Baba's Field Notes

forgotten moments from parenthood by jonathan jui (@jonajooey)

6 months

The Perils of Co-sleeping – An Update

Dear Baobao,

As I had written about co-sleeping four months ago, I figured we are due for an update on this front because the situation has evolved. Namely, you’ve learned how to roll, which has complicated the situation.

The benefits to co-sleeping are all still there…it’s one of the best feelings in the world to wake up, turn our heads, and see you smiling back at us looking cute as buttons. We don’t have to shuffle that far away from the bed to get to you in the middle of night. Anddddd that’s about it.

We’re much more sleep-deprived these days and on some nights, your mom gets a little anxious about whether you’ll roll all the way over to her, sandwiching her between your fist and my breath. You always start out just fine in your crib, then with every passing hour, there’s a 50/50 chance you’ll make a roll to the left. So there have been nights where you were still in your crib, nights where you were smushed up against your mother, and nights where you were halfway in between. We have a big bed and there’s more than enough room for all three of us; the issue, or fear I should say, is waking you in the middle of the night because we shift positions or make a rustle with the sheets, and the closer you are to us, the more likely it will wake you. If you were always super easy to put back to sleep, then it’d be fine, but there have been enough nights where it would require one of us to fully wake up and focus 110% on getting you back down.

But we’ve decided to stick with the co-sleeping option. I’m not sure about your mom, but for me, it’s a lot of inertia…I can’t be bothered to break down the crib and reassemble it in the other bedroom. And it feels like we have doubled down on the co-sleeping situation by spending part of our weekend leveling your mattress with ours (lest you hang halfway off your mattress and plop down onto ours, which you have been prone to do).

Love,
Baba

The Real Truth About Weaning

Dear Baobao,

In recent weeks, meals have become a family activity as we’ve started weaning you. This means you not only sit at the table with us, but you also join everyone else in the struggle to eat as we ourselves try to find the time to eat while teaching you how to eat in general. It has been a relatively fun learning process and I’ll highlight it with my hot tips on weaning which may or may not come in handy for you in the future.

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IMG_0305Weaning has had other consequences, some better than others. I think your mother has rediscovered some fun in the kitchen as she figures out what foods for you to try next. I’ve had to start accepting that it’s just a damn messy process, which is not easy since I’m a bit OCD about staying clean and neat. There’s extra stuff for us to wash up now, and we contribute significantly to the baby product market by buying this that and whatever we think will ease you into this new phase of your life. Even Kili has also discovered a new source of food – your scraps that you knowingly and unknowingly toss aside. And of course, who can forget the poop? It’s starting to turn solid, you’re producing a lot of it (your personal best = 8 times in a day), and it stinks to the high heavens.

The most rewarding part for us when it comes to weaning you is watching you develop your own confidence and independence through the process. You’ll wave us off, pound the table when you want food, signal and reach for us when we are feeding you too slow, and want to hold your own spoon and aim it at your nose. You’ve even gone on a nursing strike in favor of drinking milk from your sippy cup, which means you’ll waste half of it spraying it back out. Sometimes it’s annoying, but it’s always very cute.

Love,
Baba

A Toy Affair

Dear Baobao,

Your mother recently accused me (in the nicest possible way) of living vicariously through you. Namely, she thinks whenever I buy a toy (which is often) and say it’s for you that I’m really just buying them for myself. I said “Noooooo…” because obviously I’m a respectable and responsible adult now. But the answer is actually both no and yes.

I do end up buying toys that I myself think are fun, cute, and appeal to my inner kid. I figure, if something would attract my inner kid to it, then it probably appeal to you too – it’s not like you give any indication for preferences at this stage, so I have to go on something! And besides, if you don’t end up liking it, then I definitely wouldn’t mind keeping it! But in all honesty, I think it would be easier to bond and get excited with you over something that excites me too.

So I thought I would list out a few of the toys I’ve been on the prowl for (and by being “on the prowl for”, I mean searching for the said item everyday on Gumtree.com, EBay.com, Google Shopping, and HotUKDeals.com in hopes of finding a good deal):

Holztiger figures 

Your mother actually pointed these out to me as cool wooden animal figurines made from all natural beech and maple wood with hand painted finishes. But I think the exact phrase she used that flipped that switch in my head “…yeah, people collect them.” And so, like Pokemon, my motto became “Gotta catch ’em all!”

If you need any indication of my short-term obsession of things, this is a good case study. As Holztiger figures are hand finished toys, they don’t come cheap; prices for one figure typically ranges between 4 and 12 GBP. I didn’t just see what they were like by buying one first, I just went ahead and sprung for nine to start. And six of them came in a monthly subscription I signed up for shortly after a second thought. On top of all that, I justified this whole purchase by managing to cut our internet bill down quite significantly although I committed us a further two years to the service.

Your mother somehow caught this clip of me putzing around with these Holztiger figures when they first arrived.

This is only slightly embarrassing to me, so take note of my high tolerance for when you bring your friends around.

Century Wings airplane models

Ever since I saw Top Gun, which was probably when I was around ten, I fell in love with fighter jets. I did my sixth grade research report on them, I rewatched Top Gun countless times, and even dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot until someone told me you had to have 20/20 vision to qualify.

Call me superficial, but I really only like the shapes and looks of three planes: the F-14 Tomcat, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, and the F-117 Stealth Nighthawk. I was dead set on getting a few more of the same diecast F-14 I currently have (an Ertl model) so we could actually reenact Top Gun, but I started trying to find more accurate diecast models and have now set my sights on a Century Wings version. At the prices they go for, I’m not sure whether you will get to play much with this one.

Grimm’s Rainbows

Another seed your mother planted in my head. In fact, she planted both this one and the Holztiger figures in the same night. They are a set of semi-circle planks of wood in eye-pleasing hues of rainbow colors, and you just build random things with it. You may not think you can do much with only curved wood, but that would just mean you’re not creative enough because I saw some pictures that proved otherwise!

This is a tough one for me because I would view it as an either-or proposition against Lego’s. You ain’t getting both because my wallet ain’t that fat. However, I haven’t yet bought anything from this brand yet, so you still have a little time to show me you really like your existing Duplo’s.

Love,
Baba