Textbook Baby

We have a textbook baby on hand! Everything that is written in a textbook is as good as describing our little princess.

Just when Mummy was wondering when will she do her first flipping over... she finally did it 2 days before she turned 5-months old... hip hip hooray!! According to the health booklet this is something that was "scheduled" to happen at 5-months old. Mummy got a bit worried initially probably because Matty was able to roll over (all over the place!) when he was only 3 and half months old but all the tummy time that Elaina had didn't seem to spur her on. Then again Matty is a bad benchmark because he was really advanced in some areas but slow in other aspects. It never happened on the dot or around the dot for Matty. With Elaina it was a different story.

Elaina started to sleep through the night at 2 months old as "predicted" by alot of books that I have come across without even the need to replace her night feeds with water. It never worked with Matty no matter how hard to try to deny him the milk. Elaina's sleep cycle is usually very regular. She will need to take another nap after being awake for 2 hours. At night, she needs her bath at 8.30 pm and followed by milk. By 9.30 pm she will be off to lala-land until 8 the next morning. Matty's sleep and nap time was a guessing game. It took us forever to get him to sleep (still does) and staying asleep was a big challenge.

The only problem is that when we are out... it is an uphill task to pacify Elaina. She will be tired and cranky but unable to sleep because she is not in a familiar environment. A textbook baby needs to have all things constant which can be tough on certain occasion... and when it is nap time she better get her nap otherwise all hell break loose. There is no room for negotiation. On the other hand, we don't have to worry about Matty feeling cranky when we are out of the house. As long as there are things to keep him occupied he will be a happy baby... much happier than when he is forced to sleep. When the zee monster gets to him... he will just doze off in his stroller easily.

We are lucky in a way that both of them are opposite in this area... at least we only need to deal with one cranky baby be it out or at home.

Moving On

It was an extremely crazy period for Mummy the last 2 weeks... moving both house and office. In between, I had to get a root canal treatment, nurse both Matty and Elaina back to health from a nasty flu, deal with a bad throat and runny nose myself and not getting enough rest due to the constant late night crying and screaming from both babies (a result of blocked nose and new environment). The good that came out from this episode was that Mummy lost 2 kg in just one week. Haven't been able to get on to the weighing machine over the weekend... hopefully I managed to lose (at least) another half kg. Guess I will know if I should find the time and energy to replace those dead batteries in the weighing machine.

To Mummy... it was mixed emotions to move out from the place that I knew so well. Even though it was only a short two years in Sea Avenue, it was a place where lots of memories held. Matty's first dip in the pool, the 3 flight of stairs where he learned to first climb, the kitchen where I first learned to make baby food, Matty's first Christmas party... and the list goes on. I was initially worried that Matty will miss "home"... but the truth is that it didn't bothered him a bit. We walked past the house just last Sunday and he didn't even stopped to look at it. Somewhat glad that Matty was not the least bit concerned... otherwise it would have been tough trying to pacify him and explain to him why we are not allowed into the place which he used to call "home". As it is... we are having a tough time dealing with his tantrums every night getting him to go to bed. He now has his grandparents around him 24/7... see the link?

Changes in life are inevitable... we somehow survive it all no matter how reluctant we are to move on initially. I'm sure we will continue to have many more happy memories to add. It is who we have that counts and not where we are.

Boys will be Boys and Girls will be Girls

There was an episode in "Child of Our Time" which touched on the topic of girls going for girly stuff and boys doing the boys' stuff. It is amazing how each child is borne with an innate ability to have a preference over what is deemed "appropriate" for their own gender without being told.

Like most boys, Matty has a love for cars, trucks, buses, motorbikes, tractors... of course there will be others who prefers airplanes or trains. When we are on the road, it thrills him to see all the transportation machines going by. He has cars on his shirts, shorts, bedsheet and toy cars in all sorts of form, sizes and colour. You name it... he has it. If you think Formula 1 is an adult's sport.... you are so wrong! The Formula 1 race is something that Matty watches other than his usual dose of Baby Einstein and Hi-5. I think it is not hard to imagine that he will share the same dream car as Daddy (for the record... it is Ferrari we are talking about) in years to come. Of course that shall remain in his dream... how else would it qualify to be a "dream" car.

We had loads of soft toys that we received as presents when Matty was only a newborn but he instinctively chose car over the stuffed toys even when he was as young as a few months old. It wasn't deliberate... it just happened to be this way.

Elaina started to show interest in her cot-mate yesterday morning. The gaze in her eyes, her cooing and her sweet smile gave her away. Anybody could tell instantly how she adores the Pooh Bear that shares her cot and watches over her every night while she is away in lala-land. Whereas Matty never ever notices such stuff at this age.

So we can conclude that girls will be girls and boys will be boys... if they behave otherwise I think we probably will go into panic mode.