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Friday, April 10, 2009

New beginnings in Beijing

Since we came back home some two weeks back (reached Beijing in the morning of 27 March), baby girl seems to be adjusting well (albeit not as 'free' as she was with minimal clothing, and we take ages to get ready to bundle up and go out). As she does not have much winter clothing, we just deck her out and pile on the layers - as my sis said, totally mismatched outfits (so not me when I would take ages to match her clothes to her socks to her hairclip in the past), and the hats we brought over and way too small for her growing head now...

She gets pretty much attention wherever she goes, mainly because she looks so round and cute, and also cos she has a ready smile for strangers, though there were times when she was decked in blue and folks thought she was a boy. The nanny and I have been bringing her out for daily walks in the morning (and in the evening if she is awake and the weather's good). The sun aids in calcium absorption (Vitamin D) and the outdoors do her well - she also enjoys looking around and shrieking her way in glee around the neighbourhood. What gets my goat on these walks are:

  • people who do not leash their dogs, and these big dogs bound on up to us (cannot blame the dogs as Rosabelle looks like a huge, tempting, juicy meatball - I blame their owners)
  • people who assume they can touch her face/clothes/hands with their dirty hands (I make it a point to now wash her hands after these walks, as the winds blow dust all over as well)
  • people who say she is fat (well, superstitious belief that if you say a baby is fat, she will not feed well)
The Dongbei nanny has been quite a big help (she had former experience taking care of a boy till he was 4 years old), and her advice have also been helpful. Rosabelle has also taken well to her and likes playing with her (other than when she gets sticky and starts looking for me...). We've been trying to get her into a routine of sleeping/waking up early, and taking morning/evening naps, but with little success as she does not sleep much!

Wayne's parents also finally got to meet her over last weekend - Rosabelle performed well (as she had a short nap prior) and was all smiley upon the first meeting. They also couldn't get enough of her and did not seem to get tired from carrying her...haha...

Thank goodness she has also gotten used to people calling her 'Yue yue' and now responds to 'Rosabelle', 'Belle belle', and 'Rosie' as well...heh!

When in Singapore, she had more playmates in my mum, my sis and brother-in-law, Aunty Riza (my sis' domestic helper), and of course Simon and Marianne. Whenever my family calls, I will let them 'speak' with her and her response is to grab the phone and gum the receiver! I am so looking forward to my family coming to visit us in June over the children's holidays - the kids miss her and I'm sure she misses my family too. If all turns out well, when my brother heads back to SG for a short break in Septemeber, hopefully I can bring her back for awhile too! I have developed photos of her times in Singapore and put them on the fridge and point out the people in the pictures so she can recollect and remember them all - heh!

At first I was afraid she would not get as much stimulation and thus slept alot more when the weather was cold because she was bored from no playmates (heh, maybe it was nice weather to sleep). But she has adjusted well and also met up with Tim and Vanessa's baby Rachel (born less than 24 hours after her on Oct 25). It was quite hilarious to see the two of them playing alongside (not yet with) each other, and making baby talk at times.

We've also been bringing her out over the weekends, whether for grocery shopping, or to the park etc...helps that we now have a car as it's so much more convenient to get around!

She seems to be happy enough lah - however, in the first week she developed a red patch on her cheek - thank goodness for my brother in law who did a remote consultation and advised me to put some fungal cream (could have been caused by the cold weather). She also has some purplish red spots on her shins over the past two days, but since no fever, he advised me to just monitor closely lah...
Till the next update, here's the usual 'happy baby' signing off for now!


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