Some updates on Sheri

During baby Sheri's play time, mommy has noticed some changes in her handy skills. Now, she can scoop things up easily with one hand and transfer an object from one hand to the other effortlessly. She is also able to lean forward to grab a toy and then straighten herself again. However, little Sheri still cannot crawl. Even though mommy tries to place some of her favourite toys beyond her reach to encourage her, she can barely move an inch. Well I guess baby Sheri needs to work harder!
However, one encouraging sign that we noticed about her recently is that she likes to surge forward from her sitting position. Whenever we let her sit on the sofa to watch her favourite VCD, she will often be found on her fours once we turn our back. Hopefully, this is an indication that she is going to move on her fours soon.

Bathing time has also become more messy now as she takes delight in splashing water in the bathtub. The bathroom floor is often covered with puddles of water and we end up wetting our clothes whenever we bathe the little terror.

Where are my teeth?

I think I better close my mouth when I'm smiling. Do I look better?

Does baby Sheri look like a boy?

Last weekend, daddy was busy writing his report, so we decided to stay at home most of the time. We did our usual grocery shopping on Saturday afternoon. Sometimes, we may meet very interesting people when we push baby Sheri around in the shopping cart in the supermarket . Last Saturday, we met an old couple who went up to daddy to congratulate him for having a beautiful son. Oh my God! Is it because that Mommy forgot to put on a pink outfit on baby Sheri on that day or does baby Sheri really look like a boy? Anyway, I will leave you to decide.
We bought a big watermelon from the supermarket. Baby Sheri seemed to be pretty amazed by the size of the watermelon, which is bigger than her head.

What a curious baby!

Baby Sheri is getting more and more curious about the world nowadays. She cannot wait to lay her hands on everything that she sees. She will try to grab whatever stuff that we have in our hands. However, once it reaches her hands, it will not end up in a very good shape. She will try to take it apart or tear it into pieces. What a destructive person! Mommy and daddy must be careful of the things that are within her reach now.

With the longer daylight hours in the summer, we try to bring her out for a walk every evening after dinner. In the past, she would just slouch in her stroller, but now, she is more earnest in looking at her surroundings. Two days ago, there was an aeroplane flying past when we were taking a walk. She was so fascinated by the sound of the aeroplane that she kept looking at the sky. Mommy told baby Sheri that she will soon be taking an airplane to Singapore where mommy and daddy come from. Yesterday, when we reached the same spot that the aeroplane flew past us the day before, she kept looking at the sky too.

Dinner with Uncle Garret and Auntie Sandra

Tonight, we invited Uncle Garret and Auntie Sandra to our place for dinner. Mommy managed to whip up a few dishes for them. It was a combination of Asian and Western cuisine. We had roasted chicken, spring rolls, stir-fry broccoli with carrots, and pasta. Mommy has recently learn t how to roast a chicken with butter and marjoram. So, it was a perfect chance for mommy to show off her culinary skill. Hopefully, it didn't taste too bad. We put baby Sheri on her high chair and made her sit with us at the dining table. At first, she didn't seem to be too happy with the arrangement, but after awhile, she felt more at ease and started playing with her toys. I would say that she was pretty well-behaved throughout the whole dinner. At least, she could let mommy and daddy finish the dinner without disturbing us. What a good baby!

After dinner, we entertained Uncle Garret and Auntie Sandra with our MTV that we took when we registered our marriage at Princeton. We also introduced to them the 'Babies can read' VCD and they were pretty amazed to see how baby Sheri was enthralled by the VCD. However, baby Sheri started becoming cranky at about 9.30 pm as it was approaching to her bebtime. Mommy had to take baby Sheri to the bedroom to coax her to sleep. Baby Sheri was so exhausted that she felt asleep on mommy's shoulder without drinking her milk.

Finally, daddy and mommy had some free time with Uncle Garret and Auntie Sandra. Daddy had a great time reminiscing about the good times that he spent with Uncle Garret in Princeton. Overall, it was a delightful evening and we look forward to having them again.

'Touchy' Sheri

Baby Sheri is getting more 'touchy' nowadays. She likes to touch our face and hair when we carry her. She seems to be particularly interested in 'feeling' us. This morning, daddy stretched out his hand to shake hands with her before leaving for work. Amazingly, Sheri stretched out her hands to shake his hand too, and she did it not once but twice. Sometimes, we wonder whether it is purely coincidence or she is really showing some sparks of brilliance.

Wow! Daddy's chair is so comfortable. Finally, baby Sheri had the chance to sit on daddy's chair!

A new toy for baby Sheri!

With her present capability, we find that the toys that baby Sheri is playing are not very challenging for her anymore. So, we decided to get her something which can help her manipulate her fingers with greater precision. During our weekend shopping, we spotted a 'drop and giggle' toy that giggles when the balls are dropped into the holes. We were thinking that it might be suitable for her since she has not laid her hands on spherical objects yet and putting the ball into the designated location does require a certain degree of precision on her part. When we introduced the new toy to her, we were pleasantly surprised that she can grab the ball very well with her fingers, but she seems to be more interested in observing the ball than to put them in the hole. Anyway, she still prefers holding on to her favorite rings. Well, I suppose that we have to wait till she gets tired of playing with the rings before she can show a greater interest in her new toy.

Valley Forge National Historic Park

Yesterday was fourth of July. It was on this day in 1776 that America declared independence from Great Britain. What could be a better way to celebrate America's independence than to visit a historical site like the Valley Forge National Historic Park. Valley Forge is well-known as the place where George Washington, the founding father of United States, and his army struggled through the bitterly cold winter in 1777-1778 during the America Revolution. Many of the American soldiers , who were poorly paid and ill-supplied, wanted to leave during those difficult times. It was George Washingtion, the commander in chief, who encouraged them to stay, and as a result, led to America's independence. Without him, this country might not even exit today.
Valley Forge is about an hour's drive away from our place. Much as we wanted to set off early in the morning, it was 9.30 am by the time we left the house. It is certainly not easy to go to places now with a baby.
We decided to have a picnic at the park, so we packed some sandwiches for ourselves and baby Sheri's lunch as well. Baby Sheri slept all the way in the car and she was still soundly asleep when we reached the park. Since it was close to lunch time when we arrived at the park, we decided to feed the little one first.

Baby Sheri had such a good appetite that she finished all the cereals and the whole jar of sweet potato. Yummy! Yummy!

After eating lunch, daddy took a look at the map of Valley Forge to decide on our next destination since it was quite a huge park. It seemed that baby Sheri also wanted to have a hand in it too.

We went to visit the cabins that soldiers stayed. It was documented that 12 soldiers stayed in each cabin.

These were the things that were carried by the soldier.


Our next destination was the National Memorial Arch. It is the most striking monument in the park. The Arch was built in a style "similar to the Arch of Titus, in Rome," and it "faces Gulph Road, over which the weary and ragged regiments marched to their camps."
Baby Sheri looked quite happy with the trip. See how happy she smiled!

New updates on Sheri's development

Recently, our wireless internet connection was disrupted by a thunderstorm. For the past week, we were only able to log on the internet in the study room, which makes surfing the net pretty inconvenient. Well, I guess daddy and mommy are really pampered by the wireless network. We really enjoy the convenience of surfing at anywhere in the house. Fortunately, daddy managed to rectify the fault and restore network yesterday before anyone in the foo family dies of internet starvation.

It has been quite some time since I posted new updates on baby Sheri's development. Let me start with her eating habits. She has started on stage I baby food and she is doing very well. Usually, I will feed her with solid food for lunch and dinner. Her typical meal will consist of either oatmeal or rice cereals mixed with stage I veggies or fruits. Her favourite food are oatmeal cereals, sweet potatoes and bananas. My mom instructed me to cook some porridge with meat for her, but for some unknown reason, she hates eating porridge. Feeding time will be a breeze for us if she likes the food that we give her. She can finish the food at an incredible speed if she likes it, but it can take ages if she dislikes the food. She simply will not open her mouth! What a fussy baby!

Yummy! My food is finger-licking good!

In addition to the solid food, mommy tries to give baby Sheri milk whenever possible since milk should remain the primary source of nutrition for babies under 1 years old. She still drinks about 21 ounces of milk everyday. However, mommy's breast milk has dwindled significantly. I can only give her 4 ounces of breast milk everyday. Even though mommy's friends have advised me to start weaning baby Sheri since I am only producing such a miserable amount of breast milk, I am still persisting it because breast milk provides the best nourishment for babies. I just wish to give her whatever I have , no matter how little it is.




As for her psychomotor skills, she is getting more flexible with the movement of her hands now. Yesterday, I caught her reaching for the toys from the mobile in her crib. Very soon, mommy has to remove the mobile from the crib before she starts pulling the toys down.


She has also made good progress in sitting up without any backrest. She is pretty steady now, as she no longer needs to put her hands on the floor to support her weight when sitting down.

She can also balance herself very well on standing when we hold her hands. In fact, she loves to stand with our assistance.

Besides standing, she also has a penchant for heights. There will always be a wide grin on her face whenever she is lifted aloft or flown like a 'supergirl' in the house. With a greater sense of awareness of her surroundings now, she is curious in almost everything that she sees. She is particularly fascinated by the T-shirts that we wear as she is often seen squinting her eyes as if she is trying to read the small prints on our shirts.



Guess what was holding baby Sheri's attention? She was watching the ' Your baby can read' VCD given by my sister. Nowadays, she can be so engrossed in watching the VCD that it does provide a respite for mommy. Amazingly, the VCD seems to trigger some response in her as she tries to babble to herself while the words are being read in the VCD. She can get really excited with the songs in the VCD too, behaving as if she is singing along.


Coaxing baby Sheri to sleep remains a very challenging task for mommy. Nowadays, she does not fall asleep during feeding, which makes coaxing her to sleep even more difficult. The only way to make her fall asleep is to rock her gently and sing to her at the same time. She loves it when we sing nursery rhymes to her. Her favourite song is "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'. She will fall asleep easily if she does not cry and resist mommy from rocking her. The problem about her is that she finds it very difficult to fall asleep initially even though mommy tries to dim the light to create an atmosphere that is conducive to sleep. Sometimes, she will just keep wailing and arching her back to resist mommy from rocking her to sleep. It can be pretty frustrating at times that mommy cannot help but loses her patience at times. Well, when that happens, I will usually leave her alone for a while and try to cool myslef down before coming back to her again. Once she overcomes the initial hurdle of falling asleep, she will usually sleep through the night. Even when she wakes up in the middle of the night, she will not be very fussy . Mommy just has to give her some water and she will go back to sleep again. Somehow, she does have the concept of day and night. However, no matter what happened the night before, she never fails to greet us with a wide smile when we pick her up from her crib the next morning. To me, this is the sweetest thing of all.

Uncle's Kai place

Uncle Kai has bought a new house recently, On Saturday evening, he invited us to his new place in Bethlehem for dinner. Uncle Kai is our German friend who was working in the same research group as daddy when we were in Canada. When we arrived at his place, we were pleasantly surprised to see that he had set up the dining table in his backyard. The weather is pretty cooling recently and coupled with the longer daylight hours in the summer, it is a perfect time to dine outdoor to enjoy the beautiful weather. While Kai was busy cooking steak for daddy and mommy, we kept ourselves entertained by taking pictures in his backyard.





While daddy and mommy enjoyed the delicious meal that Uncle Kai had prepared for us, Baby Sheri had to go back to her carseat to keep herself entertained.


The steak was finger-licking good. The pasta was cooked in a German style, and it was served with preserved red cabbage which is also a typical German dish.



Baby Sheri was deeply asleep by the time time we reached home.