Joaquin Can Count

No idea if it's early or late, but he's figured out how to count. He still sometimes forgets the sequence ("uno, dos, tres... cinco?"), but he's finally definitely understands the concept of ticking off things one by one until arriving at a result number. A few weeks ago he understood the concept of one vs. many, which fit in with the science, but now he no longer has to take it on a higher authority that he has 5 toes and 2 hands. Perhaps a recent trigger is his new favorite iPad App, which I would heartily recommend to anyone.

Lazy Saturday

Preguntas Capciosas

Joaquín: Estoy agarrando la sábana de Javier porque él se portó mal.
  Jaime: Se portó mal? Como?
Joaquín: El lloró.
  Jaime: Y tu no lloras?
Joaquín: No.
  Jaime: Solo en la noche, tu solo lloras en la noche, verdad?
Joaquín: (Pausa) El otro día.

Javier's 0.5 Birthday Cake

Meiti Park in Dazhi using iPhone's HDR mode

Inflatable Baby Chair

Happy 0.5 year old Javier!

Today Javier turns 6-months old!  Can't believe he is already so grown up but at the same time feel that he has been part of our lives forever (can't remember the days without him!).  Mamu took him for his 6-month check up and vaccinations.  He measures 9.8 kg, 70 cm with a head circumference of 44.8cm.  All fall within 85th to 97th percentile!  Notice he has gained another pound in the last 7 days.  Unlike Joaquin (who goes poo poo daily), Javier seems to digest and absorbs as much as he can from the breastmilk and only goes every 3-4 days.  The doctor gave him a perfect rating after the check-up. He got two shots again but he was a brave boy:  stopped crying as soon as we picked him up.  He has to go back in another month though for the third shot he didn't receive today...
On the sleep training front, he is improving but still cannot sleep over night.  We do dream feeding at 1130pm and 2:30am but he still wakes up at 5am and 6am this morning.  Both times Annie was able to put him back to sleep without feeding.  Hopefully his stomach gets trained and will stop wanting to eat after midnight.  His 2:30am feeding is now reduced to only 2 ounces...  Let's see how it goes today...

- Joyce

Chami's First Solids

Chami is less than a week from turning 6 months old.  We decided to start him on his first solids today.  We decided to start him on only 1 teaspoon of rice cereal mixed with milk.  He swallowed it in no time, one spoon after another. I mixed him another teaspoon but he was so eager that he started to scream while waiting for the rice cereal to be mixed.  He quickly finished the second serving and snatched the spoon off me and started licking.  What a healthy appetite!  We didn't want to give him too much on the first try since we don't know yet how his digestive system will react to solids yet.  Tomorrow we will add more to his lunch and hopefully soon he will be getting enough calories to sleep through the night...

Here is the link to Chamu's first solids: http://jojomami.blogspot.com/2008/11/first-solids.html

A Better Day...

Javier went to sleep around 7pm and didn't make a fuss until 10:30pm and Annie managed to put him back to sleep after feeding him another bottle.  Let's see what happens later.  Last night, he kept Dadu and Annie up for an hour and half until 3am.  They had to wake me up to feed him for him to settle.  He was so happy to see me at 3.30am and didn't want to sleep.  I sort of spanked him a little bit (over his well padded butt) and told him to sleep and then he slept until 830am.  

Joaquin was pleading Dadu to sleep with him tonight (the nicest he has been to Dadu in days; how sneaky!) to the point that Dadu was considering giving in. Dadu was very good and told him firmly that he has to sleep in his bed and Dadu will be outside.  I came out of shower and Joaquin was trying to sweet talk me into sleeping next to him and I also kept firm and told him to sleep on his own.  AND then he did!!!  Wow!

Joyce

A New Beginning...

We finally got some full-time help.  After some kicking and screaming to the helper agent over the phone, he agreed to find us a temporary before our permanent one shows up end of this month.  Annie, a 23-year-old Indonesian lady, has been a great help to us this week.  Cooking with someone who helps with preparation and cleaning is so much easier.  I can do a three-course meal in less than 30 minutes!

We are also starting to get Joaquin to NOT have to sleep with someone every night.  It's an ordeal with him every night and take at least 90 minutes before he would actually fall asleep. Tonight it took just as long but I was sitting outside the room rather than lying next to him.  He didn't protest much but every time I went to to check on him, he always wanted me to lie down.  The key is just don't go in and just be outside and be firm with him.  A big improvement for Joaquin.

Javier, on the other hand, fell asleep rather easily around 7pm.  We asked Annie to feed him and he fell asleep before finishing up the bottle.  Jaime had to feed him the rest.  But he woke up again at 1030pm and we gave him some more milk.  The principal here is to NOT feed him any more after midnight.  Annie is going to either pat him back to sleep or give him some water until he makes to 6 am.  Wish us luck and hope we gain some order back under this roof!

P.S. Javier has two front teeth coming out in the bottom and you can probably see them here!

The Hipster

Javier at 5.5 Months

We took Javier for a doctor's appointment today.  He has very bad eczema which is very similar to what Joaquin had when he turned 6 months old.  It turns out that it's caused by the same allergic reactions that Joaquin had.  I guess I will need to cut out nuts, shell fish, and dairy to make sure he doesn't get worse...  on the side note, Javier now is 9.5kg and 69.5cm long!  He is one giant baby!

I can roll over

It happened about a week ago, and a bit behind in schedule. Crawling here I come!