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!
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!
