What's the worst thing about being sick?

The answer?

Not being able to smooch Titus' face! Boohoo!

Discouraging momma

I like to think I'm a positive, encouraging person who refrains from saying no to others as much as possible.

But Titus, oh Titus, is making me utter more "no" and "don't" a day than I've ever all my life. It amazes me no end the number of things I don't want him to do. Here's just a short list:

1.  Sucking on the remote control.
2.  Sucking on my smartphone.
3.  Attempting to crawl over the edge of the sofa or my bed.
4.  Pulling his hair.
5.  Pulling my hair.
6.  Clawing at his ears, which are by now covered in scratches, some red and raw.
7.  Clawing at my eyes.
8.  Sucking on my face.
9.  Pushing and twisting himself off me while I'm holding him, but screaming when I put him down.
10.  Flipping around in split second during diaper change and then crawling off at lightning speed.


And he's barely six months old.

Monkeys next door

Start of the school hols is marked by the screams of my neighbour's two boys as they tear down the corridor in the middle of the night, playing with their plastic samurai swords.

And here I am in the darkened living room, praying hard that their screams won't wake baby up.

I don't know why their parents won't rein them in. There are two other infants on our floor. They  need sleep at this hour too.

We've got a crawler!

Two days ago, Titus was still wobbly on all fours and had only the courage to move one foot or hand forward in his attempt to crawl, before falling flat on his face. He has been like that for weeks. 

Yesterday, dad sent me a video showing the little chap shuffling forward in two steps, and then falling forward. 

This evening, as if fuelled by magic, he was able to crawl steadily and rather quickly all over the playmat! How fast babies grow! 

Why have kids if you are so eager to escape them?

Why have kids if you are so eager to escape them?

Hokkien for beginners

I'm getting Titus acquainted with this chart that teaches body parts in the Hokkien Chinese dialect. And I shall tell him every day that mummy loves his tiny kah-chng.

A little bizarre incident

My brother Kenny got hitched yesterday at the Raffles Hotel Singapore. It is a lovely, colonial property, but just wasn't one that I was willing to splurge more than S$700 a night on for a room to sleep.

Still, I needed some place to retreat quickly too once the wedding ends because Titus does not fare well past his bedtime at 8.30pm. So we rented a room at a high-end hotel nearby.

That night baby slept poorly. I blamed it on the lack of afternoon naps due to the activities throughout Saturday. He went to bed at 11pm and woke up shrieking at 1am. His eyes were shut and his was screaming. It took Joshua and I a while to calm him down.

It was finally in Joshua's arms that Titus stopped crying, and Joshua continued to pace the length of our room to soothe him.

I sat on the bed, watching the both of them when suddenly, the TV switched itself on.

The image on the screen wasn't your usual TV programme. It was a red, grainy image, like the reception was down or the TV was spoilt. There was no sound. But there was an outline of a long, thin face.

Joshua couldn't see what's on the screen from where he was standing, but he heard the click of the TV turning on.

"Hey, why did you switch on the TV?" he asked.

"I didn't," I answered calmly, with my eyes still on the 'face'. And with that, the TV screen blacked out.

Baby went on to be woken at 3-plus in the morning, screaming again. This time, we brought him into our bed and had he sleep between us. He fidgeted a few times, and woke whining, but we were able to console him quickly.

Joshua didn't probe and I was glad he didn't. He did ask me about the incident this morning, over breakfast in the hotel lobby. He thinks the TV is centrally controlled by someone in the hotel. Now, why would anyone turn on a guest's TV in the dead of the night?

I think the poor hubby is trying to find a practical explanation for the horror. :)

I didn't feel afraid at that point in the night. What I felt was anger, thinking that it could be a spirit that had disturbed the sleep of my child.

Run mummy, run!

I hardly used to run for anything before I became a mum. Nothing was ever that urgent that I needed to risk falling over for.

Now, there's hardly enough time for me each day. There's work to be done, milk to be expressed, a baby to be fed, vomit-soaked clothes and bedsheets to be laundered!

These days, I run, hop, brisk walk everywhere, and I'm not afraid of shoving slowpokes out of my way. 

Nom nom nom!

Have you ever seen a baby this happy to be eating, so happy that his large almond-shaped eyes turn into mere slits as he babbles and laughs? 

Well, Titus' joy is apparent as he is fed a small serving of watery rice cereal for breakfast. This is his second go at solids, the first being yesterday morning.
  
I forsee this boy will enjoy good food as much as his parents do. :)

Precious daddy and son moments

I love weekends.

I love even more the chance to see the awesome husband play with baby Titus, as he really knows how to get the little bub to chuckle.

These days Titus enjoys rolling about in our bed, treating it as his private playground and leaving saliva stains all over. It's alright, we don't mind.

Have a seat, baby!

Baby's got a new chair!

But he is only willing to sit in it for a couple of minutes before stretching to the sides, trying to escape. :)

Still, it is a few minutes of free time for me to run to use the toilet or get myself a drink! So I can't complain.