Stranger Anxiety

Today is the first Mother's Day i celebrated wid my mummy. =)) It's 11th May 2008, and on tis normal Sunday morning we went to the church. As usual at church i get to see lots of other children, toddlers and babies. Mummy said i had started to develop a stage called 'stranger anxiety'. Few weeks ago when we went back to Kuching, mummy had start to notice tat i'm uncomfortable being around strangers.... the worst part of this stranger anxiety for me was tat i'm even afraid of my own grandparents and relatives.

Then tis morning when mummy let another fren carried me, I started to cry. At first when tis auntie carried me in her arms, I was still okie. But when i saw my daddy, then i started crying. Probably because i finally realised it was someone else carrying me at that moment. So after awhile when tis auntie picked me up again, she quickly carried me outdoor. Hmm... maybe if i din see my mummy or daddy, i'll be quite okie. But it doesn't work. I started wailing a few moments later, and she rushed back in to look for mummy or daddy. ;))

How naughty I was! I juz don't want to be separated from mummy or daddy. ;))

Jayden's mummy: "Maybe because my baby is with me almost every single moment, and whenever i'm absent or no where to be seen within his sight, he starts to panic. I've read tat it's normal for babies to develop stranger anxiety. Tis is because at this stage, they realised tat there is only ONE mummy and oso only ONE daddy in the whole wide world. How sweet it sounds!

Well, it's kinda sweet tat's my baby is clingy to me, but at times it can be quite difficult as well. Like for example, our last visit back to Kuching, things were really so hard. Ah Den juz didn't want to be left alone. When i put him in his cradle or Esther's cradle, he'll start to notice if i'd leave him. If i simply took one step away from the cradle, he'll start to whimper. Experts say to try to tolerate with tis sensitive reaction from babies. Don't force ur babies to 'get used to' strangers. In fact, learn to protect ur baby from too much exposure.

Another wonderful thing he had learnt about 3 weeks ago back in Kuching (7mths old) was to start babbling. He would say "ta-ta-ta-ta" repeatedly, and no more "ang koo" now. Haha... even when he cries for 'milk-milk', he'll follow his cries wid "ta-ta-ta-ta te-te-te" and it really sounded as if he's complaining! ;)) So funny to listen to him doing tis."

my Little Toes..

Jayden's mummy: 15th March 2008 – Today I noticed Jayden accomplished another hand skill. He had been grabbing at his feet n toes lately, and finally today I saw him grabbing his left foot and slowly put his foot into his mouth to taste his toes. =)) Yucks!! Yes, you might think it’s gross, but I find it funny and amusing while watching him, cox I know my baby had finally accomplished another hand skill.

My little toes & me : "Look at me making a grab at my feet!" (15.04.2008)

Jayden is 7mths old now. Last week we brought him to see his pediatrician again. In less than a month, he had been sick twice and again it’s cough, flu, runny nose and wheezing. It’s the wheezing tat really terrifies me, cox he sounded as if he’s having difficulty breathing and u can actually hear him wheeze from the very end of a hall! Wheezing is one of the symptoms for asthma.

In 3 mths time he oledi had tis wheezing episodes 3 times. When we went to see Dr. Liaw, he explained tat it’s very likely Jayden has “viral-induced asthma”. If a baby had tis attacks for more than 3 times in a period of less than 6 mths, then he’ll be diagnosed wid viral-induced asthma, meaning to say if anyone around haf cold or flu, then he’ll most likely catch it easily and start to wheeze. Sigh!!

Dr. Liaw said tat there’s a medication for tis type of asthma and baby will need to take a medicine called ‘Singulair’ for a period of 2mths and after tat we won’t haf to worry if he’ll catch a cold easily in future. Ah Den took tis medication before for a period of 7days when he was only 3mth old, and oso he had to use a nebulizer then. I took a friend’s helpful advice of recording baby’s entire medication intake in a handy notebook; the consumption period, dosage, etc. It’s really a very good practice cox u’ll be able to monitor if your child is allergic to any specific medication and also if u happen to change his current pediatrician, then it’ll really help to haf all his previous medication record. So when the doc mentioned ‘Singulair’, I immediately remembered Jayden took tis medicine before. Though the doc said the only side effect of tis medicine is its cost, I still hope my baby doesn’t haf to consume medicine daily for such a long period so I opted to juz stay to his normal medicine for cough n runny nose for the time being.

Tis ah Den is really getting naughtier n naughtier. He’s owest so happy when he see Dr. Liaw, even though he’s sick. Most probably because the doc has a very friendly face and he’ll keep smiling and looking at him. Now he even starts to pull at the doc’s stethoscope when the doc carried him around, =)) til Dr. Liaw commented tat he’s one ‘Happy Wheezer’! Ha ha…

After 1 week Jayden is getting better. After he finished his ‘Ventolin’ and ‘Cetirizine’ syrup, I tot of bringing him bek to see his doc to get some more medicine because he still doesn’t get any better. Luckily we consulted a church friend who is also an experienced mum after service last Sun, and she suggested not giving ah Den too much medication, instead bring him to see a chinese physician or juz let him drink more water. So we brought ah Den to see a chinese physician straight after church.

Well, the chinese physician here is kinda different from wat we normally haf in Kuching. I don’t quite trust him actually. He told me to go home tat nite and smashed a shallot, then add some sesame oil, and rubbed tis mixture on ah Den’s back in the motion of left hand side up, and right hand side down. It’s like rubbing in a circular motion on his back. I followed his advice since it’s not harmful so it’s worth a try. Once again my ah Den became “Orang Bawang” cox he smelled of onions whole nite long!

Besides tis, the chinese physician oso prescribed us with a packet of herbal tea called “7 Star Tea” and oso another small bottle of powder which can be bought over the shelf in almost any Chinese medicine store. Tat small bottle of powder is really expensive, it costs RM18.80. It is common tat these chinese medical powder are expensive, probably bcox of its herbs content. Just like the small bottle of “Jing Feng Shan” we bought for ah Den last time, one small bottle costs RM19.90.

When I opened the packet of herbal tea, I was so shocked. One of it’s content was some kind of dried insects. It looks like wasps to me. So we threw the whole packet of “7 Star Tea” (‘chi xing cha’) away. I don’t even dare to drink it myself, what more to give to ah Den. Yucks!! Luckily the powder is effective, and very fortunately ah Den seems to like it. The Chinese physician said ah Den might throw up if we feed him wid the bitter powder so he suggested us to rub it on his gum and tongue. Ha ha… but when I rubbed it on the inside of his mouth, he was sucking and smiling at the same time. I wonder if he finds the powder tasty or he juz like the feeling of my finger inside his mouth. ;)) I did taste the powder myself; it’s a bit salty and bitter at the same time. After a few consumption, it seems to reduce the phlegm in his throat. Perhaps Chinese medication suits him more… but anyway, I juz hope he gets really, really fine soon.

m rolling over & over!

Jayden's mummy : "26th March 2008 - It's amazing how fast babies learn. Before this, i was so worried when Jayden seems to yet show any signs of him knowing how to roll over, but now he's oledi so good at it. Though his 10kg body shud be quite heavy for a baby, he still managed to roll himself over. Just early of this month he had learnt how to roll from his back to his side and finally to lie flat on his tummy. Today amazingly he can roll from his tummy to his back again. I didn't quite realised when he first successfully did it. He was making a fuss as usual when he rolled from his side to his tummy and was trying to keep himself in tat position as long as he can hold. It must be quite tiring for him cox he'll start wailing when he's tired. As i was standing by the bed watching him when he started to cry for help, before i rolled him over to lie on his back, he rolled over by himself.

I stared at him, thinking maybe it's juz a coincidence tat he suddenly know how to do it. Then for safety measure i placed him on the far left end of the bed when i went to prepare his bath water. When i get back, he was lying in the middle of the bed on his back. Hmm... tat seems to be quite far from where i'd placed him. So i carried him back to the end of the bed once again and stood aside watching him. First he rolled from his back to his left side then successfully landed on his tummy. After tat, he start to tilt his head back towards his right and TA-DA, he managed to land on his back again! I started laughing when i saw him doing tat. I was so proud of him. He is finally rolling over and over... but tat oso mean i must be extra careful when i leave him alone on the bed right now. Hooray! Today ah den finally mastered another skill! "

my 1st yummy 'mum-mum'

Jayden's mummy: "Introducing solid food to babies is a major stage in a baby’s development. Jayden is 6m+ now, and still he hasn’t tasted any solid food. This is because he’s overweight for his age and normally babies can start on solid food at the age of 4-6mth. Pediatrician advised to start feeding him later because of his weight.

Well, lately his appetite seems to grow and he starts to be curious at wat we eat. He’ll be eyeing our plates at the dinner table every time we carry him in our laps during our meal and sometimes he’ll even reach out to make a grab at our plates. Before this, I did try to give ahDen Rusks biscuits (which is considered as semi solid food) to chew on bcox my sis told me tat it helps babies teething process. He likes the biscuits, and it seems to soothe his gums when we rubbed the biscuit on his gum and he was giggling while trying to chew on it. Ha ha… My mum told me to try give him a grain of rice to see if he’ll swallow it. But everytime I try, ahDen wil juz either leave the rice on his tongue while staring blankly at us or push it out wid his tongue. I read tat tis is called the “extrusion reflex”, and when babies had learnt to keep the solids in their mouth and swallow it, meaning to lose tis reflex of theirs, then they are ready for solid food. Welcome to the world of the grown ups then!

When we brought ahDen to his pediatrician here in Kota Kinabalu a week ago because he wasn’t feeling well, Dr. Liaw advised tat we can start giving him solids. So I planned to start introducing ahDen to solid food after he gets well. Finally today, he had his first taste on solid food and tis is how the experience went for him."


25th March 2008 - Today i haf my first taste of solid food. Mummy cooked some porridge from the Bario fragrant rice which she bought for Rm5.70 per kg. She dunno what rice is the best to cook porridge with, so she juz get the best rice for
me. After the porridge was cooked, she mashed it somemore by filtering it thru a sieve to make my baby food really 'gooey' and sticky for me.
Mummy placed me in my walker around 3pm and fed me. After tat around 7pm, mummy reheated the porridge and fed me some more. Mummy said i did quite well today cox i finished about 2 tablespoon of my 'gooey' porridge. Haha... sometimes when mummy fed me, i blew the porridge on my spoon making bits of my food flying around. I know i'm being naughty, but i juz couldn't help myself by trying to blow my food on the spoon. It makes such a wonderful sound! Hee... and some of the porridge will be splattered on mummy's face!

b careful, i BITE!

15th March 2008 - Mummy felt my first tooth on this date. She was cleaning my mouth, like wat she did every nite, with wetted facial cotton. As she was rubbing my lower gums, she felt a jagged feeling on my gum. Then she quickly unwrapped the cotton around her finger, and ran her bare finger once again thru my gum. Tis time she really felt my tooth, even the shape of my tooth! Mummy was so excited, and keep on telling me tat i'm teething and finally my first tooth had popped out. When mummy called and tell 'nye-ma' (grandma or 'wai po') tat i finally have my first tooth, 'nye-ma' told mummy to watch out for my 2nd tooth cox normally when baby start teething, they'll haf a PAIR of tooth. The very next day when mummy was feeling for my teeth again, she really did feel my 2nd tooth. So now i haf my first PAIR of front teeth on my lower gums. Be careful, don put ur finger in my mouth... cox i'll bite!

rrrroll-ing over...

21st Feb 08 – Today I can finally roll from my back to my sides easily. Before this I could roll to my sides but not much and I totally couldn’t roll over yet, and sometimes I needed mummy or daddy to help me wid this. However, if I rolled completely over I could manage to hold my head up.
For a baby to be able to roll from his back to his sides is consider as one of the gross motor skills to be achieved from 3mths onwards. Mummy said ‘Minzhe koko’ is able to roll completely over at the age of 2 and half months. Tat’s incredible…. I guess I’m just too big and too heavy to be able to do so. Moreover I haf a BIG head, and when I roll from my back to my sides, I still couldn’t lift my head up. If I am able to lift my head up, I’m sure I’ll be able to roll completely over very soon.

27th Feb 08 – Yippee! Today I had finally managed to roll completely over. It was around 6pm and I had juz reached home after daddy & mummy brought me shopping at City Mall. When we reached home, mummy placed me on the bed. I was sleeping in mummy’s arm when daddy was driving us home, but I woke up once daddy’s car stopped. Once mummy put me on the bed, I was smiling at her and then I started to roll to my sides. Then with a little more effort, I finally rolled completely over. I wonder if the place where mummy placed me on the bed was uneven so it made me easier to roll over. Mummy was so excited and when she rolled me back to lie on my back, then I once again rolled completely over. This time daddy saw me rolling completely over by myself. Both my parents were so excited… today I can rolled over by myself twice!

tis is a clip showing me trying my hardest to roll myself over. Hooray! I finally did it!

Ain’t I smart??

Jayden’s mummy: My little baby is growing up real fast. I’d written the following post especially for him and included his pics when he was dressed up smartly. How fortunate kids nowadays seems to be, with all these nice clothes made for them and Jayden is even luckier to have these beautiful clothes as gifts from others. Well, he’ll outgrown all this clothing in a few months time, and sometimes I just feel it’s kind of a waste to buy him nice clothing cox he won’t be wearing them for long. But from another point of view, it juz mean tat my little baby is growing up day by day and tat’ll matter more than anything else. =)

am I smart no.1

Mummy & daddy bought me this funky shirt, and I got this pair of jeans from my auntie Annie (daddy’s 3rd sis) as my xmas gift. Well, luckily she bought a bigger sized jean for me, cox I’m growing real fast and even my shirt is actually meant for a 1 year old kid. Mummy said she had to get bigger sized clothes for me or else I’d outgrown them real fast and although I’m only 5mths old now, I’m wearing clothes made for a 1 year old kid!
FYI, I was wearing clothes labeled 6-12mths at the age of 2mths! Wahahahaaaa….. part of the reason is because I got a real big head, and normally for slip in clothes, the hardest part would be to get the clothes over my head.

am I smart no.2

this brown overall is a gift from my auntie ah ming. She bought it for me as one of my full-month present. She’s an experienced mom, so she bought it a few sizes bigger so tat I can wear tis when I’m old enuf. I think I look like a ranger, but mummy owest say tat overalls are cute for babies!

am I smart no.3

haha…. Tis time I’m really smart! These are my new polo shirts and pants which my granduncle (mummy’s 3rd uncle) bought for me from Marks & Spencer UK. My granduncle and grandaunt bought it especially for me from UK and luckily they bought bigger size for me cox mummy told them I’m big for my age. The polo shirts are for baby at 9mth age and they costs £19.99pounds each! They oso got me 5 pieces of baby suits and a Thomas & Friends fisher hat for me. The other flowery fisher hat is for my cousin sister – esther ‘che-che’.