Faith walks... her first few steps

Finally! After turning up her nose at the idea of walking, Faith just walked her first couple of steps 10 minutes ago!!! YAY!!! I'm so excited and happy :)

Since a couple of weeks back, Faith suddenly decided that she would like to learn to stand on her own two feet -- literally. And so, she practices standing on her own. It started out with her gingerly balancing herself from a sit down position to a half crouch and then a finally, her standing. As the days go, she gets more adept and confident at it. Now, she can stand longer, unassisted.

A few moments ago, as she was standing, I reached out my hands towards her and told her to walk towards me. And she did! Two steps. All on her own. Before she plopped back down onto her tushy. I think she is now ready to learn to walk.

Ooohhhh... isn't it wonderful :)

Poop alert...

After more than a week of runny nose with still lots of thick, gooey, slimy, greenish-yellow goo coming out from her nose, I finally brought Faith to the clinic yesterday. The runny nose and thick mucus showed no signs of abating nor improvement and we're leaving for Phuket on Monday. I knew then that its inevitable... we would have to start her on a course of the much dreaded bad word in my vocabulary -- ANTIBIOTICS :(

After a day of Augmentin and two other new medications (Sinupret & Polaramine), her nose seems better. It doesn't flow freely like a tap anymore and the gooey gunk is much much reduced, even though I can hear her blocked nose at times.

Unfortunately, she has been pooping more and having a little diarrhea too. All a result of her reactions to Augmentin. Today's garbage bag yielded a fully filled and heavily loaded amount of soiled and used diapers. My mom and I were on poop alert since yesterday, ready to change her anytime we discovered any poop or loose stools.

The current strategy that her regular paediatrician and I have agreed upon is to administer the antibiotics at a moderate dosage over 5 days instead of the usual 7, as well as to boost her intake of probiotics from once to twice a day -- we use Reutefene.

So far, her backside's doing alright. It was a little red towards late evening but we managed to catch her loose stools in the nick of time and washed and changed her diaper. Additionally, we're liberally smearing Sudocreme, an antibacterial nappy rash cream, after every nappy change.

Its now the end of Day 2 of the antibiotics course and I'm praying we will all get through the next 3 days without Faith having a raw backside! Please please please...

Last lesson for the semester at Little Gym

Faith did a make-up class yesterday at the Little Gym as she had missed a lesson while she was sick some weeks ago. It was also her last lesson for the semester with the Little Gym. Originally, I had signed her up for a 4-week summer class but becos she was the only one for the class in that session, the centre suggested that I consider another date/time, enrolled her for the next full semester or get a refund.

Reluctantly, I had to ask for a refund becos there aren't that many lessons for the summer classes and the timings for the available sessions didn't fit Faith's routine. The next official semester starts from 23 Jun 08, but by then, I'm not certain if we would still be in Singapore as Louis might be on a project somewhere else. Hence, this might be Faith's last lesson at Little Gym for a while to come.

Frankly, as I've written before in some of my earlier posts, Faith and I always have a fabulous time at the Little Gym -- we sing, jump, laugh, roll and tumble around, gallop and run all over the place and made friends with lots of people and babies. We have both benefited from the Little Gym experience and the contrast, I feel, is most prominent in Faith.

From her first lesson when she was rather lost and hesitant about the various activities and equipment, Faith has morphed into a confident and exuberant baby, screaming and shouting with joy, clapping her hands and doing her little dancing jig while on her knees during lesson time.

I've gained confidence as a mother not only from tumbling and rolling with her... every lesson at the Little Gym reinforces the concept of patience for me as a parent. Having patience in knowing that kids will learn and do things at their own timing, when they are ready. The key is not to force them to do anything against their will or which they are fearful of.

As parents, we are often compelled to compare the progress of our kids with others. Be it their birth weight, the amount of milk they take, how soon can they flip onto their tummies, when do they crawl or the number of teeth they have sprouted, blah blah blah... In short, we are guilty (whether conscientiously or not) of rating and comparing every single little milestone in their lives from the minute they arrive into this world.

What I like about the the Little Gym classes is that just as they cheer every kid for accomplishing a feat or deed, they encourage and give a pat on the back just the same if kids show reluctance, resistance or fear in attempting any of the physical activities. They will say "Its alright... they are not ready yet. Thank you [insert baby's name] for trying."

And my baby? What did she learn? Well... I'm really proud of her. I think she's come a long way. She knows the routine for the 45-minute session and what to expect. At the start and end of the lessons where the children and mummies (as well as maids and grandmas for some) clap and sing or ring their cluster bells, she would kinda follow in tune, banging enthusiastically on the floor along with us too.

Her all time favourite activity that she loves the most is anything that has her doing somersaults (called forward roll), backwards somersaults and the "woo-bee-doo", which I've described before as her doing a 360 flip mid-air.

At home, she would occasionally get into the position of doing a somersault, with her hands and feet on the ground and her cute little tushy pointing upwards at the ceiling like an inverted "V". She would giggle and laugh when we peep at her from the other end of her little upended buttocks :)

Before, she was so wary of the teacher that when he attempted to pick her up to demonstrate to the class for any activities, she would cry in fright. But at her last Thursday class, she allowed Teacher Firdaus to pick her up and use her to demonstrate to the class. With a smile on her face.

Also, either she's not quite at the age to grasp the concept of being possessive, but she would be willing to put toys back where they came from after each playing session. The Little Gym reinforces the concept of letting children move forward to grasp a toy from a common bin/basket, play with them for a while and then put them back. So, when we brought her to Kindermusik last Friday, the daddy was so please to observe that his little girl would cheerfully put all the musical instruments back when the teacher ask for them. Not all the kids on the class were happy to give up their "toys" though :)

One last thing that we both learn from going to the Little Gym that has made things so much easier and better for us -- though not directly related to Little Gym -- was that I learnt to drive Faith alone on my own when the car is available at home. Until then, neither Louis nor I have ever driven with her alone. In fact, I would always sit behind with her while Louis sits alone up front.

I decided to take a chance once when Louis was overseas for a trip. She slept on the way there and entertained herself with my cellphone and other toys on the return trip :)

Now that Little Gym classes have ended, we've decided to let her attend Kindermusik and learn something about music appreciation. I feel this is something that Faith would enjoy as she loves to "sing" to all the different types of music she hears -- be it on the telly, cellphones, at the shopping mall etc etc. Let's hope she would learn and enjoy herself just as much as she had at Little Gym.

Girl's daddy

It's been confirmed, or at least, there is a general perception - that Faith has her daddy wrapped around her little finger. In contrast to Faith being Daddy's girl, I'd like to think that I am girl's Daddy.

And I really don't mind because it is wonderful to come home and have Faith crawling towards you, expecting a lift, a hug and kiss.

And how when we wake up on the weekends, Faith "expects" me to carry her up by crawling up to me and stamping her feet on my cross-legs.

And I have this game that I love to play with her - when I carry her around the house or even when we're outside in a mall or something, I like to ask her - "Where should we go?" and she points when she knows or she gets puzzled when she can't make up her mind. Either way, I walk wherever she points - no questions asked.

It's really the joys of fatherhood I'm experiencing and I'm cherishing every minute of this. Because I know when Faith grows up, or so I'm told, such a bond is not something one gets every day. With so many distractions like school, her friends etc , I'm sure I'd miss having Faith's hugs and being commanded around.

In my own self-defense, I'd scold Faith (sometimes with Eve) when she gets into her very naughty moments - stubbornly refusing to drink her water and when she crosses the line of not wanting to sit down when having dinner. And worryingly (or is it part of her growth), such naughty moments are becoming increasingly common as she is now more restless in the day and harder to coax to sleep in the nights.

For sure, Eve has had to deal with most of this given that she is around most of the time, and I think this is when I've become increasingly appreciative of the fact that we have at least one of us around to discipline and guide her into knowing what we as parents expect of her. Fingers crossed!

Family Day - Hippo Bus Tour

Saturday, 24th May 2008 has been branded Singapore's inaugural National Family Day. As part of the programme to encourage families in Singapore to eat and spend time together, there have been free tickets given for a number of outdoor rides and other assortment of activities. My elder SIL had "won" 7 tickets to ride on the Hippo Bus Tour and together with my PILs and us, we have been invited to join them for the tour too to fully utilise all the tickets.

Actually, there were 8 adults and 1 toddler (Faith rides for free) in total. I guess it being a family day and all, the organisers were generous to allow all of us up the bus even though technically, Adrian was scheduled to "stand down" if our PILs were to join the bus tour :)

The scheduled departure was for the 1.30 pm bus. Our little family of 3 and my PIL went a little earlier so that we could feed Faith her lunch, as well as grab ours before the boarding time. The ACES family left even earlier to take the train and have lunch at Millennia (or was it Marina Square?) before we all rendezvous together at the departure point i.e. Singapore Flyer.

It must be the first time that the building of Singapore Flyer had seen so many people! There were scores of families there for the free Singapore Flyer rides, as well as folks departing on the Hippo Bus. At the ground floor of the ticketing booths, it was a carnival-like festive feeling with a few clown-like characters walking on stilts, balloon sculpturing, face-painting etc. Anders was rather frightened by the guys in stilts cos when they walked near him, he burst in tears and was cowering by the wall in fright. Poor boy :(

There wasn't really much of a queue for the Hippo Bus Tour. We managed to squeeze on board the bus that was departing. However, the family had to split up as we were the last group to board. The ACES family headed up to the open-air top deck, or what is known as the "topless" part of the double-decker bus. My FIL and I sat at the very last row of the lower deck, with Faith choosing now and then to alternate between the both of us to carry her. My MIL was sitting a few rows ahead of us and there was only standing room for Louis.

Halfway through the ride, Anthea came down to join us cos she said it was sweltering up on the upper deck. Indeed, the weather was again blistering yesterday afternoon and she said that even though she was sitting on her cap, the seats have been heated up from the noon-day sun. Hence, her decision to seek refuge from the air-conditioned deck below :)

Since there wasn't already any seat left, Anthea ended up sitting on my lap while my FIL carried Faith. Halfway through, Faith decided that she wanted to sit on my lap too. So, we had Anthea hug Faith on her lap, while Anthea sat on mine :)

The bus ride was over in about thirty (30) minutes. The bus toured mainly around the Suntec and City Hall area, covering places like the Padang, old and new Supreme Court, National Library, Suntec City Mall and the Fountain of Wealth, Raffles Hotel etc.

An anecdote that the bus commentator shared about the Raffles Hotel, other than the fact that the Singapore Sling was concocted at this famous landmark was about Michael Jackson. A few years ago when Michael Jackson had a concert in Singapore and booked most of the hotel rooms for himself and his crew, he even wanted to book the entire Singapore Zoo for himself.

However, the decision of the government was that it was a tourist location opened to the public and politely declined him. As a goodwill gesture, they had the late Ah Meng (another famous orang utan) to have breakfast with him instead at the hotel :) This was actually the origin of the Breakfast with Ah Meng that subsequently became a highlight in the Singapore Zoo.

I couldn't really remember much of the rest cos I was busy trying to entertain Faith on the trip, not that she needed much distracting really. This was her first time on board a bus and she was rather curious about the people and her surroundings.

All too soon, the tour ended and we were back at the coach bay at the Singapore Flyer. On alighting, we were told to collect our goody bags at the collection centre. My MIL and SIL went together to collect the bags while we loitered around the landing area. Anthea saw a booth where they were doing face-painting and wanted to do it. Unfortunately, they were finishing up the last few paintings for kids and we were told to return at 2.30 pm for the next round of face-painting.

We decided to join my MIL and SIL and headed towards the collection centre. There, we saw yet another booth with face-painting. Even though the guy next to the artist doing the painting said they were done for the current shift, my MIL gamely walked up with Anthea in tow and asked the artist after she was done with her last charge if she could do just one more. She was nice and willingly obliged.

And so, Anthea had her forearms painted with flowers by the artist and she was rather pleased with the final result. She was telling me that the flowers were very pretty as they were dusted with some glittering paint as well.

After her hand-painting, we parted ways. The ACES family headed back towards the MRT to take a train home while we also headed home with Faith.

Housekeeping

Our part-time cleaner took a holiday for 3 weeks and so, either my mom or ourselves have been cleaning the house during the period that she is away. Since we were doing the cleaning, we decided to organise the house a little bit, making it hopefully, less of a hazard to Faith when she's crawling around and trying to reach for her toys.

While at Ikea the other day to get a storage box to put some of Faith's books and other odds and ends, I came across a tall, 4-tiered clothes drying rack. Prior to that, we had 2 of those horizontal clothes drying rack. Combined, they pretty much occupied the entire length of our balcony, together with a 2-tier rack that was used in the past to place my pots of herbs.

We returned to Ikea on Sunday night as I had in my sleep-deprived stupor, bought the wrong storage box. Hence, the return trip to buy the right storage box and also the clothes drying rack.

It was a little of a challege for us to fit the rack into the car as it was long and not collapsible. After some shuffling and reshuffling, we managed to squash the rack spanning from the front passenger seat to the back. There was a little logistical rearrangement on the trip back home as the car can now only take a max of 3 more passengers -- there was originally 5 of us in the car.

Hence, my MIL, Faith and I took the car with the ACES family while my FIL drove the car, along with Louis and younger BIL at the back -- heard it was a tight squeeze even though my BIL is skinny :)

We came back home after dinner and my FIL and BIL helped to assemble the rack for us. We also hauled out the unused plant rack (which my PIL took home and now use to put their shoes :)). There's now a little more space in the balcony.

At the same time, we changed the placement of her toys from next to our daybed to its current place next to the TV console. I've rearranged all her toys and books into the 2 storage containers she now has. The picture above is of her the next day, curious about this new "house" for her books and toys. On the positive side of things, the box is big and spacious enough to put in everything with loads of spare space left. Meaning, that we can now buy more toys to fill it up. Hahaha... just kidding!

The previous location was a little dicey becos there was a protruding ledge from the side of the daybed where we used to put her toys. Each time she crawls in and out, we were afraid that she might either bump her head on the protruded ledge or topple unbalance onto the balcony floor.

They say a cluttered house bodes a cluttered and messy life. With the new arrangements, I feel that our living room looks a little better and more airy. My mood's lighter and I'm happier each time I see our living room :)

Frustrated

It is so very frustrating that Faith has just barely recovered from her last bout of viral infection and she's now down again :(

Since yesterday, she has been having a running (tap) nose and mild fever. This morning, she started drooling non-stop, probably becos she's teething. So now, she's dripping mucus and saliva from the nose down. Her fever comes and goes in the day, usually showing just around the end of the 4-hour interval when she is due for another dose of fever medication.

Last night was terrible. We alternated between switching the air-condition off (becos of her blocked nose) and turning it back on again when we discovered she had fever -- in a bid to cool her down. She kept waking up every half an hour or so and started crying. Most probably, its becos her nose was blocked and it was uncomfortable for her to sleep.

Towards the wee hours of the morning, I discovered that she was running a temperature. Hence, we administered a dosage of Progesic. Even then, the temperature didn't really go down by much. I managed to put a cool towel on her forehead for a while before she started swiping it off her head.

She might have caught a cold going from extreme temperature changes going in and out of the hot/humid weather these days into air-condition places. The weather recently is terrible. Just when we thought there was a respite from the hot weather, it returned again in full force. I really hope the weather would let up some but a recent newspaper article said otherwise -- the heat spell is likely to continue all the way till June with possibilities of temperature rising to a high of 38C even!!!

On one hand, I can try to think of all these as building her immune system to console myself. But very frankly, I can't help feeling frustrated and upset. I do feel some amount of guilt, wondering if there was something I didn't do or done wrongly that resulted in her getting sick so soon again.

Sigh... such is the responsibility of motherhood I guess... treading uncharted waters on child-rearing and hoping that you would wise up and learn all the tricks and tips so that your kid doesn't have to suffer too much along the way.