Officially a "toddler"

Yes it is official. I'm now a toddler!

I turned 11 months old last Sunday. Just the day before I was still somewhat reluctant to stand up unassisted for longer than a few seconds, let alone taking steps forward. Why? I don't know. Perhaps I needed more confidence or, I was just trying to find the right time to surprise everyone. So as you may have guessed, the colorful walker from auntie Janine was nothing but another one of my teething toys these past couple of months. What a shame!

Yesterday evening, however, I decided that it was the right time to surprise daddy and mommy (and myself). While we were all playing together in the play yard, I grabbed onto the walker's handle and started charging forward with my first steps! Here's a short video of me demonstrating it for the second time.

Today, mommy stayed home for the afternoon. As usual, she did some work and played with me in between emails. She managed to snap a few pictures of me practicing standing up by myself. Frankly, it was quite a bit of work on my legs but I loved the challenge. In fact, it was also because of all the practice that my legs have gotten all firm and muscular.

What do we know about Lucas?

Time really flies. In a little over a month, I'll be 1 year old. It also means that I can soon officially graduate from the term "infant" to "toddler" as more likely than not, I'll be "toddling" around by then. What a cool new title huh?

The other day I saw mommy quietly jotting down some notes about someone who shares much in common with me. Here's what I recall:

Personality / Temperament

• Curious
• Persistent
• High (very high) energy
• Sociable and loves to smile
• Easy going
• Low maintenance

Favorites

• To-Do's: Bathing and splashing, looking and smiling at the mirror, practicing balance on daddy and mommy's bed, exploring corners and cracks in the house, crawling up the stairs
• Toys: Many but mostly everyday household items such as Aquaphor container, various kinds of caps, straps, cables, door stoppers, small knick-knacks, etc.
• Characters: Elmo FTW
• Food: Baby cereal (Gerber Graduates)
• Sleeping Position: Snuggling with mommy. Otherwise, on tummy in the crib.
• Amusement: Any funny noise such as nose-blowing, tsk-tsk, etc.

Least Favorites

• Places: Boosted chair or anywhere restraining and confining.
• To-Do's: Putting on clothes
• Food: Rice cereal
• Behavior: Someone snatching his toys

First Words

• Mama, Baba, DaDa, Duck Duck, Mum mum, Ya Ya

Other Observations

• Ticklish
• Very expressive
• Loves cuddling, kissing, hugging
• Enjoys variety and new stimulus (esp. all the cool stuff mommy and daddy uses, eats, etc.)
• Likes upbeat music

Milestones

• First smile: 5 weeks
• Head up on tummy: 6 weeks
• Rollover (tummy-to-back): 9 weeks
• Full neck control: 3 months
• Rollover (back-to-tummy): 5 months
• Sitting up: 6 months
• First flying experience: 6 months (Destination: Orange County)
• Crawling: 7 months (Started with army crawl, then real crawl in 4's)
• First tooth: 8 months
• Standing up: 8 months
• First words (aside from babbling): 9 months
• Walking: 10 months (Walking sideways like a crab while gripping onto something)

Those are what I can remember for now. Umm... Wonder who that person was that mommy was writing about... Wouldn't it be nice if she can introduce him/her to me as a buddy one day?

Lucas A. Lum, 10m 4wks

Like mommy, like son

Everyone says I am a spitting image of daddy. But today, I discovered one thing that I resembled mommy a lot among several other things -- We both get hives very easily! I know that trait must be from mommy's side of the family as daddy said he's never had hives all his life (Are you sure, daddy?) Now I know who will be the one I can count on to understand everything I have to go through when the same happens again (*knocking on the wood*)

It all started around 6pm today when I was happily crawling up the stairs, as usual. Nanny May first noticed I had a few red bumps on my neck and thought I got stung by some bug. She gave me a warm bath and called mommy, who was in the shuttle on her way home somewhat puzzled by everything she heard. By the time daddy got home in less than 30 minutes, my whole body pretty much swelled up with tiny red bumps everywhere. It was one of the worst and most annoying itch I have ever had in my whole 10 months of life!

Ugh, for who knew how long I was nothing but miserable. Luckily, daddy and mommy came to rescue. Daddy thought those were hives and called Uncle Scott to confirm if Benadryl would help ease the symptoms. Mommy called urgent care to ensure we didn't miss anything and that we had some next steps to follow should the Benadryl not help at all. After sipping up a small spoonful of the medicine, the hives and the itch gradually faded away. But apparently the medicine made you sleepy, so I pretty much passed out minutes after my final feeding. Mommy and daddy were delighted to see that by the time I went to bed I was already 80% back to normal. Phew! What a crazy evening!

So what was the culprit? We still don't know yet. Perhaps the strawberries? Hope not as they were delicious. Yum.

Lucas A. Lum