23 months update and sticker photo

I'm a bit late with doing your sticker photos but you're still 23 months for at least another 2 weeks :) This morning while you were out mowing the lawn with Daddy, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to capture this stage in your life where you like copying what Daddy does. As soon as you heard Daddy start the mower outside, you wanted to go out and help.

Here's a snapshot at 23 months:
Sleep
We did some sleep training a few weeks ago and thankfully, it worked after only 2 days. Now I can put you down and you'll go to sleep on your own. So, no more needing to hold your hand to sleep, no more sleeping on the floor next to your crib and no more waking up in the middle of the night!  It's done wonders because you're sleeping through the night again.

So this is our bedtime routine now:
After dinner, you'll play with your toys. I'll do a countdown so you're aware of what's going to happen. I'll say: "30 minutes to bath time, and then we go to bed". You'll say, "No! No!" and go back to playing. Then it will be "15 minutes to bath time" and so on. At 5 minutes to bath time, I'll start singing the clean up song and you'll help me pack away your books and toys. After that, you're surprisingly obedient and head into your room to get changed. When you're naked, I'll say "pee pee in the potty" and you'll head over to your potty, lift the lid and sit down. Then you'll ask for a book, "read please". Sometimes you'll pee but most of the time, you just stand up after I finish your book. The potty I got you has a flush too, so I've been teaching you to put the lid down and flushing (never too young to learn!)

You love to play with the squeeze toys in the shape of a bus, plane and boat. You don't like getting your face wet when I pour water to wash the soap out of your hair but you're getting better about it. I brush your teeth while you're in the tub though this is always a bit of a struggle. Funnily enough, sometimes I can entice you to brush your teeth if I offer to clean your ears with the ear wash. You really enjoy being squirted in the ears. What a funny boy!

After your bath, I'll shout out to Daddy "Towel please!" and recently you've been copying me by saying the same thing.

Drying you on the changing table has become so difficult these days. You're constantly wiggling around and trying to squirm off the table. We try to have a book or train around to distract you. Then it's pjs on and a sleep sack. Every time the sleep sack comes out, you'll rub your eyes and yawn, it's a pretty good trigger.

Your 2 favourite bedtime books are: The 12 engines of Christmas (which I have to sing exactly like the Christmas song) and then another Thomas nursery book where you point out the characters, do some counting and point out colours.

After that, you turn on the turtle night light that projects the moon and stars to the ceiling. You always choose the blue light (there are 3 colours to choose from). Then we turn on the lullaby bear which you've been listening to ever since I can remember. I cuddle you for a bit while you snuggle on my shoulders and then after a little while, I'll put you down in the crib. When I leave the room, you'll still put up a protest and cry for a few minutes but after that, you'll lie down and go to sleep. And luckily (touch wood), you'll sleep through the night until 6.30-7.

Eat
You're a very fussy eater these days. You'll eat if it's Asian food, particularly rice or noodles. Though last Thursday, Aunty Mandy and I took you out to Westfield for some food after childcare and you were crazy about chocolate-dipped strawberries! That was surprising because you normally don't like sweet food.

You particularly like Japanese food - miso soup, teriyaki beef or chicken and rice is your favourite meal. You also guzzle down milk, which is good so I know at least you're getting plenty of calcium. You're not very keen on bread or western-style food, so poor Daddy is always out-voted when it comes to lunch or dinner.

You don't like eating your greens or fruit either, so my way around it is to make milkshake and mix fruit inside.

Talk
Your vocabulary is improving every day! You know to use "please" now when you want something, so we get a lot of "read please" and "ipad please" these days. You're learning to put 3 words together as well, ie. "go down please". You are always singing and humming the Thomas song. You also like to copy us when we are talking, you'll copy the intonation and pitch. I've noticed if a group of us are talking and laughing, you'll join in the laughing too.

Toys:
Still crazy about Thomas. These days you also like to build Thomas blocks, string the trains together, stack things on top of Thomas, pull out the Thomas books and put them back in the box. You also push the Thomas ride on around. And of course, when Daddy does the mowing, you'll pull out your lawn mower too.

More photos below:

22 month sticker photos

I took these photos with Daddy this afternoon (a week later than your usual sticker photos). You were laughing and having fun playing with Daddy outside so I ran into the house to get the big camera. Love these photos that I captured. You have such a cheeky personality!

Love your big smiles

Your "I'm dobbing on Daddy" face

You're only 2 months away from turning 2! This year you have developed so much. Your verbal skills in particular have improved this past month. Just today at lunch, you wanted water and said, "more please". Daddy and I were so surprised! You like doing things at your own pace though. When Daddy and I asked you to say "please" again, you refused. You have quite a stubborn streak! You are still ga-ga crazy over Thomas the Tank Engine. You are collecting quite the stash thanks to your generous Aunties, Uncles and Grandparents. You could listen to the Thomas theme song day and night and love singing the song.

Aunty Katrina was saying how you seem to have 2 Thomas t-shirts in rotation, that's because you refuse to wear anything that doesn't have Thomas on it! If your Thomas t-shirts are in the wash, you'll deign to wear one of the other characters but even then you have a pecking order. First you'll wear James and if that isn't available, you'll agree to wear Percy. The carers at daycare say you have quite a quirky personality and grow very attached to things. Last week, I went to collect you from daycare and the carers said they had to specially wash and dry the t-shirt you were wearing because you spilled milk on it and they wanted to change you but you refused to change into the other non-Thomas t-shirt that we packed in your bag. I now pack one of your little toys to take to daycare  because you like the comfort of having something familiar with you during the day. I always find you still holding your toy at the end of the day.

You've really regressed in your sleep this past month. It seems to have coincided with me weaning you earlier in the month. I've been trying to replace the bonding experience with extra cuddles at night but you are now demanding I hold your hand until you fall asleep. This also means when you wake up in the middle of the night, you want me to hold your hand til you fall asleep again. These days I just end up sleeping on the floor next to your crib because I'm so tired. We need to sleep train you again but now that you're older, you seem to be more scared of being alone in the room so I'm hesitant to do the cry it out method with you. We'll just have to take it slowly.

This is what happens when we ask you were your belly is

 New words that you've been saying this month:
- Lots of Thomas characters, in particular 'Gordon'. It looks like Thomas has a new rival now. You are loving any pictures or books with Gordon in it.
- paper, please, car, train, home, up, down, ants, straw, sticker, juice, rice, bowl, blue, shoes, hello, flower, oval, bye bye (or dai dai as you pronounce it), water

Sticker video:

More photos below:

13mths - Gorgeous day at the park

Even though it's autumn here, today was sunny and warm. We took you to a new park that's only a 5 min drive from home. You're too young to enjoy the park equipment but you still had fun with Daddy.

Milestone for the week: you're finally sleeping through the night! You have been getting over a virus and have been more tired than normal but hopefully you're learning self-settling techniques and after you get over your virus, you'll still be a good sleeper. Fingers crossed!

Do you look like Daddy?

Your legs are so skinny now

Sleep regression

Since a few weeks ago, you've regressed in your sleep.  Whenever we put you down for a nap or to sleep for the night, you would pull yourself to standing and cry and scream at the top of your lungs. I was worried you would sleep standing up and fall back and hit your head, so we would go in and put you on your back. Within seconds, you'll pull yourself back up again and cry even louder. Eventually, I would have no choice but to breastfeed you until you fall asleep.

Then you started waking up every 2-3 hours at night. When I put you down, you would pull yourself up and cry rather than go to sleep like you used to do. This happened every night without fail. I got so tired, eventually I would take you to our bed to co-sleep around 3-4am. Finally in frustration, I googled '12 month sleep problems'. I was surprised that it is actually quite common and is termed the 13-month regression. It coincides with your next development milestone of learning to walk and talk. You need more comfort and security because there is so much going on in your head. So based on internet advice, we have to do whatever works for you to get you to sleep, ie. nursing to sleep, co-sleeping, and definitely no crying it out. 

Apparently, this could go on for weeks. We'll just have to tough it out and hope that you'll be happy to fall asleep on your own again soon.

Anyway, I was going through my phone to delete some old photos and videos (I'm always running out of space because I take so many photos and videos of you) and couldn't believe how chubby you were at the 7-9 month mark!

And a video at 37 weeks (8 months) -

Week 38: Sleep training...again

We've moved into our new home almost a month now and your night-time sleep has been getting worse and worse. Early this week you were waking up every 2 hours at night and my usual tactic of feeding you to sleep was no longer working. I was exhausted and looked into booking a stay at the Tresilian to get some professional help to sleep train you. I made an appointment with the early childhood centre so that I could get a referral. A friend of mine had just been to Tresilian and said it had changed their lives, her daughter now sleeps through the night and goes down for long naps without any hassles. It sounded too good to be true! Alas, it seems lots of people need help with sleep-training and the waiting period is over a month. I had to do something now, especially as we just got a spot at daycare for you starting next Jan. I need you to be able to self-settle and be able to nap during the day without me being right next to you

So, the hard work started 2 nights ago. I read a book that promised sleep-training in 3 days...so I started following the instructions. I went through your usual routine and put you down in your crib rather than letting you fall asleep after your feed. Then I left the room. Previously I was staying in the room because I didn't want you to think I was abandoning you but that was obviously not working. Sometimes I was stuck in the room for over an hour shushing you and patting you until I got hungry for dinner and Daddy had to take over. This time, I shut the door and put the timer on. I counted down to 5 minutes while listening to the sounds of your cries. I had to learn to decipher when you were really upset (escalating cry) or if you were settling yourself into sleep (intermittent crying or woo-wooing). After 5 minutes, if you were still crying loudly, I had to knock loudly and slowly on the door for 30 seconds. Apparently the slow knocking was supposed to calm you down. When I went in after the first 5 minutes, you stopped crying. I didn't make any eye contact with you, just did the shushing sound and turned you to your back (you always rolled on to your tummy to do your wailing). Then I walked out the door and put the timer on for another 5 minutes. If possible, this 2nd time you cried even louder! I felt so bad listening to you crying. But I kept telling myself, you have to learn to self-settle. This will be good for you in the long-run. I had to stay strong!

Week 36: Napping

I love watching you sleep. Here are some photos of you napping:

Here is a video I took of you waking up from your morning nap last week:

Such long lashes and chubby cheeks!

You fell asleep in your car seat. Look at the double chin! hehe

Taken today, love those cheeks... :)

Week 29: Mid-week round-up

Each day seems to speed by now that we are nap training. It feels like an endless cycle of eat-play-sleep. You're only supposed to be awake for 2 hours so I watch you closely after 2 hours to catch your sleepy signs. As soon as you yawn or rub your eyes, I whisk you away from your play mat and put you through your nap routine. It feels like an endless cycle of putting you down in your crib, saying good night and walking out then hearing you cry and shriek and having to go back in and comfort you. You seem to know it's nap time and you really try to fight it. Let's hope you will learn soon as I really need time to start packing up the house while you take your naps!

I think I forgot to mention that we bought a house last week. I can't believe I forgot to mention it! For you, the new house will be the only house you know but we actually became a family of 3 in this little 2-br townhouse. All 3 of us have been sleeping in the main bedroom together. It's a little cosy especially after you got too big for the bassinet and we had to get a new crib that would fit the room but I like having you right next to our bed when you're sleeping. I don't randomly get up in the middle of the night to check you anymore but I like being able to reach out and comfort you if I hear you getting up. You've actually done the same and reached out to touch me through the bars to let me know you're awake! It was so cute.

Anyway, all of this background is to explain why I haven't had time to take that many photos or videos this week! I've been busy packing and cleaning up. Still, I do have a few photos from what we've been up.

You started trying pears this week and you love it! Here's a video of Grandma feeding you pureed pears for the first time. I've never seen you lean forward to eat more until you tried pears.

Photos from this week:

Trying pears

"I want to feed myself"

Going out for a walk and watching Grandma talk on her phone

Week 29: More gurgling and toes

You did your sing-song gurgling again this morning while doing your new trick of reaching for your toes. Here's a video combining your 2 new skills:

We went for your regular checkup at the baby health clinic today. I found out you've grown 4cm in 3 weeks! We last measured you at the medical centre 3 weeks when we got your immunisations. You're now in the 50th-75th percentile for height. You also weigh 8kg, which surprisingly is only in the 25th-50th percentile. I thought you were chubby for your age but you're actually below average in weight!

I also started nap-training you today. I want to stop the habit of you falling asleep while feeding you, so I'm following the traditional routine of: Sleep-Eat-Play. I made sure I fed you first, then we went downstairs to play. I put on a nursery rhyme CD and sang to you. After you digested a bit, I gave you some tummy time. You've started doing the swivel on your tummy, moving almost 360 degrees as I moved your toys just out of your reach. When you started rubbing your eyes, I took you upstairs, changed your nappy and put you into your sleep sack. I held you while singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (an easy song that everyone knows, so hopefully others will be able to put you to sleep). I turned on the white noise app and put you in your crib while you were still awake, gave you a few pats, sang Twinkle Twinkle again and gave you a kiss on your forehead, saying "Good night sweetie". Then I left the room.

Week 28: Falling asleep on your own (video working now)

You're 6.5 months now and still not sleeping through the night. I got 2 blissful nights where you slept for 8 hours straight when you were 4 months old and I thought you were improving as you only woke up twice a night. At 5 months you regressed and started waking up 3 times a night.

I spoke to the midwife at the health centre and we figured out it was because you would fall asleep after only breastfeeding on one side. I didn't want to wake you up to finish the other side but that meant you would wake up more often. After that, I made you finish both sides and you slept a bit longer.

At least we don't have too much trouble putting you to sleep at night. You start rubbing your eyes around 6.30-7pm and we go through a consistent bedtime routine so that you learn the cues it's time to sleep. You often fall asleep while I am feeding you but I'm trying to stop that so you can learn to self-settle and fall asleep on your own. Slowly you're learning to self-settle. You often have a bit of a whinge before you fall asleep. I recorded your whinging tonight, it was so cute because you learnt a new sound: 'meh meh meh'. You fell asleep a few minutes after I finished recording you.

Here's the audio with photos from this weekend (I've taken the privacy setting off now). The last photo was taken the day before. It was hot that night so we decided to take the sleep sack off. Without the sleep sack, you used your feet to move your body around the crib. When we came back upstairs to see you, we found you had moved 180 degrees in your crib. Daddy had to move you back because he was worried you'd knock your head.

You're getting really flexible and starting to suck your toes! Daddy was horrified when he first saw you do that and promptly took your foot out of your mouth. I thought it was really funny so I took a video and some photos:

Photos:

Week 24 photostory: Graduating to your new crib

You finally outgrew the little bassinet that you've been sleeping in since we brought you home from the hospital. You've been sleeping in your new crib since Sunday. I thought it might take a while for you to get used to your bigger crib but you slept soundly on Sunday night and on Monday morning, you didn't even call out to me when you woke up. I could see you awake in your crib, just looking around at your new surroundings and playing with the little chime I put up on your crib.  You must love being able to stretch out and not hit your arms against the wall.

You must really love the crib because you slept for 8 hours straight last night and you took 2 naps in it today! These are such huge milestones, especially napping during the day because you've always needed me to sleep right next to you during your naps. I decided to do some nap training with you today. I tried it last week and you cried and refused to sleep in the bassinet. Today I put you in the crib while you were still awake and you fell asleep on your own.

Here you are having your nap after playing with petite Sophie and using the lovely blanket - both gifts from Cousin Lan in America.

Here is a pic taken after Daddy put the crib together on Sunday, look how much space you have to roll around!

Week 21: First day of school

5 months old and Mummy already making you go to school!

I took you to your first baby class (gymbaroo) yesterday. There were 7 other babies in the class ranging from 3 months old to 6 months (non-crawler class). The teacher led us in songs, exercises, we even did some dancing! The 2nd half of the class was using the play gym where there were lots of fun baby equipment to help you do more exercises.

Excited for first day of baby class!

The very first exercise in the class involved doing tummy time, which is not your favourite thing. All the other babies did tummy time with their heads lifted up. You were the only baby with your head lying down on the mat the entire time. So funny! I told the teacher you hated tummy time, so she gave me lots of tips to help you do more tummy time, which we have been doing today.

The class was only 45 minutes but it was still quite tiring for you because you fell asleep in the car-ride home and then took a really long nap when we got home. You only woke up to feed and then fell asleep again. Too much excitement in one day for you!

Asleep in the car

Week 20 photo story: A typical day

Since about 4 months old, you settled yourself into a routine of taking 3 naps a day every 2-3 hours. If you don't get your nap or you don't sleep long enough, you become a bit grumpy. Your Aunty Mandy found out first-hand when she came to visit you last week. It's a funny story, here's what happened:

Aunty Mandy wanted to visit you so I told her the approximate time you would be awake. Only that day you didn't fall asleep until about 20 mins before Aunty Mandy came over. While watching you sleep, she accidentally woke you up. You showed your annoyance by avoiding eye contact with her during her visit. I was holding you while Aunty Mandy kept trying to catch your attention. No matter how many times she moved in front of your face, you would immediately turn your head the other way. It was like a little dance, she would move one direction and your head would swivel to the opposite direction. I had no idea 4 month old babies were able to show their annoyance like that! You didn't hold a grudge for too long. By the end of her visit, you guys were friends again.

So this is how we usually spend a typical weekday:

7am: you wake up. You hardly ever cry when you wake up in the morning. You sometimes call out to me or you'll move around in your bassinet. When I hear you wake up, I'll pop my head over your bassinet. Whenever you see me, you'll give me a wide gummy smile. I'll pick you up for a cuddle and then take you to your nursery for a nappy change. Then it's time for your feed. When you finish one side, I'll take you downstairs and put you in the bouncer while I have breakfast. In the mornings, you're happy to play on your own for a bit while I have my cereal. As Daddy gets ready to leave for work, he'll give you a cuddle and play with you a bit before he goes. After I finish breakfast, we'll have play time.  I'll read you a story, sing some nursery rhymes, or take some photos/videos for the blog. Here are some photos from today's playtime:

We read a new book today

It's a cloth book so you're able to turn the pages

Week 18: Our alarm clock

Round 2 for sleeping through the night, yay! You woke up at 10pm last night but we rocked you back to sleep in your cot and you didn't wake up again until 5am this morning. I love it when you wake up and play on your own, cooing to yourself. You were obviously very hungry at 5am, so I took you back into our bed and fed you. I fell back asleep listening to you happily chatting to yourself, lying between me and Daddy. I woke up at 7.30am and Daddy told me a funny story. He was sleeping and woke up to a gentle tapping. He turned over and found it was you tapping him on the back! Luckily you were there to wake him up because he missed this morning's alarm. What a cute alarm clock you make.

You've got more control over your hands now. Here is a video and some photos I took  yesterday of you on the activity mat. You're able to grab the toys now and promptly put them into your mouth.

From the archives: Our little Superman almost 5 weeks old

Here is a video taken when you were almost 5 weeks old. You had such skinny arms and legs and your eyes were still unfocused. At 4 months old now, you're a little chubster and much more coordinated. You loved doing the Superman pose as a newborn, you can see it in the video. I'm sad you don't do it anymore, just goes to show I have to take lots of photos and videos because you're growing up so fast.

Click for  more photos from your first month. I miss that newborn stage already!

Week 17 video and sleep training

Now that Daddy is home, you have someone different to change your morning nappy and to play with you. Here's a video of you and Daddy this morning. You let off a major fart near the end of the video and being the mature parents that we are, we cracked up laughing and couldn't stop.

Week 17 video and photo story: Eat, sleep, play

You've hit 4 months now! It's a big milestone because you're not technically a newborn anymore. I can see you're developing your motor skills and cognitive skills now. You're also able to see further and more colours.  I can't feed you in the nursery or in the living room anymore because you get so easily distracted by light and shadows. You'll feed for a bit and then hear a noise or see some dancing light and immediately turn to investigate. It's cute for a while but then quite tedious because it takes sooo long to feed you. Now, I only feed you in the bedroom, lying down. There are no distractions and the added benefit is you fall asleep after your feed. Which sounds wonderful, except you want me to be lying down right next to you while you sleep. If I leave the bed, you'll often wake up within 5 minutes. All the books say the routine should be: Eat, Play, Sleep but I have it a bit back to front. You Eat, Sleep and then Play. I've tried it the traditional way but it doesn't seem to work for us. So for the time being, we'll stick with this routine until you're 6 months and then we'll do some nap training. I've read that hitting 4 months is quite overwhelming because you're teething, developing so quickly and learning so much. Throwing in sleep/nap training as well will just be too much for you.

This morning while you napped, I decided to take a video of you to remember all your baby mannerisms that you may soon grow out of. I love watching you sleep. You look so peaceful and calm. I look at your long lashes and your bow lips and it makes me smile. I've taken so many photos of you sleeping but not a proper video. So here it is. A video that somehow perfectly captured the way you move your mouth in your sleep, as though you were still feeding; the way you stretch your arms out and wake yourself up; and the way you look over at me when you wake up and give me a sweet smile.

Week 16 video: Morning chatter

I love our mornings together. You're always so sweet and cheery. This morning, I woke up and heard you sucking your hands in your cot. I peered over the cot and when you saw me, you gave me your big gummy smile. How could the day start out any better?

I change your nappy and take you back into our bed and we play for a bit. You keep sucking your hands and I take advantage of the beautiful morning light and take photos and a video of you.

Week 16 and Mashimaro

You've reached another week and seem to be getting cuter and chubbier. I thought you were actually 4 months old today and put together this little photo story. I jumped the gun and it's actually next week! Oh well, I spent too much time on the photo so am uploading anyway!

Here's a video from this morning. If you listen carefully, you can hear Daddy snoring in the background: