Month 32

started at new school

started eating the entire Dunkin Donuts' Egg and Cheese wrap (we're getting there!)

Can finish 4 orders of hargaw dimsum all by himself (shrimp dumplings) plus a small order of congee.

loves to share what mommy is drinking

----
One time, at bedtime:

Mommy: Hey, why are you still awake ? Sleep na.
Swe-cha: [rolls over to his side and starts snoring] *ngorkkkk ngorkkkk*

Month 30

Loves to play ball - kick, roll, throw

can say "FAN" clearly (started saying this in 6/17, Father's Day)

still loves dimsum (hakaw and congee), japanese noodles and vietnamese pho

sits in stroller while mommy pushes him around (finally!)

pretends to count on hand and while pointing to picture books

does puzzles on iPad

loves tesla game on iPad

goes to bed easier, no more struggling w/ mommy.

sits down w/ classmates during circle time, sings songs, follows actions

sits down at table for activities

Month 26

Today, we celebrate Swe-cha's 26th month :) Thank you, Lord!

He likes:
- Barney's Sing & Dance
- Barney's I Can Do It
- Barney Live: Around the World
- Barney's Top 20 Countdown

He watches Sesame Street and likes Ernie, Bert and Cookie monster. He identifies Kermit (frog), Abby and Grover but would not watch any of their segments. He loves Thomas the Train shows but will only pay attention to the start & end where there are songs, and the middle part where they feature real trains documentary-style (he really loves trains!).

His favorite toy is the train that Kweh-Ape got him and plays with it on/off the whole day. Sadly, it's falling apart now - an affliction that most well-loved toys and books suffer. His favorite book is still Good Night, Moon and Sesame Street's Yucky Yucky. Both books are in pieces now but have been taped together, Mommy still cannot find a few missing pages from Good Night, Moon.

He eats rice, eggs, miswa, pho, udon and soba. His favorite ulam is Mommy's Pork Giniling with carrots and potatoes. His all time favorite is hakaw (shrimp dumplings) and century egg with pork congee from our local dimsum place. He also loves cookies and KitKat chocolates. He will eat vanilla pudding but not chocolate pudding.

He's also made a few attempts at eating by himself - basta masarap yung food.

His favorite words these days are:
- face "ace"
- feet "eeet"
- off - but he really means to turn on. He says this when he wants you to turn on the fan, lights, projector, his toys, etc.
- flower "hour"
- leaf "uf" or leaves

and when you pretend to sneeze, he will run towards you and cover your face with his lampin. This is probably something he learned from barney's Keep Your Sneeze to Yourself song. He likes to tickle Mommy & Daddy under the chin.

He likes to watch the washing machine go round and round so when Mommy does the wash and he hears the water running in the machine, he'll rush off to get the little step-stool in the bathroom  & he'll bring it in front of the washer so he can watch. (Mommy should get a picture of this sometime, he is so cute!).

Month 20

Food:

choco chip cookies
potato sticks, chips
cheese puffs
egg & cheese from DD
egg from Katsudon
Rice soup from Nizi

identifies (by pointing) pictures in his picture book - motorcycle, car, bulldozer, tree, butterfly, baby, sippy

pointed to sippy cup in picture book when he wanted water

watches thomas the train, bob the builder
loves sesame street - hello song, rubber ducky song
loves cooking monster

matches puzzle pieces to the pictures in puzzle book

Month 18

The highlight of Swe-cha's 18th month is Aku's visit. He had lots of fun playing peek-a-boo and getting tickled by Aku.

He was very well-behaved when we went out for lunch with Aku at Red Lobster - if you consider dipping a straw into water and then flicking it to spray water around the table a form of "behaving".

In any case - he made Mommy and Daddy so proud because he sat in his high chair and did not demand to be released all throughout the meal. He also tried RL's cheddar bay biscuits (loved it!) and a few spoonfuls of the New England clam chowder.

Swe-cha still likes taking walks with Mommy in the afternoon. He prefers to walk by himself - without holding anybody's hand - but he will listen and stay with Mommy (sometimes) when she calls out for him.

If all else fails and he ignores our calls, we usually just have to say "BYE!" loud enough for him to hear it and he will come back.

Swe-cha can now answer "Essss" (Yes) in the right context. Sample conversations are:

"Does your tummy hurt ?" when he wakes up crying.

"Esss"

"You want Humphreys ?" (his teething strips)

"Essss"

"Go out ?"

"Esssss"

"You want to read your book ?"

"Essss"

"You want this milk ?" or "Hungry ?"

*stare* :)

"You want potato chip ?"

"Essss"

He has not learned to say "no" yet.

He loves his soup and is more willing to taste new things. He throws away finger foods if you let him hold it but he will eat it if you feed it to him. Some of his recent tries are potato chips and french fries. He is also eating his baby mum mums again (rice husks).

Last weekend, he was playing with the little condiment cups at McDonald's and was imitating Mommy by dipping his fry into an empty cup. Mommy decided to dip a fry in ketchup and let him have a taste, he nibbled and did not complain. Daddy then dipped a fry into honey mustard sauce and gave it to him to try. Swe-cha was startled, his eyes went big and his body gave a big jolt - all of which made Mommy & Daddy laugh - and then he refused to eat anything else after that.

Our baby is now a little boy and he loves doing boy-stuff such as:

wrestling,

riding his scooter while watching TV,

and car maintenance (note, that is the neighbor's car).

But we make sure that he grows up to be a well-rounded boy so he has his art,

science (Botany),

and for a bit of Chinese culture, he also tries to hone his mahjong-tile-mixing-skills at the church baby room while Mommy and Daddy hear mass (wait, this sounds so wrong!).

Month 17

Our little boy has grown so much! While he will still be my baby for the next few decades (or forever, heehee), he is definitely not an infant anymore.

Today, as he turns 17 months old, he did the following:
- did a somersault on the bed right after bathtime
- brushed his teeth for real with Colgate's My First Toothbrush and My First Toothpaste.

He's getting used to stage 3 baby food jars now and does not spit out the chunkier food particles and also likes to drink soup - often, with cereal and shredded meat mixed in. His favorite soups are the Cantonese soups with the Lotus root, the one with the gingko nut and tofu, and the Ching Po soup.

He enjoys going to daycare and would walk in by himself (w/o even looking back at Mommy) on most days. He likes to sing and dance along the music during circle time. He's also started napping on his mat consistently. We have not brought his favorite book (Good Night, Moon) to daycare for several weeks now - a good sign that he is fully adjusted to being in daycare. The daycare staff tells me amusing stories of how he starts waving and saying bye to them at around 5p and just looks forward to going home with Mommy.

He has gotten used to taking afternoon walks with Mommy within our residential compound, he likes to look at and observe the cars (especially the wheels) and is curiously enamored by an old Crown Victoria parked in front of the North building. He is very friendly with strangers we meet and waves and says HI to all, even the ones who do not seem interested in him can't help but wave back because he is so insistent. He loves dogs and would always want to reach out and touch them. He likes to touch all sorts of things - plants, leaves, shrubs, grass - and he giggles when he touches the evergreens, probably because the pine needles tickle his fingers. Sometimes, he picks things up to get a closer look and then throws them back again. Today, he picked up a piece of mulch, looked at it, smiled and then handed it to Mommy - awww, his first gift! Unfortunately, mommy wasn't thinking and threw the mulch back and was not able to get a picture.

On some days, we get lucky and there are birds and rabbits to chase around in the courtyard. He enjoys being outside so much that when it's time to come home, he would usually balk just outside the door and try to pull Mommy out.

He had his 2nd haircut last weekend and it went better than the first one in the sense that he was happy at the kiddie salon and liked playing with the toys and sitting on the big car. He didn't like getting his hair touched though. He kept glaring and batting his hand at the hairdresser whenever she touched his hair and later, when she wouldn't leave him alone long enough to play with his toys, he cried - w/o tears.

Mommy and Daddy got him a bubble machine and he loves to pop the bubbles and while he still likes to turn his cars (and anything with wheels) over so that he could spin the wheels, we now observe him playing with cars the right side up.

He is still not saying a lot of words but he does have a lot more sounds in his vocabulary now. He is also more interactive:

- says "nyaaa nyaaa" (his version of meow meow) whenever he sees a cat or when he feels like answering the question "What does the cat say ?"

- says "mmmmmm" in answer to the question "What does the cow say?"

- "Daddy" is still consistently "AAAH", much to Daddy's consternation.

He would say "nyaaa nyaaa" (Meow meow) when he sees a cat, he waves his arms about when he sees a conductor (Brainy Baby Music Video), and stomps his foot and dances when an East Indian dance comes on screen (Brainy baby Music video). In church, he sings "haaaaa", during Hallelujah.

He also made up a sign for "pick up", he puts his hands on the sides of his chest near the armpit area - just where you'd hold a toddler when you pick him up.

Month 16

At 16 months, Swe-cha still loves to climb. He has also started practicing akyat-bahay skills of topping the fence, swinging his legs over the top and then coming down on the other side. He does a good job of "escaping" his enclosure most of the time but when he gets tired, he loses his hold and tends to fall so we usually run to him as soon as we hear him grunting because that means that he is climbing again.

Wearing shoes does not seem to bother him at all, he can still climb - pulls himself up mostly using his upper body strength - even if he cannot hook his toes inside the diamond holes in the fencing. This was when we decided to upgrade his fencing, thus, expanding his play area and making it impossible (or so we think) for him to climb out... for now, anyway.

From 18.5 sq ft, he now has 49 sq ft of play space - not including the space occupied by the exersaucer. We also moved the bookcase that used to occupy the wall right beside the patio door and secured that against another wall. All this took us almost 3 days but it's worth it to see Swe-cha happy in a bigger space.

As for the old Play Yard, we took it apart and each of the 3 panels now secure our 2 computer tables in our upstairs bedrooms.

Amazingly, nothing seems to deter our little boy from climbing. Since he is unable to climb his new fence for now, he would push his toys against the sofa and use it as a step stool so he could get up. The first time he climbed the sofa, he kept shrieking with glee and would climb up holding one of his toys (usually, a stacking block or a car) and then throw it in the space behind the sofa. We didn't realize that he was throwing his toys there until we noticed that his toys were considerably less and started looking for the rest.

We're also seeing a lot of big-boy behavior from Swe-cha. He would sometimes pull out his bumbo chair and sit down on it while he watches his videos. One time, I also found him sitting on a chair and playing with toys on the little round table in daycare when I got there to pick him up. I can't wait till he's able to sit down long enough for us to start him on art activities - finger painting, doodling w/ crayons, etc.

On the down side, he had his 15th month well-baby checkup this month and his pediatrician is concerned about his poor weight gain. We were sent home with orders to fatten him up. We're going back to see his pedia again in 1 month for a weight-check and if he has not made good progress, we might have to be referred to a feeding center for some therapy. *eek*

15 months

Dear Swe-cha,

I can't believe that you are 15 months old now. You now love going to daycare everyday, you readily go to C's arms when I drop you off in the morning and once you're w/ C, you immediately point or lean your body towards the play area inside so that she'll bring you there.

You love playing at daycare, each time I pick you up, you're off playing at a different area. One day, you're at the jungle toy, you're off pushing a train the next day, and the next, you're opening cabinets and exploring the play kitchen. One day, you were even running round and round the dining area shouting "ahhhh" and there were 2 other boys doing the same thing. They stopped doing that as soon as you did when you walked over to me, I like to think that you're the instigator of that little game and that makes me smile. You're the youngest and already the ringleader.

You love singing or rather, you love making Daddy and Mommy sing. Your favorite song is "Baa-baa black sheep" and "itsy bitsy spider". You would always do the actions for the songs when you want us to sing it for you. You can also do the actions for "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

You love to flip through your books and you would point to your favorite pages and ask Mommy to read it for you.

You may not be talking yet but you can certainly make yourself understood via signs, so far you can do the following:

- where

- daddy

- nobody

- milk

- food

We love you so much babe. You are the greatest blessing that we have ever received.

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

Month 11

Swe-cha is 11 months old now. Wow! How fast time flies.

He still has not said any words other than Mama but he is making a lot of sounds including, "essss" and "ha" (which, by the way, I could also claim to be a word). He is such a handful nowadays because he climbs the walls of his playyard with ease, you turn your head for a second and there he is, already more than halfway out with his waist already above the top of the fence. We scold him whenever we see him do this but I don't think that he listens at all.

He can also follow simple instructions and gestures when he wants to. The operative words here are "when he wants to" because when he is not in the mood, he will just ignore us as if he isn't hearing anything. If we didn't know any better, we'd think that he has hearing problems. During bedtime, I would ask him "Good night, Moon ?" and if he wants me to read it to him, he will crawl over to where we keep the books to get it, hand it to me and then sit on my lap. During playtime, I would hand him the plastic ball that came with his musical gears you and point where he could drop it and he would do as I indicated.

"Goodnight, Moon" is one of his favorite books right now. When reading "Goodnight, Moon", Mommy would make kitten sounds when we reach the "goodnight kittens" part and he would attempt to make those sounds as well. He would also always turn to look at Mommy and touch her face at the "three little bears, sitting on chairs" part. Awww :)

The other book that he loves is "Harry Bear and Friends, Book of Opposites". This board book is now very battered, has folds and creases in many pages and has a partially torn back cover - all testaments to how much he loves to play with it.

He is also getting very good at balancing. He would stand up a lot now, look around and then take a step towards wherever it was that he wanted to go and then get on his hands and knees to crawl. He has not mastered the art of walking yet but hopefully, he will soon.

He has not gained a lot of weight during this month as he is on his 3rd week of a pseudo-hunger-strike. It's been harder and harder to get him to eat solids and he could go for days without having any solids at all. Thankfully, his milk intake is still at a stable 25+ oz per day so I decided not to make a big deal out of it anymore.

Month 10

We now have a 10 month old in our hands. I'd say that time went really fast but that would only be true (in my case) part of the time. I would have to admit that there are times when I wanted to will time to go faster if it meant that we could skip over the hard parts. In any case, looking at our son now makes all the sacrifices worth it - in fact, he's worth much much more.

On his 10th month, he accomplished the following:

- he was trained to use Playtex nipples (this is a big deal w/ Mommy and Daddy)

- his early morning hourly feedings (4 to 8) were eliminated - these first 2 accomplishments proved that he is still trainable

- he is able to get to a standing position w/o holding on to anything and he can stand for long periods of time now. Sometimes, I see him trying to take steps too.

- he cruises while holding on to his SuperYard fence

- he loves to do "high-five"s with Mommy in the afternoon

- he has also learned to use his toys as tools for escape. I would often find him moving his toys around just so he can stand on something and look over the fence - he usually does this during dinner time when Mommy & Daddy are at the dining table and he's put down in the fence (he usually sits at the table w/ us but Mommy puts him in his yard when he gets bored and starts complaining).

Month 9

At 9 months, Swe-cha has developed a lot of personality. His sense of humor is even more evident now and he likes laughing at Mommy and Daddy's antics.

Socially, there is some improvement. While he is still very wary of strangers (Aunt B told us that this is okay, you don't want your baby laughing and smiling when a stranger tries to take him, don't you ? O nga naman.), we're glad that he did let Tito C and Tito M carry him at the church during the Twincesses' baptism. At the reception, he also let Tita A carry him and slept while being carried by Tita R. Yay!

We still get a lot of "boy or girl?" questions from strangers, even when he's dressed in a baseball outfit or wearing an obviously-boyish hat (i.e. w/ a firetruck logo), when we go out but we take that as a compliment :)

Physically, he's able to stand up longer and longer now - mostly, while still holding onto his play yard fence. He is also able to let go and stand up on his own for a couple of seconds now before falling down. Mommy is so proud and I'm sure that Swe-cha knows it too because he would always - ALWAYS - look at Mommy and smile first before he lets go.

His favorite past time now is getting anything - a toy, a milk bottle, a burpcloth, etc - then he would crawl over and climb up the bed rails and then throw the item over to the floor. He would then lean over the bed rails to observe. It's fun to watch him do this but he sometimes gives Mommy a heart-attack when he leans over too far. He crawls too fast now and Mommy / Daddy has to be extra-vigilant and extra-fast in order to catch him.

Month 8

We got invited to our very first pool party during our 8th month. Swe-cha got scared of the water at first - Mommy isn't sure if it's because of the chill or if it was just something new but something made him cry. He did warm up to the water eventually and loved playing and splashing around.

Milestone-wise, this is when Swe-Cha first learned to sit (unsupported) by himself. He had started crawling last month and would just pause to play with his toys while on his belly or on his hip, Mommy thought he would just skip the sitting stage and go on to standing but it wasn't the case. There were some amusing moments when he would try to get to a book but wouldn't be able to get it because he'd be sitting on it, then he'd cry for Mommy's help.

Swe-cha also discovered the joys of tearing paper during his 8th month. Mommy, on the other hand, discovered that it's not wise to leave Swe-cha with paper as he would try to eat them.

He drank from a sippy cup for the very first time (water), grew his 3rd and 4th tooth and graduated from his infant car seat to his big-boy-convertible-car-seat but he still faces the rear though.

Month 7

Angkong and Ama dropped by for two weeks during Swe-Cha's 7th month. We enjoyed their stay and wish that they could stay longer. Two weeks isn't really enough to catch up on the past several months. Swe-cha enjoyed his time with his Angkong and Ama and loves being carried by Angkong up and down the hallways. They enjoy taking long walks around the compound (when Swe-cha gets bored at home). Sometimes, they can also be seen watching the birds, trees and squirrels out on the balcony.

Swe-Cha's 7th month saw him grow leaps and bounds in terms of mobility. He learned to crawl - with a lot of help from his Angkong who kept on putting him down on the mat and tempting him to move forward by putting interesting toys in front.

Solids-wise, we've added carrots, pears, sweet potato, and sweet pea to his diet. He loves sweet potato and always chases the spoon with his mouth.

He has two teeth now - his lower front incisors - and we're expecting more teeth to erupt in the next few weeks as he's almost always rubbing his gums. Poor guy, he's become very irritable due to his discomfort.

Month 6

Swe-cha has reached the 6th month marker, yay! He's accomplished so much!

Milk-wise, we're still at the 3 hour feeding cycle. Mommy is beginning to worry / wonder if we're ever going to move forward. Tita A has suggested a couple of books with different approaches to sleep training, let's hope that everybody can stick to the plan.

Swe-cha started on his solids last 5/31, with plain organic rice cereal as his first food. Since then, we've added oatmeal to his diet. He's doesn't always like the new tastes that we give him but we would just try the same item again a few days later and he would usually like it then.

The best part about Swe-cha's 6th month was Ama and Ape's visit, he got to spend several weeks with them. Mommy was worried that Swe-Cha might get stranger anxiety but it wasn't the case. He took to Ama and Ape like a fish to water and loved spending time with them.

We got to go to the farm for PYO berries (pickings were slim so we just bought a few packages from their market) and even went to Atlantic city for a walk along the boardwalk. Unfortunately, the Atlantic city trip also showed us how Swe-Cha isn't ready yet for long trips. He was very good on the way to AC and was very well-behaved all day long. He loved feeling the fresh and cool ocean breeze on his face so he was on his best behavior during the day. He must have been tired or cranky on the way home because he cried the whole two hour drive. :(

Mobility-wise, we found out that he's able to push himself backwards now. Mommy also put him back on his mat after a couple of weeks of not doing it (we packed up his rubber mat to free up some floor space for Ama and Ape's visit).

The moment his body touched the mat, he became very excited and started pushing himself around backwards :)

More of Swe-cha's 6th month photos in our Multiply album.

Month 5

Swe-cha is 5 months old now and he's doing so many things! Last month, when he turned 4 months old, he started turning and turning and turning. He wouldn't stop! On the day that he turned 5 months old, he turned from his back onto his tummy and then turned onto his back again - a complete 360 degree turn! yay!

One night, he surprised Mommy & Daddy by turning onto his tummy (and sort of panicked them too) and sleeping. We'd push him back to sleep on his back but he would go back to sleeping on his stomach again. Eventually, we let him be as he seemed to be very comfortable with this new position but we watched over him for the next few hours to make sure that he's still okay and that he is able to breathe easily (nothing obstructing his airways). He can be found sleeping on his tummy on most nights now.

Last month's update includes a comment about making him spend more time on his tummy to develop and strengthen his upper body muscles. This plan seems to have worked as he's doing a lot of mini-pushups now. When I leave him in his bassinet, he would turn over to his tummy and push his shoulders and head up really high so that he can peek over the sides to look for Mommy.

Activity-wise, he can stay and amuse himself longer on his exersaucer now - sometimes, long enough for mommy to be able to prepare and make dinner. He also likes to watch more Baby Einstein videos now. He started with the "Orchestra - First Instruments" and "On the Go" videos. Now, he likes to watch the Baby Noah (animals) and Baby Neptune (Discovering Water) videos too. He also has a sense of humor now, he would laugh consistently at certain funny scenes in the videos.

Swe-cha knows how to kiss but so far, he's only kissed Mommy (no kissing other girls for now). He would make a "mmm-a" sound and slobber all over Mommy's cheek when asked. Ang cute.

We would sometimes look at his baby pictures and we are amazed at how much his looks have changed since he was born, he's got such big round eyes too! Winner :)

More of Swe-cha's 5th month photos in our multiply album.

Month 4

Swe-cha has grown and developed a lot this last month and I'm excited to share his milestones with you all.

To start things off, he's developed a liking for taking long afternoon walks. Well, it's more like Mommy walking and pushing Swe-Cha in his stroller. He falls asleep almost as soon as we've left the building and if Mommy takes too short a walk, he will wake up as soon as we step inside.

To make him take a longer nap, Mommy tried pushing his stroller out to the patio when we got home one afternoon and look at the smile on his face while he's still asleep. He obviously enjoys being outside.

He also likes looking at everything now, very curious. Here he is taking an intent look at his feet. The first time that Mommy saw him do this, he had a footed sleeper on that had reindeer feet, Mommy thought that he was playing with the reindeer. The next day, Mommy saw him playing with his feet again and was able to snap this picture. Here, he is wiggling and shaking his feet while he stares intently.

He also enjoys looking at his reflection now and always smiles when he sees himself in the mirror. Uncle A suggested last month that the reason for his "iffy" reaction when he looks at himself is, perhaps, he is not pleased with his haircut. He is obviously pleased with his mohawk now.

He also started turning this month. He usually waits for Mommy to wake up in the morning - and if he couldn't wait anymore, he shouts at Mommy to wake her up - and when he sees her looking at him, he will start rolling towards her.

On the day that he turned 4 months, Mommy had a hard time making him take his nap because he would always turn on his tummy when he is put down on the bed. Unfortunately, he gets stuck when he is on his tummy as he cannot crawl yet - he's been trying really hard though and I wouldn't be surprised if he starts crawling soon - and eventually cries. Mommy has to put him back on his back and he promptly just starts turning again. Sigh.

Eventually, Mommy got tired of pushing him back onto his back and left him on his tummy. He fell asleep like that (see picture). When he woke up later, he just started pushing with his feet again as if he was never interrupted by his sleep at all.

Playtime has been extra fun this month too as he is now able to spend some time in his exersaucer. He still has to be supervised though as he still has a tendency to slump down when he gets tired, he still cannot keep himself upright for a long time.

He likes to make the accessories in his exersaucer make sounds and play music. He still does not have a lot of control though so he mostly just hits and pushes on the toys and that usually does the deed.

Mommy has been trying to get him to sit unassisted too. He would usually start in a more-upright position and would start leaning forward lower and lower as he tires. Mommy can't wait till he can sit up all by himself because that means that he can sit in a high chair at restaurants and he does not have to be carried around if he wants to take a look around whenever we go out for dinner.

We've been having dinner out around once a week and other patrons often come over to our table to say "Hi" to Swe-cha. Sometimes, he would grace the stranger with a cute smile and sometimes, he would just stare. He's cute, either way :)

He also went on his first playdate this month. It was Tito Sachi's birthday and we got invited for milk (and pizza for the adults) one afternoon.

We spent the afternoon with the girls (uuy!) - R and the twincesses - and here they are full (of milk) and all tuckered out.

More of Swe-Cha's 4th month photos in our Multiply album.

Month 3

Swe-cha's 3rd month is full of milestones - he had his first set of immunizations, he started going to mass, he attended a couple of parties, went shopping at baby stores and even accompanied Mommy and Daddy to restaurants. But the best milestone of all is when he and mommy are able to go out all by themselves. No more having to wait for the weekends! Mommy and Swe-cha can now go on outings anytime they want so long as the weather permits.

Mommy is also very thankful and relieved that he does not have any anxiety when he sees a lot of strangers around, he just becomes very curious and looks at the Titos and Titas who fuss over him. He is a brave boy, no crying for him.

Other milestones:

He no longer gets so mad or frustrated during tummy time when Mommy bought him a mirror as per Tita Ross's suggestion. He's still seems iffy when he looks at himself and has not smiled at his reflection yet, methinks he's still wondering who this other baby is.

Giving him a toy for tummy time is great, Mommy plans to make him spend more time on his tummy so that he can develop his neck & arm muscles more.

He can turn on his side at will now. One time, Mommy put him in his crib for a nap while she sat on the bed nearby. Intent on her laptop, she was surprised to hear Swe-cha call out "aaah!" and when she turned to look, he was already on his side, peeking through the crib's slats.

He does this all the time now, we should always keep an eye on him now and be more vigilant about placing him in the middle of the bed and not near the edge as he might start rolling over anytime.

More of Swe-cha's 3rd month photos in our Multiply album: Swe-Cha's 3rd Month

2nd Month

Swe-cha is 2 months old today and it's been quite a journey, he never ceases to amaze us as there is something new every day.

Feeding-wise, he still eats and sleeps every 3 hours but he has teased us a few times by going for 4 hrs in between feedings. We're really looking forward to the day when he finally settles on a longer in-between-feeding cycle.

Some milestones:

He oohs and aaahhs a lot now and is even more interactive than ever. One time, Mommy thought she heard him say "help" and another time, Daddy thought he heard him say "apple". He seems to have inherited his Mommy's mouth and his Daddy's lungs because he's very talkative and when he screams ? It's deafening. One time, he shouted directly into Mommy's ear and... let's just say that mommy wasn't too happy about it.

Mommy and Daddy got him a mobile and though he ignored it the first few days - much to Mommy's chagrin and hinayang, haha! - he loves it now. He gets so excited when we turn it on for him. Daddy thinks that the bear is his favorite because he claims to have seen him follow the bear around with his eyes.

He gives more visual cues now. For example, if he's hungry, he brings his fists to his mouth and licks them. It's a signal for Mommy to start preparing his milk and by the time that he's ready to start feeding, he'll give a shout "ahh!". Give him the milk bottle and he's a happy baby.

He watched his first video on 2/21. We've been playing baby einstein and brainy baby videos on and off for a few weeks and he's never paid any attention to them, he just listens to the music & the sounds. But on the night of 2/21, Mommy sat him down in front of the screen and played the video and he got excited by the yellow rubber duckies and the toy clowns on the Brainy baby video.

Mommy tried sitting him up on his bumbo (a gift from Tita Che and Tito Manny) and look, he's able to support his head up longer now. It won't be long before he can comfortably stay in a sitting position for longer periods of time.

Oh, and by the way, if you see a lot of pictures of Swe-cha in the same outfit as he has on the picture to the left in the next few months, please don't worry that he might not growing bigger or that he might be growing smaller because he is growing like a weed and he has already outgrown these clothes in the newborn size and the 0-3 month sizes fit him just right now. It's just that there weren't a lot of other designs when these outfits went on sale and well... Mommy & Daddy just couldn't resist.

Swe-cha also has his preferences now. There have been times in the past few weeks when he would cry incessantly and make Mommy & Daddy guess as to what could possibly pacify him.

Milk ? Diaper change ? Sponge bath ? Bath ? Soothie pacifier ? Swing ? Bouncer ? The list never ends and unfortunately, the answer is always the last thing you try, right ? It just the way that these things go.

Anyway, on the night of the opening of the Winter Olympics, Swe-cha made his wishes known by crying and screaming. It wasn't until Mommy brought him down to the living room, turned on the TV and played the opening ceremonies again (still on Tivo, thank goodness!) that he calmed down. Looks like we have a strong-willed baby here who knows what he wants and isn't afraid to ask for it *smile*.

Our pedia appointment is coming up in a few days and we'll be getting our first set of vaccinations. Swe-cha is oblivious (of course) and mommy is anxious and hoping that Swe-Cha will breeze through this w/o a lot of fuss.

... and until our next updates, we'll just hang in here and chill.

More of Swe-cha's 2nd month photos in our Multiply album.

Happy 1st Month!

Swe-cha turned 1 month old last Saturday. To mark the day, we made spaghetti and hard-boiled eggs (noodle and eggs for long life) and blew out a birthday candle on his cappuccino mousse cake. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed devouring the cake :D

Suddenly, Swe-cha doesn't seem so "swe" or small anymore. He has outgrown one sleeper or stretchy and will soon outgrow the rest of his newborn clothes. I can't wait till we start on his 0 to 3 month sized outfits.

Some milestones and tidbits that I'd like to note for this month:

He was born 5 lbs 14 oz and his weight was down to 5 lbs 11 oz when we brought him home. He registered at 6 lbs 3 oz on his first pedia visit on his 1st week and on his 1st month' visit to his pediatrician, he tipped the scales at 8 lbs 3 oz! He may have started small (he used to be at the 10th percentile when it comes to his weight and length) but he's done a good job of catching up as he is now in the 25th percentile. Yay!

He had his first bath on January 10 and he loves taking warm baths in his whale tub. His eyes would be ever so round and he'd be staring at himself in the vanity mirror. He also knows to close his eyes and mouth when Mommy is washing and rinsing his face.

He's started to express an interest in his surroundings, he would whip his head around 360 degrees to check out his environment whenever we bring him into a different part of the house. We had our first "outing" last week, I put him in his stroller and we walked to the building lobby to retrieve a package that was left for us in front of our mailbox. He stared at the hallway walls & ceiling intently on our way to the lobby and by the time that we were walking back home, he was enjoying himself so much that he was laughing and kicking hard. Mommy left the camera at home that time so there are no pictures to commemorate the occasion.

He's still 100% on (expressed) breast milk - Mommy has been working overtime to get him his milk. He started out with 2 oz of breastmilk every 2 hours and recently, he's been drinking between 3 to 4 oz of breastmilk every 3 hours and if he's really really hungry, 2.5 hrs.He gets really really red in the face when he's hungry or pooping. Unfortunately, stress only seems to aggravate his infant acne and as per his pediatrician this morning, his acne might persist for a few more months because of the hormones that he gets from Mommy through his milk. *sigh*

He's generally a happy baby and only gets upset when he's really hungry, uncomfortable (wet & poopy diaper) or gassy. So we just make sure that there's milk ready for his next feeding, we change his diaper often and burp him during feedings - there's always Aceite de Manzanilla (Chamomile oil) too.

He's very interactive now, he smiles and coos when you talk to him. His Ape sent him a CD of nursery songs and rhymes and he loves listening to them, he's very partial to the French songs. He would smile and kick when the French lady starts talking. Looks like we may be raising a future linguist ... well... or someone who likes the French ladies.

More of his first month pictures on our Multiply site - Sean's first month.