The new Tinto page

You like the new look? This momma here is quite proud of her amateurish attempts at changing html codes. It's a new year, and new developments in Tinto's little life.

Sleeping

She hates it. She almost never sleeps during the day anymore and spends her time playing, trying to climb out of the window, jump off the bed into the laundry basket, chew raisins and spit them out at people. The naughtiest thing you can think of, she's done it already. You'd think she would tire herself out by nightfall. Oh airena! Like last night. She went to bed (or pretended to) at 8pm. At 11.30pm she woke up and stood at the edge of her cot whimpering and holding her hands out to me. I picked her up and tried to put her back to bed. No can do. She cried and kept pointing to the door. Maybe she was hungry. I fixed her bottle and gave it to her. She chewed on the teat, giggled and chucked the bottle on the floor. My patience was fast waning. She pointed to the door again and said "Teti!" I said "Tinto luv, there is no Teti. Teti la e ka'a i kai". Again, "Teti!" I picked her up and we took a visit to the next room and woke up the babysitter. We all went to the front and Tinto played to her hearts content while we watched TV. "Teti" came home at 1am and we were ALL up entertaining the Tinto. She finally went to sleep at 2am. And now I'm at work with a massive headache.

Songs

She loves her music. I hope she'll be ecletic in this area. Everytime she hears a song, she'll dance in the funniest way. Her bottom moves in one direction, her tummy in the other and hands up in the air. The Tinto Hula we call it. Her grandma bought her a cd of Christian children's music. Her favorites are "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" (she claps right throughout the song), "My God loves me" and a few others. Her uncle Ilu bought her some cds of baby's classical music. It puts her right to sleep. Pulili music.

Books

She loves to read. Or being read to, rather. Her favorite times are when grandma brings out a book to read. She's got a book called "Babies" with different pictures of babies in different styles - paintings, sketches, African art and real photographs. Another book is "Dogs" (doks) and in the same kind of style. It will hopefully teach her to appreciate art and literature. She's also got one called "First Words" and each page has a different item - of clothing, fruit, cars, animals etc. They are all lifelike and she's been trying to eat the banana off the page ever since she got the book. It is a real reward reading to her and having her attention last right throughout the story. She giggles and points and looks serious. All her expressions tell us she is intelligent and like all babies, she is absorbing in the information and stimuli and helping her to grow mentally.

Other kiddies

All her life she has been around children. She has 4 cousins (all boys mind you) ages 7, 4, 2 and 8 months. They are a naughty lot which explains her naughtiness. It's excellent exposure for her, having these kids around her, and helps her to learn how to play with toys, share them with the boys, and she captures their speech intonations and it shows in the way she talks. Which is why she will definitely be a fob. Lol. The boys watch her like eagles and take care of their little "sister" very well. When Tinto goes to Siusega, there are no kids around and you can tell she gets lonely. As soon as she gets back to Malie, she literally screams with glee and can't wait to get out of my arms and get on the floor and play with her brothers.

That's all for now. Needless to say, my Tinto is really growing up. As long as her environment remains a happy one, and she knows she is loved, all is right with her little baby world.

Update for 2007

I was browsing through here and realized...OMG...I haven't posted since August!! Haha. I guess things got out of hand and Tinto took up too much of my time for me to update.

So...an update.

Tinto turned 1 on November 18, 2006. We had a nice little party at Malie with the usual family and a few friends and a few dramas and a lot of drinks. I was not too bothered with the birthday because in the long run, Tinto is only 1 and won't appreciate a thing. When she's older and can play with her friends and run around and eat ice cream and cake and get a tummy ache when it's all over, now that will be a party to remember. These 1 yr old ones are really for the benefit of the adults - getting together, having a feast and bbq etc. Tinto really doesn't care about all that. As long as at the end of the day, she has her banana and her chicken soup and her bottle, then all is right with the world. Happy burrday baby girl!!

Tinto can now stand on her own. Nope still not walking. But it doesn't faze her. She goes about her own busy, clinging on to chairs and tables and climbs up and down the stairs. Yes, DOWN the stairs. Ova le fia tuff o la'u girlfriend. We tell her "ku i luga" and she stands up on her own. Fiu e fai aku iai "WALK" ae airena. All in her own sweet time she tells us with her expression. She is 14 months, can't walk and doesn't give a damn. She'll be walking for the rest of her life, so why can't she savour the moment while she can't? Hehe.

What can she say?

"Papa" - Everyone is Papa to her. She calls her dad Papa. She calls everyone who walks by, Papa. She calls the car Papa.

"Teti" - That's Daddy and unlike Papa, this one is specifically for her Daddy.

"Dok" - She points to the dog and says "dok" in the fobbiest way. God help us.

"Gat" - The same goes with the cat. It's her favourite animal and she goes nuts seeing pictures of cats, and strokes the picture as if it were real.

"Chi Che" - This means chicken. Every time she sees a chicken, she giggles and says "chi che".

"E a?" - When someone calls her name, she says "e a?" with an attitude.

She can say a whole lot of mumbo jumbo and of course we pretend we understand. You can tell when she's complaining because she will frown and give you a tirade in gaga googoo. She has her moments, my little widdle girl.

More updates coming soon.

A bout of Pneumonia

Tino developed a fever on Saturday afternoon. All evening she was feverish and whimpering, poor baby. I wrapped her up in thick blankets to make her break out a sweat and bring her fever down. I tried wiping her down with a cold cloth but she hated it and screamed and cried until I stopped. On Sunday she was up and babbling away as usual. Then in the afternoon she became feverish again. In the evening I took her to see Dr H Peters. As was expected, he was in a rush to write the prescription without any explanation as to what was wrong with my bubba. He said she had the flu and slight pneumonia and prescribed benadryl, amoxycillin and panadol. That was it. Finished. Goodbye. No advice as to how to bring her fever down or what to do if it worsened. Stupid bastard.

Pneumonia. Scary thought of my baby catching pneumonia. The common cause of child/infant deaths. I made sure she was covered from head to toe. Her fever broke out again and her clothes were soaked in perspiration. She went to sleep at 10 pm and woke up again at 11:30 pm crying pitifully and heat emanating from every pore in her body. I quickly dunked her in cold water (while she was screaming fit to wake up everybody in Malie), dried her off and waited for her fever to subside. I gave her water, because the milk made her vomit, and she eventually went back to sleep. Poor poor baby.

Yesterday was better. She was fine all throughout the day and only became feverish once in the evening. Her cough however is bad and I rubbed baby vicks on her chest and back and wrapped a small cloth around her throat to ease the cough. She refused to have a sheet covering her and I fanned her back to sleep, while she was blabbering away and complaining all the while. This morning she was fine, though she still looks sick. Funnily enough, she hasn't lost any weight at all from her illness coz she's still eating like a pig. Lol.

Thank goodness Grandma comes back from NZ tomorrow, then she can take over. Nothing like experienced Nana to bring Tinto back to health and her normal self. Please God rid my Tinto of this illness and keep her safe in Your protection.

More steps in her little loyfe

Tinto is now 8 months and four weeks.

She's such an adorable baby (biased though I am). She's not as temperamental as she used to be. She smiles all the time and laughs at everything. She's such a soso. The way her face lights up in a grin just makes me want to cry. I love my baby very much. She has a special smile for me the moment I get home. She grins until you can't see her chinky little eyes, and kicks her legs as if she wants to fly to me. Ok so she does it to Cheeku and the babysitter and my mom, but I still feel she smiles that extra bit more for me. Hehe.

There are so many people in the house and everybody is carrying her. Although I see that she's overwhelmed at times by it, she still holds her own, and loves to be with anybody. There are moments when she sees her father and cries and won't take her eyes off him. She stops crying only when he's carrying her.

Her first tooth popped out. Yay!! You can only see the tip but my God, it's a TOOTH. Finally! She loves chewing on her chilled teething ring and won't let it go until she's gnawed the coldness out of it.

Her grand-aunty Nydia came from the Philippines and brought her a new batch of clothes. They are lovely. Thank goodness too, because she's outgrown some and others have vanished, probably stolen by the previous babysitter.

She still can't crawl. I don't think she ever will. It'll be straight to standing and then walking. Leaps and jumps, that's how my baby goes through life. She has a walker and will only go backwards in it. When I put her down to walk, she goes sideways. She's clearly going to be a rebel, that little girl of mine.

Maagao visits

Tinto visits her uncle and aunty and the kids at Maagao every weekend. This is Chee's mother's brother and his family. They love Tinto like their own. Here are a few pics of Maagao days.

Who's the maka-pintiest of them all? Moyself, Tinto & Chee at Maagao where Chee grew up.

At Mulinuu, retracing Mommy's footsteps. Lol. Tinto with cousins Mafina, Katerina and errr some other guy.

Tinto and her cousin Fina. See how tall the little rascal is now.

Tinto looking spaced out, with cuz Lina

Looking sick of the camera already. Too much limelight for one day.

Tinto is growing up

Tinto is now 7 months and 3 weeks old.

Some updates:

• How time flies. Not that it fazes her at all. She's still the same happy bubba she always was, making milestones at her own pace, but STILL toothless. Yes she still has no teeth. Not even the smallest hint of one. Babies begin to teeth between 4 and 12 months. Who knows, Tinto might get 'em all at one time.

• Yesterday we were having a chat and Cheeku spilled his drink on Tinto's dummy which was lying on the chair. I told Tinto "Look at your clumsy father. He spilled his drink on your dummy!" She started laughing. Every time I said "on your dummy" she would squeal and giggle. Cheeku was enchanted by her laugh. He tried saying it, but she just gave him the "Who are YOU" look. Hehe.

• Tinto has made a new friend. I gave her a small bright green toy telephone to play with. It's shaped like an old-style phone which you actually dial. She talks to it, shakes it, hits herself on the head with it, and dribbles as much saliva as she can onto it. As soon as she sees it, she props herself up with her hands and looks long and hard at it, willing it to come to her. After about 5 minutes, she realizes it's not going to come to her, she shouts at it. Still not reaction. A louder, longer shout. Still nothing. Puzzled, she looks at me. I pretend to be looking somewhere else. Finally, she decides that if the Mohammed is not going to come to the mountain, the mountain must come to Mohammed. She wiggles and pushes herself until she can reach it. She grabs it and then immediately throws it on the floor. She then looks at me, her pick-up person, to get it for her. She gives me a big grin when it's placed back on the bed in front of her. She's such a funny girl.

• She is now using Johnson & Johnson Baby Moisturizer after every bath because her skin is getting dry. Too many baths and too much soap is making her skin dry. She loves the feel of the cool lotion on her body. She smiles and coos every time I apply it on her.

• Her favourite game is the "Little Piggy" one with her toes. "This little piggy went to market, this little piggy went home, this little piggy had roast beef and this little piggy had none. And this little piggy (to her little toe) went wee wee wee wee all the way home." It ends with me tickling her and she loves it. As soon as I say "This little piggy", she lies still and waits for the tickles.

Finally, please pray for Leanne Jemina Wong Ling. I was reading on my friend's sister's blog about their little niece who is 2 years old and is very sick. Her bodily fluids are not functioning as they ought to, and she will eventually die. Please find time to offer prayers for this little baby girl who is suffering. I don't know you personally Leanne, but Tinto & I are sending our love and kisses and prayers to you.

She's doing push-ups!

Finally my Tinto is doing push-ups. I tell you, that girl takes her sweet time to develop. I can just hear her saying "Look. I'm just a baby. Just because other babies are doing it, doesn't mean you have to rush me! Let me enjoy my baby days while I can. Hmph!" Hehe. That's my girl.

She's been doing mini push-ups for ages, but now she's doing big ones. Ones where she gets right up off the floor and looks down at the world, saying "Who are YOU, muli boo?" This means she should be crawling soon. With Tinto, "soon" could mean tomorrow, next month, or next year. So we shall wait patiently, fingers crossed.

Tinto also has a funny smile which she started making 2 days ago. She give a big wide smile, with her mouth and eyes closed and her face all scrunched up. It's so funny. And yes, remind me to get the camera fixed!

And here's her favourite food at the moment.

Ripe bananas mashed into a pulp. She can finish a whole banana at one feed, the little piggy.

Ripe esi. She loves this too, probably because it's sweet. She also likes it cooked as supo esi.

Pumpkin. She likes it boiled and usually in a soup preferrably chicken or beef. With potato.

I cringe imagining the future, especially when she discovers McDonalds. Lol. We'll never hear the end of it.