Kieran has graduated from kindergarten!

4 years flew by just like that. I can still clearly remember the first day I dropped Kieran off at the kindy. He cried whenever he didn't see me. I'm glad that he has grown into a much more confident and mature boy over these 4 years!

Kieran is 4!

Officially 2

Digital Kit from Peppermint Creative (Dadditude)

it's the end..

This is a really delayed post. Wanted to blog about this some time ago, but never sat down to do it. So here it is now.

Being Biology trained, I strongly believe in the benefits of breastfeeding. Kieran was exclusively breastfed till he was about 10 months? old and after which, I only supplement 1 milk feed a day with formula till he was 12 months old. When it came to Kiefer, I guess after having gone through one round of breastfeeding with Kieran, everything felt much easier and I was less stressed about providing sustenance for my baby. Thus, Kiefer was breastfed for 12 months (i.e. not FM given at all.  6 months exclusive breastfeeding and 6 months breast milk with some solids introduced)!! After which, he started with 1 FM per day with all other 3 feeds being either EBM or direct latch. The EBMs were slowly replaced with FM until he was totally weaned off BM at 15 months old. So in fact, he had breastmik for a good 15 months! And with him, it was simply a decision made to stop breastfeeding because he was it was time to start getting him used to formula and that well.. he's been breastfed long enough!

Nonetheless, I still felt the slight sadness that I no longer have that special closeness with my baby when I latched him on. And with Kiefer, I felt it more as he should be our last baby already. Stopping breastfeeding was like saying that, "hey, the baby has grown up!" So when it was done, it was really a mixed feeling of sadness and relief, all rolled into one.

I'm glad to have breastfed both my babies for as long as I did. I do see that they fall sick less often than other children and when they do, they do not fall as ill either. And especially so with Kiefer, my boys are close to me. So with anyone who is expecting a little one now, I strongly encourage breastfeeding your baby. Don't worry about whether the milk will come or how long you'll be able to keep at it. Just do it for as long as you can and as many feeds you can manage. Any amount is a great amount! Any duration is a great duration.

Here are my breastfed babies!!

And this picture is just to record how long I've breastfed Kiefer!

Anyway, here some random updates on Kiefer:

Words:

Jor Jor (Kor Kor)

dar dar (Daddy)

Mummy is still pretty non-existent :(

Apple

points and yells for things

understands instructions like "bring/give to xx", "come", "hold tight", "sit down"

kisses when asked to

Big kiss (flying kiss)

sticks out foot for you to tickle

smacks Kor Kor

gives things to people

*LOVES* keys

stretches out hand with palm facing up when he wants something that you are holding (mostly it's food)

has about 4 teeth on top, 2 below with 2 more popping out

runs when possible. walk with arms in the air, almost like a lemur :P

Kiefer is 15 months old!

Kiefer is already 15 months old! He is learning to walk, though I think that he is actually quite reluctant to do so. He's a smart one, he knows that he gets to places much faster on fours!! Here are updates of him at 15 mths:

Communication:
eh.. and points to anything that he wants
nods his head up and down for "thank you" and "sorry"
kisses and hugs kor kor
knows when not to touch kor kor's stuff. :P

Eating:
a voracious eater. loves watermelon. Can smell/see food from far far away and go really quickly towards the food source.
is totally off BM and on Enfagrow A+ (3-4 feeds a day, about 750ml a day)
3 main meals a day + loads of snacks in between i'm sure


That's my "no longer a baby" baby!! :P

Our Fer Fer is walking!! Woot! Woot!!

I just realised that I forgot to blog about this! Yes!! Our little one is finally walking. He stood up at walked across the hall on 16 July 2009 (it was fortunate that I updated my FB's status, thus I could still backtrack the date!!) Tho we can walk, albeit unsteadily, he still prefers crawling. I guess it gets him places faster. Ha.. still. KIEFER IS WALKING!!!! Yipee!!!

Growing up with the flyer

Yes, we went up on the flyer monday ('twas Youth Day!) again. Those who know us are shaking their heads again. Wassup with this family and the flyer? It's just cos we've got the annual pass and thus we are just making full use of it.



It dawned on me that day that Fer Fer kinda grew up with the flyer! When we first went up, he was just a 2 months old baby and now? He's a big toddler already! Ok, not exactly toddling yet, but soon, we hope!

Some updates:
1) FM 3x a day 150ml
2)BF 1x in the morning. (Bedtime BF weaned last saturday :( )
3) says "duc" everytime anyone (including himself) sneezes
4) eats 3 meals a day
5) sings "ah" to "how I wonder what you are"
6) has 2 teeth at the bottom, 3 on top
7) can stand for about 1-2s
8) loves water and swimming
9) yells his arrival
10)kor kor is the only one he *ALWAYS* kisses when asked to. All others? see his mood! :P

Yeah.. i think he looks a little *tooot* here. Blame it on the daddy who combed his hair that morning! :P

Kiefer sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

M: Twinkle Twinkle little star, how I wonder what you...

F: Ah..!!!

M: Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky, twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you...

F: Ah..! 

M: :P :P

And oh yes, his 2 front teeth have appeared!! =|3

Holidays are finally here!!

Yes, it's ONE week into the June hols already! Cliche, but yes, time flies when you are having fun! So what have we been doing the past week? We've been revamping the study again. Not really a big revamp but we've added shelves in front of our tables to create more space. Ok, mine was to create more table space, hubb's to keep Kieran off his things on the table! :P

Some updates on the boys:

Kieran:

He is starting to go off diapers. He'll ask to "wear briefs" when we go out. He is not very good and letting us know that he wants to go to the toilet yet, but if we remember to keep bringing him to the toilet every hour or so, we usually do not get any accidents. :) He usually wakes up in the morning with his diaper fairly dry. If we put on his diaper just before he sleeps, the diaper is usually dry when he wakes and he'll ask to go to their toilet.

On the language front, he is getting very good at listening and expressing what he wants. Sometimes while we are talking in the car and we think that he is just dazing or looking outside the window, he'll suddenly repeat something that we were talking about! Thus we really try to be careful with the words we use these days. Yes, the expletive.  He actually used Fxxx couple of weeks back! I'm glad that we caught it early and he now knows that he cannot use naughty words. Actually for awhile, he says, "Mummy, cannot say Fxxx!" whenever he remembers that he was scolded for saying it. It was so funny and yet we could not laugh in front of him! Other than that, he is now really good. Like this morning, the I woke him up to change him to go out. As I was putting him in a shirt (he usually wears tshirts), he said "no school today." (cos his school uniform is a shirt and shorts). I said, "yes, no school.", and he asked, "where we going?". We are a long way from last time where everything was "nah. eh." :D We are so glad that Kieran is really improving by leaps and bounds since he started school. Of course, he is going into his terrible threes too!! (another post for another day.. again.)

On Kiefer:

He is such an adorable toddler now. He is getting more steady on his legs and can freestand for about 1s or so when he forgets and lets go of his grip. He is independent (when he wants to be), smacks his Kor Kor when Kor Kor take toys away from him :P and yells really loud when he wants something. And yes, this little fella has quite a temper. Whenever his is unhappy with something, he'll pout and do his "phoooooopht" thingy!! And he'll show his indignant face. On fours, he's a mean moving machine!! :P He moves around the house with great speed and yes, his favourite spot in the house? That'll be at near the main door, next to the shoe cupboard and eating shoes!! :P

Kiefer is ONE!!

Yes, our little baby is growing up! He is now cruising all over the place and also starting to have some speech development. Here's some updates:

Speech/ language:

• a-oh.. (*hello*) with hands/remote/ phones to his ears
• eh.eh..eh..eh.. means he wants something or go somewhere
• get!/ duck! Don't know what this means, but the duck usually comes after a sneeze
• recognises some pictures like "duck, dog"

Dexterity:

• cruising very well, can free stand for 1s sometimes
• crawls really fast
• still puts everything into his mouth

Feeds:

• Direct BM 3x a day (6am, 6pm, 9pm)
• 1 120ml EBM (9am) + 1 120ml FM (230pm) Enfagrow
• breakfast - 1 scoop of cereal
• lunch & dinner - usually porridge with vegetables and fish/ tofu (1/2 - 3/4 rice bowl full)
• biscuits in between meals

Naps (Weekdays):

• Leaves the house at 630am, usually continues to sleep after reaching IL's place till about 830am
• Nap at about 10 till 11ish
• Nap after lunch till about 3pm (or whenever we fetch him)
• *if we are early, nap at about 3ish till dinner time at home
• Sometimes an evening nap before dinner (about 1/2 -1hr)

Naps (Weekends):

• Wakes at about 9am
• Naps at 11 till lunch (or no nap till after lunch)
• Afternoon nap from about 3-5ish
• Bedtime at about 930-10pm

Kiefer is 11 months old!

That's the funny face that he does now when the camera is pointed in his face. Haha.. he looks like he is in agony or something. But trust me, he IS smiling. :P

Updates:

• definitely cruising
• stands up with support very well, in fact, he requires minimal support when standing. sometimes he simply needs to 'touch' something to stand up
• hearty eater. can finish an entire rice bowl of porridge with meat/fish/tofu + 2 cubes of vegetables
• has 1 bottle of formula (enfagrow) on most days
• crawls quickly (esp where there is food or remote control)
• very vocal. will yell/whine for what he wants. try being feeding him too slowly, he'll yell to be fed
• does hello, big kiss, clap hands, shake hands, smack (when naughty), blows raspberry bubbles,  pray (puts his hands together), points at things
• still puts everything into his mouth
• has some idea of object permanence. he knows that the remote control is hidden away and not simply disappeared. will sometimes look under the pillows for the remotes.
• loves his pacifier very much still. we don't usually bring it out with us, but once we get home and he sees it, he'll put it into his mouth. he's not obsessively sucking it when awake, but when sleeping, it sometimes doesn't fall out of his mouth for the entire night
• He still gets awful mozzie bites that swell and blisters. Hopefully he outgrows that. His legs are quite ugly with all the mozzie scars. Each time he gets bitten, the bites swell and when they subside, they leave behind a darker patch (like a blue-black bruise). :(

Kiefer is 10 months old!!

Another 2 more months and we'll be celebrating this little fella's 1 year old birthday!! Yay!

An update of the things he can now achieve:

• Crawl (belly up) all over the house
• Pulls himself up to a standing position, as long as he has something to grab on to
• Start cruising a little
• claps hands on demand (he could do this since he was about 8+ mths. Can't remember if I blogged about it.)
• waves goodbye (whole arm movement)
• says "alouw.." (*hello*) with his hand to his ears!! (in a low voice) :P

I've also started a little meat (pork) in his diet and am going to try beef later today. 

a quick update

a quick update on Kiefer:

1. a second tooth has sprouted. bottom front. it seemed to have just popped up overnight, 2 nights ago! that probably explained the cranky-drink-milk-nip-me-all-the-time syndrome. :P anyway so he now has 2 (lower) front teeth.
   
2. he now generally eats cereal for lunch and porridge (millet + white rice or brown rice) for dinner. the carbo is usually accompanied with 2 cubes of vege (either 1 green + 1 orange or 2 cubes of broccoli). just started him on some pork today.
   
3. every weekend (sat and sun) he has 1 bottle of formula (Enfalac) in the morning. 4 scoops + 120ml of water.
   
4. leopard crawls very well and can sometimes lift his abdomen up and do a proper crawl.
5. can move a sitting position from lying down on his own.
6. does the "plphooophst" (blowing raspberries) (with tongue sticking out sometimes) whenever he is angry/displeased/ doesn't get whatever he wants. :P

update on Kieran:

1. his language is increasing by leaps and bounds. he has now promised to "3 year old birthday, throw bottle, drink milk from cup and go toilet!" i actually taught him to say "go potty" and thus was surprised when he said go "toilet" instead!! haha. he now counts 1-13 in Mandarin too! he is starting to speak in phrases and attempts to form sentences. e.g. "xie xie daddy bring wheel!" (aka thank you daddy for bringing me to the flyer)
   
2. he'll ask to read some books before bed every night. and the some would mean all the books lying around next to his bed. and that's easily 5-6 usually. sometimes we are guilty of not reading with him cos we are just so tired. :(. have to try harder mummy!
3. he is really happy in school. no more "no school". when asked if he wants to go school. it's always yes! :D

Kiefer is 9 months old!

Time really, really flies with this little one! It seemed not too long ago that we were just in the hospital, amazed at how closely he resembles his brother. Now he is an active and noisy little baby!

In the last month he has learnt to sit up indefinitely and on occasion, he is able to move into the sitting position while on his front. And yes, he is officially mobile! He creeps (leopard crawls) very quickly, especially to get to his favourite items (e.g. keys, phones, remote controls). Pretty much everything he lands his hands on goes into his little mouth for some tasting! However, the items now also undergo a little gnawing from that one little tooth on his lower jaw. :P It was amazing how fast he went from trying to move to suddenly being able to move forwards. He only spent 2 days wriggling backwards and then he figured out how to move forwards already! Prior to creeping, he got to places by rolling about! It was amusing to see him rolling onto his front and rolling back onto his back to and fro trying to get to wherever he needed to be! He'll roll and look to see how far he is from his target and then he'll try again! :P Yesterday, he has successfully gotten off Kieran's bed butt first! The funny thing about Fer Fer is that he tend to learn or achieve milestones in no order. i.e. he sat up before he could roll over, stand with help without being able to sit up properly, and now, get off the bed butt first without even trying to plunge headfirst onto the floor like most babies! That's our little Kiefer for you! :D

On the eating front, I still think he doesn't really eat a lot but yes, he is improving. He usually has brown rice cereal for lunch and porridge (white or brown rice) for dinner. I may have to start giving him some breakie too? And usually, he gets some homemade curd everyday or alternate days to just help his bowel movements a little. I still have not started meats with him, probably in another month or so. Thus, his proteins now comes from tofu and his fats and omega-3s from flaxseeds and avocados.

Happy New Year! & Kiefer is 8 months old!

Celebrated the last day of the year at Long Beach Seafood! Yummy food! It's been a long time since we really splurged on dinner.

And here's our adorable darling Fer Fer! He is 8 months old already! He's quite a chatty fella, and really good and holding on to his property! Whenever anyone takes away something that he is playing with, he's sure to "complain, complain, complain" (i.e. yelling) till someone gives it back to him or gives him something else to play with!

I've been giving him a variety of foods to try and some new stuff include:

1. carrots
   
2. plain yoghurt
   
3. tofu
   
4. papaya
   
5. brown rice (Nestle & TCM blend)

And now that he is 8 months old, I'm going to start him on broccoli and flaxseed this month.

Kiefer is 7 months old..

and we are all flying to Shanghai tomorrow!!! Yipee!!

So how is our little boy doing now? He is now a very vocal and talkative baby. Loves to make this guttural, throaty sound and responses when you start making them. He also squeals to catch our attention, especially when there is no one near him! He grabs at anything and everything around him and puts them in his mouth! It is just so amusing to see him holding a blanket or a nappy cloth in his hands when you clearly remember moving everything away from him when you first put him down! You just wonder how on earth he got to them! Also, he loves to cover himself with a nappy or a blanket and then give you a cheeky smile when you lift it off his face! He do it again and again, just waiting for someone to pull the nappy off him and he'll give a very sheepish smile!

On the pooping end, since he started on solids, he poops a little more often. However, since I introduced yoghurt to him, he kinda stopped pooping again!! :( I didn't want to massage his tummy today cos I didn't want him pooping on the flight tomorrow!! So I got to remember to massage his tummy when we reach Shanghai tomorrow!! the good thing is that, his tummy still feels soft. 

Updates on the eating? He has since tried:

avocado

rice cereal

sweet potato (not too good)

pears (Earth's Best)

peach (Earth's Best)

oatmeal cereal (Healthy Times)

bananas

plain yoghurt (mixed with bottled peach)

Strong legs!

Fer's able to stand up with his feet flat on the ground with little support! I now bathe him standing up and I'll usually support him under the armpit. I realise that he can actually stand pretty well as I do not really need to hold him. I just have to put my hand under his armpit and he stands!! I don't actually need to hold him. He stood even when I just put my thumb under him. He can stand like that for about 1-2 mins while I rinse him down!! 

Peek-A-Boo!

Kieran: Peek-A-Boo!

Kiefer: *smiles*

Kieran: Boo!

Kiefer: *bigger smile*

Kieran: *hides & jumps up* Boo!

Kiefer: laughs!!!

Kiefer is sitting up!

Kiefer can sit up unsupported and stay in the position for a long, long, long time!! And now that he can roll over, he tend to sleep on his side all the time. Even when I turn him onto his back, he somehow rolls onto his side again in the middle of the night!

I gave him some avocado to taste yesterday and he seem to really like it! the first time I gave it to him, I watered it down with water. Today, I watered it down with BM and he slurped it all up even though it was right after his milk feed. There was about 1 tablespoonful of avocado. Now I feed him 2 meals a day. Once at lunch and once at dinner. I try to give him the new food at lunch so that I'll have the rest of the day to watch for any reactions. I think I'll try bananas or sweet potato this weekend!

He is not waking up much at night for milk anymore. Most nights, he sleeps from about 9pm till about 4am in the morning when he stirs for milk. Sometimes he'll fall back asleep once I give him his pacifier till about 6am when I pick him up for a feed before I take a shower and get ready for work. So he is in effect sleeping about 6-9hrs at a stretch without feeding already. And this was even before I started giving him cereals.

At the last Dr's visit for his Hep B 2nd dose, he weighed 7.83kg & is 64cm in length. I think he is growing rather well!!

Kiefer at 6 months old!

Today is the 3rd day that Fer has been eating cereal. I gave him about 1 tsp of dry cereal blended with about 20/30ml of EBM, once a day. He is starting to know to eat the food and not try to push it out of his mouth now. 

Now that he can roll over, he is starting to sleep on his side! We put him on his back to sleep at night, but he will turn onto his side some time in the middle of his sleep.

Here's Fer Fer at 6 months old!