| | Easter break is nearly over, and it's been incredible to spend a
good two weeks with Tien-Long and Kristin. i cannot believe that it's
been at least two months since my last entry, and so much has happened
in that time. our son keeps developing at a quick pace. still not walking or
crawling yet, but he's such a chatterbox/noisy baby. of course we don't
want to jinx ourselves, but so far our son has a pretty happy
personality, and is fairly low maintenance, not that we don't do all we
can to keep him entertained.
the holiday break has been particularly amazing for me because i've had
the chance to participate in some of Tien-Long's daily routines. going
to music and movement, meeting some of Kris's mum friends and some of
Tien-Long's baby friends, also getting to meet and hang out with
some of the fathers--a highlight was walking through Bayswater and
Kensington Gardens with Tien-Long in my BabyBjorn carrier alongside
Neil carrying Charlotte (who i affectionately refer to as Tien-Long's
girlfriend, as they share birthdates) in his BabyBjorn. Neil is also
the only other EDGE (gaming magazine) reader i know!
the thing Tien-Long seems to dislike the most is being indoors and at home for
too long. that's when he's most restless, and so we've made it a point
to get him out and about as much as possible. of course it doesn't help
that we live in a one bedroom flat, which doesn't leave us much room to
move. speaking of little room, we had the pleasure of hosting Kristin's
eight-year old
cousin/goddaughter Maja for three weeks. Maja and her family live in
Perth, Australia, and Aunt Tanya had to do
some work in Aberdeen for two weeks so we had Maja's company during
that time, and then Tanya stayed with us for a week, joined by Uncle
David for the last two nights. it was wonderful to get to spend some
quality
time with such a wonderful family that we had not seen in eight years,
and for Kris to
get to know her goddaughter properly.
During Tanya's stay, we decided to work on Tien-Long's sleeping
routine. we had been feeding him each time he'd wake, but we wanted to
try and get him to sleep through the night, and settle him down without
a feed when he wakes at night. at first we'd pick him up and bounce him
whilst he cried. this worked, but the first few nights, he'd cry for at
least 1.5 hours or more before falling asleep again. on the third
night, he slept through without stirring once--that was a one off.
Tanya was a ROCK when it came to supporting us through his crying. a
baby sleep expert suggested we not pick him up if we wanted quicker
results. it's been a week, and for the most part, Tien-Long goes down
between 7:30 and 8pm, stirs occasionally in the night, then wakes at
around 4:30 for a few hours, and has not stopped crying. we've somewhat
decided that if he sleeps till 4:30, that's a good start. if by 6am,
he's not stopped crying, we'll feed him. it's a compromise... how do
you get him to sleep till 6am without waking up at 4:30?...
i will admit that it's been great giving him a routine. we try to feed
him at around 6pm, followed by a bath, which i've been giving him. he
then stays up happily for awhile and just around 7:30, he gets a little
breast feed, followed by a night time story (usually 'That's Not My
Dragon!'), then is put into his crib with a little light show, and as
not fussed to sleep. it's a great feeling.
we've been feeding Tien-Long a variety of pureed fruit and veg to go
with his baby rice or baby porridge. my personal favourite (i know it's
got nothing to do with what i like) is pear or apple. blueberry's quite
nice, and squash, carrots and parsnips are good as well. the one i'm
not too keen on (and i think Tien-Long agrees with me) is
courgette/zucchini (funny thing, type in zucchini into google, and the
first listing is for chocolate and zucchini recipes?!?!?!?!?...
hmm...). even stranger will be when we will have to feed him protein:
pureed chicken or beef anyone?
Tien-Long loves to stare at strangers on public transport. not to
mention he keeps getting loads of smiles from strangers. of course,
being a baby, he loves putting things in his mouth, including spoons,
books, blankets, the fingers of absolute strangers he meets, and he
even tries to chew the laptop! he has learned to shake rattles, but
hasn't much control so he flails his arms wildly. yesterday Tien-Long
took his first shower ever when he joined me. of course initial
concerns are that he would kick up a storm, but other than flinching
when the waterfall hit his face, he really seemed to enjoy himself.
Tien-Long also did something this morning during breakfast, which he's
only done once before: he FELL ASLEEP (picture included)!!! his head
slowly edged nearer to the table until it finally touched down.
other developments, we've decided to move back to Canada in August for
Tien-Long to grow up close to family. the quality of life he will get
to experience will be much better. there are SO MANY sacrifices we are
making (some professionally, but mostly personally, culturally), and
despite the difficulty of the decision (and some heartbreak), we think
we are making the right choice. i submitted my resignation for the end
of August last week. here's hoping Kris and i will be able to find work
as teachers and musicians for the coming school year... yikes!
now if anyone asked me if the parenting 'honeymoon' period is over, i
can honestly say it's just getting more and more exciting... i am still
loving every moment of it, and staring at our little dragon still takes
my breath away...
Hard Day At Work...
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| | Posted 4/14/2006 6:14 AM - 52 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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