Mommy's Diary

Month 8 - First trip - Separation anxiety - Constipation better - Pulling up - Talking - So much happening!

October 4, 1999

Silly me! We have been worrying for Tiger's eating for quite some time. He is always a good eater for cereals and baby foods but for some time he would only take 3oz of expressed breastmilk at one time. It was real hard for him to finish his bottles. We have been thinking that he may need a faster flow nipple and we have said that we'll get one for some time but never got around to it. Well, I found one that my sister gave me when Tiger was born. So we tried that and guess what? Tiger finished the entire 5oz within 5 minutes! Thinking about poor Tiger having to put up with the infant nipples for so long!

Tiger's real good at pooping now. It was the fourth day and we got a little worried until last night he finally went. He simply crawl to me and hanging on my knees and standing there. You can see him quietly pushing. He didn't scream, didn't cry, didn't even fuss. You simply have to love him for his nice efforts.

Tiger is not sleeping well though. These couple of nights are too cold. He wakes up more and nursed more. And the diaper leaks every night. I had to change his diaper and his clothes. He screamed so hard. I feel real sorry about having to disturb his sleep. I'll see if things turn around when we turn on the heater. Otherwise we may have to try the overnight diaper.

October 2, 1999

Up until now I have been wondering if Tiger would love to read books. It is true that he loves books. But all he does with books is chew on them. There's a saying in China when we say somebody is knowledgeable, we say that he has all books and poems inside him. Well, Tiger does have some books inside him.

Anyway, my view has started to change now. Tiger starts to really read books now. Every night before bedtime I would read the book "Good night puppy" with him. He sits with me still and read it diligently. He would flip the page when I finish one page. The other day, when we finished the book, he crawled to another book called "apples", and touched it. Then he sat down and looked at me. Seeing I didn't understand, he leaned forward to touch the book again, and then sat down and looked at me. I suddenly understood that he wanted me to read it to him. So we read it. I was so happy for him! Now we are reading two books before bedtime.

October 1, 1999

Today we went to St. Louis to meet with my cousin's family. They have a little lovely 4 year old girl. We stopped at the Arch for the morning. Tiger had a great day. He was so happy, crawling around and walking around (with my hands under his armpits of course). Once he walked with anxious toward a direction. When I looked up I found that he was going to this beautiful girl about 20 years old. He grabbed her hands and tried to touch her face, and squealed to her affectionately. She laughed and laughed with Tiger's affectionate display. This is the first time he actually flirted with other people. He usually would hide from strangers because of his stranger anxiety. Well not today. Today he was all bold and forthcoming. After the girl left, Tiger went a little wild and grabbed the shorts of another teenager boy. The boy was a little embarrassed. His face became red. He didn't know what to do with this little wild baby's un-conservative showing of affection.

I think it was because the area is so large that Tiger can move freely. At home he only got limited space with us always pulling his legs when he wants to go somewhere.

September 30, 1999

I'm pretty sure that Tiger knows the meaning of "mama" now. When I got home yesterday, he called me while crawl to me with such a big smile on his face. When he feels hungry and wants to eat, he would yell "Ahh" to try to tell you.

Tiger likes to jump in his crib while holding on the side rail. If you look at him through the bars in the rail, he would laugh out loud and he would stretch his hand out through the bars and try to touch your face. Sometimes he touches you face so affactionately. Yesterday I found a Winnie-the-Pooh hat for him. He looks so cute in it.

Last night he went to sleep at 9:00 then woke up at 9:30. (Not sure why he woke up. Maybe because 9:30 is his usual bedtime?) I was downstairs. Grandpa picked him up and handed him to me. I took him back inside the bedroom. He had his eyes wide open but was very quiet and content. I didn't rock him, or do anything. I simply laid him down on his crib. He closed his eyes without a fuss, and was asleep peacefully in one second. Tiger is really doing so much better in his night sleeps.

September 29, 1999

When I turn to the corner where Tiger can not see me, he will utter a short cry and then crawl fast toward the direction where I went. And when he sees me again, he would smile so big and squeal happily.

It is very funny when he play with the basin and brush I use to clean his bottles. He would touch the brush and then took back his hand because it's prickly but he keeps trying to grab it. Finally he found out that the stem of it does not prick and grab it there. He also likes to play with the suction ball. He would put its tip into his mouth and sucks on it. He seems to like to suck from small pipes. He always loves to take his milk of magnesia medicine (huh?) I think that's because we use a dropper to give it to him and he loves to suck from it.

Tiger is so curious about everything now. He likes to knock on things and examine things. He likes to crawl from carpeted living room to the wooden floored bedroom. When he crosses over, he would stop and knock on the wooden floor. Then he would turn over to crawl back. When he crosses over again, he would sit up and examine the carpet a little. I couldn't help to smile everytime I see him doing that. He also likes to ban his toys against the floor or his high chair.

September 28, 1999

Tiger has been trying to talk in sentence for some time. He would say "Ahh-babu. Liber. Waaah." I'm pretty sure he knows what he is talking about. Only I'm speaking a different language. This morning when he climbed on me, I said to him, "You haven't called mom yet. Would you say mama?" and he said, "Ma-Ma." He is probably simply repeating what I was saying, but it does sound like a conversation.

September 26, 1999

We were out of peas for a while and yesterday I finally bought some for Tiger. When I fed him with that, he was so happy. He had one mouthful of that, then he closed his mouth and eyes as if he was savoring the taste, and then he smiled big with his mouth and eyes closed. They look like three new moons. It was so funny. Then he opened his eyes and squealed "MaMa MaMa!" I think he was saying "I want more, I want more!" Then he was so busy taking every bite, and in between bites, he managed to otter "mama" every time. It was like he took one bite, then say "more", then took another bite. He was so adorable.
I was so convinced then that "mama" means "food" to him. Then when I changed his diapers after feeding, he looked at me right into my eyes and said in such a soft voice: "Mama." And then he smiled. How sweet! I almost broke into tears. I kissed him again and again. I was so happy.

September 23, 1999

Last night Tiger slept from 9:30pm til 5:15am. Actually he was still sleeping at 5:15am but I woke up and I couldn't help to look at him and pull the blanket up a little and that wakened him. I tried to pretend that nothing happened and closed my eyes. I was hoping seeing me sleeping Tiger would go back to sleep too. But he was so happy waking up. He rolled over several times, crawled to our big bed, and kept squealing. He even tried to wake up his daddy. This is the only time that he becomes fully wake up and wants to play in the middle of the night. It was all that I can do to not laugh. I put him in the middle of Fan and I and I just closed my eyes. After a while, he finally drifted to sleep again.

Tiger now is a vetern for crawling. He can move from sitting position to crawling and from crawling to sitting with ease. He also is very good at cruising from one end of the couch to the other end. He can stand up by the walls. In fact he can actually stand by himself for about one second now.

He knows to call "mama" and "baba". At least it seems to be. I mean when he was little, he could say "mama" but he doesn't know the meaning. He just said it for fun. Now it seems that he knows "mama" means me. Fan said last night when I was a little late from work, Tiger kept looking out of the window and calling "mama, mama". It's like as if he knows that I should be back. Although, sometimes I wonder for him "mama" may also means "I'm hungry".

He is also developing different emotions. If you tried to take a toy (most of the time it won't be a real toy, it would be whatever we don't want him to play with, such as remote control, slippers, or a phone book) he would yell at you angrily and he would even cry. I usually have to use something else to distract his attention. He also knows to search for things if you hide them.

September 21, 1999

Last night for the first time he slept from 11 o'clock until 5:45. He skipped the middle-of-the-night nursing. I can't believe it! I don't know if I should be pumping or not.

September 20, 1999

I found that pear juice really does the trick! There were several times that Tiger's stools were soft and I found out that that was when we gave him pear juice. We switched back to prune juice and then his stools becomes a little harder. Yesterday we gave him pear juice again and this is only the second day and he pooped!

September 15, 1999

Good news! Tiger pooped today and it was all soft! I think the milk of magnesia is finally working. The doctor said when we saw her last time that the amount we gave to Tiger is very little and she suggested we double it. I'm really happy that we didn't have to. It also can be related to the pear juice we are giving to him.

Another thing Tiger likes to do is he likes to bang different toys or other objects such as his cup or spoon. He bangs them on his high chair, or the wooden floor. In fact he simply likes to knock the hard wood floor. It's real funny.

I baught baby biscuits for him to chew on these days. He did fairly well only sometimes he'll bite a small piece off and then he couldn't mesh it and won't swallow it (thank god) so he'll fuss and then I have to dug it out from his mouth.

September 14, 1999

Yesterday Tiger fell asleep before our bedtime routine. He was very relaxed when I bathe him. His grandpa said that he was very good the entire day. He plays by himself and talks to himself a lot, seems to be content and happy. Must be the moon. He pulled himself up by my legs and then hang on my shorts and almost stood there without any support for a few seconds. He is really changing so fast!

September 13, 1999

He may be smart. He may be too smart for us that he wears everybody out. Now he has outsmarted us on foods. He makes the diaper changing a big challenge for us sometimes. Yesterday we tried to cut his hair. He protested and squirmed as if we were doing something really bad to him. Thinking that he have had two haircut when he was little and he was pretty happy with it! We decided that this probably is going to be his last haircut before his 1st birthday. He doesn't like to be restraint at all. Not that anybody likes. But he used to be such a easy baby. And now he is certainly developing his little own personality. I'm happy for him but feel real frustrated for myself. I don't know what the terrible two would be like for him!

September 19,1999

Tiger is so funny. He would pull himself up and then look at you to see if you have noticed his big accomplishment. Then he would blow you a big smile. Then he would let go of his two hands! And then, of course, he would fall back down heavily on his bottom. He is just a little impatient guy!

There's something else new. When I fed him solids before, he would take whatever I gave him with great enthusiasm. He even opens his mouth big when I give him his medicine (milk of megnesia). But yesterday, he ate happily half jar of peas. Then I thought I'll give him some variety, so I switched to the mix of peach and cereal that Fan made. He took one bite, then pursed his mouth. I then took out a jar of prune. He looked at it, then turned his head away and pursed his mouth so tight. Then I switch back to the peas and he opened his mouth wide again! He finished his jar of peas and I was able to get about 1/4 jar of prunes in. He is just a smart little guy!

September 9, 1999

Could it be separation anxiety? For two nights Tiger has been acting differently than before. When I step in the door from work, he would break away from grandpa's arms toward me. How happy I am to see him loves his mommy! Then he would clinge to me. When give him back to grandpa so that I can go inside to change clothes, he would cry immediately. Then he would play on the floor happily if I am with him, although from time to time he would crawl to me and climb on me. However, no matter how happy and absorbant he was playing with his toys one minute ago, as soon as I stand up and try to go somewhere, he would utter a short cry and crawl so fast after me. Last night I let Shang to take care of him for a while when I went to pick up his grandpa from his English class. When we were back Shang said that Tiger had been crying for 15 minutes while crawling to the kitchen and the bedrooms to look for me. I have such a mixed feeling. It is so sweet that he loves me. At the same time my heart broke for the poor little boy. The good thing is he still doesn't cry when I leave for work every morning. However, he used to smile when I wave bye-bye to him and this morning he seems quite serious. Looks like he is considering crying. Oh-oh.

Here's what I read from Pampers parent newsletter: "Now is the time when stranger and separation anxiety really start to kick in. Being worried about strangers signals a cognitive recognition of the differences between people. ... You don't need to overprotect her, but you do need to realize that she's in a major and demanding spurt in her development. ... Be sure to prepare your baby whenever you go away. "

Tiger has also learned to get up to his knees and pull himself up to stand. He can change from sit to crawl and change back from crawl to sit although not that well.

September 6, 1999

Saturday we went to Champion IL and stayed at a friend's house for one night. It was a long trip and Tiger coped with it pretty well. Gary and Cao has a two year old daughter. She and Tiger played well together. Tiger would crawl on to her and she would pat Tiger. When we got home the second day, Tiger was so excited to see all his familar things. He went wild and kept crawling and rolling and squealing. I am so happy to see him happy and to know that he loves his own home.