Normality?

I have a boy whose mouth won't stop. I have a girl whose hands and feet won't stop. Who said boys are the more active ones, and girls the motor-mouths?

Yummy 1st Food

Rou's always been one easy baby to feed. Her milk times were regular and you could always count on her taking a full meal and being contented for the next three hours. Like a typical second time mother, I fizzled out in enthusiasm for a lot of "firsts". For this reason, and also because I was coping with two kids, cooking and cleaning, I didn't offer her semi-solids till her fifth month. Gabe took his first bite the day he turned four months old. And even at the fifth month, I wasn't consistent with her feeding; it had to be convenient and for me to be in a hardworking mood. So she was pretty much a fully breast-fed baby till she turned six months old.

It was probably due to the lack of an early introduction to being spoon-fed, and partly due to her preferences for certain tastes, that got us struggling with her eating semi-solids. She did, however, learn how to take to the spoon fairly quickly. It wasn't until I changed the brand of cereal that she ate like she's been starved all this while. In the span of a month, she transited to gulping down four heaped tablespoons of cereal that when mixed with water, is dreadfully disproportionate to her small physical build!

A month later, when she was seven months old, I attempted to transit her to porridge. I met with such resistance and refusal to eat! She would blink furiously, turn her head and refuse to open her mouth. If she did manage to take some mouthfuls, it'll be met with gagging and choking and finally even throwing up. The food was so smooth it was impossible to cause choking. The only explanation was that she was not ready for the transition and didn't take well to the new texture.

I tried again a month later when she was eight months old. This time, the progress was very smooth. From absolute refusal, Rou became a bottomless pit. The portion she consumes scares me, and with grunts and kicks, she'll demand for more. Well, I suppose she's indeed her father's daughter!

I regret that I have absolutely NO pictures of her at mealtimes. Getting through the routine of the day is busy enough, and being the only one to feed her, it was really not possible to get the camera going. Ok, to be really honest, it's not really impossible, but somehow, taking pictures is really the last thing on my mind so well, I suppose we can't have the best of everything.

1st Swim!

I was buying a gift for a friend's child and chanced upon a swimsuit at a good discount. Since Rou was approaching her 6th month mark and hence eligible for swimming, I grabbed the deal, fixed a date and turned up at SamGong's pool.

Big brother, all set in his swim gear, hanging around while mei changes

Check Rou out in her first swimsuit! Soooo many people asked if it was a bikini.

No fear (they usually don't show fear for water at this stage). Rou was as accommodating as she usually is. She sat in her float and allowed papa to push her around the baby pool.

Multi-tasking between looking out for the daughter, and entertaining the son.

Hey! Look at me!

Cheeeeese! Gabe's a lot more comfortable with the water now that he's a little older.

Papa took Gabe to the big pool. Now Rou's got the baby pool all to herself. Ahh... this is life!

After spending some time in the water, she realised she could kick. So she kicked. And kick. And kicked.

Having fun

Out of the float and enjoying the warmer water in the big pool.

Hey, that's us, the Boonite clan!

Bedtime Buddies

It's been about a month since Rou moved in with her brother and things have settled down quite a bit. We incorporated the little girl into our usual night routine with all its songs and prayers and it seems that she has something to contribute.

Rou and her big brother will play peekaboo between the pieces of her cot's wood. She looks out for him and he plays along with her, moving their heads between the various pieces of wood. He makes her chuckle, and us parents on the sidelines look on with smiles on our faces too.

For as long as it lasts, these are nights we look forward to.