First trip to the zoo!

Hello...

Yesterday I brought Aloysius for a swim after he poo-ed :) It's the 8th day since he poo-ed last. Finally!

When we were swimming, we met several other babies :) There's one baby who's one month older than Aloysius, Jones. His mother was on leave, so brought him down swimming, sitting inside his float. haha... Jones is very cute. He loves to suck on his float. Aloysius was very happy to see a friend in the pool. He kept laughing and smiling while floating.

We saw another baby, a 8 months old boy. The dad just carried him, and sit beside the pool to kick the water.

We met another baby, Keith. He's one year old :). His mother, Sherlyn, brought him down for a stroll. We are staying in the same block, but they are on 12th floor... Keith has been on oxygen supply since he was 2 months old. I will pray that he will get well soon :)

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This morning, it's Aloysius' first visit to the Singapore Zoological Gardens :) We went with my mum and a friend from Austria. We headed to the polar bear feeding. Along the way, we saw the free ranging "orang utan". When we reached there, Aloysius was having his power nap.. lol.. We were early, so we got a seat in front. I was amazed at the big paws, and smooth, silky fur of the polar bear when it was swimming in the pool. haha... Aloysius slept through the polar bear feeding show.

Then, we headed to the animal show. Aloysius woke up to "check it out" :) There are many people. I carried Aloysius and he was busy turning his head left and right... lol.. There were so much for him to see. He saw the python, and I think he loves the swimming sealion. He kept looking at the sealion :)

After the animal show, we went to see the "hamadryas baboons". They are so cute... This is an award winning habitat which features a spectacular troop of over 50 hamadryas baboons, togather with Nubian ibexes, etc... Aloysius was very curious again.. haha... As usual, being so young and curious, he caught some attention from other parents.

Aloysius' 3rd dunking session.

Today, we brought Aloysius for a swim... The weather was very nice and warm. The water is quite warm too :). Hence, the pool downstairs was rather crowded. We dunked Aloysius twice. He did not cry... I went " 1, 2, 3, dive!" and down we went... He enjoyed the swim on his tummy, kicking and paddling away :). Aloysius had attracted lots of attention though... hahaha... I think there will be more babies swimming in the normal 1.0m pool soon... It's just like more preggie are swimming in their bikinis now... kekeke... I guessed I had started that "trend" :p


Yesterday, I went to GDbaby to attend the beginner workshop again :). Something new that I learnt is that Malay and English cannot be done back to back... cos baby will get confused of the two languages.

I was early before the workshop started, so we had a chat with Lawrence. He had offered a one to one session for Aloysius :). Sometimes, Aloysius do not want to look at the cards during flashing. And sometimes, he will stare at all of them. He will have to assess Aloysius and recommend some changes to Aloysius' program :). I believe that Aloysius is bored more than he cannot see well... hence the lost in interests sometimes... Cos there are a few days when I change 2 cards from each set (total 18 cards per day), and he started to stare at all the cards again. haha... I might arrange a meet up with Lawrence one of these days.

Ok, I gotta go to bed :) Good nite :)

Aloysius can grasp! 16 weeks plus..

This morning, after my mum bathed Aloysius, as usual, I let him grasp my fingers to carry him. He made a major improvement today... He can grasped my fingers and hang in the air, without me grapping his fingers :) I have been following GD's recommendation to "train" his grasp reflex since he's one month old. I do this many times everyday. hmm... maybe it's time for the "monkey bar" :). I did not take any pictures of him hanging in the air for the first time though...

Pictures of Aloysius -Sep06

This is Aloysius and me taken on 9 Sep 06. This is a very rare picture of me and Aloysius. We went shopping to buy a gift for Denzel "gor gor" birthday. We were waiting for the gift to be wrapped :) and Aloysius caught a lot of attention... hahaha...

Imagine you were shopping and walked pass a curious baby staring at you with his big, round eyes, and at the same time coo-ing away...




This is Aloysius taken on 14 Sep 06. He's happily kicking and coo-ing while on his tummy. Nowadays, he will start to "talk" when he wakes up in the morning...

Hello blogger...

I just wanna write something :)... A break from my boring thesis writing... haha... maybe you will say that I am day-dreaming... I suddenly feel so "wen xing" and having images of Aloysius staring at me with his big, round eyes... When I looked at him, he will stop sucking his milk and give me a wide wide smile... I wish I can capture these moments with my camera, but I dun think I will be able to...

This morning, before his morning nap, I fed him and read "san zi jing" to him at the same time. He just stared at me with his very big eyes, looking so innocently and happy, and sucking away... It's really a very special kind of feeling :) There's a kind of true happiness deep inside my hearts...

It's so nice to day dream, eh? :)

Time is ticking...

Hello blogger...

It has been some time since I wrote here :)

I have been rather busy with my thesis. During the day time, I hardly have time for my thesis. I gotta play with Aloysius when he's awake. I will do the housework, prepare my meals and eat, write my thesis when he's napping. Sometimes, I just hope he can nap longer... lol...

Every morning, I will have to plan his flashcards sessions and change the cards. This will take up a bit of time too. I am doing English, Chinese and Maths with him. We are in addition now for Maths. Going into subtraction soon... Today, I was too busy and lazy to change the addition cards, Aloysius was bored when I flashed and he looked away... **pant** **pant**


Aloysius' GD Program:

I will do between 3 to 6 flashcards sessions in the morning. Each session consists of 5 English cards, 5 Chinese cards, and, 5 dots cards or 5 equations. He prefers the dots cards more.
For motor skills development, apart from the swimming, I will do 12 of the motor skills development program out of 15. Sometimes, I will "teach" him to crawl :)
Today, Aloysius can move his hands on his own when crawling... :)

Aloysius' development:

He started "talking" loudly and very happily since last Tuesday (12 Sep), even with strangers. hahaha... He's so cute... Nowadays, every morning, when he wakes up before his daddy, he will start "talking" and laughs... I have no chance to take pictures of him laughing and talking, cos he will look into the camera and stare only...

He knows what is "kick" during swimming :). During his swim, he will kick very hard and keep kicking and paddling :) Good excercise for him.

He will respond to me when I sing or read to him. I read "san zi jing" to him when feeding sometimes. I also read some paragraphs from my "feng shui" magazine :). This morning, when I read a new "san zi jing" to him while feeding, he looked at me with his big eyes and laughed :) So nice... He's such a curious baby... I think he's looking at my moving mouth, and listening to me.


My reading:

Recently, I have been reading a few books. I read:

"The sleep book" by William and Martha Sears for some tips.
They support co-sleeping with baby. Baby will feel secured and sleep better when co-sleeping with the parents. Aloysius co-sleep with us. Last week, when his daddy went for reservist, I had a hard time soothing him to sleep well at nite. He missed his daddy... cos he cried halfway during feeding, and while trying to fall asleep too...
Baby from 3 to 6 months will have morning and afternoon naps of 1 to 1.5 hours each.

"Ling2 shui4 qian3 neng2 kai1 fa1" by Shichida.
This book discusses the importance of ESP (extra sensory p****) (oops.. I have forgotten.. :p) I will be using the tips given for myself to open my ESP.. haha... I gonna record my voice to practice "chui mian" and "huan xiang". The key to opening ESP is relaxation.

"Ling2 shui4 jiao4 yu4 ji1 chu3" by Shichida.
I revised this book again. The stimulation for babies from zero to one years old is almost the same as what I am doing from GD. I will be looking out for balls to buy for Aloysius :) It's recommended that babies will like balls of different sizes and colors at this stage...

How Smart is your baby:
I revised this book again. This time, the tip I get is morning is a precious time for babies. Glen Doman recommended to leave the housework, etc. and give babies the priority in the morning.
I think I am behind Aloysius' development. Gotta go into the next stage of stimulation already...


oo.. I am feeling rather tired now... I better stop writing here and write my thesis instead... :)

Later all..

Aloysius' GD program.

This post is about the GD program that I am doing with Aloysius daily...

I flash 3 sets of English words, 3 sets of Chinese words, 2 sets of Maths dots, 1 set of Maths equations daily. 1 set of English, Chinese, Maths dots will consist of 5 cards each. There will be 3 equations each. For each set, I will try to achieve flashing twice daily. If I flash each set twice a day, there will be 6 sessions of flashcards. In between sessions, there will be a break of at least 15 minutes. Sometimes, it's not easy to achieve twice a day for every sets. Glen Doman actually recommended 3 times per set, and a total of 9 sessions per day. We gotta flash only when Aloysius is in a happy mood :). And also my time... And also there are other things which I will do with him...

I also follow the motor skills stimulations in "How Smart is Your Baby". A lot of things to do, isn't it?

On Saturday, I just went to my drawer to look at the books that I have. I started reading a book by Dr. Shichida on ESP...

Gotta go.. later all... baby crying lor...







This is Aloysius in his "flashcards position" :). Looks like "tow kay", eh?

hmm... we gotta respect baby in whatever we do. So, everytime before showing him the flashcards, I will have to ask him if he wants to see flashcards. I will take it as "yes" if he smile or make a "oo oo" sound... And I will put him in this position on my bed :)

Workshop at GDbaby.

Last Saturday, we attended a workshop at GDbaby. It's for the advance stage. hmm... we were too early to be in this class. I will attend the workshop again.

Several things were covered in the workshop. We can actually "talk" maths with our babies. That is, when in the car, or anywhere, just go "3 plus 4 equals 7, 8 plus 30 equals 38, etc.". In the more advance stage, when we do addition, subtraction, multiplication or division with baby, we gotta just show the card with the result, cos it will be too slow and bored baby... wow...

hmm... I do not have much time to elaborate more here... I gotta refer to my notes... lol... What I can remember most is to make a story book for Aloysius. And there should be books ownership. hahaha... We nearly wanna go to the book fair at Expo to grab 100 books... If you know where to buy books in bulk, let me know ok? I wanna buy a library of books. I am thinking that it might be cheaper to get books in bulk... I am also thinking of making books for Aloysius for his first birthday :) I wonder how many can I make... hahaha... Gotta start collecting ideas...

Another swimming session...

Hello...

I cannot help but keep coming in here to write about Aloysius' swim. It's very exciting and interesting to me...

We went for a swim again this afternoon :) It was very sunny and bright, so Aloysius skipped the floating on his back. He could not open his eyes and did not like it... He was kicking and paddling actively on his front. He seems to like swimming very much. When he stopped kicking, I told him "kick, Aloysius, kick" and he started kicking. :) This time, I did not dunk him in the pool. We gotta get out when he started to fuss. Dun wanna him to link swimming with crying...

Guess what happened just before we brought him down, while in his swim suit... hahaha... Aloysius poo poo... I threw away his pre-folded diaper. hmm... I really gotta buy a swim diaper for him just in case it happens in the pool :)

Aloysius fell asleep very soon after swimming and bathing.

Aloysius' 3rd swim..

This is Aloysius in his swim wear, sitting on our bed while we get ready. He's wearing his new swim wear and a pre-folded nappy inside the swimming trunk. He looks happy, doesn't he?

We just came back from a swim. It's Aloysius' first swim with both daddy and mommy :). He enjoyed the swim very much. As usual, we let him float back and front. Today, we "dunked" him in the water twice for 2 seconds. He did not cry nor fuss. I could see him with his eyes wide opened inside the water. It looks like those water babies pictures that I see in books... cool... I am more confident in swimming with Aloysius underwater now :). Gotta slowly build that up... hahaha... and I gotta refresh my memory and skills of swimming underwater...

We will be going out very soon to attend a workshop at GDbaby :). I will upload more pictures of his swim when I have the time. hahaha... His daddy enjoyed the swim with Aloysius too and wanted to swim again tomorrow... Yeah!

Oh yes... The cue I gave him was "1-2-3, dive!" I shall use this for future dunking :).

Parenting Course Preview.

Last nite, I went for a preview on an upcoming parenting seminar. The speaker is Yanni. Remember the newspaper article that I have talked about in the blog - "Yanni and her organic babies"? Her elder son, Jensen is aged 2.5 years old already. He's a very smart boy. At such a young age, he has high EQ. Yanni shared that Jensen do not really liked to be kissed by his father. When his father wanna kiss him, he will talk about other things.. hahaha...

Jensen have only seen a doctor once for fever, but did not take the medication prescribed. It was for "just in case". He had not taken any medications before for his 2.5 years. He only had two incidents of fever. hmm... very healthy kid she has...

Yanni shared that for the first 6 months of babies' life, they will have their mothers' immunity. If a baby less than 6 months fall sick easily, it will be better that the mother look after her's and her baby's health more.

I was impressed that Yanni actually attended the parenting course personally conducted by Dr. Shichida in Japan. hmm... I also want to attend... kekeke... Yanni shared something about hurting our own kids unintentionally, which I also read about in "jiu xin tai jiao" by Dr. Shichida when I was pregant. After her course with Dr. Shichida, she immediately went back to apologise to Jensen. Dr. Shichida mentioned that the apology gotta be at least 3 times, so she did that 3 times. She shared that when she apologised the first time, Jensen just looked at her. On the second time, Jensen teared!

hmm... In our culture and the way we are brought up in Singapore, many parents will find it ridiculous to apologise to our kids. But I do agree with Dr. Shichida and Dr. William Sears that we have to respect our kids. Whenever we are in the wrong as parents, we will have to apologise. Kids like to imitate the parents... They imitate every thing parents do...
Yanni also share some figures on kids in Singapore. 1 in 5 kids have diabetes, heart disease related diseases in Singapore. 300,000 babies are born with Thalasaemia in US annually. The number of strokes in infants is also increasing here. All these statistics are very alarming, isn't it?

hmm... looking at Yanni's two very healthy boys, I will be attending her seminar in October. I want the best for Aloysius :) After reading several books by Dr. Shichida, I also believe in nutrition, water, parents' relationship and emotions, are very important for baby's brain growth. Once the brain growth is over, we would have missed the precious period... Baby's brain growth is the most before 3 years old.

hahaha... maybe you will say I am another "kiasu" mommy... I dun deny that I am one, as compared to many relaxed parents :) And I am starting to mix with mothers who are labelled "kiasu" by some... lol...

Before I forgets, one of the topic of the parenting seminar will be about "training maids" to what you expect... I believe this will be useful for many working mothers in Singapore since hiring a maid is very common. And lastly, the seminar is only for women! lol... Husbands can tag along with their wives, but men cannot register for it!

Aloysius' new swim wear!

Hello blogger...

We went shopping at Paragon yesterday afternoon. I bought a nice swim wear for Aloysius from "Ocean Paradise" :) The saleslady/boss recommended me some "New Arrivals" swim wear for infants. For a set, it will cost about $80. Finally, I chose a top and a bottom for Aloysius from the "offer" section. It's "old" design. Well, I do not mind, cos it looks quite good though... And Aloysius will outgrow it very fast. kekeke... It's 50% off, so I paid $38.50 for them :) It's for 6-9 months or 10kg babies... hmm... I think I will have to bring him swimming more often to make the money worth... He's already 7kg. The top is fitted quite nicely now... There's still space for a swim diaper under the swimming trunk though :).

A swim diaper is selling for $15.90 at Ocean Paradise. It's not on sale, so I thought there's no hurry for me to buy first.. kekeke... Now, since there's still space for one under the trunk, I might get one, just in case of "accidents"... oops...

I am eagerly waiting for his next swim! hahaha... If I have time this afternoon, and he's happy, and not too sunny, I might bring him down for a swim! hahaha...

Aloysius' second swim...

I brought Aloysius for his second swim today :) My mum was around, so I asked her to go downstairs with us to help me to capture some photos :)

Here's a picture of him just before the dip :).
We went for the swim after he woke up from his afternoon nap, fed, and flashcards session...

Swimsuit??
hmm... just a tee shirt top and a pre-folded nappy... :) If your baby is still pooing unexpectedly, do not follow what I did for hygience purpose :). What should be the proper swim wear for babies will be a disposable swim diaper, then another layer of snugly fit (at the thighs) swim wear or wetsuit.


For a start, I dip his legs into the water, and tell him we are going to swim. Then, I carry him on my chest and slowly get into the water - deeper and deeper... This is to get him to get accustom to the cold water.


This is Aloysius swimming and floating on his front. I just use one hand to support his head cos I am afraid that he might not have enough strength to hold his heavy head above the water. At some point, I tried to hold his head and I float on my back... Oops... He drank some water... He coughed and wanted to cry. I quickly gave him a hug and assure him everything is ok :) From the books, swimming is a time for parent-baby bonding and trust building. Hence, if the baby cries or do not like it, we gotta give him a hug.



This is Aloysius floating on his back :). It's amazing that babies can float, isn't it? We just have to support their heads to prevent the occasional dipping of their heads. I tried to hold him in such a way that his ears are above the water. Occasionally, his ears will get some water. But it's only the outside :) I am thinking that there's a possibility that his ears can be submerged into the water without the water getting to the inside. That's how we swim too, rite?


We went to the jacuzzi side too. I just held his head and let him float on the front and back. Aloysius seems to enjoy it very much... One of the aim of swimming for babies is to stimulate their senses using water. And babies love the sensation of water on their skin, and the sensation of floating. When we were at the jacuzzi, Aloysius started "talking" to me... so cute... :) I thought maybe he felt very comfortable there, just like we adults do. My mum did not take any pictures when we were at the jacuzzi, cos it's too far...

I wanted to "dunk" (submerge) him into the water, but I was not confident enough. Hence, he haven't have a taste of be dunked yet :). Perhaps the next swim... We got out of the water when Aloysius' lips seems to get a bit bluish, which means he's feeling cold...

From the "water babies" book, it's recommended not to use floats for babies cos it will cause them to lose their sense of buoyancy.... Oh yes, another thing is before going for a swim in the big pool, we gotta "prepare" babies for it. It is recommended to let baby float and get used to being in the water at home, in the bath-tub. It's a big step for a baby to go into the swimming pool from the bath-tub though. In Singapore, it's not very practical, cos most people do not have a bath-tub at home. And secondly, water is expensive... ;) For me, I started to prepare Aloysius since he was 7-8 weeks old. I do not bath him in very warm water. And I use my hand to wash his face. I will say "Aloysius, 1, 2, 3, wash". I will use more and more water to wash his face. At the very first time, I did not do these and I just poured water on him. He cried... After some "practice", now I can just pour water on his head and face. I started to tell him "Aloysius, 1, 2, 3, down". The "preparation" stage is rather important, I feel. Aloysius did not cry when I introduced him to the pool. Oh yes... Another thing I did was bring him downstairs a few times to sit by the swimming pool in the evening :)

Aloysius' first swim

Hello again...

I just brought Aloysius down to the pool for a swim :) He seems to like it. I "revised" from the "water babies" book what I should do to introduce him to the swimming pool :). It gotta be slow and make sure that the baby feel secure.

What I did was, let his legs dip in the water first. At first, he withdraw his legs cos the water is a little bit cold. Then, let him sit on the step to get his buttocks wet too. After a while, I carried him securely on my chest and walk down the steps into the water slowly :) He did not cry. Slowly, he got his body wet up to his neck. When he's comfortable in the water already, I carry him in my hands and let him "float" a little. He kicked freely in the water.

We got up and wrapped him up in his towels. I bathed him in luke warm water quickly and dried him and dressed him on the bed. When I was having my shower, I thought he will play on his own on the bed. But, he fell asleep! hahaha... so easy... I read from the book that babies will sleep very well and easily after a swim. This is becos their senses have been stimulated and swimming is relaxing to them :) Wow... That will perhaps motivate me to bring him for a swim often... lol...

Oh yes, some may ask me what is Aloysius' attire for swimming... It's just a top and a pre-folded nappy :)

Aloysius is almost 3 months!

Aloysius will be exactly 3 months old tommorrow :).

Last week, my hubby caught the flu virus and he's almost recovered. Unfortunately, I caught the virus too. hmm... maybe think too much already... Fingers crossed that Aloysius will not catch the virus. He's still sleeping between us at nite. I feed him Indinine every morning now. Last nite, I tried to put him in his baby cot, he refused and cried. Ok, that's all about the not so interesting things... :)

On Saturday, I went to Bishan community library to borrow some books :) It just opened on Saturday and was very crowded. I was very impressed cos many of the books are brand new. I borrowed a book by Gina Ford to read about how to start weaning. kekeke... I am collecting information and reading up on weaning Aloysius :) Being trained as a researcher, I prefer to read ahead and several books. We gotta wait for babies to be at least 16 weeks old before we can start on the rice cereals. For babies from 4 to 6 months, we gotta cook the vegetables and fruit puree. I read that banana will cause constipation, so no bananas. We should introduce the food one by one. The aim of feeding semi-solids to babies at this age is not to replace the milk, but for babies to have some taste of different kinds of food.

I also borrowed the book "Water babies" by Francoise Barbira Freedman. I am still reading the book. It's quite an interesting read. I am planning to bring Aloysius to swim soon :). From the book, it is recommended to start babies on swimming from birth! According to the author, the "best" time to start is between 6 and 16 weeks. This book recommends that swimming aids be used as support only, cos it will interfere with baby's ability to find his balance. Toys will be needed to keep the swimming interesting for babies over 4 months old, and only a few toys such as a squishy ball, plastic hoop, or watering can will be needed. The main aim of bringing baby for a swim is for parental closeness, and relaxation for the parents and the baby. If the baby cries, get him out and cuddle him :). We will have to start with letting baby feel their buoyancy. hmm.. As for baby "dunking" in the water, there will need to be some preparation :) and finally progress into swimming with baby underwater :) Ok, this is just a little bit of things that I have learnt from the book. Let me finish the book first then I will write more about it when time permits :)

On Sunday, we went to the library again :) I returned the Gina Ford's book cos I have finished browsing through :) And borrowed a few more books for Aloysius. On Saturday, I have borrowed a book. I made him sit beside me and I read the book to him. As I read, I will point at the words. He seems very attentive and very interested in the book, hence it motivated us to go to the library again on Sunday to get more books.

Ok, I gotta stop here... Gotta write my thesis already before baby wakes up...