I do not know if it is only for red cars or anything that moves. One day, I thought of cleaning the top of our tv while little Gwen is playing nearby. When I got hold of tatay Gwen's miniature Ferrari car with 'real' Ferrari parts, I made it move going to baby Gwenks side. She was totally amazed with the car's movement. I tried doing it again, and her eyes were still following the car. When I hid it, she was looking for it.

The next day, we went to our neighbor for a little chitchat. That time our neighbor's son was playing with his miniature cars. When Gwenks saw it, her eyes glowed. They (the eyes) kept on following the little red car. So I guess, maybe its the car that she likes to look at. Maybe she wanted to have one too.

        

At five months, baby Gwenks has started exploring things around her. Exploring in the sense that she has been trying to hold anything that comes her way. Pulling my hair, my eyeglasses and even my nose is her favorite past time. at times, she would also scratch my arms or pinch my skin. She also does not want to be held already. She prefers to 'sit' on her own. Since I cannot afford the bumbo seat, I opted to buy her walker already (thanks mom for this ) The first time I placed her on the walker, she cried really loud. She wouldn't even look at it. I guess it was just wrong timing because on the second try she already liked it. She kept playing with stuff in front of her, she presses the button for a song, tiptoe to the max.

It has already been a week since I bought her walker. She has been loving it more each day. Whenever she is on her walker, she prefers to wear her shoes too. For now, she only knows how to walk backwards. I just worry that she might hit something hard while walking. Do you think it would be better if we switch to plastic knobs for our present knobs? I think this is softer compared with the present ones that we have now.

Next thing to do, child-proof the house. There are still many things that little Gwen will learn in the future. With the size of our home, it is better that we start organising soon. I don't know where to put our things now.

        

We would always want baby Gwenks to be a happy baby. We always make sure to create a happy environment for her... in addition to that, here are some more secrets on how to have a happy child.

I got this here...

7 Secrets to Raising a Happy Child

1. Let your child know you are excited to see them when they enter the room. Let them see the light dance inside your eyes when their gaze drifts into yours. Be mindful of their presence by showing them your smile and greeting them warmly. Say their name out loud. Not only do children love to hear the sound of their name, they also long to feel validation from their loved ones. Think about it from an adult perspective - wouldn’t you love it if the face of the person you loved most lit like a holiday parade every time you entered the room? Your child loves you the most, imagine the returns after a childhood filled with such affection.

2. Teach your child it’s okay to be bored. As parents, it’s often our instinct to entertain our children each and every waking hour. When we don’t possess the time or energy, it is all too easy to allow the glowing blue babysitter in the living room to do the heavy lifting. But when we rely on television, or any other form of autopilot attention, we succeed only in limiting our child’s development. Children have vivid imaginations that flourish upon nurturing. But without the opportunity to coax their creativity, it will only whither on the vine. Allow your child idle minutes to develop their creativity with hands-on activities to stimulate their thought. A few sheets of paper and a box of crayons can keep a well rounded child busy for far longer than an episode of Dora.

3. Limit your child’s media. Related, but not limited to number two. Limiting your child’s exposure to media isn’t only a positive move for promoting their creativity, it is an excellent method to broaden their attention span while grooming their ability to stay calm. Your child will have plenty of exposure to more than you want soon enough. During those precious years when you are the designer of their decisions, you must make sure they are learning to live a life independent from the over-exposure that is often too easy to rely on. Yes it is difficult, but we owe it to the next generation to search for the right road rather than the easy one.

4. Let your child know they are more important than work by giving them eye contact and attention. Your child doesn’t just need you around, they need you present. Play with your child, interact with them, find out what is important to them by asking questions and listening to their answers. Your child deserves at least a little bit of you each and every day, at least a few minutes where you are not considering your email or allowing your thoughts to wander over what’s been left sitting on your desk. Letting your child know they are important is like giving them an insulin shot of happy.

5. Let your child make a few of the rules. You don’t have to make them the boss to let them feel empowered. Often, power struggles with our children are the direct result of them feeling a loss of control. You can easily curb these instances by allowing your child to feel like they are part of making up some of the protocol. By at least appearing to give your child some of the control, you are helping them understand household law inside and out. This will lead directly to a willingness to follow.

6. Teach your child - don’t assume it’s all happening outside the house. Home schooling is every parent’s job. Whether your child attends public or private school, or receives all their schooling at home, it is essential to the world’s best future that parents are the ones to fill in the blanks. There are plenty of skills not taught in school that play a massive role in determining who your children will grow up to be. Children are not raised in tupperware, and when they finally leave us to enter the world far away from our watchful eyes, they must have the sharpened tools that will help them be the best that they can be.

7. Model appropriate behavior. In my opinion, this is the most important item on the list. Children do as they see, not as they’re told. If you want your child to be mindful of others, you must be mindful of others yourself. If you want your child to by happy, you must smile without hesitation. There is no one more influential to your child than you. At least for now.

Raising a happy child is hard work, but it is something that can and must be done.  Once you focus on the needs of your child and ensure you are doing all you can to meet them, your efforts will be rewarded. You will have a healthy and happy child, fortunate to have been raised in a family where childhood wasn’t permitted to simply fade away.

        

Look at her, this is how she looks like when she is happy... she is giggling with matching shrieks when Tatay took her picture. We were already on our way home from Pacita (we brought MIL home before we proceeded to our home).

If we only have a videocam that we can use to document her 'talks' in the morning, shrieks and shouts it would have been better.  At times, I wanted to try joining those free online auctions so that I could bid for one. I might get something from there. Anyway, as for now, we'll just be contented with our old reliable digicam. It has been with us for sometime and until now it is still documenting the 'important' milestones in our lives.

** I also have this blog where I can share and document baby's developments.

        

Finally, we are now done with baby's first sets of vaccine. Yesterday, she just got her last dose of Rotarix (an optional vaccine against the rota virus). She has already finished her DPT, Polio, HiB and one more I can't remember. I am very thankful that she was able to complete all these with minimal fee. The health center in our barangay has been very helpful in providing for our needs.

The next set of vaccine is already set on baby's 9th month (this is for the measles) but on her 6th month, we will have to go back to the center for her Vitamin A For her pedia, we will have the next vaccine on January already. This will be for chicken pox... thanks God, we can save for her birthday in between the months that we won't have to pay for her vaccines. This also means that I can be a little lax with the budget. I can add a little 'wants' on our list. No need for diet pills though, even if the liporexall review is great. As I've said, I have a natural slimming technique for now. I may just suggest it to my sister who's into taking diet pills as she has to lose weight before her grand day.

Back to the vaccines, I hope to visit the pedia on August for the monthly check-up and not in the near future. I hope the vaccines work into action. Just in time for the unpredictable rainy season.

        

She's on her 5th month already Baby Gwenks at this age is 7.3 kg and measures 26 inches. On her 5th birthday, her tatay just bought a cake and pancit for us. It was a simple celebration but the day after, Sunday, we went to Tagaytay.

We woke up early, but ended up playing on the bed for an hour. We only started dressing up around 6:00. We were at Pink Sisters' Convent by 9 am. This means that we missed the mass already so we just wrote our prayer requests. After that, we went to the Palace in the Sky at had a lot of photo opps. The little girl was so happy looking at the many people that were having their pictures taken. Good thing my brother was with us. His digicam with 4gb micro sd was really handy. It made us capture all the 'happy moments' of the little girl's first out of town trip. I just wished that we could have one too. It would be a lot fun capturing baby Gwenks' milestones.

Then we headed to Picnic Groove. We had our lunch there. As much as we wanted to stay longer, the weather didn't cooperate. I would have wanted to try the Zipline but with the rain, I decided to pass on it. We had our snack at Paseo before heading home.

It was tiring 5th month celebration but it was another first for our baby. I'll hope to share more pictures when my brother upload our pictures on the said occasion.

        

I hope everything will be okay tomorrow. Baby Gwenks is barking like a dog since last night. She also has colds with it. This is the first time that she is experiencing it and I am so deprive of sleep as she is. So far, I have just given her salinase to make her a little comfortable. I'll just text or call her pedia tomorrow to ask for help. But again, I wish that she'll feel better asap. I cannot bear to bring her to the hospital as she might be admitted. I know that it would cost us a lot if she gets confined. If only we have a Medicare supplement to help us with unexpected medical expenses.

Despite her being sick, she is still jolly and happy. She still giggles and shouts if she feels like it. She would still 'talk' with our neighbors whenever someone would past by our home.

hay... this is how it is to be a parent! I know understand why parents tend to be very protective with their children.... they suffer more.

        

She can already do 'this' and she won't stop unless you stop singing (or even after that)... At 4 months, she already does the close-open stint. I do not know if this is because I have been trying to teach her the baby sign for milk or because she was taught by her Ninong Laurence to do so.

I didn't notice that she can actually do it until I was showing her the milk sign again. She responded as if she knew what I was telling and 'acting'. If I remember it right, i started doing and teaching the milk sign to her when she was 2 months old. I was just trying to familiarize her with the movement so that she can do it when she's a little older. Then I stopped for sometime because I forgot about the signing. Now, I am into signing again.

So back to 'close-open'... This was even intensified every time her ninong would play with her. During her last check-up, her pedia saw this and she said that she is advance on this level. She said that close-open is usually made during the 8th month of the baby. I just hope that she'll be more keen on her rolling too, even if we need to install exit signs for her to follow. 

        

This is the reason why we left baby at home with MIL...

We were supposed to attend the 4:30pm mass so that we would avoid the bigger crowd. We are really afraid of the H1N1. But before going to mass, I am scheduled to have my 'much-awaited' haircut. By 3 pm, the rain started pouring really hard. I didn't change baby Gwenks' clothes yet because she might not be comfortable wearing a jacket. By 4:00, it was raining even harder. This made me decide that we shouldn't bring baby out anymore. If ever we would go out, she will have to stay behind with MIL. This is what we did by 6pm. We bade her goodbye at off we went to Balibago.

Since it rained hard, the roads were flooded and heavy traffic was everywhere. We were only able to get home by 9pm. When we arrived, she was already sleeping. MIL told us that she has been waiting for me. When we left, she kept staring at the door where we exited. She was even looking out the window every time a vehicle passes by. She would cry from time to time. MIL told her that we'll be home soon, that is why she finally slept.

Hay, my little girl is already starting to experience separation anxiety. I wish there are more people in the house so that it is easier for her to adjust whenever I have to go out without her.

With regards with my haircut, I haven't had one yet. The salon was already closing when we got there. Next time, I will also have to add acne treatments since I have them again since I had my period back.

        

The number of H1N1 patients here in the Philippines increased by 2 again. The last 2 were just a couple of people who 'mingled' with the Taiwanese who attended a wedding in Zambales. Why am I saying this? Because it makes me think twice if we should still go out on weekends. As you know, baby Gwenks hasn't completed her vaccines yet. She still has a long list for it. In fact, she will still have her last shot of rotarix by the end of June. But does this mean that we can't go to church either?

DOH's answer is to make sure that we maintain cleanliness in our environment. At home, we make sure that we always wash our hands before holding her or her stuffs. I also make sure that I clean the house very well, even if I am sooo tired. I disinfect anything that I could. Call me OA but I'd do anything to keep her away from any illness as much as possible.

May it be H1N1, dengue or mesothelioma, we should be wary. Still, prevention is better than any cure