iScare

We will never really know when drama strikes in our household.

The kids were all ready for bed. They were bathed, changed, fed their last bottle/ cup of milk, read to, sung to, and prayers were about to be uttered. Gabe was lying on his bed and Rou was standing in her cot with every last ounce of strength she could summon from her little body. She was exhausted and could probably go into deep sleep the moment she lay down, but no, she had to resist and take in every bit of activity around her.

I sat on the sofa a few steps away and made some faces at her. She responded with utter delight and in that moment, her tired body and legs could not keep up with and sustain those sudden movements. She fell, hitting her head hard against the side of the cot. The momentum caused her to swing in the opposite direction and she took another hit on a separate side. Usually I'd leave them to whine for a few moments before picking them up but her cry was different - exceptionally loud and there was panic and urgency in it. I picked her up without delay and started to pat and comfort her. She turned to face me and that was when I saw blood coming out of her eye!

In the last three years of being a mother, I don't think I've ever been in a situation where I felt afraid. But when I saw blood oozing out of Rou's eye, I panicked and my mind raced for solutions. Derod took over comforting the girl and I called her pediatrician's 24 hour hotline. She advised taking Rou to KK for a detailed check since she was so young. By the time I hung up, Derod had managed to stop the bleeding and confirmed that it was an external wound. There was a cut at the very edge of Rou's eye. But to ascertain that her eye was not affected, we decided to take the pediatrician's advise.

Even though the car was available to us that night, I took Rou down to KK in a cab in case she needed to be held. Derod stayed home and continued to put Gabe to sleep. KK saw a very thin crowd that night and I was done and home two hours later. Rou saw a very inexperienced doctor, who still managed to assure me, with the aid of her other doctor friends, that her eye did not suffer any lacerations (cut/ tear). As for the little girl, she was being her usual cooperative self, sitting cooperatively and happily on my lap, smiling at the people around her and responding to the uncles who gave her attention. If anything, it was the lack of any change in her behaviour that gave me the assurance that she was all right.

I got a scare all right, so much so it didn't even occur to me to take a picture of the wound, not even a few days later. But I do recall the presence of a scar even two weeks after the accident.

Heaving a great sigh of relief, I'm just thankful God was with us through it all.

7 Months Old

After Rou passed her sixth month mark, we took her for her first swim. This period also saw a few milestones in her mobility and diet.

She is done with sitting up, and now pulls herself to standing.

She started taking daily meals of cereal and because of the introduction of these semi-solids, her poop has changed from the sweet smelling poop of a breastfed baby to stinky, more textured poop. Yucks.

She hates cleaning her butt, a total difference from her brother, who would quieten down the moment you start cleaning him. She would twist, turn, fidget, kick, and basically not keep still and do whatever it takes physically to get out of the lying-down position. And it's all done in silence. She doesn't protest, but just adamantly persists in her quest to get up.

Ahhh... the joys and challenges of a newborn blossoming into her toddler stage.

Hey look! My hair's growing... slowly... but it's still growing.

A new place to hang out: on the Thomas mat in the living room.

Typical nap time in the afternoon. Moment of peace and quiet, a time the mother looks forward to.

Still her favourite sleeping position.

Third and fourth fingers on the right hand. Index finger is sometimes used to flatten the nose.

Looks like the siblings are having some fun...

... with some assistance from beng gong.

Final days of Rou in her birdie chair. What was once a safe place to prop her in is now dangerous as she gets increasingly active.

New "hobby": pulling herself up on the day bed with assistance from the edges.

Hey mummy, whacha doing?

Having a good laugh in the arms of papa. Rou really started going on her laughter streak around this time, and her laughs sound like a series of deep drawn gasps.

The regular introduction of meal times means that Rou gets to spend more time in the high chair. But since mummy needs to be in the kitchen pretty often, Rou has to tag along too.

Guess who's in town and came to visit? Eng Kee gonggong and Jean porpor.

What a Sweet Gesture

Rou came down with another bout of flu, most probably passed on by her brother. She took a turn for the worse this morning so after self-medicating her for a couple of days, I caved and took her to the doctor's. Probably affected by the bug, her appetite was affected and for a girl who poops three to four times a day, she hasn't had a bowel movement for three days. It was ironic that I came to a point where I prayed for her to poop.

After the consultation, I was paying up and speaking to the nurse at the counter and left Rou in her stroller just behind me. Thereafter, I turned and noticed her playing with and smiling widely to a lady dressed in a corporate manner. (Rou smiles easily and responds well to anyone who "plays" with her.) We exchanged pleasantries, and as I was about to leave, the nurse gave me some cereal samples as instructed by the doctor. She informed that as these were flavoured with prunes, it would help the little girl with bowel movements. After chatting briefly again, we left the clinic.

Outside the clinic, the "corporate" lady came walking towards me from her car and handed me a box of the same cereal, only this time, it was a packaged box like those in the supermarkets, and not sample packets given at the clinic. "This is for you," she said, "I'm from XX company." She represents the company distributing the brand of cereal and was visiting the clinic for work purposes. I had not noticed that she had left the clinic and actually came out to her car to get the cereal and caught me just as I left.

It was so sweet of her! Perhaps it pays to be nice, or perhaps it's just that Rou caught her eye, since we were the only ones given such special treatment in a clinic full of people. It's not much, just a box of cereal that costs a few dollars. It's never about money anyway, but the gesture left me with a few thoughts. That there are still nice strangers around, that God scatters little bursts of sunshine as such to brighten our days, that we will never run out of things to be appreciative of.

Oh! And I found out Rou's 7.4kg at 7+ months. It's probably the only time I get to know her weight: when we visit the doctor's!

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.