On Wednesday night, two of our Japanese friends came to visit us from Japan. Time flies. Two years ago, we were still playing miniature golf with them in Princeton. Now, when we see them again, we have a new addition to the family. Baby Sheri was very well-behaved in front of the guests. She does not seem to be afraid of strangers. In fact, she tried to stay awake to entertain the guests even though she was yawning occasionally. She was only willing to go to bed after they left and she was so tired that she slept from twelve to seven in the morning. Well, we do not know when we will see them again. Hopefully, we can go to Japan one of these days and meet up with them again.

Two days ago, baby Sheri received a present from Singapore. It's a baby seat from Auntie Oranna and Yinshan! Baby Sheri will definitely make full use of it as she learns how to sit in the coming months. How do I look sitting on my new seat? It's an expensive seat that is imported from Singapore. Thank you Auntie Oranna and Yinshan!

Sometimes, Baby Sheri may give surprises to mummy and daddy on her newfound capability. Today, Mummy was just dangling the catapillar in front of baby Sheri. Guess what! She stretched out her hand and grabbed the catapillar. Mummy was pretty amazed by it, as she has never seen baby Sheri doing that before. It seems that her hand muscles are getting stronger and she is learning to grab hold of things. I suppose baby Sheri has become more aware of her fingers. I notice that she likes to bring her hands closely to her and play with her fingers during her personal time. She has also developed a new habit. She likes to suck on her thumb nowadays, something which mummy does not like it, as I do not know what germs she is bringing into her mouth.

Look! I can lift up my head now when mummy and daddy put me on my tummy.

Last Sunday, we were elated to see that baby Sheri was able to lift up her head at 45 degrees while on tummy. It came as a pleasant surprise to us because as far as we can remember, she was still struggling to lift up her head one week ago when we put her on her tummy. Baby Sheri has certainly made good progress in a week. Her arms are also much stronger now as she can use it to push herself up and provide support for her body weight. Well done, baby Sheri ! You deserve a big kiss from mummy and daddy!

Mummy was sick....

Just as we thought that winter is going to be over, there was a heavy snowstorm on last Friday. Mummy must have caught a chill while accompanying daddy for his dental appointment. So, mummy had to leave baby Sheri in the capable hands of daddy so that she can take a good rest. Anyway, I think it's time for mummy to take a break as all these months of nursing baby Sheri must have taken a toll on mummy's health. At first, Baby Sheri was not used to daddy taking care of her the whole day. So, she did not adhere to her usual sleeping routine and she was wailing occasionally for no reason. Anyway, she was so exhausted after disturbing daddy for the whole day that she fell asleep instantly when he left her in her crib at night. Overall, I think daddy has done a wonderful job in taking care of baby Sheri. After that day, baby Sheri seems to have grown closer to daddy as she becomes more aware of his presence. She can recognize him at a distance and smile at him when he is back from work. Perhaps, it's time for mummy to take a backseat and let daddy take charge of baby Sheri. Three cheers for daddy! Hippy hurray! x 3

Baby Sheri is getting more dexterous nowadays. She can pick up her small handkerchief that I always use to clean her during feeding and drop it on the floor. She did it not once, not twice but thrice. Her kicks are also getting stronger. We set up the floor gym for her everyday to let her exercise her limbs and she enjoys kicking at the toys of the floor gym. Even though she likes to play with the floor gym very much, she loves our companionship even more. With constant encouragement from us, she can kick at the toys repeatedly. Much as we want to make her happy, baby Sheri also likes to make mummy and daddy happy even at such a tender age. I'm fortunate that I can spend time with her at home at this stage, as I do not know how long I'm able to do that. So, I will try to give her as much time as possible, and I think this means more to her than anything else. Every smile and every hug just mean so much to us and she can rest assured that mummy and daddy will try to help her overcome every milestone in her development.

Personal time for baby Sheri

Besides sleeping, eating, playing and disturbing mummy and daddy, baby Sheri also likes to have some personal time for herself. Her favourite pastime is to lick her thumb. We caught her doing that in one of the ultrasound scans when she was in mummy's womb. Old habits die hard and here she is, licking her delicious thumb even when she is out in a new world.

Baby Sheri's new sleeping habit

Coaxing baby Sheri to sleep is always a constant battle for mummy. For some unknown reason, baby Sheri is always more alert at night despite the fact that mummy tries to tire her out by playing with her in the afternoon. She is only willing to go to bed after twelve midnight. There is one thing which I do not know if it is only perculiar to baby Sheri. She needs to suck on a bottle to fall asleep. So, what mummy needs to do every night is to carry her in and out of the bedroom, giving her a bottle of milk each time she fusses. However, if she manages to fall asleep, she can sleep throughout the night without waking up. So, finally, mummy can have a good night sleep without any disruptions. Perhaps, it is due to some motherly instinct, I don't seem to be able to sleep for a long time unlike in the past . Usually, I will wake up at about 6 am to change baby Sheri's diaper and feed her since she must be feeling quite hungry after sleeping for the whole night. She will usually sleep througout the whole morning, waking up every 3 hours for feeding. I will try to freshen her up at noon and that marks the start of the day for baby Sheri.

A Cooing baby...

Beside the usual cries, we notice that Baby Sheri is beginning to make sounds like 'ooh, ah, er, umm'. According to some books that mummy has read, parents should try to reciprocate with similar sounds. When we do that, baby Sheri seems to respond to us by continuing to make such sounds as if she is communicating with us. Well, I suppose she is communicating with us in her own way even though we may not understand what she is trying to tell us. I do not know whether it is coincidental. Sometimes, she will utter the sound 'umm' when I ask her whether she wants milk. Anyway, I think it's good that she is learning to make these little sounds as I believe that these will form the basic framework of her language ability in the future.

Warmer weather

I wonder where daddy and mummy are bringing me to.

The weather is getting warmer nowadays. The snow that has been accumulated from the snowstorm is melting slowly. It's time to bring baby Sheri out. Unlike in Singapore, there are less cars and people here during the weekends, and the air is much fresher. Frankly speaking, we enjoy the tranquility of life here sometimes. Taking baby Sheri out for a walk on Saturday's afternoon after mummy comes back from grocery shopping is something that mummy and daddy enjoy the most.

See! I'm trying to sit like mummy and daddy, but sometimes, I may fall to the side like Humpty Dumpty. Fortunately, daddy and mummy are always there to rescue baby Sheri.

Mummy caught daddy dozing off while taking care of baby Sheri.

Daddy, can you share with baby Sheri what you are reading?