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I was supposed to drop Caitlin at Grannee’s in the morning before going to work yesterday. So baby turtle was hitching a ride to Grannee’s along with Caitlin.

Morning came & it was time to go. Caitlin had a late night & had to be woken. Apparently she had forgotten all about the baby turtle from the night before. When we got into the car getting ready for the ride, I had asked Caitlin to nurse the margarine container (cleaned, of course) with the baby turle in it.

Suddenly becoming alert, she held onto the container with both hands resting it on her lap in her child seat. In my rearview mirror I could see that she was constantly peeping & watching the baby turtle, occassionally exclaiming that it was trying to swim.

Catilin is used to this ride to Grannee’s. This morning however, she was telling Daddee to be careful & drive slower especially over bumps.

Glimpses of a potential pet owner?

And so the day came when this daddy didn’t have to go to work. We got to the pool. It was the first clear blue sky after weeks of rainy days- couldn’t ask for a better setting for potentially making history. The pool was empty, calm water welcoming our arrival; something we had been accustomed to- presumably most prefer to swim just before dusk rather than mid-morning. Fighter jets tore through the open sky. Seriously. They were flying overhead slightly to the East, only just breaking formation after passing us. Soon after more military hardware / helicopters followed. A loud reminder that this was a national holiday celebrating our 50th independance day. Caitlin didn’t seem too perplexed by the much-louder noise they made, compared to the occassional commercial planes higher in the sky. Perhaps she was as eager as her daddy & had a mission too.

She was cooperative as usual, remaining patient allowing her daddy to blow up the floaties & stuff them securely in the front & back of her costume & velcro-fastening them. Again like clockwork, she preferred to get into the baby pool first. Fair enough, let her warm up first, aclimatise to the cooler-than-it-looked water. Much to daddy’s surprise, Caitlin was quick to agree to next move on to the adult pool, as if all the previous anxieties of what she called “going under” was gone (I had once let her sink for half a second & she wasn’t impressed, while the whole time finding daddy going-under for much longer periods inexplicably giggly-amusing).

About 10 minutes of holding-daddy’s-fingers-soI-won’t-go-under, down came our block’s English neighbour: Mum, dad, & 2 girls (whom I later found out to be Jessica, aged 5, and Becky, 2). Becky had the same Floaties costume as Caitlin’s, only it was obviously sized for ages 0-2, & obviously a hand-me-down. Their “clockwork”, however, ran faster & was finely tuned. The girls knew what to do, & did them quickly: disrobed, sunscreen, goggles (for Jessica) & into the pool. Jessica came in first, followed very closely by the always-smiling Becky.

Becky edged toward the pool, beaming a “hello” smile at us. At this point you’d think that mummy followed very close behind Becky. Instead, with no hesitation Becky jumped into the pool feet first as 2 year-olds would jump, quite hard that she submerged for a while, allowing then for the Floaties to do its job. She emerged, & splashed about almost doing the front crawl towards her older sister, who was already swimming away from the edge.

I wasn’t so much amazed at how cavelier Becky was. After all, anyone who swam more often than once a week would naturally be quite comfortable in the pool. What amazed me was how she was actually already swimming- from one point to another.

Seizing the opportunity, I gestured to Caitlin that the younger Becky is wearing the same costume that she is wearing. It was really funny, you could just see it ticking over in her head, making the connection, contemplating the situation, evaluating the risks, deciding to take action.

She agreed & slowly let go of my hands.

Nothing happened.

The whole “eureka” look & joy in her face was very satisfying, to say the least. Her face brightened up, she would have yelled “Lookatmedaddee”; except that I already was, “I didn’t go under!”; except that she knew I already knew that!

Very soon after she was already on her own, splashing about like she did when she was using the Pooh Bear float, trying to catch up to her new found friends. Only that she now has a lot more freedom with her hands.

Chatting with the English lady, she had mentioned that babies of around 7 months & under still retain that instinct of knowing how to hold their breaths. To bring this instinct out, all you have to do is blow into the baby’s face & baby will tend to hold its breath. That was how she managed to get Becky to swim so well after some trial & error with Jessica. In fact she had started with Becky when she was only 3 months old- blowing at Becky’s face & “dunking” her for a few seconds. Becky therefore has never had the same anxiety Caitlin has of “going under”.

Interesting.

I had also acknowledged, & anticipated by the English lady, that peer pressure in this case was very helpful for Caitlin. Heh.

If you have child-related medical questions to ask, please post them there! We will endeavor to answer as many as we (she) can.

When we were making the appointment for this visit, we were asked if we’d wanted to also do a “4D” scan. Immediately I recalled the 2 hour (or was it 3?) episode on National Geographic earlier this year, where this 4D technology allows ultrasound scans to map out a contour or a surface, another way to examine all the physical aspects of the baby’s development- limbs, digits, ears, facial formations (cleft lip or not), etc; effectively roughly showing what the baby might actually look like.

Most of the time baby was lying on the side, making viewing a little challenging. As if hearing our cue, baby starting rolling over just a little, enough for a proper exam-viewing of the essentials. We got to see the head / skull formation, spinal formations, facial, thighs, etc. We also got an over-the-shoulder shot of baby printout too.

It was all pretty amazing.

Image linked from National Geographic

My receipt for this extra scanning option is at home, but I think it costs around RM150 or less, with a CD thrown in. I have yet to view the CD, but thought this is a small amount for a(nother) once a lifetime event is definitely worth it.

One final point: We did ascertain the sex of the baby…

It took a lot of coaxing for her to try it out in the adult pool- this wasn’t the first time we went for a dip in her new costume. I don’t have a picture of Caitlin fully submerged in the pool, because she insisted on holding on to me even if it was just my fingers!

I got this partly because her Pooh Bear round-float had already sprung a leak, but mainly because she was already kicking quite well in the pool- that I thought she should graduate to a more “serious” swimming aid.

A caveat I had made to myself was: The packaging did say the size I bought is meant for children ages 3-6; Caitlin is only 2.5 yrs old. Although she is taller than average, I went ahead with this “investment” as I didn’t want to get the 0-3 yr old one only to discard it in about 12 months or less.

So I asked for some help, & got another piece of velcro added to the shoulder straps, effectively shortening the whole costume (the fasteners are on the shoulder straps, to put it on). This would have void the warranty for sure!

I distinctly remember reading the packaging stating this is an Australian product; & I am wondering if this refers to the same product!

Okay this isn’t one of her best shots!

Halfway through the show, Ojo awoke with a nightmare, where she dreamt of monsters. Caitlin asked what was wrong with Ojo that made her cry & needing comforting from Bear.

How do you explain the concept of dreams, whilst skirting around the other concept of monsters, to a 2.5 year old?

“these shoes are made for walking…”

I think we have an appointment this coming week for our regular check-up, where we’d be able to scan & (hopefully) tell the sex of child #2.

While I have really enjoyed fathering a daughter, I do think I’d like a son as well; even though almost everyone I know who have boys have grumbled how difficult their son(s) can be / have been. I have a colleague who chooses to stay out late after work to avoid his son! To be fair, he hangs out in Starbucks using their free wifi for work, because he says there’d be no way he’d get any work done at home.

In some ways, even though I have a daughter, I tend to agree about not being able to get work done, too.

In a lot of ways I think mischief, whilst painful during, is an underlying trait or a symptom of curiosity & wanting to try new things. Frankly I have seen young adults who were considered timid (& thus “a good boy”) but whom are now afraid of the world.

So let’s see which happens first: That I bald faster or that I grey first.

We were also out of the Rhinothiol syrup.

A quick trip to the chemist saw the pharmacist suggesting Rhinothiol with Promethazine. She claimed that while Rhinothiol alone breaks down phlegm, the added promethazine will ease the throat’s itchiness.

I decided to stick to the same prescribed dosage of 5mL, slipped into Caitlin’s milk feeds; once in the morning & once before bed.

Okay I shouldn’t say I slipped it in- Caitlin actually knows it’s in there, that it would do her good, that daddy can thus take her swimming.

Caitlin’s travel bag now contains the white & yellow packaging instead of the previous white & pink packaging.