etha*ns 8mth in pictures

first i heard the laughter. suddenly silence. & when i turned around, he had fallen asleep on his father's tummy while playing. & when i whipped out my camera & began snapping, he even smiled.

& as i have mentioned & probably shown in previous entries, etha*n is now a steady stander. at the moment, hes begun attempting to let go of any support so that he can stand on his own now.

this is my "penetrating eyes" look

i love mummy (or the camera?)

etha*n is 8months old

:-D

hes sick (again). tsk tsk... yes, its still the cough & flu. kasian dia. the coughing is the one that gets to me. i hate hearing him cough in his sleep.

my mom says hes probably feeling poorly because hes teething. which is happening. i can see his front upper gums tipped white which is the tooth cutting through i guess. also in the last 1 week he has been a bit difficult. tossing & turning in his sleep & when hes awake, hes constantly putting his fingers in his mouth to alleviate the soreness i guess. cos he chomps at his fingers & not sucks at them.

at 7months i was so eager to check out his weight. but ma boy, hes a bit of a mr wriggles. & when we placed him on the weighing scale in the clinic, the needle was going haywire. i think i might take him to try it out again tomorrow since we're in the vicinity of the clinic.

im not sure what was my update in the last entry. probably the same i guess. he can now take a few steps while standing supported in his cot. last night, he tried to stand unsupported by letting go of the cot railing a couple of times. but my mom said he "bergegar" hihihi... means, shaky... so farnee. my dad thinks hes a curious little boy cos he always watches my dad when he walks past him to see where my dad goes or what he does.

my favorite moments with etha*n is when its just the 2 of us rolling around in bed laughing. his idea of a funny good time is biting me on my face or knees or tummy or wherever lah. which makes it ticklish & im usually howling in laughter. this gets etha*n going even more. we're almost wrestling with each other. at the end of it, both our faces will be full of (his) saliva. haha... the husband tends to leave us alone during these times as it just means he can watch his tv uninterrupted. you dont know what you're missing babe! but then again, with that face full of stubble, never mind lah, better you dont come near us.

the brain development of babies are amazing. etha*n now knows when he does something cute & he'll keep at it bcos it makes me laugh. the latest thing that he does is sport a gummy smile & close his eyes till all you can see are slits. then he'll open them ever so slightly to watch your reaction (to the gummy smile that makes him look extra chinese). a split second later he'll quickly close his eyes again but not before you see them rolling upwards as he pretends that he wasnt looking at you at all. & through all this is gummy smile, shrieks of laughter and shoulders rolling in pleasure.

the next milestone to wait for apparently is his first step. so i guess i should re-charge my camera batteries. i cannot wait. but before that time comes, i'm gonna have to start babyproofing my home already.

what thoust complaineth, willeth visiteth thoust latersth.

i have a 3-year old niece in australia who is notorious for biting, pinching & scratching. shes adorable but when her victims are also kids (some older to her even hehe), the situation gets a bit sticky with everyone defending their own.

i am one of those defenders.

over the christmas holidays, she bit my son's toe, not once but maybe 2-3 times, within the same hour. i'm not sure because i wasnt there. this was when he was only 5 months old. i heard him crying though. at one point the husband was there when my niece "attacked" & he was so anger... not with my niece but with her mother (my sister) whose only reply was "never mind lah, she geram with him." huh?? it must've been some "geram" because his toe was red with bite marks till the next day.

i feel guilty about 2 things:

i) not being able to protect my baby by not being able to scold my niece sebab takut to offend my sister
ii) being anger with my 3-year old niece who is really just a little girl albeit a naughty one

my mom recently told us that my niece attacked another child in her school in australia & got reprimanded for it. her mother (my sister) was called to the school by my niece's class teacher who said that if my niece does it again she will be demoted to the "baby class". another teacher who overheard this then commented that my niece's class teacher should not have threatened my niece that way & afterall, she as the teacher shouldve been watching the kids.

how ah?

as my mom was telling us this, my sister (who lives here), agreed with the proposed course of action by the teacher. my mom didnt. i just kept quiet. a couple of months ago, this sister (who lives here) went on a trip to australia & her 8-year old son was the victim of many bites, pinches & scratches from his 3-year old cousin. & apparently, instead of the pesalah being properly reprimanded, the victim pulak was accused (by the pesalah's father, my bil) of provoking her into attacking him. & i have to vouch for my nephew lah ok. he wouldnt have done anything that would've led to a backlash on himself. in fact, apparently, my bil in australia actually pinched my nephew (for throwing my niece off in reflex when she launched at him & she started crying).

sigh.

ok, then after my sister & mother were laying out their respective arguments on whether it was wrong of the teacher or not etc, my mother said "better dont talk, your son (my son lah this) is still small, only 8 months old, who knows how he will be." my answer was "ya, he likes to pinch & pull hair too." & my sister pulak defended him & said "ya but he is still small. he doesnt realize it & he just likes to grab hair only."

sighhh...

~can you see how my sister is playing favorites? hihihi...~

maybe because she gets to form a bond with my son cos we are here & my other sister lives in australia. maybe because ya, my niece is 3 years old & my son is only 8 months old & so my son is considered the underdog here. maybe because my bil in australia blamed his daughter's actions on her son & she didnt like it. who knows.

its kinda funny though. my mom was saying to me right after the incident where my niece bit my son's toe a couple of times, that my niece is just a child & therefore i should not be angry with her. true. but what i was really angry about was her mother's reaction. she should've smacked her daughter's fingers ke. marah ke. not say "never mind lah... she geram with him." whether he is my son or not, he's just a baby & when babies hurt they cry & when you are still able to see bite marks long after the actual biting, then, well... it must've been some bite.

susah also lah. i agree with my mom. i dont know how my son will be. i used to get stressed over how my sil's son was super-duper active & naughty. but my son is now super-duper wiggly at 8 months old. so yeah... what thoust complaineth, willeth visiteth thoust latersth maybeth horrrth. & yes, he pinches & scratches & pulls hair now & i dont know if it can be dismissed as baby doesnt know his own strength yet or if its a taster of things to come? so, to be on the safe side, i've started smacking my son's hand when he does it. of course gentle smacking lah hehehe. sometimes when im changing his diaper & he wiggles about, i give his bottom a smack too. then he cries in temper. yes, in temper. which he probably got from me.

back to my niece. but oh... she is so cute lah. so very adorable... & yes, to a certain extent, the biting is because she "geram" & gets a bit excited. so its hard to be angry with her. but we have all learned to keep alert whenever she is within close proximity of other kids. which is all we can do right.

i wonder how my son is gonna be: the bully or the bullied or will he be able to avoid either extremes?