Peashootin’ Halloween

Last year was a last-minute decision to join the Trick or Treat in Anzen’s office, so I didn’t have enough time to come up with a nice Halloween costume. My little darling went as a soldier, wearing Mothercare camouflage pants and a gray(ish) Gingersnaps shirt. To be honest, it didn’t really look like a costume:

See the little soldier? 🙂

This year, I vowed to myself, stage mother that I am, will be different. Hence, a good five months ago I already started thinking of a costume for Gabby. My best friend came up with the idea, my officemates made the headgear and leaves; my only contribution to this spectacular Halloween treat is the cutest little peashooter this side of Plants vs. Zombies:

Peashooter

With his cousin, another Peashooter

Baby Measles or Tigdas Hangin (Roseola Infantum)

My 1-year, almost-10-months old baby recently had tigdas hangin or baby measles, also called roseola infantum.

Two weeks ago, my baby Gabby had colds and cough. At around dawn on Monday last week, he felt feverish; I took his temperature via ear thermometer and got confirmation that he has fever, for which I gave him baby paracetamol (I used Tempra). He had fever on and off for the rest of the day and night. The next day, with his fever still subsisting, I brought him to the doctor, who suspected that he has tigdas hangin. She said that tigdas hangin is uso (prevalent) nowadays. She also said that if her diagnosis is correct, the fever will last for 3 days, and that rashes will appear on Day 4, so we shouldn’t panic if we see rashes appear.

On Day 4, some rashes indeed started to appear on his neck and tummy, but he still had fever. In order to rule out dengue, we brought him back to the doctor who ordered a complete blood count (CBC) and platelet count. An hour (and many screams and cries from Gabby, hehe) later, we got the results of the tests: his platelet count was high, and the CBC indicated a viral infection, consistent with the earlier diagnosis of tigdas hangin. He did not have fever after that, but surely enough, more rashes started to appear on his tummy, back, and eventually, his face, arms and legs. The rashes did not seem to bother him, though. And once he stopped having fever, his healthy appetite went back with a vengeance (though not his appetite for his formula; I’m thinking he’s gotten sawa (tired) of the taste of his milk). We were in a bit of a worry though, as he is part of the entourage for the wedding of Anzen’s friends, which was last Sunday. We were afraid that his rashes wouldn’t be gone by then. I was praying for at least, no rashes on his face (the rest of the body will be all covered up by his barong tagalog and pants, anyway :P). Luckily, by the time Sunday rolled by, the rashes on his face were gone, and those on the rest of his body have started to fade, too.

So what is baby measles or tigdas hangin? We didn’t know much about it initially, except that the doctor said that it is not contagious, and my mother said that the rashes which accompany it fade faster that those caused by ordinary measles. Here’s what I learned, based on my experience with Gabby, as well as what I unearthed during my research:

1. the rashes are not itchy at all, as Gabby seemed to be totally unaware of them;
2. the fever is a bit on the high side, and will last for at least 3 days (Gabby had fever of up to 38.9 C, at least, for 4 days; Pregnancy.org says that the fever will last for 3-5 days);
3. It is contagious only during the febrile period, or when the child has fever; once the rashes appear (which is usually when there is no more fever), he is no longer contagious;
4. The rashes are concentrated mostly on the trunk; in fact, Gabby’s rashes on his tummy and back were, at one point, so numerous and close together that they did not look like individual rashes but more like big red welts;
5. The ones who usually get infected are babies and toddlers;
6. The severity and the duration of the rashes differ from person to person; Gabby was pretty much covered in rashes from head to toe, and the rashes started to fade by the third day, though by the 5th day there are still some left. My sister said her son Nikoi only had a few rashes on the face and neck, I think, during his bout with baby measles when he was about 4 years old. Per pregnancy.org, the rashes typically last for 24-48 hours;
7. it is caused by the HHV-6 virus;
8. apparently, you develop some sort of immunity to the disease once you contracted it;
9. there is no drug or medicine for this, it being viral; you just let it run its course. Of course, if the baby has fever, you give him paracetamol to relieve him, as well as sponge baths every so often so that he will feel relief from his elevated body temperature;
10. give your baby lots of water, and plenty of nutritious food and rest;
11. give your baby lots of love and attention, as it will make him feel less cranky and improve his mood even if he’s feeling crappy from the sickness. 🙂

Here’s a picture of the rashes, which I found on smartparenting.com.ph:

Kawawa naman, right?

Bearing the Bible

Yes, my friends, Gabby had his first stint as a Bible Bearer yesterday. 🙂

It was for the wedding of my husband’s friends, Gelo and Nancy. When Anzen told me months ago that they were getting Gabby to be part of their wedding entourage, I got so excited! I immediately started thinking of his outfit, to tell you the truth, and more importantly, where to get them.

Around two months before the wedding date, I scoured stores for baby barong tagalogs; I even went to Exclusively His (tailors) to ask how much a made-to-order barong tagalog and pants for a baby costs (a bit pricey if you’re going to have them make it). I was not able to find ready-made ones in Gabby’s size in Kultura, Sta. Lucia and Trinoma, so we eventually decided to have ones made especially for him. Exclusively His’ prices being kinda steep, we went to that haven of barongs and suits, Kamuning. 🙂

Getting Gabby measured for his outfit was a bit difficult; as you may have guessed by now, given his recent streak of stubbornness, he refused to be measured and squirmed and wriggled his way through the entire process. So it was actually quite a feat for the tailor to have been able to produce a handsomely-made, well-fitting barong tagalog and slacks for Gabby. Getting Gabby to fit the barong was an even more daunting undertaking, and it took all my pang-uuto powers to get him to wear those. I feared that I won’t be able to get him to wear it on the day itself, to be honest! At least not without much tears… 😛

The week before the wedding, he contracted colds and cough. No biggie, we can handle colds and cough. Then a bigger scare hit six days before the wedding: Gabby got sick. On Tuesday, I brought him to the doctor, who suspected tigdas hangin (baby measles or roseola infantum). By that time, I was relieved that it was not the dreaded dengue; at the same time I was wondering how long he’ll have rashes, as they haven’t even appeared yet. The good thing was that the doctor told me it wasn’t contagious, but she said the fever will last for three days, after which the rashes will appear. Tuesday is only the second day of fever, which means at the earliest the rashes will appear on Thursday. The wedding is Sunday!

On Thursday, he still had fever in the early morning. It being the fourth day of fever, I brought him back to the doctor. A few rashes have appeared on his chest and neck by then. The doctor requested CBC and PC (complete blood count and platelet count) to be sure. The results showed high platelets (not dengue, thank God!) and indications of a viral infection.

The rashes continued to appear, such that by Friday the rashes on his tummy and back looked not like mere rashes but more like a giant red welt. On Saturday morning there seemed to be not much improvement, such that we were by then getting worried that the rashes won’t disappear by Sunday. I put on a brave face for my husband, who was really getting worried, but inside I was praying all the while for God to make the rashes, on Gabby’s face at least, fade by 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. Saturday night, we noticed that the rashes on his face have started to disappear, and that they were not as red and prominent as before. Yeees!

The night before the wedding

By Sunday morning, Gabby’s face barely showed a trace of the rashes. I was so happy and so thankful! My prayers were answered. 🙂

And so it was that after lunch yesterday, we started our preparations for the wedding.

Preparing for the wedding

I got Gabby to wear his slacks and the undershirt, put hair wax on his hair to make it japorms, prepared the things we need to bring (diapers, baby wipes, changing pad, milk, water, sippy cup, food, hand sanitizer–yes, we still have to bring those! That’s why my beautiful Fino bag had diapers inside 🙂 ). Then Anzen and I got dressed, and we were ready to go! Except that we encountered traffic when we were near the church, and to save time I had to get Gabby to wear the barong inside the car, while we were stuck along Edsa corner Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard. He cooperated beautifully, and I was able to do it single-handedly. With no crying, ha (on his part or mine, hehe!)!

While he refused to walk down the aisle (Anzen had to carry him), he behaved beautifully during the ceremony. I was even laughing because once, he sat on the kneeler and scooted backwards so much he fell to the floor. Another time he was inspecting (and trying to touch, icky!) bubble gum stuck to the underside of the pew. Then there was also an instance when he kept on putting Bread Stix on Anzen’s mouth. Whenever Anzen refused, Gabby would take a bite, and offer the ever-shrinking stick to him again. This went on until he eventually ate the proffered piece by himself :).

I found out that the secret, aside from Gabby’s happy disposition and good mood that day was: sippy cup plus Bread Stix plus Egg Nog equals one happy, smiling, well-behaved, dapper baby 🙂

Bible-bearing duty

 

Eating...

 

Water!

 

Playing

 

So pogi!!!

 

Baby, Baby, Quite Contrary

I’ve always thought that, aside from the first month of relactation and the few weeks of long crying bouts which I feared was colic (but thankfully was not), I’ve had an easy time of it being a mom.

Now I think my baby’s catching up with me.

It seems that what the books are saying as the “golden age” of babyhood (roughly from 6 months to a year) is true; it is at that point that babies are most agreeable and you can get them to do everything with a smile on their face and an eagerness to try out new things.

My baby’s nearing two (he’s a year and nine months old), and I’m starting to fear the onset of the “Terrible Twos” stage. In my baby’s case, I think it’s here NOW.

Whereas before, medicine go down like milk, now there’s much struggle and shouting and crying and thrashing about and kicking Mommy which occurs (and a lot of quick tempers flaring up in the process–mine) before we finish with our daily ordeal.

Brushing of teeth is also now a battle of wills. Whereas before, I can brush his teeth how much I want to, now all tricks have to be considered to get him to open up, with the discovery that his wailing in protest is actually a GOOD thing, as I can then swoop in and clean his teeth and mouth more effectively than when he’s trying to clamp his mouth shut.

Bath time, that most enjoyable activity of his, has turned into a game of “How much can I drench Mommy today?” After giving my baby a bath, I’m so drenched I need to take a bath myself.

And how about that simple activity called nail trimming? Don’t like it? I’m starting not to like it too, baby, what with your protests and cries, except that I (and you, too, my dear) get cuts all over because of the jagged edges of your nails, which you now bite.

I don’t even want to think about the efforts I usually have to spend now just to change my baby’s diaper in a mall.

I’m not saying that it’s all bad, though. My baby’s actually the sweetest and nicest baby there ever was. At least when he’s not practicing his oppositionist tendencies on me. 🙂

Discoveries: What Not To Wear

As a mommy to a growing boy, you discover that realistically, you cannot wear everything you used to wear. It may be because of dictations of necessity, norms, and sometimes even by common sense. Nevertheless, you try to test the limits to see how far you can go, with sometimes dire consequences. Apparently, “bringing it” is a bit hard logistically when you are trying to run after a precocious toddler such as my little squirt, Gabby.

1. Heels are no longer an option. For the weekends, at least, when you are out with your family in the mall or some other place for recreation. Even if they are comfy wedges. I have no doubt that women, even those who’ve become mommies (haha) can still run in heels with the best of them. Why heels are taboo for me when taking care of my son is this: heels make it harder for me to stoop down to reach him, especially when I’m trying to get him to stop running/jumping/generally putting himself in danger of toppling over or bumping his head. He runs fast, it’s hard to keep up!

2. Short skirts also. For the same reason as above, though I don’t really wear really short skirts or dresses, at least not without leggings or tights. This is because while you may be busy toddling after your toddler, you may already be giving the world behind you a good view of your behind.

3. Shirts or blouses with wide necklines are also out. Too bad because those slouchy blouses are so in right now. However, I almost experienced last night the horror of flashing an entire restaurant with my bra, because when my little one was unable to access my breasts for milk from under my shirt, he pulled it from the top.

4. Loose blouses and shirts also. Even though they will give you a lot of freedom and comfort, it makes it very easy for your hungry baby to raise it up for milk. Let’s make it harder for him, shall we, for the benefit of our modesty? 🙂

Production Number

Once I become a mom, I got closely acquainted with the term “production number,” because that’s what pretty much everything eventually turned out to be. Check-ups with the pedia, visits to parents, going to the mall, attending birthday parties, riding airplanes and going on out-of-town trips have suddenly become a lot more complicated, time-consuming and at times, mind-boggling.

First there is the matter of the Diaper Bag.  I need for this to be filled with everything which I think I will possibly need for the specific trip and considering baby’s age and interests. The Diaper Bag, in my case, has actually gone three evolutions. First, it was this lady-like bag from Baby Couture which my best friend gave me for my birthday, when I was already pregnant with my little cutie. Said bag, sadly, lasted only a few months, probably because I practically filled it to bursting with stuff that I, as a new and inexperienced and kinda paranoid mom, thought that I would need. And I actually needed all those things, in fairness to my judgment. The second one I got from Enfant; it was your standard, run-of-the mill diaper bag. It held all that I wanted to bring, and was sturdy enough to survive it. I eventually outgrew it, so we’re on to our third, a Mickey Mouse backpack. This is perfectly suited for now, as it leaves our hands free so that we can keep both hands on our kulit baby.

Second is the issue of Time Management. I realized that planning helps a lot, since there are a lot of uncertainties when it comes to trips, whether short or long, when it involves a baby. Therefore the time for preparation for going to a party basically doubled, while preparation for an out-of-town trip, which usually would just take around a day, suddenly increased to three at the very least.

Last is that these production numbers sometimes turn out to be a Puzzle, which needs some sort of solving. It’s definitely a puzzle how to get to the doctor on time for an appointment when you have a baby who doesn’t like his medicines and it takes you an hour to get him to take it, while arranging the “schedule” for the bathroom as your husband needs to leave for work roughly the same time you need to leave for the doctor, while arranging for everyone to eat their breakfast, yaya included, while trying to make sure that you are able to pack all you need in the Diaper Bag, while trying to figure out how the heck you’re going to make it to the office later.

Being a mom, I found out, means that you have to have your eyes on all aspects of home life. It gives a whole new meaning to the term Momager. 🙂

A Wave of Nostalgia

Last night, I got one of those huge plastic lidded boxes so I can re-organize Gabby’s chest; he has accumulated a lot of clothing, and the chest is filled to bursting already. I decided to remove the clothes he has outgrown and keep them in the box, for use of any future sibling(s).

As I was moving and removing his old clothes (and I mean old, as in a year old), I smelled them, to see if they needed rewashing before being put in storage. His old clothes smelled nice and fresh, with a hint of milk. Like a newborn baby. One whiff and I was whisked back in time one and a half year ago, back when I was a newly-minted mom.

The thing which all parents have all been saying, and which I’ve already said a lot of times, hit me again: children really grow up so fast. One minute, he is this helpless-looking little thing, who can barely lift his head; next minute he’s turning over all by himself, then sitting up on his own, and learning to stand up all by himself, without any help. Pretty soon they are running around and jumping up and down all over the house, pretty much like Little Nutbrown Hare. Babies are magical, and their acquisition of skills, sometimes done all by their lonesome, is amazing. Whenever my Gabby learns a new skill, I get so happy and feel so proud, even though a lot of times all credit really goes to him because he learned those skills with hardly any assistance from me. And yet, coupled with that parental pride is a sort of sadness, for he is growing up so fast and I have a sense that I can’t keep up.

Brownout!

It’s brownout season again, because the storms and heavy rains have come at last. When you have a baby in the house, the discomfort during brownouts is magnified. Whereas before you only had to contend against your boredom and the heat due to the lack of aircon/fan, now  there is the matter of making sure that your little one is comfortable.

A couple of days ago, heavy rains coupled with scary thunder and lightning caused a power outage in our area at around 4 pm. Since the air was cool, I didn’t really have a problem about my Gabby getting too hot and sticky. But when he fell asleep at 7 pm (which was an hour earlier than his usual bedtime), I assumed my station beside him on the bed and started fanning him so that he’ll be comfortable. Mind you, it was nakakangawit, I had to stop every few minutes to rest my arms. At around 11 pm even I got too sleepy and could no longer wait for my husband to get home, so I took our Firefly rechargeable lamp and fan and placed it beside the bed to keep Gabby cool. Being cooped up in our room though, I didn’t realize that power was already back by 11 pm. Hehe.

Here’s what I learned and/or realized re coping with brownouts:

1. Always keep a stash of candles on hand, but never bring a lighted candle in bedrooms; as a safety precaution, we always limit the candle within the vicinity of the kitchen and the dining room where there aren’t any clothes or curtains which might catch fire, and where water for dousing any unexpected fire is within easy reach.

2. Have lots of batteries in various sizes on stock. I felt secure during our last bout of brownout because of this. I was able to turn on our battery-operated air pump for our aquarium and use four flashlights, with lots of batteries to spare.

3. To make life easier, get those rechargeable lamp and fan combo thingamajigs. We were able to use ours twice already, the first time being post-Ondoy, when power was out in our place for 4 days. The one we have, the Firefly one, works great, and has a good battery which does not run out of power too soon ( I can’t say the same for our Akari lamp, though).

4. I also bought, post-Ondoy, a couple of handheld battery-operated fans. I got those from the toy department of SM, actually. One of them was silent but did not give off any air; the other was a bit noisier but did its job. These come in handy especially for when you have babies or small children in the house. Now though, I could not find either of them , hence the Mommy Paypay routine.

5. Get battery-operated AM radios as well. Keeping up with the news is essential especially when there are typhoons.

6. It’s not that hard to entertain a baby and keep him occupied even during brownouts, but once nighttime sets in it’s better to get him to go to sleep ASAP. The darkened surroundings during power outages are more conducive to falls and slips since they lose their balance more easily; don’t let them loose!

The Reader

When my baby Gabby was a couple months old, his pediatrician told me to read to him. Reading to a baby will help him build up his vocabulary, get used to the spoken word, expose him to books, make reading an enjoyable experience for him, and serve as a bonding activity between parent and child. We’re also trying to get him to spend more time with books and toys rather than in front of the TV, with its associated dangers of obesity, hyperactivity, and attention deficit disorders (of course, it’s very difficult to enforce the “No TV” policy for a toddler, especially since the yaya and the manang watch “Wowowee” everyday; but we try to at least minimize TV exposure).

I think I started reading to him around his 3rd month, because that was the earliest I was able to go out and buy him a book (prior to that we were practically joined together, a lean mean breastfeeding machine 🙂 ). Since he wasn’t able to sit up yet on his own then, I used to put him on his tummy and join him on the bed while I read to him and he looked at the book. Pretty soon he was able to “memorize” the book, in that he would smile whenever I would recite phrases from the book from memory, even when we aren’t reading. The first book I got him was a Baby Einstein book, What Does Violet See: Birds and Nests. I and my husband steadily built up his library by getting him a couple of alphabet books, a shapes book, colors book, numbers books, and other activity books.

I noticed though that his favorite books are story books. He pays the longest and most attention to, and enjoys being read, story books. His favorite books are the Guess How Much I Love You books. We’re only missing the Autumn book and our collection is complete:

See how the blue book (Winter) is grubbier than the rest? It was the first one we got 🙂

Babies have short attention spans, but when it comes to these books Gabby has a pretty long attention span. Usually we’re able to read all these 4 books in one sitting, and a couple of times we read these 4 books twice. Each. And it’s not us, his parents, who make him sit and listen; he makes us read the books over and over again, to the point na kami na ang gumi-give up. LOL.

"Daddy, ulit!"

I guess what makes it enjoyable for him, and for us as well, is that we’re able to spend a comforting, cozy, quiet time together. To top it off, Gabby gets to learn a lot, and/or shows us that he is learning or understanding more.

For example, when we get to the part where the story refers to Big Nutbrown Hare’s ears, Gabby would touch his or our ears. When Little Nutbrown Hare guesses, “Water!,” he’d say “Aaahhhhh”. Or when “Big Nutbrown Hare  leaned over and kissed him good night,” we get a kiss from Gabby. Da best, right? 🙂

I just wish that he will go on to love reading even when he grows up. 🙂

“Vitamins, vitamins, vitamins…”

“…yummy yum, yummy yum ang vitamins…”

I used to sing this last year whenever I’d give my baby his daily vitamins. Initially, I’d pump some milk (maybe an ounce), then add the vitamins to the milk which I will then feed him. A couple of months later, especially when I went back to work and no longer had the luxury of pumping just for the purpose of having it mixed with vitamins, and also upon the advice of my baby’s pedia, I stopped my earlier practice and gave the vitamins to him straight via the dropper included in the bottle. I sing my made-up “Vitamins” song, too, to get him distracted enough, and I suppose also so that my baby will find our vitamin-taking ritual an enjoyable one :P.

When we had our yaya N, she took over the giving of daily vitamins to my baby. But she retained the song :). We were actually lucky, because baby was very agreeable, and took his vitamins with nary a complaint, even when there were already 2 kinds of vitamins to take. In that sense I felt like I lucked out in the baby lottery.

The next yaya was also lista enough to give the vitamins to my baby. When she left, however, her replacement is a young and inexperienced teener, who, when I asked on her first day, was not able to give the vitamins to my baby. So I said no problem, I’d just give it myself. I thought she was too young anyway to be given such a responsibility.

And that’s when I noticed that the “medicine does not go down” as easily as before. Whereas before he was very cooperative, now there was much struggle and squirming and yelling and turning away of the head before I can give him his daily vitamins. Even when I was somehow able to manage to get him to open up for the medicine dropper, he’d sort of spit it out!

The next day, I thought of changing my tactic; instead of using a medicine dropper, I mixed the two in a tiny cup, and gave it to baby. Siguro nalito, because he took the cup and drank it in two gulps (the second one with intentional spillage, though). I thought I finally found the secret, but I was mistaken, because by the third day he refused to take the vitamins by cup or by dropper. What’s worse is he cried, with real tears and everything this time! And sadly, even my song did not work anymore.

So now, that’s my new challenge: how to get my baby to take his vitamins again. This one I’m not sure how soon I’ll be able to conquer. Guess my luck already ran out. 😛