Juan Or's Experiments with Cause and Effect

Baby books in bookstores often mention about baby learning about cause and effect through their play sessions. Examples cited on cause and effect are usually noisy toys (e.g. squeaky duck), shaking a rattle, pressing buttons on simple toys to make sounds or a face pop up, knocking down a tower of plastic blocks, and swiping at a roly-poly doll that rights itself after being pushed over. However, Mommy thinks that these examples are fairly common and very 'decent'. Here are some true and daring incidents that Mommy experiences with Juan Or which Mommy thinks are worthy ideas or examples to be cited in baby books:


Cause: Juan Or lowering his head (by gravitational force) onto a hard surface.
Effect: Painful head and Juan Or cries,"Waaaaa-aaaaaa......."
Post-cause-and-effect: Juan Or lowers his head slowly and steadily whenever lying on hard surface.


Cause: Juan Or grabbing and pulling on Mommy's hair.
Effect: Mommy yells,"Ooouuucchh......."
Post-cause-and-effect: Juan Or continues grabbing and pulling on Mommy's hair just to hear her say,"Ooouuucchh" and ends with a mischievous grin on his face.


Cause: Juan Or's little fingers grab, pull and twist Mommy's nipples (after breastfeeding).
Effect: Mommy yells,"Aaawwww......"
Post-cause-and-effect: Juan Or continues grabbing, pulling and twisting Mommy's nipples just to hear her say,"Aaawwww...." again and ends with a mischievious grin on his face.


Lessons in cause and effect in the 'B's world......

"Don't leave me out for kai-kai!"

It was 8 pm already, and Tardek (3rd Uncle), Tarnin (3rd Aunty) and Cousin were getting ready to get into their car to go back to their house. On the other hand, Grandpa, Grandma and Jidek (2nd Uncle) also got up to go send them off. But Mommy remained inside the house with Juan Or. On seeing almost everyone shuffling about and heading out of the house, Juan Or started making his loud fretful sound as if to say,"Where is everyone going? Are you not taking me out too? Don't leave me out for kai-kai (outing)!"

On seeing Juan Or's antics, Jidek started his car and with Grandma holding Juan Or in her arms and Mommy tagging along, all went for a short night joyride round the Taman Bukit Intan neighbourhood. Once back home, Juan Or was quiet and contented. So, looks like Mommy's boy is a kai-kai boy, huh?

Tender Moments with Mommy

Juan Or woke up at 1.40 am. After Mommy had breastfed him, Juan Or still refused to go to sleep and wanted to play. So Mommy took Juan Or downstairs to the hall, laid out the folding mattress and then surrounded the mattress with pillows and sofa cushions as barricade. However, Mommy kept the hall dark. The only light source was the light from the stairs, just enough to maintain visibility, yet dark enough to signify to Juan Or that now was not the proper time to play. Next, Mommy offered Juan or his toys: the spider, fire engine, the broken (but usable) rattle and the teether (borrowed from his cousin). After playing for some time, Juan Or seemed bored. So Mommy laid him on his back and blew raspberries on his tummy. And Juan Or smiled for the first time since Mommy took him back from the babysitter. Mommy felt good to see his sweet smile again. The babysitter reported that Juan Or had crying spells throughout the day. Mommy looked tenderly into his eyes, and Juan Or continued smiling as Mommy tickle his armpits and sides. And Juan Or looked into Mommy's eyes with tenderly love. How sweet......

Go 'Kai-kai'

It was night already. Mommy's car was only a quarter tank full and so urgently needed a petrol refill. Moreover, Mommy's car did not move at all for the day. So Mommy suggested to Papa to take Mommy's car out for petrol refill and at the same time be a joyride for Juan Or and Mommy.


So after dinner, Mommy clapped hands towards Juan Or to gesture to him that Mommy wanted to carry him. At the same time, Papa signalled to Juan Or's Second Uncle (Jidek) to reverse his car to make way for Mommy's car. So Jidek made way to the door. On seeing that, Juan Or (in his baby walker) quickly chased after Jidek, thinking that Jidek would be the one bringing him for kai-kai (outing). When Mommy told Juan Or that Papa and Mommy would be taking him out for kai-kai, Juan Or seemed to pay no heed. Huh, Juan Or is not convinced!? Just because Jidek was standing out of the house, and Papa and Mommy still on the inside meant that Jidek will be taking Juan Or for kai-kai? Mommy's dear little 'B'....so naive and innocent....and simple-minded. After all, Juan Or is just a little baby.

Another Primitive Crawling Session

Yesterday, Mommy persuaded Juan Or to do his primitive crawling by hooting the horn on his baby walker. Indeed, he crawled, but not for long.....turned out that Juan Or wasn't too keen on the horn sound after all.

And Juan Or said,"I am the 'B'!"

Primitive Crawling

Today Mommy managed to capture Juan Or's second step in crawling. Mommy would prefer to term it as "primitive crawling". (The first step in crawling where Juan Or merely turned round amd round on his tummy was detailed in the posting "Prelude to Crawling".) Actually Juan Or started his primitive crawling two days ago, but Mommy was not prepared with the handphone video camera. And by the time Mommy was ready to capture, Juan Or didn't want to show his act again. What a waste! Then yesterday, the babysitter told Mommy that Juan Or 'crawled' to chase her as she was walking to the kitchen. Today, luckily Mommy had the handphone ready within reach and captured Juan Or 'crawling' towards his baby walker. More crawls to come for Juan Or! Woo-hoo!

And Juan Or says,"Yay!"

Grumpy Baby!

Mommy was browsing photos from the micro SD card in Mommy's handphone and stumbled upon this photo showing Juan Or having a grumpy moment. Judging from the background setting of this photo, Mommy identified this photo as taken when Juan Or went window shopping with Papa and Mommy, sitted in his stroller and probably fretting to get his sleep.

All I Want for Christmas is.....

Mommy knows now is a bit too late to sing "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" considering that Chinese New Year is just one week plus ahead.....

But Mommy can't help having this two-front-teeth Christmas tune running in Mommy's head whenever Mommy sees this photo of Juan Or:

Some more smiley photos:

Juan Or giving the naughty look with the sly smile....

And finally, Juan Or on a more serious note.....

Wanna Follow Mommy to Work?

Mommy was rushing off to work after a quick breastfeeding session with Juan Or. Luckily for UCSI's flexi-working-hour policy, Mommy need not neccessarily log in into office at 8 am sharp. So, Mommy quickly put Juan Or into his baby walker, grabbed Mommy's laptop, handbag and breastpump set and stepped out of the house to get into the car. Then Papa said that Juan Or was chasing Mommy on his baby walker! So Mommy quickly turned back to glance at Juan Or. By then, Juan Or was already in Papa's arms. Mommy asked,"Juan Or, want to follow Mama to work or not?" Surprisingly enough, Juan Or gave Mommy a shy smile and shook his head from side to side as if to say,"No, no, no, no, no." How cute! Baby also know how to say no?

Reaching Out

Take a look at this playful baby reaching out to hold something beyond his reach!


The first video shows how Juan Or slanted his body and legs within the confines of his baby walker in order to grab hold of his Great-grandmother's walking stick (but he still didn't manage to because the walking stick was intentionally placed far inside). This clip was taken yesterday.

(Hmmmh.....smart boy! Looks like Juan Or already has an idea how to maximize his length or reach within a confined space.)

Here's the second video clip taken today showing how Juan Or reached out to grab the strap of his baby carrier bag. Ohhh....this baby just loves to play! And look at his cheeky and naughty face! Mommy was already so sleepy when this video was taken. It was very late at night and Juan Or still hadn't shown any sign of sleepiness.

More naughty boy poses:

Juan Or the Rattle Destroyer

When you have a baby at home, you can stop thinking about buying nice, scratch-free furniture. Why? Because a baby will hold on to any object he or she can reach and then whack it hard against the furniture. The result? A piece of furniture full of scratches. The by-result? Probably a broken object. In this case, (if you see carefully), Juan Or's rattle's internal fitting was already broken and discarded. What's left is just the rattle's frame (which Mommy thinks won't last that long either judging by the amount of energy that Juan Or has).

Prelude to Crawling

Juan Or is indicating that he is starting to learn to crawl! Watch him as he goes on his tummy, arms supporting his upper body, and both hands and legs helping him to navigate 360 degrees on the floor! Some 'primitive' form of crawling, eh?

Mommy Reprimanding Juan Or

Mommy had just finished breastfeeding Juan Or at about 8-plus pm. Juan Or also indicated that he has had enough of breastmilk by doing his usual protest cry. So Mommy put him onto the bouncinette so that all of us (Papa, Mommy and Juan Or) could watch TV together. Just barely 5 minutes into watching TV, Juan Or started making his 'grumpy' sound - the kind of sound preceding a cry. Mommy knows Juan Or usually makes this kind of sound when he doesn't want to stay in Papa and Mommy's bedroom and wants to go downstairs to play on his baby walker. But Mommy was reluctant to go downstairs because Mommy just came from downstairs some 10 minutes ago. But Juan Or's 'grumpy' sound became more and more intense. Mommy got fed up and reprimanded him,"NAUGHTY BOY! Huh, behaving like a spoilt child, ah? Can't you suit to situation? Everything must go your way, ah?" Immediately, Juan Or quiet down. Then, he crinched up his face in displeasure and then gave Mommy a long, dull look on the face. Mommy knew that the reprimand was taking effect on him and Mommy secretly glanced at Papa about Juan Or's reaction. So looks like Juan Or can understand spoken language, but most importantly he can sense anger in Mommy's voice and react appropriately. Deep down inside Mommy' s heart, Mommy foresees Juan Or is a good and obedient boy, of course with minor misbehaviour from time to time, but is able to listen and respond positively when disciplined.

Knowing that Juan Or acknowledged Mommy's displeasure, Mommy felt a little bad for reprimanding him. But Mommy had to do it otherwise Juan Or may end up growing into a little rascal. So Mommy tenderly patted and swiped his hair. As Juan Or was biting his toy giraffe, he kept on turning his head to look at Mommy. Was Juan Or afraid Mommy doesn't love him anymore? So he kept on turning his head towards Mommy to get the assurance that Mommy still loves him? Mommy wonders.

Kickin' Hard!

Was Juan Or a fighter or warrior in his past life? Mommy wonders. Juan Or just loves to kick on hard surfaces, especially when he is excited. And pain he does not know. Mommy tried putting her leg out for Juan Or to kick and it was really painful! Mommy wonders whether there is any pain nerve cells on Juan Or's feet or not? Otherwise, how come Juan Or doesn't feel any pain!?

Juan Or and the Giraffe Hand Puppet

Mommy bought two hand puppets for Juan Or long before he was born. Mommy reckon the hand puppets will be useful later on to entertain this little 'B'. These hand puppets are a giraffe and a lion, tagged as "Nici" brand (but Mommy thinks it's imitation), bought from a tenant in Endah Parade. Each costs RM15.

(Looks like characters from Madagascar, huh!?)

Previously, when Juan Or was a few weeks old, Mommy showed Juan Or the giraffe hand puppet. No reaction from Juan Or. So looks like Juan Or was still too young to appreciate soft toys.

Today, Mommy slipped on the giraffe hand puppet again and played it for Juan Or. Mommy made the giraffe dance to the tune of "Itsy-bitsy-spider". Look at how Juan Or squeal with delight and laughter!

Sitting Up

This short video was taken when Juan Or was 7-and-a-half months old and that was the time when Juan Or was able to sit up unaided for quite a substantial amount of time. Look at how Juan Or smiled at Mommy and how his attention shifted temporarily to his Second Uncle (Jidek in yellow T-shirt) calling out to him and finally to his Papa.