A New Baby Merc

So earlier this month, we came home to a surprise present from Uncle Andy & Aunty Carrie. A bright blue Little Tikes toy car. (And Grandpa Gong Gong calls it the Merc).

We took it out to our little back yard for a little spin, and that was pretty much it. Today, mummy decided that cars are not meant for indoor use (in our tiny house), so together with grandma popo, we took the little man out for a ride!

  Papa enjoying his glass of wine while driving the Little Man

  Little Man on his first Road Tip around the Hood

Happy Little Man!!!

Self Play

This is what the little boy does when he plays on his own….

"Puppy puppy… Giraffe, Remote Control, Balls, Puppy, Chair, Phone, Diapers, Puppy, Aircon Vent… Puppy!"

Papa play time

One of my favorite is to watch baby and papa having fun…

Teeth #8 is out!

As I was brushing his teeth this morning, I felt another tooth! Hooray.

These days, he's been jabbing Sophie's leg to the back of his gums.... I think maybe the molars are on the way out too.

Crawl Crawl Crawl away….

I wouldn't say I enjoy Wharton events very much… (because with an active baby, how would you socialize??). Anyhow, today, we were at the Wharton Asia Club BBQ event and Shane was happily crawling on the lawns on 2116 Chestnut St Apartment. I really love the lawn. Clean, plus the grass feels and looks real, and very evenly trimmed.

Shane had so much fun crawling up and down and all around.

So there was this other kid at the event who had a toy. That kid did not want to share his toy with Shane. So… what went through my mind at that moment was…
1. How do I teach my baby to share things with others in the future?
2. How do I teach my baby to react to scenarios like these?

Parenting is tough… I guess I will have to figure this out along the way. But it's something I will have to keep in mind while teaching this little man all about life. It's just not fair. =)

My favorite Website thus far

Being in the USA has made me so much more conscious about the crap we eat and use. I guess this all started when we first read an article on the type of "bad" products in America due to less stringent regulations. There are so many product ingredients that are banned by the EU, and yet they are still sold on shelves across the USA. So recently I came across this website that has quite a few interesting 'good' stuff and the blog posts are fairly educational too. I signed up for the emails and the first article email I received was on infant formula (which was a very good read and I recommend this to all moms.)

Anyhow, this is the link: http://gimmethegoodstuff.org

Teeth #7 is out

Hooray! Number 7 is the top left tooth that broke out today.

Poopy Business - The Potty & the Toilet Seat

Note: this post may have TMI. So you can stop reading after the first line!

When we saw the little man trying so hard to poop while he was sitting on the high chair, grandma said "just get him a potty". I guess all the poo was just squished together in the diapers and this made fresh ones more difficult to come out. My first dilemma was... Should I get a potty or a child seat (the type where it's place over the regular toilet bowl). Well, since they were not all that pricy, I decided to buy both.

Potty shopping!!!

So what we realized after trying him on a few potties. 

1. There must be a grip for him to hold

2. It can't be too short (yes I know he'll grow. But for starts, it's to get him used to sitting and not standing up immediately.)

3. It needs a back rest - just in case he decides to lean backward

4. 2 piece preferably so it's a lot easier washing it.

It probably took about a week or so for the little man to sit on the potty and poop… Naturally, when he's done…. all he wants to do is crawl away (doesn't matter if there are bits sticking out of his buttocks)

Cleaning the baby up was relatively easy because the poop pieces were mostly in pieces instead of smeared all over his butt cheeks. And because I left his dirty diapers in the potty while he was going about his business, I didn't really have to do a big clean of the potty. Just a simple rinse would suffice.

As for the toilet seat, it was awesome for when he did his big poo poo without the potty and it was all a mess after. We have this bidet handspray in our bath room toilet that we use to clean him up.

The only downside was that the water we use is toilet water (still potable water!!) and is usually cold. So chances of having baby pee is very high after a wash.

My 9month old baby!

Shane turns 9 months today. We are so very excited because that's 3/4 of a year old! 

Over the last 2 weeks, it seems like he's suddenly caught up with his developmental milestones and surpassing them too. It's like one day, he decided to start crawling. 2 days later he's tarted standing and walking (assisted). Just this morning we woke up to find baby Shane standing up between us. Somehow, he managed to get up  with nothing to grip on. And he's also learnt to sit down slowly instead of plopping down on his bum. Very very proud of my little one (which parents wouldn't be proud of their kid...).

Baby Shane is now starting to like most of his toys (I used to think I had wasted my money on a lot of his toys. But now that I see him actually playing with them, I feel that it's all worth every penny spent!) and he's definitely taking a liking to the new car he's got!

9m growth spurt

I guess Shane just had his 9m growth spurt. I haven't woken up more than twice during the night for a long time. Last night I was up every hour feeding him. How did I do it last time when he was much younger? It's so tiring. 

During the day, he had cereal for breakfast with one slice of bread. Lunch was one chicken thigh with carrots, spinach and potatoes. Dinner was a meatball with a whole large peach for desserts. All that food and he could still have milk 8 times last night? Where did all those food go!