Milestone - Fifth tooth

I have been so busy for the past month that I hardly have much time with Ryan. However, we noticed recently that Ryan has been drooling a lot lately. I thought that he has passed his drooling stage where his saliva would be on everything and anything. On further checking, we found the reason. His fifth little teeth has emerged and as sharp as the current four.

No wonder that he has been sinking his teeth into everything that we give him as well as those that we don't, including our fingers, our arms, our legs and painful to say, he even managed to sink his four razor sharp teeths onto my nipples when I was not watching! OUUCCHHHH!

Look Daddy! No hands!

We have been giving solids to Ryan since he was 6 months old. We found that he loves sweet potatoes and totally hated avocados. So, we have been blending sweet potatoes with cauliflowers, carrots and avocados during the last couple of months.

Feeding him has always been interesting as he will have some new antics every other day.

He has developed a habit of biting the spoon and would not let go when we were feeding him. Furthermore, he will bite the spoon to make the spoon comes up and down, all the while smiling cheekily and teasing us.

Hence, feeding him has always been such a wonderful experience so far. I just hope that this will continue for as long as possible before he turns nasty and start spitting out food whenever he throws a tantrum.

Milestone - He is standing on his own

Date: 8th March 2009

Time : 3:45pm

Ryan was born in the year of the rat, but he is more like a little monkey to us. He has been attempting to stand over the last two weeks or so, despite being sick with running nose, cough and fever. He will be grabbing at anything his hands can get hold of and he will most certainly try to pull himself up. Hence, we have been watching him like a hawk.

We also noticed that he is able to stand while holding on to something for a few days now but he has not attempted to let go and stand on his own....at least not until today.

He was playing with us as usual on the masterbed and refused to sleep. As usual, his favourite toy is his daddy and mommy. He was climbing all the over the bed and the pillows as usual and have been holding on to us while he tried to stand. We did not pay much attention to him. However, suddenly, to our horror and joy at the same time, we noticed that he was standing on his own without holding to anything while one of his hand was still clinging to his beloved TV remote controller. Before, we could say 'Hei...' he toppled over.

I quickly grab my camera and wait for him to try his stunt again. It was not as easy as he has noticed my camera and wanted my camera instead. We have to hide the camera while patiently wait for him to try to stand again. My patience paid off.

First he crawled towards my wife, picked himself up and while holding on to his mommy, he stood up. Then, with his shaky legs, he let go and was standing there all by himself. As I aimed my camera at him to click, he turned and I managed to get two good shots before he excitedly went for my camera.

His new Playground

We noticed that Ryan wanted to get onto the floor to crawl more often now. In fact, there are many times that he doesn't really want to be carried. He just wants to get down and have that total freedom to crawl and roam to his heart's content. However, we are worry sick each time, we put him on the floor because we are worried that he will just fall flat on his face and break his teeth or hurt himself.

So over the weekend, we have decided to get those colourful floor mats. We wanted him to have his new playground so that he could crawl, sit and fall to his heart's content. We went to Toy`r'us at Subang Parade and got him a total of 16 multicolor pieces which when joined up will give him significant space to perform his `stunts'. My God. They certainly don't come cheap. We have to pay close to RM20 per piece and as with most parents, nothing is to expensive if it is good for their babies. So there we were, spending close to RM400 in just 30 minutes.

When we got home, the moment we have the pieces joined up, Ryan was already kicking, twisting and turning in his mommy's arm, wanting to get down and start playing. He was just smiling and laughing away, crawling from one corner to another once he got down. For us, we are just happy to see him enjoying himself. I just hope that he doesn't get bore with his new playground within a week. Otherwise, it's hard earned money down the drain.......

Milestone - 3rd and 4th teeth

It has been a week since I started on my new job. Needless to say, it has been a very busy week, getting myself familiarise with the products, the company, to manage the bosses as well as to do recruitment. I came back exhausted every day and by 10pm, was already in bed because I would have to wake up the next morning around 5:30am or 6am to give Ryan's his morning feed and to get him ready for his Day care while I get ready to work. It has been an interesting week.

I noticed that his upper second teeth has came out several days ago while washing him up and this morning, I noticed that his lower front teeth is coming out as well. No wonder, his bite has more sting now. Before long, he would have all four front teeth ready to give anyone who dares to put their fingers into his mouth a painful nip.

He has been adapting well to the Day Care centre though he hardly slept during the first few days, probably due to the new environment. The helpers were telling us, "Ini baby ar...tak mahu tidur oh...mahu main saja..(This baby refused to sleep. He just wanted to play)." Apparently, the few days record showed that he only have several naps of no longer than 15 minutes. And everytime, when I logged into the webcam of the day care to look at him, he is always awake, playing by himself or with some helpers.

The downside of sending him to the Day Care center of course, was exposing him to other children who might not be feeling well, something that we fear from day one. And true enough, Ryan came down with a running nose, cough and fever on Friday. He is much better now. Unfortunately, the daddy has caught the flu bug. My nose is blocked right now, my whole body aches and my throat is sore.

I better be well in the next few days, as I would need to travel on Wednesday and Thursday. It would be pretty interesting and challenging to leave Ryan with his mommy alone while I travel. It used to be the other way round.

Happy and Sad!

I have been extremely busy for the whole month. We have been busy hunting for either a babysitter or a day centre for Ryan. Went through a few and finally, we have decided to put Ryan with Small Wonder Playhouse at SS19 Subang from next Monday onwards. In fact, we left Ryan with them yesterday for several hours as trial. Well, happy to say that he seemed to like it there. I guess it is because of the new environment, toys and other kids. He is one curious baby.

The main reason of us looking for a day care centre for Ryan is because I will be going back to the corporate world next Monday and I would not be able to look after him as much as I have over the past 8 months. And we are not at all comfortable to leave him all alone with the maid, although she seemed to love him and vice versa.

I should be happy (and I am) to be able to secure a reasonable and challenging job in such economic times. I have been on semi-retirement for several years now to set some of my life priorities right. (Too much running around in my last several jobs). Although I enjoyed the freedom, I found that over time, I am no longer as sharp as I want to be. Probably, the lack of practice (and stress) have made me slower and dull. So I was on a look out to get back to work and to sharpen it before I become completely obsolete.

Yet in my anxiousness to get back to the boardroom and the rat race, I am also sad because I will be spending less time with Ryan. One thing that I treasure most in my last 8 months was the quality time that I could spent with him, giving me the very hands on experience that I never had before.

It doesn’t help when this new position requires me to work half day on Saturdays as well. So, I would have less time with them and I guess that I would really need to have quality time during the weekend. Getting back to the corporate world would also meant less time to blog and to read blogs, something that I have grown to love. So, don’t stop visiting if this blog does not get updated as often as before or I could not visit you as frequently as before. I intend to keep this blog as a growing journal for Ryan, leaving behind sweet memories that we could relive in days to come.

Lots of adjustments to be made next week and I guess the first thing to do is to get out all my ties which have been hanging idle in the closet for so long.

Planning his 1st Birthday

Comes 30th May 2009, Ryan would be one year old. This will be his 1st birthday and my wife is already planning on his 1st birthday party. I know it is a little too early but then we are pretty excited about seeing him touching one. We wanted to make it a memorable occasion for him and for us. Well, we have about three months to think about how we wanted to celebrate his 1st birthday party. As we plan, we are now constantly looking out for birthday party novelties suppliers who could give us ideas on what and how we could make it even memorable.

How time flies. It still seemed like yesterday that we were eagerly expecting his arrival in the hospital. I could still remembered clearly the night before his expected arrival and how my wife went into labor at midnight although she was told that the doctor will start inducing only at 7 the next morning. In fact, by 7:15am, Ryan was already smiling at us.

I could still remember the epidural episode which started around 3 am in the morning which lasted till 4 am. By 1 am, we have already informed the nurse that we wanted epidural. The anesthetist only arrived at 3 am, looking like he just woke up from his deep slumber. Apparently, he has to come all the way from Ampang and we were in Damansara Specialist Centre. As usual the nurse gave us the form to fill which warns us about the effects and risks etc etc. My wife was like, “Just give me the damn form to sign and get on with it!” The most heart stopping moment was when he has already given the first dose and has this puzzled look when my wife complained that she is still feeling the pain! Wow. Damn stressful!

I still remembered dozing off at 5am when my wife’s pain subsided with the epidural finally kicked in, only waking at 7am, calmly walking into the labor room without realizing that my wife is just moments away from delivering.

Sweet moments of his arrival comes flooding back and we could not help but be totally amazed with this greatest Gift from God to us.

Milestone - His Second Tooth!

After his first teeth, we were eagerly anticipating his second lower teeth to come out as well. But surprise, surprise! When I was cleaning his mouth yesterday, he gave me a bite and the pain sensation did not come from the bottom of his mouth but from his upper jaw instead. On closer inspection, there it was, his second upper front teeth just broke out. Now, I really got to watch out when he grab my finger and put it inside his mouth else I will end up with a bandaged finger. Happy to say, another significant milestone chalked up in his journey with us.

Ryan is 8 months old now

Hello. Sorry for the long absence and silence. It has been quite a crazy week after we came back from our Chinese New Year holidays. We have been busy hunting for a day care centre or a babysitter for Ryan as I will be unable to take care of him full time in about one week time. (More of that later in another post).

Ryan has just turned 8 months on the 30th of January. We managed to grab several shots of him while playing with him on our bed. Looking back, we realized that he has grown quite a fair bit.

Some updated information about him as at to-date:-

• He can crawl pretty well and will engage his F1 zoom speed when he sees something he wants and within seconds, will be grabbing it and happily putting it into his mouth. So, have to watch over him like a hawk in case he falls or grabs and chew on things he is not supposed to.
• He can sit up on his own now though he prefers to be carried.
• He likes to twirl and twist and climb all over us when we carry him, putting extra strain on my arms and hands. My mum calls him the `screwdriver’ and has been complaining that he is the `naughtiest’ grand child she has!
• He is a happy baby, smiling to everyone he comes across, even to complete strangers, hence, also attracting attention wherever he goes. This little guy got good PR skills.
• He cries and is cranky when wants to eat, sleep or wants attention. Give him the attention that he wants, and he is one happy little fella, giggling, grinning with his ever cheeky smile.
• He has only one tooth and he enjoys sinking that sharp little thing into my fingers whenever he has the chance.
• He is drinking 6oz of either breast milk or formula every 2.5 hours.
• He sleeps through the night most of the time if he has his last feed around mid night.
• He still likes to be carried to sleep but will sleep happily in his own baby cot.
• He has officially setup my wife’s and mine responsibility for him. Daddy is a play toy and to feed him. Mummy is `manja’ (sweet talk) and to put him to sleep.
• He is already on solids. He eats rice cereal mixed with steamed apple three times a day.
• He enjoys his daily bath though he hates having his face wiped or his head washed. So, daddy has been having a hard time getting this done everyday.
• He enjoys being completely naked and roll and crawl all the over bed.
• He hates wearing pullovers or jumpers especially when putting them on.
• He has developed his own set of vocabulary that no one understands.
• He is inquisitive and always curious with a sharp eye, constantly looking out for new things that he wants to grab and play.
• He is like a F1 driver once we put him in his walker.
• He enjoys kicking Zoewe, our toy poodle whenever she comes near

Happy Chinese New Year

Well. This will be my last post before I take a week break from blogging. Will be leaving for my hometown in about 3 hours time. Yeap. Will be starting our hopefully 2 hours drive home at 3 am afterwards to hopefully avoid the massive jam that is expected. Travelling with Zoewe in the car was already pretty stressful last year when we went back for Chinese New Year. Travelling with Ryan as well this year, is even more stressful. I would not want to be caught in a 6 hours traffic snarl with a hungry crying screaming baby in the car.

We are hoping that we could probably spent next Chinese New Year in Kuala Lumpur and convinced our mother to come up and spent Chinese New Year with us since all the children are already in KL anyway. That way, we could spare ourselves from the stress and agony of the dreaded traffic jam going home and coming back.

We would like to wish all Chinese visitors a very Happy Chinese New Year and may the year of the Ox brings you her strength and perseverance, good health, much happiness and great prosperity and wealth.

Gong Xi Fatt Chai!

Steamed Chicken with Chinese Angelica (Dang Gui)

December and January 2009 have been pretty busy for me especially with my son back from New Zealand. We have been eating out most of the time and hence, I have not been cooking much.

After a long break from the kitchen, we wanted to have a home cooked dinner the other day. So out comes the recipe book and the chicken dish that I have decided to cook was the `Steamed Chicken with Chinese Angelica (Dang Gui)’, another recipe from the confinement recipe book. This dish according to the recipe is good for ladies after the 12 days of confinement.

It’s not a difficult dish to prepare. The process just involved marinating and then steaming the marinated chicken.

Ingredients:
3 chicken drumstick (cut into pieces)
10g Chinese Angelica (Dang Gui)
1 tablespoon of medlar seeds (Kei Chee)
5 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon fresh ginger juice
½ teaspoon of salt

Method:
Rinse cut chicken pieces and drain well.
Season with ginger juice and 1 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine
Soak Dang Gui and medlar seeds with Shaoxing wine for about 20 minutes.
Then combine with seasoned chicken pieces and salt. Mix well.
Marinate for about 10 minutes.
Steam over high heat for about 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Serve hot.

I could not ask for MORE...

Sorry for the recent silence as I have been pretty busy lately. Just came back from Damai Laut Golf Resort for short holiday, recharged to take on 2009.

I have a son (of whom I have talked about in my previous post) AND a younger daughter from my first marriage. I have not talk about her much because she was still rather young when she left for New Zealand and we have not talk much over the last two years. I sensed a growing distance between us although she used to stick to me whenever I was around then. Deep down in my heart, I have resigned to the fact that I might have `lost’ this daughter since she has adapted quite well to her new life and family in New Zealand.

Recently, she came back for a holiday with my son as well. Unlike my son who stays with me during his holiday here, she was with my ex-wife back in Penang most of the time.

My son wanted a holiday by the seaside and we have chosen Damai Laut Golf Resort near Sitiawan. My ex-wife was very gracious to suggest that my daughter, Lydia, tagged along so that we could renew our bonding. My wife is more than happy and I was ecstatic but yet apprehensive at the same time, as to how Lydia would react to her `other’ new family and me.

I am happy to say that the holiday went so well. Lydia still sticks to me like glue and despite not seeing me for the last 2 years and being 9 now, would still love to sit on my lap (making her brother a little jealous I must say). She gets along well with my wife and my wife has grown to adore her. Ryan on the other hand would like to bully her whenever Lydia is around. What melted my heart was when Lydia carried Ryan and Ryan seemed pretty happy at that.

If I said that `I am truly blessed’ in my previous post, I must say now that `I could not ask for anything more…’ I must say that my ex-wife has been very understanding and my wife has been a constant pillar of strength and support. 2009 has indeed been a very good start and whatever economic gloom and doom ahead no longer look so frightening and disheartening, with a thought that I have the love and support from all my loved ones. GOD has truly been good to me.

Milestone - He can sit unaided

Date: 17th January 2009
Time : 1:55pm

Ryan has also been trying to sit up on his own. He is a very determined baby and will strain to get it done. We can see him straining every little muscle to do it on his own but has so far been unsuccessful. He is also very resourceful. Since straining to sit up laying on his back is out of the question, he has tried rolling over and then trying to push himself up to sit. So far, all attempts have been pretty funny and needless to say, not very successful.

This afternoon, we were playing with him on our master bed. He was rolling all over the bed, cooing and laughing as usual. We did not pay much attention to all his attempts to sit up as it has happened before. I was chatting with my wife, when I suddenly, there he was, sitting on his own and looking at us with his cheeky grin. I looked at my watch, note the time and quickly ran out to grab my camera. We tried to encourage him to sit up again, and the result was the picture above. Another little milestone in his journey on his world.

Milestone - His First tooth!

Date : 10th January 2009

Ryan has the habit of biting anything and everything that he grabs. He particularly likes to bite my fingers whenever he catches hold of my hand. Several days ago, he put my finger into his mouth and gave me a bite and it was PAINFUL! Unlike previous bites where I could only feel his gum, this time I could feel something sharp biting into my finger. I looked at him and he smiled cheekily and gave me another good solid bite. His first tooth (the right central lower incisor) has finally emerged. Yet another happy moment and milestone achieved. Now I have got to be more careful when I put my finger into his mouth for him to chew because it is going to be a more painful event. As for Ryan, nothing taste better than his daddy tender fingers! Finger licking good!

Whatever will be, will be

As I watched Ryan sleeps soundly in the stillness of night, I can’t help but to think what he would grow up to be. Thoughts of him when he is 30 or when he gets to my age bring up all kinds of questions. Will he be successful by then? How would he look like? What would his career be? What kind of family would he bring up? What kind of a man would he be? Would I be still around by then, watching over him? Would I do a good job to make him a good man? Would I mess his life up? Would he still long for me like he does now? Would he still extend his arms when he wants a hug? Would he still want a hug from me?

Being a parent is certainly a heavy responsibility. The dificulty is not to provide the physical needs for them but the heaviest responsibility is to provide them a safe, peaceful and conducive environment and atmosphere for them to grow up as responsible and useful being. That to me is a far greater and difficult challenge then to provide the physical needs as I am imperfect.

When you are just a little boy
I asked myself, what would you be?
Would you be handsome, would you be kind?
Then this thought came to me

Oh daddy, daddy
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours to see
Oh daddy, daddy

When I hold you in my arms
I asked myself what would you be?
Would you be famous, would you be rich?
Then this thought came to me

Oh baby, baby
Whatever you’ll be, will be
Just know that your mommy and me
Hopes you’ll be the best you can be

I succumbed to temptation

Before you start thinking of all kinds of sin that I might have committed, no, I did not succumb to temptations for a voluptuous busty lady with legs that goes on forever.

Sometimes getting Ryan to take his nap or to coax him to sleep at night could be quite a chore especially when he is already sleepy yet he wanted to continue to play, while you are dead tired. And as I have posted in one of my earlier post, he has also developed this distasteful habit of chewing the string of his bolster to sleep. Very yucky.

Well, I was trying to get Ryan to sleep the other night but he was adamant that it was still too early. After many minutes (or hours to me, especially when you have a long tiring day) and after his last feed, there were signs that he was dozing off yet I can sensed that he was fighting to stay awake. As I was carrying him in my arms, I grabbed his bolster and passed it to him. He grabbed and instantly, his mouth was trying to get hold of the bolster string (with his eyes half closed).

I actually find his habit distasteful and am afraid that he would get addicted to it. But at the spur of the moment, without a second thought, I pushed the string right into his mouth and he happily grabbed it and started chewing and sucking, contented and within minutes, he was in his dreamland.

Then it dawned on me, as I watched him sound asleep that I have succumbed to the temptation of promoting his distasteful habit. Instead of trying to get him to break the habit, I was only too glad that there is something that could get him to sleep as soon as possible and freed me to have some time of my own. But if you asked me whether I would do it again, the answer is most probably yes. What a bad daddy!!

Related post: An embarrassing Habit

I like to move it, move it

This is the happiest moment daily for Ryan when he is taking his bath. He is so excited and really enjoys kicking his legs, splashing water everywhere. Often times, I would end up having to take a bath myself after bathing him, because I am all wet anyway.

For the last few days, he had started to show displeasure when I got him out from the tub because he still wants to play. I am sure he will screaming soon if I take him out from the tub in the next couple of weeks.

I got my wife to tape this a few days ago when I was bathing him and would like to share this moment with you. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Walker Ball

Ryan has his first taste of his walker on the 19th Dec 08. He has been busy figuring how to maneuver his walker the last couple of weeks and has develop a liking for a taste for speed, zooming from one corner to another, of course under the watchful eye of his daddy, mommy, kakak or grandma.

He has also developed his own first game with his walker called `Chasing the dog!’. Poor Zoewe is being chased whenever Ryan suddenly developed an urge to run her down.

Today, he has developed yet another game, known as the `Walker Ball!’ Maybe we should gather all babies between 6 to 12 months old and organized a walker ball tournament and who knows; we could set up a Malaysian team and organize international competition. Wouldn’t that be cool?

Related Post: Milestone: On his own walker

Milestone - First Attempt to Crawl

Date : 2nd January 2009

Time: 6:25pm

We noticed that Ryan has been attempting to crawl for the last couple of weeks. To encourage him, we will entice him with things that he is curious about and desperately wanted to have. Yesterday, while playing with him, we noticed that he has successfully had his first crawl. I quickly grabbed the camera and enticed him with a nappy. We were happy to be there to witness his first successful attempt to crawl and we are happy to share that moment with you too. It is indeed an good start for 2009!

I am truly blessed!

I started 2009 as one truly blessed husband and daddy. My eldest son Reuben from my first marriage is back from New Zealand (where he has migrated with his mommy) for his annual holiday. One of my biggest regret in my life is not being there when he grew up. I was too young, too engrossed in building my career and too inmatured. I was away most of the time and I truly missed all the hands-on experience in watching him grow. Suddenly, he stands before me, 17 years old, all grown up and taller than me! I thank God that he is still very very close to me despite meeting only once a year. This is my first of the many blessings in my life that I have not `lost' my eldest son as a result of my divorce.

With the arrival of Ryan, I was anxious as to how Reuben would react to his young step brother. I am blessed that Reuben has shown so much maturity and loves Ryan just like his little brother. We even got him to prepare Ryan's milk this afternoon and we really had a good laugh over it. What is amazing is that Ryan has also seemed to have taken a liking to Reuben, constantly seeking him out, smiling and inviting his elder brother to play with him. Seeing both of them playing together is priceless.

Finally, I have also worried about Reuben's reaction to my wife and how they would get along. But it seemed that my worries are unfounded. I noticed that Reuben has developed a close friendship with my wife. My wife has also grown to love him like her own eldest.

So, this new year, as we sat down together to have our meal and took the picture, I couldn't help but feel that I am the luckiest man alive and I am truly blessed!