New milestones!

Four days shy of his ninth month birthday, Titus has finally mastered the art of grasping a piece of food AND transfering it into his mouth.

He has been grasping things for a while now - often toys and other things around the house - and is able to bang them about.

But he just had not been able to feed himself with his hands.

Well, until today, that is!

I'm stoked, especially since the food item he managed to feed himself is a tiny puff! That's some awesome motor skill he has achieved.

Furthermore, today also saw him standing unassisted for a second or two several times.

Baby is growing up! He will take his first step any day now!

Sigh, my feelings are contradictory. I want him to grow up and speak his first real word, take his first step, feed himself with a spoon, etc. But I also want him to be my little angel forever, so I may hug him and kiss him and tuck him under my chin as long as possible.

Who's an angry boy?

Sunshine boy was unusually grouchy today, whining, whimpering, fretting and crying since waking up from his pre-lunch nap.

Nothing we did could soothe him. Not even the all-powerful boob.

We struggled to feed him a bowl of porridge and then bathe him. He cried on. I brought him for a ride in the park to distract him. It worked for 10 minutes and he got grouchy again.

I told the Awesome Husband, "Titus never cries for nothing. Something must be upsetting him."

Perhaps his gums are hurting from his emerging tooth on top.

Perhaps his scalp is too itchy from the bad case of cradle cap that has caused bald patches (poor chap!).

Perhaps the day is too hot and humid.

Then at 2.10pm, he started to whimper in a different manner; somewhat less aggressively. Could it be poop, I wondered and took a sniff of his bottom. Ahh, mama knows best indeed! I picked up the stench of poop.

After changing him out of his soiled diapers, Titus cheered up and allowed me to latch him him. He tells sound asleep in under 5 minutes.

Truly, Titus never cries for nothing. His poor mood must have been caused by an upset belly.

MERvalous!

There was a time when Titus was very chatty and would talk in his baby language (obviously!) and sing out loud.

We joked that he had a fondness for Cantonese opera.

A few days later he went quiet again, much to our dismay.

Then, two days ago, he got chatty again, babbling "mamama" and "bababa" endlessly. It was so fun to hear him talk.

But the ultimate joy was when he cried out, "Mer mer mer" and pulled desperately at my nursing bra while trying to climb onto me.

That happened just after his evening bath, which usually precedes his final milk feed and bedtime.

Was he trying to say "milk"?!

I sure think so, because he was doing all he could to latch on and when I popped out a boob, he quietened. 

Boy would it be brilliant if he did mean to say "milk". It would show that he recognised his routine and associated the word "milk" with the act of latching on.

Titus is just awesome and I can't wait to hear more words from him!

Reflections on the Chinese

Interviewed a Chinese director of sales with a global company this morning and the man told me that he had chosen this area of specialisation because it was something he was the weakest in. He was determined to master sales and overcome his handicap.

Today, he heads a sales department.

If that isn't impressive, I don't know what is.

But his attitude isn't surprising. I've met Chinese who are determined to excel and upgrade their social standing through education and a great job, and aren't discouraged by tough beginnings. My Chinese classmates in university struggled with spoken English but they insisted on speaking it with me to ensure they learn. Even when they had to use this strange, foreign language in all their tests and exams, they excelled in them.

These Chinese are now competing with Singaporeans for jobs. In fact, they are everywhere competing with anyone for jobs. They can speak Mandarin, the future language of business, as well as English and possibly other languages too. And they aren't afraid of hard work.

If we Singaporeans continue to just stand there and complain about the Chinese coming to steal our jobs, our home, our space, our women/men, instead of thinking how to raise our competitiveness globally, we are doomed.

I'm terrible with Mandarin and I can barely survive more than a week in any Chinese city, but I intend to ensure Titus excel in his mother tongue and be 'export ready' for career opportunities in China.

Thank god Titus chose us

Every time I come across stories of children being abused or neglected by parents or caregivers, I thank god that Titus was given to us.

He's such a happy, tender, patient child and it breaks my heart thinking what would happen to him if he was born into a rough household with violent parents.

He's so easily tickled

With us he will get all the love he needs to grow up happy and well, so he may pass that love on to others around him.

Taxes well spent

Spent the afternoon at Sembawang Park yesterday afternoon and realised to my delight that some renovations of the place were made.

Pavements were given fresh tiles, the waterfront now sports sturdy plastic plants made to resemble wood, and there is a massive play structure that even I am tempted to get on and play!

Well paved roads across the park made
walking and cycling a breeze

It is moments like this that I'm glad to pay income taxes. I'm glad my money is put to good use!

Don't anyhow feed hor!

乱 、别: two words that look similar to me but with meanings so different.

I wanted to handwrite my MIL a note, telling her not (别) to feed baby after 7pm. Instead, my mind commanded me to write 乱 (wild, frantic).

So my note ended up being a hilarious instruction to feed him frantically after 7pm.

Little wonderer

Couple of days back we decided to take our first family vacation in Bali come October, after two of my major overseas projects are done.

I am determined to reclaim all the lost time with baby through a holiday in a fancy villa up in the quiet surroundings of Ubud.

Once that decision was made, I went online excitedly to purchase our flight tickets. I went through the flight selection, seat selection and even meal selection, only to reach the end when payment is due and realised that I've yet to make baby his passport!

Oh silly me!

So I had to put the flight purchase on hold until his passport was ready.

And today's the day!

Titus is now all ready to explore the world with us!

Interruptions

The Muslim new year will come this Friday, which means a long weekend for everyone here in Singapore.

I'm so looking forward to it! Largely because I need those few days to park myself on the couch and strap my girls onto the Medela Swing, and pray my breastmilk production will return.

Yes, a lactation vacation!

Work has built up significantly this week and I've not been able to tear myself away from work to pump at the usual times. For three days in a row I've been able to only pump once at work, before rushing home to baby.

To make things worse, baby slept through the night the last three days - from 9.30pm to 7.30am! A dream for most mothers, I suppose, but for me it meant sleeping through till sunrise with exploding boobies and realising I've missed a chance to empty my breasts and encourage production.

I really want to feed Titus for a full year, so I must find greater determination to remove myself from work and to wake up in the night to pump, pump, pump.

Smart diner

I love broccoli. So I cannot understand why this green health wonder is so hated by many.

To ensure baby loves the vegetable as much as I do, I decided to start him on it early. Like now, when he's seven months old. When his tastebuds are still untainted by seductive sweet and savory foods.

For his dinner, I prepared puree broccoli with red rice porridge. Yummy!

He took the first spoonful. No gagging. Good. Another spoonful. No scrunching up his little nose. Excellent.

So I fed on. However, I realised he was taking longer and longer to open his mouth. By the 10th spoon, he pursed his lips and refused to open them when I tapped the spoon against his mouth.

When I persisted, he turned his face away from me and refused to look me in the eyes. No amount of cajoling could get him to open his mouth and accept one last mouthful.

I refused to give up. So did he. And he started to twist his body away from me, desperate to get as far away from the spoon as possible.

It was hilarious.

This baby is smart and he knows he has the right to choose.

Earlier in the afternoon we gave him a baby rusk, a tasteless thing that is meant for babies to bite and relief teething pains while getting something nutritious in their belly. He took it, explored it gingerly with his mouth, and then gave daddy a peculiar look.

"Do you like it?" Daddy asked.

Baby took another bite, then held out the rusk stick and examined it with a frown. 

"Give it to me if you don't want it," daddy said, holding his palm out to baby.

And baby handed the wet, unpalatable thing to daddy. LOL!

Looks like I'll have to toss out the remaining box of rusks.