Daycare Day Three

On her first day, she cried a fair bit and only took a 20minute nap. At least she drank all her milk (sometimes she's too distracted and refuses to drink when she's in a new environment). Back home, she was in a happy mood and caught up on her zzz so I felt more reassured.
On her second day, she took two naps of 20min and 30min. Unfortunately Ms Laura had to hold her to sleep because she would not sleep in her crib. She usually won't let me hold her to sleep, she would rather lie down to sleep at home.
Just dropped her off for day 3. She was crying when we left because some other teacher was holding her instead. Duh. I hope she can have better naps today.

Sophie is home!

After we discovered a tear in S's giraffe, I had to send it all the way back to the distributor because I already threw away the receipt from the store. After emails and phonecall asking them what happened to my giraffe that I sent in, the replacement is finally home two months later. When I offered S the giraffe last time, she could not really grab it. Now S takes to it like fish to water and grabbing it confidently with one hand, examining it and then passing it from one hand to the other. She's gnawing away at her ears now. 'squeak squeak'

Daycare Day One

S is on her way to daycare now. Does she know what she's getting herself into?

S Goes to Daycare on Monday

This is it! It's Friday! And the last weekday that I will really get to spend carefree with S before she starts daycare on Monday. Me who prefers to take care of S myself. Me who prefers not to have the PILs take care of S is going to leave her in the hands of strangers. No more Gymboree. No more scourging for deals with mama. No more target trips. No more leisurely walks around the neighbourhood in a carrier. No more being mall rat.
On Monday, S starts a new chapter in her life. She's a big girl now.

Serious Cereal Time

We started S on solids since Sunday. That's five and a half months for her. We decided to stick to good old brown rice cereal for starters. I bought a tub of plum organics brown rice cereal on sale at Target a month back.
Day 1, I used one teaspoon of the spoon she was going to use with four teaspoons of milk. It looked really watery. S was pretty apprehensive about the cereal. She opened her mouth to the spoon but stuck out her tongue. Oops, I thought. Maybe she's not ready yet? I gave her a few tries, and then she slowly swallowed the cereal. It was messy and she had a cereal moustache but it was really fun seeing her lap up the cereal.
Day 2, I bought a set of clean measuring spoons and measured a real one teaspoon of cereal. Wow, looks like a lot now. I used three teaspoons of milk so it's slightly thicker. She finished it too!
Day 3, I gave her a meal of cereal first since dd was still at work. I think she really loves the cereal now. When I was trying to scoop up the next spoonful, she sticks out her hand eagerly, and makes a 'ghuh ghuh' sound, like she wants more! She still sticks out her tongue first then retracts it to savour her cereal. After every mouthful, she has to follow up by stuffing her fingers into her mouth. Yummy!

The Munchkin Pianist

"Bam! Bam! Bam!" goes the nutty pianist. We are going to have lots of fun.

Virgin Ride

Here is S going for a test ride around the neighbourhood in her new stroller. It is her first time riding in something facing forward, so that everything is displayed and moving in front of her. She seems dumbfounded and was rather stiff throughout the ride. She even forgot about stuffing her fingers into her mouth. Haha.

Ready for take-off!

Lots of room to grow into

Glad to be home!

More Gymboree Time

I think S enjoys Gymboree. So many things to see, so many things to hear, so many new sensations. While she's on her back, she's always twisting her body so she can see what's beside her. And of course, not forgetting to roll over on her tummy.

She's able to lift her chest off the ground now.

She can also lift her arms off the ground momentarily to grab something like her favourite grab balls.

She loves the gymboree scarf, Gymbo the clown and the colourful parachute above her rotating with its myraid of colours and floating up and down with a nice breeze. She loves bubbles and tracks them.

The exploration tool for these two weeks is flash light, but she doesn't seem too interested in the light. I am also not very interested in the torch. It gets a little boring after a while. She just wants to grab the torch and stuff it into her mouth.

Silly Munchkin

S started out kind of wobbly in the Bumbo. Now she's always trying to wriggle out of it by turning to the side. And how she has grown! - notice her shoulders creeping higher against the back support of the Bumbo.

The wide open mouth is her latest thing. She's always screeching and squealing, much like those annoying kids you might hear on the MRT or the
shopping centre. Sometimes I really feel like punching her face.

Sleep Phases

They come in different phases.
For the first two months or so, I relied mostly on rocking and holding S to sleep. It helped her to stay asleep. And since I could sleep while holding her, I had no issues with that. She usually fell asleep quickly within my arms and I always thought I had the magic touch.
Along came a time when I tried to carry her to sleep she would fight me and we would wrestle for about fifteen minutes before she fell asleep. I grew tired of this wrestling and decided to lay her on the bed. I laid down next to her, read "Goodnight Moon" a couple of times and after a few naps this routine worked efficiently. I thought I had the magic voice. We continued like this for the next two months.
Since then, S's repertoire of bedtime stories has increased to "Guess how much I love you", "My world" and sometimes Chinese riddles. I also sing "Twinkle twinkle little star". But these few days it has been getting rough again for she has been fighting sleep. Sometimes she wants to roll over. But most times she can't stop chattering, giving out loud shrieks and wails or practicing syllables like 'ppuh ppuh', 'Mmur Mmur'. Sometimes it takes up to an hour before she would knock out. I give up repeating bedtime stories and singing lullabies and let her do her own thing until she is done and falls asleep.

Yummy Feet

S is really flexible now. She loves to hold on to her toes with her hands in happy baby pose and even wants to shove them into her mouth.

Gymboree

S and I attended the free class at Gymboree near home last week. Since they had a special promotion of 22bucks for the first month, I decided to sign us up. I wanted to maximize our activity sessions before I go back to work next month.
The activities are simple but I think S enjoyed the singing and company. She didn't seem to care much for other babies yet, just slobbering all over the ball in front of her during tummy time. She even gave a loud cry when the teacher tried to trade a rattle with her ball. What a hogger. She also loves Gymbo the clown hand puppet, but Moms is not going to buy that for her. I think it's enough to see Gymbo twice a week already.

S is five months old!

She weighs 13lb 14ounces today. So she will probably double her birth weight by next week, whoopee! Although she seems to be on the small side, but slowly and steadily she's growing.

At five months, S has mastered the back to front roll. But still cannot roll from front to back. So she rolls over, gets stuck on her tummy and starts to whine, kicking her legs on the ground because she hates tummy time. Duh.
She also babbles a lot in conversation. She loves to listen to my singing, so 'Wheels on the bus', 'Row row row your boat', 'Mary had a little lamb', 'Twinkle twinkle little star'... are always playing like a broken recorder. This week, we have learnt 'Mr sun sun mr golden sun please shine down on me'. (is Barney the dinosaur really homo?) S also smiles back when we smile to her and laughs often. I love her belly laughter!