theo at 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 months :)

it was five months ago since i posted an update here in multiply about baby theo - jude and I's little bundle of joy who's making our lives now happily crazy as we often find ourselves shrieking at one moment and laughing at his antics or naughty smiles afterwhich.

from a squirming infant which he was theo is now near toddler stage and mind you, he's already quite terrible. hihi.

 theo at 6th month:  sniffle for the first time

blame it on the scorching heat last summer and the dusts which polluted our air when we moved into this apartment whil the other units were being renovated; the little boys and i all had upper respiratory problems (it's only now i learned that this means the infection is only viral) during and after holy week. if kuya inigo and i had coughs, poor little theo had cold and runny nose which made him quite miserable for more than a week. it was only after a consultation with their pediatrician and  taking  the  prescribed medicine that he got better. it wasn't really about the cold that i was really concerned of since i knew it was only viral  and will go away eventually, but it was the breastfeeding strike that he did for two days! he had a hard time sucking because of his clogged nostrils and the only way he could suck, but only for a brief moment, is to cradle-carry him before i give him his milk-source. because of this my milk supply also dwindled and the more i  became worried because i knew that it's breastmilk or any fluid that can help him recover from his malady. it was really a test of faith but eventually things went back to normalcy and my baby bilog was well again, :)

 

theo at 7th month:  his first taste of solid food

i followed our pediatrician's advice to introduce solid foods only after theo turned six months. it's also the recommendation of baby experts worldwide especially if allergies run in the family's health history, which is really the case in our family.

am also extra careful with what my boys eat during their infancy; no processed foods and all natural, as much as possible. so for his first meals, theo had fresh fruits, veggies, and root crops. among his favorites are sweet potato, papaya, and banana. when i say 'favorites' it means he eats them with gusto, with mouth wide-opened and eyes sparkling with delight whenever i feed him. while there are foods which are just 'okay' for him; he eats but he's not very fond of like broccoli, chayote, squash, and carrot.  he also has his own share of 'hate foods' like apple, avocado, and oats. the harder i shove a spoonful of these to his mouth the tighter he purses his lips. :D

 

okay... okay... i drafted this blog two months ago and things have changed now. theo now likes almost everything that i put in his bowl even my combo meals of rice cereal and broccoli, rice cereal and malunggay leaves, oatmeal and avocado, mango and applesauce, etc.

 

 

 

it's also at 7th month (theo was 6 months and 2 weeks to be exact) when he first crawled. i saw him one night on our bed pushing his body forward using his knees with his bottom stuck out on air, something i find so funny!

 

theo at 8th month:  great moves

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

since theo already knew how to maneuver his body, it was already easy for him to shift from one position to another, including sitting position. he also became comfortable with his crawling that he can now roam around our room using his arms and legs. this was even made possible when jude decided to put our mattress flat on the floor to avoid more--as theo already had--falls.

 

theo at 9th month:  those two front teeth...

 

it really took its sweet time before it erupted. his kuya inigo had his first tooth when he was seven months and one week old so i guessed that theo will have his first pearl around that age too. but theo turned seven... eight... and nine months and there's still no sign of teething except for excessive drooling and fussiness at night which i was no longer sure if it's indeed related to teething or just normal behaviour for babies. but it was our last visit to his pediatrician (3rd saturday of june) when we felt his lower gums were swollen and two teeth were ready to come out. finally our long wait is over and it only took a few more days when two teeth sprouted!  we were so happy for theo. gone now are his toothless smiles. :)

 

 

 

theo at 10th month:  he's all naughty and nice

 

he's now practicing to stand up with the help of anything he can hold onto - a skill which he discovered since the past month. but theo lately is making our hands full with his spirited personality. we sometimes see him being tossed by his big brother and he doesn't seem to mind as he knows how to fight back with his now fully-sprouted two front teeth. yep... we sometimes see him biting inigo when he gets pissed off. :D

 

 

but it's also those teeth i admit which make theo sooo adorable every time he giggles now or smiles...

 

 

 

other developments

- theo's weight gain wasn't as significant as before. he was weighing 8.4 kilos (from 7.9 kilos last february) during the time we brought him for his baby-wellness check-up last march. but it went down to 8.1 lbs after he had a cold and declared a nursing strike. though he regained the pounds he shed off but it took a while. theo was weighing 8.8 lbs when we went back again to his pediatrician last june. i wasn't happy about it but the doctor assured me that he's still on the heavy side since 9 kilos is already the average weight for one-year olds and theo was only turning nine months then.

 

- he's not afraid of the water! theo loves the pool and the sea. his first swim... err, dip in the pool happened last summer and lo and behold, he enjoyed the experience! :)

 

- his hair has now grown... do i need to say more? :D

 

 

 

what's new with us?

...quite a few but big and important.

fireworks display from another building on the eve of our lipat-bahay. the whole block is celebrating for our departure. hehe.

first, we have a new residence. we moved out last march 27th from the condo building which we rented for over a year. i thought we're already experts when it comes to lipat-bahay since the flat was already our fourth house within our four years of marriage (can you believe it?) but still, it was stressful. probably because aside from the things that need to be packed and unpacked, there are two kids which we also have to attend to. we also didn't hire any professional lipat-bahay service since we're just going to move to an apartment which is only a few kilometers away and we thought that our ever-dependable isuzu trooper can carry all of them, but not at the same time though. i just want to thank jude's bestfriend--dylan--who helped jude for two saturdays in transfering all our things (including the ref!) to our new abode.

i must also thank my family as they were also a big help to us during those times. my mother visited us on the first saturday of our transfer to help me in taking care of theo. after her, it's my ate who helped us in cleaning the two-storey apartment. actually, she almost did the entire job! :D

i really hope that our next transfer will be the last one since it's never fun but all stress. our current now as i've said is a two-storey apartment, the first unit in a row of four along chino roces ave. we're renting it again and as early as now we can already say that we won't renew the contract next year. we had bigger plans than that. the reason why we move to an apartment is mainly because we wanted a bigger space for the kids and also to have a garage or parking space which is very accessible for us. aside from that we also had a lot issues with condo living and that includes the exorbitant monthly water bill.

though i sometimes miss our old residence, especially my almost everyday troop to greenbelt/landmark/glorietta (hehe), am also beginning to like now our new house. it can  accommodate all our things including those that are still in our house in laguna, the kids can enjoy another room as their designated play area, i can also employ a stay-in househelp if i wanted to, and it's also  very near a major supermarket so grocery-shopping now is never a problem. in fact, i can even ask one of the male baggers to lug the grocery bags for me up to our house in exchange for a few bucks. :D

***

another one that's new with us is our househelp.--yey, finally! i was really adamant to have a helper as soon as we transfer since a bigger space means a bigger house to clean, right? our new househelp just started this week (that's why am now blogging) and so far so good .she was referred to me by one of the crew of the salon near our house and since she lives a few blocks away i agreed that she goes home every night as long as her tasks are finished. i actually like this set-up better so we can still have a little privacy.

i hope she's really good (in all aspects) AND she stays with us long. but i really don't expect it would be that long like more than a year since she has two small kids left in the province. but for now i will enjoy these moments that am not obliged to cook every meal time, press all our clothes, clean every nook of our house, and at the same time taking care of my little boys who really matter to me the most.

theo at 5 months

theo or "baby bilog", as i fondly call him nowadays, turned five months last march 4th. he's still the happy and bubbly baby that we all love but i have observed that he's becoming clingy lately. though not as clingy as his kuya iñigo was but theo is now  demanding for our attention and wants to be carried always. ugh! he reacts whenever i put him down in his crib and it takes a while for him to be pacified. but it doesn't take long and he demands to be carried again.

he also prefers me laying down beside him during his slumber time. worse, he wants me to put one of my arms around him when he's sleeping instead of him lying down on his tummy. hello backpains!

but i realized that theo is just telling us that he, too, has emotional needs which we need to fill. he now cries when we disappear from his sight without any warning, especially if that happens in the middle of our bonding activities. he likes to be carried always as he likes to see us moving inside the house. so the daddy now wears him (yeah, i admit, he's better than me when it comes to babywearing) and it's amusing to see theo quiet inside the sling; his eyes busy with whatever his daddy is doing. this tells us that the baby just wants to get involved in our daily ritual... amazing isn't it? :)

party boy theo attending the first birthday party of his cousin zandy in pixie forest, festival mall, alabang; with him in this picture is lola babes (jude's aunt).

development and milestones

- his weight gain for the past four weeks tapered as he only gained additional 600 grams. but i think theo who's 4 1/2 months during the time he was weighed is still very heavy at 7.8 kilos. he's still exclusively breastfed until now and when i say "exclusive" it means he takes no other milk or liquid, including water and vitamins. breastfeeding not only gives us a healthy baby but saves us thousands of pesos as well.

- he can see farther now, up to three meters i think. i realized this when jude was carrying him from the door of our bedroom while i was in the kitchen cooking lunch... our eyes met and he gave me a big smile and gestured that he wanted me to get him from his daddy. he also now pays attention to colorful objects, aside from those with red-black-white patterns. and most of all, theo loves to look at the mirror and is fascinated with his own image. :)

- one of the milestones he achieved lately is using of his hand to reach out. now he knows what else he can do with his hand aside from putting it inside his mouth. :) theo has entered the age of discoveries as i sometimes see him gazing at his fingers, toes or any object that he can grab within his reach with so much fascination, only to shove it inside his mouth, probably to also know how it tastes like. hehehe.

- he now turns and rolls faster than he did a month ago. he's also trying to do some push ups but with his heavy load, he could only lift his body an inch. hahaha.

..less than a month from now and theo can already eat solid foods. he is already showing interests to eat but i think he has to wait for many more months before he could get a share of his cake, a monthly treat for his month-birthday but it's he--the celebrator--who cannot eat. hehehe.

the report that made us parents very proud

i received a six-page report from iñigo's teacher last friday. it's a progress report, the first and the last for iñigo for the school year since he just joined in her class november of last year. i was anxious to see it because i really had no idea what's going on inside the classroom since the day i decided to stop lurking outside and immediately leave the school premises as soon as i dropped him off.

the first two pages of the report are in narrative form and it reads (excerpts only)...

"...academically you (the report is addressed to iñigo) excel in reading readiness and math readiness skills. you know the names of the letters of the alphabet as well as their letter sounds. what you do not know, you absorb very quickly during class discussions. you have mastered identifying numbers 1 to 12. we have already begun to learn how to tell time by the hour. it is remarkable you grasp our daily concepts so easily. that's amazing, iñigo! this skill will surely benefit you when you move on to a big school.

i have noticed you have opened your doors to making friends with your classmates. 

...i am amused with your quiet conversations with swiss, marco, and andy while waiting for your name to be called.

the last trimester, i have watched you grow more independent, more involved with school activities. it also seems as though as you have grown happier about coming to school. your enthusiasm in the classroom is quite contagious which help others become more enthusiastic too. i love the way you smile when you get excited about everything be it worksheets, art projects, or playground time. it is also great that you have eagerness to learn..."

iñigo strutting his stuff during their circle time

the remaining pages discussed what they--all the three teachers--have observed and haven't  observed on our son based on the checklist they have provided, so typically it's all about iñigo's strengths and weaknesses and if he has already achieved the milestones for a three-year old.

all in all, the report made jude and i very proud about our eldest son's achievements in school. everything that the head teacher wrote about iñigo were all positive. this prompted me to schedule a one-on-one consultation last monday with teacher celes, the head teacher, as i was thinking she may probably missed out or deliberately removed the not-so-good things to say about my son and since i still have plans of homeschooling iñigo i want to probe further on the areas which need improvement. and lo and behold... there's almost none! :D teacher celes and i only had a brief discussion as she had nothing else to say about iñigo but praises. she started by saying that we have a very smart boy and he picks up (the lessons and instructions) very fast. i thought my ears were clapping that time! hahaha. she was also surprised that iñigo didn't have a hard time adjusting in school despite the fact that he only comes to class 2 to 3 times a week. it even made me prouder upon hearing that teacher celes had nothing against iñigo's behavior in school as my son listens (i couldn't believe this! hehe) and he knows how to share--two of the typical concerns she has with the other kids.

...and yes, she loves my son's eagerness and enthusiasm in the activities they are doing especially when they are off to the playground and iñigo will shout with one arm up "let's go now, classmates!" i can't believe she's talking about my son as he was really timid before especially when he's swarmed with bigger kids. iñigo has definitely came out from his shell and is a big boy now. though his teacher said that there's still a trace of that little boy in him as he's not confident sometimes of trying new things but with just a little encouragement from the teachers, he abides and iñigo is usually left euphoric with his new accomplishments like the first time he wrote his name and it was really a big deal for him as he told each of his classmates and teachers that he was able to write his own name--awesome! hahaha.

teacher celes also mentioned that he needs more concentration but she was quick to explain that it's probably because the tot is just overwhelmed with the many things he can do in school as he only comes a few days a week.

after ten minutes of discussion (i also brought up the fears iñigo has lately) teacher celes concluded the consultation by saying that iñigo is almost ready for big school.

and lastly, am sure it's not part of the progress report but teacher celes probably couldn't resist not to say that iñigo is very pogi... :) i almost laughed when she added that "i have a one-year old niece but she's still too young... probably when they are older..." nyek! hehehe.

their moving up day (sort of graduation day) is scheduled next week and i can't wait to see iñigo with his classmates doing a dance number. the whole family will surely be there to cheer for kuya iñigo. :)

 

 

 

 

chiquito, megabloks and inigo's pretend plays (a very late post)

i will fail as a mom if i don't post this... :)

***

having a three-year old in the house can be quite amusing. it's because i sometimes find myself in the company of anyone or anything that iñigo has wished to be. his imagination really runs wild these days and i let him give in and turn our small abode into a fantasyland.

in just a span of one hour iñigo can be an elephant, a train engine, a trailer truck, and a  fastfood crew. and how can i forget the time when he imagined himself as a refrigerator and he asked for his sweater as he was feeling cold... :D

iñigo pretending to be a rocket with the help of theo's bolster pillow

inigo as a sports commentator

now meet chiquito...

i can't recall where we got this toy... it's like an action figure which iñigo is now fond of playing with especially with his megabloks - a gift from his ninang leah for his 3rd birthday. it's jude who 'christened' it with the name chiquito since it's face shares a resemblance with the late comedy actor (circa 70's). :) since then inigo made it as part of his daily tasks to make sure chiquito is not neglected and also entertained.

chiquito spending some time in front of a TV

inigo always makes sure that chiquito has a space to sit on...

the OC mom in me sometimes gets annoyed with his mess everytime he does pretend plays; the bolster pillows snatched from his baby brother's crib, the dining chairs removed where they were and arranged as a train engine and coaches, the cups and bins scattered on the floor to be part of his castle... am always tempted to put them away and tidy up inigo's mess but it's probably the loving mom in me which reminds me that it's all part of childhood and those mess are what's making my son smart and happy. :)

kodak moment: iñigo and theo bonding together

i left the boys on the bed for a quick trip to the restroom and this is what i found when i came back to the room... something which made me grab my celfone for its camera...

...babaw but i think every parent will really be overjoyed upon seeing her kids bonding together and it made me wish that i can do magic and freeze time so i don't have to be concerned with sibling rivalry, jealousy, fight over the same toy... or girl? 'wag naman po... hehe.

the joys which parenthood can bring... :)

 

"wearing theo"

i don't know how i look like but i always attract a lot of attention whenever i use the sling for theo. does it look so primitive, or it is just really an uncommon sight for them--a mother using a stretch of cloth to carry her baby? i just wish that i don't give an impression that we can't afford a baby carrier or stroller. hehehe.

well, i find the baby sling more convenient to use in carrying my theo especially when we're out. it frees my hands and gives support to my back, making it easier for me to bring him around even when am doing other things. i always use it when there's no choice but to fetch iñigo from school with him in tow as jude is not home. you should see the faces of the people we meet along; most of them can't help but give a second-look and smile.

the crade hold, which i found so useful; theo was only a month old here and we're in iñigo's school to fetch him

oh by the way... it's jude who taught me how to use it. yep, no manuals no video... just hands-on tutorial from someone who is quite an expert in rings, carabiners, and the likes. according to him: parang sa rapelling lang yan... anovah??? hahaha.

... and it tickled me pink when some mommies remarked that they find it nice of seeing jude with the sling. :) the daddy loves to use it instead of the stroller when we're inside the mall.

jude doing the snuggle hold

i am happy that we do babywearing (the use of sling or wrap in carrying the baby) now. i am an avid fan of dr. sear's attachment parenting and i applied some of the tools that it advocates such as breastfeeding and co-sleeping for iñigo, but not babywearing. when we got pregnant with theo i promised that i will give it a try since am sure i will be multitasking... thanks to mareng lui for lending me her sling. i just hope that we can already buy our own so we can give it back to her soon. ;D