Sunday, November 15, 2009
ReNe: santa claus parade
Took a quick look at the Santa Claus parade today. Though we arrived late, we were just in time to catch the last few floats and the finale, the Santa Claus float. It's just as well; Ryan's too lightly dressed to stay outside (his stroller) for long. (His stroller has a sleeping bag-like thing that keeps him quite warm.)
ReNe: ryan the roomba snail
Ryan has never sat on a hardwood floor before, but tonight I put him on the floor for fun.
He looked interested at the new perspective and was examining the floor. Then, he discovered that if he pushed the floor, he'd scoot backwards. He'd push, move back about 1cm, then look up expectantly with a huge grin. When we clapped and cheered, he'd laugh and look extremely pleased with himself. Sometimes he didn't push properly and hence he didn't move, but he would look up expectantly anyway. In this case, we didn't clap, and he would wait for our claps, cheering and aughing himself on anyway.
Speaking of roomba, I checked his pants after I picked him up, but fortunately I vacuumed the floor earlier so his pants weren't dirty. But he did leave a trail of drool as he pushed himself along...
He looked interested at the new perspective and was examining the floor. Then, he discovered that if he pushed the floor, he'd scoot backwards. He'd push, move back about 1cm, then look up expectantly with a huge grin. When we clapped and cheered, he'd laugh and look extremely pleased with himself. Sometimes he didn't push properly and hence he didn't move, but he would look up expectantly anyway. In this case, we didn't clap, and he would wait for our claps, cheering and aughing himself on anyway.
Speaking of roomba, I checked his pants after I picked him up, but fortunately I vacuumed the floor earlier so his pants weren't dirty. But he did leave a trail of drool as he pushed himself along...
ReNe: warm fall
Fall temperatures this year are higher than last year. I remember walking home one day in late October and it was snowing. The flakes were tiny and melted as soon as they hit the ground, but it was definitely snowing. This day last year, we went to catch the Santa Claus parade and it was, again, snowing. I remember feeling very, very cold, and ducking into a Tim Hortons for a warm chocolate.
In contrast, it hadn't snowed yet this season, and the temperature for the past couple of weeks have been hovering in the low teens. It's rather nice, actually. Cool and brisk, but not bitingly cold.
In contrast, it hadn't snowed yet this season, and the temperature for the past couple of weeks have been hovering in the low teens. It's rather nice, actually. Cool and brisk, but not bitingly cold.
Friday, November 6, 2009
ReNe: 6th month ped visit
We brought Ryan to the pediatrician yesterday for the rash on his face and for his 6th month vaccinations as well.
He's been having a rash on his face for the past few months, but it was just a smallish patch. Then in early October, he scratched his face and the next day, his face turned red and swollen. It was clearly an infection, and he was prescribed an antibiotic cream. It got better after a few days, then it got worse again. Recently, the rash became really bad; the patch on his right cheek was weeping so much plasma that it dripped down his jawline and ear. Yesterday, the doc prescribed another antibiotic and recommended that we apply both the antibiotic and steroid creams together; the former to control the infection and the latter, the inflammation. Yes, steroid creams should not be used for too long, which was the reason we stopped it some time back, but the doc said it was more important to bring down the inflammation.
Then we weighed him (8.1kg) and Ryan got his vaccinations. One thing we noticed about Ryan; he has a pretty high pain tolerance. Whenever he falls over (from a seated position), even if he hits his head, he doesn't cry for long. Once we pick him up, he usually calms down within a few seconds. It's the same for vaccinations — he'd wail when the needle goes in, but in a few minutes, he's all right.
Having fun before the nurse called us in:
He's been having a rash on his face for the past few months, but it was just a smallish patch. Then in early October, he scratched his face and the next day, his face turned red and swollen. It was clearly an infection, and he was prescribed an antibiotic cream. It got better after a few days, then it got worse again. Recently, the rash became really bad; the patch on his right cheek was weeping so much plasma that it dripped down his jawline and ear. Yesterday, the doc prescribed another antibiotic and recommended that we apply both the antibiotic and steroid creams together; the former to control the infection and the latter, the inflammation. Yes, steroid creams should not be used for too long, which was the reason we stopped it some time back, but the doc said it was more important to bring down the inflammation.
Then we weighed him (8.1kg) and Ryan got his vaccinations. One thing we noticed about Ryan; he has a pretty high pain tolerance. Whenever he falls over (from a seated position), even if he hits his head, he doesn't cry for long. Once we pick him up, he usually calms down within a few seconds. It's the same for vaccinations — he'd wail when the needle goes in, but in a few minutes, he's all right.
Having fun before the nurse called us in:
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Sunset
A nice way to cap off the weekend, spent taking a lot of pictures. I don't have the exact count, but I think I easily exceeded 1200 pictures over those two days. We were at the local big box mall, to get Ryan some diapers, and as we were walking in, we saw this:
Photos galore!
I'm guessing that followers of this blog, if there are any left—you stalkers (I kid! I kid!)—will probably have noticed these pictures in the photostream page applet on top. Still, the object of this blog is not just to show pictures, that's what the flickr page is for. This blog is for telling stories, and while there is no neatly packaged story to tell here today, I suppose this can count as the latest instalment of the stories of our lives.
First bit of news is that we have been feeding him solids quite regularly already, as mentioned earlier. He has tasted apple, pear, carrot, rice, oats, banana, sweet potato, and now, his favourite: avocado. We mash the food portions up in a marble mortar and pestle, and sometimes we add a bit of pear nectar to sweeten and water the paste. Mealtimes are his favourite—he gets to sit up on his high chair, and get to taste all sorts of interesting foods. He'd start out all clean and enthused, arms outstretched and sitting up, like this:
And after a few mouthfuls, he gets animated, tries to tell us how much he likes the food and about the time when he went out and had a lot of fun, his hands will wave about:
As the meal progresses, he gets messier and messier, with food all over his mouth as he mumbles, and plays with his food, blows bubbles, and starts leaning forward and generally making it hard for food to enter and remain in his mouth. Eventually, he winds up like this:
And then we get the pleasure of cleaning up after him. While the plastic bib works very well in catching food and preventing him from folding it up to taste the drippings, he is also very adept at spewing food away from the bib. So we have to clean the high chair, the floor, and of course, his mouth, chin, and neck. Not surprisingly, this whole process takes the better part of twenty or so minutes, which is amazing given the amount he consumes.
You'd probably notice in the pictures that his cheeks are still badly rashed. It's been months already, and we're not exactly sure what to do. We've gotten steroids, topical antibiotics, moisturiser, and now hydrogen peroxide (to clean the open wounds), but they don't seem to get rid of the condition. It gets a small reduction, but it seems like his skin adapts to the help and gets worse before stabilising at a bad level. We'll be seeing his paediatrician next week for his scheduled vaccinations, and we'd ask if he can do something about it, but we're not enthusiastic. Seems like Western medicine is not too good at treating chronic conditions, so we'll see what happens.
This last weekend, the confluence of conditions finally made it that we could go to the park to take pictures. Unfortunately, we were a little late, the peak autumn colours had faded and mostly fallen off. Still, we did what we could, and here are some of the results.
This first picture we took looking along a wooded path, the kind where it is all shaded, forming something resembling a tunnel, with light at the end of it. We walked past it, and realised we had to take a picture there:
Another picture, this one you can see that the leaves in the background are quite brown by now. They are supposed to turn red, yellow and that's the time when it is ideal for viewing. Ah well, there will be next year...
First bit of news is that we have been feeding him solids quite regularly already, as mentioned earlier. He has tasted apple, pear, carrot, rice, oats, banana, sweet potato, and now, his favourite: avocado. We mash the food portions up in a marble mortar and pestle, and sometimes we add a bit of pear nectar to sweeten and water the paste. Mealtimes are his favourite—he gets to sit up on his high chair, and get to taste all sorts of interesting foods. He'd start out all clean and enthused, arms outstretched and sitting up, like this:
And after a few mouthfuls, he gets animated, tries to tell us how much he likes the food and about the time when he went out and had a lot of fun, his hands will wave about:
As the meal progresses, he gets messier and messier, with food all over his mouth as he mumbles, and plays with his food, blows bubbles, and starts leaning forward and generally making it hard for food to enter and remain in his mouth. Eventually, he winds up like this:
And then we get the pleasure of cleaning up after him. While the plastic bib works very well in catching food and preventing him from folding it up to taste the drippings, he is also very adept at spewing food away from the bib. So we have to clean the high chair, the floor, and of course, his mouth, chin, and neck. Not surprisingly, this whole process takes the better part of twenty or so minutes, which is amazing given the amount he consumes.
You'd probably notice in the pictures that his cheeks are still badly rashed. It's been months already, and we're not exactly sure what to do. We've gotten steroids, topical antibiotics, moisturiser, and now hydrogen peroxide (to clean the open wounds), but they don't seem to get rid of the condition. It gets a small reduction, but it seems like his skin adapts to the help and gets worse before stabilising at a bad level. We'll be seeing his paediatrician next week for his scheduled vaccinations, and we'd ask if he can do something about it, but we're not enthusiastic. Seems like Western medicine is not too good at treating chronic conditions, so we'll see what happens.
---
This last weekend, the confluence of conditions finally made it that we could go to the park to take pictures. Unfortunately, we were a little late, the peak autumn colours had faded and mostly fallen off. Still, we did what we could, and here are some of the results.
This first picture we took looking along a wooded path, the kind where it is all shaded, forming something resembling a tunnel, with light at the end of it. We walked past it, and realised we had to take a picture there:
Another picture, this one you can see that the leaves in the background are quite brown by now. They are supposed to turn red, yellow and that's the time when it is ideal for viewing. Ah well, there will be next year...
We moved on to another site, and took this picture. Somehow, Ryan was in a ticklish mood, and laughed every time Serene patted the mat that he was seated on. Laughter being the contagious thing that it is, she also started laughing as I tried to hold the camera still and quickly fire off the pictures, resulting in this:
Monday, November 2, 2009
Happy Halloween!
It's Halloween again, the time where people celebrate the dead by dressing up like them, and when the Great Pumpkin rises out of his patch to deliver toys and goodies to all the kid who have been good for the year.
Or, if you live on or near Church Street, a chance to do a Pride Parade Redux. Annually, Church Street at Wellesley will host a huge street party—road closures, stage, super loud sound system, deejay, open air dance club feel, but fortunately no alcohol/food, though that never stops people from getting... delighted by the substances they bring along.
And of course, the costumes. all sorts of themes, from the usual horror and gore, like the man in the picture above, to celebrities, politicians, sexy outfits, and completely weird, unplaceable genres. There was this one guy who came dressed in only a trenchcoat. How did we know? He showed all standing nearby!
I went to take pictures again this year, and got a few good pictures, the whole lot can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike-tan/sets/72157622712708134/
Halloween is also the day before the change in time—from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time, which means the clocks shift one hour behind, and for the first day or so, we feel as if we gained an extra hour. Which feels good. Except that now, the sun sets at about 5pm. It used to be a more decent 6+pm just a week ago. No wonder people get more easily depressed in Winter.
We got out to the park to take a few pictures over the weekend. I'll post those and some other pictures of him eating solids soon.
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