tottering around

ethan has been taking a few unassisted steps this week! it's quite a funny sight tho (i promise i'll try and capture it on vid soon!) cos he knows he's not very stable and he tries to cover the distance that he has to go without any support really quickly! so like when he's hanging onto the sofa with one hand, he'll turn around to check out his 'destination' (which is usually us holding our hands out and calling him to come over) and then once he lets go of the sofa, he'll take small quick steps as if running! its as if he knows the faster he goes, the less chance there'll be of falling over.. hee hee. you'll definitely laugh when you see this for yourself - for now, u just gotta take my word for it ;)

anyway he's finished his course of antibiotics and thank goodness his cough n cold has cleared up. i, on the other hand, have still been hacking away and so had to make another trip to the dr's yesterday, who in the end still had to prescribe me antibiotics too. they should've just done it earlier and not prolong my suffering!

ethan's er2 shu1 (ie hubby's younger bro) will be here tomorrow ... it's been 6 mths since they saw each other! i'll let you know how ethan reacts when he sees him :)

i love elmo!

"I" in this case being ME of course! Cos i dont think ethan even knows who elmo is, and he probably doesnt care very much to find out either. sesame street... aahhhhh. i remember my childhood days in front of the tv with big bird, elmo, cookie monster... i hope i can find some sesame street dvds for ethan to watch next time :)

anyway this was a gift from his cousin cheryl - again sent all the way from malaysia! thanks cheryl! even though ethan doesnt know who elmo is, he still lovingly drools all over and 'eats' him all the same ;)

under the weather

weather has been getting better here ... day time we'll hit about 20degrees on average, while the nites can still be a little chilly at around 10degrees. unfortunately ethan's nose is still runny, and worse yet he's developed a phlegmy cough! so we made another trip to the the doctor's today and he's now starting on a course of anti-biotics. hope it helps clear him up in the next 1 wk cos it's been going on for 2 wks now...

well i've caught the bug too and am hacking non-stop. doctor says i dont need any antitbiotics for now, so it's just cough meds for me. hope it clears up soon too.. not very fun having a raspy voice (ie bad throat) and being unable to eat as much pizza and kfc as i'd like ;)

will post up some photos when everyone's feeling better...

You're 1 year old

a letter from mommy to ethan :)

12-month check up

i took leave from work today to bring ethan for his 12-month check up at the maternal and child health centre near our home. he weighs 9.9kg (strange how slowly they put on weight these days) and is 73cm tall (or should i say 'short' :P). anyway he somehow caught a cold again and hasnt been sleeping well the past few nites (so as u can guess i'm looking like a panda now). hope he recovers quickly... he's actually due for his 12-mth vaccination this sat but I think we might hold off on that cos of the cold.

anyway wat else was done at the 12-mth assessment? we kinda found out that he's a bit slower in his speech development. altho he babbles a lot he still doesnt seem to realise we are mama and dada. these words do pop out from his mouth but he isnt actually calling out to us when he says it.. guess i'll just have to be a little more patient in waiting for him to recognise i'm mommy! his motor skills are advanced though, so i guess that balances it out :)

we've gotta start reducing his milk intake too, cos we realised that he isnt eating as much solids as most other toddlers his age (he can hardly finish 1/4 rice bowl of food!). we were advised that it's probably cos he's so full with milk that he doesnt feel the necessity to eat solids. which makes sense if you think about it....

apart from that, he definitely suffers from stranger anxiety cos when the lady tried to play with him this morning, he cried his eyes out! hoping he'll outgrow this phase soon.

ps: ethan says thanks to cousin cheryl for the lovely birthday card and bib :)

It's My Party!!!

we celebrated ethan's 1st birthday on sat (cos 14 sep is a fri and according to chinese traditions, you cant celebrate AFTER the actual day). we invited some friends over to our place and prepared some simple home cooked food (chicken rice, roast pork, almond jelly, finger food, etc...). everyone had a great time, especially ethan! he was happily playing with all his older friends (about 3 years older than him) and didnt feel tired at all till around 10pm when the party ended. anyway, click on the picture below to get the full story!

spring is lovely!

the weather is so lovely these days that we just can't get enough of the outdoors! we were at geelong yesterday and the weather was just so perfect. crisp sea breeze, warm sun on our faces... this is the australia i remember!

ethan looks a little grouchy in this photo, but i can assure you he had a great time yesterday :) i think he was a bit grumpy here cos the wind was a tad too cold for his liking :D