1 more month to turning 1!

My dearest dearest Damien.

Happy 11 months to you!

My little prince! (He's more like a king really)

In the blink of an eye, almost a year has passed. Its been such a thrilling ride, and it seems that although its barely been almost a year, I have been riding on your tailfins.

You see, for one so small, you have such amazing developmental skills! You have always hit your milestones very early on and are continuing to do so! It always fascinates me, how I can drop you at your grandma's on Sunday night and by Tuesday when I come over for a midweek visit, you have already learnt something new!


His lovely new SmartTrike as a 1st birthday gift from Aunty Ting Ting and Uncle Wen Jie, the two adults that he most constantly interacts with even in utero!

 You have the cutest set of expressions. From 2 months you were already practicing all those facial muscles and by 11 months now you are a master of feelings! You can yell for attention, frown when you are angry, make fish faces by sucking in your cheeks to amuse people, stick out your tongue when you feel cheeky, smile a sheepish grin when you see someone new and cackle like a maniac when you are happy! You can even make a fake grin and bare all your lovely 8 sparkling pearlies when someone grins at you!

Baring all 8 of his pearlies when mummy said "damien smile smile!"

 You are a very apple-efficient kid. I guess your mum and dad are to blame for this. From a few months old we played you videos on the ipad to soothe you and when you are so fidgety during diaper changes I used to pass you a iphone to mess with in order to distract you. Now, as long as a apple gadget is withing your vision, you will lunge for it, even if its peeking out from underneath a pillow! So why not use it to train your motor skills? You are now a efficient baby drums app player, using your thumb and palm to jab and poke the huge interactive objects. You are also very good in watching TV, gluing your eyes until we peel you away once its been more than 10mins (15mins max) and can dance and shake to the jingles that the characters are singing yelling "yayayayay eee eee eee ee" and clapping your hands!

I'm also trying to let you read the old school fashion. But you being you, baby-related products never really hold your attention for long periods of time. Nope. Give you a rattle and it will only last a few seconds. A baby book? None can occupy you except for your favourite little farm animals which has accompanied you since birth at your bedside. A stuff toy? Maybe 5 minutes maximum. A fun little Fisher-Price interactive set with all the buttons with music, flashing lights, rattles and animated voices? 10 minutes perhaps. But if we give you an everyday item, something that you have seen adults using? It can last as long as 30minutes! Yes! You are a fan of paper envelopes, magazines, plastic bottles and containers, hair brushes, plastic lids, cups, empty tins and even your wet tissue dispenser! It makes me feel so silly buying you all those Lamaze and Fisher-Price developmental toys, I might as well have taken those $50 bills and bought you an entire shelf in the housekeeping section! You never fail to amaze me on how you can entertain yourself by just tearing paper out of a magazine and waving them in the air. You can do it for hours. And you can also take a plastic bottle and hit it with your hands or hit it on items and laugh like a crazy baby everytime it goes 'Boing' or 'Pok'!

Engrossed in flipping a IKEA catalogue and ripping its pages out

The final milestone you have yet to hit is walking. At 7 months you were already pulling yourself up at your crib but in your impatience trying to run before you can walk, you have fallen countless times. What used to be falling face down is now a let-go and sit down when I feel unstable move. That is incredible improvement I must say because even as you cruise and realise you can't hold or try to pick up a toy you dropped, you can hold on to one rail and pick toys up with another. You have begun letting go and taking wobbly steps around the crib and on the bed you can stand unsupported for almost a minute. You can also walk with 1 hand holding unto support or an adult's hands but only for a couple of seconds before you get tired and start crawling.

Although developmentally you have hit every possible milestone your weight still frustrates me. Look at you next to 4.5 month old Lee Ann. Your dear cousin is almost as big as you ! You keep growing longer and longer but apart from the chubby cheeks on your face, you have absolutley no tummy. You are so lean, although you need 9-12 months pants because of your long legs, no pants can fit you because the elastic is always too loose! I have resorted to getting you shorts instead and till now even though they look micro on you, you only have 3 pairs of 6-9 months shorts that you can wear because your waist is that of a 6 month old but your legs are as long as a 14month old. Its crazy! You've outgrown all your rompers because you keep growing longer and your head is too big to pull through but they are still very very loose in the middle!

If not for the fact that you pass out 1-2 poopy diapers a day, look very hyrdated and are a very VERY happy baby, I would have sent you to a nutritionist a long time ago. When we spoke to a nutritionist when you were warded 6 months back, she said that in order to make you eat more, we have to include you in adult meals. That has worked fantastic! At 11 months you still eat every 2.5-3 hours and you can take in 180-220ml of milk in between 3 solid meals of full bowls of mixed porridge and cereals and even snacks in between.

I must say that you are eating very well, well over the suggested limit for a 11 month old but why are you not gaining? Simple. Everytime you gain weight, you fall ill to stomach flu or indigestion or fevers that come from nowhere and have no other symptoms. All these mysterious illnesses are always termed as a 'viral infection' by the doctor and they always look very bewildered when they assess you because even at the doctor's you are still a hyper, laughing kid who looks super NOT ill. Something seems to not want you to gain weight. PLUS your hyperactiveness makes you burn too much. I have tried introducing higher fat content to your food with things like cheese and fatty fish but you still can't grow fat! It's amazing seeing how your parents can't stop growing fat.

11 month old Damien looking almost the same size as his 4.5 month old cousin Lee Ann!

Nevertheless, despite your small size, we still love you. And you bring endless joy to us! For all we know, you may become a fat kid in future considering your appetite so just hang in there and grow in your own special little way! Happy 11 months dear Damien! We can't wait till you turn 1!

Love,

Mummy (and Daddy even though he never ever blogs here)