Energetic Kendrick!

Kendrick these days has grown to become so super energetic, it's no wonder Mummy loose weight =P Looking after this little fella' really takes up a lot of your energy and he has not even gone to the walking stage yet! However, as at now, he loves to climb all over the place once we put him on our bed. If put in his baby cot or play pen, he would immediately stand and cruise around. When crawling on the floor, he has since learnt to explore more areas of the house, getting really excited when we tell him we are going to catch him! Kendrick will then crawl even faster and laugh. He is also beginning to touch areas which are a slight 'danger zone'. Have to find new ways to protect him from that. Gave me a shock that day when I realised he could reach the fan and started to press the buttons of the fan!!

Kendrick also loves to jabber a lot. He seems to be able to differentiate 'pa-pa' from Mummy better too as we noticed he does call his pa-pa correctly. As for Mummy, his 'ma-ma-ma' words still seem a little unclear. It could mean me, or his Ah Ma, or even food. But sometimes when he sees food he does say 'mum-mum' more than 'ma-ma'. So perhaps he does know what is food indeed. Ya, this greedy little boy :P See us eat only he also wanna eat. As for other words, he apparently said 'bir-bir' this weekend after Dear taught him what was a bird when they saw one. So it's quite cute to see Kendrick looking up at the sky and about when we tell him to look for the birds.

With his growing curiosity of the many things around him, I can only pray for more patience to look after him. Sometimes I admit I just wanna scold him when I get upset by how naughty or 'active' he is. But I also feel very heart-pain after that. He is after all, still such a baby! Really really hope to cultivate greater patience. I love you Kendrick! :)

Danger zone actually lurks behind him where the fan is...but I thought the angle of this shot was quite nice...Hehe.. =P

Again another attempt by Mummy to take some 'angled' shot of Kendrick

Kendrick looks like he is playing a musical instrument by holding the fan in this manner =P

Can see his 2 lower teeth quite clearly in this pic. He is sprouting 1 upper tooth too which is about one-third way out

Kendrick's learning and he has a new toy

These couple of days has been quite interesting. Have taught Kendrick how to clap his hands and then also tried to show him how to 'shake hands'. He again picked it up so I'm quite happy. Then I taught him how to use his hands to pat his lap when sitting down and he also did it, though not that responsive towards that yet. Quite amazed...this is probably a time that he is learning and picking up a lot more so it's quite fun to teach him too. But of course, sometimes he just refuse to do anything even if you ask him to. Haha.

Today Daddy also decided to open up this toy for Kendrick to play with as he feels that it may be suitable since Kendrick has turned 9 months. It's a little toy car for babies to sit on and push themselves. It could also be converted into a walking guide as the seat could be lifted up and there will be a handle for babies to hold onto and learn to walk. Anyway, this Playskool toy was actually a gift from a friend during Kendrick's first month party. Finally, he gets to have a first taste of it!

Kendrick looking a little sleepy but actually he just had his lunch. Haha.. double eyelids appeared again...

Kendrick sits on the toy car. He was quite curious as to what this thing was. We sat him on it, but he didn't know how to move. Will take some time more to reach that stage I think

Happily clapping his hands

Smiling for the camera at last...but not looking at Daddy leh..dunno look at what

Short 'holiday' Day 3 (10 Oct 2008)

Today was more of a Daddy and Mummy day. However in the morning, we brought Kendrick to the polyclinic for his 9 month old assessment. Kendrick now weighs 9.5kg, is 75.4cm tall with a head circumference of 46cm. His height and weight are at the 75th percentile, while head measurement is at 50th percentile. They checked his eyes and also used some sound device to test his hearing but observing his reaction the to different pitches. Glad that all is well and Kendrick is developing fine.

After lunch, we then dropped Kendrick off at my PIL home before we headed out to Vivocity to catch a movie - WALL-E and then have our dinner. We tried out this Tajiyama Jap restaurant that serves Yakiniku or charcoal grill basically. Really yummy beef that we ordered and we really enjoyed our meal! After that, we bought Ben & Jerry's ice cream home for dessert as there was an offer at Giant supermarket. Picked our darling baby home and whoopee...ice cream time in the comfort of our home :)

Here's a really yummy Wagyu beef plate that we ordered

Just a quick shot together :)

With that, it kind of ends our 'mini-holiday' in Singapore. Haha... of course there's still the weekend, but weekends are quite busy for us too... have to bring Kendrick to spend time with his maternal grandparents and family too. Sigh, I will miss spending so much time with my baby when I go back to work on Monday!

Short 'holiday' Day 2 (9 Oct 2008)

Today we brought Kendrick for his first 'overseas' trip by driving into JB for shopping! Haha! We went with my PIL who drove us into Jusco, thanks to Dear's GPS system that did not get us lost :P Anyway, the stuff at Jusco are not really cheap, but there are still some stores that do have cheap stuff and Mummy is most happy with some of her own buys :) We bought some clothes for Kendrick too...as usual, cannot resist buying Kendrick stuff, as well as some cheaper grocery items. As were busy shopping, we did not take a lot of photos, so here's some shots that we have...

Family pic before heading out...notice we all wear the same colour? Purposely colour coordinated one..top and bottom actually. Hehehe... :P

Kendrick with Ah Ma and Ah Gong

On the way there, Mummy had to slowly entertain Kendrick with all my 'fa bao' as he got bored sitting in the car seat. Luckily not much jam.

Inside Jusco department store, there was this play area on the Kids section

We successfully gave Kendrick his first chop in his passport after this day trip. Fortunately, he was relatively well-behaved. Although at times he would struggle and want to get out of his car seat, we still managed to subdue him. Oh ya, Kendrick also loves to sing this 'baba' song. Suddenly that became his favourite word and he will keep saying 'bababababa' in a 'singing' tone that is really so cute due to his baby voice. Tell him so sing 'mamama' instead but he will end up saying 'babababa' instead. Purposely do that to Mummy right?! Hehehee... Ok, a nice day trip after all :) Maybe we will bring Kendrick to JB again some time.

Short 'holiday' Day 1 (8 Oct 2008)

Dear and I took leave from Wednesday to Friday to spend some family time together. We originally wanted to drive to KL, but due to some reasons, we didn't go ahead after all. Nevertheless, we still continued with our leave plans and had some fun time together :)

This particular morning, after Kendrick had his milk, we took him out to the nearby coffee shop while we had our breakfast. As we were talking, I was telling Dear about how I would like to teach Kendrick how to clap his hands again. I did it just a few days ago and wasn't sure if he learnt it. To my great surprise, even though I was not even talking to Kendrick, he actually heard the 'clap your hands' phrase and in his stroller, he started to clap his hands!! It was certainly most unexpected and to think that he actually learnt it and heard me saying it! Some proud moments there :) Anyway, after that, we actually tried out telling him directly to clap his hands and he did it again and again. Funny baby :P Just because he learnt something new, he kept on doing it on and off throughout the day even though we did not ask him to.

Some play time with Daddy after bathing... Father and Son cuddling up

Mummy likes this shot of you..somehow you look really cute to me here :)

Caught in the act! Daddy taking photo of you but you take his camera cover to eat!

In the evening, we planned to bring Kendrick swimming again. It actually rained in the afternoon around 3pm and we were really hoping that it would stop by 5pm. Fortunately, it did and we went ahead. This time, having enough milk and sleep, Kendrick was not so afraid of the water and did not cry like the first time. We started him off on the sitting float first to let him get used to playing with the water before moving onto the neck float. Again, he did not cry when we used the neck float this time and he actually moved by himself slightly. His legs were a little stiff in that he did not really want to kick, but his hands would hit the water all the time. Haha...

Getting ready to go into the pool

Reacting well when seated in the float. Played with the water by splashing his arms

Using the neck float...this time round, no crying! Mummy is happy that you reacted better this time!

After the swim, we headed back to my PIL place for dinner and Kendrick ate his porridge well, probably hungry after the swim. At night, he also slept early! Haha...Around 8.30pm he knocked off in bed already. Hope to bring him swimming again soon!

Kendrick turns 9 months old today

Happy 9 month old day Kendrick! This morning Mummy and Daddy sang to you in the tune of 'Happy Birthday' while you sat up and stared at us from your cot looking a little amused and giving us a small smile. Must get Kendrick used to this song as 3 more months time it will be his 1 year old celebration! How time flies!! Kendrick is sooo active now..always up and moving about. When he crawls, he does not want to really crawl a distance. In the midst of it he would want to sit up or attempt to stand up. Any object that he can hold onto he would grab and try to stand up! Nowadays every night have to play and entertain him until his bed time. Haha...quite different from just a few weeks back.

Anyway, let's look at Kendrick's milestone chart again:

9months

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)

• Stands while holding onto something - Kendrick does that in the hall while holding onto the sofa or in the cot or in the playpen

• Jabbers or combines syllables - I guess babies at this stage like to jabber indeed. All we keep hearing so far is still 'mama' and 'baba' and sometimes sounds like 'ah cheh', 'mum-mum' and even 'zha'. Sometimes when I say 'zha' to him he will respond the same word too. Quite funny

• Understands object permanence - Can be seen when we play peekaboo games with him. He knows we are still there even though we 'disappear' for a while and then surprise him again later

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)

• Cruises while holding onto furniture - Kendrick has done some of this. My PIL say that he does that while in the playpen at their home. So far I've not really seen it, but at home, he does cruise slightly when holding onto the cot railing

• Drinks from a sippy cup - Unfortunately, I've not tried this though I've bought the cup already. Haha..better test out one day soon!

• Eats with fingers - Also have not let Kendrick try the biscuits snack that I bought him. Will see if I can let him eat by himself this weekend

• Bangs objects together - More like bangs objects on other objects... like when he holds a toy, he might just bang it against the floor or table. So far he does attempt to bang on the drum toy I bought him too

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)

• Plays patty cake and peekaboo - My MIL played with him by putting a towel over his head and then waiting for him to pull away so that she can say 'zha' to him...he seemed amused..so perhaps a little of this

• Says mama and papa to the correct parent - Seemed to say it to the correct parent sometimes. Like when I came back home that day, he saw me and started to crawl toward me and say 'mamamama'... But sometimes we tell him to say 'baba' to his Papa, he actually said it too. Nevertheless, this still needs some time of development
  

Happy Children's Day (1 Oct 2008)

It was Children's day last Wednesday and also a public holiday. Although Daddy was not in Singapore, Mummy, Wai Po and Wai Gong still brought Kendrick out shopping. But before that, Mummy had a present for Kendrick!

Kendrick and his new toy drum

There is light and music as the baby hits the drum..Kendrick trying it out : )

It can also be put into a rolling shape

So do you like your new toy Kendrick? Kendrick ponders....
"...Think I still like to stand up and touch things Mummy..."