Recurrent sickness

I think I have to get used to the idea of us falling ill again and again. You do bring home the most potent of germs and spread it around fast. I have never been ill so many times in such a short period of time. You were finally totally recovered from your flu last weekend but unfortunately started having running nose again on Tuesday. This was followed by passing it to me on Wednesday and then your daddy on Thursday making all 3 of us down with flu, cough and sore throat, AGAIN. I see a recurrent theme here. I wonder when will our immune system get on top of these powerful viruses?

8 months old

You seem to entertain us with something different with each passing week. Some examples:
-Crawling on your hands and toes
-Pulling yourself to stand on the cotsides when you awake (in the middle of the night or morning) before starting to cry or call which shocks me because I will wake up to you staring at me (thankfully we have lowered your cot)
-'Cruising' along the cotside and getting your foot stuck in the groove between mattress and cotside
-Trying to climb behind the sofa
-Making lots of noise as if trying to communicate with us
-Hold and drink from a beaker on your own and then trying to pour all the water out by shaking it vigourously
-'Lick' us good night and in the morning
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Summer WAS here?

It was very hot last week and you had lots of outdoor play in the nursery. Thus, I was asked to bring in a hat for you. It was a good thing as I totally forgot about this hat which we bought before you were born! You were not impressed by it at all and kept wanting to take it out. Unfortunately, you have had no chance to show it off yet as the days have become cold and gloomy again. British weather!!

The big 'three 0'

I entered the 4th decade of life 3 days ago. It was a busy weekend with a friend's engagement party followed by dinner with Ming Wei on Saturday and then lunch with another friend and a special dinner with my little family, you and Richard, on my birthday. I really thank God for everything over the last 30 years and am so grateful to have you both in my life. I can't ask for more.

I had wine and you had ice-cream :) It was probably this that kept you awake till 10 at night
Totally 'konked out' after the weekend

First long journey alone

You have always had the luxury of me sitting at the back with you while your daddy was the 'driver' whenever we traveled. However, I decided to brave it and bring you to Manchester alone to meet a very good friend. We nearly missed this trip as I caught the flu/fever from you and have never felt so terrible. No wonder the saying - what's worse than a sick kid is a sick mom taking care of a sick kid. In preparation for the journey, I brought you home from nursery early to ensure you had a proper nap and brought lots of toys in the car to amuse you. You were very good and entertained yourself for more than an hour to Manchester.

Alas, we drove and drove but could not eat our intended Malaysian or Japanese food as both restaurants were closed!! Thankfully you were very patient (being entertained and entertaining aunty Michelle) and tolerated the altogether 2 hour journey before we ended up in a Chinese restaurant and fed you dinner. This means I have more freedom in driving around with you in the car.

'Dou dou'

After thinking that you were going to be a quiet man, you started making lots of noise and 'talking' with us over the weekend with a husky voice, despite not being 100% well. What excited your daddy most was you calling 'dou dou da da dou da' continuously. When will it be my turn??? I need to teach you 'ma ma ma ma' :) I have been trying to video you calling but every time you see the camera you stop. We'll see what happens over the next few days. You also look like a pimply teenager with your face covered in a post-viral rash.

Good memory?

Thank God you're nearly back to your own self.
We were 'skyping' with my parents and yr gong gong started to sing 'ke ren lai', a song that he sang to you everyday when they were here. When you heard it, you pursed your lips and shed tears, as if saying 'I miss you singing and pampering me!!!' I thought it was a coincidence but when he stopped and started again 10-15 mins later you did the same thing. We were all shocked. Maybe you recognise and remember more than we think you do.
Yes.. we all miss you loads!! Thank you for being with us and helping us for the past 6 weeks.

First call from nursery

2 days ago, I was told you were not yourself and was running a fever and I had to come pick you up. I was like - oh no!! Well, thank God you were better that night because rather guiltily, I had to send you to nursery the next day as I had an important meeting at work. However, I picked you up early so that you could come home and rest. You were apparently back to your usual self and we were looking forward to your first 'pirate day' at nursery today.

Alas, you ran a fever at night and still had a fever in the morning. I was rather disappointed that you had to miss it because your daddy and I have been figuring out how to tie a 'bandana' on you as part of your costume, and it was going to be your first party with your friends with lots of activities. Never mind, I am sure there will be lots more to come.

I have never seen you so subdued, quiet and lethargic (You would never have been still enough to allow me to take this picture below). You also threw up your lunch and dinner. Please get better soon, baby. I miss the cheerful and active you.

Growing up

I have always thought the safest place to put you in is in your cot. However, I found you like this, calling out for me a few days ago. The level of your mattress definitely needs to go down soon for me to leave you alone in your cot next time.

We have also bought you a high chair so that you can sit at the table during dinner as part of the family :) We gave you some finger food to eat at the same time while we had dinner but look at the mess you made of it. There's more than half of it on the floor. The next item to buy is a hand-held vacuum cleaner to clean up your food.

Speedy Gonzales

Mother's Day

It's mother's day today in Malaysia and I was back in Malaysia when it was UK's. As a mom to a baby, there's no time for any celebrations, especially in UK, but it made me think about why such a day was created. I have never felt such joy, pride and contentment before becoming a mother. But with that also comes the testing of patience, anxiety and constant responsibility. It also exposes an inner strength that I believe is in everybody, waiting to be 'used'.

You commemorated my first mother's day with your first bout of diarrhoea and the whole weekend was spent washing: your clothes, my clothes, the bed sheet and your bouncer, and it was so tiring, even with us both around!! Thankfully Richard was around and you were still quite perky and cheerful, apart from being more clingy and did not want to play on your own. Maybe there should be a Parent's Day?

Nursery anxieties

After 2 weeks in nursery, I am beginning to get little worries about whether this nursery is the best for you. You do seem to be settling in but the carers seem to always be over enthusiastic about how good you were which makes it seem a little fake. They say you eat all your food ALL the time but yet when you come back you seem hungry and finish your dinner in 10 minutes. From your daily sheet, it seems like you always nap during meal times but they say they keep the food for you. When I brought it up, they say its better to allow the child to set the routine. They say there are organised activities of circle time or messy play but I have not seen any in the few days that I picked you up early.

What irritated me was finding a dummy next to you in the pushchair you were sleeping in a few days ago. Today, when I picked you up early after Richard arrived, I saw that dummy in your mouth while you were sleeping!! I was furious and when brought it up they insisted that it was left in the pushchair and you must have put it in yourself. You have also developed another flu just as I thought you were getting better. There's also evidence of some nappy rash.

Sigh.. Am I being over-protective? Am I being paranoid? Am I expecting too much from nursery? I wonder if these worries are normal? Are all nurseries like that? Do I have any other choice? I only want the best for you. IF only you can tell me what really goes on the whole day. The only thing that reassures me is that you always smile when I drop you and will smile when I pick you up. Again, maybe I have to just trust in God to take care of you.

Just the two of us

Its the first time since you were born that there's only me and you for the whole 2.5 days. Yes, your grandparents have gone and daddy is in US. I was not looking forward to it but I have surprisingly quite enjoyed the time alone with you and then alone by myself. The time passed so quickly and as I write this, its already close to midnight (and you already woke up once). I did tell myself to sleep early. I know that it will be challenging times with just richard and I, both working and having to care for you. However, I am sure it will make us into a closer family unit.

Lord, please let the wind change direction so that there will be no volcanic ash over the northwest area that will cause airport closures and risk Richard not being to land on Friday. Its no fun just being Isaac and me for longer than it has to be.

New games

As the days pass, you seem to entertain yourself and amuse us more and more, making taking care of you such joy and makes waking up 3-4x at night more bearable :) We think you play peekaboo with us by bending your body halfway to look sideways. However, you do it even when you are not looking for anybody.
Your enjoyment of bathtime and laughing with yourself in the mirror
Your love of tearing tissue and paper to bits and putting it in your mouth
This is also what you did to your cotbed headboard, which we have wrapped up nicely (to be used when we convert it to a bed in the future) when you are left inside your cot and bored. Showing your creativity or just simply because you can't reach to tear behind the cot bars?
Taking posed pictures of you when you are not distracted require some skill. You do try to smile into the camera but because you are so active and move about so much, the photos always turn out blur. Hence, most pictures of you are taken while trying to make it into a game or opportunistically when you're not looking.