Dipping

It is hard to figure out where to go for vacation when you have a 6-month-old. After juggling with all the options, we decided that we are heading east (el oriente), the amazon.

El ninja behaved extremely well on the way, pretty much slept through the road trips. The biggest highlight for him was that he had his first dipping experience in the pool, and he loved it!! Couldn’t stop kicking his feet and paddling his arms.

Three

We were in the car, three of us, me, papi, and el ninja, and out of blue papi said, “I need to play you this song, it reminded me of us.”

Three is a magic number
Ya it is, it's a magic number
Somewhere in that ancient mystic trinity
You'll get three
As a magic number
The past, the present, the future,
Faith, and hope, and charity,
The heart, the brain, the body,
Will give you three,
It's a magic number

It takes three legs to make a tripod or to make a table stand,
And it takes three wheels to make a vehicle called a tricycle
And every triangle has three corners,
Every triangle has three sides,
No more, no less,
You don't have to guess
That it's three
Can't you see?
It's a magic number

A man and a woman had a little baby
Yeah they did
And there were three in the family
And that's a magic number

3, 6, 9,
12, 15, 18,
21, 24, 27,
30

Now multiply backwards from 3x10
3x10 is 30
3x9 is 27
3x8 is 24
3x7 is 21
3x6 is 18
3x5 is 15
3x4 is 12
And 3x3 is 9
And 3x2 is 6
And 3x1 is 3 of course
(now dig the pattern once more!)

It is a cute little song by Blind Melon. I thought that it was a new single, but it was actually written almost 2 decades ago. And it could might as well be a song for the kids to learn about numbers.

It happens while...

Time sure flies.

Remembered that I was concerned that el ninja was not getting enough “tummy time” and was pushing his nana to put him on his belly at least 3 times a day. Remembered that I was worried that he still didn’t know how to roll over. Remembered that I was anxious about the fact that he was still all over the place when I propped him to sit on his forth month birthday.

Just this week, I realized that all the worries were really unnecessary. Out of blue, he rolled over (happily) on his own. And he enjoyed playing on his belly for at least half-an-hour (I couldn’t get him to do tummy time for more than 10 minutes without him crying). “Turtle” is actually his favorite position now. He likes it even in the bath tub. He enjoys sitting in the training seat as well, playing with his toys from the seat.

John Lennon was right, “life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plan.” While I was busy worrying about el ninja was not meeting the milestones, he was busy learning new tricks to surprise his silly mom.

S26, Isomil, Bremil AE, and back to S26

El ninja has gone through a lot of formulas. The first milk he ever tasted was Wyeth S26 Gold and I had been mixing breast milk and S26 ever since. Yet, when he was about a month a half, he went through five days without bowl movements. We were extremely worried, the pediatrician suggested to change to ISOMIL (soya based formula), still he went through another two days without anything. Then tio tati recommended Bremil AE (anti-constipation) Etapa 1, for some odd reason, it actually worked. HE POOPED. Hard to describe the joy it brought us. Since then, el ninja had been taking Bremil AE.

About 3 weeks ago, he started rejecting bottles, only wanted breasts. At first, we thought it was more “psychological”, as he’s now bigger and has learned how to “manipulate”. However, at the last check-up, he didn’t gain as much weight as he had in the previous check-ups - only 10% of the weight he normally gains in a month. We were worried, again. The pediatrician was not a big help so we consulted the pediatrician who delivered el ninja. He asked us to change the formula IMMEDIATELY. So back to S26. It’s been a week now – he seems to like S26 and has no problem with bowl movements. Let’s hope that his taste bud is not so fickle this time.

Faxing

My ninja is a big pooper, totally takes after his dad side of the family. Lately, he's been making this very entertaining overture :) Enjoy!

Unconditional

People always say that you don’t know what true love (unconditional love) is until you have kids. I thought about it a lot lately – who is the one that is being unconditional?

I am NOT ALWAYS happy when I see el ninja, I mean, I am happy to see him of course but my mood could be influenced by other incidents of my day – work, stress, lack of sleep, or simply feeling groggy. Or I get so jaded by taking care of him all day long and the only thought goes through my mind is when he calls on me is "what do you want now?". But, el ninja is ALWAYS happy to see me, always smiles at me and never frowns, no matter what mood I am in. He is my biggest fan.

So perhaps we shall rewrite the cliché?

(my "unconditional" fan)

Hipo

El ninja is big on hiccups, ever since he was in the uterus. I remembered having these steady and rhythmic beats from my belly when I was 7-8 months pregnant. At first I thought it was his heart beat but it could not be because it was not possible to feel the baby’s heart beat from outside. Then after consulting my “bible”, it was confirmed that these beats were my ninja having hiccups. How cute!

And he continued having hiccups after he was born. My mother in-law was especially concerned. Whenever he has hiccups, she goes away and brings back a piece of wet napkin and puts it on his forehead. Apparently, it is the “Venezuelan” technique on getting rid of hiccups. Interesting, no? Funny enough that it actually works at times.

(seems that el ninja is not too happy about the venezuelan technique, with his eyebrows knitted)