Rolling over

Eli has attempted to roll over when hubby put him on the sofa last Sunday (at 3 months 13 days). He kept putting his legs up and turned his body to the side till he rolled over ;p However, I must say he got a bit of help as the sofa is a lil' bit slanted. So that made it easier for him ;p Hubby did let him try to roll over on our bed just to test him. It wasn't as easy for Baby Eli and hubby ended up helping my poor baby ;p No matter what, it's another milestone for my precious :) Here's a video and a few pictures of him trying to roll over ;p We were all there to give him moral support including Ethan who gave him a gentle push ;p

Eli ready to roll over! ;p

Here he goes...

Yay...he did it!
Here's a lil' help from his Koko...
An attempt on our bed...

It ain't that easy on a totally flat surface for Eli ;p

Do daddy gave him a little helping hand ;p

And yay... good try Eli! ;p

My wobbly boy ;p

Ethan started walking when he turned 16 months. Here are some videos of my wobbly Ethan :)

Showing off his new skill hee... ;p


Ethan doing his "drunken" cat walk hehehe....Oppps! Watch where you're going sweetie...

Ethan "ilang gaya" (lost his cool) due to his fast like train wobbly walk! hahaha...But watdaya know..he doesn't give up easily..tht's my boy alright haha...

MIA

Hello folks, I've been missing in action from my blog recently...reason being, my precious Ethan had intestinal infection. So I was busy with him and I didn't have my laptop with me since Thurs night too...thus, the quiet blog ;p

Anyway, I didn't suspect anything when Ethan first vomited at Aunt Roslyn's home last Monday night...I thought he might be just over eaten or that he played too much... But I didn't expect him to vomit again upon reaching home and again when he was asleep on that same night. I started to worry that I kept checking on him every hour in case he vomits in his sleep again..but thank goodness he didn't. He seemed ok the next day but MIL told me that he had a bit of diarrhea. I thought maybe it was just something mild...but when his diarrhea (watery stool) continued and he vomited again on Wednesday with mild fever, we decided to bring him to his paed and that was when we were told he had intestinal infection. We were told it will last for another 2-3 days. Besides his medicine, the paed asked us to change his milk temporarily to Novalac milk for diarrhea but Ethan refused to take it. As I didn't want him going to bed with an empty stomach, I just gave him his usual Similac milk. However, I did mix his milk the next day and luckily he could take it in. The doctor told us that the infection could be due to a few reasons:

• consumption of improperly prepared/contaminated food - care taker's hands not washed after diapers change before preparing his food
• improperly cleaned feeding materials
• baby's hands not cleaned after touching dirty surfaces/toys

The last reason seems more relevant to his cause of infection. Especially now that he crawls on the floor more and likes to touch everything and put his hands in his mouth. Ethan lost 300 grams within 2 days due to him vomiting, having diarrhea and his lost of appetite. Though he was still drinking his milk and water but he was reluctant to eat his porridge. Luckily his lost of appetite only continued for 2 days and he didn't refuse his Heinz baby biscuits (phew...). He still continued to have diarrhea till yesterday evening though his stool was getting better. But if you would have seen him during those few days, you won't notice that he was ill as he was as active and playful as ever... very much my typical Ethan boy :) Here are some pictures of him over the weekend...

Ethan enjoying his sleep on Friday morning :D

Ethan inside his toys' box on Friday night

My Lil' E wearing his dad's sunglasses just this morning ;p

Lil' S. Jibeng ;p

BTW, he started to imitate some words or sounds from the telly and me over the weekends...this include "ah", "quack-quack", "miaw-miaw" and believe it or not, he imitated me saying "lolou" this morning when I told him not to touch his "lolou" (his "little birdie") whenever I change him *eyes rolling*

Ethan's developments

I'm just jotting down some notes on Ethan's developments for my own reference :)

• Able to stand up on his own in his baby cot last week - he stood on his own by holding on to the sofa when I was feeding him once
• More stable when sitting down though he doesn't try to sit on his own that often
• He will give you a peck or a lick hehe when he is in the mood ;p
• He is not on all fours yet
• Seems to understand "nenen" (milk) and "water"
• Loves music especially on DVDs or VCDs - he is a visual person (his eyes will be glued to the telly especially with singing cartoon characters) rather than an audio person ;p
• More demanding and will make sounds and body gestures by forwarding his body towards the place that he wants us to bring him to or things that he wants
• Loves balloon - that is the first thing he will look for as we pick him up from his cot in the morning
• He has rather good memory as he remembers things quite well e.g. where we keep his balloon as he will automatically turn his body towards where we keep it in the morning
• He knows which remote control is for what e.g. once hubby pretended to use the aircond remote control as a phone and pretended to have some conversation. He later put it on Ethan's ear but Ethan took it away and pointed the remote control to the aircond instead which left both of us looking at each and other and started to laugh!! And if you give him the remote control that does not change the tv channel, he will drop it and request for the correct one!
• Still very playful + cheeky ;p
• Very friendly as he gets all excited when he sees little kids around as he wants to join in the fun

Latest developments of Lil' E

I had the priviledge of witnessing another new skill of Ethan yesterday while I was on leave babysitting my precious prince :) This time is him clapping his hands :) However, the way he claps his hands is not quite the usual how we clap our hands...have a look to see what I mean..

Besides clapping his hands, he also made a few attempts to lift his knees up while he was on his tummy yesterday. Another new skill hehe.....I guess he wants to start crawling already :) My precious will do a 'high five' when you put your palms up to him too. We've also noticed recently that he tried to push his body up sideway a few times...probably trying to sit??....

Not yet sitting on his own or crawling...

...but he is already trying to stand up...just look at my little boy...


He would try to slide himself down from whoever is holding him whenever he feels like "standing"....I wonder when he'll start to sit on his own or if he'll skip the crawling part totally as some babies do...

8 months he is!!

An UPDATE:
His weights 9.1 kg now :)

Yup, my precious prince turned 8 month old on the first day of Chinese New Year i.e. yesterday. I've yet to know his weight till his next visit to the clinic on Monday. So will update on that later.

As for his milestones, let's see his progress according to "What to expect the first year" by Murkoff et al (2003) :

By eight months, your baby... should be able to:

bear some weight on legs when held uprignt - checked

feed self a cracker - haven't let him try that but I do feed him crackers and I think he will be able to feed himself a cracker (I'm just worried about being messy hehe...)

rake with fingers and object and pick it up in fist - checked

turn in the direction of voice - checked

look for a dropped object - checked

...will probably be able to:

• pass a cube or other object from one hand to the other - checked
• stand holding on to someone or something - checked
• object if you try to take a toy away - checked
• work to get a toy that's out of reach - checked
• play peekabo - checked
• get into a position from stomach - only to and fro from stomach to lying on his back

...may possible be able to:

• creep or crawl - not yet
• pull up to standing position from sitting - not yet

So I guess my boy is doing okay and oh BTW, he has learned a new "skill" about 3 days ago....I'll let the picture below describe his so-called new acquired "skill" ;p

Another milestone

My baby managed to roll over on his own for the very first time just an hour ago!! Initially I tot my hubby had to help him but I was wrong...Previously he could roll to his side but he would still need a helping hand to roll over till he is on his stomach. Well, not anymore :) Oh ...he started drooling for almost 2 weeks now (see picture on the left)... I'm also wondering if he is teething coz since yesterday he seems to have slight fever - on and off...and since two days ago, he sometimes sleep on his side...Both hubby and my little baby are asleep at the moment while I'm trying to keep my eyes open to complete my assignment so that I can enjoy the weekend!

Change of Mood?? Challenge no more??..

Ethan seems to have changed his mood lately coz he doesn't seem to be so generous with his smile as compared to previously...he also seems to be enjoying less lying on his stomach and putting his head up or even turning his head from left to right and vice versa... rolling over on his own seems less exciting for him of lately too...me and hubby are wondering the reason for his change of mood...we even regarded him as "unfriendly" and "lazy" baby lately...of coz we don't really mean him being that way..just a figure of speech...Anyway, I shared my concern to one of the mommies in the office and according to the funky mommy that I spoke to, it's pretty normal for babies to change their mood after a certain period of time... I was also told that most likely my precious doesn't find smiling and rolling over and lying on his stomach and putting his head up as challenging as b4...Hence, it doesn't interest or excite him to keep repeating it...I thought that could be the logical reason...but am also thinking that my precious hasn't even managed to roll over on his own successfully yet...so thought he would want to be able to do that b4 finding it less challenging...and could it be that he has becoming heavy (he's ard 7kg now) thus can't support his own weight? Or could it be that becoz he is having a bit of a flu? Hmmm... I think I will want to spend some time to make him smile and initiate him to roll over and let him lie on his stomach whenever he is awake this weekend...and see what will happen then....will also ask the nurse when he goes for his 4th month (4 mths already!!??) check up this coming Monday...to all the parents out there, have you ever encounter such experiences too?

My precious in one of his "lazy" mood...not putting his head up that much

His first attempts to roll over!!

Yes! My baby is growing up!! Today he has attempted a few times to roll over !! Although not successfully yet but I bet he soon will be able to do so. That means no more leaving him alone on the bed or anywhere else!

I've managed to capture him on video for one of his roll over attempts - have a peek :)

But if you have no patient to wait for the video (1:08 mins), here are some pictures taken on his first few attempts hehe...

Yay!! You're almost there baby!! Keep on trying!! :)

Baby toys

As mentioned in my previous entry, shopping for me nowadays is more for baby stuff and that includes baby toys. You would not believe the number of toys we have bought for our lil' Ethan (again this is another "side effect" of being first time parents hehe). Even before he was born we've collected one box full of his toys already!! And if we include the toys that we've added after his arrival and not forgetting presents that he has received, his toys may easily fit in 2 or 3 (or maybe more??) boxes! Previously, I have limited knowledge about toy brands. I was only familiar with toy brands such as lego, barbie dolls (not even sure if this is a brand), Fisher Price, etc. But when I was expecting Ethan, I was exposed to a whole different types of toy brands especially for babies. Now I know there are many good educational brands like Lamaze, Safety 1st, Leap Frog, Learning Curve, Tiny Love, Playskool, Chicco etc etc..(hmmm don't you think I should get paid for mentioning their brands?? hehe..) There are just so many to choose from and if I'm not mistaken, I think we have bought some from the first 4 brands mentioned. Anyway, so far, we have bought toys for our lil' cutie pie - newborn, 3 months, 6 months of age and older...I know, I know, again "advance shopping" huh hehehe..but as I mentioned, blame this on the "side effect" of being first time parents...hee..

BTW, just to get this on the record, Ethan's first toy is a mini blue metalic football from his daddy :) I guess it was a natural instinct being a football fan that he is or maybe just imposing his early football influence on his little star hehe.. Oh oh...I almost forget, if you drive and use Shell petrol, you might remember the special mini Ferarri car models that you can buy for RM7 each if you've spent RM30 on petrol? Well, I think there are 6 (or more?) different models of Ferarri and guess what, my hubby bought the whole collection for Ethan! If you read carefully, the toys are suitable only for children 3 years and above! Now tell me who is more excited about baby toys...me or hubby?? hahaha...ok ok, enuf of a bit light husband-teasing hehe...jangan mare yer sayang hehehe...

Anyway, we've noticed that our little sweetheart has started to appreciate his toys. It started when he had just turned 3 mths old...he would stare, smile or "laugh" or even tried to reach out for his toys though he doesn't know how to grab them yet...so a few of his toys are out from the box now.. hmmm...I guess I would be picking up toys after him soon...

Ethan was fascinated with the moving lights on the mini mobile fan (thanks to Jewelle!) and he was reaching out for it

Ethan staring at Mr. Smurf . He smiled when we first showed him his Smurfy soft toy :)

My baby playing with his doggie toy - he was trying get the toy near to him so he can lick it ;p

Oh btw, here's a useful link that describes what types of toys your baby should be playing with according to their age... again, I think I should be paid for this :) Hmmmm... I think I should seriously start blog advertising like Jacq, Jewelle and PapaJoneh eh hehehe...

Latest sleeping pattern of my peep...

One of the most difficult things for newbie parents (like me&hubs) to deal with is baby's sleeping habits. We have all heard and are familiar with the so called "panda eyes" for most new parents and their complaints about lack of sleep. My hubby and I are no exception too especially in the beginning...BUT....psssstttt...for the past 5 days, my baby has been sleeping from ard 9pm till abt 5.30am! Yes!! How wonderful isn't it!! Yeeehaa (no, make that double yeeehaa) to both me and hubby!! :) Having said that, honestly speaking, I must say Ethan has been a wonderful and lovely little baby. I would say he is not as demanding as I expected a baby would be and looking after him is still very manageable...Prior to his new sleeping pattern, I only need to wake up twice the most to feed him after his midnite feed....I guess probably the numerous warnings from friends may have gotten me prepared for the worst hee...no doubt we did have our share of sleepless nights but I would say those were bearable still :)

Talking about sleeping habits, I've read and have been told that it is always good to train your child from infant on their sleeping habit. I've read that one of the most important things you can do in terms of getting your newborn to sleep better is to establish a routine, and to stick to it. By establishing a routine with your baby from a young age you will ensure that the transition into more regular sleeping habits is both a quicker and smoother one.

Anyway, hope this new sleeping pattern of my sweetie pie will continue so his mommy and daddy will be able to enjoy solid nights' rest again...shall keep our fingers and toes crossed real tight! hee...

My peep is probably taking his nap at his grandma's now or probably awake for his milk...shhhhh...

My sleeping handsome ;p

That first smile...

Guess what... my precious gave his first widest and sweetest smile to his grandma 2 days ago! I was thrilled to hear when my mom in law (MIL) told me (and of coz I felt a bit envious coz I missed that special moment...hehe..) as I got back from work on Tuesday...ohhh..my baby is growing up fast....

Baby Ethan...mommy can't wait to see your smile(s) ...love you precious...

Hey...am getting the hang of this blogging thingy eh...hehe...seems like I've been blogging away as this is my 3rd posting today...woowee...