Friday, May 30, 2008

Needing The Breath To Catch Up

1. You feed me, I feed you.

She tried to feed me yesterday. My just desserts for being the one to feed her all this while?

She'd been tinkering with my teasp
oon and ceramic mug ever since Wednesday, liking the sound the spoon makes when it clinks against the mug. So for two days, she was clinking away.

While I was sitting next to her clinking away till the cows come home, suddenly she looks up at me and pushes the spoon towards me and literally tries to shove it into my mouth. I'm sure I exercise more restraint when feeding her. She's smiling and all so I open my mouth, take in the dusty spoon (it's been under the couch and all over the floor) and say, "ahm!".

It's obviously the reaction she's looking for so she takes the spoon out, dips it into the mug and aims it at my mouth again. This goes on for a few minutes and she's all smiles and toothy grins until she gets bored and chucks both spoon and mug aside to play with the TV remote controls.

2. Bye-bye

She's begun to associate the front door with waving her hand. In the middle of playing yesterday, she turned to look at the front door and started waving her arm bye-bye for no apparent reason. Right, when her dad goes off to work, she just looks and doesn't bother to raise her arm. Suddenly she decides she wants to wave at the door.

I thought it could be a fluke but when she was crawling closer towards the front door, she stopped in her tracks and again looked at the door and started waving.

Bye-bye door.

3. Making sure they're still there

I normally bathe Sophie in my underwear so I can shuck them after I'm done with her and clamber into the shower for a quick wash while she's still in her bath. Yesterday I decided to shower during her morning nap. So I was fully clothed when bathing her.

She tends to stand up in the middle of her shower and grab onto my shoulders or arm. Yesterday she grabbed my collar and peered inside.

I'm not sure if she was using me for support or just making sure that her milk supply is still around.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

The Art Of Communication

In Sophia's world, these count for communication:

Mum-mum = eat/food
Nen-nenn = milk/boob
Ma-mao = kitties
Pahm- pahm = bath (my version is actually bom-bom)
Pow = book

No, it's not me who says these. She does. Well, I did help by introducing her to them. But if you read the last post, I did try to teach her the correct way to say book.

(Un)fortunately, she already has a mind of her own.

This Is Just The Beginning

I thought I'd teach her the sign and the spoken word for book today, since she seems to like books so much. So when she opened her favourite farm book, I kept repeating the sign for book and saying book aloud to her. She stared intently and I could see her trying to form the word with her lips; they were moving not quite so subtly and I could just see the gears in her mind going at full speed.

Finally, with a great gust of breath, "Pow!" she burst out.

"Book," I said.

"Pow!" she retorted again.

"Boo-ook."

"POW!"

Good girl!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The Primary Function of Boobs

Now that my boobs are smaller, saggy, no longer as abundant with milk as before, and forever scarred from pregnancy (they say the boobs sag not because of breastfeeding but pregnancy) I'll probably live off the rest of my life lamenting the fact that my boobs were once perky. And I can at least look back on today and know that my daughter, at 10 months of age, at least knows what the boobs are really there for, other than just for viewing pleasure.

I was in the Raffles City Shopping Centre baby room for Sophia's diaper change an hour or so after lunch. Actually, I'd gone to use the breastfeeding room but it was occupied so I thought I'd change Sophie's diaper and hang around till the room was available.

A group of Japanese moms were in the baby room too, feeding their respective babies and toddlers. A local mom and her sleeping toddler were occupying much of the cushioned bench right by the glass panels facing the mall.

My little monster couldn't wait to stretch her legs and was standing up on the diaper change station even before I could get her pants off, happily bouncing away and moving around while holding onto the sides of the cubicle. One of the women asked how old she was and I said a little over 10 months. To which they all oohed and aahed, amazed that she was standing and so active for her age (I was oozing pride from every millimetre of my body). Since Sophie had been in her stroller for almost half a day I decided to let her just get her limbs into action so I stood watch while she moved around. Besides, the breastfeeding room was still occupied.

The next thing I knew, some Singaporean woman barged in to the baby room and asked if the breastfeeding room was occupied and for how long more. One of the japanese women replied that her friend was in there, after which her friend remarked that she'd be out soon. As quick as she had come into the baby room, the woman was in the breastfeeding room in the next minute, plugging her breastpump into the electrical outlet and the unit chugging away.

To be fair, she did ask if anyone else wanted to use the room before she went in. I thought she was referring to the Japanese women. But like always, that window of opportunity slipped through my fingers because I was too blur. Still wondering if I should just breastfeed Sophie in the baby room itself, not two minutes later an expat came in with her baby and looked at the breastfeeding room, after which, she just positioned the only adult chair in the room away from the glass panel. She was going to breastfeed right then and there, no waiting. Well, another window of opportunity just pphhsssed by my fingers.

I figured that I'd just find another room somewhere and feed Sophie or wait till later. I moved to put her in the sling since she didn't want the stroller. The moment her face moved within inches of my boob, she started clutching the neckline of my dress and exclaiming, "nen-nen, nen-nennnn, NENN-NEENNNNNNN!!!" Hell hath no clawing fingers and louder voice than a baby who's bent on getting her milk NOW.

I wasn't going to deal with a yelling and screaming Sophie out in the mall. On normal days she's already loud, let alone when she's yelling and screaming from frustration or indignation at being denied something she wants.

I didn't even need to think twice but went straight for the bench the sleeping toddler was lying on. It was big enough for the both of us, although allowing for too much of a view into the baby room (who makes a baby room with glass panels that allow for full view into the room?). What to do but to position Sophie's stroller to give me a sliver of privacy from the mall and proceed to hike my dress up (what the hell was I thinking, to wear a dress? Luckily I had on my presentable panties) and feed her.

I don't remember my boobs ever having been such in demand before. Or that so many mothers needed to use the breastfeeding room at the same time. On a weekday.

There's always a first time, right?


Thursday, May 22, 2008

Week 40 : Life Gets More Interesting

Here's why:
  1. She crawled (yeah, not quite walking yet but it's ok) on her own from the living room into the bedroom, got onto her mattress on the floor, took hold of her cloth, chucked her pacifier into her mouth and rolled around, getting ready for a nap. I was in the kitchen.
  2. Opens drawers and cupboard doors.
  3. Her two front teeth are starting to show.
  4. She's getting more discerning about her food. Likes most food (scrambled eggs, pureed junk, etc.) mixed in with mildly cooked brown rice porridge, if not, will refuse after a few mouthfuls.
  5. Loves books and will come over and swat away yours if she sees you reading one. Then she'll take it and turn the pages herself.
  6. Occasionally she'll sprawl face first on the floor, attempting to lick clean the spot where her tongue is.
  7. Can give directions by kicking her legs and pulling your shirt in the general direction of where she wants to go when you're carrying her.
  8. Enjoys a good slapstick routine: laughs maniacally while farting for good measure.
  9. Can control her limbs and has a better sense of balance when she tries to get off the couch.
  10. Uses your prone body on her mattress as a step up to our bed.
  11. Can turn the bathroom tap on and off.
  12. Sometimes she will stare at your mouth to discern what you're saying.
  13. Skillfully maneuvers and drinks from her two different sippy cups (one flows freely, the other requires serious sucking action).
  14. Will stick her hand into the box to draw out her favourite snack: a Teddy Puff.
  15. Uses her index finger for most complicated maneuvers.
  16. Is steadily on the way to becoming a TV addict.



Friday, May 16, 2008

What We Choose To Hide

Everyone has their own sliver of pain which they choose to conceal from the world at large.

Almost everyone has a deep dark secret.

There is always, ALWAYS a skeleton in someone's long forgotten or long hidden closet.

The person who laughs the loudest could just be the person who hurts the most.

Sometimes you just need to pay attention and look a little closer.


Thursday, May 15, 2008

A Few Hilarious Incidents

This week she gave me the stitches:-

She attempted to drink her bath water (again) and emerged with a foam beard. I have it on a very blur polaroid.

You can hardly see the beard. Santa would be proud.

She wet her nappy while I was expressing and po-po was cooking dinner; we both had no available hands, her nappy dropped to her knees and eventually fell off totally; she crawled around ass-naked and peed twice.

It was messy but inexplicably hilarious.

Oh, the warped mind of a mom.


If Only I Could Haul Ass

I am in a blogging rut.

Obviously:
  1. I've been catching up on my reading (7 new books bought in the span of 1 week, and planning another trip to the bookstore before the this 2nd week is out; read 1, onto 2nd; borrowed another 4, read 3).
  2. I'm running out of ideas.
  3. Baby's been keeping me busy and am too tired and exhausted to think, let alone organize my thoughts and write at night (do I squeeze that in between my relaxing time, reading time, before or after my expressing time, right before my bedtime preferably before midnight?)
  4. I'm too lazy.
  5. I'm thinking of writing assignments for work.
  6. I'm catching up with mom on life in general.
  7. I'm taking a breather and catching up a little with life.


Friday, May 02, 2008

Black As Black Can Be

Paella Negra tastes damn good. Not that you can see what's in it, smothered in squid's ink as it is.

Subsequent trips to the toilet will make you wonder exactly what squid's ink is made of. That and gape at how it smears all your insides with its inky blackness.

Did I mention it tastes damn good?


Finally Striking Gold

Not the lottery but almost.

Sophia decided that baked sweet potato is acceptable for breakfast. She's been eating that quite happily since yesterday. Thank goodness for sweet tubers!

Her nose though, is still runny. It's to the paediatrician today. Don't suppose the GP's meds are doing much good.

The kitties are adjusting. They have ventured forth from their safe room and are now lounging in the living room even in the day but they are barred from the bedroom, just like when it was in KL. I'm wondering if Sophia's bout of cough and respiratory problems are due to the kitties coming back to live with us. I do hope not.

We spent Labour Day shopping - what else do Singaporeans do? Not that we are, but... .We needed to get an all-in-one scanner and a litter tray and sand for the kitties. The damn pellets we bought for them are malfunctioning and I'd rather not go into gory detail. We also needed to get more pyjama pants (with the feet) for the little monster and a new pacifier clip. Her non-too-bright mom sterilized her last pacifier clip in the steamer and warped the plastic of the clip. It now functions as nothing more than a showpiece.

Oh the trials and tribulations of motherhood.


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