Monday, July 10, 2006

13 Weeks After: Changing Challenges

Well, the World Cup is over. Now what do I watch during those 3am feeds?

Our baby book says that by now, our baby should have developed a regular schedule, and be able to sleep through the night with the need to feed just once maybe.

Sure. I'm obviously hallucinating those half-hour feeds around 9pm (optional), midnight, 3am, and 6am. Must be the lack of sleep.

By now, we've largely abandoned the baby book. It was a useful reference guide until JOOB arrived. Now we understand why the midwives say "Either read NO books, or ALL of them", and why their sacred mantra is: Every baby is different.

Repeat: Every baby is different.

JOOB, for example, is a month ahead developementally. Good baby! But he's not sleeping through the night like a lot of other babies his age. Ah, well. Growing/learning babies have big appetites.

In the meantime, even my breasts have memorised his feeding routine, and they wax and wane such that for maybe half an hour here and there, my bras actually fit.

Likewise, JOOB is now at that stage where he sometimes fits his clothes as well.

Baby clothes here are generally graded in three-month stages: 0000 is for newborn to 3-month-olds, 000 is for 3-month-olds to 6-month-olds...etc

JOOB was a small baby so even some size 0000 clothes looked biaggy on him, but because of his long legs he could only comfortably wear other clothes sized 000. Now he's outgrowing them all. Except the clothes his grandmother sent from Singapore, which are vaguely sized as S, M, and L, and which are still mainly all too big for him (and which are all thin, cottony clothes geared for the tropics but what the hey, JOOB can at least fit into them).

And let's not even talk about his newest achievemnt, besides singing off-key with his Dad, or gnawing on his wrist-rattles. JOOB's newest trick is the explosive bowel evacuation, which goes in every direction except down apparently, and has made nappy-changing time such an exhilarating experience. And the reason that his clothes are becoming such an issue.

Damned clever baby.

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