Friday, February 19, 2010

Renzo's development - Month 06

Personally I think most babies’ physical growth tend to slow down a bit around 4-6 months, and so does Renzo's.

06 Month vs. 05 Month
Weight: +0.4kg

Height: +1cm

Head Circumference: +4cm (vs. 03 Month)


With the 3rd dose of Hepatitis B injection done this morning, finally he has completed all his compulsory vaccinations that he supposed to take below one year. And we made an impulse decision at the polyclinic, which is to let Renzo have his 1st dose of Pnemococcus jab today together with his Hepatitis B injection. The initial plan was to have this only during his 7th, 9th, and 12th month, but since we all understand the importance of Pnemococcal immunization, we do not want to risk it and wait for another month. Luckily our boy is strong and brave, he just whined a bit after each jab but didn’t really cry out loud, well that’s the usual him, haha.. We still gave him 3.75ml of paracetamol as he was extremely grouchy, and I’ve boiled Chinese barley water for him. For those mummies who are interested to know, the recommended dose of paracetamol for 3-6 months baby is 2.5ml and for 6-9 months, that’s 3.75ml. As for the barley water, we need to boil the Chinese barley instead of Holland barley, as Holland barley has better flavor but only Chinese barley has the cooling effect.

The past one month was indeed a “nightmare” for me, as Renzo’s sleeping pattern has not improved at all, he continues to wake up almost every hour for a total of 6 – 10 times every night without a fail.

So for the two major changes happened during the previous month, the good one continues to be good, and the bad one continues to get worse.

- The good one:
Instead of having 5 feeds per day, we further reduced that to 4 feeds only and there’s no midnight feeding anymore.
- 1st feed around 7am (180ml)
- 2nd feed around 11am (210ml)
- 3rd feed around 4pm (210ml)
**Shower around 830pm**
- 4th feed around 9pm (300ml)
Well this schedule looked pretty cool and our life became much easier, as we have a good 5 hours interval between 2 feeds, during which we can happily bring Renzo out for a good stroll at the park, or even to shop around Orchard Road (in fact there's nothing to shop about because recently I have been purchasing most of Renzo's clothes online from jshoppers.com, as they are having this free shipping and handling fee promotion for purchase above 1500 yen, call me online shopaholic.. haha but seriously i've read good reviews about this website and so far I'm very glad with my purchases..). Although the last feed of 300ml scared me, he was still having a total of 900ml which is below the recommended amount on the milk powder tin for his age. But this nice schedule lasted for a few weeks only before it changed completely. After we introduced solid food to Renzo, here’s his new schedule:
- 1st feed around 7am (180ml)
- 2nd feed around 11am - solid
- 3rd feed around 2pm (180ml)
- 4th feed around 6pm - solid
**Shower around 830pm**
- 5th feed around 900pm (210ml)

- The bad one:
The reason I said the bad one continues to be even worse, is because last time when he fidgeted and wiggled during each wakeup, sometimes I could just pat him to sleep back again without picking him up from his cot or giving him water. But currently if I do not pick him up or give him water, he will be wide awake with his eyes open coupled with cries and screams. We have ruled out some of the possibilities after some trial and error. We’ve changed back his diaper brand to MamyPoko again, because he started to wake up often after we switched to Fitti premium 360 diaper; We’ve been giving him teething tablets since his bottom 2 incisors have erupted; We’ve tried Feber’s “cry it out” method by leaving him alone when he wakes up during his sleep; all these have failed us and some mummies on Singaporemotherhood forum who are experiencing the same thing have told me that it is just a phase and our babies will outgrow it eventually. Well not that I do not believe in it, I am just afraid that before Renzo can outgrow this, it becomes a very bad habit which might follow him for years.

I hope it is just due to teething, and the Hyland’s teething tablets (a lot of mummies swear by it) I bought from an online spree seemed to work on him, but I decided not to give him unless he is super cranky since I do not like to let him rely too much on medication.

Major development
1. He started to have 2 solid meals a day from February 9, 2010.
2. He is able to clap his hands.
3. He reacts properly when we say “high-five” or “gong xi gong xi” although he is not able to do these 2 gestures 100% correctly yet.
4. He jabbers a lot and invented his own vocabulary “ah jia” which no one knows what that means, but he can say that for more than 5 times continuously.
5. He is able to sit unsupported for a long long time, and he can even reach out to a toy, grab it and play with it with both hands, and still balance himself very well.
6. He is able to roll over (flip from tummy to back and back to tummy again). But sometimes he just likes to practise this skill at the wrong time...

Some notes on his solid food intake:
- He does not really like too sweet stuff.
- So far his favorites are Healthy Times Oatmeal cereal + Morinaca Manna baby biscuit and banana puree.
- He hates pumpkin and Nestle Apple n Cranberry cereal.
- He likes Moon Rabbit brand brown rice powder with ikan bilis although we all cannot take the fishy smell.
- His poo is a bit harder after starting solid, although he’s been drinking a lot of water as usual. Thus we need to be careful while giving him food that might cause constipation, eg: banana has a lot of fibers but we need to choose the smaller ones and cut off the core as the seeds will cause constipation (according to many experienced mummies but no scientific proof on this).

And Renzo just experienced his very first Chinese New Year festival. There’s nothing worth noting down at all as it is again the usual tiring period for everyone and Renzo especially, because we have to bring him along for visiting.The only sweet moment was when we put red packets under his pillow at 12am on first day of Chinese New Year, which is something our parents have been doing for us in the past, while we do the same for our precious little one, the feeling is just so heartwarming..

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Renzo wants food... REAL food...

We were happily eating our dinner yesterday... Chicken wings, french beans and all. Renzo looked at us with such adorable puppy dog eyes from his little rocker. He licked his lips a couple of times and mimicked a chew, and hastily proceeded to grab one of his toys and chewed on it. Feli carried him over to our dining table and Renzo could see clearly what was laid out on the table. He stared at me every time I put a spoonful into my mouth.

Teasingly, I held a piece of chicken just beyond his reach and slowly asked, "Renzo~ If you want to get solid food, raise your hand" and I slowly raised my right hand with his bounty in my left.

Renzo looked into my eyes, then shifted his focus to my raised hand. Then OMG !! he slowly lifted his left hand in acknowledging fashion. It was such a cute moment.

So being parents of our words. We immediately set out to shop for cereals, purees and rusks (though eventually we only bought cereal and brown rice powder).

No chicken and french beans for you yet Renzo but these should be just as yummy~!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Renzo at Daddy's workplace

Chinese New Year is just around the corner and I need a haircut and we managed to book only a weekday 5pm appointment with Angie, our trusty home-based Hairstylist. Considering the fact that staying at home and reciting Tang Dynasty poems have been Renzo's routine for quite a few days now, we decided that it is time to bring Renzo out to the great outdoors and see more of the world.

To get my haircut, I'd have to travel to Kallang and since it is just a couple train stations away from my office, we decided that it'd be fun to bring Renzo to my office to meet my colleagues whom many have never seen Renzo in person (only from this blog) and of those who have seen him, it would have been at least a good three to four months since their encounter.

Bringing baby out is always an encumbering. First you have his milk powder+milk bottles, then the diapers and extra clothes, then his toys and rattles, then his raincoat and jacket, then his stroller and pillow, and the list just goes on and on and on...Nevertheless, after months of training, packing the above become a breeze and we set out to my office on Renzo's first MRT train trip.

He was a good boy on the train, sitting comfortably in Aye Aye's lap with eyes darting left and right as absorbed the scenery through the windows of the train cabin, never making a single noise throughout the half hour journey. We reached my office around 3pm and had a warm greeting at the reception by my counter colleagues. And as we made our way deeper into the office, Renzo grabbed the attention of more and more people. Renzo seems to have this liking for a particular colleague of mine, Joanne. Might be because of her long hair, might be because of her large eyes, whichever it is the sight of Joanne makes our little boy flash a megawatt smile.

We left the office and made our way to Marina Square to grab some items for Renzo and also to shop for some clothes for me at Domanchi (which dominates over 50% of my wardrobe). Nothing much to highlight on the Marina Square shopping trip except that they do have quite a comfy Baby room between the Gents and Ladies for diaper changing.

Left Marina Square and reached Angie's right on time for our haircut. We frequent Angie's place since a few years back, even before we were married. And after Feli and I tied the knot, Angie and Feli have had many conversations related to starting a family as Angie have been wanting a baby of her own as well. Blessedly, Feli got pregnant and brought a happy Renzo to this world. Before we leave Angie's place, she played with Renzo and bit and Renzo high-fived (is there such a word?) her on many occasions, drawing laughter from all of us.

It was about 6pm when we left and it was the peak hour where office workers left work for the day and the train would be packed full. Fortunately, there was a direct bus from Angie's place back to our's but it would mean a 90 minute journey. Eventually we settled on taking the bus as the crowd would be unbearable and if Renzo started a screaming fit, it might potentially be disastrous. We hopped on the bus and were glad we chose so when we saw Renzo dozing off almost immediately after we got a seat. Poor little boy, must have been such a tiring day of entertaining us adults and seeing the world beyond the boundaries of the four walls at home.

Many more trips to come my boy... Many more trips...
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