Stranger anxiety

My parents have been noticing this lately - I don't quite like going out. Well, going out was okay but not when people I am not too familiar with approached me. This has been making them very worried, since I wasn't like this. We were in Tito Edward's birthday party on Saturday. As soon as we entered the restaurant, I got overwhelmed with the large number of people and started to cry. Daddy had to take me out for a walk to cool me down. And as all the friends approached us, particularly to give me a cuddle - I freaked out. Obviously, my parents weren't very pleased at my behavior.

Since uncle is very busy at work or studies, I hardly get to see him most days. So even when he tries to carry me or give me a big hug, I am getting frightened these days. Obviously something is wrong, my parents figured. So they looked up the web and found this - it's called stranger anxiety. Surprisingly, this generally appears at the age of 7-8 months. But I might be a fast growing kid - so I am showing this rather early. Anyways, to make sure I get to learn the people around me and the differentiate between friends and 'real strangers', we are doing some practice runs with uncle. I need to learn how to recognize who I should be comfortable with with the help of people I already know. In other words, I need to be formally introduced to anyone who comes and visit me. So next time you are around to visit me and either of my parents gives you a big hug to show me it's okay, don't be frightened :)

On a much happier note, there's going to be a new kid in the block. Tita Mau and uncle Edward are having a baby!! Congratulations to you both ... can't wait to be introduced to another little friend.

So you think you can walk?

Daddy and mommy decided to put the wheels on my walker. They have been researching a bit on pros and cons of learning to walk using a walker. But finally they agreed it probably is not a bad idea to allow me on it 20 minutes a day. So there I went, onto my new vehicle with free wheels. I spent the first few minutes quietly enjoying the musical jukebox. Daddy just started to say, give her 3 days and she'd be walking - before he could finish, I did the sprint in very on Ayesha-style. It was part hopping, part running - but who cares, I was moving after all. Check it out!

A solid encounter

At 24 weeks and 4 days, little shy of my 6th month, I had my first taste of solid. Mommy was pondering about it for a while and after a lot of reading and observing me closely, she thought I was ready for the big leap. So on Saturday morning, she made me 1 tablespoon of Farex, a rice cereal. You wonder how I went with it? Well, check it out here ...

Now that you got the special moment on video, check out how daddy captured some of this very special moments. Here is how it all unfolded ...

Here was the challenge, finish a bowl full of rice cereal.

I dipped into into with lots of interest, licking my fingers along the way so I didn't miss out any bits.

I finished pretty much most of it, as everyone clapped and cheered my feat and I got to keep the spoon as a souvenir!

So there you have it - my first solid food. I was, as usual, a very good girl, eager to take the new taste. Although at times I was more interested in the spoon, mommy managed to get my focus back on the food itself. And just to prove that it wasn't a one-off, I had cereal again later for my dinner. My mommy and daddy are very proud of me.

My new friend

Thursday night I woke up to the noise of a new guy in the house. I knew this guy well - as Tita has one in her room. But I just didn't know he could talk so much. Not only talk - he danced, he told stories and he's even a bit clumsy, he falls down. He knows his manners though, I suppose I can learn a thing or two conversing with him. Anyway, I was talking about Elmo, Elmo Live to be specific. It was Ninang Mitch's gift for me! Thank you Ninang. I am getting acquainted with Elmo pretty well.

Thanks Anna, Alex and Mia ...

Anna left a message on my blog last week. It's been a while now, hope you all are doing well. I am looking forward to our next get-together with Mia. It was lovely to meet you too. I could see my parents enjoyed it too as they chatted away late into the night. Thanks for visiting my site and leaving comments - I love to get them. Take care.

Spring, birthdays and haircut

Spring is here. You can tell it as my parents can't figure out what is the right temperature to set for me to feel comfortable at night. It starts with warm evening and then turns rather cold towards late in the morning. So to make it bit more tolerable for me when it's little too hot - guess what my mom did? Yes, cut my hair short! That would definitely be a milestone - my first haircut. On October 11, mommy took up the scissors and went on with it with the help of Tita and Lola. I lost the frills around the side and a bit from the back too. Too bad it won't make long pony tails, but it will certainly make me feel fresh this summer.

Nothing exciting has happened during the week. But our weekend was reasonably packed. On Saturday, it was uncles birthday (happy birthday, uncle!). But since he had work to do on Saturday, we decided to go out and celebrate on Friday night instead. Uncle gave us a treat in the Ribs Factory. You'd think only I need a bib to avoid spoiling my clothes. Look at uncle, lola and daddy as they dipped into their ribs.

Then on Sunday lunch, it was Katrina's birthday! One year for her (hey hey, mine is coming soon!). So we went to attend her Hello Kitty themed lunch party. It was lots of fun. We danced, we played and we even won a prize. Me and daddy won the prize for paper dance! I was a bit cranky when I met people - possibly because of the long period of time I was locked in the house during my last flu spell. Or maybe I am just becoming more aware of my surroundings. But the outing did me lot of good as towards the end as I started to get back to my jolly mood again. I wish I could really get on the jumping castle with the other kids. I really am getting to enjoy this jumping business.

When I am back at home though, I am rather chatty these days. My vocabulary has increased quite a bit too. Check out this video my dad captured while he was trying to get me to sleep. It was dark - so you may not see much. But you can hear me speak!

Wet, sick long weekend

This week wasn't too great for me. The cold I had for last few days kept on bugging me. It was Labour day long weekend in NSW. Great news was, mommy and daddy were both at home for 3 days. Not so good news was, it was overcast, at times very windy in Sydney. The sun finally came out on Monday afternoon, and we thought we'd go out for a walk. That plan was quickly cut short when some chilly, gusty wind forced us back into the house.

So, I was talking about my cold and flu. Yeah, a bit nasty one, this one. Doctor wasn't keen on giving me too much to take for medicine. The idea was to ride it out. It was rather difficult sleeping at tight with the weird noise inside my chest as I tried to overcome the blockage and breathe. Any how, we had to cancel any outings planned for the long weekend just to make sure I had enough time to recover.

Daddy stayed home looking after me, while he was doing some of his office work. Mommy took the opportunity to do some shopping during the day. And since both of them were at home, I got both of them in my room at night too.

I am feeling bit better now. I hope my parents will soon realise that I am longing for a shower. I am tired of the wet wipes they have been putting me through several times a day instead. I can tell you, this is making me hate catching cold.

Hopefully I am feeling lot better next time I am writing to you.

Eid celebration

End of September marked the end of Ramadan, month of fasting for muslims. It also meant, 1st of October was Eid day. Eid-ul-Fitr is the most celebrated day in the muslim calendar. And this was my first Eid.

Both mommy and daddy was at work on the day. So we had to wait till in the evening to begin our own little party. We took a stroll down to Norwest for a big Indian dinner. My parents, lola, tita and uncle were definitely in the mood to celebrate as they ordered a banquet. I took the time to switch off for a quick nap next to mommy. I have been having a bit of cough lately. But that didn't stop us from having a wonderful night out.