8 Months: Breakfast pool party at Adel's place

This was daddy's xmas present. Finally both father and son can wear. It says:"虎父无犬子" and "虎子无犬父"

The Lakeshore has these thermally warmed swimming pool which Andre enjoyed very much. Battering the water. See how much he is grinning away.

In his little elephant float. Thanks Aunty Janice. It even has a sun shield. But the water in this pool was cold. It started drizzling and we got baby out immediately.

8 Months: Lessons at The Little Gym

The trial was $45 on a Saturday afternoon. It was all gym work, pretty fun, but i'm not sure if its worth the $$. Seems more like a marketing gimmick.

Rolling on the mat with dad.

Performing a flip on the roller. Andre rolls with the tube and flips upright when he is totally inverted.

Bubbles play. Fun!

I seriously need to get some bubbles for Andre to play. Don't need to spend $45 on that though.

8 Months: IT Savvy?

Andre has a new nick. His new name is called "The Destroyer"

Dunno how little munchkin did it, but he shifted the entired laptop screen 90 degrees.Very smart. Perform the deed but do not know how to reverse. Dad and mum tried to figure out for the longest time. In the the end, mummy had to google the ans on her Iphone.

All you IT illiterates out there... the key stroke is

ALT-CTL-UP, DOWN, LEFT or RIGHT

8 Months: At Fidgets again!

Ooh .. how we love the free Cappucino and Latte every Saturday morning, bundled with a free newspaper. Did we mention it was free entry?

Zoom zoom zoom...

Great pose with dad.

Sneaky shy pose with mum.

I'm a little policeman. Watch out! All you sneaky, shady characters!

Figuring out the shoelaces. Andre was obsessed for a while.

Favourite ball pit.

Playing with the kids.

And who is this pretty gal? It's Shannon! Shannon is the princess of Uncle Jason and Aunty Kimmy; mummy's colleague.

Model-like pose

Darn! wish i had taken more pictures. But my lousy camera cannot make it already... always taking blury pictures.

8 months: This is how i like to drink my milk.

8 Months: Better luck at swimming

Decided to try Andre at the swimming pool again. This time,its mum that brought him down to the water.

Andre enjoyed swimming in the water, waddling around. We started with the baby pool. For that one, he could touch the floor and felt more confident. After about 10 minutes, we went over to the deep pool. SHIOK! We let Andre kicked another 5 minutes before rounding up the session.

8 Months: Andre watches football outdoors for the first time

It was not daddy, but mummy who brought Andre to watch his 1st football match. It was Germany vs Serbia. Well, Daddy had a wedding dinner to attend to, and mummy's colleagues chioed her out. And so we ended up at Robertson Walk at a Turkish pub.

In a super uber good mood.

In the end, Mummy lost the bet when Germany lost to Serbia 0-1. But well, it was fun cheering in the crowd.

8 Months:

Let me tell you a story of a little boy...



One day, he decided to wake up at 12 MN, standing at his cot, waving happily and "talking" to catch mummy and daddy's attention.



Daddy scooped him up and proceed to the routine patting to get him back to la la land, but after one hour, it was all in vain. Fed up, daddy left him in the cot and went to bathe.



The little boy decided he was lonely, and wanted mummy to join in the fun. And he started to shout to grab mummy's attention. Mummy who was awaken, pleaded with him to sleep but in vain.



By then, daddy has given up making him sleep and went to bed instead while mummy took on the task to make baby sleep. It was 2 AM, and there was no signs of tiredness. Mummy put the little boy on the floor hoping he would tire himself out, but the little bub continued with his exploration activities. Biting the electrical cable, ransacking the toiletries drawers, pull mummy's hair, fight for mummy's iphone. Mummy spanked the boy and he wailed for 2 seconds. Apaprently, his elephant hide butt did not feel the pain. Finally, seeing that it was not working out, mummy decided to just throw the little boy back into his cot and off the lights.



It was silent. For a good whole minute before he realized it wasn't a game. Mummy was not going to play with him anymore. So back to square 1, little Andre stood at the corner of his cot, and hollered for his parent's attention. It started softly, crescendoing to a shout.



mamaaaa maa maamm baabaaa bbaaa MAAAA MAAA MAMMMM BABBB BABBBBB!!!!!!!



We ignored him. In fact, daddy who was awaken found it so amusing that he started chuckling. It was those bitter laughter, ie we really didn't know what to do.



And the little boy went overboard. Choking himself in his speech, coughing away and the next thing we knew, the baby threw up all over himself and his cot!!! (Mind you, his last feed was like 2 hours ago, he shouldn't be thowing up)



No choice. We had to dragged ourselves up. Poor adults tortured at this uncivilised hour by a very assertive bub. Cleaned up the baby, wiped the floor, changed the sheet.



Extremely satisfied for making his parents work so hard, little bub decided he's tired already. It was almost 4 in the morning, before he finally settled down and go to bed.



I pray hard, no such nonsense tonight please.

8 Months: Fisherprice Walker

Time to take out the walker. It's still a little too advance for Andre but he likes it. Although he can't walk with it yet, he tries very hard to stand and walk a few millimetres in it before slipping.Andre likes the jazz music it produces.

Coincidentally, i saw on Toy 'R' Us flyer that this toy is going at $30 off at $79.70. When i got it at $39.90, what a steal.

8 Months: Outing to the Esplanade

First, we had dinner at Raffles City Food court. Andre managed to finish 2 bowls of beef porridge amidst the crowd and noise.Then we went to stroll the beautiful grounds of the theatre.
And we found out something. Everytime we whip out the camera and say "Picture, picture", Andre will break out into a 100 megawatt smile. Its not a one time thing, but repetitive!

My latest favourite picture

The new Marina Sands IR

Sleepy baby

8 Months: Picture! Picture!

8 Months: BBQ at Aunty Lisa's Place

Now that the boys are bigger, they are starting to play together. The 2 boys enjoying Jenga. Poor Aunty Lisa's bricks, practically every brick has Andre's drool on it.

8 Months: The World Cup 2010 begins

And to commemorate the event, Daddy bought the 1st toy for Andre, a plush little football

8 Months: Signs of teething

Caught sight of 2 emerging pearlies today!

Having mixed feelings though:
1. Happy: Shows that my son is normal. Hahaha... and that hopefully when the teeth comes out, Andre will be able to take chunkier foods. Puree is boring.
2. Sad: Time to start on dental care.. and i'm feeling so lazy about it. The slower the teeth grows out, the less exposed baby will be to food, and lesser risk to tooth decay ... get the picture?

I would have love to take pictures but Andre simply refuses to have his lips yanked open. And they are so hard to see now. Could see the form, but i think they hadn't truly broken out yet.

8 Months: More pictures of the playmat in our conjested living room

8 Months: Sick with flu again

Andre is down with the flu bug; chesty cough with thick phelgm. This kind of started on Sunday with a mild runny nose. Slowly it progressed to a mild fever. As Dr Ong is not in the office today, we brought him to Dr See at Sunset Way instead. She's a very nice doctor and she explains very clearly and in details what is happening, and wrote down instructions very clearly. I love these kind of doctors.

Took the chance to measure Andre. He's 68 cm and 8.07 kg. Yippee! He's grown 2 cm in the past 2 weeks. Looks like all the protein is doing its work. Still rather scrawny though Dr See says he looks average.

So with loads of medicine (and $97 poorer), we really pray that Andre will get well soon. Cos it has been so tiring... He practically coughs and throws up everytime he takes his medicine. This is so bothersome cos we don't know how much medicine he takes each time. And because he is ill, he just wants to snuggle up and be carried all the time. This wouldn't be that bad if he doesn't wake up every half hour at night demanding to be carried.

Some lessons that i learnt from Dr See today:
1. When baby or adult has a cold, avoid a) air-con, b) sweet stuff and c) sour stuff
2. When applying nose drop, don't carry immediately as the medicine will all flow out.
3. It's ok for their feeds to drop by half when they're ill. They'll thrive.
4. Cough mixtures although keep for 6 months, their potency normally don't last beyond one month. So no point keeping.

8 months: Parklon Play Mat

This playmat is something i have contemplated for the longest time. Reason being due to our little living room space. And 2ndly the price. It costs $120.

The first time i saw it was at a forum's mummy's place and i thought it was very good already. It is thick and spongy, extremely ideal for the baby to roll about. The 2nd time, i saw at a BP's seller living room where her baby slept on it comfortably.

Finally after 1/2 a year, i decided to just purchase it after seeing Andre play on our cold marble floor all the time. And it is indeed a good buy. The pictures are so colourful and Andre can tumble and rumble on it with minimum risk of slipping.

Here is Andre playing on the mat with some flashcards before our appointment to the doctor.

8 Months: Separation and Stranger Anxiety

Andre's definitely feeling both of these. Which is perfectly normal, in fact considered a development milestone, for babies around his age.

What is separation anxiety?
Separation anxiety and stranger anxiety both coincide with a new intellectual skill called object permanence. They now remember objects and specific people that are not present. They will search for toys that have dropped out of sight. They are able to call up a mental image of what (or who) they are missing. They don’t want the stranger, because the stranger is not you.They understand that people leave before they learn that people return. They can tell from your actions that you are about to leave. Anxiety begins to build even before you leave.They can’t tell from your actions that you are about to return. They have no idea when – or even if – you will come back. And they miss you intensely. For them, each separation seems endless.Dropping a screaming child at day care tugs at parents' hearts. Much nighttime screaming is an expression of separation anxiety. Sleep is a scary separation.Peek-a-boo and bye-bye are fun ways for us to interact with babies, and great ways to teach them about object permanence. For babies at this age, these are issues of great concern.
Read more: http://www.drgreene.com/azguide/separation-anxiety#ixzz0qJsi0e6b
He wants mummy and daddy to carry and be around. When we are in his line of sight, he doesn't mind playing on the floor by himself, grinning away. However, the moment, i walked away, he'll start to shout for us to come back. Even though, i still talk to him aloud when i leave the room, Andre does not feel appease until he sees me.

Likewise when he sees strangers. He used to let everyone carry him, but nowadays he is more wary. Sometimes, even grandpa or grandma also cannot handle him. He is like a sticky pea. I feel bad throwing him to Aunty Jann the first day she arrives, but i really want them to get used to each other as soon as possible. After a week, I still can sense Andre is not 100% comfortable with her and will fly back to me when i outreach my arms.

To be frank, i feel good about this. Haha, my own child preferring to be with me. However, i need to tell myself, one day will come when Andre starts to realize Aunty Jann is the primary caretaker (after all he spends like 10 hours with her a day while Kevin and I are both at work, something that i really can't helped), and he chooses to be with her rather than me. I think i will be heartbroken that day.

8 Months: Baby Jumper Gym

We brought Andre to baby Jumper gym for school as Victoria and Tiffany are currently attending their curriculum as well. I am sure excited.

Trial class was $38 at 11.30 am at Bukit Batok. With a 45 mins nap, and a full tummy with one bowl of porridge, Andre was all geared up to go to school. It was a class of 5, with babies ranging from around 5-1/2 months to 9 months. Boy! some kids really do start early.

The class consisted of 30 minutes of flash cards. The theme for today is Music. So we did musical composers (flashed pictures of Johanns Sebastian Bach, Mozart etc. mind you, they were pronounced in full names), musical instruments (some of the ones i didn't even know exist), and they were done in both english and chinese. Very impressive, but seriously, i don't know how beneficial it is to the baby. According to the instructor, babies process information much faster than adults, and so the cards must be flashed in less than 6 seconds, otherwise their attention will wander. Maybe its true, cos Andre stared fascinated at the cards for a while, or maybe because the instructor sounded so energetic and perky.

After this is the right brain simulation where the instructor showed some pictures of slight differences and asked Andre to point to one. We played musical instruments where Andre shook some bells and rattles. There was also the 5 motor skills, where i have to help Andre scoop some balls from one bowl to another. Andre pay attention for a long time and was happy and attempted to crawl all over the classroom. I had to restrain him by holding on the back of his T-shirt. I guess his favorite part was when i have to swing him in 3 huge circles. This boy loves thrill rides.

Next was the gym. There was a little ramp for Andre to practice his crawling. Andre's not very good with slopes though and needed more pushing and motivation. Maybe i should make a little ramp for him at home. Even when daddy threw in the I-phone, it didn't spur him on. Andre was allowed to hang unsupported at the monkey bars for 10 seconds while the teacher clamp around his fingers. WHOA! That's very impressive. I think Andre's astonished as well. Next he was swung from bar to bar on the monkey bar. That's a little too much for him to bear and started to protest by the time we hit the last bar. Last gym activity was to put Andre on a gym ball while the instructor rotated him around. By right he was supposed to catch an item as he comes close to the floor, but as it is Andre's first lesson, the teacher says to take things easy.

The lesson concluded with a musical piece, Vivaldi, Four Seasons Autumn. By then, 4 of the babies are knocked out already and their parents hurriedly made milk. Little Jayden, 5-1/2 months, was asleep by the time the music ended. While mummy stayed behind to listen to a little sales talk, I've decided to hang on signing on with the school until i tried a few more schools. Lessons are not cheap you know. Andre was asleep on Aunty Jann's shoulder's by the time i got out. I think the school has been fun. There is a combination of not only brain exercises but also gym play as well. But well, until we have something to compare, we never know.
The school does not allow photo taking, but we managed a picture with Aunty Jann.

8 Months:

Today is the BIG day. We decided to introduce formula to Andre today. Well, after 8 months of solely drinking wholesome mummy's milk, i felt its time we wean him off to formula. Although it has been immensely satisfactory, i can't be making milk for Andre forever right.. haha. Well, although pumping four times a day has become more like a routine for me, i have to admit it is sure tiring and i'll like to have more playtime and rest time together with Andre (and also my husband lah!)

So during this period when we introduce formula slowly, i hope to cut down the pumping from 4 times a day to 2 times. We are starting on Enfapro Stage 2 first as i heard from a colleague that it has a higher content of DHA. In the morning, i mixed 2 ounce of formula with 4 ounce of BM. VIOLA! Andre slurped it all up. I hope he keeps it up.

Unfortunately, Andre developed a fever later in the evening, and so we decided to put this formula thingy plans till he recovered fully. I don't think it is the milk that he's allergic to, but a cold that has been seemingly coming on and off for the past few days.

By the way, we chose this day because its the date, 6/6. 六六大顺。Hopefully, project formula milk will succeed without a glitch.

7 Months: Andre's Milestones

Here's a picture with Aunty J-Ann

I must say Aunty J-ann is pretty good at handling babies (the impending factor that is keeping me from sending her back to the agent.) I guess it takes time for her to adapt to our family and ourselves to adapt to having someone live with us.

And so with her help, Andre starts accepting food again and is eating well... (no dancing and prancing around like monkeys required) Whoppee... That's my biggest bonus. See video on how swiftly baby eats. There is a lot of catching up to do in terms of weight and height.

Today Andre will turn 8 Months old. A few of his milestones:

1. Gives "Hi 5"

2. Waves Bye bye (This one really depends on his mood)

3. Beams whenever he sees the camera

4. Exploring the house on all fours.

5. More phonics in his speech like baaabaaaa, maaam aaaaa...

7 Months

It is sure good to have a helper to tidy up the place and make lunch. I've finally some time to play with my child in a clean environment.

Unfortunately, i was stricken with a bad case of stomach flu in the afternoon. I was practically visiting the toilet and throwing up non-stop. It did make me panic though, cos its the first time i ate food that my helper cooked, and i almost suspect her for poisoning me.

Since her disappointing behaviour yesterday, i didn't dare to leave baby home alone with her. In the end, it was my dearest sister (who trooped down with her entire clan), to help me keep watch while i visit the doctor.

The love and greatness of a family... Thank you God for sisters.