Starting solids

Daniel gets really fretful and doesn't settle that well during the day. He screams and shouts all the time at home. So I decided to take him out more in the hope to calm him down, now I push him out both in the morning and in the afternoon... He does settle in his pushchair and will soon fall asleep in the motion...

Also, it looks that spring is here, it's been sunny and warm for nearly 2 weeks. Since it gets light earlier, Daniel wakes up very early these days, nearly as early as his Dad, therefore we end up getting up earlier as well. Daniel's day starts around 7.30-8.00am, when he rubs his eyes open in the morning I starts my slavery day of entertaining and serving him. First thing Daniel would do while he rubs his eyes open is screaming (to tell me he's waking up), I would jump off the bed to put the nursery rhythm CD on, grabbing his soft toys and dangle them in front his face. Once he saw me was there, his favourite toys were there, there would be a big grin on his face, and he would raise his arms and legs to reach the object I dangling to him and kick legs as hard as he could, giggling at same time... after entertaining him for half an hour, I leave him in his chair to have my shower. These days shower for me becomes a rush thing as Daniel would shout loudly in his chair... I make sure I wheel him out half nine or ten'ish to give myself a bit peace.

Talked to couple of mums at baby group, their baby seemed all start solids around 4 month. One little girl Georgina's mum said her daughter was the same size as Daniel when she was 4 month old and she started solid at 4 month. Rather than watching the calender, I thought we might give solid a try. Last week Terry volunteer to feed Daniel the baby rice I made (he said he got lots experience on this) Daniel didn't like it though. He made a face and spit it out straight away. So we decided to leave it. This week I thought I might try again. This time I made it a bit more runny and picked the time when he wasn't that hungry . I mixed a spoonful baby rice with some formula milk in a bottle lid and spooned a tiny bit to start with and rested spoon on his tongue. He initially didn't know what to do with the food but after a few second he learned to swallow it! Once he done that he wanted more and started to enjoy it even tries to grab the bottle lid and weaning spoon... Today I made two spoonful baby rice and they've all gone down Daniel's belly well!

Living in England

With Terry working long hours, our days (Daniel and me) are getting longer as well... we are now one of those typical British family in which Daddy works long hours to provide and when he comes home kids all gone to beds (when mummy go back to work it will be more typical)... we all know British work the longest hours among Europeans, British children self-reported the least happy one among Europeans (on survey done by UNICEF recently). In contrary, Dutch children are on top of that chart. It might be British nature of playing down things, however, there must be some correlations between British children's unhappiness and the long hours culture here. It is said Dutch are more or less judged by how their family being run. British are judged more on their career, income and spending. So you can see British parents work longer and longer hours to provide their offsprings a big house, private education, more holidays, more computer games, toys to make them happy, They are still not happy... would they be happier say let them do without, it might be just as misable as they have. Life just like going on in circle or like a gold fish in pond ( go round and round)! That's why they call rat race... and since I moved here, got job, got house, got mortgage and pang!I am one of these rats! Sometimes I think my life in China was (would be) more relaxed as it's mortgage-free, low-cost living, no long hours but long lunch...I come a long way in the hope finding a quality life here but just to find out the 'quality' is actually on the other side of the world... (Don't get me wrong, Britain is a great country to live if you are fortunate to be on the 'HAVE' side.)

Luckily holiday soon! one more week to go... can't wait! Hope all these long hours worthwhile...we will spend quality time together as a family on our holiday to Hongkong and Kunming.

Baby Group

With Daniel's weight soaring (He weighs 8.3kg now and looks like a 6 month old), I think we should go out more. Keeping him indoors will just end up feeding him more. Yesterday when I told Terry that I would take Daniel to a playgroup tomorrow, he answered 'He's a bit too young to start playgroup, isn't he? He doesn't play anything yet!'...

It's a crispy sunny day today, The baby group starts 9.30am and is in our local medical center, I tooked a brisk walk to get there instead of driving as we normally do. Terry was quite right, most babes there are older than Daniel, ranging from 7 months to 1 year, they were all crawling around, Daniel didn't do anything apart from lying under a baby gym pulling the dangling objects and watching other babes. It's not that exciting for him. I spent most of time joining those mums discussions of their offspring's' poo, they talked about this in earnest, e.g. what sort of foods produce what sorts of poo as we are all keen stool observers... That's what baby group does...

Incredibly tired

I felt so tired the last couple of days, it was the sort of tiredness which seeping through your body to every inch of your bone. My body was tensed and my neck was stiffed and it can't get any better even after I had a hot bath... yes, I caught cold, it might contribute to this and I got headache as well. I went to bed earlier every night for last couple of days lying there thinking 'how come? I used to be the person who walks 6 hours no-stop in a national park afterwards still got the energy to go swimming at the end of day... ' Having baby definitely takes its toll now... or simply just because of the age... with my back so aching, I am feeling like leaping forward into mid age...

Baby Friendly Cafe?

Terry was asked to do a bit overtime over the weekend. So we went in his car to Leeds for shopping and lunch Saturday. The plan was he works from 10am-2pm and we meet at a Indian buffet restaurant for lunch at 2pm. This a bit different from Daniel daily routine as we normally go out in afternoon during the week. My intention was to make Daniel get used to the hustling and buzzing of a busy city center before we going to travelling... Terry said 'poor Daniel it's just that Mummy want to look clothes, you have to go all the way with her to look all these girly shops like Zara...' We parted at his work car park and I pushed Daniel to browsing the high street fashion shops. Daniel showed a little bit interests at the beginning but soon fell fast asleep. After 3 hours browsing I myself got tired and decided to have a rest at Starbucks. It was so busy in there. Holding the cappuccino I couldn't manage to find a seat while pushing s sturdy pushchair with lots of Chinese shopping bought from the China town. The Starbucks is in an Edwardian building with 3 floors. I knew they have sofas on top floor and I want to feed Daniel there. Assuming there is a lift going upstairs but when I got to the lift only to find out the lift only go half way to the top floor and I have to asked one of the staff to help me carrying the pushchair to finish the rest of stairs. Such an effort just to drink cup of coffee and have a bit rest! No wonder there is a Baby friendly Britain campaign recently and they gave away the Baby-Friendly Cafe and Restaurants Guide... Better check it next time before I set off.

4 month old

Daniel turned 4 month last Saturday. He is such a big boy that I feel I can't carry him anymore( weighed 7.9kg two weeks ago,no idea of how much he weighs now, going for weigh-in next Monday) also he like me holding him pottering around the house. There is the moment I woke up seriously worrying his weight growing too fast though I got reassurance from Heath visitor Rachel the other day on her house visit, she said breastfed baby's' weight is always correct, I knew that from some of the books saying you can't never overfed an exclusive breastfeeding baby. But Daniel gets two bottles top-up each day... I was worrying about that! She said 'you can't never put a baby on diet! once he start to crawl the weight gain will slows down...' Maybe it is just me being neurotic...

Daniel gets really fretful between feeds recently. He keeps sucking his fists loudly, he seems shouting to me 'feed me! feed me feeding me now!' all the time and gazes the foods when we eating. The other day he got really upset when we were eating yogurt without 'offering' him (breast) he suddenly cried inconsolably and really worked up into the stage of sobbing until he almost choked. Daniel has his way to telling off his mummy... Health visitor think those are the signs for introducing solids. But I was a bit apprehensive about this due to the worry about his weight gaining might even faster...anyway leave a few more days,if he continues to show the signs of hunger, I might give the solid a try, After all, food is the pleasure of the life, if the milk doesn't satisfy our baby, we shouldn't be frightened by that.