The Bub in the Belly

Whenever we have a meal, Ryan is usually on our laps with full access to the table and our food, as can be seen from almost all of our photos which are taken at restaurants (actually most of our photos ARE taken at restaurants).

Lately he has been more interested in what we are doing at the table and occasionally he will reach out for what is on the table. He isn’t hungry and he isn’t looking for something to eat. Rather, he’s curious about what we’re doing and what is going on.

Ryan turns 6 months and 1 week old today and so we decided that it would be safe to let him play with some food as an introduction to eating. So when it was dinnertime, we propped Ryan up in his high chair at the dining table. Richard sliced up and boiled some sticks of sweet potato and carrot and placed them on his tray. Ryan picked up the sticks and carefully put them in his mouth (like everything he comes across) but he didn’t actually chew or eat any of them. He did give them a whole lot of sucking and licking. He also smeared and swished the sticks left to right to left to right on his tray like windscreen wipers, crushed the sweet potato in his hand and tossed the bits over the side onto the floor where our dog, Max, was waiting. After about five to ten minutes of this sucking, licking, smearing, swishing, crushing and tossing, he lost all interest and started sucking and licking his tray.

Ryan has one feature that tells the world he is my son - the curls in his hair. People are astonished by them. His nanny told me of a conversation she had with her neighbour (in Mandarin):

Neighbour: Is it a girl?
Nanny: No, he's a boy.
Neighbour: But his hair is so curly! Is he Chinese?
Nanny: Yes.
Neighbour: Har? How come his hair is so curly?

Yes, he gets his curls from me. I haven't had the heart to cut his hair and so the curls continue to populate his head. At one point, they were curling into and around his ears which I think caused him some irritation, but instead of cutting them off, we decided to let his hair (and the curls) grow past his ears. So he is still my curly wurly twisty twirly.

Apart from all the little curls, Ryan has one huge curl right on top of his head, which he has had since birth. I like to call it his custom-made turban. I thought it would straighten out as the hair grew longer and heavier but the turban has remained firmly in place.

Some babies didn't turn up for today's class so both Richard and I were allowed into the classroom (usually one of us has to wait outside). The result - photos!

This is Ryan and me doing action songs, swinging up and down, side to side, round and round.


Crawling track. Ryan isn't crawling yet so he just sits there and poses for photos.


Climbing (ok, Ryan is not quite ready for this either)


Leaning over to fish for toys (this trains the neck and shoulder muscles which help baby to crawl)


Got one!


Another crawling track. There are lots of toys along the track to entice the babies to crawl along. This particular toy caught Ryan's attention, I wonder why.


Bubbles! (an eye tracking exercise)

At lunchtime today, I went for a talk by BMSG (Breastfeeding Mothers Support Group). I didn’t learn anything new, but I enjoyed listening to women talk about their positive experiences with breastfeeding.

I have had no problems with breastfeeding. I have breastfed Ryan for 6 months since the day he was born and he has not had a drop of formula. I am sure that there are many many many women who have done and are doing the same. Still, I have not had the pleasure of sharing many positive conversations with successful breastfeeders about breastfeeding. Perhaps we are shy, perhaps we are modest, perhaps we are embarrassed, perhaps we are competitive. We shouldn’t be. Being happy about successful breastfeeding doesn't necessarily mean we are showing off.

Breastfeeding is a privilege. It is something that only mothers can share with their babies, and only for a short period in their child's lives. Those who are fortunate enough to be able to breastfeed are the best people to encourage other mothers who want to breastfeed. There is so much misconception and misinformation about breastfeeding which can be addressed if successful breastfeeders are willing and able to share their positive experiences. Breastfeeding doesn’t have to be only about painful nipples, engorged breasts, mastitis, infections, low supply, blocked ducts, leaking breasts, lack of sleep from pumping in the middle of the night, no letdown, etc. There is so much more on the flip side of the coin. Yes, problems may surface from time to time but not for everyone and for those who do encounter these issues, not all the time. With the correct knowledge and the right mindset, breastfeeding is achievable for most people. The greatest obstacle is to give up too easily or too soon. So it is very important to give lots of encouragement and positivity to mothers who are breastfeeding.

So, all you breastfeeding mothers out there... THUMBS UP!

17 July 2009 - Lunch at East Coast Park after visiting Teresa at the car boot sale.


19 July 2009 - Dim sum at Thomson


19 July 2009 - On the couch at home

This is the must-have gadget for babies around Ryan's age. It was one of the items we picked up at the Fisher-Price warehouse sale in August last year, when I was still pregnant. At the time, we had no idea that it would be so popular but it's easy to see why it is - Ryan simply loves it!

Yup, he's sucking his toes.

We had put Ryan's swimming-in-the-tub sessions on hold because of the H1N1 flu that is going around but it seems now that the flu is going to be around for some time. Life has to go on so, yesterday, we went to the Harbourfront outlet to resume his sessions. Ryan swam for about 15 minutes and then he wanted to come out, which was very surprising. He always wants to keep on going. I think he may have been needing some more naptime but I was also wondering whether, having stopped his sessions for some time, perhaps he was not so keen on swimming anymore. So we tried again this evening at the Plaza Singapura outlet and I made sure he was well rested beforehand this time. Thankfully, he was his usual cheery self and swam happily for more than half an hour.

Pouting after yesterday's swim.

Today Ryan starts Level 2 at Gymboree. There were many more babies in the class compared to Level 1. All of them were older and more developmentally advanced than Ryan - they could sit up on their own and most of them were already crawling. Hopefully, by watching the other babies, Ryan will be sitting up and crawling very soon too.

One of Ryan's favourites at Gymboree - Parachute Time!


Level 2 is definitely more physically demanding than Level 1 plus the class was held during Ryan's usual naptime. Once we finished the class, Ryan was pooped!


Recharged!

5 July 2009 - Lunch at Cineleisure


9 July 2009 - Dinner at New York! New York!


11 July 2009 - Dim sum at Thomson

After attending the Play & Learn trial session at Gymboree, we signed Ryan up for a package of 14 weekly sessions. Today was our first session of the package.

At the trial session, I had expressed some concern that Ryan was bored with the exercises (because they were too easy/basic for him) but the instructor said that he could just be distracted by his new surroundings. Hmm, yes, I thought that his surroundings were more interesting to him PRECISELY BECAUSE the exercises were too boring for him. Different sides of the same coin? Well, Ryan aced all the exercises again today and, after the session, the instructor said he should graduate early from Level 1 and go to Level 2 which should be more challenging and interesting for him. Yippee!

Ryan will be the youngest baby in the Level 2 class as Level 2 is for babies from 6 months and he is not 6 months old yet. Truly I am proud. He can include that in his CV when he's looking for his first job right?

We got Ryan his high chair yesterday. He still needs some support to sit up so we won't be using it very often just yet. We usually just have him on our laps when we eat our meals and I actually enjoy it that way.

Today we went for Ryan's check-up and final vaccinations. This appointment had been delayed slightly because Ryan was sniffling a little around the date of the original appointment. We brought him in then (16 June) and was advised by Dr Ngiam to wait and have the appointment re-fixed. The sniffles cleared up pretty quickly and so we brought Ryan in today. After this, Ryan's next visit will be when he is one year old. Ryan weighed in at 7.77 kg and 67 cm, which is average. Dr Ngiam says the guideline is to double the birthweight at 4 months old and triple the birthweight at one year old. Ryan was 3.24 kg at birth, so he's right on track.

We asked Dr Ngiam about starting solids. He said we should wait till 6 months and, once Ryan is 6 months, he can try anything. He can also eat the food we are eating, provided he can swallow it (soften it or mash it). We won't know whether the baby is allergic to or sensitive to a particular food until and unless Ryan tries it out so we just have to give it a go. Dr Ngiam said the only guideline is to provide a balanced diet - carbo, protein and veggie. For increasing number of meals and dropping milk feeds, he said this will be dependent on the individual baby. We should just pay attention to Ryan and go with the flow.

In other news, Ryan has started flipping over onto his tummy!