Seth Sara

Seth ushered in the new year with a bang! Literally! He fell again! This time from the cot! His toys broke his fall. Turned out, it was not as serious as the last round, just some slight bruising! Ya right! Seems like I’m such a lousy mummy. Letting my boy fall so often! Sigh… My only defense is that my boy is super hyper and super mischievious. Thus the increase in accidents ever since he reached 9 months. =p

Hmm, with the second fall, I’ve got new revelations again! Once bitten, twice seasoned. I still feel ultra bad, and ultra heartache. However, this time round, it really seems like he is getting sturdier and able to withstand falls. Not that I’m going to let him fall more…. Hmm..

Once again I am reminded that in his course of growing up, there will be many falls and I will have to bear with the pain. I am reminded of my ultimate stunt when I was twelve where I fell on a slopely road surface. I suffered abrasions on my arms, knees and upper lips, as well as a chipped tooth. My mum was hysterical when I got home after continuing my day’s acivities before returning ‘cool-ly’. She brought me to a doctor to have myself cleaned up and called up my form teacher to tell her off! I felt so embarrassed! More so than pain from my injuries. Now, I can feel her anxiety perfectly! Many years too late! I look at the numerous ‘parang’ looking scars on the Man’s face and cringe to think of what his mum must have gone through. Then I see the reflection of him in my little son and I tremble in fear! Help!!!!

A litle update of Seth’s Milestones for my own record. (1 week 2 days to 10 months)

1. he started clapping at 8 months whenever I sing ‘If you’re happy and you know it.. clap your hands!’ I’ve been doing that for ages… and he surprised me by really clapping one day!
2. so i started singing ‘If you’re happy and you know it, Raise Your Hands!’ (and I raise my arms and wave and shake it and do jingles!). After one month of thinking I am a freak, he started ‘counting his fingers’ touching them one by one with his thumb. (aka those fortune teller in gong-fu tv type!) and raising them up! Woahahah! So cute! Will post video when the Man gets down to it! ;p
3. He has ‘upgraded’ to eating (soft) rice and mashed food instead of pureed ones. Thou I’ve started him on flaked fish long ago, he is now taking minced meat and veggies. I’ve also started adding herbs and spices to his food and he loves them!
4. He is finally feeling stranger and seperation anxieties. Yay! No more fear of strangers taking him away with the lure of candies! (Thou I suspect he will follow anyone with a mobile phone! :S)
5. He has started throwing tantrums! My sweet little boy is now a little Monster when he wants his way! Sigh! My mum calls me a ’stepmother’ for letting him cry. (No offence to nice and loving stepmoms!)
6. He can understand when I say ‘No’ and will stop what he is doing.
7. He can understand emotions, cry when i give him the angry look. He understands the nasal spray is his enemy, yet will no longer struggle when PaPa sprays him. Like he knows it’s just a very short discomfort. He laughs heartily when we play or tease him. Sometimes I’ll pretend to cry and whine like him and he’ll stop doing it and laugh at me! And he can anticipate actions. Grandpa loves to blow air in his face. And he will cringe even before the wind is out! Ha! When PaPa plays tickle with him, he will screech and crawl to me for refuge even before PaPa gets near!!
8. We have been teaching him to get down from the bed buttocks first and he seems to have grasped it already. Thou he is still rather unstable on our platform bed (the platform is not exactly protruding by alot!), he is doing a good job on other beds! Along with this, he has learnt what fear is! The other day, while we were ‘training’ him, he did a back flip but we caught him before he got hurt, and he refused to get off the bed himself from then on. He would sit on the bed 50cm away from the edge and simply refused to get near. Even when I tempted him with toys and stuff, he would just sit there and cry. I was of two minds then. 1. It’s good he knows fear and I really enjoy the peace of mind knowing he won’t attempt to crawl off the bed again! 2. I worry the fear will be long term and he becomes a scaredy cat from then! So the Man and I started reassuring him again. Telling him we will support him and letting him try it slowly with us holding on. Now he has ‘recovered’ and is willing to do it again! Albeit slower and less garang. But that’s fine with me! He should have been more careful in the first place! Heh!
9. This is ultimate but I suspect will not be repeated soon. He stood up on his own without support on the 29th December! He was playng happily with KaiMa on the hotel bed when we went for our ‘holiday’ in KL. In his excitement and ecstasy, he actually stood up on the bed waving his socks in his hands! Triumphantly. Haa! Not exactly a dignified sight waving socks, but it was indeed a champion moment for me and the KaiMa. I stared in disbelief and had to ask her if he actually did it! Haa! Of course he fell on the bed right after, and attempted to do it a second time without success. But it was good enough for me, for now. =D
10. I’ve been trying to wean him off the milk bottle but it’s tough. There is this intimate association with the teat he called his ‘Second Mom’. However, he has been taking his afternoon feeds with the cup for the past 2 days. It takes ages but I can wait..

This is what I call ‘The look of Determination’!