Here we go!

Just a day after I tricked Keston into walking, he started walking himself! In the morning, when I was getting him to nap, he kept standing up by himself on the bed. And he was so proud that he started bouncing around. In the afternoon, he was leaning by the sofa when he suddenly turned around and walked to his rocking horse. It was just 3-5 steps away. A short while later, he stood up from the floor himself and walked again. He did this a couple of times so I quickly took my camera, ready to video it for proof (cos HW will never believe me otherwise). But of course I sat there for half a day ready to video, and he never did stand up again.

When HW came home, I told him "Keston walked by himself today!". Ever the skeptic, he just went 'Yeah yeah yeah. Keston, Mummy always bluff me say you can do so many things!'.

To which, Keston promptly stood up and walked towards Dada. Haha! That shut him up!

Just for my record, Keston first started walking on 24 November 2009-- 4 days before he turns 16 mths.

We have now added on to the statistics of late walkers. So next time someone you know complains about his/her kid not walking at 12mths, you can say 'My friend's son didn't walk till he was 16mths!

!!'

Shall we walk?

At almost 16 mths, Keston is still not walking independently. He's been cruising everywhere for the past 6-7mths, but when we offer him our hands, he will sit down immediately. No matter, we thought. He'll walk when he wants to.

A couple of weeks back, we decided to be abit more pro-active in helping him start walking. This time we had him put on shoes and walk on carpeted flooring while holding our hands. Amazingly, he was thrilled and walked ALOT! We tried again on our marble floor and he refused to walk again. Then we brought him to the tennis court and again, he was pulling our hands and waddling up and down the court! Our precious is so particular about the ground he's on. If it's too hard, he doesn't want to walk!

Within 1-2 days, he progressed to walking while holding only 1 of our finger! He'd use one of his hands to balance himself...and the other hand to grasp one finger. He wasn't using the finger as a support but more as a confidence/comfort object. I kept joking about rolling up a piece of paper and letting him grab on to it while walking.

Side track abit... This idea came about cos I keep remembering this joke I heard in my uni days. A friend bought a roll of book wrapper (you know, the transparent plastic roll that we all used to wrap our textbooks in) and was riding in the bus on an aisle seat. Suddenly the bus jerked and the person standing in front of her grabbed on to the roll, thinking it's one of the support poles in the bus!!! Haha

So anyway, tonight after brushing Keston's teeth, I decided to let him grab the toothbrush... he held one end, while I held the head of the toothbrush. He took 1 step and I let go....he continued walking another 3-5 steps thinking he was still grabbing on to me!!! It was freaking hilarious! After he realised mummy wasn't beside him, he was stunned and promptly sat down.

So there you go, his first few unassisted steps! He was tricked, but still....

Photography

In my earlier years, I used to attend so many concerts that my camera was practically surgically attached. The outcome of my photography would depend on how close I was to the stage and how energetic the performer was. I remember gawking at the people using the 'professional' cameras and then admiring how awesome their shots came out. But I'd never once entertain the thought of owning a 'professional' camera. It wasn't the price (I'd never bothered to find out the price, but I probably wouldn't have been able to afford it on my jc allowance anyway.), I'd just associated the big cameras with the professionals. If you're not a professional, you shouldn't be using such a bigass camera.

Fast forward a few years. Like any new parents, I was thrown into the frenzy of photography with the birth of my child. My cam was once again surgically attached to one hip while my baby was on my other. I'd spend all day snapping away, not really satisfied with the outcome and yet, relentlessly trying to get that perfect shot.

It was at K's 1st photoshoot that I first entertained the thought of getting a dslr. It was an Easter promo shoot that lasted only 15 mins, and yet the photographer was able to capture many nice shots of the squirmy boy. I would have gotten 15mins worth of blurred shots. That was when I started researching about dslrs and how they're so wonderful! HW wasn't supportive of me getting a dslr, he was sure I wouldn't know how to utilise it fully and would lose interest after a week or 2.

I was abit hesitant myself. Anyway, I started reading photography books in my leisure time. Read about composition and the basic stuff and I started trying to compose my pictures better. After awhile, there was all that mess with K in the hospital and other stuff, so I stopped thinking of the dslr.

We went for a few more photoshoots and I started thinking "Hey! I could take these myself! I just don't have the right camera!" (Yes I'm very thick skinned and ambitious). So I started my research on dslrs again. This time I was reading up on apperture, shutter speed, depth of field, exposure, metering, cs4, etc. There was so much to learn and the more I read, the more intrigued I was.

Right about the time K turned 1, a friend of HW's lent us his spare dslr-- a D70. This was probably the turning point for me. I tried to put to use what I've learned and started on a very gradual learning curve. I must admit, my first few attempts were atrocious and I ended up using the preset modes. But as time passed, and with more trial and errors, I grew to love seeing things through the lens. You get a different perspective to things that are happening around you. I did see an improvement in my photography. HW must have seen it too cos he then gave me the go-ahead to get my own to play with. (HW is my worst critic cos he usually just comments everything I do is laoya). Besides, I have a ready and willing model-- what's stopping me?

I decided on the D5000 cos I'm such a sucker for advertisements! I liked the ads and they keep appearing on the buses on the road, so it's a no brainer for me. The competition was really between the 500D and the D5000 but since I've handled a Nikon before, I just went the Nikon way.

Shortly after getting the camera, I decided the kit lens wasn't giving me satisfactory results and got another prime lens. Previously, when people tell me that lens are expensive, I'd always thought they meant a hundred bucks or something. But now I truly understand how expensive lens can get. They can range from a couple of hundreds to over a thousand. The better ones are usually over $500. And then there's the external flash, tripod, dry box...the buy list is endless, and everything seems like a must-have!

Do you automatically start taking nicer photos with an expensive camera? I thought so at first, but not necessarily! HW can attest to that! Whenever I pass him my camera, using my settings, he always ends up with blurred out of focus shots, so he eventually changes it to auto mode, which basically makes the dslr function like a high end digicam. The photo results he gets are pretty similar to what he gets on the Lumix.

Right now, while I'm happy enough with my photos, I'm not quite satisfied with them, even on an amateur level. Every time I take a photo, I'm happy with it for like 5 minutes. Then I start picking flaws and making mental notes on what I should (not) have done. And then I decide I have an awful photo! Come to think of it, I'm probably my worst critic. HW comes in a v close 2nd place.

Keston turns 15mths

Oops, just realised my last post was more than a month ago? Man, I should really do this more regularly. I know I already missed out on a few happenings that I wanted to pen down.

The little one turns 15mths today. WHAT? Where did the 15mths go? How did Keston morph from the wrinkly, scrawny, pinkish, little peanut to this active (and still scrawny) baby? When did his limbs lengthen? Must be when I was sleeping cos I sure don't remember it happening!

Sometime just after he turned 14mths, his 3rd lower tooth and 2 lower molars started sprouting. Right now @ 15mths, he's got his 4 upper teeth, 3 lower teeth and 1 molar fully emerged. Abit buey balance!

At 15mths, he is STILL NOT walking. I've already come to accept that K's a late developer so it doesn't really bother me. Sujia says he doesn't wanna walk because he's so good at crawling. And he sure proved it by leaping everywhere when we met up at Botanic Gardens.Keston's hair is still growing at a snail's pace. It's growing alright, just taking its own sweet time! His vocab is not growing much either. He still hasn't started calling me, much to my utter dismay. Especially since he's such a mummy's boy!
He's become quite a pro at climbing up and down the sofa and chuckles everytime I turn around to find him on the sofa. When he wakes up in the morning (and I refuse to be awakened), he will climb down the bed and crawl to the living room to look for his daddy. So independent!!!

Keston still loves his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. However, I've come to realise that he actually likes Donald more than Mickey, cos he will actually laugh out when Donald does something silly. He also likes Hi-5 (so gay!), Caillou, Diego and Sesame Street. Uh-oh, my boy is a tv addict!!!

All in all, I'm really thankful for the past 15mths of pure bliss!

Farewell Mr Kawasaki

Keston had his final check up following KD on Wednesday. At 13mths 3.5weeks, he weighs 9.75kg and measures about 76cm. Not as tall as we thought and definitely not as heavy!!

K was supposed to do a heartscan to check for any abnormalities in the arteries. And then a blood test to check if his blood platelet count had gone back to normal, and if he still has low red blood cells.

The appointment was for 10.15am. Keston usually has his morning nap at 10.30am. And because Keston is usually very wary of strangers, he gets whiney and agitated when strangers come near him or touch him. At the last check up, we'd had to have him sedated. We thought it'd be the same this time and were privately congratulating ourselves on the excellent timing as he'd get his nap while being sedated! But Noooooo! Keston chose this day to be Mr Outgoing. He was totally fine with 2 different doctors poking at his chest. So there was no need to be sedated. We had to distract him abit though cos he kept trying to grab the probe from the doc. And when the assistant gave him a light sabre, he used it to whack the scan machine until some setting went off. *whoops* The scan went well and there were no concerns with his heart.

Next we went for the bloodtest. Again, we were surprised that he let the lab lady touch his finger and poke him. After a couple of times of squeezing the blood out, he finally felt the pain and started crying. Poor boy. And then he went on the scowl at the lady, who was just doing her job! But after the tube of blood was collected, he forgot about the pain and concentrated on peeling the plaster off his finger instead.

With the blood test report, we went back to the Cardiac Centre to get a review and to decide if Keston gets discharged. It turned out to be a mighty long wait as the doctor had other patients waiting and somehow the nurse who took our report in, just left it at a table and did not give to the doctor. Case of miscommunication, we ended up waiting for over an hour just for 1 minute with the doctor. It was already 12noon, almost time for Keston's lunch and he still had not napped. He started getting cranky and wanting to be carried, yet not wanting to sleep. By the time we finally got to see the doctor, it was 12.45pm already!!! Blood test results were good. Everything's back to normal and Keston got discharged.

Rushed down to the foodcourt and Keston kept whining until he saw his porridge. Then he very excitedly start banging on his stroller. But, here comes the funny part...after taking maybe 5 spoons, his eyes suddenly shut and his head lolled off. He'd fallen asleep while eating!!! But when I brought the spoon to his mouth, he'd pry open his eyes and chomped on the spoon. Then immediately closed his eyes and fell asleep again. This happened repeatedly and we couldn't stop laughing. It's like he's hungry and sleepy at the same time and trying to fulfill both his needs. After a few more spoons, we decided to not to disturb him anymore and let him sleep.

The rest of the day was spent shopping in Sim Lim & PS and due to parking problems, we decided to take public transport. This little charmer went around picking up girls and middle aged men! On the bus, I was sandwiched between 2 China students and he kept turning alternating between them and flashing them shy smiles, garnering all the 好可爱！And then there was an angmor man opposite us who also kept making faces at him and playing with him. The China students were so enthralled by Keston that one of them kept on playing with him when we were all exiting...so much so she forgot to tap her ezlink card and ran up the bus again in embarrassment! Haha

Throughout the day, I think at least 5 middle aged men stopped to play with him for at least 5 mins each! I hope it's not because of any paedophelic appeal! haha! Girls I can understand...but middle aged men? Hmmm

So anyway the poor kid was busy looking at everything and anyone that he went on to miss his afternoon nap! We'd brought his stroller along but not his carrier so it was impossible to turn his attention away from all the stimulation. And because he did not nap, by evening time, he became very cranky and needy again. Just when we reached PS, our doe-eyed cheeky boy just conked off. One second he was sitting upright and looking everywhere, next second he went all quiet. We peeped and he was sound asleep! He continued sleeping while Mummy went to Spotlight, Daddy went to Starhub and finally to Carrefour. He slept all the way till we reached Cathay and had our dinner. He only woke up when we were just finishing dinner. By that time it was 8.30pm-- way past his dinner! So he woke up and thought 'Wtf? I'm damn hungry!' and cried! Haha...whipped out the porridge and he gobbled it all down.

After dinner, we were treated to our first public display of Keston throwing a tantrum. There's this water fountain in the middle of the floor and Keston squelled when he saw it. So I brought him to sit by the fountain. He was happily waving and kicking his legs and laughing. After awhile, we wanted to leave and he started crying, struggling, kicking and all sorts of nonsense. I relented and brought him to the fountain again and he laughed. Let him look at the fountain for a few more minutes and then we were like 'Let's go!'. Die die dragged him away, ignoring his cries. Halfway up the escalator though, he was distracted by something else and promptly forgot all about the fountain he left behind.

I am already dreading toddlerhood!

Bye bye Baby Jumper Gym!

Yesterday was our very last lesson with BJG. I actually felt quite sad! We've been here ever since Keston was 5+mths and it's been really fun! In all honesty, our teacher's fantastic! If we didn't get her on our trial class, we might not even have signed up so readily. We'd had a few make-up classes and relief teachers and no one else came close! Add to that, we had great company in the other parents and kids. I think my Sundays will never be the same again...
I am so gonna miss Sweet SL, Cute Craden, Jolly Jacinta...

Us not continuing after this term is in no way a testimonial of Grace's teaching ability. She's done a superb job and can really connect with the babies. So if you're interested in signing up for classes at BJG, be sure to request for Grace!!

As I mentioned in the previous post, we are discontinuing because Keston no longer seems interested in the class. He's comfortable with the teacher, and the company...but just not interested in looking at the flashcards. The teacher has to flash almost every single set individually to him cos he refuses to look. And it was getting a little tiring twisting his head and body throughout the whole lesson. I'd wish very much for him to have a sudden surge of interest (didn't happen, although he did pay a teeny weeny bit more attention during the last class) as I'd like very much to continue the class...the location is great (we can get there in 10mins)....teacher's great (have I mentioned that before?)...Keston's not afraid of the other parents (he's v scared of strangers).

Sigh! We are now considering letting Keston join BJG's playgroup in the future...

Keston @13 mths

I think it's about time I updated this blog. And after I logged in, I realised I'd actually wrote an entry previously but forgot to publish it :P

Keston has turned 13 mths...how on earth did the past year fly by? Although the little one is entering toddlerhood, he's still very much a baby in our eyes.

Development-wise, I hate to admit it but K's developing very very slowly! He loves cruising, but whenever I try to hold his hands to guide him to walk, he sits down immediately. He's showing no signs of wanting to walk, no interest, na-dah! But since hearing the old wives' tales say that babies who start walking later will have a good life....I've been telling K "Don't start walking so soon!" =)

Keston still has only 6 teeth. 4 upper and 2 lower.

He has not clearly started calling anyone yet. He did start off with Mamamama long time ago, but he got bored with it and moved on to other syllabus. He was stuck with Dada for a long time, to HW's delight. But now he's stopped saying it already. His favourite word now is Babababa. There's no specific meaning to it, he looks at me and squels Bababa....he looks at his toy and says Babababa....He has managed to verbalise 'Pur' (bird) and 'Baw' (ball) on several occassions. He also sometimes barks when he hears/sees dogs.

K's hair is growing painfully slow. He's still pretty much botak, with very fine and sparse hair. We could have recitified the situation by accessorising him with caps and hats...but NO, our little friend refuses to have unnecessary additions put on him. He rips off caps and beanies with a vengeance, kicks in irritation when we put on an anklet, twists bibs off and tugs non-stop when wearing long sleeves. This boy is really a fusspot...really regret not getting him used to all these at a younger age.

K's lost all interests in flashcards. He used to love his dotcards. But I had to stop them when he was hospitalised and when I tried to get back to routine, he just wasn't keen anymore. He also used to like the words flashcards we do during BJG classes but lately, he simply refuses to look at the cards. In fact he has been paying zero attention in class for the past month and we're considering stopping the class after this term...which is such a shame as we've got a really good teacher and lovely classmates!

Since way before, we've been letting Keston try all types of formulas. He was ok with all brands of Stage 1 and Stage 2 formulas...so when I stopped expressing after he turned 1, we naturally thought he'd be able to go 100% on any formula. We were giving him Enfapro previously so of course we moved on to Enfagrow. But who knows, his milk intake dropped drastically! He'd take abt 150ml in the morning...60-90ml in the afternoon and reject the night feed. I thought he hated milk cos I thought Enfagrow actually tastes pretty nice! In the end we tried Gain IQ and he started drinking more. He takes about 450ml a day of Gain IQ. I refused to believe he'd become picky with milk brands and went on to buy Nan Pro 3. And *snap*, his intake dropped drastically again! Tried for like a week before HW buey tahan and went to buy another tin of Gain IQ....and voila! K's milk intake went up again! This boy damn picky!

Solids-wise, the boy is eating like a grown man! He takes 1.5-2 big bowls of thick porridge per meal..and if you offer him snacks after, he'd still open his mouth for more! Perhaps that is why I enjoy cooking for him! I love making stock for his porridge. I started off making pork stock, where I'll boil some pork bones along with leek. Lately I've been making vege stock..usually just throwing together whatever veges I find lurking in the fridge. It's fun, it's easy and it smells so damn good! I use the stock for making his porridge, mee sua, pasta. Breakfast is usually organic brown rice/barley cereal or rolled oats. Occasionally I'd make him pizza bread (bread with tomato paste and cheddar cheese, lightly toasted) and baby yoghurt.

Keston can now climb up and down our 2 steps (to our bed and to the living room) confidently. For awhile I was having problems putting him to sleep on our bed as he keeps trying to crawl down the bed and then pick up and throw everything in the room. It went on for 3-5 days where I have to keep pulling him back or let him have my phone so he'd stay put. Until 1 night, I told him to go and touch whatever he wanted to touch. The happy camper pulled my stack of bills/notes/books from beside my bed and scattered them all over the floor. It was such a mess and I told him sternly "You don't want to sleep right? You want to stay on the floor right? Ok, you sit in this corner and don't move!" To my amazement, he really stayed in the same spot and proceeded to wail like there's no tomorrow. HW charged in, thinking what happened cos K was crying until so cham and sitting by the door. After I cleared up the mess, then I went to pick K up and told him not to be so naughty. After that night, K stopped trying to climb off the bed everytime it's time to sleep! Trial of a naughty corner?

But Keston, being Keston, of course has to find some other ways to be cheeky. There's usually 2 bolsters, 1 pillow and a baby mickey mouse on the bed with him. He'd pick up Mickey and throw it on the floor, then look at me for a reaction. As long as I react, be it a 'Oi!' or a 'Aiyoh', he will laugh hysterically and repeat the act infinitely. So I've learned to ignore him and not pick up Mickey after he throws it. Then of course, Keston decides Mummy's not reacting because he's not throwing Mickey hard enough, and proceeds to fish up Mickey and flings it even harder. I've since learned to pretend not to see/hear a thing. Then Keston thinks 'Mummy's not bothered by Mickey...maybe she will care more about my pillow?' So he starts throwing his pillow....and this is followed by a bolster. He knows he needs 1 bolster to sleep so he will basically throw everything off the bed, leaving only 1 bolster.

At the end of the day, Keston is still a sweet baby, sometimes naughty, sometimes cheeky...but always loving and good-natured.