a duk and a high-five

Jove is really getting better in controling his movements this week. He manages to roll back from his tummy, he also loves to lift his legs up high to smash the toys underneath and he grabs toys easily now. Surprisingly, he can also lift his head when he lies on his side.

The fun part, he can do a high-five. Ie Yen taught him to do it and he happily does it anytime someone requested with a "Chos yuk!". Mom taught him to nod his head gently till it touched the other person's head (who was placed near his head), "duk", to indicate that he loved the person. Jove always does this one with a wide smile, sending whoever he 'duk' to a happy heaven.

toilet training

Jove is toilet trained by mom. Being a mother in the time before the disposables, she has a staunch belief in the goodness of cloth diapers/pants. To reduce the amount of wet pants and clothes that we have to wash daily, she trained my son to pee and pass motion in the toilet.

After a month plus doing it, I'm getting better in predicting. There were some misses still, but if I'm dilligent enough, I can have days with no wet pants. If I'm lucky, I can get him to poo in the toilet too!

Now, it is usually pee after breastfeeding, then about 15 to 20 minutes after that pee again. The next one is 30 to 45 minutes after the last, depending on the weather. If he still doesn't want to pee, I usually give him plain water to drink. The trickle will come out as he drinks.

first time swimming!

We just bought the baby float the week before and I was totally excited to experience my baby's first plunge. We went with the grandparents, the grandpa wanted to swim with his grandson.

It was the first time my father ever swam in the kiddy pool of our housing estate's sport club. He went in proudly and his grandson followed. I put him in feet first, then with some talk and persuasion I lowered him down slowly till my father could grab him. He almost cried, but he didn't. After sometime, when he seemed okay, grandpa put him into the yellow baby float.

moving out

I have been staying for more than four months in my parents' house (since I was about eight and a half months pregnant). It has been fun caring a new baby with very excited (and very helpful) grandparents and three aunts. Kind of sad moving out and staying back in our own home, just the three of us with the maid. It's only me and the baby in the afternoons when the daddy is working and the maid is doing the house chores. Sepi deh.

My mom, the dearest grandma, actually cried last night, when we were about to go home. She would be alone in the afternoons now, no more cheerful squeals and smiley chubby baby.

I wondered how my grandma, Emak, felt when we moved to Jakarta in 1990. The four of us grandchildren had been staying with Emak and Kung-kung for as long as we remembered. We left the two of them alone in their house in Semarang when we moved. I did not remembered if she cried, just like my mom did yesterday, on the day we started our journey to the capital city. But she must have felt the hardest change by then. Two children and four noisy grandchildren left the house at the same time, 10 hours car drive from them. Sepi banget deh.

Mama said that in our early years in Jakarta, whenever she (or Papa) scolded or punished us for our mistakes, we would call for our grandparents (teriak-teriak Kung-kung! Emak! keras-keras gitu). When it was the time to go back to Jakarta after a month holiday in Semarang, or after a brief visit somewhere in the year, all of us would cry in the car. One time, I remembered, Mama started to cry with us too when our car left their driveway.

God, for Mama who's alone at home now, for Emak in the hospital and Kung-kung at home in Semarang, please bless them and take a good care of them.

One day, I know, there will be a time when little Jove will grow up and left the house too... by then, I hope I can have enough courage and strength to handle the situation. C'est la vie.

a wonder woman

Today my mom went back from Shanghai with my cousin and my wonderful grandmother. Grandma spent almost two months in that foreign city in a small hospital where everyone spoke a language she did not understand. She was treated unsuccessfully and went home thinner and paler than ever. She did not have the strength to stand up now because she spent all those time on the bed.

But her smile was still there. And she brought goodies for her loved ones! That was amazing. I mean, despite her suffering, she still remembered her friends, children, grandchildren, nieces, and brought them gifts. I never remembered hearing her complaining about her situation. Wincing from pain, yes, but never complaining.

Jove, you have a wonder woman as a great grandma!

shanghai, oh, shanghai

Mom went to Shanghai last night, together with grandma's caregiver, planned to stay there for a month with grandma.

Sending Emak to Shanghai has been a heated issue in the big family. Too far, could be too cold, and too foreign for Emak. Yet it could be the best place for her to be treated. Hope so.

The three of us decided to stay longer in my parents' due to this. We were supposed to move back when the little one is a month old, then my grandpa came, grandma too, then mom and dad were planning to go to China too... so we happily stayed back. Ha ha. It's so much nicer living with a lot of people who adore your chubby son. You get a lot of helping hands that way.

Anyway, I'm kind of nervous with my new job, taking care of the house, now. Hope I can do that well.

first anniversary

It's our first anniversary today. We went to take family photos and lunch with my parents and sisters since we were celebrating two events, our anniversary and Ling's cum claude graduation.

Jove was in his sleepy-blur mode during the photo taking, but fresh and awake when we were starting our lunch in Hanamasa. *sigh*

Anyway, both of us are really blessed to have this little soul so early in our marriage life. Never thought that we will have a bouncing three months old on our first anniversary! Delightful surprise? Definitely. A shocking one, though.