Colin takes pictures

My dad gave Colin a cheap camera to play around.. first he asked me to take pictures of him...

Cheeeeeeeeseeeeeee!

Then I asked him if he would like to take pics of mummy too. Taught him to take pictures with my old phone (Samsung Galaxy S3) and here's his master piece! :D 

By Colin Chang

His winning picture!

Mummy Kam @ 32 weeks with little Louise

Toilet

Colin has a thing for toilets. It's where he goes for swims (baths), pees on the floor, washes hands and feet and plays with water when no one notices.

But something different happened today. My mum told me that Colin took a dump on the toilet bowl! He needed to go but wasn't wearing diapers. So he climbed onto the toilet bowl, turned around carefully, sat comfortably and there he went! First dump into the toilet bowl!

Bravo!!

Little requests

Colin started stating his requests at a very early age. Usually to ask permission to have adult food and sweet treats, watch Barney, head to kiddy rides or playgrounds... basically neverending requests. We usually fulfil his request (sometimes delaying the approval) since it's nothing outrageous. 

Today, he made a request to drink milk on the sofa when I informed him we should head to the room for milk and afternoon nap. He arranged the cushions and laid down, all ready to drink his milk after saying: "我要睡这边." I agreed let him have his milk. My reward? A happy boy who drifted to dreamland towards the end of his feed. His first time dozing off on our sofa.

Lateral incisor

All I want for christmas is my incisor, my incisor, it's my incisor!

Lift gets exciting with a little one, literally.

Morning of Friday the 13th 2013, Colin fell off our bed and knocked his teeth onto the edge of bedframe. 

Blood dripped on floor faster than candle wax, cries to ceiling and popped his left lateral incisor on the floor (for tooth fairy to pick up).

Brought him to SGH Dental to get his gums and mouth checked. Dentist ordered for an x-ray to see if neighbouring teeth were affected as well. It took 5 people to get an x-ray of his bunny tooth - Daddy to hug and hold his hands down, mummy to hold the legs, one nurse to hold mobile phone with Barney Animal ABCs for distraction, another nurse to insert the sensor piece into his mouth, and a final nurse on standby to shoot the x-ray. Colin's role was to cry buckets and try breaking free. At the end of the x-ray session, all the nurses commented "He is very strong!". Haha. Thanks for your acknowledgement. 

After that, a surgeon came over to check on the cut on the left side of his mouth. A cut bad enough to call for stitches under local GA, which we weren't keen at all. We decided to let the wound heal naturally. We prayed and prayed for it to heal nicely (and it did!).

Colin was his happy and exploring self after he got over the initial trauma. Climbed and crawled all over the play area while mummy and grandma kam sweated. :D He drank milk from bottle and ate soft diet for 3 days.

Sometimes he told me "Mummy, teeth mei mei (pain pain)" in the cutest voice ever. Such a heart melter. We're sorry you had to go through this boy.

Glad you are okay buddy! Please stop falling or your bunny teeth will be the next to fall out!

Mummy bled

Colin injured my knee in the playroom, ironically a room which was supposed to be the safest in our apartment. Well, he tripped on the mattress and knocked his bunny teeth onto my knees. Both of us reacted to the accident - Colin cried, I whined in pain.

The impact was great enough for my knee to bleed. When Colin saw blood oozing out, he settled down a little and looked at my wound. I pointed to it and told him "pain pain". To my surprise,  he wanted to sayang my wound... after which he gave his signature hug (hugged me and said ark ark), kiss (placed his forehead at my lips) and apology (said ry).

The little one is growing up. :)

First art piece

Colin showed interest in holding pens, markera, pencils.. I let him had a go at colouring some weeks ago but he wasn't holding the crayons very well. Tried again today and it was better!  He understood what I was asking him to do. More right hand strokes though he was holding crayons in both hands. Looks like he is a righty! :)

This is Colin's first art piece. Every stroke  drawn by him!

Bleeding...

The first time you fell and hit your mouth while kicking a ball.

Bleeding lips will be part of your life darling. Glad you managed the pain well. :) Our brave little one.

For info, bleeding lips were a great part of our lives cause your head often knocked in our mouth.. and we got punched a few times too, sometimes on our ulcers. (-_-;)

A picture of you in the car after the fall.

Girls asking for his name

Not the husband's. It's our dear son....Some littlw girls were asking for our son's name after a short dog petting session.

Initially they went, "He is soooooo cute!". Then progressed to, "How old is he?". Another round of ,"He is so so cute!" Then finally, "What is his name?".

The funniest part was when she asked why Colin was wearing a rubberband on his wrist. TK replied,  "No rubberband. Those are fats!". (^_^)

Caught a series of virus

Morning of 27 January 2013 (Sunday), I had a bad feeling when I saw "Mummy" flashed on my mobile phone screen. Call it 6th sense? My mum told me Colin was running a fever. His normally chilled arms and legs were hot to touch during his sleep. The night before, Colin woke up many times, crying for comfort.

Sidetrack a little: I think I was the one who passed the fever to Colin cause I was feeling under the weather that week and spent whole Saturday with Colin. Plus we drank from the same bottle that morning before I felt really unwell. Guilty as charged.

Anyway, we monitored Colin's fever closely, sponged him constantly and administered paracetemol when his temperature climbed to 37.8degC. On the third day, we finally brought him to Dr. Gwee from My Family Clinic (Punggol). She said nothing serious, asked us to continue monitoring. Around this time, Colin started coughing occasionally. Doctor Gwee said people don't cough for nothing; no cough is random. We didn't take her comments seriously...until....

The next day, thank God his fever was gone, but he caught a cough and runny nose, probably from my mum, whom had been coughing for 2 weeks. His appetite was affected during this period. It was hard to drink with a blocked nose. He cried and cried, frustrated hungry little fellow. We brought him to the doctor again and was given nasal drops to reduce phlegm and Sterima nasal spray to clear his blocked nose.

It was war with Colin when we tried to administer both nasal medication. He would turn away, display his unhappiness vocally and brush our hands away from his face.

It was so bad his food will came out along with his cough. :(

A week later, cough gone.. but his poo ran loose, for as many as 4 times a day. We stopped giving him Friso Comfort (for his constipation). Had to go to the doctor the third time after 3 days of runny poo. Doctor said it should be viral. Gave us probiotics which lasted 10 days. Meanwhile we had to dilute his milk by 50% (which means 3 scoops of powder to 180ml of water instead of 6 scoops). Colin's butt was red and obviously very sore due to frequent bowel movements. He cried and cried in discomfort each time he pooed, unwillingly.

We went back to doctor after 10days cause he still had diarrhea. Given another 10days of probiotics. We also decided to switch from Karihome Goat's milk to Friso Soy milk and viola! No more diarrhea! He is still on soy now but we are slowly changing back to Goat's by adding a scoop of goat's every 2 weeks. His weight is back to almost 11kg!

This viral episode caused Colin to lose a few kgs. His michelin looking folds on arms were gone and cheeks were deflated (saw his dimples clearly for the first time). His night routine changed as well. My parents suffered many sleepless nights so that we could rest and concentrate at work. We were very grateful for their help. I have no idea how we would have cope without them!

As a chinese saying goes "家有一老如有一宝", which means having an elderly at home akin a treasure.

I'm thankful for a healthy baby. :)

Walking baby

I haven't been updating! Life has been busy with the little one. I will try to recall Colin's firsts and update at a later time..

So we went on a trip from 30 March to 6 April 2013 without Colin... and came home to a 10 month old walking baby! :)

My brother uploaded the video onto facebook for us while we were in Hong Kong.

This milestone was not surprising at all cause Colin loved standing. He first pulled himself to standing position in his cot on 23 December 2012, at 6+ months old, right after our staycation in Grand Park Orchard Hotel.

Now Colin prefers walking to being carried, unless he feels stressed in a new environment. Way to go baby boy!

Life is getting busier with a baby inspecting the house.. chasing cats... touching anything and everthing!

 

And you know what? His 2 front teeth are out too! We departed Singapore with his left front tooth halfway out.

First fall

What happened to your usual wake up cry today? You woke up silently and crawl over a big fat pillow and fell off our bed. I came into the room and shouted to daddy "Baby fell!!" the moment I couldn't see you on the bed. Daddy rushed in immediately too!

Spotted you faced down on daddy's side of the bed and hurriedly scooped you up with an achy heart. You cried and cried for the first time. Took me a few minutes to calm you..

Glad to see your happy self when you stood on your own feet (we can never understand why you love standing so much).

So this was your first fall, and many more to come. You are growing up so fast dear Colin. We love you, always.

抱抱

抱抱, which means carry/hug in chinese, is often said together with a clap, follow by opening of arms to indicate a carry action.

It's sort of like a sign language to ask baby if he/she wants to be carried by the person doing the action.

Today, my mum did the action while Colin was being carried (in an upright position) by my dad. To our surprise, Colin turned his body around and stretched out his arms towards my mum!! Our jaws dropped; stunned at what just happened.

Was it coincidence? Or did he understand the action?

I prefer the latter. Heee. So this marks the first time Colin understood the 抱抱 action/sign.

We should have a pee and poo action too. :)

Here's a picture of him today! 70 days young!

Sarong

First time in sarong! Grandpa and grandma said this will make you sleep better.

First asleep

You are growing up so fast! Today was the first time you drifted to lala land by yourself in your own cot without us cuddling you. Yes, you did ask for some attention but eventually slept on your own! We hope this wont be the last time.. :)

Here's a picture of you sleeping comfortably!

Bolster hugging

Colin was asleep on me (imagine a koala hugging a tree) when I needed to go to the toilet. Being a light sleeper and cuddle lover, he will wake up if I were to place him down.

So I took his bolster and place it between his arms and legs, hoping he would think that I'm still near him; worked like magic!

And so today marks the first time he hugged a bolster!