Belle’s 10th month

Hello dearies,

How are you guys? I hope you are all safe and well. For those who are back to work, please wear your mask and take extra precautions. It hadn’t been a productive month for me because it is almost mid of the month and I am just drafting out my first post of the month. I were supposed to maintain at least 4 posts a month. With a heavy heart, I have resume back to work as “Movement Control Order” no longer serves its purpose. You understand how is it like when our dear bunch of politicians couldn’t make up their minds and kept changing terms. It was A in a while then B. After that change to C again and back to A. I couldn’t help but feeling annoyed that we were all being fooled by this bunch of monkeys. At first I was scared. Well, you know me. I am not afraid of the virus. I just don’t wish to leave Belle. I have been spending so much time with her despite working from home. I feel that I have completed more tasks at home than sitting in the office. We are not allowed to go out as no clients would welcome us at their office. This, I fully understand. We have to accept the reality. We are working under a company so terms and regulations have the final say. Don’t get me wrong. Time just past slower for people like me who is used to traveling outdoor. Sitting in the office for the whole day almost makes me go berserk.

I know I should let Belle get used to the current situation because this issue will be going for a long time. I kept tearing up every morning when I have to say good bye to her and watching her whine while reaching out for me. It hurts. The Hubs and I have decided to travel to work with one car for now as it is the wisest thing to do. I can’t travel out anyway and he is indoor based. I would have gone back to visit Belle during lunch if we remain at my Mom’s place but unfortunately, my mom cannot handle Belle alone so we got to stay at my in-laws during week days. Recently I am emotional because I am worn out. I was looking forward to a relaxing magical time at Disneyland but this Covid 19 has to come and spoil everything. Sigh. 2020 is now how I imagine to be like. I am thankful though because of the extra 53 days I get to spend with my dear baby and family. There are people with worst scenarios at every part of the World. So I am counting my blessings everyday.

Belle turns 10th month in the midst of MCO Round 3. She has been a joy and it is my privilege to be able to witness so many of her “First’s”. Belle achieved many milestones at this stage. She can now recognize our voices. Belle loves music. She isn’t like any other babies who will laugh and chuckle when they are happy. She would just sit still and stare my phone screen. I try not to expose her to electronic gadgets so soon but I need to show her what she is learning from daily. I try to influence her with Disney Junior but I guess she prefers to watch “Dave and Ava”. I merely just type “Songs for babies” on Youtube and click on one. This is how I found out about “Dave and Ava”. It is an educational application for young children to learn things like alphabets, shapes, colors, sing-along and etc. You could download the apps on your phone. The songs are familiar to me as they are all from the well known nursery rhymes, easy songs like “If you are happy and you know it”, “The Wheels on the bus”, “Row Row Row Your Boat” and so on. Belle knows exactly when to clap when you sing “If you are happy and you know it, clap your hands. Clap! Clap!”. It was fun to watch her grow. I can’t wait to hear her sing along with it. It would be funny and adorable.

Did I ever mention to you that Belle is an insecure baby? She has been like this ever since we left her in the hospital during the time she was diagnosed with jaundice. She was less than a week’s old at that time. Let me put it this way, she is independent by nature as she don’t like us to hold her or limit her space. She didn’t even like us to touch her. However, she cannot accept it when we are out of her sight. She doesn’t mind playing by herself as long as somebody sits right next to her. She would howl and shriek if I leave her in the living room all alone. Sometimes I would pick up my fallen hairs and proceed to the bin which is just 10 steps away and Belle would whine. The Hubs was amused and ask me why she always “Hek Hek Hek”. That’s exactly the same sound. Some other moments, she would rather forgo the things she love to do and cling on to me like a bear. For some reasons, she doesn’t like my study room. I wanted to settle something and she would cry and try her best to grab my legs to climb up to me.

My little Miss Busy Bee keeps me busy all day. She is a curious bee and loves to climb the stairs or play with anything dangerous. We allow her to climb the stairs as much as she likes because it would wear out her energy. However we have to follow her closely as she tends to fall backward. She totally has no problem climbing up the staircase but coming down is a challenge. She is a ball of energy so sometimes she thought she could escape nap time. We want her to nap properly as putting her to sleep is a big challenge. She is not a pleasant sleeper since young? I mean as far as I know, sleeping soundly is never an easy thing for her since she is a light sleeper. A dog’s bark would wake her. People ringing the bell would wake her. Even worst, she would stir and sit up when she heard my voice. We can obviously tell that she is dead tired but we are unsure why she wouldn’t sleep when she is suppose to. Recently, I tried a different method by playing some Disney’s instrumental at night before she sleeps. It seems to help a bit but she would still wake up in the middle of the night looking for my nipple. I noticed she is more willing to sleep if I took off my spec and sleep along with her. Nowadays, she is getting better at snatching my spectacles off my face, play with it a little while and chuck it away. Naughty little pie.

You most probably would have known by now that Belle is a picky eater. Yes, she seems big for her age and I get questions from people asking me what have I been feeding her and what formula brand she is having. For your information, I am not a sous chef. I sucks in cooking. I totally have no sense of arts when it comes to delivering meals that would make you feel like eating. Ha Ha. I started Baby Led Weaning with Belle during MCO period. Initially, I just boiled something simple like carrot, broccoli, and potato. Bear in mind that for the starting, babies would just play with the food. You just have to let them take the lead in this. Belle would cry and reach out to me when she is done. Gradually, I cooked the simplest meal like fried rice, porridge, noodles, salmon balls and etcs. But, here comes the thing, most of the time she is just playing with her food, and leave a massive mess for us to clear up after. Yes I am fully aware that this is part of BLW. I am ready for the mess. I just cannot accept food wastage. Like MASSIVE wastage. I am open and fine with Belle eating on her own. She prefers to do it herself anyway. Here is a simple advise from me, please start BLW the earliest you can. Elder people would tell you no but you take control of your own child. Make sure you are ready for the mess 🙂

Motherhood is not all about taking care of your kids and raising them but it is also learning how to educate them. Bells is an impatient baby. Her characters has proven to be taking after me, unfortunately. I was hoping she would take after The Hubs for this part but our bonding was too strong during pregnancy. Ha ha. She has always been an expressive baby since birth so I don’t doubt her loud voice and screaming to the maximum when she wants something. We notice that she would always pull her hair whenever she is angry or upset. When she attempts to eat on her own and we don’t allow her to, she would seal her mouth tightly or tilt her head away when we try to feed her. She could differentiate between our tone of voices now. I am usually the kind Mama (surprisingly) who can’t bear to scold her. The Hubs and Momsy would speak to her sternly and she could sense that and starts pouting her mouth to show us that she is upset. I wonder how on Earth can I educate her in time to come. I would introduce her toys with names to her in a repetitive manner. For instance, Koupen Chan the walking penguin, Coobie, Belle’s figurines and the characters in our doll house. Sometimes I would ask her where is Koupen Chan, and she would instantly look at its direction. During night time, she would usually fight sleeps and tries to get out of bed. So we place her down beside the doll house (which is right next to my bed). She would then mess things up in the doll house and play by herself. We would pretend not to take notice nor pay attention to her. Belle would just bring me some items from the house and place it next to me. Once, she was mumbling something in her baby language while pouting. I was sleepy at that time so I just ask her to find me the baby from the doll house. I thought she didn’t know what’s a baby as she usually would attack the furniture since the baby is quite tiny and these are the larger items. I heard her hissing while pouting as she reach out her hand for me to carry her. I carried her and to my surprise, I saw her holding her baby while giving it to me. It dawned to me that there is no perfect moment to start them learning. Learning can take place at any time of the day.

My cheeky pie has really grown up a lot. I am sad and happy at the same time. Sad that my baby is no longer that tiny piece of chuck we brought back from the hospital. I am happy that she is growing up healthy and happy. As a Mama, I am beginning to feel it as time doesn’t wait for anybody. I am glad I chose to place all my attention on her. I am even happier that I insisted to take care of her during night time even thought our parents offered to help us to care for her so we could focus on our work. It was never my intention to missed any of my baby’s progress. I am glad my perseverance pays off.

That’s all for Belle’s 10th month!!! I hope you don’t doze off reading this as it is quite lengthy. I am looking forward to her 11th month already. Thank you for reading our journey with us.

Loves,

Viola Ng