A simple mum who believes in giving her children the ability to enjoy simple things in life…
Baby’s milestones
Dearest Baby YT,
You are 1 year old now. It’s an amazing 12 months and look, how you have grown! You have already doubled your birth length and tripled your birth weight now. Mummy will never forget the day my contractions came and you, arrived to this world and to our family, bringing with you endless joy to us ever since. Continue reading “Happy 1st Birthday Dearest YT!!”
Baby YT is 11 months old!!
I can’t believe time flies by so fast and he now looks more like a toddler which is so different from the cradle-held baby months back. How I reminisce the baby days. He has since reached several milestones at 11 months old.
Physical Development
Baby YT is growing “flabs and pounds”! He still has his baby fats although he has started to look lean now. At night when I look at him sleeping on his tummy, I am amazed that he has doubled his birth length. As the Hokkien saying goes “Baby grows an inch for each night he sleeps.” That’s an exaggeration but it is not far from the truth. He also has 8 teeth now, 4 upper and 4 lower.
Baby achievements
Baby YT has perfected his commando crawl. He can crawl at amazing speed! If you compare a proper bottoms up crawl on all fours on ground versus commando crawling with tummy on the floor, you will know it’s tougher to crawl fast using the latter style. He looks like a wound-up toy. The moment you put him on the floor, he “unwinds” the spring in him and crawls away! Any baby race right now??
Just 2 days ago, Baby YT pulled himself up to reach for a shuttlecock right in front of my eyes!! I am extremely proud of being the first to witness this important milestone, you couldn’t imagine how ecstatic I felt! Then the next day, he repeated this newly found skill in front of the grandparents. And everybody cheered! I know many babies have reached this milestone much sooner than my dear YT, still, when it comes to your own baby’s first experience, it always sets off the excitement in the family. I try not to compare such milestones with other babies and much prefer to celebrate my baby’s success at his own pace. After all, it is more important that milestones are reached within a reasonable time frame, and equally important to keep a watch on any serious delay of development.
Things that make my baby smile at 11th month
There are many simple things that can trigger an endearing smile from Baby YT. He loves bath time and loves to see water trickles down from a water filled bottle held at a height. He smiles when he sees his milk bottle in my hands and know it’s feeding time. He laughs when his sister sings his favourite songs from “Charlie and the Numbers”, “Tricky Tracks” and the japanese version of “If you are happy and you know it”. He smiles at anything that spins. He loves to spin the 3-D puzzle globe on its stand. His favourite spins are the wheels on his walker in over-turned position. He enjoys manipulating everything on his hands and turning them upside down. What a discovery! He smiles the moment you carry him towards the main door and out of the house. He loves to go out.
Things that my baby doesn’t like
Baby YT does not like crowd due to the peaking of stranger anxiety these months. He cries when there are too many people cooing over him. What a big contrast to a few months ago when he displayed his showmanship and smiled at anyone who looked his way! We understand his fear and hold him close whenever he shows signs of insecurity. He will hold me real tight and tug at my necklace. At such times, I would secretly enjoy his head resting on my chest, and feeling satisfied that I am needed and trusted to protect him.
Baby YT doesn’t like to be left alone in the play pen. He is irritated if his hair touches his ears. He will brush his ears violently with his little hands and that is sooooo cute! Do I sound like a terrible mum, enjoying his reactions to things he doesn’t like? But for little babies, any reaction from them is simply adorable and irresistable!
My baby prefers warm milk and water. He pushes away the milk bottle if the milk or water has cooled. That makes me wonder how will any babies take to cold milk that is fresh from the fridge as recommended in the books and followed diligently by one parent who happens to be my piano teacher? Have you tried giving your baby cold milk?
Next month same day, will be my baby’s 1st year. Kel and I are busy thinking of a birthday celebration that is cozy and comfortably suited for the birthday baby. We have to be careful not to overwhelm him. The last thing we want to do is to make him cry on his big day. But, isn’t it more fun (yes, for the adults) to have more people to celebrate together?
Baby, you don’t know how happy Mummy and Papa are that you have reached all these milestones! You’ll be reaching the big ONE next month and of course, you don’t know this either! Still, we love you lots!
Happy 11th month old Babe!
Baby YT is getting very mobile these days. When I woke up this morning, I found him sleeping in the living room, thoroughly enjoying the cool floor. Luckily I mopped the evening before.
He is no longer satisfied sitting in the high chair while everyone busied themselves.
He is no longer content in the playpen playing his toys alone. His brother and sister take turns gladly to squeeze inside to accompany him.
He no longer wants to lie down when I change his diapers. He just springs back up repeatedly when I push him gently to a lying position. He can sit up at his own will now.
At 10 months, he loves to:
– “fly” all around in his walker to wherever he wants to go, or follow me wherever I go, stopping only at the bathroom door
– go out of the house and cry when he sees me leaving the house or sees his favourite grandpa going home.
– watch “Charlie and the numbers” and “Tricky Tracks” on Baby TV.
– put one finger into his mouth, taking care the finger goes right to the side where his molars are still dormant.
– explore the base of anything, even finding great interest in the wheels of his new walker cum wagon, often toppling it over.
– eat his favourite Gerber graduate puffs
At 10 months, he still wakes up for night feed or simply cries out loudly for some reasons that we fail to understand. We just have to be patient, and gradually getting used to. Now I no longer dare to let him fall asleep on his own while I close the door and leave the room. As he is so mobile, I am constantly afraid that he may crawl out of his floor mattress and explore behind the door. The older kids may open the door suddenly and forcefully, not knowing he is there and he may be hurt badly. Thus, I have to check on him very often if I were to leave the room or I simply accompany him till I see him close his eyes.
YT is feeding on 4 times formula milk and 2 main meals a day. I am officially off breastfeeding and have no reasons to eat as much as I like now. Breastfeeding used to be a great excuse for me to indulge in many high calories food, but not now. I will put on weight quickly if I am not careful.
Many people say that a breastfed child will not fall sick in the first year of age. But it doesn’t seem to work for all my 3 children. YT fell sick 2 times within this year, the first was a cold at 7 mths, and the second was a virus that causes high fever for 4 days at 10 mths. Poor boy, all of us gave him extra tender loving care and he is back to his old happy self now.
The little boy is experiencing stranger anxiety at full force. He is not comfortable with a roomful of well-meant uncles and aunties cooing over him. He takes time to warm up and will bury his head into my chest if he is overwhelmed. And I am enjoying the kind of trust he places on me, and loving the fact that I am needed and able to protect him.
YT is outgrowing many of his clothes now. He is now 9.82kg when he was having high fever. I choose to believe he is already 10kg at his healthy state. There is a myth that says babies should not wear shoes before his first birthday. Well, because of this, many baby gift shoes have been outgrown before he even has a chance to wear. I will be shopping around for his first pair of shoes very soon.
In 2 mths time, he is going to reach his 1 year old milestone. I am very excited by it and yet want to plan a cosy party for him (just like his brother’s 6 year old party). A party that he will not get overwhelmed. After all, he is the star of the party, he “calls” the shot.
I love you babe!
YT is 9 and a half months old now. He is a cute little baby and we always look at him and say “You are the cutest baby in the world!” He loves to clap and never fails to win strangers’ smile.
At 9 mths old, he can crawl finally! He wasn’t too successful with crawling before this month. I was a little worried that he may miss the crawling milestone all together. I always believe that crawling will stimulate the brain as it needs some intelligence and working of the brain to work out the arms and legs coordination to make crawling happens.
He can sit up without help, though not all the time, but improving! In fact, he is starting to discover standing from a sitting position with the help of my arms.
He is now much wary of strangers as stranger anxiety sinks in. He will hold on to me tight and turn his head away whenever someone unfamiliar approaches him too fast. Then he will peep at that person again and again turning his head repeatedly. He is very clingy to me too. When I walk out of the room, he cries immediately. If I walk past him without carrying him, he cries too. When I returned home from work, he opens up his arms wide, waves them in his signature wave and literally flies in his walker to the door for me to pick him up and hug him. At such moments, all tiredness dissipates in the air.
He is eating well with 2 meals and about 4 milk feeds a day. For weekdays, he eats brown rice cereal and fish porridge. On weekends, I give him pureed sweet potato with avocado or sweet potato with steam apples. For his milk feed, he drinks 180ml each time. My breastmilk is dwindling ever since I recovered from my fatigue. Stress really cut down milk supply drastically. Kel says 9 months of breastfeeding should be very sufficient and I have done my part to give YT the best milk already. Now, he only latches on twice a day. I know I will miss the breastfeeding and so will he. Well, I will just document here to remember this.
My baby still wakes up in the middle of the night. Some parenting advice suggest that the baby misses the mummy’s presence in the day and compensates at night by waking up for milk feeds and cuddles. I don’t really mind and just let him be. It feels good to be needed.
YT’s favourite toys are toys that can be chewed on (sounds like a dog). He chews on anything that is within reach. This must be a baby’s way of exploring new things. He chews on toys, chews on books, chews on his favourite bolster. He likes to turn an object upside down and explore at all angles too.
His sister and brother play with him everyday. They simply love playing with him. This is great joy to me. Each time I encounter some depressing incidents at work, I will always think of my baby’s smile and my children’s laughter. It always soothes me and I feel much better after that. My children are truly my life!
I look forward to YT’s next milestone and look forward to every evening. Will update again on his next milestone!
Baby YT is 8 month old! I would like to jot down his baby milestones before my scatterbrain forgets.
When he was 7 mth, he had 7 teeth, 4 up and 3 down. He can clap his hands happily and non-stop with his new found achievement. Because he’s such a clever baby, XX uses this as a good reason for him to be rewarded with stacking blocks toy that I bought for him (which wasn’t really to reward him but simply I want to buy a new toy for him).
He is trying to use his stomach muscles to help him sit up, and is still trying hard. I am sure in no time, he will master this skill.
He is eating rice cereal and baby biscuits already. Even though he has 7 teeth, I have not given him other foods as I am still not confident he can handle more solids other than biscuits.
He is a healthy 9.16 kg right now. His weight seems to be my pride. Even though my breastmilk supply has halved, I am still persistent in feeding till the very last drop my breasts are willing to produce. It’s tiring and slightly demoralizing, but I shall persevere.
He is getting better at sleeping at night. Even though he still wakes up once or twice every night, he is able to fall asleep again without being pacified with breastmilk. Hence, I still wake up every time he wakes up and I am still sleep deprived. Other babies his age can sleep from 7am to 7pm. I have to accept my baby’s biological clock and be patient.
His sister and brother are his daily entertainers. They love to play with him, and surprisingly very patient with him. Such is the sibling love that I admire and appreciate. Just hope he doesn’t turn out to be a small tyrant when he is older.
I am currently on a 3 weeks break from work. As I am quite tired out by the day demands of work and back to home with lots of house chores to do and demands of child-rearing, add in some serious sleep deprivation, I am a little off-balance right now. My stress levels had made my health deteriorate and the doctor suggests that I take a good rest and meanwhile work out some adjustments in the family.
I am not sure what kind of adjustments to be done. However, I had employed a part-time cleaner once a week to help tidy up the house for the health sake of my children as well as making me feel better that I am stepping on cleaner floors and breathing in less dusty air.
Taking a break like that somewhat saddens me as it seems that I am not capable of handling my household, child-rearing and my life. Being a perfectionist, this may be understandable, yet I still feel I fail at some point. Maybe the first thing I should do, is to change my mindset. It’s easier said than done. I need to relax and find my balance back for the sake of my health and my family. I cannot afford to collapse. My kids need me, my family needs me, I need to be healthy.
For these 3 weeks, I will rest as much as possible. That includes replenishing my long deprived sleep, doing minimal house chores and learning to do nothing. I will spend more time with my baby and kids when they are back from school. I will take walks with the baby in my neighbourhood. I will relax and read my books over a cuppa at a cafe. I will go for spa to pamper myself. I will write my blogs which I enjoy greatly and in itself a stress reliever. I will go for a swim or go for a jog to revive my spirit and energy. I will think positively (Yes, I am still learning and reminding myself to think positively, just like my blog says “Positive thinking – the way to remain sane“). I will go throng the malls and shop to my heart’s content.
I will… just sit and do nothing…
Have you ever being off balance?