Sharing a laff

Sharing a laff, originally uploaded by mike.tan.

So, he's playing favourites - one day he'd respond very well to me, chatting and playing, while shunning Serene after a bad feeding session, when it was more a fight than a feed.

Then, next day, after I almost drowned him (from his perspective at least, I use the shower so there was no danger at any time), I become the villain, and he would have long talks with his mother, and refuse to face me when I am presented in front of him.

This one time, Serene's the favoured one, and for some inexplicable reason, he's smiling and laughing, causing her to respond in kind.

Cute, hur?

ReNe: monorail cat

Have you ever seen lolcats?


We have our own monorail kitteh:

ReNe: berry cool

Summer so far has been quite cool. For example, today's maximum temperature is 22C (minimum 17C), tomorrow 23C. I remember summer last year to be sweltering; of course it cannot compare to Singapore's climate, but it got relatively sweltering for Toronto. So much so that this year we decided we won't make the same mistake as last year and we bought a window air-conditioner unit.

And of course this year, summer turns out to be pretty mild. It's already the end of July and temperatures outside still feels like that of an air-conditioned room.

On another note, I find myself developing a taste for berries. Back in Singapore, I'd only ever tried (fresh) strawberries (berry jams don't count) and I wasn't impressed at all. They were usually overpriced and sour. I was convinced though that if I could try them when they're really fresh, they'd be sweet. Not so; strawberries fresh from the vine at Cameron Highlands, and in Aomori in Japan, didn't taste much better. Less sour and they smelled great, but they were not sweet.

So I had given up, thinking strawberries are meant to be somewhat tart. Then this summer, craving fresh fruits, I started buying berries (not only strawberries but blueberries and raspberries as well) and they were actually sweet! I was quite astonished. They also freeze well and taste even sweeter when frozen. And they can be quite cheap; the other day I bought 3 pints of strawberries for $2. At the start of summer, a pint was going for $2.

Perched on shoulder II

Perched on shoulder II, originally uploaded by mike.tan.

With a digital camera, it is so easy to take many many pictures, to weed out the obviously bad pictures. Then, with the last few pictures, it becomes progressively more difficult to distinguish between one photo and another, all of which look almost identical...

Anyway, I was sitting on a stack of photos, from the 'perched' series. I found some time today to do some tidying up of the image, and the result is as you see here: a relaxed baby, which, according to Serene, looks more mature than he really is, especially with his resting on his arm pose.

I don't need to go to the paediatrician today, do I?

, originally uploaded by mike.tan.

Doesn't he seem to be saying just that in the picture? No, of course he is not verbally communicating yet, and there was no paediatrician appointment that day. This is just one of those photos we took when we are at that half-asleep state early in the morning when he wakes up, is happy to have slept for the last 12 or so hours, and is extremely cheerful and talkative. Once in a while, he'd even have a cry, just to wake us up. We know that's happening because once we get up, all panicked and flustered (think 120 decibel alarm clock a few inches from your ear), and pick him up, he settles down immediately and starts cooing and making baby talk conversation with us.

And so, we try to sleep earlier and wake up and play with him when he is most charming, but that's so much like jet lag, and that's hard, especially since we put him to sleep at 7-8pm, and whatever time we have after that is ours, which is precious, so we always end up sleeping past 12.

Anyway, just thought to share this cute photo... :)

Mother & son

Mother & son, originally uploaded by mike.tan.

Ryan's getting bigger; last week when we were at the paediatrician, he weighed slightly over 6kg!

We agreed, yesterday while talking over a meal, that he's at the ideal balance between heavy (and therefore strong enough to hold his head up) and light (and therefore so weak that we have to be careful about his head rolling around all over the place).

But then again, what do we know? He's our first kid, and we don't have any other experience with kids.

Still, he is very nice to hold now. Can afford to be a little less careful with him as compared to 3-4 weeks ago, and still very cute and cuddly. I suppose all that fat on him helps with the latter.

Anyway, here's a picture from when we were trying to get him to sleep. He's fairly good at it: he will sleep around 7-8pm, waking up 12 hours later, all bright eyed and ready to talk to us, as we struggle to keep our eyelids open. Of course, he gets his feeds in through the night, but at up to 4 hour intervals, so we don't get overly disturbed.

This particular day, he was not as sleepy, having napped quite a bit in the day, so we were jiggling him as we walked around the apartment.

Eventually though, he fell asleep. Which means life for us begins. ;)

Kinda feel like Cinderella at the ball, if you know what I mean.

perched on shoulder

perched on shoulder, originally uploaded by mike.tan.

cute or not?

These days, he can be quite fussy, insisting to be in our arms all the time. He'd fall asleep, then, when we decide to put him down, he wakes up, realises what we're doing, and fusses all over again, and we'd then have to hold him, and jiggle him till he falls asleep. It can be quite frustrating, if not for the times like this when he coos, and presents us with his smile that would auto-magically melt our hearts and not mind carrying him for some more.

Big air!

Big air!, originally uploaded by mike.tan.

Yesterday, I went out with the local Toronto Photography Meet-up Group which I might have mentioned previously. I still think they need a more catchy name, but their initials TPMG sounds quite good, like KPMG or something, but I digress.

The plan was to shoot the Harbourfront area by dusk, hopefully to get some sunset colours. The day was not promising, being quite cloudy and overcast, threatening to rain at times. Still, it managed to clear enough to let some sunlight through at about 7pm (sunset here is 9 pm; this picture was taken at 9:06). The result is as you see here. Beautiful colours.

Success!

Success!, originally uploaded by mike.tan.

He can now hold his head up. Not for too long, but perhaps momentarily. Much better than a few weeks ago when all he could do was lie flat and complain. Like I mentioned in the previous post, he is 8 weeks old today, so I guess, this is a suitable milestone of sorts?

He is growing up so fast.

Like father? or like mother?

Like father? or like mother?, originally uploaded by mike.tan.

So, what do you think? This was an earlier picture. He has definitely grown since that time. Right now, he has put on so much weight that I get a persistent backache and near carpal tunnel syndrome holding him up and using my hands to hold him close to my body - especially after a meal, he likes to be held upright and close to me, and the pressure helps him burp.

Today, he will be 8 weeks old. I suppose the more appropriate picture will be the one I'll post next...