Keina growing

Looking at Keina every day, I sometimes forget how much she has grown. And as she gets older, I find myself more in love with her. And being able to say that aloud is a huge relief. I don't think it is something I could have said whilst she was a helpless infant. Those days of holding her in the dim room whilst she cried on and on as an infant drove me crazy back then. I had so many moments of holding her thinking how alien she was whilst the world expects the mom to be brimming with motherly love and patience. For me, it was something that had to be cultivated and did not come easy but now that it has, I am surprised by how much I adore my little girl. Sure, she is still quite needy but now that I know I can satisfy her need, it is so much more gratifying compared to the days where the baby cries were indistinguishable. 

At the moment, this is Keina:

Waking up

She sometimes wakes gently and quietly and I am surprised to find her lying next to me wide awake. Other times, she cries a bit fussily as if trying to come out of a bad dream. She is not a good sleeper- yet.

On her back

She has been kicking and lifting her legs much higher to the point where she grabs her feet. Any blanket on top of her gets kicked away in seconds. Thank goodness it has gotten warmer! 

On her tummy

She hates and pushes off so she can roll onto her back every time I put her down on her tummy. Her arms are seemingly stronger despite the lack of exercise as recently, she has been able to lift her upper body all the way up to her belly and her arms fully extended. She used to have had to rest her elbows and forearms on the floor.

With her hands

She is quite good at grabbing things but she hasn't reached the milestone where she can pass one object to another hand yet. She grabs her hair a lot when she is sleepy or bored which looks to me like a frustrated scientist. It is in a handful and she tugs at it not-so-gently. But coupled with that, she has this very girly look about her as she feels and twiddles with the strands. Usually with the hair around her right ear, not left. Which makes me think she could be right-handed?

With her voice

She is amazingly loud that at restaurants, I sometimes get a bit embarrassed by the birdlike eee-ah-ahh-ahhhh sounds she makes. It is as if she wants to bring the whole house down. Very funny to hear her one-sided conversations. But it is so interesting to hear her explore her vocal tones and octaves. No mama-baba-dada type of babblings yet though I dreamt of her saying papa first. That of course made me a lil disappointed and since then, I try to teach her Mama and Keina by using her hands to tap me and her chest every other morning.

Her cries

Are a lot easier to read now that I know she has 2 distinct cries for the I-want-milk which is a panting huffing I-can't-wait-any-longer kind of sound versus the I-want-mama-to-carry which is a cry for her lovely ah-yee all the way in U.S.

During feeds

She looks around a lot and in the day, needs a few relatching to finish her feed. But thankfully so much quicker at 5-10min than the 1h long feeds I used to have! Plus burping is almost unnecessary. Just put her upright and she burps herself. She is a lot more active to as she is always doing something with her hands as she feeds- grabbing and squeezing my boobs (as if saying more milk please), tugging at my T-shirt, swinging her arms in an arc which is quite funny to look at. With the latter, it looks as if she is a baseball player doing some arm warm-ups. All is well but feeding at night is a different matter altogether...

Nursing down to sleep

Is something I'd resorted to when she was about 3-4months and is now a habit which I have to break at somepoint. I used to have to pat her and sing to her for a whole hour and then pick her up again if she cries and put her in the sling if she doesn't resettle. That was pretty stressful as there is no knowing when and how she was going to sleep so I'd resorted to nursing her down to sleep and staying in bed with her. At least that way, I can usually watch some crap on surfthechannel or do some internet surfing with one hand. Nursing her earlier at 7:30pm has made a difference to her dozing off earlier compared to the past 8pm, it still takes time and I still can't wriggle out of bed yet without her waking up within 15-60min of me leaving. So you see, my evenings from around 5:30pm runs like clockwood- quick dinner, wash up, shower with Keina, drop her on the bed with towel around her as I go out to grab my laptop/waterbottle/nursing cushion, massage her with oil (used to be cream during winter) read her "Marvin K. Mooney will you please go now?" and "Goodnight Moon", then give her a few goodnight kisses and put her to the boob and cuddle her sideways.

Getting her to laugh

Is not always that easy as she usually just stares at my antics with a curious calm look. Unfazed by my silliness. But she has recently learnt to laugh when we laugh out loud and is so funny cos she cracks us up and the whole family share a laughing medley. A surefire way however is to nuzzle her neck with my nose. All other usual tickle spots don't work with her except her neck.

With strangers

She is still a only-mama-can-carry kind of baby. Even with the in-laws but she has since gotten a bit better with the longest 5min to date. I even try co-carrying her partly in my arms and sharing with another person but that doesn't sit well with her either. There is no way of tricking her. But carrying aside, she is a very smiley baby with strangers. A few seconds of coo-ing to her and she readily smiles back with her eyes too.

Favourite activity

Has to be sitting upright anywhere. She is not particularly attached to any toy yet but Kermit has been able to get her to giggle her abit and I have been practising 'shake hands' using Kermit. Next on the list is playing 'Row your boat' which is guaranteed to have her smiling. It is such a joyous feeling to be able to know what makes her tick. She is at the stage where she is fascinated with plastic bags and sounds. Her old Mr. Lion has take a backseat now that Mr. Ducky makes louder, more melodious noises. And she still loves blowing raspberries (making salivary bubbles) but has learnt how to make a pzzzzzt noise by smacking and blowing her lips so they vibrate. Wonder where she learnt that from and though I have tried, I can't make noises as loud as she. And she has fully learnt the This Little Pig game as when I reach her tiny last toe, a smile creeps into her face as she knows I am going to tickle my way up her legs to her belly.

Favorite game with papa

Is playing on the bed and pulling off his spectacles. It seems to amuse her that she can grab and pull them off our faces but we have to be quick enough that she doesn't put them into her mouth.

Other bodily motions

Still producing a crazy amount of drool and occasional loud farts. Can kind of stand if supported. Can fall forward from a sitting position and then flip onto her back. Can turn and arch her back in the high chair to track me as I walk from the kitchen to the balcony (very dangerous I know but I was amazed to see her turn her entire top half of the body like that).

Growth

Weighed in at 7.8 kg on Tue but is still shorter than average. Well, her parents aren't that tall anyway so I hope she doesn't blame us... Love her chubby thighs though- I think I can hide some 5 cent coins in their folds! They are bigger than a leg of chicken thigh and we call it ham. I love love love squeezing them and massaging them.

My favorite Keina moment

Is when I carry her in the Ergo or sling and she looks up at me from my chest level and smiles spontaneously. This tilting of her head up to engage with me just makes me melt inside everytime and I wrap my arms around her to give her a tight hug and kiss her forehead.