Month 10 Week 2: Little man cometh!

These past few weeks, B seems to become more and more like a little man :D  

- Got his first haircut!  Quite stylish, and actually complements his big head that's slightly flat on the back, hehe

- Drinks his own sippy cup, self feeds cookies/biscuits/fruits, eats slightly mashed foods (no more purees) 

- Verbal diarrhea and cognitive milestones!  Responds to cues by looking, pointing, signing and occasionally doing the right actions.  He can "show me the cars/wheels/balls/etc", turn on the light switch, aircon and fan buttons, goes to and picks up books/bottle when he wants to read/drink, shakes his head, waves his hands, raises his arms.... Also coos, gurgles, babbles all the time!

- Stands upright, letting go briefly. Cruises more confidently, holds onto and pushes objects while on the go

- Loves music and movement so I've started him on Monday bounce & rhyme sessions in the park, including circle time in our Wednesday playdates and signed him up for Friday Kindermusik Village classes in early October (each term lasts 8 weeks)
- Going for his first Chinese immersion class at Julia Gabriel's Chengzhu Mandarin holiday programme.  This should be quite an experience as my Chinese is terrible, and he's mainly been exposed to English (and Malay/Bahasa) at home.  If he takes well to it, I may consider signing up for regular classes there

- Finally met his maternal uncle on a surprise visit from San Francisco (via Seoul) -- hooray!  

- Got his Singapore passport (along with mommy!) in time for his first overseas trip this weekend.  Wish us luck!  I suspect we'll have to bring more stuff for him than all of our own combined ;)

Month 9 Week 4: It's back!

TMI post alert.  I finally got my monthly period after almost 19 months (since Feb 2011) of "freedom."  Guess this means we can REALLY gun for #2 now -- hmm, wonder if I should whip out my trusty old spreadsheet tracker?  I know it seems like overkill, but it works esp. when you've got two people with unpredictable schedules, travel ... and now increasingly active soon-to-be toddler!  Speaking of babies, B got the flu for the first time and then passed it on to me.  One week cooped up indoors, compounded by the haze outside. Fun times....

Month 8 Week 1: On the move!

B is officially on the move!  After belly scooting, creeping, butt rocking for weeks, he finally crawled when he turned 8 months.  I've attached a video of his bouncy-butt-jerky-crawl :)

Here's a fun list of the types of baby crawls....  Onwards, B!

Month 7 Week 4: Reading, signing, talking ... and teething!

We started reading and signing to B around 4 months with basic words (milk, eat, drink, sleep, bathe, book, car, plane, etc.), black/white picture and touch books with simple words, rhymes and numbers.   Lately, he likes colourful peek-a-boo books with foldable, pull out tabs/toys and books with real baby photos and different textures. He still loves nursery rhymes and songs that we make up/"bastard"ize and use every day.  Evidently children use familiar words and rhymes in their speaking vocabulary at a more rapid pace as well as contexts and concepts such as counting, time, measurement, position, and weather. B reaches out to pick/grab books when he sees them, and seems to engage and focus quite well when we read to him. Since he can't talk, sing or sign back yet, I take this to mean that he understands more by now....! He does babble a lot at times and experiments with his tongue for pitches and inflections to indicate that he's curious, wants yes/no, sleepy/tired, bored, happy, satisfied, etc.

 

Meanwhile, B now has 6 teeth!  That's a record among his peers who have on average 2 teeth.  He got the 2 lower central incisors at 6 months and then the 4 upper incisors (central and lateral) over the past few weeks.  Ouch! While the teething resulted in plenty of sleepless nights, seeing his pearly whites makes all those groggy pats/cuddles/rocking worth it. I hope there'll be a brief respite so that he can eventually settle back to sleep "through the night" again (i.e. sleep by 8p, may wake briefly 1-2x but settles back on his own, real waking at 6/7a to start the day). Also, he seems to put everything in his mouth these days -- that is, everything BUT his actual teethers.  What irony.

Physically, he's pushing up to stand wherever he can -- cot, sofa, toystool, etc. though he tends to tiptoe still.  He continues to creep, roll, turn, scoot backwards, rock and bounce as he tries to move more than 2 steps forward. We've installed our window grills and bought a play "fence"  - waiting for him to crawl for real!  Guess B's been too busy growing teeth to focus on his crawling this past few weeks :)

Read more:
http://www.parenting.com/article/best-books-for-every-baby-stage
http://www.rwitap.com
http://www.babycenter.com/0_developmental-milestone-talking_6573.bc?
http://www.babycenter.com/0_your-childs-teething-and-tooth-loss-timeline_10356447.bc?
http://www.teethingtips.com/teething-symptoms-and-why-it-hurts/