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What drama did Elena drum up? Well, she threw such a temper tantrum that I really didn’t know what to do! The thing about my daughter is that once she’s upset, she’ll remain upset for a long time…and the funniest thing is that she’ll cry, then stop crying, then suddenly remember that she’s supposed to be upset, then start crying again… Anyways, she cried because she was hungry, then after drinking, she cried because her diaper was wet, then after I changed her diaper, she cried because she wanted to be burped, and then finally, she cried because she wanted to go to sleep. I swear I’ve never been so glad to see my mum walk through the door (my mum was out that day…she’s able to pacify Elena a lot better than me)

The highlight of the week, however, was Elena’s first jaunt into her swimming pool. Yes, you read correctly. Her swimming pool. Hubby’s friend recommended a baby pool and float that his youngest daughter is currently using, and hubby wanted to get one for Elena. We searched high and low in Toys’R’Us but couldn’t find it until I unexpectedly stumbled across the last box at Babyland. The pool isn’t really huge (in diameter), but its quite deep (deep enough for me to climb in for a soak!) and it took us ages and ages to fill it up with water.

I was abit apprehensive about putting her in…what if she sinks? What if she swallows water? What if she catches a cold after? What if this and what if that? All my fears were unfounded though…she took to the water like a little duckling! She looked so cute in the neck float, and once she got over the initial surprise of having something around her neck and being placed in a warm tub of water, she started moving her hands and legs and made little rounds in her pool! And best of all, she slept so peacefully after that!

Speaking of sleep, I had to undergo another round of 4am poo clean-up two days after the first incident. However, nothing could beat what happened on Monday morning though! I woke up to find Elena lying on her diaper-changing mat on my mom’s bed, which had all its sheets stripped. What happened? Well, apparently, she poo-ed so much when my mom was carrying her during a morning feed that it overflowed her diapers, dripped onto my mom’s pants AND the bed sheets! While I was asleep, a flurry of activity went on in my mom’s room as my parents sought to find a way to clean her up without dirtying anymore surfaces as she had poo smeared all over her back. What a big hoo-hah indeed!

On Wednesday, we brought her to the paed for another round of vaccinations. This time, it’s the 5-in-1 on her right thigh, pneumococcal on her left thigh, and rotavirus via oral medication. Our girl was really steady…she cried in pain when the needles went in, but was a-OK soon after! So proud of her! I had my usual long list of questions to ask the paed (constant blocked nose, she spits up pretty often, the tiny whiteheads on her face, loose stools etc.) and was relieved to hear that everything was ok and there’s nothing to worry about (blocked nose is normal as baby’s nostrils are very narrow, spit up is also normal, tiny whiteheads will disappear in time, loose stools are actually normal breastfed baby’s stools). In fact, her development and growth is right on track, and if we consider her corrected age (she should only be 6 weeks old if she was born on time), she’s actually ahead!

And what new ‘tricks’ has she ‘learnt’ this week?

1. She loves sleeping with her hands and legs spread out wide. She sleeps on our bed at night because I breastfeed her, and one night, after she finished a feed, she used her hand to smack me repeatedly on my chest. When I moved away, she spread her hands out wide and proceeded to fall asleep. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry…I was curled up at the corner of the bed while my little girl took up at least half the bed!!

2. She’s one curious cat, always looking around with her big eyes at everything. This makes it extremely difficult for us to carry her in the burping position as her head would loll around somewhat unsteadily. Even though I’ve tried to avoid letting her head bump onto me, to date, she has hit her head on my chin several times as her movements are pretty quick. And speaking of cats, she absolutely loves rubbing her face on my body. I have no idea why! She takes me as her personal serviette…wiping her mouth, cheeks and eyes on my shoulder, arms, tummy, etc.

3. Drama queen alert! She really knows how to milk our sympathy for all its worth…after we’ve calmed her down when she has had a crying fit (she’s hungry, sleepy, dirty, or just unhappy with the world in general… ), she’ll make little sniff-sniff or whimpering noises for quite some time after that as if to remind us that she’s still unhappy.

4. The other day, I was trying to coax her to finish the last 1oz of milk in her bottle. She tried avoiding the teat, but because I kept following her mouth, she finally sucked it in, but clamped down on it hard with her gums. I kept talking to her and cajoling her, and finally, she gave a huge sigh and started sucking. Of course, I started praising her for being such a good girl. It was only after a while before I realized that the tissue I was holding against her mouth was getting pretty wet…you know what this girl did? From my view, it looked as if she was obediently drinking her milk, but from the other side of her mouth, she was letting all the milk trickle out. And she just stared at me with her innocent eyes as if she didn’t do anything wrong! *faints*

5. She has perfected the art of using her eyes to convey her emotions. She gives us winks when she’s happy, rolls her eyes when she thinks we’re being silly, gives us slitty sidelong glances from the side of her eyes when she’s displeased with something we said. And yes, I’ve been the recipient of those sideway glances far too many times!

Oh, and she now weighs 4.9kgs…that’s more than double her birthweight!