really on the move. He could control his movement from standing to sitting without toppling over. He learned to balance his body so that he could get up from kneeling to stand up on the floor only for a few second. He was also started to walk by holding on hands or furniture. So we had a lot of fun practises pre-walking movements He loved pushing furniture and we started to hold his hands to walk him around the house. He even could stand unaided and made a few steps if I let go of his hand!

His exploration on food has widen. One day we went to a restaurant (TGIF) and had a blast of new food. He had his first french fries and fried sweet potato and pear in slices, and he loved them. But I still give him plain chicken/meat porridge with vegetable on daily basis.

There's something that quite annoying. That was when he mastering his fine grasp between finger and thumb, and very accurate, and have full control of his hands. He was so in love with dropping and picking up games. He would drop food, toys, or spoon-everything endlessly from highchair then watch them fall, then shout and point for me to pick them up, only for him to drop them again.

However, I was so excited to see that he finally could stack his sized cups and rings in the pole, and that he enjoyed put things to the bucket or container, not for so long, though, as he got distracted to something else easily.

Another interesting thing was he would stay still and listen when I talk as if I was reading one of his book. At least it save my time and energy when feeding and changing nappy. His favorite was the story about Toby's Train :)

As for the schedule, there was a slight change:

7am = wake up, bottle
8.30 = breakfast: cereal &fruit
9am = bath
10am = bottle
10.15 = morning nap
12pm = lunch : porridge

2pm = snack (fruit or bread or anything)
3pm = bottle
3.30 = afternoon nap
5 pm = dinner : porridge
06.30 = bath, then play and read book
7.30 = bottle
8 pm = sleep
4 am = bottle

New other things he had last month:

- I notice sometimes lullaby bothering him. He would put his hand on my mouth as if saying "please don't sing anymore, i want to sleep!" :)

-However, lullaby still be a perfect weapon to make him settle when restless or difficult to get to sleep. Come To the Window and Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star usually will make him finally asleep and settle.

- Having the room pitch dark will make him go to sleep better.

- Walking walking walking. That's what he want most of the time when he is awake. Hardly play with his toys anymore. He just love to walk and touch things on the way, or walk and push chairs or tables.

The highlight was just a day before he turned 11 month old, somehow he tripped when he crawl. He bumped his face to the hard floor. That was the first time he got really injured after lots of hit, bump, and fall. This time his lips were bleeding, quite bad, followed to the swollen of his upper lip. I learned that the ice was helpful to stop the mild bumping injury. His swollen lip was gone after around 3 hours. Still, it was a heartbreaking looking at him bleeding and crying.

M Day

It's a Mother's Day today here in this part of the world.

I celebrated by a surprise cake bought by Hubby and a time-off to the mall. Wish Sale still on, though :(

Mother's Day here is actually quite big. Sign and offer in relation to this day are everywhere in the mall.

Mother's day in Australia is in May, and December in Indonesia. This year I should have 3x mother's day! :)

Something to play with

Just an update of new toys I recently crazy about

* Canon EOS 450D - I finally bought it. But it's not on my hand yet, coz I didn't buy it here. The price here is ridiculously expensive (3x more expensive). So I asked Dad to buy it for me, and i'll pick it up later, in Jakarta, hopefully soon, as planned. Can't wait to play with it.

* Scrapblog.com -Love this. I've been trying to make the real scrapbook for four years and have no result. It need lots of time, material, and equipment. But with this digital scrapbook, at least I can finally start to make one.

* epaper.kompas.com - a digital version of Kompas newspaper. Now I can read Kompas newspaper without even subscribe it, whenever, wherever I am! It's free, easy to use, and fast. They upload new issue exactly at 00:00 WIB so I practically can read it first (it's 5 hours ahead than Jakarta, here) while people in Indo still sleeping and will get and read the real issues in the morning-their time. You can even read issues from days before! Impressive!

* Facebook.com - of course, same as thousand other people in the world. It's amazing on how it could drag my memory into my life 20 years ago, how I could meet lots of old friends. I enjoyed looking at friend's photos and their status, as well as changing my own status and make comments on other's. I even quite addicted to one of the virtual e-game they have. It's sooo bad so that facebook is the first site I visited everyday and everytime I go online. But I know I'm not alone :) Wonder how long this Fb-euphoria would last.

Almost Walking

Evan, 10 months old

My baby boy is 10 months old now. I looked at his photos when he was still a small baby. Such a different look! His face is not as round and full as before. Yet he still looks sweet-cute little asian boy. He is also very very active, that made me finally give up to do everything by myself and decided to have a full time maid. Means that I'm now have maid who come everyday, works 7 hours a day, except weekends and public holiday. I worried at first, but I'm glad now. She is not the best, but she is quite good. She can do almost everything including cooking, baking, and sewing. And most important is that she listen to what I said and get along well with Evan. However I haven't have a heart to leave Evan with her alone yet.

As usual, here is the update news about what has happened in the 9th months age.

Nine months was the time to change a few things, again. It was the time for doctor check up and another boost of Hep B vaccination. He was 10,5kg, 77 cm. Couldn't believe he only gain 1 kg in 3 months. But doctor said it's normal considering he is more active and release more energy.

He got better in cruising along the floor. I could say he mastered standing-up-with-support last month. He learned to bend his knee to go back down after standing up. He got to stand up and browse tables, curious and touch everything on the table. A clock and a frame broke from this new habit. He started to stand without support in the cot only for a few second, and started to move his legs high when I try to hold him to walk. His hand, feet and body are getting stronger so that he could push chairs and tables when he kneel or walk. We started to get busy watching him so he didn't fall to the hard floor. Though he bumped his head couple times on the floor or wood furniture and had bruises (ouch!).

He started to like books more. He could flip the book's pages and busy with them for a couple minutes (only). :)

The highlight for last month was the change of routine and diet as doctor said he is ready to eat more solid food like rice, chicken, and meat. Oh dear,.. that was hard. There was a trial and error to make porridge that he likes. It takes about 3 weeks until I finally found the right way.

He didn't look impressed at first, but then gradually he get used to new food. But it quite hard to feed him in the high chair. He just didn't like to get trap in the chair. I gave him variation of vegetable, meat and chicken, plus variation snack like cheerio, biscuits, boiled pasta/carrot/broccoli, steamed fruits, and bread. He started to eat french fries to sometimes when we eat out. He could eat finger food by himself and enjoyed them. I don't - it's soooo messy! ;0

We also change the way he drink milk, so that since then he always had milk before bed, which make my life easier. He would easily finish the milk and fall asleep. Though he still need a doze of milk in the middle of the night to make him go through the night.

So here is his schedule started last month

7am = wake up, bottle

8.30 = breakfast: cereal &fruit

9am = bath

10am = bottle

10.15 = morning nap

12pm = lunch : porridge

02.30 = bottle

3pm = afternoon nap

4.30 = dinner : porridge

05.30 = bath, then play and read book

6.30 = bottle

7 pm = sleep

3 am = bottle

Other than that, here are some new habits and skills I acknowledge :

- he shrank his eyes, making his eyes looked more chinese when he smile.

- when have bottle before bed, I'll hold him on my lap, and he'll hold the bottle with his right hand, and the other hand will scratch his un-itchy head.

- started new routines before going to bed at night: 4B (Bath, Book, Bottle, Bed)

- No more interested in Danny & Daddy tv show. Watch Barney sometimes. Looked interested in quick changing moving pictures like ad on TV.

- Song he like: The Wheel on The Bus, Incy Wincy Spider, Balonku, and Naik2 Ke Puncak Gunung.

- His favorite book is Barney is Big and Busy Book: In the Garden.

Kaki Ayam Buat Si Kecil

Pernah makan kaki ayam alias ceker? Gue belom. Kalo liat orang makan ceker merah dimsum sih kayaknya sih enak ya. Kalo dipikir-pikir, kasian juga itu ayam, dari ujung kepala sampe ujung kaki di dayagunakan manusia. Tapi ga semua manusia mendayagunakan ayam sesadis itu. Cuma orang Asia kebanyakan, terutama orang Indo dan cina. :) Di dunia Barat dan Timur Tengah makan kepala n kaki ayam termasuk gak umum.

Sehubungan dengan si raja kecil yang gak lama lagi bakal belajar jalan, gue dapet info dari para tetua terutama my mum kalo si raja kecil HARUS makan kuah/sop ceker. Katanya sih supaya kakinya kuat dan bisa cepet jalan. Gue sih setuju ajah kalo emang buat kebaikan. Tapi daddynya si raja kecil ketawa gede banget waktu gue kasih tau. Soalnya gak ada di kamus nya makan kaki ayam, apalagi buat bayi. Tapi dia juga setuju aja kalo emang baik tujuannya hehehe... Masalahnya, dimana cari ceker di dunia antah berantah sini?!

Untung gue punya banyak teman yang baik hati. Tanya sini, tanya sana, akhirnya ada juga yang punya kenalan tukang jagal ayam di pasar. :) Seplastik isi kurang lebih 20 ceker akhirnya nyampe juga di rumah kemarin. Geli juga liat ceker putih mentah banyak begitu. Tapi yang gak kalah heboh kok malah suami gue. Dengan semangat empat lima dia susun beberapa kaki di piring terus ngotot mau berfotoan sama sepiring ceker mentah. Ck ck ck...ternyata bul-bul ada yang norak juga ya :D

True Glue

You won't imagine how many things need to be repaired in my house. Broken scissor’s and knife’s handle, statues, ceramics, cups, clock, hairpins, jewellery, sandal, shoes etc, you name it. Amazingly someone has invented a very special glue, Super Glue! Believe it or not this glue is really helpful. Anything broken, I’ll try to repair them with Super Glue first. Most of the time it will work, the broken items fixed. They will look as good as new, work perfectly as it should, and the best part is I don’t have to throw them away.

Since then, Super Glue became one of the-must-have item in the house. Just like Panadol ! :) I always have Super Glue ready to use in my fridge, of course neatly covered so it won’t contaminate the foods.

I just learned recently that Super Glue not only can amend things in the house, but also can to fix my sore hand! Recently my hand suffered from severe dryness, mostly from the cold and dry winter weather. But also from the water and soap, as I wash my hands and dishes hundred time a day for the bub. At some part it become so bad that my skin will crack and bleed, as if it was cut by a knife. After tried so many cream and moisturiser, Body Butter from The Body Shop is the best to heal the dryness, but not the crack. I was then did a small research on the net, surprisingly few people, including doctor suggest to apply super glue on the crack as it dry quickly and does not sting. I thought it was the most bizarre advise I've ever heard, but I try it anyway. And it works! At least the crack sealed, no more bleeding and sting. Just hope there is no major side effect by this. ;p

Thank you to Dr Coover, who invented this powerly sticky adhesive :)

Dad's Birthday Today

Today is my dad's birthday. I and the boys here celebrate it by enjoying my Mie Goreng Special Ulang Tahun for lunch. It taste better than fried noodle we bought from a noodle restaurant in town. :)

Happy birthday, Dad! I pray that God grant him health and happiness. Wish I were there and celebrate it together with family.

Entertaining/Heartbreaking

It took almost a year to finish The Witch Of Portobello. Whilst it was the busiest year i've ever had with the pregnancy, the birth, and the baby, reading was not so entertaining and relaxing. But it might also the book itself that I found almost have the same rhytym as any other Coelho's books, that bored me a bit. Thought I need a change.

Books I recently read, written by a new author, Khaled Hosseini. Kite Runner, I read it in 1,5 week. I would have not be able to put down the book and read the whole in one day if I was not too busy and tired. It was the first book that brought me to tears. After finishing the book, I couldn't wait to see the movie. The movie was disappointing, i guess the same as many other movies version from a novel. Many details were missing, story got changed, and the people are different than I pictured. Done nothing but destroying my imagination.

Then I didn't wait to read Hosseini's second novel, A Thousand Of Splendid Sun. I finish it in about 2 weeks. It was such a powerful story that brought me to emotional distress! :) Made me realise how fortunate I am to be what I am, what I become, what I have now as a women.

Both books were written in very detail. They have words full of quotes, written in uncomplicated way. Each pages dragged me to enter different world, as if watching a movie in the cinema. I don't remember when was the last time I went to the cinema. It was really ages ago. But if it was a really good movie, my seat in the dark little cinema will be a place to go into different world, place to forget about everything in your life, and when the movie finished and the light back on, bam! disoriented, then reminds me to be back to the reality. That's how I feel when reading his entertaining though heartbreaking books.

cruising along

My baby boy is now 9 month-old. Gee.. time flies. Nine is a big number, when things are switch around again. Diet, routines, timetable, attitude, habits, you name it. Feels like I start all over again. I found out that the thoughts about getting older means getting easier to take care of is truly wrong. Well, in some ways are easier but most of the other ways are more complicated and tiring! Especially for me who have to watch him 24/7 alone - most of the time.

Anyhoo, last month was fun and hectic. It was when Evan turned 8 month-old and when he had his first Christmas and new year, when we had first holiday together, and most importantly, it's when he started to cruise along the floor and furniture.

From all the skills and improvement he had last month, the highlight was that he was finally out of our room and sleep in his own room night and day. :)

He started to eat fruits mix with cereal which he loves and started to eat biscuits as snacks about late last month. It calm him down for a few minutes, which give me time to do things peacefully.

As he mastered sitting on the 7th month, last month he mastered crawling. He also started to pull himself up to a standing position while holding onto furniture as support. At the end of last month he could stand up easily with support of things surround him. However didn't know how to get back down. He would tumble his butt down. Thanks to pampers, his butt is fine even though he bumped it to the hard stone floor. This newfound mobility means that he was entering the land of bumps and falls, which forced me to watch him very closely every minute when he was awake. Though he bumped his head to the wall and floor couple of times. However, I enjoyed watching him explore his surroundings and pull him up if he was getting too far, such as reach my sandals and start to chew them. :)

He had one tooth emerged from his top gum and started to make babbly sound, likes "bababa", "mamama", and "bububu". A new show on TV made him sit quietly, it called Danny and Daddy. Baby is such a strange creature. I don't know what he sees in that show, but he will sit and watch with serious look, just for 10 minutes, that's how long the show is. I wish it goes longer. :)

The holiday to aqaba was new to Evan, and challenging for us. We planned to have another holiday in April, it will be more challenging as we might need to fly, and Evan would be almost 1 year old by then.

Teary Playtime Day

Yesterday was a playgroup day. Not many of us, only 4 mothers including me. All of other mothers have 2 year old boy, and so make my baby boy the youngest. The idea is to get together so the kids can play and learn to socialise (as they were too young to be at school and too energetic to be just stay at home), while the mums can have a break from their routine and enjoy the chat and food.

My baby boy is actually can’t play and interact with the other kids much, as he is way too young than the others. However it’s good for him to get out the house once a while and see other people. He doesn’t like stranger, but it gets better since our new year holiday. Today he had lots of smile and enjoy playing with new toys.

One of us is actually new. I met the mother first at lunch with the ladies few months ago, and invited her to join us as soon as I know that she has 2 year old boy at home. We have the playgroup at her house this time. What I didn’t know is that the boy is super hyperactive. In contrary with the other boys who were quite timid. They could scream, laugh and play in a normal way. But I found the new boy is outrageously aggressive and active beyond control. He would grab toys that other boy holds. He wouldn’t let other boys play with his toys. Then suddenly he could change into a good boy when he asked other boys to play with him. But not long after the other boys would cried, and I saw the new boy hit the other boy or forcedly grabbed toys from his friends. Once I saw the new boy hit the other boy’s head with a toy-car. Then hit again with a big spoon. The other time hit with his hands many times when the other boys cornered on the sofa! Not that his mum did anything. She gave a strong voice to him to behave and once put him at the corner and smack him. But seemed he didn’t listen. The only time he cried was when his mum punished him and put him at the corner for ‘time-out’.

I’m glad he left my baby boy alone, and quite surprise that he let Evan played with his toys. He only disturb Evan when he was sleeping in his stroller, so Evan only have 45 minutes morning nap. Anyway, it was a bit scary to see a boy like that. I just only hope that I can raise Evan well so he can behave, not violent, but also can defense himself when needed. Aah.. what a hard task...!

Update:
Heard that the other boy were crying when he sleep the night after playgroup day. Seemed it was a bit traumatic for him. However his mum is willing to meet the boys again with hope that her son will learn to defense himself, and the naughty boy will learn to behave. We'll see what's going to happen. (10 Jan)

A Year Has Gone

What did we do on new year eve? We got exhausted and fell asleep at 10! I was hoping to wake up from the sound of fireworks as we stayed in a hotel near the marina. But nope, we were all fast asleep and year 2008 gone just like that. It was of course year 2009 when I woke up to feed Evan at 3am. And apparently there were no fireworks or other event whatsoever. Everything's cancelled due to security reason, they said.

But at least we were out the house, and out of town this time. After all of the countries and places we planned to go we finally only manage to go down south of Jordan, Aqaba. It's a city at the seaside where the weather is good throughout the year, and where all the water activity is available. It's a small and touristic town about 4 hours drive from Amman.

The temperature around 17 degree, enough for us to wear coat while strolling outdoor. Still, warmer than Amman. The private beach at the hotel we stayed in was quite nice. But the water quite cold. Evan didn't like it, so we didn't play in the beach much. But it's nice to finally see real beach and sea. Other than that we enjoyed strolling along the town. Bit strange to see some couples walking hand in hand (as it wasn't allowed in the town we live in), or girls with short pants, or girls with bikinis.

Anyway, year 2008 was great. I have a baby boy, my sister got married - then pregnant, my little sister graduated and got a job, my mum visiting us in la la land, and we went to new and amazing places. What a busy year.

Year 2009 is here. This year will be another busy and exciting year with new things going on. Hope everything will goes as smooth as planned.

Happy New Year everyone.

Note: our holiday photos are available on the 'images'.

First Christmas

Christmas has finally here. This year was rather special. It's a first Christmas for Evan, first christmas for me to spend with 2 boys, first christmas with christmas tree and presents under the tree, first christmas without going to the church, and last Christmas here in Amman.

The little boy was spoiled with lots of presents. He looked a bit confused about what was going on. We let him unwrapped all the the presents including ours, which he enjoyed.

We were hoping to have a white christmas as winter came early this year, but we only have grey instead. It was a misserable grey, windy, wet, and cold day. Yet we have a warm house and heart. The only thing missing was a christmas Mass. It was hard to match the little boy's and mass' schedule. Was a relaxing, fun and warm christmas this year with the boys.

Merry Christmas. Peace in everyone's heart, peace on earth.

Wake Up Call

One of my friend told me that my blog is getting uninteresting and monotous. He may be right. Lately my world isn't as big as before, my time isn't as timeless as before. May I blame facebook in this case? :) It rather took over my tiny spare time and mind lately, too. Thus I suppose I had so many happy, funny and interesting things to say other than baby's milestone.

However, I accept the critic with open mind. Between those hectic days I should make time for myself. Having fun blogging like I used to is one of them.

changes

I've been questioning myself of what changes I've made since I have a baby. These are just a few that come across my mind now.

1. No more lady of leisure.

2. Become a morning person - well,... not exactly. I wish I could sleep till 9am every morning or at least on weekend. But the little boy won't let me :)

3. Everyday is a new adventure, every day is a surprise - this is the exciting and fun part

4. No more dull boring days - no more wake up and think what I'm going to do today.

5. I look at the little boy in the mirror instead of myself - well, i usually looked dreadful (*sigh*)

6. I don't mind going to bed at 9pm - as I started to loose energy around 5 pm

7. appreciate 'silence' more - hearing the little boy bubbling and winging away are enjoyable, but when he asleep and watching him sleeping in a warm quite room... it's a gold!

8. taking a warm shower + washing hair is a luxury - means I have a couple more minute to pamper myself.

9. sit down and relax in front of TV for more than 1/2 hour is an oddity - call me strange, but really, there's no time to watch my favourite series. Even when they were repeated few days in a day.

10. Running with hours instead of running on the treadmill - every day goes so fast I'm not even realised.

11. Conscious to 'time' more than ever - found out that I rely on the clock a lot to take care a baby. Days were timeless before.

12. cinema ? what's that ?! - impossible to go to cinema with little boy. So forget it.

13. Little boy's pain feels much worse than my own - little bit of abnormalities even though it's not harmful made me sad and worried so much.

14. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please me (Hooray for poop!) - I guess that's simply becoz I have no choice but HAVE TO deal with it.

15. I discover how much to say just for two teeth - I might be bored people with all the talk about my little boy every time we are in a conversation. He is just my world at the moment.

16. Clothing shopping for myself became priority number 100. - I can't remember the last time I walk in to a clothing shop. What a major change!

17. I discover an inner strength I never thought I have - I'm survive so far. I guess it made me strong and I proud of it.

18 . I give parents with a screaming child an 'I know the feeling' look, instead of a 'Can't you shut him up?' - between mums, we understand each other now :)

19. I give more attention to everyone who has gone or have to go through surgery/operation. - having a c-section just open my eyes to the misery of the recovery post surgery. Not too nice.

20. and, I guess I respect my parents and love them in a new way

Happy Mother's Day for my lovely Mum, and to all mums in Indonesia.

cheeky little boy

Evan, 8 months old, eating puree in the restaurant

My little boy has turned 8 months old a week ago. People say he looks like me but tall/big like his dad. As for myself, people said I looked slim and well. That's probably because of little exercises I had to do with the little boy who really very difficult to stay still when he is awake. And he is only at this age. He hasn't really crawl or walk yet! I don't even want to imagine what's it's going to be like.

Lots of new things happened when he was 7 months old. All fun, funny, and exciting.

I guess the most advance skill he gained last month was that he can sit unsupported. Started from lay-back position, by pushing his head and body with his elbows and use his right hand as support. After he mastered it, then he was strong enough to be sitting up from down-ward position. It was surprising and rather worrying when I found him sitting up and playing in the cot where he supposed to be sleeping. We adjusted the height of the bed to the second level as soon as possible.

He was also started reaching for things and scooping them up with one hand easily. He was having so much fun exploring all of his toys and became more active. I think he got excited that he could do new things. So I started to put him in the big playing bed more with hope that he could learn how to crawl freely without banging his head on the hard floor. He went to "precrawl" exercise, rocking back and forth on hands and knees with her trunk parallel to the floor, didn't know how to move the knees. He moved the hands forward, but no the knees. So many times he got frustrated that he couldn't reach toys which were far from him.

As he still love simple 'ciluk-ba', he also like books. He like me reading a book. He would sit quietly on the sofa, listen and touch the book. He also would sit, play and touch every picture on every pages of one particular book: Colour Book. However easily get distracted by TV especially when he heard the theme songs of the shows he knew. So funny to see him squeak and scream a little with excitement every time he sees the intro of Oswald and James The Cat. Other toys he seemed to love the most was the singing ball. It was also interesting to see that he like Matahari Terbenam song :)

Eating and drinking was easy. He never refused spoon, which was good. He even get more portion from 2 table spoon to 4-5 tablespoon as I noticed he kept open his mouth asking for more. I kept making puree and started new things slowly. He started to get pumpkin and baby biscuit (only sometimes - not in his daily diet). Also he trained to drink water/juice from the 'sippy cup'. It's rather tricky as he thought it's a toy. At first he just bite away the spout. So I tried to let him know that there's juice inside it by taking out the valve that controls the flow. Then I put the valve back in and he would understand to suck for his drink. I had to remind him from time to time though.

I tried to make him socialise more. But still, every time he sees new people/stranger he will scream and cry. I hosted the play group in my house for the first time last month.

I never mentioned this before, that he was still sleeping in my room. However he sleep in his own cot. As he turn 7 month old, I started to prepare him to sleep in his own room which is just next to my room. Luckily we have space which big enough to move the cot between rooms. I moved his cot to his room for morning and afternoon nap.

I guessed he also developed how to show emotion and mood. When he was bored, he would scream so loud with his eyes looking at me. Sometimes he tried to get attention by calling me 'eeh'... ! :)

I think that's all I can remember from last month. He is now getting more active and hardly stay still. Also more 'vocal'. I am getting used to go out more. As the time goes by, Christmas is near. It would be the first Christmas for my little boy. We bought him lots (maybe too much) of Christmas presents today. Hope he'll like it. I'm excited. :)

Oh Boy

Yes, he turns 7 month today. ;)

Oh boy,...what a month last month!
I just realised that six month old baby have to go through a lot of things at the same time, which not only confuse the baby, but also make the mum scratching her head badly.

I have mentioned a bit about the early days of Evan's six month old, few weeks ago. It was quite difficult times. He had everything change at the same time. I'm now confused where to start first. For the start he had to change his diet. First he had to drink new - more advance formula milk, then he had more cereal a day and start to explore other food such as puree. As the result he was then eat/drink every 2 hours. I was then started the fun world of making a solid food for baby. Good news is Evan is not fuzz with new food. He just eat everything! He start with carrot puree, then greanbeans. All 2 table spoon portion.

As I tried to be more independent and confident going out with Evan, we then went to mothers group for the first time. It was good. Evan and I had fun, so we went to another meetings. He seemed to tolerate attention from others better now. Think he get used to see crowd and strangers and they were not making him 'too' upset anymore.

His gum was so desperately itchy that makes him upset most of the times. Two teeth at the bottom gum has finally emerged about the end of October. I was excited, he looked so cute with two tiny white teeth in his mouth.

Six month old also the turning point when some of his furnitures are no longer suitable, like the rocking chair and car seat (who can also be installed in the stroller). Whilst his weight is not longer suitable for the rocking chair, but we thought it still fit and safe for him, so we still use it. However he was definitely squeezed in the old car seat. So we got him a new car seat which permanently installed in the car. This is when I too have to adapt with new way to get him in and out the car.

His sleeping habit was also changed. He used to sleep in the big 'playing' bed or stroller during the day. As he get older, I started to put him in his cot for morning and afternoon nap, and it was actually worked easily. However he still sleep in our room. I don't think I'm ready to leave him alone in his own room at night!

As for his skills, his hand control developed enough that he can pull an object towards him. He could grab a toy easily. He has so much grabbing, let it go, pick it up, put it in the mouth. Toys are everywhere.... in travel cot, on carpet, in his bed, and on his playing bed, and his cot. Our living room is always messy with his toys lying around the carpet.. and he was only 6 month old!

He has learned to roll over, but only in two directions. So I didn't worry to leave him in the big bed with pillows barricades. When he lay on his tummy, he did it longer than used to. When he lay on his back, he was strong enough to lift his head, shoulder and chest up, then fell to the side, and make a half sitting pose for a few second then fell to the back. Looked like he want to be able to sit up so bad.

He still love play in the saucer. He got more comfortable jumping, moving around, biting, and banging all the toys around the saucer. When he got excited he would scream in really a high pitch! Everything flying around him was still give him a joy of excitement. Surprisingly he seemed to be a bit bored with Barney and friends. It didn't take his attention anymore. But he took more attention to intro and credit part of most of the shows, like Pingu, Oswald, and Igloo-gloo, The magic key, Thomas and friend, and Bob The builder. The most funny thing was he tried to make me laugh a couple times! At one time I pretended to sleep on the carpet in front of tv, while he was sitting on the rocking chair. In my surprise I felt a gentle tap of a little hand on my knee and a pull of my skirt. I saw him looking at me with very big smile and eye! :D He enjoyed grabbing and pulling my hair - a lot! As well as enjoying biting my cheeks!

Early November I let him hold the bottle by himself. He could hold the bottle the whole feeding when he wakes up in the morning (around 4am). Other times I should still watch him carefully as he could easily threw the bottle away.

His schedule since he had puree on his diet was this:
8 am = bottle
9 am = bath
10am = cereal
10.30am = morning nap
12am = bottle
2 pm = puree
3 pm = afternoon nap
4 pm = cereal
6 pm = bottle
6.30 = sleep
4 am = bottle

So now you may think when I can have my sparetime. It was almost imposible! He didn't have much sleep during the day either which was a bit frustrating. The longest was only 1 hour. Mostly only sleep 30 - 45 minutes.

The hectic mode is actually continuing when he turn 7 month old. I started this posting 2 weeks ago. Glad that it finally finish! (*Phew..*)

My Little Bunny

my little bunny

This is how he play with this toy.

He'll take out the rings one by one then munch and lick them,

left the best part : the pole, the last.

He'll then enjoy biting the top of the pole, till it sound scratchy.

My little bunny likes Barney.
He smiles or laughs everytime Barney sings "I love you, You love me..."
Then he'll hold, pat, study it,

then grab Barney's feet to go straight to his mouth.

out of comfort zone

I wonder what's going on when some of my friends called me recently. They asked how did I go, asked me to go out, offered help, and came to my house for a short visit. Apparently they haven't seen me for ages and started to missed me! (i'm not making this up, they told me) :)

It's probably true. I realise that my world has only been with the little boy in the last 6 months, and my house has been my only comfort zone, far from socialising world that I used to be in. After ramadhan finished I received many invitations and turned down many too. By the sound of them, I think they were concerned that I'll be a prisoner in my own house and will depress soon or later (*grin*).

Yes sometimes I wanted to go out, sometimes I get so tired and cranky. But I enjoyed being at home too. I need more time to be more confidence to bring Evan out. Need time to find right babysitter. Besides, I can go out on weekend. But my friends said it's been 6 months, and it's time to start to be mobile again.

Ah well,.... they might be right. I'll try to go out more or invite some people in so that Evan also can get used to other people. Have started last week when I went to mothers group and mall. That was good. I'll take it slowly, though and hopefully bit by bit I'll build my confidence to take him everywhere.

Half Year Old

My little boy has turn 6 month old about 2 weeks ago. It's a big thing turning 6 month old! he will have big changes in his body and development, in feeding, milk, and socialising. All so exciting. We planned to have a little special time with him on that day, but couldn't do. He was so not in the mood all day. In the first two weeks since he turn 6 month was actually a hard times. His body was struggling to adjust to new milk so that he had bad constipation and sore bottom. He also had to get use to new feeding schedule and vegetable puree. And to add the misery, he started teething, so he got sore and itchy gum. He was a cranky and hard to please little boy! I was feel sorry for him so that I decided to not give him vegetable puree until he settle in with the other new food. Doctor agreed to that idea too.

What happened in the last few weeks when he was still 5 month old?

His physical developments are coming fast and furiously. If I place him on his stomach, he'll extend her arms and legs and arch his back, and when on his back, he'll lift her head and shoulders trying to sit. He got very frustrated sometimes to lay down all the time and not able to sit up by himself. He enjoyed his 'saucer' very much. He could balance his feet, bounce up and down and bite the toys around it. He is come to the point where he can't stay still even for 1 second! Think he sick of half laying on his bouncing chair, so he started to bring his body to the front into a sitting position.

His favourite words are 'ciluk ba', 'pingu', and 'igloo gloo'. He will have big smile when he hear those words. He blowed raspberry or making bubbles quite a lot too. He started to respond to word 'Hi' on the last week of his 5 month. He will smile and sometimes say back 'hei!' :) As for songs, Cicak-cicak di Dinding is no longer his favourite song. Satu-satu Aku Sayang Mummy is replacing it

He was strong enough to hold bottle but couldn't really feed himself just yet. However he could grasp small object with one hand easily. He love to touch and grasp hair and face! Sometimes even open his mouth so big as he close his face toward my face as if he want to eat my head!

Sometimes he became anxious when I leave the room and he couldn't see me anymore, but he recognise the sounds of footsteps, maybe he knows someone is there even though he couldn't really see them. He realised where sounds come from, and turned quickly toward a new one.

He could also shows a strong attachment by raising his arms when he wants to be picked up and crying when you leave the room. He laugh at funny expressions or positions. He was a happy little boy, laugh and smile a lot. His favourite toy is probably paper, which is not a toy at all! He loves to play with papers and it is the only thing that can make him cry so loud if I took it off him and determined to get it back.

I started to introduce him to family pictures. I developed photos of grandmas, grandpas, aunties and uncles individually and put them in special small album. Showed it in play time and talk about the people in the photographs. About the same time, I started to limit the use of pacifier with aim to wean him from pacifier as soon as possible. He didn't get pacifier when he is awake anymore, but still use it during sleep time.

His schedule and pattern were so organise and still the same as when he was 4 month old. However, about a week before he turned 6 month old, suddenly he changed his routine. Also hard to sleep and had sleeplessness nap in the afternoon. He didn't finish his milk and cranky all day. Later I know that it's all because of he was teething! However, he didn't like to munch teether, but love to munch everything other than teether, especially papers, books, and other plastic object which hard such as remote control and handphone.

Last month was Ramadhan month, so there was not much activities and invitations. We spent most days at home. But the quiet month has finished, and now the activities back to normal. I got so many invitations. Everyone suddenly missed me and forced me to go out with the little boy (*grin*).

His schedule has changed since he turn 6 month old into this:

7 am = awake
8 am = bottle
9 am = bath
10 am = cereal
11 am = morning nap
12 pm = bottle
3 pm = afternoon nap
4 pm = cereal
5 pm = bath
6 pm = bottle
7 pm = sleep

Sometimes he sleep through the night, but sometimes he awake and have another bottle around 3 or 4 am. I also give him 100ml mix of water and apple juice a day. This routine may change soon as he seems get used to the new milk. I'll try to give him vegetable puree in the afternoon.

My little boy is getting bigger, can not wait to see what's new on him this month.

life from a balcony

I live in a top floor of the apartment building number 5.

I love everything about this apartment building, except that it has stairs (in small steps), in the ground floor corridor where the main door is. It didn't really matter before, but now it start to annoy me. It's not user friendly for people who walk in wheels like handicaps or babies in the stroller. I'm not strong enough to carry the whole stroller plus baby in it through the stairs. While I can't be so mobile anymore, it would be nice to stroll outside the house sometimes for a change, especially in the weather like now. It started to get cooler but not so cold. It's warm, not hot. But alas, I can't do it just because of those little annoying stairs around the main door!

What I can do is only take the stroller out to the medium or big size balconies in my apt. Or sometimes I just carry the little boy out there to see things and feel the fresh air. The routine to walk/stroll in the medium balcony has been going on since about 7 weeks ago, around 4-6pm, before the little boy's bath time. This medium balcony is facing east and the main street where other buildings are, so it's busier than the other balcony and not sunny during those hours.

I was not intentionally observing, but went out to the same spot everyday at the same time,... I can't help myself to notice unimportant routines that happened around my neighbourhood:

- a van will deliver a box of meal for the guard of the building next door
- a white-brown cat will move back and fort or sit on the top of the wall fence across the street
- a grey Prado will come and park at building number 4 across the street, then a well dressed women with a toddler and a baby carried by maid will emerge from the front door and jump into the car
- a car will stop in front of my building, the driver will dial his hand phone. Not long after a teenage boy will come out of my building and jump into the car.
- a funky sport car will stop across the street, at the building number 4, to let a trendy women out of the passenger seat then the car will leave with loud sound
-a truck selling gas will pass on the other street, it has loud musical sound like ice cream seller.
- a man who I guess is a driver will clean a car across the street
- two Filipino maids will be at the front of the house number 6 across the street, gardening. Sometimes they chat with the maid who is watering the garden at the first floor in my building.
- my neighbour at the first floor watering her garden every second day.
- a man will walk a dog that looks like chihuahua. The man always busy with his hand phone. Either texting, or talking on the phone.
- a boy will pass by with his bike, with two plastic of arabic breads hanging on each side of the handlebar.

Very unnecessary. But that's one of the thing that keep my mind in place after being at home the whole day.