Then it was 6 for Eskimo Boy

Look, I'm ready to fly now

Dear Aidan,

To think Mama was afraid you wouldn't ever learn to sleep.

Not without crying a little and without a swaddle for your mid-day nap.

These days you chew your nappy cloth (sort of your pillow for now). Quietly contemplate for a while. And let the luxury of rest take over.

Yeah, this would be my 'good' side.

Admittedly, just as you were hitting the 6th month mark, you woke us up earlier than usual.

5.30am to be precise.

Is it a growth spurt? (You weren't really hungry when we tried feeding you.)
Is it part of the teething process? (You'd just grown two bottom ones.)
Is it just a phase? (please let it be a phase!)
Looking back, we think it was and still is.
Sometimes as your body changes, everything else does, too.
The way you sleep, eat and play.

Speaking of play, you definitely are one active little mountain goat. Mountain goat because when we hold you up, you'd trek upwards, from our tummy to our throat (cough, cough).

Me, active? I'm just enjoying a lazy Sunday arvo

And then there are the attempts to cover land with your paw marks. You began your lesson in crawling at about 5.5 months. But in a flash and a dash, you'd quickly progressed to sitting with one hand on the ground and the other holding a chew toy. I'm guessing you'll be trying to stand up in the next month or two. No rush, Aidan, because crawling's just as fun. Although, Mama's knees would disagree.

All right, here we go

Afternoon naps have been tough on Mama. I haven't yet figured out why they're fraught with disruptions for you. After 30 minutes or 50, you'd stir, crying, having squirmed yourself out of Aunty Audrey's swaddle. I know you have strong reflexes and maybe they keep telling you you're falling when you're actually safe in bed. I've been speaking to Aunty Su-Lyn in Brisbane about this. I think it's time to invest in a few more swaddles and think of better ways to wrap you nice and tight so you'll nap better.

I don't know why, but it always ends up out there

You're starting to like books now. Chewing them, at least. But hey, that's interest. Hopefully, you won't eat up the pages because we need to know how the story goes. This month sees you getting a taste (pardon the pun!) of simple bible stories. Thanks Uncle Brian for this cute little pictorial book!

Ok, let's see what the bouquet is like...

Food-wise, it's been an exciting time. Month #6 is the month most babies try their tongues and taste buds on solid foods. So Mama bought some Heinz baby rice cereal and prepared it for you. I'm happy to announce that you didn't spit it out or chuck it back at my face. Or worse.

I've discovered...baby rice cereal, woo-hoo!

This month, I also bought some fancy ice-cube trays in which to to steam-then-freeze your tomatoes, broccoli, apple, pear and carrots. Papa thinks I'm going crazy but you know, he's been known to be wrong before. Sometimes.

All I'll say is, Bon appetit, Aidan!

Eskimo Boy's First Holiday at 5 Months

Dear Aidan,

I forgot to log in your first holiday on planet Earth. You were 5 months and we plonked you in Papa's car, Dukie, and drove ourselves to Singapore. A journey that would normally take 3.5-4 hours, took us almost 8! And yup, it was the milk stops.

Wake me when we get there o'right?

I'll tell you, though, that you almost, maybe, got kidnapped. We were at one of the stops in Johor Bahru, a state down south. Mama had just fed you milk. Papa had gone to the toilet. An elderly Indian couple who sat at the table next to ours, turned around when I got up to burp you. They said a few words in Tamil to each other and then the lady just took you straight out of my arms. She carried you, started cooing to you and began walking away. I had to raise my voice twice and put my hands on you before she would give you up.

Now, that was scary.

Meanwhile, journey-wise, you were good in that you slept most of the way. Once we got into Singapore where there were loads of traffic stops, you near took our ear drums out! So, we get it:

NO STOPS, MAMA/PAPA. JUST KEEP GOING, EVEN IF IT MEANS WE KILL OURSELVES IN A HORRIFIC CAR ACCIDENT.

As the official bed-tester, I say...PASS.

Our 5 days in Singapore was lovely. We had come down to attend Papa's friend's wedding. So the night we had to be at the dinner, your cousin Dillon's help, Fran, popped over to our hotel room to look after you for a few hours.

We also visited HMV (or rather, your Papa visited HMV and we had no choice but to follow), had coffee at Spinelli's and lunch at Border's.

What are those green and brown things above my head?

One afternoon, we had lunch at Pierside with Uncle Khin, Aunty Swee Lin and Dillon. On another night, we had dinner with Uncle Thomas and Aunty Elise at Valentino's, a cosy little Italian restaurant near Clementi.

These parent grips are...amazingly tight

Papa,  has Mama told you you're a clown?

Hey, where's my food?

I really just want to play with that fountain

Talk to the jeans, thanks

Mama can't remember much of the ride home except that you were really bawling with hunger by the time we arrived back at our condominium. So while Papa unloaded, Mama placed you in the middle of the double bed in your room and quickly dashed off to make a bottle of milk.

And then, horror of horrors. You screamed your lungs out.

When Papa and Mama rushed to see what had happened, we found you on the floor! I guess you're early in many ways - rolling over, included.

You must believe me when I say that I cried more and longer than you did. In fact, you stopped after 3 minutes to look at Mama crying. I can only thank God now that the bed-frame is pretty low and close to the ground.

Not the best ending to your first trip ever, I must say. But lessons are learnt via pain. In this case, I learnt through your pain not to take things (or you, rather) for granted. Safety is really more important than a bit of hunger.