He's turning 11 months!

Apologies to all for the late post...my little website project is keeping me busy. :) Will update you all soon enough!

Marc has a new buddy called Ollie who lives just at the block next door. Ollie is a month older than Marc and very alike. They both love to eat cardboard and stress balls, crawl all over the place (Ollie recently learnt to walk) and drool like crazy. We are hoping to organise another playdate among neighbours soon. We have about 5 babies around the same age - which can spell disaster!

He recently came down with a fever recently - we are not sure if it was teething or a stomach bug but thankfully he recovered within the day. His first bout of fever since birth, thank God for his good health thus far.

Trying to figure out how to discipline and train Marc is getting to be a challenge. He throws everything onto the floor when he's unhappy, yells when food is not fed fast enough, screams when he wants to get out of his seat, etc. When it comes to danger, we make it clear to him that its a "no" and remove him straightaway. Other times, its hard to figure out if he's frustrated because no one understands what he wants or if he's just throwing a tantrum. He's learnt to shake his head recently to say no or raise an objection.

Marc has only recently learnt to wave bye bye - a very feeble bye bye at that! He still can't clap and I'm starting to think he's going to be one of those non-compliant-refuse-to-follow-the-crowd kind of person! But Ollie's mum assures me that Ollie only clapped and waved at 11 months, so perhaps its a boy thing!

I've planned Marc's 1 year old party, which will be a buffet lunch among family at Carousel - they have a wide spread and great food for a reasonable price. I love the seafood! I've also taken leave for a couple of days to spend time with Marc...probably take him out which he loves!

Teeth = Trouble

Its been AGES since I've written a decent post. Been busy with lots of stuff. Am working on a little online business with 2 other friends - stay tuned for our launch! Plus the kid is keeping me really busy and very tired. He's at the crawling-trying-to-walk stage and he's really a walking disaster. He will chase us from room to room, with his knees squeaking as it rubs against the tiled floor and a trail of drool all over the place. Which is super dangerous by the way as our tiles are smooth so they become a slippery slidy hazard.

Just on Saturday, I gave him a board book to keep him entertained in the car. Which he decided to gnaw on. The next thing I knew, I found a portion of the book missing, only to realise to my horror that it was in his mouth! Conversation went like this:

Me: Dear! Marc has eaten his book! There's cardboard in his mouth!
Hubby: Just use your finger to dig it out!
Me: But my hands are not clean!
Hubby: It doesn't matter, just stick it in!
Me: *hesitation...dig dig*
Marc: *screams at mummy*
Me: I can't find it! *dig dig*
Marc: *screams louder*
Hubby: Have you found it?
Me: No! I can't find it!
Marc: *screams at top of lungs* *opens mouth wide cos of screaming* *cardboard peeks out from one of his 6 teeth*
Me: I found it! *already half deaf from being screamed at*

It was quite an experience I must say...so for the record, Marc has officially eaten:
1) Sponge from a stressball
2) Cardboard
Not bad for a 10 month old.

It was our helper's day off yesterday and the Husband and I were totally exhausted. Marc just refused to sleep, and he's been doing that every Sunday for the past few weeks. He's just so excited that Mummy and Daddy are around all day so he goes hyper. Which means we are very...NOT hyper. After juggling Marc, plus dinner, and HIS dinner (which has to be specially cooked cos he can't eat our food yet), I slept at 9.30pm and still woke up tired! We decided that this kid needs to go to childcare, or some form of play school that gets him to expend his energy. We're thinking of sending him when he turns 2...but he's only 10 months old and every weekend I feel like I'm doing night feeds all over again!

Marc has a new friend called Oliver who lives at the next block. I've been going to the playground with Marc every morning before I go to work and I bumped into a trendy mummy with her son that looked around Marc's age, so we chatted and made friends. Oli was born on National Day, so he's a month older than Marc. A sweet boy that loves to shout at birds and in many ways very alike with Marc. Its nice to have a fellow mummy with a baby boy Marc's age in the neighbourhood.

I have a business trip coming up in August which I'm not looking forward to. I knew the day would come sooner or later. I'm thankful for understanding bosses that have allowed me to avoid trips thus far and only scheduled them when absolutely necessary. My longest time away from Marc was Bangkok, which was a 3 day 2 night stint. This is for the same period of time...it felt like forever last time but I will be kept busy with meetings so I'm sure it will whizz by.

Marc has been sleeping through the night for about a month now. He occasionally wakes up screaming at 10 or 11pm, but he usually doesn't require intervention to fall asleep, except when he's overtired. We still feed him at midnight and give him a diaper change so that he's nice and dry. But its much better than before. I attribute it partly to the sleep training and partly to the passing of another phase.

As for the pictures in today's post - I got bored and decided to dress him up for photos again. The last pic was taken on Saturday - Marc ate so much his jeans had to be loosed and unzipped. Not even a year old and already with a pot belly and acting like a redneck! Sigh...I wonder what will become of him!

Marc playing

Decided to upload some pictures of Marc playing...he loves climbing up and down and crawling all over the place, then standing for as long as he can before tumbling down again.

And I've started calling him Mr Moo. He loves every dairy product I've fed him, milk, yoghurt and recently cheddar cheese. He wiped his entire tray clean of the shredded cheese today! We need to move back to Australia or somewhere with cheap dairy products. Or maybe we should live on a farm...

Dear Marc..From Mummy

Dear Marc,

Its been some time since Mummy has written you a letter. The thought of leaving you jogged me again when I saw images of the recent Sichuan earthquake. Many perished and I was moved by stories of babies and children losing their lives, and even more moved by stories of parents and mummies who shielded their babies from danger.

You waved bye bye for the first time last Sunday! Mummy and Daddy were so excited...and Mummy was even more excited that she was around to witness it! By my calculations, I spend a good 10.5 hours away from you during working days. Which means Mummy misses out a whole lot on your life...2 days on the weekends barely makes up for it. I don't suppose you'll really understand how Mummy feels for a long while yet (and even when you become a Daddy, I can assure you Daddies don't feel the same way Mummies do)...so every milestone that is shared is so precious.

Mummy enjoyed being around you 24 hours a day during Church camp. You are full of laughter and you are so active! I'll place my bets on you being a good rugby player next time. Why?
1) You're tall for your age (90th percentile) and fairly heavy (70th percentile)
2) You are SO ROUGH. Knocking your head on walls, headboards and tables are part and parcel of your daily routine. It doesn't seem to bother you much.
3) You have a high pain threshold (see point 2 above)
4) You are so persistent. When you want something, you will not give up till you get it.
5) You have a really strong grip. Even Daddy struggles to pull you free from whatever you are grabbing onto.
I think rugby will suit you just fine. But we should really get some health insurance for your many falls and broken bones.

And you just love MEAT. I know fish doesn't suit your palette, but fish is good for your brains! Daddy is worried that you will become like Mummy - a real foodie who has a preference for good food. :) What can I say, you inherited my good genes! Your all time favourite food is yoghurt. Second comes beef. Third is chicken. Mummy is trying to expand your exposure to different kinds of food. You will try kiwi fruit next.

Based on Mummy's expert assessment (ahem ahem) you are ahead in terms of gross motor skills. You're already cruising and standing quite steadily for a few seconds without support. But the only word you can say is "Ma Ma Ma Ma Mum Mum Mum Mum". At first we thought you were referring to food. But you say that even after food! Then I thought you were referring to me. But you're not always placated after I respond to your calls. So my guess is you're a bit behind on the vocab department. But you'll catch up. :) You've recently learnt how to imitate Mummy's "brr brr" sound, a sound I make with my lips to entertain you when you're bored. The only thing is you end up spitting on everyone and everything in the vicinity...which can be a bit gross...

Mummy is thrilled that you love to spend time with her when she's around. Its amazing how you even know that I'm your Mummy, from the little that you see of me each day. Mummy's prayer for you is to be close to both Mummy and Daddy, to always share with us what's on your mind. We'll try our best to never be judgemental and to allow you to learn and make your own decisions. Most of all, Mummy's prayer is for you to trust in Jesus and love Him! Parents, friends, riches and fame will all fade away - but God is your constant friend and guide.

Till the next letter - love, hugs and kisses, from your biggest fan...Mummy!

9 months already!

I can't believe how quickly time flies. Marc is 9 months old today! Just not too long ago I was sitting at the same laptop, with a considerable distance away from the laptop cos my belly was in the way. Now my boisterous 9-month old sleeps peacefully in his cot...

Talking about sleep, Marc's not been sleeping very well. He wakes up at odd times crying....we've tried letting him cry it out and it helps to a certain extent, but its been dragging on for some time and he hasn't been completely "cured".

We brought him to Church camp and he enjoyed himself. The sleep was lousy, he ended up sleeping with me in my bed which meant neither of us had any decent sleep. But I couldn't possibly use the cry it out technique lest the other hotel guests complain. He swam in the hotel pool, decked out in his surfer dude outfit, sunnies and a cool mushroom float. He didn't like it much, and it didn't help that he was tired and due for his milk at the time. Will have to try again another time.

He was also the centre of attention at playgroup, where he got to sit on the laps of many teenage girls. My parents in law were a great help and I managed to sit down and eat my meals in peace cos they took turns to feed and entertain him.

Marc's able to stand on his own momentarily. He crawls well and is also starting to "cruise" - basically walk around whilst holding onto furniture. His mobility is beyond the benchmark for his age group, but he's slow in other areas like speaking and hand actions (waving bye bye, etc). The Husband says its normal cos Marc's a jock. He's interested in doing things rather than communicating. I suspect he speaks from experience. :)

In 3 months time he'll turn 1!!! Amazing how quickly they grow...

Cool Sunnies

Yes the Husband is back from his trip and with a bag load of stuff for Marc! See his latest accessory - sunglasses! Realised we should have removed the "shatterproof" sticker AFTER we took the photo, but oh well, its cute anyway. He didn't pull the sunnies off, which surprised us. He went around Church with his sunnies for quite a long while. I asked for the Husband to buy a new wetsuit for Marc and he came back with board shorts and a surfer tee. SO COOL! Will upload pics of him in his new swim gear when we go to Church camp next week.

A Taste of Single Parenthood

Its been 9 days since the Husband left for his business trip and I'm still alive! I have to say my helper has indeed been a great help and I wouldn't have been able to balance it all without her.

After the Husband left last Saturday, I was left with nothing to do - a very bored mummy means a very bored baby which means restlessness. So I planned lots of activities this long weekend. On Saturday, Marc and I headed for Botanics with E and her 2 girls. I think E and I had more fun chatting than the kids. Marc was hot and bothered by the time we left! Brought Marc to a colleague's dinner and he had a ball swishing his feet in the pool and interacting with my colleagues and some other kids at the party.

On Sunday we went to Church as usual and enjoyed a pasta dinner thanks to my sister in law and her boyfriend. Headed out to Botanics again this morning with W and her son. The boys hated the heat and we retreated to Venezia at Guthrie house. The minute we stepped into the aircon, the boys were happy and chattering away. We lamented that Singapore is just not outing-friendly, the heat is terrible and we are forced to retreat to aircon malls and buildings.

Marc has been having sleep problems lately, which has left me quite troubled. To sleep train or not to sleep train him? He wakes up periodically in the night crying...he usually settles after we pop the pacifier in his mouth. Some of my friends tell me to let him cry it out or he will never learn to settle himself back to sleep. I'm trying to eliminate other possibilities, like teething, hunger, discomfort, etc. Its not an easy decision to allow your child to cry. In densely populated Singapore, one of the biggest deterrents are the neighbours! Marc is really loud and I'm sure the neighbours would call the police if I let him cry for more than half an hour.

As he grows older and more aware, he's so much fun to be around with. Just today he learnt to put his head on my pillow and lie beside me whilst I make funny faces at him and do fart sounds on his tummy. He sits there and chuckles, stroking my face. He even plopped his wet lips on my cheek, whether its deliberate or not I'm taking it as Marc's first kiss for mummy!