Grubbs n Critters

September 1, 2012

3 months

Our little man has gone all pudgy. Isn’t it just amazing that all those blubber developed from just breast milk alone?

Since at about 2 to 3 weeks old, Squirt has loosely been on a Feed-Wake-Sleep routine throughout the day till about 7pm. Squirt does a lot of cat-napping during the day and to my chagrin, his used-to-be-an-hour to 2 hour catnaps have now been reduced to only 20 minutes or less! What is worrying is that at 14 weeks now, pudgy little Squirt has been showing some signs that when it comes to naps, he might just be as challenging as his little big sister.

Squirt fusses A LOT when he is due for a nap. While not as bad as Spud (yet!), very unfortunately for us, Squirt prefers to be rocked, bounced, walked and held all the time when he takes his nap. I guess we only have ourselves to blame as until about just a week ago, we never did put Squirt in his own bed during nap time. We have been pretty loose with his naps, especially so during the weekends.

Hence, we have unwittingly conditioned him to be rocked and bounced and then put him in his bouncer during the day time mainly because it was more convenient for us and a practical solution for him, given his reflux situation in the early days of his life.

Big mistake!

These days, with his reflux under control, he is showing really strong indication of refusing to go down for naps in his own bed without a massive crying session.

Squirt is still waking up several times a night. On good nights, he wakes up once for a feed. On bad nights, he has woken up, up to 5x from midnight to 6am! Times like those really do compel me to consider sleep training!

Apart from that, Squirt has got quite a chilled out temperament. When not refluxing or trying to take a nap, he is mostly all smiles and a really pleasant baby. He started laughing heartily at about 11 weeks and that just blew me away!

And oh!!! His hair. That hedgehog looking hair is just growing longer and defying gravity! Funnily enough, there was a picture of Spud sporting the same hair-do when she was about a month old!

Nonchalance, Thoughtlessness or Stupidity?

Category: Rant and Thoughts

Bangkok is generally known for not being sufficiently accessible for people with reduced mobility or other disabilities. The streets and pavements are uneven. Few buildings and public transportation system provide ramps and handrails to aid disabled access. The Sky Train (BTS) is one of the worst culprits in my opinion as they just don’t make sense. Build on two levels – ticketing on the lower, and trains on the upper, it makes access a challenge for those in wheelchairs; especially when there is only ONE escalator going up , not to mention the sheer number of steep flight of steps one has to access for those who needs to go down to the lower level! (NO escalator going down!)

That being said, it is of no surprise that moving around the city can be extremely difficult not only for disabled people, but also for parents who need to tot their kids in a stroller. (This is why baby wearingbecomes a much better alternative)

While the city has been designed as such, the display of thoughtlessness amongst the very abled Bangkok residents can be appalling. For a culture that raves compassion, kindness and empathy, I cannot seem to understand why some people choose to look the other way. Take this incident which happened to us recently:

Silver Bullet was wearing a sleeping Spud and I was carrying a backpack while pushing a stroller with a sleeping Squirt in it. Between the both of us, we struggled to get the stroller up and down several flights of steps to get to where we want to be; yet, people around us choose to pass by us as if we are inconveniencing them or they pretend that they did not see us and walked on by. Rarely would people be offering us any help.

What baffled me though was that on this particular flight of steps connecting the BTS walkway to a shopping mall, there stood a person trying to distribute her flyers to anyone who passed by her to get to the entrance of the mall. She literally was standing on a platform between 2 flights of steps, and actually saw both Silver Bullet and me struggling to carry the stroller up.

Guess what she did when we took a small breather before getting on to the second flight of steps? Instead of offering some help, with a poker face, she just handed us one of the flyers which she was distributing! Last I checked, she wasn’t blind!

That really riled me up and really was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. I was so mad that I exclaimed loudly, “Are you stupid?!”

Excuse my rant here or the lack of consideration for calling people names, but really, times like that makes me wonder if that was just sheer nonchalance, thoughtlessness or plain stupidity.

Happy Feet

Category: Random

While there are many, many, many massage shops offering foot massages available in every nook and cranny of Bangkok, there is still none other like the foot massage one can get at Dr Feet.

This is by far, the only place where my feet feel really, really happy after an hour of kneading and prodding.

It is such a shame that this place is not as easily accessible as I would like it to be. While the place is technically not too far away from where we live, traffic can be a nightmare and hours are wasted just trying to get there.

The scary bit about it is that Dr Feet is located just opposite to one of the biggest and reputable hospitals in Bangkok. It is located along a small sub-sois, and traffic can really get into a standstill way, way before one gets to the vicinity of the soi. In the bigger scale of things, it scares me to think that it would be almost impossible for anyone to get help or get to the hospital in time should there be an emergency situation given the appalling traffic condition

It is not the most convenient place to get to, but when we finally manage to haul our asses over, there really has never been just a “mediocre” massage at this place. Most often than not, I would leave the place with buckling knees, all the acupressure points underneath my feet feel relaxed and un-knotted. So relaxed, that I don’t want to ruin all that nice feeling by putting my feet on the ground. It is THE place to go for whenever I need my massage fix. And so far, no other places can be compared to the skills of the therapists in this place.I am addicted to foot massage like a druggie addicted to crack. And because I don’t do this often enough, I feel that it is such a treat to be going to

I am addicted to foot massage like a druggie addicted to crack. And because I don’t do this often enough, I feel that it is such a treat to be going to Dr. Feet!

Ahhh…! My happy, happy feet tended by one of the best in the house.