Nine months old

To my little man,

Mummy cannot believe that you have now spent as much time with me outside my tummy as you have inside me. What warm memorable times we have spent together especially since we got to this cold country. Let mummy recall some of the fun times we had so far.

Remember when...

...we conquered 13 hours in the airplane getting here - you were so young then that you were not even interested in the lovely air stewardess. Now, you would be giving them your most charming smile and laugh loudly so they would come over to play with you. Of course, only pretty lassies interest you - no old ladies or men. Sigh, you can be too obvious sometimes. Just last weekend we were out for 'yum cha' at a nice poshy restaurant where all the waitresses were dressed in white cheong sam type uniform. Mummy could see you eyeing them the whole time there.

...we first put you inside your pushchair. Oh, how you hated it. Crying almost every time you had to sit in it. Made me hate going out because I did not want to see you miserable. Now, you are sitting up and checking out the scenery when we go out. Even giving some passerby a smile when they smile at you. You look so cute when you hang out your hand on the side of the pushchair just like the taxi drivers in KL.

...we took you shopping how you hated it. Mummy and Daddy always give you about 5 minutes before you scream. We still give you 5 minutes... darn, some things never change.

...your Po Po and Yee Yee were here. Oh, you had so much fun everyday. Po Po carried you everywhere and I mean everywhere! She'd be so proud to see what a good boy you are now.

...you used to sit in the bouncy chair all the time. You hated to lie down and always wanted to sit up even when you could not. You also loved the Bumbo, I mean loved to escape from the Bumbo until one day you finally managed to fall off it and we had to buy you a highchair. Then you hated the highchair and wanted to escape it too. No change there, you are still hating it when we put you there except when we let you watch your DVDs, then you clap your hands and shout in delight.

...you used to only occupy a quarter of your huge RM1000 cot. Now, we have to lower the cot and you sleep all over the cot in various positions. The other night you slept with your face in your story book.

...you loved to sleep on your tummy even when all the child experts / books/ magazines warned against it. Thank God for preserving you. Every night, mummy still has to check to see that you are sleeping on your tummy otherwise if you suddenly wake up in the middle of the night, you'll cry because you are on your back. The worse period was when you had yet to learn how to turn back onto your tummy and would cry a few times a night when you turned turtle.

...you loved to eat fruit puree. You still love to eat that although mummy has been trying to get you to eat lumpier food. I wonder if you are the only 9 month old baby who still eats like a 4 month old? All mummy's attempt to introduce you with a LITTLE lump would be met with gagging episodes and a firm refusal to open your mouth. Daddy blames mummy for your pickiness when it comes to food. Hey, I eat lumpy foods :p

...you only take your milk when it is hot. We still have a 100% failure in getting you to take your milk lukewarm, which means throwing out a LOT of milk just so we can make a brand new hot milk. Such a bad habit and no improvement there. And I have to throw away a lot of baby food too! Naughty boy.

...you drank so little milk that mummy was going crazy trying all sorts to get you to take more milk. Also because mummy knew that you were still waking up every 3 hours at night because you only can manage 3 oz even at five months old. Now you can manage 6 oz and mummy is so happy to be able to use the bigger bottle :p

But then why are you still waking up at night??

...you used to love it when mummy changed your dirty diaper. Now, you even give a clap when mummy is wiping your cute bum!

...you used to love having a bath but hate putting on clothes. Now, you own mummy's tub and still hate putting on clothes. Even getting you out of the tub is a tug-of-war literally when you grip onto the tub with your strong little hands and mummy has to pry them open.

...hearing words like, "Ta-da" and "Bring back" makes you laugh. Now you like "Whoops" and "Thank you". Now you can blabber on quite a bit - saying things like, "Hey, hey", "Ma Ma", "Nai nai". You always make mummy blush when you shout out, "hey, hey" in church, people will think you have bad manners.

...you were drooling all the time and everyone said," He must be teething". Well, still drooling and still no teeth.

So to my little cheeky, no teeth, bath-loving baby - Have a Happy 9 Month birthday!

Here he is preparing for winter: