23 wks+

Grabby hands
Aiyayai eating is hard work again because baby's taking an interest in what we eat now and reaches out and grabs anything she can - mostly the edges of plates or bowls or the table mats. I have to be careful when drinking now because she'll also reach out to push any mug I put to my lips. She doesn't just feint at things any more, she can accurately reach for and yank on things.

And it's hard using the computer now because she's discovered the keyboard and, when she's tired of being made to sit on my lap while I surf, will reach for the keys and bash at random. Her first meaningful act on the keyboard was to increase the size of the text (CTRL++) being viewed. Clever Boo.

She's still working out her hands though. There have been a couple of really cute moments - usually when I'm changing her diaper - when she'll start yanking the fingers of one hand with the other, probably out of boredom, and then eventually start to look at each hand in wonder. A day ago I realised she was staring intently at her right hand while slowly opening and closing her fist repeatedly. You could see the cogs turning in her head.

Mummumm
We also can't wait to start weaning her. She looks keenly at all the food we eat and we often hold pieces of food under her nose to let her smell them. More often than not, she'll lean forward and open her mouth when we do this. I let her smell and lick an apple I was eating the other day. She lost interest after the second lick.

Today we let her smell the pepper grinder. She didn't like that - made a face and quickly leaned away from it. But she liked the smell of the bottle of honey beer we had with our vegetable risotto and leaned forward to eat the rim of the mug of beer I held it in front of her. Daddy objected otherwise I would have dipped a finger into the beer and let her taste it. Maybe I am an unfit mother.

Where are baby's toesies?
Besides the food, she also loves lying on her back now and grabbing her toes. If I sit her upright in the u-shaped feeding cushion, she'll eventually lean off it sideways, topple herself over, push herself up onto her front and then roll over onto her back and grab her toes, most pleased with herself.

For the life of me I can't not say toesies instead of toes. It's sickening even me but I can't stop myself.

She goes wild...
... if one of us carries her and rushes towards the other person, who kisses her on her face, both of us making idiotic 'bababababa' noises all the while. Oh she shrieks with delight when we do this, so much so that we have to call a halt after five or six such rushes. Otherwise she'd probably combust with excitement.

Weight and see
We'll find out how much she weighs post-illness tomorrow. And how long she's grown. Note there is only one fold in her chubby thigh now. There used to be two. Sigh, my little baby is growing into toddlerhood already.

The grindstone looms
Boo-hoo, I've arranged the date to return to work (22 March) and baby is to start nursery full-time then too. Part of me is looking forward to going back to work, but most of me is sobbing quietly in a corner because I won't be able to wake up and beam at her and bounce around the living room with her to music, ALL DAY LONG if I want, any more.

I'm a bit worried as to how she'll take to it because she seems to have become a little more clingy since we came back to London. Well, maybe not so much clingy as more vocal about when I leave the room. And, sometimes, even when Alex or Elizabeth are carrying her, they say she'll look round the room for me. And if she doesn't see me, she starts howling. But never mind her, how the heck am I supposed to cope if she's bawling in nursery?!

23 wks+

I may have been wrong...
Boo may be teething but I think the hissy fits the other day was her throwing a tantrum rather than teething. I realised this after her second hissy fit in the evening, when I managed to distract her both successfully and completely with more music. If she was in pain surely Samantha Mumba would have limited apppeal?

She's started a new range of sounds too: a more high-pitched, indignant cry: like the hinge of a rusty gate you've just kicked open. The (born in the year of the) chicken in her may be coming out. She uses it when utterly bored and for not too many apparent reasons I can see. Must be pissing her off though that it makes me laugh before checking to see what it is she wants.

Maybe she's missing the stimulation of people and the freedom of space back home. I don't understand though: put her on the changing mat and she'll push like mad with her legs like she wants to paddle across the Atlantic. Put her on the single futon mattress to lie on and she just looks up at you bored. Dangling favourite toys like Jackie's yellow duckie in front of her aren't enough to entice her to move either.

Haha, today she tried to make an escape from the baby seat I put her in while scrambling eggs for my lunch. Note the guilty look in her eye. Poor thing, I laughed when I saw her. There must be a special circle in hell for parents who take pictures of their children in distress before helping them. When she realised she couldn't get out, she settled back into it, pouted and wept . Luckily lunch was cooked by then so I got her and sat her on my lap, making her watch the afternoon news while I ate.

22 wks+

Aiya...
Baby is definitely teething. She keeps complaining for no reason that I can see and is miserable if there is nothing in her mouth to chew. Earlier when I tried to put her down to sleep she kept going 'WaaAahAahAahAaahh' while I tried fingers, pacifier, teether and finally boob to put her to sleep. Mommy's magic still works but am now going to have to look up remedies I think.

I could feel quite a number of uneven little bumps under her gums as I was making my way round her mouth with my index finger. Poor thing.

Soothing the savage beast
I keep forgetting how good music is for when you're at your wit's end to entertain baby. As I was yesterday. Then I turned on the computer and remembered our batches of one-hit wonders. Like that Samantha Mumba song - dunno the title - and Las Ketchup and stuff like that. Instant pick-me-up. So today I decided to go shopping for more music when I went out to pick up the groceries.

Came back with a lot more than I meant to buy. This is what happens when you are thwarted on holiday. Bought baby what I hope will be her new favourite toy - a crinkly bear. It cost a criminal £9, but it was the only thing approaching a rattle in the store that wasn't hard or heavy enough to injure her should she bash herself repeatedly on the bridge of her nose with it, as she has tended to do with some of the other toys we have given her. Started getting very excited over some of the wooden toys on offer too - like 100 wooden blocks in a box. Always wanted those myself! Unfortunately we're supposed to wait till she's three.

Was disappointed to find that the rest of Jose Gonzalez's CD (Veneer) really wasn't as good as that one song, Heartbeats. So I bought the single instead. Stupidly listened to the shopgirl when I asked if she thought the DVD they were also selling would work on a CD player. It listed the two versions of the song on the DVD as audio files you see. But of course it didn't work on our CD player.

So I am still listening to it on our computer's crappy speakers. Which I could have done for free since I know where to find the song on the internet. Duh. On the other hand, the girl was very nice and gave me two stamps more than I deserved on my Virgin loyalty card. Sigh, might be hard to go back and change it anyway since, like the good paranoid citizen I should be, I already ripped the receipt into little pieces before binning it.

22 wks+

How to roast a chicken
1) First pick the best-looking bird. Swipe away inferior specimens.


















2) When you are happy with your selection, check your recipe to make sure you have all the ingredients to hand. Now remove the bird's innards. Replace them with your stuffing of choice.





































3) When tired by your exertions, throw yourself back to demonstrate your utter exhaustion. Get mommy to pick you up and insert a pacifier for immediate gratification.

























Development notes
While baby was home she learned to sit up more, particularly in the leaning forward and clutching her toes position. And she further developed her grabbing ability. Now she doesn't just make faint attempts to hold things, she'll lunge for anything: bottles, spoons, plates, spectacles and, if you're not careful, gouge your eyes out. There's already a little scab on my chin from her firmly questing fingers.

She's also begun to mumble her complaints while munching on her fingers or thumb which, nowadays, are almost constantly in her mouth. We think she picked this up from Ming Jie koko, who speaks fluent Pingu.

I also think she's definitely teething as she's developed a real fondness for her pacifiers. If she wakes up in the middle of the night and doesn't find one in her mouth to chew and suck on, you can bet she'll start bopping my face with her little fist (Alex cleverly shields himself with the duvet) and then hrrmphing her complaints. I changed her diaper and fed her twice the night before last before realising that we just needed the pacifier to shut her up again.

And, sometimes, even the pacifier won't do and she has to jam her little thumb into the furthest reaches of her gums to satisfy herself. It's cute but I keep worrying she'll topple forward and poke herself in the back of her throat one of these days.

Pictures from home

Chez Lee





Chez Ong

Our trip home

Hmm so the good things about it were:
1) Boo got to meet tai ma and tai kong (great grandma and great grandpa), something the great-grandparents have been very excited about. They both carried her, clucked to her, made her smile and - great honour for little Boo - tai ma even played her a selection of tunes on the piano.

2) She got to meet the rest of her extended family: the beaming grandmas and grandpas, a huge number of loving grand-aunts and uncles, bemused aunts and uncles and older cousins . Going from our quiet magnolia apartment of three to the heat and greenery of Malaysia and the excitement of our family must have been like being dropped into a cauldron of hands and faces and whipped at a great pace for poor Boo, but she seemed to love it. She beamed like a madman for the first few days and didn't seem to mind at all being passed from shoulder to shoulder, much to my relief, because it would have been difficult to try and beat off the hordes of people who wanted to carry her if she hadn't.

3) She handled the travelling really well. She cried maybe two or three times on the flight out, but more due to not wanting to go to sleep when she was sleepy - as is sometimes the case anyway - than anything else. And, on the trip back, she cried only once and was mostly quite happy munching her fingers and scrutinising people walking by. No problems with the air pressure and her ears either, thank goodness.

4) We got to meet our friends back home. Do I even need to say what a simple but satisfying pleasure this is? It was just a shame our illnesses meant we missed some and that we didn't have more time to chat with those we did.

5) We realise how lucky we are. I'm getting old and maudling I'm sure, but there's nothing like an outpouring of love for your baby to make you realise how lucky you are to have so many loving family members and friends. Plus, did I mention baby's absolute clean-up in the ang-pow and present department? We were inundated with gifts for her and if we haven't already told you all how much we appreciate them - we do! Very, very much!

6) Boo got to be naked, or half-naked, most of the time we were back. Oh it was lovely to see her plump thighs in full view all the time, and to see her in oversized singlets and t-shirts instead of constantly swaddled in jumpers and long-sleeved things.

7) Coming home. London is our home too now and, while we have fewer friends here, it's really nice to return to their lovely company too. And to our cosy little home of three again, where Boo can bask in mummy and daddy's undivided attention, tiring as it may be to eat again with only one hand.

The rubbish things were:
1) Getting ill. We're still shaking off the remnants of a viral flu (Alex) and stubborn coughs (me and Boo). Fortunately the coughs are almost gone but there's still a good third of a bottle of antibiotics for poor baby to take.

2) Getting baby to take her medicine. Oh how she hated it. First it was the pink stuff for her cold and fever and a claggy, brown cough mixture; then another, easier to take cough syrup and a nasty, chalky white antibiotic.

First Alex's mom and uncle advised the pumpmethod: aim the syringe at the back and side of her mouth and let rip before she knew what was happening.

Uncle Peter demonstrated the method somewhat successfully - Boo spluttered and choked but ultimately swallowed the stuff without throwing up. We, however, were not so skillful. After one horrendous attempt, in which she spluttered, choked, gurgled most alarmingly while going completely red in the face, obviously not able to breathe, and eventually spitting it up and mewling blue murder (she also lost her voice), I just didn't have the heart to try it again.

So we tried mixing it with expressed breast milk in a bottle. One fl oz didn't work as the taste of the medicine was obviously still too strong. 3.5 fl ozs was a bit much because we first had to wait two hours till she was hungry enough not to care that her milk tasted a bit funny, then another two hours for her to drink the remaining 1 oz.

Eventually we worked out the most simple method: let her feed at the breast, with the syringe at ready. Pump in little amounts to start with (less than 0.5 ml) at regular intervals, after she's had a good starting swig, to ensure her throat isn't dry. Then increase dosage to about 0.5 ml per go. This method seemed to trouble Boo the least.

We found that slow and easy really was the best way to go. Pumping in 0.25 mls of antibiotic each time might take a bloody age when you have 3ml to go but it's better than impatiently shooting 0.5 ml into her cheek, only to have her choke on the chalky mouthful and then bring everything she's just drunk up - as happened several times, to our great chagrin - and having to start all over again.

Stopping halfway to burp her isn't a bad idea either and, as Alex's Ber Yi advised too, there's no harm in stopping the feed of medication halfway if she's being stubborn, and resuming it half an hour later. Thank god we haven't had a spew in the last three days of medicine feeding. I think it's partly that she's getting used to its taste and texture and partly we've learned how to do it a bit better. Now if there was just a way for me not to end up with antibiotic all over my chest and shirt and her face each time I fed her.

Did I also mention that the medicine first prescribed to her first gave her the runs, which also gave her nappy rash? No wonder GPs here prefer to let our immune systems sort these problems out by themselves.

3) Not eating enough of Malaysian food! What a disaster our trip was food-wise. Hardly any curry on the first day of Chinese New Year at our relatives' houses because my throat was acting up and ONLY ONE TRIP to my favourite mamaks, Raju's, for roti canai, fried chicken and teh halia. Not to mention the loads of junk food we had to abstain from. I did get to eat a lot of tau foo fah, though, which was nice.