Watch Me Grow!

NTUC @ Dawson Place

2008-03-31T10:58:00.002+08:00

Seated happily in the trolley for the first time, shaking legs and trying to reach for things on the shelves.

How his playpen got "injured"

2008-03-28T10:18:00.002+08:00

I bite! I bite! I bite, bite, bite!

MRT ride

2008-03-28T10:11:00.002+08:00

Took Caden on his 2nd MRT ride to visit his grandparents in Clementi. Pictures were taken just before he fell ill.

Hmm..I wonder if I can pull down uncle's pants!

TVC

2008-03-24T11:40:00.001+08:00

Some of Caden’s favourite TVC include (not according to ranking):

1. Ribena with Bollywood-inspired jingle
2. Health Promotion Board’s Hand Foot Mouth Disease (He actually laughs at this one.)
3. Goldheart Jewellery with ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ jingle
4. Mocca’s half-naked, muscle-flexing man who tried to sell his flat (Yucks!)
5. Cold Storage’s rolling apples, jumping cows ad sometime ago

He would stop whatever he’s doing and watch it intensely whenever any of these TVC comes on. Block his view and he’ll attempt to shift away.

Cough, cough, sniff, sniff

2008-03-14T12:10:00.002+08:00

About two weeks ago, our whole family fell sick. Caden, Vincent and myself was given 3, 2 and 1-day MC respectively.

Caden caught the flu bug somewhere first - though I suspect it was from my mom-in-law’s place – and was the worst hit. He had chesty cough, running nose, diarrhea, was vomiting and lost his appetite. He refused milk and water which might bring about dehydration.

We took him to our family doctor but the medication that he prescribed did not work. Thus, on 16 March (Sunday) evening, we decided to take him to KKH Children’s Emergency.

The doctor told us that there was no cause for alarm as his lungs were clear and it is normal for a baby to defecate up to 10 times per day. But Caden was diagnosed with Bronchiolitis (not Bronchitis) which affected his airway and indirectly his appetite.

Doctor ordered a 5-minute ‘smoking’ or ‘gassing’ procedure to open up his airway. I had to hold the mask near his face so that he could inhale the ‘smoke’ while his dad restrained him. That was a very terrible experience.

Caden wailed helplessly and struggled to break free. Tears rolled down his cheeks. It was heart wrenching to watch him go through that. Yet I can’t turn away or close my eyes. It was as if I was trying to put him to sleep.

I was amused when the nurse handed me Caden’s MC. “Who should I submit it to? My mother-in-law? To tell her Caden is sick?” The nurse replied that we could use it to apply for family or childcare leave. Why didn’t I think of that?

Giving him medication was another challenge. He knew it was time for medicine whenever we brought him into the kitchen and rested his head on our elbow. Fortunately, after several times, he was ok with it and did not kick up much fuss.

Sigh…it’s tiring when a child falls sick but satisfying when he is nursed back to health.

So fun!

2008-03-04T16:55:00.003+08:00

Nowadays, Caden would

~ crawl towards me, stand up on his two little feet and stretch out his hands to be carried
~ make lots of funny noises if left alone in the room
~ put everything into his mouth, both edible and inedible
~ attempt to walk
~ stand up in the middle of the room without any support
~ laugh loudly when hubby rubs his stubby chin on his face or hands
~ stuff his face into the huge pillow we put on the floor
~ play catching with his cousin - he crawls while she runs
~ play hide and seek with me
~ squeak like a parrot when he’s excited
~ laugh when I laugh even though he has no idea what’s happening
~ shake his head not knowing what that means
~ reach for things on the table
~ give a smile so huge that we couldn't see his eyes
~ give granny or mummy a bite on the shoulder at times
~ play with buttons, switches, etc, and
~ drool all over the place!

On numerous occasions, I carried him under his arms and spun him around the room. He was so giddy after, he couldn’t sit up straight!

Caden in a box!

2008-02-22T10:12:00.002+08:00

"Mummy, I promise to be good! Don't send me to Siberia!"

Favouritism

2008-02-11T09:50:00.000+08:00

Already he's showing favouritism and knows how to stretch out both hands showing his demand to be carried whenever me or my mother-in-law walk by.

Daddy's quite jealous and commented last night that he regretted moving Caden to another room as he 'lost' the opportunity to bond with him and be closer to him than he is right now.

In parenting, there's always the 'GOOD' parent and the 'BAD' parent. It is obvious who is which. I'm the good one cos I enjoy playing with him and letting him get away with almost whatever he wants to do. But there must be someone who plays the role of a disciplinarian. Who else could do that better than a teacher right?

But there's always opportunities in future for father and son to do MANLY things.

Walking

2008-02-01T08:51:00.001+08:00

Caden is a very active and keen learner.

He has been practising to walk and learning to stand without support. It's quite fun watching him do it as he sometimes would appear to be running from one end of his playpen to the other.

I do hope he learns how to do it soon but that also means we'll have to start running after him.

Over the weekend

2008-01-28T16:58:00.000+08:00

It's been quite some time since we brought Caden to the library. Always worried that he'll burst out crying all of a sudden and disturb the other library users. But we've always been borrowing books so that I can read to him once in a while.

Comfortably sitted on daddy's lap.

Next stop...NTUC Fairprice supermarket at the ulu Queenstown area for his infant cereal.

"Daddy, Mummy...when can we go home? I'm BORED!"

Discipline

2008-01-15T09:25:00.000+08:00

Caden’s personality is showing. He’s impatient, a wee spoilt, attention seeking, playful and sociable. When he’s unhappy, he either screams or cries non-stop.

Last Sunday was one such day when he practically drove us up the wall. Fed him, played with him, let him watched his favourite VCD, read to him and after a nap, he was still unhappy and visibly irritated. By what, we have no faintest idea.

His dad then dealt with him the hard way. He put Caden in his playpen, switched on the aircon, switched off the lights and let him cry himself to his satisfaction.
I agree Caden needs disciplining now since he’s slightly older and perhaps understand a little better. If not, we would really have a hard time handling him in future. But I simply can’t stand hearing him cry cos my heart will cringe.

Fast Forward

2008-01-07T17:56:00.000+08:00

This entry is being fast forward from when Caden is two weeks old to his current age of eight months, two weeks old and 5 days old. Been too lazy to do it.

He’s truly been a joy. My dad described his smile as the kind that can swoon many girls in future. I totally agree. Then again, which parent doesn’t? Caden really has a very, very, saccharine smile that makes my heart melts.

On December 1, 2007, we ‘kicked’ him out to sleep in his own room. Each morning, as we open the door to his room, he would be standing there in his playpen, look towards our direction and give us his BIGGEST SMILE, as if to say: “Hi Mum/Dad! Good Morning!”

Heard many horrifying stories from new mums that their baby fell sick and have had diarrhea, vomit, rashes, fever, flu, etc. Not sure why, but Caden has been never been sick though he tends to be phlegmy. No medication needed. I hope he continue to stay that way. Perhaps it’s because of the amount of milk and apples I ate when I was pregnant or simply because his mum is as strong as an ox!

He’s not exactly been accident free. Fell off the bed twice! The first time happened on 25 November 2007 and it was due my hubby’s negligence and the other...hmm…can’t comment but definitely not me. How could it be me when I even have nightmare of him falling off the bed prior to it happening?! Thankfully, there’s no major repercussion apart from a bruise in his eye. I was even contemplating sending him to do a CT scan or MRI for fear of some blood clot in his brain.

His neck is getting better nowadays. We haven’t been doing his physio exercises diligently but we’re pretty sure Caden will be declared ok at his next checkup at KKH later this month.

Caden has already got eight teeth! Gave him baby biscuits to chew on, pureed fruits and cereals in addition to his milk intake. On top of that, he will put whatever his little hands can lay on straight into his mouth!

On weekends, we’ll let him crawl back and forth between the study and his room. He enjoyed that tremendously. Occasionally, he’ll lose his balance and hit his head against the hard marble flooring. Ouch! Physical pain for him but heart pain for me. That’s part of growing up?

Sometimes, he’ll cry even after being fed. He cries most often when he’s sleepy and yet refuses to go to sleep for fear of missing out the fun. Coaxing him isn’t exactly a walk in the park too. Can be very draining to look after him the whole day.

When we’re bored and daddy’s not home, I’ll put him in the stroller and walk around the estate. The canal at the back of our block has many fascinating things to see such as lizards, fishes, tortoises, and kingfishers. Two weekends ago, I even took him to a ride in the MRT train from Tiong Bahru to pay his grandparents a surprise visit at Clementi!

At his last checkup, he weighs 9.275kg and measures 72cm in height. Heavy to carry him around but I love doing so.

Both Maisy and Caden are getting along fine especially since Maisy always waits patiently for Caden to drop his food.

Now I’m looking forward to Caden standing independently, without any support and taking that first step. It should be fun to watch. Think it wouldn’t be too long before that happens cos Caden learns fast, much to my amazement.

My son’s growing up too fast…

The Beginning

2007-10-13T23:10:00.000+08:00

Went for my scheduled appointment in the late afternoon on 19 April 2007 (Thu) to see Dr SC Quek. After a routine check, I was advised to have the baby later at night via c-section as the baby was in a breech position but more importantly the amniotic fluid around the baby was running low.

My pregnancy lasted a total of 37 weeks and 4 days and Caden Tang Wei Zheng was born on that night at 11.11pm weighing 3.335kg (7.352lb).

Welcome to the family our little prince...

Because he was "stuck" in a breech position for quite sometime, he has a condition known as Congenital Muscular Torticollis or commonly known as "wry neck". Simply out, Caden will tend to tilt his head to one side. This is due to tight muscles on one side of the neck. In Caden's case, it's his left muscle that needs stretching.

Before we were discharged, a Physiotherapist came by to explain his condition and also taught as a set of exercises to do for him everyday. Fortunately, the condition usually resolves within a year if I faithfully carry out the prescribed exercise daily.

Home Sweet Home

Thankfully, on and off, daddy brought stuff home. If not, I wonder, how to pack everything into his little yellow van?

Yup. This was only a portion of it.

First 2 Weeks

Being a new mum is tough. So many well-meaning advise. It was hard to decide what to listen and what not to. Experienced mummy vs books. Plus, I was hard on myself. I wanted only the best for Caden and unknowingly put myself under lots of pressure.

I refused to feed Caden using the bottle in case he develop nipple-teat confusion. I refused to let him suck on pacifier to avoid over-reliance of it. I refused to give him water as breastmilk provide sufficient water. I refused many other things.

I finally broke down when I thought I did not have enough breastmilk to feed him. I was burnt out. But eventually, with the help of the new daddy, I learnt to go easy on myself and just to enjoy the process.

Kodak Moments

Spring-Roll!

A very hands-on dad...I'm so proud of him!

My little angel looking alert.

Daddy LOVES Me!

2007-09-22T17:51:00.000+08:00