Just like the ones she used to know

IMG_3617, originally uploaded by mike.tan.

Baby's first Christmas...

The sleeper reads:

MUM'S DREAMING OF A QUIET CHRISTMAS, JUST LIKE THE ONES SHE USED TO KNOW...!

As mentioned in the previous post, we went to Carl's place for dinner on Christmas eve.

It was an interesting experience to get him to Carl's place and back. Carl lived slightly off the public transit, so we had to take the TTC subway, and then wait for a pickup by Carl's wife, Rachel, who would then drive us to their place. However, in order for him to be driven, he had to be in a baby car seat, which we did not have.

Hooray for living in student family housing, and having friends who do. We borrowed a car seat, but were surprised to find out just how heavy one of those things were. The cradle part was already fairly heavy, and then our friend emailed and told us we forgot the base which allowed the whole thing to be strapped down; the base was easily the same weight or more.

So, we had to lug baby, his toys and accessories so that he could play/fall asleep in a strange place, car seat and my photographic equipment all over the subway, and then struggle to secure the seat outdoors while the temperature hovered around 0ºC. The total load: seat—7kg; camera bag—5kg; camera accessory bag—3kg; gifts—2kg; baby—9kg; baby bag—3kg. Total load: 29 kg, and we were dressed in winter wear, which is not light. All of these were split amond the two of us...

Fortunately for us, setting up the seat was not difficult at all, and we managed to get to Carl's place not too exhausted, although I was somewhat confused why babies needed strapping down in cars but could be held in arms in public transit...

At Carl's place, he was fairly well behaved, not throwing any tantrums, and only panicking once when Rachel brought him into a room full of strangers while we took off our shoes at the door. Other than that, he shared food with us nicely.

Putting him to sleep when he eventually got tired was tough though. The place was obviously not home, and he initially refused to sleep; but after some encouragement, he decided that he could sleep after all, and amazingly, slept through for about 3 hours, something that he does not even do at home at that time of the night.

When it was eventually time to go home, at about 3am, we were fortunate that he woke about the same time, so we did not have to wake a sleeping baby. Sleepy boy could barely hold it together to make a notional protest at being strapped into the car seat before the car started to move, sending him into dreamland.

We even managed to carry him up in the car seat, place him in the living room, get changed ourselves, before putting him to bed.

All in all, a fairly interesting adventure for him, I guess.

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:

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...

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:

Babies. Infuriating sometimes (like right now as I type—he is having difficulty sleeping), but it's times like these that make it all worthwhile.

Baby tries to eat links

Baby tries to eat links, originally uploaded by mike.tan.

So, his face is rashed. And has been so since he was about two and a half months old. It actually went away for about a week or two, then came back again, and stayed, and got worse, better, worse, we got Hydrocortisone cream from the pharmacy (1%), and it got better, worse...

You get the picture.

Seems like nothing we do helps. It's certainly not an allergy, unless he is allergic to breast milk, which would be quite unfortunate. The one that gets us really worried is the hydrocortisone cream. That stuff is a steroid, and is supposed to reduce inflammation by mimicking a body substance and/or blocking the effect of an inflammatory agent. (If you want the details, wikipedia has it). Which is fine. Except that even for the over-the-counter preparations (0.5%), there are explicit warnings not to exceed seven continuous days of use.

His drug came in a urine specimen bottle sized container, and we had been using it on and off since August 13.

Hydrocortisone, among the crazy things it does, thins the skin, in excess, the skin becomes almost translucent, vessels become visible, and the skin is exceptionally liable to breakage and tears.

Which is scary.

In even larger amounts, it affects the adrenal gland function, and that is something you really do not want to be messing around with.

But then, he scratches himself. A lot. Especially at night. And he cannot get to sleep. And he cries, which wakes us up. So we had been using the cream to get the rash to go down.

Just 20 minutes ago, when we attended to his crying, we noticed that his cheek, the place where the rash refused to subside, was bleeding.

We're stopping hydrocortisone use with immediate effect, indefinitely.

I just hope this will not have any long term effects on him.

playing with bead puzzle

playing with bead puzzle, originally uploaded by mike.tan.

well, not really. So yesterday, when Serene was off at the dentist's, I had to take care of the kid. We expected him to be napping for almost all of the time Serene was supposed to be away; however, of course the boy had to wake up early, and refuse, very firmly, to go back to sleep. Of course, that meant a mini-tantrum, with him managing to corral up whatever he had to tell me that he was not going to sleep. That included very high pitched screams, body arching back so he could not be put on his side (we like to put him to sleep on his side), kicking me in the throat, poking my eyes when I put my face close, and using his legs to thump the mattress.

So, ok, awake he is. And I was going through the usual routine of activities for him, and I sort of ran out of things to do. I looked around and found this bead puzzle that someone passed to us. I know this is probably for older kids, but decided to let him try anyway. Interestingly, he actually started to play with the beads, but then, he quickly got bored with the toy, and started to use the wire as a support (he can sit up unassisted, but not for too long). Soon, he got tired, and then frustrated, then this:

So, right now, we are keeping the toy away from him - the blue wire is starting to come loose already...

Hi!

Hi!, originally uploaded by mike.tan.

Ryan may be teething. Or, at least, his adventures with discovering the world with his mouth and hands has taken its natural course and now he's stuffing those fingers into his mouth. Which is very cute, especially when he puts one tiny finger into the corner of his mouth.

I suppose this picture would look even cuter if he had his left index finger in the left corner of his mouth, but on balance, his right hand really makes the picture. Almost as if he's saying: "Hi! Yes? What? I'm not supposed to put my fingers in my mouth? What fingers?"

Of course, he's not at the stage where he knows how to wave. But cute anyway...

Gimme!

Gimme!, originally uploaded by mike.tan.

... so young, and so demanding already.

He can be really stubborn when we try to put him to sleep; he has such great persistence that he can wail and scream and struggle for up to half an hour. The only reason we've not timed him going for longer is because we gave up and eventually did something right by him.

Not as if we were simply ignoring his cries. We will shush pat him, pick him up, put him down (yes, Tracy Hogg's methods), make sure his diaper is clean, and he's not hungry, all that. Besides the rash on his face, he has no physical need. He's just (from our perspective) being difficult.

How do we know he has no physical difficulty affecting his sleep? Change the soother from me to Serene, and he co-operates, progressively fussing less, until he falls asleep.

I dunno. Any ideas?

recalls a fluid pugilistic manoeuvre

recalls a fluid pugilistic manoeuvre, originally uploaded by mike.tan.

Nice picture. Nothing else to say. :)

mmm. tastes like chicken

mmm. tastes like chicken, originally uploaded by mike.tan.

So, Ryan's been eating solids. More like he's sampling food that we've been feeding him. We realised recently that he was ready to try new foods when he started to lose the tongue thrust reflex, the reflexive urge to spit out anything that comes into his mouth. Also, he was quickly becoming extremely curious with regards to the food we eat - he'd stare intently as we ate, and almost had that "gimme some of that!" look on his face. And it was nearly time anyway - one gauge that paediatricians go by is the doubling of birth weight, and yes, he's doubled.

So we started preparing foods for him. Apples, pears, sweet potatoes, boiled, steamed, and then macerated with a mortar and pestle. He loves it!

This one time, I was preparing dinner for ourselves, and as usual, we'd like to plop him up on his high chair as he watches us cook and potter around the kitchen. In what seems like a pattern now, we'd turn our heads away for a minute to attend to something, and then we'd turn back, only to notice surprise us. This time, he was slumped over and tasting the high chair. I wonder if he was feeling hungry, or he's at the stage where he's exploring his world with the new sense that has woken up - his sense of taste...

ReNe: sitting up unassisted

As the title says.

For the past month and half, Ryan has been able to sit upright if assisted, whether in his high chair or stroller, though he tended to list to one side. Recently, his progress accelerated abruptly. Perhaps it was the increased amount of tummy time?

Last week, he was able to sit up when partially propped by pillows.

He was also able to use a stuffed toy for support.

Two days ago, he started to sit unassisted for a few seconds. He'd hold himself rigid, fingers sometimes clenched tightly to his toes or arms held stiffly in front, but will topple over quickly. He tended to topple to his front.


Yesterday, he discovered if he pulled himself upright, balancing his head over his center of gravity, it helped greatly. Here, he looked more natural and not so rigid, and he could sit up for a few seconds.

Today, he's able to sit unassisted for a couple of minutes. And look at the camera instead of concentrating hard in front of him.

And in the next scene...

tummy time..., originally uploaded by mike.tan.

Can you predict what would come out of our brilliant idea?

You see, he's been resistant to being on his tummy, vastly preferring instead to be standing up, supported by us, of course. Which is tiring. On a day with a good mood, he'd allow us to plop him face down on the mattress, then he'd squeal for a couple of minutes, before squeals becomes fussiness which become all out cries: "Let me up! What makes you think I like to be on my tummy? It's so boring down here!"

So today, when we were re-arranging the furniture, we lowered his mattress height, and got out the alphabet tiles made of soft foam. When we were doing this, he looked very interested and curious, no doubt attracted by the snazzy colours and big blocky shapes. So we thought, why not put him on his belly overlooking the edge of the bed?

Which worked.

Well, kinda. He was happy, not fussing for quite some time, staring at the colourful new things he'd never seen before, and then we turned our backs to do some re-arranging and packing.

Then we heard a dull thud, and then a scream. He had fallen over.

Fortunately for us, he seems to have a high pain tolerance; picked him up, cuddled him for a bit, and he was back to normal, looking like nothing had happened to him. Guess he was more shocked that something strange happened to him, than actually hurt. I guess the padding helped.

ReNe: 3.75 months -- regarding playtime

This is quite challenging -- what to do with Ryan when he's not sleeping or eating. At this stage he still loves to look at things more than anything else, and while he was satisfied with our drab apartment in his first couple of months, he quickly got bored of it. In other words, he wants to look at new things but he still not in the stage where he wants to sit down and grab stuff (much). He is starting to, though...

Now that the weather is still pleasant, I try to bring him out almost everyday, whether it's down to the drop-in center in our building or a quick walk to the supermarket nearby to buy groceries. We go to the park sometimes, and occasionally, a further trip downtown. He loves going out now; strapping him into his carrier or stroller evokes an almost Pavlov-like reaction and he gets this happy, expectant look on his face, arms windmilling. If he was fussing before, strapping him into his carrier or stroller practically guarantees he will shut up. Sometimes we take a little too long in leaving the apartment, and he will start fussing again until the exact second we exit the door.

As mentioned, there is a drop-in center in our building and it's great. It's a large room with toys and books where parents with babies and toddlers can drop by on weekday mornings. As it's within the same building, I often bring Ryan down for a short while, then up for a quick nap, and then back down again for another hour before the center closes. He's still not too interested in the toys but he loves to look at the other babies. It's also a great place for me to meet other moms and socialize. As we're in a foreign country, one of my biggest worries for Ryan was the potential lack of socialization -- I need not have worried. There are many families with children in the university family housing, where we stay, and already we regularly meet three other babies (and moms) who all were born within a month apart at the center. Plus, the large library of play resources available means we don't have to buy him so many toys. Best of all, it's completely free.

We are also of the opinion that he should learn to play by himself -- it's a tricky balance between paying attention to his needs and wants, and yet not being his sole source of entertainment.; not neglecting him and yet carefully ignoring him at certain times so he can explore by himself. We have noticed that he tends to start the day in a very good mood and gets more testy as the day progresses; for example, when he first wakes up in the morning, I can generally leave him by himself in his chair as I make breakfast, and he's fine simply observing me for up to an hour. However, by the evening, he will not even sit down in his chair for two minutes before kicking up a fuss.

His chair...
(The chair was given by a friend, and so was the toy block, which was one of a large set. So far, we have only bought him a total of two toys.)

When we started putting him in this chair a couple of weeks ago, he wasn't quite able to hold himself upright yet and would slump against the back. Lately he is starting to sit more upright, leaning forward from the back (of the chair). Also, while we've been placing toys in front of him for a while, it was only very recently that he started to reach for them. Typically, his method of exploration goes like this: examine first with eyes, then mouth. Repeat until bored.