first haircut

T minus 72 hours


the new look
@ 1 year, 1 month and 21 days

it's not halloween, but...

up, up and away!


superman and tigger

almost 14

at over 10 kg, weight is not the only thing that karol gained. he also learned new skills and talents :)

skills include:
* walking
* climbing on and going down from sofa
* shaking his head
* turning knobs on alex's kitchen
* clapping hands
* holds a big ball with one hand

talents:
* waving be bye and saying "baba" or "papa"
* holds head ("where's your head?")
* holds hand to ear, or at least close enough ("hello karol!")
* combs hair while holding comb
* tries to hold his ear ("where's your ear?")
* makes gigil ("are you strong?")

words:
* he's not much of a talker as alex was, but he is not quiet either. likes to say "pa-cha, pa-cha, pa-cha..." repeatedly as if he's talking about something.
* most of his words sound like "baba" (referring to different things)
* "tight" means light
* "bey" means bird, he says this while looking out the window even if there are no birds.
* "bawu" is flower.
* most other words are unintelligible at this point but he has his own versions for balloon, ball, fish, among other things.
* plays peek-a-boo, hides his face ("where's karol?")

hobbies:
* walking, walking and walking
* taking out toys from alex's oven
* pulling toys (car, stroller) while walking
* carrying pillows as big as him on his back while walking
* watching (baby einstein videos, bebe tv, etc.)
* playing drums and xylophone

on walking

karol made his first steps before he turned 1. he started cruising along with the support of furnitures and familiar surroundings, until we found out that he didn't like to crawl on grass and made his own unsure steps (from previous post).

from thereon, he started walking around the living room. starting and stopping himself with help from people, furnitures, walls, etc. (see video). for a long time he was walking in even steps with one hand held but afraid of letting go.

then, at exactly 13 months and 2 days old, karol started walking without support or any promise of one. he forcibly let go of my hand and walked back and forth our hallway (video link).

now he is the unstoppable walking monster. walking around the apartment and everywhere we go. :)

one

"I AM PROUD TO BE 1!!!"

statistics (@1 yr & 2 wks)
weight: 9.66 kg
height: 76 cm
head circ.: 46 cm
chest: 46 cm

the (pa-)cute birthday pose! karol in his crib right before we left for piestany, where the skrovina family was having the usual get together, plus karol's birthday celebration. it was a simple celebration.

karol and alex enjoyed the swimming pool with daddy before lunch.

and of course there was cake,

and gifts and picture-taking...

karol is walking

the lazy walker is now walking!

he has been cruising our living room for a long time. holding on to our sofas. then after his 11th month, he started walking holding on with only one hand. and just 12 days before his birthday, he took his first 2 steps.

karol walking @ uncle svato's garden

during our visits to dunajska streda (swimming pools), we discovered that he doesn't fancy crawling on grass. our visit to uncle svato's garden surprised us. he didn't want to crawl, so then he decided to stand up and walk all by himself.

so now he can stand by himself without any support. today he was able to successfully take 6 steps before he fell on all fours. :D

way to go karol! such strong legs! :)

@ 11 months

at last, a timely post :D

after almost a year, karol had at last established some sort of a routine:
* wakes up around 6am and starts his nonstop breastfeeding until he gets fully awake
(around 7am)
* plays with ate and lola helen until 9am (sometimes snacks on piskoty)
* eats breakfast (8-grain cereal or fruit puree)
* goes to playground (loves to swing), and sleeps before lunch (quite lucky if he gets more than 30 mins of nap)
* eats his lunch (which mommy cooked) or a favorite bottled food (which i think he prefers more, very picky eater)
* drinks 7oz (210mL) of formula
* playtime and naptime (again only for around 30mins)
* snacks or goes straight for dinner (depends on his mood and what time he went to sleep)
* bathes and drinks another bottle of formula (with daddy)
* goes to sleep (he now sleeps without being rocked/breastfed. but i still have to trick him into not standing or sitting up)
* sometimes wakes up during the night, but i just need to put him back down and he falls back to sleep.
* wakes up once to feed and stays on mommy and daddy's bed until the morning.

yes, he doesn't breastfeed so much anymore :( mommy is a bit sad. but he's a big boy now.

other updates:
* screams when he doesn't get his own way :D
* likes so much to play with ate alex's kitchen toys.
* loves to play ball, and can hold it with just one hand.
* still a lazy walker.
* has now 5 visible teeth, and one more looming around.

@ 9 and 10 months @

there's only one word to describe karol at 9 months -- emotional! it was really funny how he pities himself, drooping eyes and lips, and all. screams when you take a toy a way from him or if you take him away from his target.





at 10 months, he is more active. travels around holding on to furnitures and sometimes even lets go and stands by himself for a short time. but he's a lazy walker, he prefers to crawl. it was a crazy month, what with 3 upper teeth sprouting at the same time. poor cookie! was a real cry baby.

@ 7 and 8 months @

i know! i know! i'm late! oh well, better late than never and i have a reason...

over a week after karol turned 7 months, he had his very first airplane ride :) got that right! we went home to philippines for a well deserved vacation. he also got a taste of his first beach experience. where? of course, in boracay itself!

so you see, i was kinda busy :D anyway, here are some developments:

@7 months	@8 months
*breaths like darth vader	*makes scary sound like the character in exorcist
*learned how to do "baka-bakahan," where he swings back and forth on all fours	*started crawling slowly and keeps falling off the bed
*started with solid food but was never successful at swallowing	*now gabbles up and favors cerelac-type of food over mashed veggies

of course there are more. however, it's quite hard to keep up with all of them. right now he's sprouting 2 teeth (bottom). he also started pulling up by himself and threading alongside his playpen. kids these days, why do they grow up so fast. sigh! :)

6 months

karol had a very eventful month. from rolling over to being sick and to being introduced to formula.

rolling over and other development
* just right after he turned 5 months, he started rolling over from back to tummy, but only on his left side.
* a couple of days after that, i played a game with him teaching him how to roll over from tummy to back. he started doing it by himself on the same day.
* in just a few more days, he became unstoppable. left side, right side, tummy or back. he rolls everywhere, and that's why he already fell from the bed :D
* sits with very little support. he doesn't fall forward when he doesn't try to grab things around him (which is like never) :D
* talks and opens mouth as if he's really saying something. much like a dubbed telenovela where the characters still open their mouths even after their lines were finished. (see video)
* used to try and rake the pictures on his gym. now beats everything with an open palm, and likes playing with the keyboard.
* explores and investigates things by tasting and sucking :))
* sucks his foot
* sleeps before 9pm when in a good mood. wakes up every 3-4 hours for feeding.
* birth mark (mole) appeared on the base of his left thumb. daddy found it and thought it was some dirt that didn't go away :)) (note: he also has a smaller-than-a-pea skin discoloration ("balat") on his tummy area.)

bcg shot complication
one bath time, daddy found an inflamed lymph node on his left shoulder. it quite big that it's visible to the naked eye, and another by palpation. well, at first we didn't know what they were until it was confirmed by ultrasound.

the surgical doctor told us that it might need to be surgically removed. of course we got scared. luckily, the other doctors thought otherwise. the nodes are getting smaller by themselves, although very slowly, without any medication. he still has them and we have to wait two more weeks to have it checked.

cough
unfortunately when we visited one of the hospitals there were many sick babies/kids. at least we suspected, that karol probably got some virus which caused him to cough and have a bit of phlegm.

based on research, all symptoms pointed to a croupy cough (or croup). we didn't go to doctor but just advised us to give him calcium chloride (i still don't know what for) and multivitamins. these plus humidification solved the problem. it lasted for over a week but he fought it. what a strong boy!

beba 2 h.a. (a.k.a. nan)
yesterday, we tried to introduce formula. his pedia advised to give one full meal in the morning to try it out. unfortunately, karol had a different take on it. he totally rejected it. it could be the taste, his state of sleepiness, hunger, or all of the above.

today, he's officially a mixed-fed baby. he took the formula without any problems at all, well except for the few times that he was distracted by the tv. twice he fed 60ml of formula, continued with breastmilk, and fell asleep as usual.

6 months, 3 days, and approximately 10 hours...

...after karol was born, the inevitable happened -- the first fall.

he was having his afternoon nap on our bed as usual. i closed the bedroom door so that he would not be woken up by the ever loud and playful alex. but time passed...

alex was already sleeping at that time and i was planning the next week with hubby over skype. then, i suddenly heard a loud thudding sound. i immediately knew what happened. in an instant i blurted out "karol andrej!!!" while running to the bedroom. poor karol, on his tummy, right at the corner of our bed and my side table, crying.

he was crying so hard. so hard that when i picked him up he held his breath for a few seconds. it took a lot of "fooing" to get him to breath in again. he didn't cry very long, but i found a bump on the right side of his head. and later daddy found a small purplish bruise on his lower lip. oh, those poor big lips! :(

all things considered, it turned out ok. he was a bit fussy when i was putting ice on his bump. otherwise he was back to the normal, happy and playful baby in just a few minutes.

5 months: first solid food...

some babies start to eat solid food at 4 months. alex started at 6 months. karol started with raisins just before his 5th month :))

it happened one time when alex was eating raisins. karol was playing on his tummy. i turned my back for a moment and then alex said, "mommy, karol is eating raisins!" lo and behold, i saw two very wet raisins on the mat. the ever lovable ate alex gave him of course... close call, whew!

wazzup
* very active. moves like a bug on it's back.
* reaches and grabs everything and anything, specially mommy's hair (ouch!)
* holds milk bottle on his own (with a little help :)
* sucks everything and anything, even mommy's pinky.
* more sociable than ever.
* loves to vocalize. high pitch. low pitch. choose your pick! purrs like a lion cub. gargles. makes "paulan" (razzing sound with saliva spray).

* idol si ate... laughs at alex and his eyes follow her wherever she goes.
* sometimes falls asleep by himself (even while on the play gym). but, most of the time sleeps only while comfort sucking.
* started sleeping earlier than 11pm. but, went back to waking up in the middle of the night. (so much for bragging about sleeping through the night.)

christmas at 4 months

just a few days after he turned 3 months, karol started rolling over. he did it just a few times but probably didn't fancy it. instead, he spends most of his time on his side, feasting on his fists, and turning clockwise.

since it's the holiday season, we celebrated his fourth month a couple of days later, in time for christmas. as usual, ate alex was the one to blow the candles while karol is mesmerized with the flames.

"ate, i think that's my cake!"
(behind: tita lucia, babicka and babka)

he's a very sturdy boy. it's amazing how he can already sit almost unsupported, and pull to a standing position. he actually prefers to stand than to sit :D

karol's first christmas
sitting on his early christmas present


take nth time: "mommy, i'm tired! waaaaah!!!"

christmas day with dedino, babina and babina's sister