My mum told me J can sit up from his tummy position, by himself! Ha. Finally some progress. He will learn to crawl on all 4s soon...

Here's baby trying out avocado for the first time. Well, he didn't quite like it.

The Recovered Baby

J has more or less recovered from his illness. It's a nice saturday and we are feeding him porridge. Here's J in his 'gentle' bib that makes him a little gentleman. J has also learnt how to clap, somehow.

But alas, J is not able to go back to his IFC because of several HFMD cases there. Oh well, this is just as well. He can go on a holiday at his granny's and grandpa's. Ha.

About Finger Nails

Babies have very fine finger nails. When they scratch themselves and others it can be an excruciatingly painful experience. This explains why newborns should wear mittens. When they no longer wear mittens, all effort has to be done to ensure their nails are kept short.

It is not always easy to cut J's nails. The best time to do it is when the baby is asleep. But, didn't we all read that parents should learn to catch naps together with baby? Furthermore, we spend so little time with baby since both Berry and I work. I could only cut J's nails when he's asleep at night. The adults screamed when I told them that. "What? Cut his nails so late at night?" And other caregivers of J's keep hounding me and asking me why I don't cut his nails. ?? What have you caregivers been doing? I thought all J's caregivers should share the responsibility of keeping his nails short. After all, they spend more awake hours with him than I do.

Well, I don't expect J's caregivers to really do that. But I would appreciate if they quit hounding me in a critical tone.

"Mothers need support, not criticism" - Ellen Sue Stern in Reflections for New Mothers

Baby's Diet

I've been wanting to pen this down as a record. So far, Junior has tried the following food:

1. Carrot (First veg tried)
2. Broccoli (Seems this is something to be introduced later because of its strong taste but we did it anyway. Junior does seem to dislike it because he eats less of this than any other food.)
3. Pumpkin (One of J's faves. I figured from the speed he devours this, especially added in porridge and booked over slow fire with pork.)
4. Cabbage (best eaten with pork in porridge)
5. Choi sum (easiest to prepare, in my opinion)
6. Chicken (given by the IFC)
7. Sweet potato (smells like fart when cooked in the slow cooker and the 'odour' filled the whole kitchen so bad I decided to refrain from giving him sweet potato.)
8. Xiao bai cai (my mum has given J this for 2 days before the chicken pox condition set in)
9. Fruits - apple, pear, mango, banana
10. Cereals - oatmeal (rashes appeared so we stopped for a while), brown rice cereal, rice cereal

We have started mixing different veg as well to give a more well-rounded variety of nutrients to Bay.

Needless to say, having visited the doc, baby's chicken pox condition was confirmed. This is Bay's pox picture at the end of the first week, counting from 11 Aug.

10 Months - Moving on His Own Finally

The spots aside, Bay learnt to move forward on his own today! It was such a sight! He pulled himself forward with his elbows while dragging his body and legs along. He was really slithering like a snake. Baby was thrilled to be able to move about. His parents were delighted.

He also learnt to hold his milk bottle while drinking milk. The picture is a bit dark because we kept the lights dim for his last feed of the day.Two wonderful milestones reached yet again!

More Pox

I scrutinised baby's face today and realised another pimple on his face. The 3 pimples on his thighs and genital area grew bigger today. There seemed to be pus in them. We decided to take Bay to see the doctor tomorrow. Hopefully we are still in time to give him the anti-viral medicine which has to be administered within 48 hours of the first pox appearing in order to prevent the virus from developing too much and too seriously.

Chicken Pox?

Today Bay turns 10 months. Found 3 spots on his thigh and area above his genitals this evening.

Immunity?

It's been 2 weeks since Berry got chicken pox. He has returned to work today. Still no sign of Bay having anything like chicken pox. I read that if the mother has had chicken pox before the pregnancy, some antibodies may be passed to the baby and he could have immunity for the first few months of his life. Bay's going to be 10 months old. Is 10 months considered the first few months? I certainly hope the breastmilk given to Bay helps give him some immunity.

Bay will be going to my parents' place till he's proven clear of the disease.

Junior's 'New' Playpen

Read from the Babycenter web page that we can use a big box to make a little space for baby to play in -- his very own space. This can teach him spatial areas and give him some privacy. And I found a box just for this purpose! The box that housed baby's rashule... ta da...

Just put in a nice cushy comforter and cushions and his toys and it's complete!

Junior seems to love it. I know he can't use it for long. When he learns to pull himself up to stand, this would be hazardous to use. But for now, enjoy...

Junior's New Jacket

I just have to show off Junior's new jacket that makes him so much cuter wearing it.

We bought this jacket from a shop at Liang Court that sells clothes imported from Japan. One more new place to shop for Junior's clothes. Baby girls' clothes can be found everywhere but not so for boys'. Glad to find this shop.

Bay's New Stunt

The rocker is no longer a safe place to be in for Bay, not when it's allowed to rock. Look at how he bends over to pick up Chucky - his toy chick duck that came with the rocker. (Aftermath: Bay flipped/ fell out of the rocker when he tried this stunt again that shocked his mum big time and so he has no more rocking rocker to sit in. ;P)

Light At the End of Tunnel

Ok. It seems like an overblown deal and that I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill but it really does seem like the worst days of my life are finally over. Ber is recovering well and no longer contagious (according to the doc), so we decided to go out today to enjoy ourselves. I was on childcare and annual leave and had not much of a mood to work from home. So here we were having a meal at a Thomson Plaza Jap restaurant. Finally more pics of Junior after a 'dry spell' over the past few weeks.