The Bub in the Belly

The most newsworthy update on Rachel is that she started walking the week before her 1st birthday! At the moment, she still prefers to crawl if she needs to get somewhere fast - and she can crawl really fast - but otherwise there is a good chance that you will catch her on her feet! Actually I hope she will continue to crawl a while longer - so that she can exercise that right brain/left brain/right brain/left brain.

Babydoll is working hard everyday, driven to explore and learn and discover. She is very determined and very little will stop her in terms of moving about. As an example, she has climbed up onto this chest of drawers which you can see behind her in the next photo. She first climbed onto the blue chair and then "rock climbed" up the closed drawers. Seriously. This girl is unstoppable. Richard was with her, just spotting her without offering help - he said she didn't need any.


Tiger and Max (our cat and dog) fascinate babydoll. Tiger will sometimes let her play with him - stroke his fur, tug on his tail - but only for a little while. He has tried to swipe her with his claws before, playfully, and although Richard was a little concerned, babydoll was undeterred and continues to seek him out. Max is less cool about being handled by this unpredictable mini-person, so he doesn't play with her and usually keeps a distance unless he wants to sit with me and has no choice if babydoll is with me. Babydoll is still very interested in him and when he is in the yard, she sits by the glass door to watch him carefully.

Some significant updates this week. Firstly, babydoll is standing up without assistance! I ticked it off after I caught her standing on her feet for about half a minute (after which she got distracted by something and crawled off). From a squatting position, she can push up into a stand entirely on her own, and from a standing position, she can lower herself into a squat and then a sit.

It's very strange to see her standing on her own! It's almost as if something is missing. I still worry that she's vulnerable and I still feel the urge to provide physical support. I have to consciously restrain myself from reaching out to her. She doesn't seem particularly amazed that she is standing up, so I don't want to make it seem like a big deal and risk stressing her.

I've been digging up the hair accessories that I've accumulated for her, although I don't have many - now I have good reason to collect more!

In very-important-to-me news, Richard and babydoll have moved back into our master bedroom! I mentioned a few weeks ago that we paired up and slept in different rooms. I put Ryan to bed while Rachel went with Richard. It was part of an effort to wean Rachel off night latching and to give her the chance to consistently sleep through the night. I felt that I was actually preventing her from getting a good night's rest because, if she woke up during the night the first thing I did was to put her on the breast. It was the fastest way to quiet her and put her back to sleep. If I didn't do that, Rachel would fuss and search for the breast herself and then Ryan would wake and, realising that the buffet line was open, he would want his share. Rachel would wake a few times and she would wake Ryan up at least once of those times. It was physically shattering on me, to be honest.

The tipping point came when I was so ill and not recovering because I was not getting sufficient rest. Richard put his foot down and split us up. I was horrified at the idea but Richard didn't waver. He took care of Rachel throughout the night while I continued our existing routine with Ryan. I recovered after a couple of good nights and Richard reported good progress with Rachel so we continued on for a bit, and last week, we re-united everyone under one air-conditioner. I'm pleased to record that we are all doing very well now.




That's all for now. Till next time, then.

On the topic of walking, babydoll has taken a tentative step here and there, unassisted and unsupported. I won't call them her first steps though. Nevertheless, I'm willing to bet my bottom dollar that this little imp will be walking independently very very soon.

These drawers are where we keep Ryan's clothes. Ryan used to play with these drawers too, but in a different way. He liked to pull the drawers out and make patterns with them. For example, he would pull out the bottom drawer all the way and the one above that, he would pull it out a little less, and the one above that, a little less still. Or he would make align them all to the same length. He never pulled out the stuff in the drawers, which is more babydoll's objective. There was one time, Ryan pulled out the top few drawers all the way and, as the bottom drawers were shorter, the whole cabinet toppled over on him. I screamed and Richard magically appeared out of nowhere to save the day. Didn't I say he is Superdad?

Suffice to say that Ryan was no longer interested in the drawers after that. He did try once or twice but when we reminded him what happened, he would stop. At that time, Ryan was older than Rachel is now, though. When he was Rachel's age, he was interested only in learning how drawers work - open, close, learn how to keep his fingers safe. It took him two sessions of playing with the drawers, and that was that. He paid no attention to them until he was older.




Why yes, I let her eat off my floor.



Right hand, left hand. Whichever she feels like using.

She made it upstairs all on her own and was mighty pleased with herself. I was pleased too because we managed to get it on video! That was on Friday, 5 April, and since then, she's crawled up a few times. Here's the video!

Rachel is starting to put on more weight, which is lovely. She is doing very well with all the new and exciting food that we have been giving her, although her main diet is still breastmilk. She is not as soft spoken as Ryan - she loves to shout out a greeting when she sees us! She will also call out loudly to us when she wants attention - that's when she uses a sharp "Hah!"

Finally, I saw her first tooth! It's difficult to spot because firstly, she just won't keep still long enough and second, she is not fond of people poking their fingers into her mouth to open it for a peek! She is having a bit of a runny nose which some mummies tell me is a teething symptom. She is still cheerful and doesn't seem bothered by the teething.


Tomorrow Rachel will be having her third Heguru class at the Eunos centre. At home, we are not doing much of anything. At this stage, I try to talk/sing to her, give her various things to touch/feel/taste, let her exercise as much as she wants to, and give her lots of cuddles and kisses. That's all. We are not even reading (I know that will probably shock some of you).

Anyway, speaking of kisses, Rachel surprised me the other day because she gave me raspberry kisses! (A raspberry kiss is a sloppy kiss where you blow, making a farting sound.) I thought it was accidental, but she kept doing it on my thigh and she had a cheeky smile on her face, so I know it was intentional.


Up till a few days ago, Rachel's nanny let her sit in a bouncer seat when Rachel was awake. With Ryan and another toddler running around in the living room, it was not the safest option to leave Rachel roaming about on the floor, plus her nanny didn't think that the floor was clean enough for a baby (she has much higher standards of cleanliness than I do). Anyway, her nanny observed that Rachel was leaning over the side of the bouncer to reach for toys that she had dropped on the floor so she grew concerned that Rachel would tumble out of her bouncer notwithstanding being strapped in. So her nanny got her a playpen. I would never use a playpen myself, in my own home, but in the circumstances, I was very happy to hear the news. I went out straightaway and bought a mattress for her playpen.

Not surprisingly, Rachel loves it! Compared to being strapped in a bouncer, it must be so liberating for her, plus she is queen of her own little castle. She crawls from corner to corner looking for her toys - her nanny teases her saying she is "digging for gold". She sleeps well when she is in it, turning onto her front which is her favourite sleep position. She even tries to pull herself up to a standing position while shouting "Hah!" at you through the mesh wall. Lots of opportunity to exercise and get those gross motor skills!

Ok, that's all for now. Have a lovely weekend!