Some new photos

Caitlin just passed the 5 month mark. Just grown so much and it's been just pure joy watching her grow. Recently, she's taken to either licking any surface that she can get her mouth close to (including my face) or pulling things towards her face so she can put it in her mouth (that includes her feet). She's also begun sticking her tongue out at us. She enjoys it because she gets a squeal of delight from me. Last night, Kelvin was playing Rock Band and she was "singing" right along in a loud voice. Not in tune of course but there was a lot of sound in co-ordination with the music.

Below she's playing with her hanging mobile and some pictures of her being fed for the first time. Now she's such a pro at feeding. She'll open her mouth wide and chomp down, even biting the spoon.

Conquering baby outing sans maid

The maid went out with Kelvin's mother and the other maids tonight. They visited the Chinese gardens to look at the lantern festival. Hence, we were left to handle the baby ourselves.

Kelvin and decided to have a little outing of our own. Since, 1st September was Teacher's Day, the we get to ride the Singapore Flyer for free for the entire month. Kelvin and I went by ourselves yesterday to check it out. I asked and we get one free ride per day, even on weekends.

I feel so proud, our first outing with just Kelvin and I handling the baby alone. It wasn't too bad. She got a bit restless in the car so I breastfed her while waiting to get into the Singapore Flyer carpark. While we were 42 stories up in the air, she hungry again so I fed her while up there in the flyer pod. I must say, I felt so proud. It was a surreal experience--breastfeeding with a stunning view of the Singapore skyline at night. I think I deserve some kind of medal. Anyway, the point is that Kelvin and I worked as a team and we proved to ourselves that it IS possible to bring baby out and it's not too difficult.

The whole Flyer experience is definitely better at night. It felt really cosy in the pod. We pushed the pram into the pod as well so we had all our barang with us which was useful since Kelvin and I kept dropping baby's face towels. The skyline looked really spectacular because it was all lit up. The Flyer itself looked really cool; glowing in different colours.

On the way home, I fed Caitlin in the car until she nodded off to sleep. We got home past her night bath time but it was okay. I think we survived unscathed.

Above: I think these are the stands for the F1 race, the first ever F1 night race. The black building must be the pits where all the action is.

Above: Another view of the pits with the flyer in the foreground. It wasn't until we got off the flyer that we realized the wheel was constantly changing colours.

Above: A view of fullerton and the Esplanade. The "blazing white hot" areas around the Esplanade are the actual roads that are part of the race track. They were testing the lights for the F1 race.

Below: A view of Suntec city and more roads that form part of the F1 track.

Eating genes

A mother's intuition is always right. I thought that Caitlin wouldn't have too much problems with solids and that she's ready to try. Two days ago we mixed 1 teaspoon of plain rice cereal with formula milk. Caitlin was eager to try amd opened her mouth really wide. Needless to say she didn't finish all of it but for her virgin meal of liquid mush, she was really good at it. She's got the opening and chewing part down pat. Unfortunately, she wasn't quite sure what to do with the stuff once in was in her mouth.

The next day, the maid fed her another round while I wasn't there. I was told she finished the entire bowl. So, she'll eat depending on whether she's hungry.

However, I'll probably only really start her on solids next month. This month's just for her to get practice-play.

So I'm told that some babies don't take well to solids at all while some are natural at it. I would like to think Caitlin falls into the latter category. After all, she's got Kelvin's and my genes. Let's face it, we both like our food and Kelvin's mom is a very good cook. Hence, we both maintian a well-fed state of being.

Baby deposited

I've instructed Kelvin the deposit Caitlin at his mother's while I get some rest at home. Yesterday afternoon I had my wisdom tooth taken out because it was rotten. Luckily, it was only the enamel that was affected and not the deeper part of the tooth. Actually, I wanted to do it right after my maternity leave but decided that my students needed me more. Also, when the dentist told me he would give me 5 days of MC as it's a surgical procedure, I became really paranoid about the pain. Hence, the delay till now.

I'm happy to report that it all went really well. There was minimal bleeding and I held my mouth open with champion "ah-ness". The dentist was so pleased he said he would give me a discount. He injected the entire area with so much drugs that I really felt no pain at all. I was feeling all gung-ho and even contemplated going back to work the next day. That is, until the drugs wore off and the pain started setting in. I couldn't sleep the entire night because of the pain. Kelvin's snoring and Caitlin's restlessness didn't help. I maybe got snatches of half-hour slots 3 times last night. So to get some rest, I told Kelvin to send Caitlin over to Grandma's first and I'll make my way there later. What I won't do to continue breastfeeding. I think I'm going to be one of those mothers who feels sad when the time comes to stop.

Sigh. I have a hunch that she's going to ready for solids soon. Last night she started chewing on one of her toys with reckless abandonment. She even let out a whine when it was time for her bath and we had to take it away. She's also begun smacking her lips and sucking her fingers even after she's been breastfed.

On a more positive note, I continue to be amazed at how much attention she gets whenever we bring her out. Maybe it's just that she's at that age when babies are at their maximum cuteness. I don't know why total strangers are so attracted to her. I think it has to do with the fact that she stares at people and isn't afraid to meet their gaze. Then again, she just stares at everything when we bring her out. Sometimes, even when she's tired, she'd rather look at stuff around her than sleep. Is this normal? I remember being like that as a child as well. I'd look out the car window and continually ask "what's dat?" and "why like dat?".

Noisy baby

It must be that she's exercising her lungs. Caitlin's becoming a lot more vocal. She'll squeal with delight when she's playing with us or she'll go "woo-woo-wooo" when she's complaining about not getting her milk.

She just crossed the four month mark. While they say breastmilk is perfectly sufficient for her till she's six months, it's almost time to introduce solids and I went out today and got a special feeding set with a tiny little spoon. The books say to feed her a FULL quarter of a teaspoon the first time we introduce solids. "Wah! So much?! Are you sure she can finish?" says Kelvin. Well, we're supposed to feed it to her scrap by scrap. In fact, the very first time we let her try solids we're supposed to smear some on the table or her hand in hope that she'll lick it off. Then, it won't be as "foreign" when we put it on a spoon. The books also recommend letting her eat without a shirt on. Er, does that mean the baby or the parent feeding the baby?

Oh well, wish me luck people.