Spud started her very first swimming lesson last Saturday at the Bangkok Dolphin’s Infant Centre.

My first thought of putting her to a swimming class was what kind of diapers would she need? I mean, what if she pees or worse, poops in the pool?! Especially when her current diaper ain’t that all waterproof! A question I asked Silver Bullet of which he did not have an answer to at that time.

I guess the Baby Swimming Centre must have had dozens of questions like that before. It was of no surprise that when I asked them about it, I was told that I could easily get swimming diapers from them. Besides, (apparently!) babies don’t normally do a pooper while they are in the water. (I did not quite buy that as Spud has done a few poopers in her baby bathtub as she was being bathed at the same time).

It turned out that the swimming centre would only allow Huggies Little Swimmers diapers in their pool (this was plastered boldly on the signboard) and interestingly, we were told that we could re-use those diapers up to 2-3x! (I didn’t know that)

Given my not-so-high level of confidence when in the water, it was decided that Silver Bullet would have to pick up my slack on this one . He obviously did not mind it all. In fact, he thoroughly enjoyed the session with Spud. Spud on the other hand, seemed a little unsure if she actually liked it or not. But if she had not liked it, then she definitely did not show for it.

What struck me most was how energetic the Infant’s Swimming Instructor was. He was a bountiful of energy — he was singing, he was bouncing, he was talking, he was splashing and he was engaging with both babies and parents as well, throughout the entire time. And get this: he was doing back-to-back classes, easily for a 2 full solid hour. I reckon, he must have at least a few more classes to go after our class ended. It was like he was on a constant sugar high. Either that, or he’s got himself a lifetime supply of a supercharged, rechargeable Duracell batteries injected into him.

My juices could never have lasted that long.

I’m looking forward to the next class as I’m excited to see how Spud progresses. For now, I’m happy to watch Spud learn how to swim with her Papa from the sidelines.

I think I’ll need a little bit more confidence to get into that pool with a baby in my hands, as I don’t want to pass on my nervousness to Spud. I don’t think I’ll do her a whole lot of favour if I were to do that. In this case, she really is better off with her dad.

We did it.

All it took was less than 2 hours over one weekend in the last month to get rid of one bed in the guest room, stick a cot in there, re-arrange the furniture a little, plaster on some instant colourful pictures on the empty wall and voila! The long-awaited nursery is done.

While Spud started out in our room in her own cot when we left the hospital (frequent night nursing and new parents anxiety as main reasons), we did have every intention to move her into her own bedroom at a later stage.

And now, 5 months later, the deed is done. We think the time has come for her to get acquainted with her own room so her parents can finally have some privacy. It is also especially timely since we have been able to get her to sleep through the night sometime last month (Yay! Yay! Yay!)

Now, Spud has a room to call her own. Or should I say, now Spud finally has a room to call her own after her parents spent months and months procrastinating doing up her nursery, simply because they could not be bothered.

Actually, more my fault than Silver Bullet’s! [Silver Bullet was more excited than I was about doing up a proper nursery] In fact, I shoulder all the blame as despite the incessant nagging I got from Aunty Antsy who kept bugging me about Spud’s nursery since my 2nd trimester of pregnancy, I somehow just could not find the motivation to do it. The thought of other parents spending a lot of effort, not to mention tons of money for the baby’s nursery is beyond me. It was just  too tedious to put into action. Simply put, I just could not be bothered to start decorating the room.

But Spud’s sleeping through the night (on most nights) in the last month was a big factor to have her move out of our room. Hence, we finally got on to our arses and did it!

In fact, we both were pleasantly surprised at how well the room turned out (by our standards, of course) with such a minimalist approach to the interior design. I am really proud of our work. Proud that they were all done in record’s time! Prouder still (and dare I say) that her room actually does look and feel super cozy. It actually looks like a proper room – more proper than our boring master bedroom!

Me being the half glass empty person was initially expecting some drama from Spud with the room switch – at least in the first few days. However, I am glad to say that there were no violent meltdowns during the transition.

Apart from screaming her head off in the very first morning she woke up alone in a strange room, she has otherwise been able to act civil by falling asleep rather quickly when she was tucked in after her daily bedtime ritual. It has now been almost a month of Spud sleeping on her own, and it does seem like she is getting used to her sleeping and waking up in her own room.

Some mornings, she wakes up without a peep and when we finally enter her room, she would be on her stomach, cooing away while flashing you her brightest megawatt smile.

While it may appear kindergarten to some (I mean, what is the big deal of moving a baby to another room when she is not supposed to be in the same room in the first place, right?), for us, her moving to another room and away from us at night marked an achievement. For us, it depicted more than just baby steps – it was another milestone into parenthood. (Hey! What do you know…we grew up too! :D)

I have to say though, while we both are glad to have our privacy back, and some nights, a break from the usually broken sleeps, we, in fact do miss having her around in our room!

Strange what parenthood does to such fragile human beings like us.

Here’s a peek of our handiwork: