Mystery

Something has been baffling us since Emma and I both got the flu - she suddenly hates taking bath. It's a battle trying to bathe her because as soon as her feet touches the water, she'll shriek and wail. We've tried many different ways and methods to wash her and we're reluctant to just sponge her because it's not a good enough method to clean her completely, especially in this hot and humid weather. It's a mystery why she would just hate the water so suddenly when just prior to the both of us falling sick, she was enjoying her baths, splishing and splashing in the water. Roy did not even have a chance to put her in the water during the weekend when I was too ill to bathe her (that was two weeks ago) - she'll scream and cry as if she's entering a pot of boiling oil. Sigh...

It wasn't getting any better when I took over last week. I'd tried changing the timings of the bath (from morning to afternoon to evening); we went down to the baby fair to buy some bath toys to place in the tub; I'd tried placing her on my lap and rinsing her with the cup; I'd tried showering her instead of putting her into the bathtub; I'd even tried feeding her while bathing her! Predictably, nothing works. Sigh...

Roy suspects that she might have a nightmare about water or she could have been traumatized by something 2 weeks ago (what did daddy do or not do? hmm... =P). In desperation, I goggled about this and found out that it could be a phase babies go through. I really do hope it's just a phase.

For the past few days, I've been praying before bathing her - for God to remove her anxiousness and her fear of water. Prayer works! This morning, I successfully bathed her without a cry from her even though she still looked slightly frightened when I first lowered her into the bathtub. She stayed in the water for quite a while playing with her toys & she even started to splash the water a bit. It's definitely a major improvement from last week and I'm ecstatic over the change. Let's hope it'll be better tomorrow and that she'll soon start to enjoy her bath again.

A complete disaster!

Emma has been rubbing her eyes rather frequently lately and I was initially quite puzzled why the constant rubbing - it is especially messy whenever she rubs her eyes/nose while eating her mushed porridge - spreading the goo all over her face. It only dawned on me this morning that it could be because of her hair. Her fringe is getting rather long and her hair is poking her eyes so I took the liberty of cutting her hair this afternoon. It should be relatively easy cutting baby's hair, right? (or so I thought)... wrong thinking... I placed Emma onto the bumbo chair, tore a hole in the newspaper and placed the newspaper over her head (like a bib) so as to prevent the snipped hair from poking her. What seemed easy in my mind was entirely the reverse in reality. I momentarily forgot that I'm dealing with an active baby with unpredictable movements. She moved her head so much that I snipped off too much... and too high.

It was a complete disaster and I ruined my daughter's hairstyle! Sigh...


Understandably, Roy wasn't too happy with my handiwork when I MMS'ed him this picture. I tried feebly to comb her hair to the side hoping that it'll at least look ok and will hide what I did. It didn't work obviously.


In my last desperate attempt, I took a cab to United Square to see if the baby hairdresser could salvage what I'd done. The end result is...

"Mommy, what have you done to my hair??"

She looks like Dora the explorer now. (sigh) =P


I've learnt my lesson... the next time I do attempt to cut her hair, I'll do it while she sleeps. =P

7 months old

Wow, Emma is 7 months old today. Time really flies. We (baby and I) were both down with viral infection this week. I started having food poisoning symptoms on Monday night, culminating into full blown vomiting on Friday (sigh, everything I ate went down the toilet bowl. I lost 2kgs after this ordeal.) Our princess started having runny nose on Wednesday, and the doctor said it may last for 3 weeks. Poor girl, the runny nose is causing her not to sleep well throughout the night. It was a tiring week for me, but Emma still looks fine and playful. In fact, she has progressed once again developmentally and is able to sit without support.

(Right now, she's reaching for my laptop while sitting up). I'm going to grab as much rest as I can for now... Alrite Emma, time to meet the zzzz monster together while daddy buys breakfast for sick mommy. (Roy has been doing great taking care of the both of us while we were under the weather. =D)

Caught in the act

Remember my earlier post on her doing her acrobatic stunts? Well, she did it again this morning and to top it off, her toe was in her mouth! I couldn't stop laughing! LOL!! But, I think I should discourage her from sucking her toes. I mean, it's not a good habit to have, plus, it wouldn't look too pretty for a girl to have her toe in her mouth, right? Hmm... We were out shopping last Saturday with her in her stroller. I was just wondering why we were drawing smiles and laughters from people walking past us until a Malay couple we met in the lift joked and said, "ah, kungfu!" She was holding her legs wide apart, in the air!! (Just like in the video. But she one-upped herself this morning - legs up, no hands) hahahah. Maybe we should consider enrolling her in gymnastics classes? She may one day earn a medal and make Singapore proud. heehee.

Say "ah"

Emma's rolling left, right, front and back on our queen-sized bed now, so I thought I would just update a bit. Yes, she's getting all wriggly now, pivoting 360 degrees on her tummy & flipping like nobody's business. She's also preferring to sit or stand with support, protesting when she's on her back or tummy for too long. I chanced upon her managing to sit without support while playing her toy drum, but that was just a fleeting moment. She's still more comfortable sitting with her arms as support. She did it for a full 2 minutes today! Yes, I timed her. =D


I found another use for the pacifier - instead of letting it collect dust on the shelf, it can be used as a teether! haha...


I was pleasantly surprised this morning too while feeding baby some rice cereal - she started saying "ah" and opening her mouth each time she wants more food. My baby's starting to communicate to me more, besides just crying. I'm one proud mommy. =D


(Emma looking happy after her lunch. Taken a few days ago)