The Son was ill, He loves biting Daddy

They are not related, but SunshineKitten was ill on Thursday and Friday, and he also gets high from chewing on Daddy's finger.

The little boy had been coughing on and off for a few days and could not sleep on Thursday night. Daddy and Mummy (mostly Mummy) had to carry him in their arms before he was comfortable enough to doze off. He kept crying all the time because he was not able to breathe properly through his blocked nose. We took leave on Friday morning with the intention of bringing him to the paediatrician, but he appeared to have more or less recovered. What symptoms are there for the doc to see? Then he threw up a lot of phlegm just before I was about to go off to work. A frightening amount of phlegm. What's a little infant like him doing with so much phlegm in his tiny body?! We went to work anyway, trusting that he is able to breathe much better now.

Colleagues advised to bring him to the PD anyway, citing how infants his age develop bronchitis and asthma very easily. We rushed to a famed PD at Ang Mo Kio after work that night. The taxi driver shared the scares he's had with his son years ago. It seems that parents are destined to suffer for the sake of their offspring. From the way people tell us, we have the impression that it is an immutable law of nature. We spent over $120 to be told that he would recover by himself. We were given some medicine, which we had not yet opened because he really looked tonnes better, kicking and chewing vigorously, as he always does. On the other hand, if we had tried to save the money and it happened that he developed some illness that is more serious, we would feel terribly guity.

The other news is that he is now able to recognise his favourite people and is starting to wail when carried by unfamiliar people. His poor second aunt (who has lavished him with toys) was heart-broken when he was frightened by her. His happy daddy discovered that the little boy is delighted to have something to chew on, even if it is a finger attached to the hand of his daddy. The vigourous chewing meant that he is teething, and it is possible to feel them under the gums when you get your finger chewed on. Poor mummy, when the boy is unwilling to suckle. He is quite capable of chewing on her nipple when he is not in the mood to suck... Oh and he gave his daddy a very wet and sloppy kiss, or was that just drooling all over another surface? He was smiling so happily when he did that, but give him something to chew and drool over, and you will find him smiling.

This little boy has turned out to be the laughter in the lives of the extended family. We laugh with him when he is happy, and we lose sleep with him when he is ill.

6 months old

Our boy has now passed the 6 month mark and went for his final Hep B jab today.

He is now 8.5kg, 75 percentile
Height 69cm, 50 percentile
Head circumference 45cm, 75 percentile

He started eating solids last Tuesday, eating up to 3 tablespoons of Nestle cereal, or Nestle brown rice, or Healthy Times brown rice with his milk a day. His first fruit is apple, in puree form. Sunshine will be starting him on avocado tomorrow.

ninja in training

It is said that ninjas undergo grueling training to develop their abilities. To gain the skill to scale walls and fly over roofs, they train for years, jumping daily over a sapling that will over the years grow into a tree that is tall and mighty. And so as the sapling grows, so do their ability to jump high.

Well, that is what they say. This is not from the horse's mouth. This is not even second or third hand news. This is the stuff of myths and legends. But if this is true...

My son is getting heavier and I can feel my left bicep muscle cramping after carrying him for a while. My left arm will soon be larger than my right arm. Perhaps I will look like Arnold Schwarzeneger if I spend enough time carrying him around. Check back with me in 20 years and see if I have developed the ability to easily flip grownups around as if they are toddlers.

Fine motor skills

Having read about how fine motor skills are supposed to be developed by the 4th month, I was a little worried about how he is totally uninterested in gripping things with his little hands at 3 months. A little kiasu perhaps, but he has been ahead of his time in everything else, including his physical size. It turned out that removing his mittens does make a difference and within days his hands were able to grip my finger. It is a heartwarming sight, seeing his tiny hand managing to grip only one of my fingers. Hopefully he will be able to hold his milk bottle all by himself before long!

First stroll downstairs

I was home after work early yesterday, just in time to see my dad downstairs with my son. It was the first time grandpa brought this grandson down for a stroll in his pram to show him off to neighbours. He soon chased me off. I think my dad didn't want me around while he is spending quality time with his grandson!

I'm not sure how much my son can see and how much he can recognise of the new surroundings at 3 months, but he is definitely curious and will protest with cries and whimpers if we are not holding him up to look around the house. So yes he likes to examine his territory and he is probably happy to be moving around downstairs with new things to see and stimulate his growing brain. It will not be long before he insist on going downstairs everyday for his daily stroll!

Flipping baby

Mum called up excitedly while I was at work and gave me a fright. She told me that my son has flipped over. Did he drop onto the floor and hurt himself? No, but it is the first time he flipped over all by himself while lying on his back, and she wanted me to know ASAP. Yeah she's so proud of him because he is not yet 3 months old and he is already able to flip onto his chest. She had to help him pull out his arm which was trapped under his body, but he could lift his head and breathe.

Well I'm happy for him, but I'm not surprised. He is already 6.79kg and 63 cm long at 12 weeks and his head is 42 cm in diameter. He kicks quite hard when he's hot and upset so I know that he is strong. But we will all have to be more careful these few days until we can be sure that he will not suffocate if he flips over at night while everyone is sleeping. I wonder how we can prevent him from flipping over when nobody is watching.

On another note, we had to bring him to the paediatrician on Saturday because he had been coughing the whole week. And coughing pretty loud for someone his size, but that's our boy. It was heartbreaking seeing how he cried when the tube was inserted into his nostrils and mouth to suck out his phlegm. He cried so hard that he had flecks of redness in his eyelids and foreheard. Sort of like burst blood vessels from trauma? The red flecks did clear up within a day or two as the doc said they would. But they are a testament to his trauma. What has to be done has to be done and I kept telling him that it was for his own good while I held his head steady during the suction. I know he won't understand what I'm saying, but I hope my presense will soothe and comfort him while all these strange things are happening to him. He took surprisingly well to the medicine I fed him using the syringe (0.8 ml ??) and I hope he will recover before we bring him back for followup.

Moving house

We have moved in with my parents as planned. We need help to look after the little boy when Sunshine's maternity leave is up, and we would not want to leave the maid alone with him at home the whole day even though she turned out to be very diligent and loves the baby as much as we do. We just don't want to take the risk after hearing all the horror stories.

It took us 2 days and a car to move our stuff to my parents' place. We had to transport Sunshine's frozen milk, our clothing, shoes, working gear, 3 laptops, baby's pram, our toiletries and surprised our parents with the amount of stuff we are bringing in on the first day. Why should they be so surprised when they know how much stuff my sis had? And we still have so much stuff at home (the house I bought with Sunshine) that it is still our home, and my parents' place is just a place for us to get through the week, and we look forward to going home for the weekend. Fortunately my parents are computer illiterate and there is no chance for them to find this blog...

Having a car is really a convenience on a rainy day. Taxis can do the same, but it takes more planning and preparation. It was the first time we drove a Toyota Corolla Altis and we could tell that it was a lot more comfortable than driving a Hyundai or Vaio. The boot is also a lot more roomy than the other cars I have rented previously, if I remember correctly. Sunshine and I were saying that we could get used to all these conveniences! But living in Singapore is not cheap at all and we would not assume that we can always afford such luxuries all our lives. Perhaps we will get a car if we have a second child. If we have a second child.

The poor maid had to adapt to a different way of doing things since my mum was quite particular about how some things were done. Some were for reasons of efficiency and some were personal idiosyncrasies, but when you are a humble servant you just did as you are told and you try not to get things mixed up. No wonder our MM frightened us by claiming that if we do not vote for them, our wives and daughters will have to work as maids in other countries. Having seen and heard how some people treat their foreign domestic helpers (the govt terminology for maids from Indonesia and Philippines), it is a frightening prospect indeed. When my son is old enough to understand, will he be proud of how we treat our helpers? Or be ashamed that we are treating a human being so poorly?