Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Cute Photos!
Here are some cute photos of Matthew taken this month.

He's "eating" a piece of pear in this one.
~~~


Here's another one with him munching on his teething rusk. He saw me with the camera taking his photo, tilted his head, looked up and smiled! Brillant smile!
~~~

WE LOVE YOU!

Sandy @ 4:41 PM


Sunday, September 25, 2005

Seven Months Old!
Matthew is officially seven months old today! So what new things has he done and how has he developed in the past one month? Time to re-cap.

We know that he has 60% hearing loss in his left ear and his eardrum is replaced by a bony structure but he has a good inner ear. This would allow him to benefit from the use of a bone-anchored-hearing-aid (BAHA). His right ear is perfect.

He can sit unsupported for more than 10 minutes, if he has the patience and of course we have to keep him occupied.

He has been trying to crawl forward. He is already crawling backwards and rolling around. He has developed his arm and leg muscles to be able to pivot on them. But he is still learning to co-ordinate his arms and legs in order to move forward.

He can also now stand supported.

He can sit himself up from a lying down position.

He knows where to look for his toys and can reach out for them. He can pass a toy from one hand to the other.

He has learned to associate words to objects and remembers where they can be found, like fan (feng shan) on the ceiling, light (deng) on the ceiling, bird (xiao niao) in the sky. He is able to see smaller objects, like a bird flying by in the sky at a distance, an ant on the floor or table.

We have brought him swimming and he enjoys it. We shall target to do that every week.

He is eating cereal with pureed fruit (for breakfast) and porridge (for lunch and dinner), being breastfed morning and night and 6-8oz of formula in the afternoon. What he has tasted so far: Vegetables - xiao bai cai, chye sim, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, sweet potato, potato; Meat - fish, pork; Fruits - apple, pear, banana, papaya, prunes, a taste of mango. We should try and introduce new food every two weeks? every week? It must be damn boring to eat the same old thing everyday?

He has started eating biscuits - Want Want's Baby Bites and Gerber's Fruit / Veggie Puffs.

For all who want to know: Nope, he has no tooth yet... who knows when? we are still waiting...
Sandy @ 11:34 PM


Saturday, September 24, 2005

Another swim swim
We went for another swim today... Hwei Shan came along again to take more photos of Matthew for her photojournalism project, so I did not take any photos. Let the pro do her job. ;o)

Matthew had more fun today, because the "sprinkler system" in the pool was turned on for a long while today. He has grown taller, we think, as he could now stand tip-toe on the pool floor with his head above water. Btw the pool was 0.5m deep. Matthew, as of 10-Sep-05, was 66.5cm. I think he has also put on weight... mm... well fed baby!

After the swim and a shower, Matthew was hungry for his dinner. Mashed potato with carrot and xiao bai cai. I also added 3 scoops of formula to make it creamy. Both Mike and I agreed that it was tasty and Matthew ate almost a full bowl. If we continue to pinch on Matthew's food, we are going to put on weight (good for Mike, bad for me). The formula is rich in fat required for babies to grow. Well, papa and mama certainly do not need the extra nutrients.
Sandy @ 11:18 PM


Tuesday, September 20, 2005

I miss my Matthew

Being 6761 miles away from my darling nephew is quite a pain. I just saw photos of his first photo shoot, kindly taken by my close friend, Hwei Shan, and I just wish I could reach out and hug Matthew. How can someone be as adorable as Matthew??? Matthew is cute redefined. :)

Sorry if I am talking crap. It's 12.26am GMT and I'm taking a break from studying!

Matthew, your Ah Yi misses you loads!!! :)
Kng Suan @ 7:24 AM


Monday, September 19, 2005

Mid-Autumn Festival
Yesterday was Brother Bang's big day. It was also Mid-Autumn Festival (15th day of 8th month in the Lunar Calendar or Zhong Qiu Jie). My parents also attended the wedding dinner, because Bro Bang's father-in-law is my father's old-time classmate / mahjong kaki... Small world, kind of, Singapore's already small in itself.

Matthew was showered and dressed for the occasion. Partly because for the dinner, the other part was as Hwei Shan's subject in her Photojournalism project. She is KS' good friend from MGS, I think. Matthew had fun, posing for photo, playing in the garden.

Then finally after all the photo taking, he was so tired that he took a short nap on the journey to York Hotel. But with too much attention on him, he was frightened. Cried quite a bit, which was rather rare for him. We managed to get him to sit in the high chair for quite a while, eating Gerber fruit / veggie puffs, playing with his soft rattle and Winnie the Pooh bear.

All the excitement tired him out, but he was just not willing to sleep, as he did not want to miss out on the fun, I supposed. In the end, I managed to find a quiet corner in a stairway that overlooked the hotel pool and patted him to sleep.

Here's a photo collage of pretty Megan Lee, having fun on the sidelines. When Matthew knows how to walk, they will have fun together!
Sandy @ 10:30 PM


Saturday, September 17, 2005

Swim Away
Finally brought Matthew for a swim today. He was sleeping when we reached there. He looked surprised when he woke up and found water everywhere. nope, he was not in the water yet. Mike was carrying him, walking around by the pool. We then changed him into his cute little swimming suit.

He had fun, so did we. He was never really scared of water. He loves playing with water. Sometimes Mike would just carry him into the shower for his bath. He enjoys having water sprayed on him. We had a good time!
Sandy @ 11:28 PM


Friday, September 16, 2005

Last Jab of First Year
Matthew saw Dr Ong last Saturday for his last jab of his first year. He has grown one "minute" cm (66.5cm) and gained almost half a kg (8.69kg) since the last time we saw Dr Ong three weeks earlier. As least he is eating enough and putting on weight. The charts showed that for his age, his head circumference and weight put him in the 75% band, but his height was average. That's ok. He's only 6.5 months old. Mike said, "He must play lots of basketball!"
Sandy @ 5:34 PM



Lousy Day
Today was not a very good day for me.

First, Matthew has been waking up at 3am and 6am for the past few nights. Mind you, he woke up crying and did not want his pacifier. Funny thing was that he asked for milk at today's 3am waking. He said "er er", which means hungry in Mandarin, as he cried...

Second, we managed to put him back to sleep at 6am, so he woke up only at 720am. As a result, all of us woke up late, because our alarm clock (Matthew) did not ring... Hahaha.

Third, we forgot the purple bag, which contained Matthew's milk bottles, pacifiers and drinking cup, left in our car. In the end, I had to ask my Papa to come and pick up from me.

Must be a really bad day. Fourth, I nearly burned my office down, because I forgot my cheese toast in the oven and left it baking for more than 10minutes! The supplier delivered my order of one carton Enfapro A+ without informing me, so I did not have cash with me. I drove like a mad woman (almost) to the nearest ATM to withdraw cash, in order to pay them. When I finally remembered, it was smoking like hell and there was a small fire in the oven. I had to open all the windows in the office (actually only the area nearer the pantry) to ventilate.

It's now 4pm. I hope the day does not get any worse. Cross my fingers! Another one-and-a-half-hours to go before knocking off...

I finally had some time this morning, so I called the Singapore's distributor of BAHA systems this morning to find out more about the Softband BAHA. They do not have the stock for the Softband and would expect the supply to come in October. Then they would arrange to let Matthew try it.

I learned that the BAHA compact would enhance one's hearing, even for adults like us who have normal hearing. It would enable us hear clearer. The unit would last for a long time, provided it's well maintained. As with all electronics, Singapore's humid climate makes maintenance a problem. He suggested getting a bottle of silica gel and storing the hearing aid in the bottle to keep in dry after each use. Or a camera dry box would do too.

To be honest, I am anxious for Matthew to try the hearing aid and would want to see how he would benefit from it.

Matthew, whatever that is best that we can provide for you, Papa and Mama would do that. We love you!
Sandy @ 4:29 PM


Thursday, September 08, 2005

We finally know...
Today we brought Matthew for his ABR (Auditory Brain Stem Response) test at NUH. It seems that he knew that there was something special about today and he woke up before 6:30am.

The test went on without much hiccups. We saw Dr Lynne Lin (Paediatric ENT Specialist) after that. From the ABR test, we learned that he has perfect hearing on his right ear, but suffers a 60% hearing loss on the left ear.

Matthew has a normal left ear pinnal, except that he has a ear tag, like me and my mommy. His ear hole is slightly smaller, but it had never occurred to us that there might be problems. The CT scan showed that his left ear auditory canal (EAC) is blocked and his left ear drum (or tympanic membrane) is replaced by a bone structure. The floor of his right EAC is partially deficient, but it would not be too much of a concern as he has perfect hearing on this side.

Dr Lin offered us a few options: 1. For his age now, a BAHA (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid) Softband system, 2. At age of 5, surgery to reconstruct his ear canal, but there is a higher risk in this sort of surgery as it affects quite a lot of nerves, 3. At age of 5, to have a titanium fixture installed to his skull bone and use a BAHA sound processor.

We decided that we should give Matthew the best. We would be looking into getting him a BAHA Softband system now. In future, to have it fixed with a titanium insertion.
Sandy @ 11:08 PM


Sunday, September 04, 2005

Rainy Sunday
Rain Rain Go Away
Little Matthew Wants To Play!!!

We actually wanted to bring Matthew for a dip in the pool at Kylie's condo, Faber Crest. But "Tian1 Bu4 Zhuo4 Mei3" (literal translation - sky was not pretty), it started to rain from 11am and rained non-stop... It was to be his first time. Well, there's always another time.

Got to pray hard for good weather.
Sandy @ 11:12 PM


Saturday, September 03, 2005

Bye Bye Ah Yi
KS went back to UK today for her final year in UniS (University of Surrey). Her SQ flight was the 9am one, so that she could reach London Heathrow Airport in the afternoon, giving her enough time to reach Surrey to settle down for the night.

We took Matthew on an early morning trip to the airport to send off her Ah Yi (Aunt in Mandarin). I prepared his porridge in the slow cooker since last night, so I woke up earlier to pack his breakfast and lunch. Changed and woke him up for his morning milk. Matthew seemed to know that we were going somewhere, as we changed his diapers and clothes. He waited patiently, as we prepared to leave.

I fed him his breakfast cereal in the car. He enjoyed his ride, looking out of the window. Oh, if I had not mentioned in my earlier posts, Matthew has a new car seat. We got it from kiddybee.com, which is run by Mike's CJC classmate. It's a Maxi Cosi Priori SPS. Apparently my colleague Seng Hou also got a similar one. It was a good buy and Matthew really loved it, as he could enjoy his ride now.

Anyway, when we reached the airport, while Mike was parking the car, Matthew went "ermmmm" twice. I asked him if he wanted to erh erh (meaning to poo poo). He replied with erh erh. I thought, "ok, he has done it in his diapers, we just got to clean up his butt!"

So off we went, looking for his Ah Yi and grandma, grandpa at BK. After we found them, I told my mummy that we should go and clean him up. When we finally took off his diaper in the ladies' room, we realised that he had not done it in his diapers. He had actually waited! What a good boy!

We urged him to do it at the toilet bowl and he promptly poo... We cleaned him up and he was happy, so were we. He saved me 20cents. Hahaha.. Being toilet trained (almost), he only used one disposable diaper a day. On weekends when I look after him, max three pieces a day.

KS carried him, hugged him. Finally it was time for her to go. We are all going to miss her. She is going to miss him too. Her noise in the house. Her constant tapping on the keyboard of her notebook... Bye Bye Ah Yi!
Sandy @ 11:44 PM