Mommy's Diary
Month 11 - Getting wild - Found source of allergy
December 5, 1999
I'm getting worried about this little guy. He is becoming more and more wild each day. I wonder if he has been spoiled for us? Now he doesn't cry but yells if there's something he doesn't like. Of course he yells too when he is happy with something. His little arms are strong. He managed to put a board book into his mouth and even bite a piece off it while I was trying to get the book away from him. That is not all. He climbed to the second shelf of the kitchen utility cart all by himself. When I noticed what he was doing, he was almost on top of the utility cart. He is not even 10 month old yet. I can't imagine where he would be when he is three! My dad told me that my nephew Hai had climed a pipe outside a building to its third floor when he was three years old. Somehow I can see Tiger in the exact same place. I'm really alarmed. We need to do something to tame this wild little tiger.December 9, 1999
Yesterday we took Tiger to see an allergy specialist. We found out that Tiger is allergic to wheat, egg, and peanut. I'm very glad to at least know what is causing the misery of little poor Tiger. I was so thrilled that he is not allergic to chicken. I haven't been eating any chicken for several months now. So I was so thrilled and I opened the refrigerator and got some left over fried chickens that nobody likes and ate them with great satisfaction. Well, this morning Tiger woke up and his face just flared out! I just realized that the fried chicken pieces were wrapped with wheat flour. Guess I was too thrilled to notice that. Sorry Tiger!December 13, 1999
Tiger is really getting good in walking. He can now walk for several steps, then stop and turn, then walk again. He can walk across the room before he finally falls. He is getting better in the solid department too. I started to give him tofu pretty frequently and he seems to be doing ok on those. Saturday I got carried away and gave him a big block of potato. Well, at first he made a face. Fan and I exchanged a look both thinking, "he doesn't like it." Before we actually said anything though, we heard a big gurgle. He swallowed it. It was a very soft piece of potato and so easy to be mashed up but he didn't even bother to try! Well, you don't need to guess too far. He gagged and vomitted. He threw off lots of things. Among them are small pieces of white tofu. Appearantly he didn't do a very good job on chewing them, eithor. Sigh! He has got 6 teeth now. You will think that he should know how to chew? In fact he has already chewed off every corner of his board books and managed to swallow a large amount of them (when we are not quicker than him) without gagging! What is with books and children? Well, as long as he doesn't gag on tofu, I guess we are still safe.December 14, 1999
Tiger loves his Elmo very much. When you ask him, "Where is Elmo?" He would find it no matter where it is and crawls fast toward it. He then will put his face on Elmo's tummy, and murmur affactionately, "E-MO-". He sometimes does this to me too. He would come and hug my leg when I sit down and bury his face on my legs while murmuring: "Ma-Ma". I feel so loved.At the same time, he's still walking around. I do enjoy this only except the times that he walks to the door that leads to downstairs which gives me a heart attack (We usually keep it closed but he can open it even if it is the slightest ajar). Fortunetaly he knows to stop at the door and tries to get me to pick him up and go down stairs. He is such a good fellow! Always take care of himself. When he wakes up in my bed, he knows not to crawl off the bed too. No pillows will stop him if he wants but he will just sit there and cry for us.
December 17, 1999
Tiger has been blooming in his social skills. He knows so much now. He likes to make a conversation with you although it is mostly repeating nonsense of each other. But sometimes, when I was talking to him while he was playing, he would suddenly stop and turn to me and ask: "Huh?" I always was caught off guard by this because he looked like he really knew what he was asking.Fan and I have been argueing whether "Mama" is his first real word. Fan thinks that Tiger says "Mama" without really knowing it's meaning but I think he does know because everyday when I go home he will come to me and bury his face on my shoulder and say "Mama". We all agree though, another real word of his is "Elmo". He knows who is Elmo and he loves to call him: "E-mo".
When we are out, Tiger likes to go to different people. He will stop at one foot away from him or her and then look at him/her and smile. They usually are very glad to see him. They'll talk to him and offer their hands to him but good Tiger always knows to keep his distance. He does not give himself away to a stranger's smile and encouraging words.
Tiger also likes to point. He'll stretch out his arm and hand and lean to that direction where he wants to go. I always want to laugh when I see him to be so eager. Another thing that makes me laugh is that when Fan hold Tiger they will pat each other on the back like they are old time buddy. Around his bedtime, Tiger will go to the bathroom himself and try to climb in the bath tub with all his clothes on.
His personality has become more and more appearant. He laughs when somebody throws him into the air. He screams when he was placed in the high chair for too long. He will even push all toys we put on the high chair tray to the floor and ban on the tray when he is angry.
Oh, there's so much happening I don't know if I can record them all.
December 17, 1999
I love to watch Tiger when he sleeps. He usually woke up around 12 o'clock to nurse. After nursing, he'll go back to sleep contently. Sometimes, he says "Oh-h-h" with his eyes closed. I think he is already asleep when he says that. He's probably just dreaming. After I put him down, I watch his mouth slowly opens, forming a sweet smile. Sometimes he laughs lightly in his dreams. I wonder what he is dreaming about. Must be something really good. Milk, perhaps?December 21, 1999
Tiger is sick. He coughs so bad that he would vomit. He also has congestion so it was hard for him to nurse. Good thing is he still tries hard to nurse. But he didn't take much solid at all. He hates us to use the suction ball or tissues to try to clean his runny nose. He wiggles and pushes and screams. I wasn't successful in helping him at all. I bought Dimetapp for infant for him. It has a grape flavor and he refused to take it. Once I forced it in him and he vomited everything out. Tiger is so funny. Everybody says the milk of magnesia has a taste of chalk. But he loves it. He would jump excitingly when he sees that we are giving it to him. Then those medicines with flavors, they are supposed to taste better but he hates them. Last night I cheated him by giving him 5 droppers of milk of magnesia, then slip in a dropper of the cold medicine. And he took it. Hehe.Tiger is a good boy. He still wants to play even if he is pretty sick. Once he was sitting there playing and he suddenly cried. None of us knows why. I guess he probably felt dizzy or headache. Then I picked him up and tried to comfort him. After a while, he wants to play again. And he cried again in a while. He must be real uncomfortable. We hold him a lot. He sleeps more too. I think this is good for his body fighting the virus. He is very clingy at night. He has to sleep with somebody. That's the only way he'll close his eyes. I can't withdraw my arms from under his head. No matter how deep he sleeps and how light I moved, he woke up immediately and he would cry if he sensed that I was trying to leave him.
Poor baby, hope he will get better soon.
December 24, 1999
I'm so proud of Tiger. I know that Tiger doesn't like his cold medicine. Tonight when I try to give him his dimetapp he clamed up and shook his head as usual so that I couldn't put the dropper into his mouth. I didn't want to force him. So I talked to him patiently. I told him that he'll become better if he took the medicine. Guess what, after a while, as if he understood what I was talking, he opened his mouth for me, and swallowed the medicine nicely. What a good boy!December 26, 1999
Tiger's well again. However we missed the chance for him to take picture with Santa. In fact Tiger was well enough to go out on the 24th but I decided not to take him out. He got his cold from a sick boy last week in KC. I don't want him to give it to other kids. The mall would be so crowded with children. I wouldn't want any of them to become sick on Christmas.Since we are free, no family here to visit, we decided to give Tiger a haircut. We hope this would fresh him up from the sickness. Wow, how he hated it! He screamed bloody murder the entire time. Several times he cried till he was out of breath and we had to break for him to calm down. We couldn't stop in the middle and leave him half bald so we just try the hardest to sooth him. And he looked so cute afterwards! Fan took him to the mirror, and he was startled by the image of himself at first, and then he leaned forward to look the back of the mirror to see who that bald boy is. Oh how hard we laughed!
Today we went to Applebee's for dinner. I was afraid that Tiger wouldn't want to sit still for the entire time. Well, it turned out so good. Tiger loves that place. While we were waiting for our orders, he walked around the restaurant and drew so many laughs and comments from the guests. Then he tried to climb to the wooden highchair the waiter brought for him. When we dined, Tiger ate his rice crispies diligently, with a satisfied "Em-Em" from time to time. Sometimes, he stopped eating to look around. He even flirted with somebody in another table far away. Once he slipped to a half lying position. I first thought the highchair was too hard for him and he was uncomfortable, but then I realized that he was simply examining the ceiling of the restaurant and he seemed to appreciate the environment of the restaurant very much. This was the first real meal that we enjoyed as adults not parents and grandparent. We actually had a lighthearted and enjoyable conversation and got to know what the food tasted like. When we finished the meal, Tiger didn't want to leave. I took him out of the high chair, and he tried to climb back into it. Then when we were waiting to go, at the waiting bench, Tiger did the turtle thing again, lying on his stomach, kicking his legs and waving his arms quickly. He did this a lot when he was five month old before he crawled. It has been so long we haven't seen this. He must have been real happy.
We all agree that Tiger has grown up. He is more and more becoming a big boy now. He can entertain himself now. Not only he doesn't need to be taken care of all the time, but he also tries to take care of other people sometimes. It seems to me that Tiger is quite a social person. He likes to initiate contacts with other people. But he is also alert. When he walked around the restaurant, there's a big man that he liked, he stopped in front of him and looked at him. However when the man bent down to approach him, he stepped back to be closed to me. When the man went back to chat with his partner, Tiger went ahead to touch his leg. He is so hilarious.
It seems to me that every time after Tiger was sick, he has a jump in his development. He becomes so mature both emotionally and physically. He can now walk from one room to another room, stop and start again, turn, sidestep, etc. If he falls, he doesn't need the help of a piece of furniture to stand up any more. He can stand up all by himself. This is only possible today. Before, he would extend a hand to you and ask you to help him up. But today, I saw him strained to stand up and he did it. Now he does it all the time.
Elmo is becoming his most loved friend. Every morning he is happy to greet Elmo. Start from today again, he loves to take Elmo with both of his hand (Elmo is so big it is over half of Tiger's size so he has to use both of his hands) and walk around. He is so proud of himself to be doing this. He takes Elmo to show everybody. He takes Elmo to see grandpa, to see me, and to see daddy. He even tried to put Elmo onto his little car. Then he dropped Elmo and went to grandpa's room and opened a drawer and took out a nametag. He walked around with the nametag in his hands. I tried to remove the nametag from him. He protested and clutched it tight as usual. Usually he would forget it when he lost it. Well this time, he knows and remembers. He stood there cried out his anger. I couldn't hold my laugh. I gave it back to him, he was fine. Then daddy couldn't help to try this again, so he snatched it from Tiger, and Tiger yelled again. Right by this time, the phone rang. Sure enough, Tiger forgot everything, and ran to the phone. At our house, phone is Tiger's business. No matter what Tiger is doing, eating, napping, playing, sleeping, he would get up and urge somebody to take the phone call.
This Christmas, we didn't have a Christmas tree (the five bedroom house is too small for a tree because of Tiger), we didn't have a picture with Santa, we didn't even buy many presents for each other, but we had a happiest time, because of Tiger.
December 30, 1999
Grandpa left on 28th and grandma (from Fan's side) came yesterday. We travelled to KC airport first then St Louis airport next. Tiger didn't like to sit in his carseat for a long time at all. Yesterday especially, he cried hard. When I get him off his carseat, he rested his head against my chest and his little hands grasped me tightly. I think he was feeling unsecure because he didn't know where grandpa went. When he woke up from his noon time nap and didn't see grandpa, he cried too. Poor little Tiger. I still remember the day when grandpa arrives, how hard he laughed. He has always been so happy with grandpa. I hope grandpa can return soon.Janury 1, 2000
I can't believe that we are already in the new millennium. New year always gives me a sense of hope and promising. I feel that Tiger has a bright future and a fulfilling life waiting ahead of him. Having Tiger makes me feel different. Like I've done a big feat.We went out to the First Night Festival. Tiger dozed off around 10pm but woke up again just before the short parade and the fireworks. When we were all amazed by the fireworks that filled the sky, Tiger was facing back and rather enjoy himself too. Guess he was studying people's face again.
Tiger now likes to carry stuff from one room to another. Things start to disappear fast. Fan still hasn't found one of his slippers yet. Tiger is very proud of himself being able to walk without using his arms for balance. He is always busy to pick up things then take them to show everybody. I just love to see his funny smiling face when he knows we are also proud of him.
Tiger has been so busy ever since he started walking it's really exhausting to chase him around. Once I only switched my eyes to something else for a minute and he disappeared right in front of me. I searched from room to room and when I finally found him, he was standing on the bottom drawer (that he pulled out) of a dresser and was trying to open the middle drawer! He also had a cut inside his mouth from falling. Now he has a big bump on his forehead that reminds me of the scene that he dashed toward the leg of our dining chair (He actually was aiming toward his daddy but oops daddy moved). Sigh! I guess I just have to live to his speed. From another side, I try to tell myself that he's a boy and it's ok for boys to explore and get a few bumps along the way. :)
Fan and I decided that it will be too late if we don't buy shoes for him so we took his to kid's footlocker. Well we found out that we are already too late. Tiger has to wear size 5 and the biggest size for those soft crib shoes is size 3. We tried a soft size 6 sneaker on him and boy how mad he had become! He cried with his face turning red the entire time when the shoe was on his foot. He finally stopped screaming when he managed to kick the shoe off. I'm starting to worry now. How are we going to persuade him to wear shoes? It was funny when he had one shoe on, he wouldn't put down his foot. He stood on the other foot with sock. I wonder if he will still know how to walk with shoes. Sigh!