Poopy story II
As most of you guys know, I never know how to cook until I'm married. So, I was never good at it, and it will take like centuries for me to serve a decent meal. After I had Ethan, I rarely get to it anymore, cause he demand most of my time. Until lately... since Edwin (Mund's younger brother) is home. I would ask him to take care of Ethan while I cook. But I have to be real fast, cause at one time, Ethan waited too long for me, so he ended up crying and nothing Edwin can do to calm him down. Since yesterday was a Sunday, and a rainy day, we're stucked at home. I did bought some food which I can cook, and so I did while Mund look after Ethan. Obviously Mund wasn't really 'looking after' Ethan, as he was busy getting on the Internet. Ethan was chucked aside to entertain himself to his toys.
Lately Ethan developed a habit to shriek with no absolute reason. Probably it's because he's bored, or it might meant something else, I don't really know. Just that when I was cooking yesterday, Ethan kept screaming in high pitch, while Mund just ignored him. So I decide to put aside cooking to breastfeed Ethan. Normally after breastfeeding, Ethan will be a good boy again. So, I just grab him, and hold him and suddenly I felt I've touched something squishy and to my horror, it's Ethan's shit!! I just yelled for Mund's help. He couldn't help but burst out laughing. Ethan was wondering what all the commotion was about as he'd stopped nursing.
In the end, Mund cleaned up after Ethan while I cleaned up after myself. Yeah, I know that I'm a mom and I'm supposed to get use to baby's poop...but I'm not. FYI, I wasn't the one who first mastered changing diapers, it was Mund.
Poopy story
Ever since Ethan has start sitting independantly by himself, everything seems good, except for one thing. And that has to do with the bottom department. Last time, normally he would be on his back when he did his business, and the feces will go all the way front to his penis. But nowaday, if he pass motion when he is sitting up, his shit somehow will go all the way up to his back. Which is very very messy.
Just like today, instead of the shit going sideway, it's almost like a line, 1.5 inch wide, but very very long. I wonder how is that possible. Since it's so dirty, I have to wash him up either by giving him a bath. Mund has a better alternative, just rinse with water under the sink, which works as well. And I dread having to wash his clothes by hand...talk about the stench, man. Overwhelming!
Other than that, Ethan still doesn't have a single tooth in sight. Our landlady's baby, who was born 3 weeks earlier than Ethan, had two of them showing proudly.
Birthmarks
Last Tuesday, we brought Ethan to a specialist referred by his pediatrician. Ethan has a bunch of red spots on his right arm and it was 'hemangioma', a type of common birthmark that babies have. It's so common that 1 in 10 babies probably have one. It will grow for a while, and then disappear later in life. According to the doctor, it's probably when Ethan is 2 or 3 years old. But according to my *book, it'll only disappear when they are between ages 5 and 10.
This type of birthmark is non malignant, which means it is not cancerous. The position of the birthmark was good, since it's not on his face, or near his organs. But the size of the birthmark is rather big too, so they would need to monitor it. Ethan need to go back to the specialist in 6 weeks.
While we were at the clinic, so many people there were excited to see Ethan. Probably it's because rarely any asian babies are treated there. Firstly, Ethan had to visit the technician, a pleasant Hispanic lady who's in charge of taking his blood pressure, his weight and his temperature. She kept complimenting how cute he is. She's very friendly and keep saying that she'll help me take care of him if I ever needed a vacation. At the end of the session, we took her phone number (just in case I really need help).
Next we were ushered into another room, where we were asked a lot of questions by a student doctor I believe. Or a nurse...I don't really remember. While we were there, so many of them kept complimenting how big and strong he is for a 7-month-old. After she's done with us, she said she'd call for the doctor. And after what seems like forever (I even got time to breastfeed Ethan and pat him to sleep) the doctor appear. She kinda talked slowly and loudly, which gave
me the impression as if she's talking to an old lady. But I think it's because she thought that we don't speak English. She just left some comment and took pictures of Ethan's hand and was gone within 3 minutes.
I noticed the doctors here are like the superstar, they appear for a while and would be gone before you know it. Just like when I gave birth, and had to be induced. We had to wait for the doctor to arrive before the inducing begun. And after he gave order, we waited the whole night while I was contracting. He just check on me once in a while to see how much I was dilating, but a nurse was monitoring me the whole time. Even til the time it was for me to start pushing, the doc wasn't around. Until the baby's crown appeared, only then he start his job.
On the way back home, we rode on the subway, and we sat beside a Hispanic lady, and I think she used almost every synonym of beauty on Ethan. She was going like 'He's so gorgeous, he's so beautiful, he's so cute...etc'. Seems like a real good day for Ethan. Everyone just threw compliments at him.
*When I always refer to my book, it's "What to Expect the First Year" by Arlene Eisenberg, Heidi E. Murkoff, and Sandee E Hathaway.
Rocking Fella
Nowadays Ethan can sit pretty well by himself without support. Not only he likes sitting, he loves rocking himself as though he's sitting on a rocking chair. Backward, forward, backward, and forward he goes. It's quite a funny sight, cause it's rather humorous to see a baby doing that. At times he will stretch both his hands far out on and he looks like a 't' sign and continues to rock. Can you imagine that?
These few days I tried teaching Ethan to grab small objects on his palm. The book says that he should be able to do that at this age. Instead of letting him try grabbing on raisin or pea (not available in our house), we let him try on m&m milk chocolate. One have to say that the size is almost the same right? Besides, it's so much more colorful.
The first day, instead of taking the m&m from my hand, he tried grabbing my hand closer and closer to his mouth. Of course, that will never work, as I'm stronger than he is. Not to say that he's not strong, cause when he pinches you, you'll go 'OUCH!'. Just ask Mund about how Ethan pinch him on his nipple. Ouch! (Mund surely will scold me for posting this)
Ok, back to m&m. Yesterday, he start to flap 'em around with his hands and before we know it. He took one in his hand, and then two at the same time, and then a whole bunch! Wow, talking about big progress. Of course we monitor him,so that he will not place those chocolates in his mouth. Mund was naughty, he tried luring Ethan with a red m&m, holding it close to Ethan's face. My baby is so clever, he start the rocking thing again. Rock, rock,rock, POP! Waaaaa! It's inside his mouth already!!! We panic, and after like 5 seconds only Mund started to dig inside his mouth. Luckily it flew out without Ethan choking. Phew! What a close call. I wonder what goes inside Ethan's mind. It must have been like... Daddy gimme chocolate, hmm...yummy, ouch, Ouch, OUCH. Hey, chocolate's gone!!
Weekend Outing
Last Sunday, we were supposed to go to Botanical Garden in Prospect Park. Mund heard that there are Sakura trees in that garden. Being Malaysians of course it's not available in Malaysia for viewing pleasure. To me, it's just a tree with pink flowers, but to Mund this is a chance of a lifetime. Right around that park, was a bunch of fast food - Wendy's, McDonald, Popeyes and so on. When we were about to reach, Mund was happily singing Aaron Kwok's song, y'all know which song I meant, there's no need for explanation. He was real pumped up right until we reach the gate. Guess what? It's closed at 6pm and we reached there exactly 6.05pm. Since there's no means for us to stay, so we proceed to think where else we could go. The one thing that came up was Coney Island.Coney Island is located at the very south of Brooklyn. Main attraction is the beach and also the classic amusement park. The park is one of the world's first amusement park (I read it on Daily News before) and it's a happy place, I'd say. While riding on the subway, Mund couldn't get Popeyes (http://www.popeyes.com) out of his mind. As most of you know, KFC sucks over here and the best alternative is Popeyes. When we arrived in Coney Island, he's ecstatic that there's a Popeyes around the corner. Since we weren't that hungry, we check out Coney Island for the first time. We went in the amusement park and Ethan is sooo happy to see the rides, the lights and the musics. He kept looking around everywhere, but of course he couldn't ride in any of it. By the time we left, it was 9pm. Since Coney Island is the end of the line for subway, we have to wait til it's time for departure inside the train. There weren't anything much to do, so we took our digicam and start clicking. There are some interesting facial expression of Ethan captured. Wanna see the pictures? Well, that you'd have to ask Mund to publish it in Ethan's blog.
