Renzo is now a little toddler...

This post is LONGGGGG overdue!!

I just finished feeding our little boy and was really glad to see him finishing his dinner, although he didn't have too much rice. As compared to a few weeks ago when he turned into a fruitarian and refused to eat proper meal most of time, he's making good progress these few days in my eyes.

Too much things had happened in the past few months. I don't even know where to start, but I have to hurriedly complete this post so that I can shower Renzo and coax him to sleep. Well talking about coaxing him to sleep, in fact he can sleep on his own almost everyday after his night feed at about 930pm, usually he plays in his cot with us and after we turn off the light, he then plays on our bed with his favorite (and only) blanket, and in no time, this little one is in lalaland... He still wakes up a few times during wee hours, on certain good days, maybe once only. And finally we figured out the reason behind his nightly wakeups... he's just hungry at night, because there was one night he shouted "biscuit" when he woke up in the middle of the night!

For the very first time in the past 15 months, Renzo fell sick badly. He had a bit of cold cough with phlegm and running nose, but that's not too serious and with the huge amount of water intake everyday, he got himself cured eventually. But at the same we discovered that he has got a serious food allergy and we believe the culprit must be mango. Because we fed him some mango when we were having dinner outside one evening and the next day, he started developing rashes all over his body. I have a history of mango allergy and I am not surprised that he inherited that from me, so we came to a conclusion - NO MORE MANGO for baby Renzo!!

I thought Renzo is pretty slow in his motor skill development, at almost 15 months, he still could not walk unsupported or feed himself. But I am not that worried, I believe it is just a matter of time and I am thrilled to see that he's picking up fast in terms of his linguistic skills. We will touch more on that on a future post on his linguistic capability.

At the same time, he has developed his own character, like an ox, really stubborn. And when he starts to throw tantrums because we are not giving in to his unreasonable requests, we have to play time out and leave him at his "naughty corner" (面壁思过), obviously he couldn't understand that at this age, and we often end up with a little boy playing quietly in his high chair after a few seconds of screaming, acting as if nothing had happened..

So I've decided to work on 2 things immediately from today:
1. Start potty training Renzo. He started to pee and poo in his potty since he was about 6 months+, but till now he still cannot express himself when he needs to past urine or past motion. I don't really know where to start but I remember seeing some books on this and if it can play the trick, i don't mind investing on it.

2. Look for a good childcare center for Renzo. I am torn between full day childcare and 3.5 hours playgroup at the moment. Knowing that Ayeaye might not continue with us after Oct next year, probably we have to strike off playgroups from our list. And I have to say it's extremely difficult to "shop" for a good preschool for kids nowadays.

After observing Renzo for this long, I start to feel that cultivating him to become a good tempered (keeping my finger crossed that he got that gene from his daddy) and well behaved person is the top priority, I certainly do not wish to have a rowdy child even if he is strong with his academic records....

Renzo's development - Month 11

11 Month vs. 10 Month
Weight: + 0.2kg
Height: + 2.5cm
Head Circumference: not measured

Woot!! Renzo boy is almost 1 year old and he's growing healthily and happily so far under the care of Daddy, Mummy and Auntie AyeAye.

There's nothing really new to Renzo's life during the past one month, he continues to amuse us everyday with all his funny patterns. We discovered that he's able to eat rice very well and Sushi rice seems to be his favorite food. He tried that once at a Jap restaurant and he got addicted to it. So the next day I prepared home made Sushi for him and he really cried for more when he finished his first plate.

Despite the fact that our big boy is getting heavier everyday, we still love to carry him but my sister has been reminding us many times that we should not "spoil" him by carrying him too often. So there was this afternoon when all of us were wandering around Vivo city with Renzo trying all sorts of methods to get out of his stroller, we decided not to carry him out irregardless. He cried loudly for almost 15 minutes till we finally surrendered and brought him out, but he continued to cry on and off for another 20 minutes even after I embraced him in my arms and rocked him non-stop, then only we found out that he was wearing this pair of new shoes (a bit tight for him as he's outgrown them) and accidentally he kicked on his stroller wheel and hurt his left big toe, so after we took off his shoes and socks, he's back to his usual self and sat peacefully in his stroller again with a painful bruised big toe. That incident reminded us about what my mother told us 10 months ago, although Renzo is not the quiet and easy to look after type, he will not cry for no reason. We must give him attention whenever he cries. My mother is so right about that, and seeing how this poor little boy fall asleep on his own after enduring the pain and being neglected by daddy and mummy just makes us feel more than a little guilty. (Just for records, the way he fell asleep was damn cute. He was biting the front of his stroller for a good 10-15 minutes with his eyes wide open and peering around... then the next thing we knew, he fell asleep, with his jaws still biting onto the stroller... haha... Revenge! You hurt me so I bite you!!)

During the past one month, we've discussed about whether to have #2 or not. Win definitely wants another baby but I have more concerns. Long pregnancy period, painful labour process, new job, my age, who's able to look after our baby, when is Dr Lim Teck Chye retiring (yes that's a HUGE concern also as I do not believe I could find a better gynae than him)? It seems that whether to have #2 is not the biggest question, but WHEN?

Another discussion we had was about whether to celebrate for Renzo's birthday or not? Renzo is turning 1 year old in another 10 days time, and we've not done any preparation for his birthday celebration yet. So, the answer is obviously NO then. Luckily Win and I are very rational people, we are sure that Renzo is not going to appreciate a party at this age, and we will make everyone super tired only. So we will just have a small cake cutting session with family then.

On a side note, my cousin just gave birth to baby boy Yuma Saburi on July 06, a super short labour of only 5 hours and she didn't opt for epidural either. I think after hearing the story from my sister and I, she has this same strong belief that natural delivery without epidural is the best option for mummy and baby. Renzo is now a big brother and we can't wait to see baby Yuma in Japan next year!

Renzo's development - Month 10

10 Month vs. 09 Month
Weight: + 1.2kg (OMG~!)
Height: + 5.5cm
Head Circumference: not measured

The previous one month has been a truly great experience for us. I am thinking that a few years down the road, when Renzo grows up, probably we will be missing this period of time the most. The reason is simple, baby Renzo is learning a lot and our interaction with him becomes so fun. But at the same time he has not learned to argue with us, how to cry for his favorite toy at shopping centers, and how to refuse vegetables during his meal time. So we simply enjoy taking care of him as much as playing with him during these few months. And those things he's learned simply brings us so much joy and sweet memories.

I have already lost my count of how many items he could recognize by now. And finally he is able to point at every object with his small index finger. It's so enjoyable when you watch him turning around and pointing at different objects one by one. He's learning to say "ball ball", which must be his first few words besides "papa", "mama", "daddy" and "mummy". And he could even pick a "yellow color ball" accurately from a cluster of items in his bath tub including balls in other colors. And just recently, he started to wave goodbye to Aye Aye before bedtime. Aye Aye has been teaching him to wave his hand for months, and suddenly on one of the evenings, he waved at Aye Aye right before she went out of our room after bathing Renzo.

Besides being able to point at different kinds of items, Renzo starts to "poke" at his little tummy with his right thumb when you ask "Where is Renzo?". And if you ask "How old are you Renzo?", immediately he will respond by lifting either his left or right index finger, symbolizing that he is 1 year old (well in another month plus). He covers his milk bottle with the cover after feed; he points at his water bottle when he wants to drink, and he points at the TV when he wants his "Leapfrog DVD" to be played. And the fact that he recognizes my parents, my parents-in-law, my sister and brother-in-law, is just making everyone crazily happy!

Now we are anxiously waiting for this little boy to start talking and walking on his own, which will be another amazing milestone...

Just realized with didn't take any pics at all these past few weeks... So all we have is a little video of little Poopersaurus tearing down my camera phone after calling out a loud "Mama~!"
*PS: Sorry about the orientation of the camera... will remember to hold it in an upright position in the future...=P