Category Archives: Carter

CARTER: MONTH 8-9 PROGRESS

5 May 2013 18 comments

Happy 9 month Birthday, Carter!

Totally gonna win the Baby Model contest with that look…

Ummm I’m not sure what happened between Carter’s update last month and this month, but MAN, he’s suddenly gone through a massive growth spurt. He went from commando-crawling, to ’proper’ crawling, to pulling-to-standing, to cruising, to walking… (or at least trying to).

WHAT?!?!

No wonder he’s been particularly fussy the past few weeks at night!

He’s still pretty enormous, and it’s particularly obvious when he’s next to babies his age or older. People often ask if he’s around 1 year old and I guess it’s because he’s about that size. It’s a bit of a problem for me because I do struggle to carry him, and I can’t just hoist him onto my hip and walk around like people do with their babies.. because my arm doesn’t go around him all the way, and because he’s just too heavy.

He’s mostly back to his super-smiley self. He does wail if I suddenly step of out sight, but is generally alright and is ok with people carrying him. He LOVES LOVES LOVES his attention, and will do pretty much anything and everything to get some. Will wave like a World’s Greatest Politician when he’s in his stroller, to get people to come running over to play with him ;)

Most interestingly…. earlier this month, he stopped pooing in his diaper, and only in the potty. We’ve learned to read his cues, and he’s good at giving them to us.. and also because he tends to poo like clockwork every night after his dinner. Plus, he really likes sitting on his Big Boy potty and doing his poo, dishing out GREAT BIG SMILES in the process. His current success rate is 100% for the past 2 weeks (ie. not a single poo in his diaper). Except today, when we put him in his walker and no one was paying attention to him, so we didn’t notice his poo-cue. Oops. He will also do his pee in the potty if I pop him on it, but will also merrily do pees in his diaper.

Who knew someone could be this happy taking a dump?!

EATING – Still on breastfeeding 4x/day. I have no idea how to drop one more feed, because I don’t know how my boobs can tolerate it without exploding. On the downside, Carter can now only breastfeed in the bedroom when it’s quiet (and preferably dark). He goes nuts when I try to nurse him outside, fussing and kicking because he wants to look around instead :(
He is AWESOME with solids, which I’m so delighted with! Eats about 3-4oz per meal, and now has breakfast as well as dinner. He absolutely adores his greens, and most of all spinach. He’s not terribly keen on fruit, but if I add pureed spinach to it, it becomes a winner! Odd. I’m also blending his food less, and doing more fork-mashed stuff or even cubes (with very soft food or fruits). He’s so greedy he doesn’t care.

Carter’s eating method: roll up sleeves, eat fistfuls of snacks with much gusto, then reach over and grab more from other kids’ bowls!

Carter, looking like a python about to strike for that bit of bread Hunter’s holding

SLEEPING – Babies his age should be doing around two 1-hour naps a day. Not Carter. He’s still intent on his 30min (to the dot!) naps… about two to three times a day. Sigh. At least he naps easily and will nap anywhere and everywhere.
He needs to be physically held down at night so he’ll fall asleep. Because he’s gone through such a huge growth spurt this month, he’ll immediately stand up in his cot (even if he’s dead tired) and then wail cos he then doesn’t know what to do with himself. Doh! He will sleep just fine through the night.. but now frequently will wake at 5-6AM grunting away until we stuff the pacifier back in his mouth. I hate that thing! But I don’t know how to wean him off it because we’re scared he’ll wail (and he has a terrifically LOUD wail that will wake Hunter up for sure). I guess I take solace in the fact that he has never woken for milk since he was 2 months old, but having to get up for the pacifier is still really freakin’ annoying.

All sunshine smiles at bedtime

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT – Crazy how in just two weeks, he went from only commando-crawling, to crawling on all fours -> pulling to stand -> cruising -> walking. The last one is a real problem. He absolutely cannot walk unassisted yet, but refuses to acknowledge this. So, he’ll pull himself up, cruise a bit, then simply….. LET GO AND WALK! This means that after one step, he does a massive faceplant onto the ground, and yells with anger. You’d think that he’d learn he can’t walk yet and stop doing this… but nope. He’ll do it again. And again. And again. So this means we need to watch him at all times, because we never know when he’ll just walk off. Plus, he will crawl to the edge of the bed/couch and… keep going. So different to Hunter, who was ultra careful with walking and crawling!!
His favourite party trick(s) now is clapping and waving. Will keep doing so especially in the stroller, to get people around to come up to him and give him attention. It works a treat! And I’m very happy for that because then he’s kept occupied whilst I can look around in shops :P

He loves the water! Will splash away with wild abandon, not caring if water goes on his face/eyes

Standing/cruising around.. moments before he simply just lets go and tries to walk by himself!

So delighted to be standing/walking

Nothing makes him happier than jumping up and down on a trampoline. Adrenalin junkie, this one.

Keeping himself amused by keeping other shoppers amused

I’ve gone on a bit of a rampage this month with my mission to dress both boys up in matchy-match clothes. I figure I’ve only got a very limited amount of time to do this, before they’re old enough to object and call me soooo embarrassing! This is, unfortunately, also an expensive mission.. because I have to buy double the clothing and it’s not like Carter’s can be re-used. So they only have a handful of sets of matchy-match stuff which I keep rotating. I find it sooo cute!!

Matching suspender outfits!

And.. ummm… also matching strollers :P

One morning, I was in the kitchen and realised it was all VERY QUIET. Got nervous and went looking for the kids. Found both of them in our bedroom, like this! Hunter was slowly and carefully reading to Carter :)

They adore their bath time together

Happy 9 months, baby wombat! You may have truly epic banshee-screams, but your PICK ME UP NOW I LOVE YOU excited arm flaps and gigantic sunshine smiles make up for them. You’re my big squashy ball of cuddles and I already miss your baby-ness because you seem so much more independent now that you’re on the move. Just stay little!

Taken a couple of weeks ago.. this never fails to make me smile

Compare with Hunter at Month 8-9 here.

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KIDS ARE LIKE SPONGES

13 April 2013 10 comments

I am SO PROUD that, starting last week, Hunter has been asking “What’s that in Chinese, mama?” for objects that he spots and likes. He then thoughtfully repeats after me, trying to remember the Chinese word for it.

I realise that a lot of kids his age in Singapore can understand or speak both English and Mandarin, but it’s especially hard for Hunter because we don’t speak Mandarin at home and neither do my parents nor all my relatives. This means he has zero exposure to the language.

I’m chalking it all up to his Cheng Zhu play school. Despite only being 2-hours long, twice a week, it’s obviously had an effect on him. He can sing a bunch of Mandarin songs, speak a fair amount, and understand quite a lot.

But this whole unprompted questioning of what an object is in Chinese totally takes the cake for me.

I’m overjoyed and relieved that he shows an interest and also takes the initiative to learn a different language! :)

Hunter’s new iPad mini

Speaking of learning, have any of you parents realised how FREAKISHLY QUICK kids learn how to use technology??

Chris and I were the sort of judge-y folk (before we were parents) that were all “Tsk. Look at that poor child. Given an iPhone/iPad to shut them up and the parents aren’t being proper parents and talking to the child. WE WOULD NEVER DO THAT.”

LOL.

In the past two weeks, we’ve TOTALLY CAVED and now miracle of miracles! Hunter has his own iPad. It was a (very generous) gift from my parents and hooboy he loves it – what kid doesn’t?

I’d heard and seen many amazing stories of how quickly kids pick up how to use an iPad, but seeing it with my own two eyes makes me realise how powerful an iPad is. It seriously makes your kid seem like some sort of whiz kid genius, LOL!!

The very first time Hunter used the iPad, it was hilarious. He would PRESS all 10 fingers on it. HARD. And then DRAGGGG all 10 fingers around and wonder why nothing would work.

But by the fifth time he used the iPad, he did this:

Dude, I’M DULY IMPRESSED!!! He could use two fingers and drag two letters at the same time into their right spot. I mean, a kid wouldn’t be able to do this in real life at this age (at least I don’t think so), but with the iPad, they can.

And that’s not all.

He has an insatiable love for all things Thomas, so he loves his Thomas apps. One of them has a memory game – you know, the one where you flip two cards and try and match them up?

Well, I guess he must’ve figured out how to get to that memory game within the app, and…….. taught himself how to play the memory game.

Because within 1 week of first using his iPad, I caught him playing the memory game and actually doing it! Plus, going at a fairly quick pace. So much so that I wasn’t even sure he was doing it right (and not just pressing random cards for fun) until he cleared the whole game within a few minutes. Repeatedly.

Pretty cool, huh?

OK I know you can’t really tell in the video.. but it’s hard to video him when we’re out and he’s using the iPad, especially because I’m feeding him at the same time. I wanted to do one where he completed the entire puzzle in a couple of minutes but never got around to videoing that… oops.

We limit his iPad usage to ONLY at the table and ONLY when we’re out. So no more than 15 mins a day, which I think is fine for a 2 year old. But he’s already addicted and will still try his luck whenever he spots it lying around. D’oh.

So anyway, the long and short of it is, if you wanna see your kid in I’m-super-smart mode, get an iPad pronto!!!

And this whole time…. all Carter can manage is to say “da da”, his only party trick ;) Poor bub. You’ll catch up very soon, I promise!!

CARTER: MONTH 7-8 PROGRESS

5 April 2013 20 comments

Happy 8 month Birthday, Carter!

Good grief, Sunshine Bear (aka Carter) in his 7th-to-8th month is active! I’m not sure if he’s more or less active than the average kid, but he is BY FAR crazier than Hunter… who was (and largely still is) the most docile kid I know. I’m so surprised at how both our children can have such different personalities.

Incredibly, Carter is almost exactly 1/4 my weight. He’s a baby wombat. He’s on the 100th percentile for weight and also on the upper end for height. I’m not worried this time round though, as Hunter was exactly the same pre-walking days, and look at him now – a skinny lil thing at 2 years old.

Now that Carter can commando-crawl, he Can’t. Stop. Moving. Unfortunately, this also leads to lots of fiascos, like falling off the bed (oops) and constantly getting himself wedged under the TV cabinet or coffee table.

He’s still not as super-smiley with strangers as he was before, but at least he doesn’t dish out the DEATHSTARES.

He’s generally very easy going when it comes to going out, and is happy to sit in his stroller by himself with little/no attention.. since Hunter commands our attention all the time. I guess this is what second-born children learn to deal with.

His only pet hate is when we step out of sight. Screams like a banshee in protest!!! He’s actually very melodramatic about anything he gets upset about (generally if he’s hungry, or tired). The banshee screams make shopkeepers run out of their shops to see what happened, and I’ve had randoms ask me if he fell, or I hurt him, or something. I have never met a baby that gets quite so angry, so quickly, and so loudly!

His non-stop talking/babbling kind of gives me a headache, because it’s LOUD and, well, non-stop! He can go on and on and on, especially in the car. Just babbling about nothing in particular, only to get attention or something.

Stay-away-from-me-stranger face VS Hello-I-know-you face

Smiley pants

Love Carter’s “Oh yeah? Taking yet another photo of me? Go on then.” expression

EATING – Dropped down to breastfeeding 4x/day. The 5th feed (at noon) is now FORMULA! Finally! He was horrified and disgusted and accusing at the start, but now takes to it just fine. I wanted to do it to give him the extra iron, and so I have peace of mind that he can take to the bottle should I fall sick etc. And hooboy does he loves his SOLIDS (at dinnertime). He’s onto a huge list of various purees now. Gobbles up around 3oz a sitting and finishes it within 5 minutes then demands for more. It’s hilarious watching him eat, cos he looks like a little bird – face tilted up, mouth wide open, arms flapping away in eagerness! He will get really pissed off when he spots us eating and there’s nothing for him. Hilarious and I hope it stays this way. I want a child that LOVES to eat, please! (Note: at this same age, and you can click on the link at the bottom of this post to read in full, Hunter was basically rejecting all solids).

Happy to use a bottle now!

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD

The perils of sitting on Mummy’s lap whilst she’s eating pancakes with cream..

SLEEPING – He still does 2-3 naps a day, either in his cot, or car seat, or out in his stroller, with no issues. Something I love about both my kids is that they’re not constrained by nap times, which I now realise is a pretty good benefit. On the downside, he’s suddenly really struggling with his pacifier.. as in, he frequently wakes up at around 5AM looking for it! Yet, he doesn’t use it the entire night. Just wants it at 5AM. What is up with that??? It’s driving us insane. I know this is a minor problem since he otherwise sleeps solidly, but it drives me nuts having to wake up at 5AM to stuff the damn thing in his mouth :(

Chilling out post-nap in his stroller whilst I have a coffee

One little monkey, jumping on the bed…

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT – Will go from sitting to a commando crawl, like a speed demon. Like Hunter, he doesn’t get up fully on hands and knees to crawl, but rather rocks away. Is that a precursor to actual crawling? Hunter went straight to walking but maybe Carter will crawl properly soon, who knows. His weight is a bit of a barrier for him, because he’s just so… gigantic. He loves to stand holding onto something, but is not cruising properly yet. Lunges for objects (mainly food) with sniper accuracy, even small lil things like buttons.

Crawling pose. Good form!

“Heh. Look at ME!”

Scooting around our bedroom floor

Splashing away. He loves the pool!

So this is what standing up is like!

The two boys are such good mates. I think Hunter is one of Carter’s favourite people in the world – the big sloppy grins and excited arm flaps are just so adorable to see when he spots Hunter! Hunter hasn’t shown much jealousy since Carter’s birth, I guess it’s because he was so young then he doesn’t know life any differently! But he does express frustration from time to time.. which comes out in him pretending he’s going in for a kiss with Carter, but gives him a swift and sneaky bite instead! Gah.

Morning music play time in Hunter’s cot

Just the two of us, in this big world

Me and my two boys, just hanging out

Happy 8 months, my baby wombat! Your “I love mummy” special smiles melt my heart.. usually performed straight after a screaming episode when I just wanna wring your neck ;) You are just so fat and round and squishy and squashy and cuddly!!! I could eat you all up.

A (rare) photo of all of us, taken on Easter Sunday after church

Hee hee

A quiet moment

Compare with Hunter at Month 7-8 here.

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BA BOTTLE HOLDER

7 March 2013 11 comments

BA bottle holders

Hunter’s instant reaction when he saw the above?

“Oooooooooooo. TOYS!” (complete with gaspy excited voice)

He wasn’t very impressed when he realised the BA bottle holder was actually a gift for Carter, and not him ;)

BA bottle holder

Hailing from Portland, USA, these BA bottle holders are designed to help babies as young as 3-months to be able to hold their own bottle. You can buy them at a special discount of SG$14.90 (usual $27.90) at flash sale site MommyGrabs.com right now (very very limited stocks left).

It’s a pretty clever idea and concept. I actually see a LOT of babies with bottles propped up with pillows etc, because they’re too young to grasp the bottle properly, and the parents don’t want to sit there holding the bottle for ages whilst they drink (especially since some babies take yonks to finish their milk!)

This BA bottle holder allows babies to participate in their own feeding, because they are specifically designed to fit a baby’s grip.

See?

Carter is 6 months and not that coordinated yet, but he can easily grip the BA bottle holder

Vice-like grip whilst shaking it around like a madman

You’re doin’ it wrong.

So because Carter is directly breastfed, he has never used a bottle in his life. And so this sat around for a few months gathering dust.

Then, I read somewhere that the BA bottle holder can be used as a baby toy, rattle and teether.

Arrrrghhhhhhhhh NOW WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT??!?!

I quickly dug Carter’s out and gave it to him. The whole thing is made of a soft, flexible silicone, so it makes an extremely safe toy. He can bash it against his head and it’s no worries. He can chew on it with no worries (it’s made with FDA approved silicone, and is BPA free). And he can throw it with no worries that he’ll break something.

He loves grabbing at it and smooshing it between his hands, because it’s soft. And, if you stick in a rattle-y toy or a crinkle toy, it becomes DOUBLE THE FUN! It’s like a whole new toy… because now it makes a sound too, and the toy inside bounces around.

To be honest, Hunter loves this bit and likes stuffing all sorts of things in.

Pleased with his new rattle toy

SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE!

Mmmmm yummy teether

The BA bottle holder is meant to encourage hand-eye coordination, and I can see first-hand how a very young baby can grip it easily to hold their milk bottle. SO much easier than their little hands and fingers trying to grasp the bottle itself!

And… well…. it can be used ALLLLL the way up to toddler years.

Proof?

Hunter has a go

I stick Hunter’s water bottle in it and he drinks with great gusto (what is it with kids refusing to eat/drink until it’s presented in a novel manner to them??)

But you can see in the above photo how pretty much any standard milk or water bottle will fit in there, since it’s stretchable silicone.

I’m really pleased with it because it functions so well as a toy, rattle, teether AND bottle holder. Right now, Carter doesn’t use it as a bottle holder, but eventually I will put him on formula (once I wean him at 1 yr old) and this is when I’ll pop his bottle in his BA bottle holder for him to be a big boy and hold it himself.

Until then…. he’s very happy shaking it with gusto and chucking it around with Hunter ;)

As modelled by Denise Richards and her daughter, because they look a lot prettier and more calm & collected than my children do – haha

Get your BA Bottle Holder at a special discount of SG$14.90 (usual $27.90) at flash sale site MommyGrabs.com right now (very very limited stocks left)!

And ppppssssttttt have you got your free $10 credit on Mommygrabs yet? It’s still valid!

CARTER: MONTH 6-7 PROGRESS

5 March 2013 8 comments

Happy 7 month Birthday, Carter!

My precious little baby is now quite the rambunctious bub.. with an easy, sunshine smile and a terrific yell to accompany his crazy-active personality. It’s hard to keep up!

He’s eager for attention, dishing out great big smiles and excited arm-flaps when he gets some. I find him so utterly endearing! He’s a squishy squashy cuddly wombat and nothing makes him happier than being cuddled or carried.

Whilst Hunter, as a baby, always got attention for his looks (eg. long lashes, huge eyes, etc), Carter gets his attention from people that melt over his sunny smiles. He’ll sit in his stroller whilst I’m out dishing out grins and gurgles to strangers, so sometimes even Hunter gets overlooked for him.

He’s a pretty easy going baby, and doesn’t make my life too difficult. That said, I’m suspecting he’s about to go through separation anxiety.. recently he gets really really nervous/frantic if I step out of sight, or if a stranger’s face is in front of him and I’m not nearby. And, if someone picks him up, he quickly leans backwards to check who’s carrying him – if he doesn’t like what he sees, WATCH OUT!

Giving one of my cousins (whom he doesn’t see very often) the WHO THE HELL ARE YOU WOMAN look

All smiles when Mummy’s around!

EATING – Still breastfeeds exactly 5 times a day now. Aaaaannnnddd we’ve started SOLIDS! It’s actually so much fun feeding Carter, because DAMN HE IS GREEDY. I started off with breastmilk+rice cereal twice… but it didn’t satisfy him and he wasn’t happy. So I moved straight onto broccoli, sweet potato, pumpkin, avocado, and carrots (or a combination thereof) and he has one voracious appetite! We actually struggle with feeding him because he wailllllls if he’s not fed quickly enough, so we have to make sure the food is cooled enough to feed him at top-speed. He eats about 60-90ml (2-3oz) of puree each time, which I feel is quite a bit for baby that’s just started solids, no? But any less and he’ll wail. Anyway, I’m fully gloating over his greedy eating habits because it’s such a refreshing change from Hunter!

Carter’s face at the dining table.. with GIVE ME FOOD written all over it

This lousy ‘cookie’ you gave me does NOT look the same as the cookies in the jar, mum!

Video of Carter in his Yamatoya high chair, having solids for the first time

SLEEPING – He sleeps solidly about 12 hours over night, and does 2-3 naps a day.

My heart

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT – He’s become quite the expert at flipping both ways. A bit of a headache because he’ll immediately flip over when I put him down to sleep.. and then scooch and scramble alllll over in excitement, happy squeals and gummy grins included. This was really fun to watch the first few times, but now it’s just annoying – just go to sleep dude! He also keeps trying to pull up to standing but I think this will take awhile to do successfully because he’s so heavy. Hunter at this age was moving forwards, but Carter can only move backwards right now! I’m thinking his weight/girth is not the most ideal for a baby to have to drag around..

Addicted to sitting up, and now hates being left lying down (will promptly flip over)

Hunter and Carter are such good buddies. The happiness on Carter’s face when he spots his older brother is so sweet! I really do think the benefit of having children in consecutive years is that they grow up so much closer.. I hope it stays this way :)

Classic Carter “What are you doing, Hunter? I wanna do it tooooo” look

Obediently playing the patient for Doctor Hunter

Music time together in their matching Elly shirts

Baby superheros for hire – take your pick! (superhero leggings from Little Titans. Hunter’s tee from Nottoobig.)

In this whole world, I call no one else my brother, but you.

Happy 7 months, my chunky monkey! I love your hilarious expressions, but not as much as the look you give me. I love the way I can calm you down instantly, when no one else can. I love how your bright lil eyes always seek me out, and your whole body visibly calms when you spot me. I love how good the nape of your neck smells first thing in the morning. I love how content and satisfied you are when you’re nursing. I love your mad arm-flaps when you’re happy. I love YOU!