Bye Bye Lolo

Hello! I'm back again, and this time, I'm no longer DTW. In fact, I'm awake most of the day and even started sleeping through the night much to my mom's delight. I probably got tired from all the outings we had when my grandfather was here for a visit. I still think 12 days is too short for a Lolo's visit, I wish he stayed longer to spoil me some more. A golfer's arms is strong, warm and firm and I enjoyed every minute he held me. There were times he didn't put me down at all so I had most of my naps in his cozy arms. This worried my parents because I forgot all the sleep training they gave me before. haha. See below the video of my last "hele" with Lolo.


We also made time visit lots of places to see and shop. We went to see the seashore at Fisherman's table and the highest point of Wellington at the Mt. Victoria Lookout (which was freezing so it's understandable that I'm DTW again). And the last few days were spent shopping for pasalubongs to my relatives in the Philippines - to thank them for the wonderful gifts they sent thru Lolo.

While I'm writing this, Lolo is still in the plane from Melbourne. I feel very bad for Lolo because Qantas made his trip home miserable. His flight should have been 6 am so we woke up very early to bid goodbye. Only later, they told him that his flight was delayed til 10 am. Then he also got charged for 2 kilos of excess luggage. NZ is really strict with this -- in other airports, they wouldn't charge you if it's just 2-3 kilos. When he got to Sydney, he missed his connecting flight so he had to wait for the next one for 8 hours! Then they told him they misplaced his luggage but found it later on in Singapore. It's really a grueling trip for him and I feel bad because he wasn't feeling too good when he left. He had a bit of a cough and his thought-it-was-gone-long-ago ear problem was doing a Mac Arthur (I shall Return!). I just hope he reaches Manila safe and sound so he can have a good rest.

The Joy of Thumbsucking
I've recently discovered the joy of thumbsucking! Well, technically, it's not thumbsucking because I shove my whole fist inside my mouth. At first, mom and dad got worried and kept feeding me when I did this. They keep thinking I was hungry. Well, sometimes, I am but sometimes, I'm just doing it to settle myself. They refuse to give me a pacifier so I have to find a way to pacify myself, right? Well, here I am "fistsucking"...

P.S. Lately, Nel and I were discussing if we should stop Aqui from thumbsucking or just give her a pacifier because her thumb is getting chaffed from all the sucking action. After much research, we decided to let it go and leave her be because apparently, it's actually a good sign of emotional development. According to babycenter.org: "Babies generally suck their thumb to soothe themselves, which is good, because they need to learn how to rely on their own resources. The ability to regulate or control one's behavior and emotions is an important developmental challenge. When your child sucks her thumb, she's finding ways to make herself feel better without your help.

You don't have to stop your child from sucking her thumb right now. In general, thumb-sucking is more irritating to parents than it is harmful to kids. Your baby will stop when she's ready and has developed other ways of soothing herself." Read more here.