Year of the Dog

January 29, 2006 is Chinese Year of the Dog. To celebrate, the family Yang all gathered for a chinese feast.

My Dad's Bruce Lee and I'm Sitting on a JCB

Ok, I ain't no Bruce Lee and I don't drive a JCB. But a bit of both is needed when you go out and about with a pram. Where once you were free to roam the high ground and the underground with just a pass and some time, now you are laden with a four wheeled tea trolley and a backpack full of nappies, oh and a .And people don't necessarily move out of the way for you. No, you are expected to weave, bob and dart your way through a busy high street and negotiate steps and stairs by clunking your tea trolley one step at a time. You apologise for ramming into the heels of the person in front and you curse as you wait ages for the lift only for it to be full and the escalator is not an option.Rushing around with a pram is the nearest I will get to experience what it is like for wheelchair users to travel around. The connection between the two is even more profound when you realise that a lot of stores and public areas do not have changing rooms, and many mothers are left to sit on the floor of the wheelchair access toilets.Of course I realise that despite these hurdles, we are very fortunate in many ways. We have a car (though somewhat damaged since Cat took to the wheels and scraped a salt grit box) and as a couple, we can pretty much get anything we want organised and sorted, it just takes a little longer. Compare that to the many single mothers in our part of London who are very young, poor and often left to struggle alone.

Lookee Likee

Aimee, Cat and I had a hectic weekend of socialising. First off we went to visit my friends Dai and Lisa and their two year old Olivia. To see Olivia is maybe to see a glimpse of what Aimee would be like in a few months time. She is one lively little girl, full of energy and buzzing with the excitement of youth. Today, all Cat's girly friends came round for a coo and a cuddle. Then finally it was off to my parents for Sunday dinner.
Aimee clearly loves all the attention and thrives on company. When there is lots of laughter, chatting and fun going on, she wants to see it all. It won't be long before she laughs and chats on her own too, as we are fast seeing signs of her developing vocal skills. During one playing spell, Aimee was able to show huge signs of pleasure by smiling and gurgling. Her voice seems to be changing from a newborn whine, into a more baby-like yell. Great when laughing, ear-shattering when crying.
It is interesting to note who people think Aimee most looks like. Some people swear she is the spit of me, others can't see it at all. Many, who know my family well, actually say she looks a lot like either my Mum or even my Dad!
But I think she looks unique. Maybe a smidgeon of my sister when she was a baby - especially when she is crying, since that is my memory of her as a child (crying usually as a result of something naughty that I did!).

Smile secret no longer

Yep, here it is captured on camera for the first time, Aimee's smile. Ahhhhh:

In other Aimee news, yesterday she got the first of her proper vaccinations (the previous BCG was just a minor one compared to these biggie jabs). She seems a little drowsy and has disturbed sleep but so far has avoided the fever and high temperature that some babies get when they are vaccinated.
They also weighed Aimee and she is now 12lbs. So only an extra 1lb in two weeks, clearly her phenomenal growth spurt has slowed to a more normal rate.

Yin & Yang

Our topsy turvey world is getting more topsy and turvey. Especially at night where it is getting increasingly difficult to get Aimee to go to sleep. We have followed every bit of tactic and advise we can, rocking vs not rocking, letting her sleep lots during day vs not letting her sleep lots, singing vs no sound etc. But it seems a bit random. Some nights are fine and she'll sleep happily for four to five hours solid before her next feed. Most though are a mixture of grumpy feeds, with screaming compaints about wind or full nappies, or some other mysterious cause for her discomfort. Both Cat and I are finding the early morning tantrums a real slog and very hard to deal with. There can be few things more tortuous than sleep deprivation.
But for every negative thing, there is a positive. Recently, Aimee has started producing real smiles. If you time it right when sheis calm, if me or Cat plays with her and makes a silly or smiley face, she will respond with a smile of genuine pleasure. She can also push her entire head and chest off the ground when placed stomach down. This is most impressive as you can really imagine her in this posture and crawling (hopefully not for several months though!).All the while, Aimee just grows and grows.
We have dubbed her many nicknames, from Fois Gras, for her voracious feeding appetite, to Godzuki for her fearsome yells (for such a tiny body) as we both cower behind a chair.Finally, thanks to Barry and his wife Catherine for passing on their cot to us. The vast acreage of mattress space may be just what Aimee (who now seems too big for the Moses basket) needs.

Armed and dangerous

Little babies, I have read, have no sense of their own limbs. In that
they do not know what their arms or hands are and cannot reach out
to grab things yet. They soon learn of course, but at Aimee's stage,
the arms are kind of just flapping around. But I have noticed that it is
not entirely random and they show quite a range of different patterns
that give valuable clues to her mood and needs:
- There is the continuous one arm in, one arm out motion which
looks like a robot gone a bit haywire. She does this when she is a bit
distressed due to wind or reflux.
- There is the hunching up during nappy change - she brings her
hands together and quivers as if shivering - though I should point out
that I am not freezing her, the room is quite warm, it's just a reflex.
- There is the so sleepy and tired that I scratch my entire face to
pieces. This is the most disconcerting. No matter how well I trim her
nails, Aimee always finds a way to self-harm.
- There is the just waking up - arms held stiffly aloft and body arched
as she gives a big yawn to wake up.
- Finally the best arm and leg thing that Aimee does is when she
sneezes. Her whole body tenses up and then, as the sneeze sprays
out, all her arms and legs dramatically splay outwards in time.

Aimee caught her first cold these couple of days. Her poor nose is
bunged up and snotty and she is finding it difficult to breathe when
sleeping or feeding. A quick consult with the medical textbook (I
know, I promised to leave it alone) suggests saline nose drops and
squeezy plunger! Luckily, Aimee seems to have recovered all by
herself, albeit with a few sniffles.


That baby sure can sneek up anywhere

Weight gain 2006

In the anarchic cartoon South Park, the character Cartman famously
declares that he is not fat, just big boned - then proceeds to gulp
down weight gain liquifood.
Well, little Aimee is officially not so little anymore. After six weeks of
gulping down her own version of liquifood, she went for her 6 week
health check up and the doctors were impressed at her huge weight
gain - officially put down as 11.4lbs (5.17 Kg). This is an
astonishingly fast rate of growth (usual is about 0.5 lbs a week) and
well above the average on the weight chart. The doctor was
impressed but did not suggest cutting back - he simply concurred
that Cat had particularly rich breast milk.
Whilst at the clinic, Aimee got a complete all over physical and all
seemed normal. She also got a BCG jab, which caused Aimee to
probably break the world record for loudest scream by a traumatised
baby ever.
We're both pretty pleased that Aimee is doing so well health wise.
The night before had me consulting the baby medical textbooks to
see what could be causing her sudden bout of pained crying. I
concluded that she had gastro-oesophogeal-reflux. This is when the
stomach acid comes back up causing lots of pain. But then again, it
could be anything. The perils of self-diagnosis is that whatever you
read, you end up convincing yourself that you are a certain
candidate for that ailment.
On a brighter note, Cat says Aimee smiled the biggest (and possibly
her first ever) social smile when my Mum came round to visit. As I
did not witness this, I can only take her word for it, since Aimee has
not smilled at me yet :(
If she does...be sure that I will capture it on my camera soon.

Aimee the Pooh

Aimee has received a lot of gifts this Xmas - mainly clothes but also handy things like travel cots and bibs. Most of them seem to be branded with the Pooh Disney franchise. It's clearly a top money earner for Disney as it seems to be everywhere. They are very cute though and mostly very good quality. Shame that Aimee seems to grow out of most of her clothes on a weekly basis.

Speaking of Pooh, or rather, poo, last night Aimee did something quite traumatic to poor Cat. Whilst getting her nappy changed, Aimee projectile poo'ed all over Cat. Obviously the pressure had been building upfor some time as Aimee seemed tobe in discomfort all day. When it came to nappy change time, it must have all let loose with an explosive force. Unluckily for my parents, it was at their home and all over their carpet. Very gross! And a not very pleasant way to start the New Year.


Clinging on for dear life!