Julian turned 8 month old yesterday (28 January 2008). We took him to the clinic this morning for weighing and to measure his length. Julian weighed in at 7.6kg (an increase of half-a-kati or 300gm in 2 months).
On 20 January 2008, we noticed that Julian's first tooth had finally appeared!
[Pearly white patch]
The past month has seen him getting more and more active. He seems to want to climb on anything in an effort to stand up, and he does this very well on his cot railing, our bed head board, and the sofa.
[The latest in baby headgear: The Jar Jar Julian-look]
On the feeding front, he seems to be lasting longer (3-4 hours) before wanting to feed. He still takes his regular afternoon rice cereal and evening porridge. At the baby sitter, he takes between 4oz to 6oz of milk depending on whether he had just had cereal or not. At home he is still on breast milk. Strangely, he suckles for only 3-8 minutes before loosing interest... we really wonder if he is getting enough.
Socially, he gets on well with practically anybody. He is likely to cast a cold quizing stare at a new face but certainly won't object to being carried by a willing arm. Oh, by the way, he is known to "chio boh siah" in Hokkien (which means "silent laugh")... he just opens his mouth in excitement but no sound comes out :o)! During the past week while eating his porridge, we have noticed that he likes to smile with his nose pulled up too.
Last Thursday (17 January 2008), Julian ate his first baby biscuit. It's quite a hard biscuit which becomes soft and starchy when it is wet with saliva.
Julian was really messy (there were crumbs everywhere!) but he sure did enjoy his biscuit :o).
[Baby Bickie]
[Julian imitating a Catholic priest??]
A few weeks ago, Julian has managed to hold on to our hands and allowed us to pull him up to a sitting position and then eventually to a standing position.
This week on Tuesday (15 January 2008), while in his playpen or cot, he managed to pull himself up all by himself using the railing to a standing position! Yay! :o)
[Ready... steady...]
[I'm standing!! Woohoo!!]
Last weekend (12-13 January 2008), Julian was in Ipoh to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Julian had lots of fun especially since Grandma and Grandpa bought him a walker!
[Julian on his walker]
Julian mastered the walker very quickly and could move in all directions especially the all-important *forward* :o). The walker also came equipped with an "entertainment system" which kept him amused.
[Look Granpa and Grandma! This red ball converts potential energy to kinetic energy which then negates gravity, making my walker float into the air! Amazing!]
The walker followed Julian home to Penang and he has used it to roam from the living room to the kitchen, supervised of course :o). A journey of a thousand miles starts with the first walker?
Last Friday (11 January 2008), we had fried fish in cream of garlic with white wine sauce, and macaroni cheese.
For the fried fish dish, we first marinated the fish with salt, pepper and mixed spices before frying. For the sauce, it's a mixture of garlic, milk, fish sauce, white wine, honey (or sugar) and some corn starch to thicken.
[Garlic fish]
Preparing the macaroni cheese was simple. We bought canned macaroni cheese from Tesco :o).
[Macaroni cheese]
On the whole it tasted not bad. Some garnishing would have made it look like an expensive meal.
Julian has always been very super discreet when doing his business (big or small). So, we can't always tell whether he's trying to relieve himself until he has already finished. By that time, we'll already know for sure when he had pooed because of the tell-tale smell!
Yesterday (10 January 2008), surprisingly we caught him in the midst of starting to do his big business. He was making soft clearing-an-itchy-throat sounds. We quickly took off his diaper and there was already a little bit of poo on it. We then put him on a potty and the rest came out... minimum mess... marvellous :o).
This is not the first time Julian pooed in a potty. He has done this a few times at the baby sitter's. But yesterday was the first time he was supervised by Mummy and Daddy. Yay! :o)
Julian has been busy tummy crawling and he even tries to crawl onto our lap when we're sitting on the floor. He targets bright objects and things associated with fun, like his toy bag, and often succeeds in tipping it over to get to his toys.
[I found them! I found them!]
He is also still very busy putting everything into his mouth. Not even the poor little rubber ducklings were spared.
[Yummy! Peking duck! Poor mommy duck looks on...]
