The MLC

Liana is now drinking from a bottle with ease. We have no idea why she stopped wanting the bottle and then just as suddenly accepted it again. We now refer to her sometimes as the MLC -- mysterious little creature. Now that she can take a bottle I feel much more relaxed about returning to work in the next few weeks. I would have hated to think of her crying because she was hungry and stubborn about the bottle.

Liana has also had all of her shots. At the pediatrician, Liana screamed the loudest of all the kids. She even startled the doctor. I felt absurdly proud of her.

Pudding's new perch

We bought a new TV cabinet because the one the landlady had was very rickety and without doors. A pint-size baby could have pulled it over. Since Liana is also very fond of grabbing things and Pudding is fond of chewing on wires, we also thought it would be a good idea to put all of the electronics someplace neither one could get at them.

Pudding likes the cabinet because it allows him access to a place that was previously beyond him. He used to get so frustrated because geckos would scamper up there temptingly out of reach. He stays up there all day -- sleeping, washing and generally lording it over all of us down below.

Liana playing with bunny

We've noticed that Liana is able to see much better now and has more control over her hands. She's always been waving them around but now she is grabbing a hold of things with decision rather than just coming across something mid-wave. She grasps the end of her t-shirt and tries to bring to her mouth, and bashes the animals on her rocker mobile. She pinches Leo when she's getting upset although she probably didn't decide to do that. Before this Liana never showed much interest in playing with toys. Now she particularly likes the bunny Grandma Jo bought her. I think it is all the textures. The bunny is fuzzy and the blanket part is soft velour with a satin lining. She grabs it, rubs it across her face and then tries to chew it. I like in this picture how the small bunny completely covers her with some to spare.

Liana at 2 months

Liana has reached two months and has a new expression as a present. Her new happy expressions certainly make up for her increased fussiness. When she was 4-6 weeks old she accepted everything. Even a bottle straight from the fridge was OK. Now she often refuses a bottle even when she is hungry. I nurse her when she refuses the bottle but I worry about how Leo and the day care will cope once I return to work at the end of the month. Hopefully the fussiness will go away in the next few weeks.

Helping Liana sleep

Liana has started fussing when she gets tired. Before she would simply fall asleep during the day, now we have to help to sleep. She's also close to 5 kg now which means it is very tiring to carry, bounce and rock her to sleep. Fortunately Leo remembered his mom wearing his nephew around the house in sarong. Now either Leo or I have one of my sarongs looped around our chests when we carry Liana. The cloth limits her movement and she starts to get sleepy that much faster. The picture on top is Liana as she is about to relax into sleep after wearing herself out crying. The bottom is the much happier Daddy with a less fussier baby.

Always Something New

A few posts ago I wrote the trite but true statement that babies change so fast. Then I wrote it with a sense of wonder. Now it is tinged with a bit of exasperation. This week I feel that Liana is one step ahead of me. As soon as I feel that I have a grasp on taking care of her and can relax a bit without worrying about coping, she changes. I used to know all of her cries and could easily tell that she was hungry and needed to nurse. Never used to think about getting her to sleep -- she slept when she felt like it.

Now we have to help her sleep. This also means that we have another level of meaning to her cries: Is she hungry, windy, feeling a bit lonely or sleepy? It's like the first week when I brought her home. She cries and I go through the checklist of checking her diaper, offering her milk, cuddling her or burping. I'm realizing that I was a bit cocky before.

A smile

Liana at 7 weeks old: Smiling!

Both Liana and I have reached a milestone. Liana has started smiling for us regularly. It is heartwarming to get one of her smiles every morning when I pick her up. We took her to the pediatrician for immunizations and learned that she is in the 97th percentile in size. That means that at 4.88kg (10.7 lbs) and 57.8 cm (22.8in) she is larger than 97% of the other babies her age. As you can see in the picture she is definitely much chubbier than she was before.

My milestone is that I bathed her all by myself. Before Leo and I bathed her together every night but now Leo is back to coaching at the tennis school. I have been able to bath her myself but so far I haven't been able to bath her, put her to bed and clean up the bathroom before Leo gets home.