The germ factory

In addition to proficiency at being snugly and cute, babies are also great incubators of germs. Ruby just got her first cold. It started with a mild runny nose a couple of weeks ago which didn't seem to bother her at all. However, after last weekend, her snot became a lot thicker, causing her nose to be stuffed. The last several days have seen a nasty cough add itself to the list of symptoms. Overall, we've been fortunate since most of her little playgroup friends started getting sick months ago and have been sick several times already. However, we knew the good times couldn't last forever.

Shuyi and I have been fairly sickness free since childhood. I think the last time I had the flu was during my first visit back to China when I was 12. But, despite our mature, proven immune systems, inevitably, both Shuyi and I have caught whatever Ruby has been incubating. In addition being consistently exposed to her sneezes and coughs, her discomfort has also caused us less rest and sleep along with more stress and anxiety. The latter may even be the greater factor.

Ruby's stuffy nose has become the most problematic symptom, as it prevents her from being to breathe while sucking on the pacifier, which in turn, prevents her from falling asleep. It also makes it much harder to soothe her back to sleep when she wakes up in the middle of the night, which in turn, prevent yours truly from going back to bed.

Since babies aren't able to blow their own nose, the standard way to clear their sinuses is to use a nasal aspirator. Most look something like a round bulb with a syringe coming out of it (see below).



We have something similar that came in a baby first aid kit. However, we discovered that it wasn't particularly effective. After some research, we bought a NoseFrida snotsucker, which is basically like a syringe connected to a tube with a mouthpiece. You basically use your mouth to suck out their snot. Mmm. Ruby seems to enjoy it even less than the baby below.

9 months old

Last Sunday Ruby turned 9 months old! I used to look at 9-month-old babies and think that they were so grown-up and that their parents were so seasoned. And here we are on the other side.

As a baby of 9 months, Ruby has made advancements in some areas and not so much in others. Perhaps the most dramatic advancement has been in eating solids. Whereas one month ago we were acting like fools trying to elicit a momentary smile whereby we might sneak a spoonful of food past an otherwise clamped jaw only to elicit the crying and the gagging, Ruby now eats with great gusto and has been receptive to a wide variety of foods.



In the past week, she's begun to try proteins such as soft tofu and chicken. I prepare the chicken by poaching and then pureeing chicken breast and mixing an ice cube worth of chicken with about two ice cubes worth of veggies. Who knew broccoli and chicken mush could be so delicious?

Ruby has also started experimenting with Baby Puffs, which are similar to Cheerios and are meant to serve as practice for finger foods. They are supposed to dissolve on the tongue, but Ruby usually slobbers all over it before it ends up in her mouth, so it dissolves in her hand. Although messy, they seem to be a good exercise in hand-mouth coordination and mastering the pincer grasp.



Speaking of mouth-related advancements, Ruby is finally teething! She is definitely the last in her circle of friends to be toothless, but I can now feel the tippy top of one tooth through her lower gums. Teething doesn't seem to bother her too much during the day, but it might be the cause of more frequent night awakenings, which has cut into Steve's sleep.

The area in which no real progress has been made is that of mobility. Ruby still does not crawl and barely rolls. I am almost certain that she will walk before she crawls because she is nowhere close to crawling. She also has never pulled herself up to sitting, so her crib remains in the newborn position. However, she has become a very proficient sitter and can reach quite far to grab something and then sit back up. Even if you push her, she can usually regain her balance and sit back up like one of those bobble dolls.



At 9 months, we can now tell for sure that Ruby is learning and understanding things. While she can occasionally make the baby sign language sign for milk, her favorite all-purpose sign is to flap her little arms, meaning "pick me up," "I want that," and "general celebration." She also now initiates her own games of peek-a-boo by pulling something over her head, waiting a few seconds, quickly pulling it off, and waiting for me to say "peek-a-boo!"

Although it was always clear that Ruby has a sweet and happy disposition, we are now getting an even better glimpse into her personality. We can tell that Ruby is a thinker. There are often times when we can hear the wheels turning. It takes her a little bit of time to warm up to new environments, especially those that are somewhat loud and overwhelming. She will sometimes silently observe the situation for 30-45 min. before relaxing and joining in on the play. When handed a new object, she will examine it carefully for several minutes before deciding to put it into her mouth. I have yet to see her decide something is NOT good to put in her mouth.

Even though Ruby is becoming more and more like a little person, we still have many nice baby moments.



Don't grow too fast, Ruby!

Ruby signs "milk"

Broker's License

I just got my California real estate broker's license in the mail. As you can see, the certificate is rather cheap and non-official looking. I guess that's what you get in a state with a $20B+ deficit every year.

Anyways, I got the license mainly so that we could collect the buyer's agent's share of the commission when we hopefully find a good home to purchase this year in San Francisco. Real estate professionals always tell people that having an agent represent them is "free." Well, that's kinda true, but only because it's already been priced in by the seller.

For those of you unfamiliar with the business of real estate, here's how things usually work. First, the seller of a property usually enters into a listing agreement with an agent. This agreement typically stipulates that the seller will pay some percentage of the sales price as a commission to the listing agent if the property is sold within some period of time, usually 6 months (indefinite or automatically renewed listing contracts are not allowed). The listing contract also specifies that the listing broker is to share that commission with the buyer's broker. In San Francisco, the total commission paid by the seller is usually 5%, with 2.5% offered to the buyer's broker. Technically the commission is negotiable and this is actually spelled out explicitly in bold in the standard listing contract. However, in reality, almost all transactions involve the standard commission rates.

Notice that because the seller pays the entire commission to the listing broker, who is then obligated to share that commission with the buyer's broker, if the buyer does not have anyone representing them, the listing agent is entitled to the entire commission! In San Francisco, where real estate is absurdly expensive, most places we've been interested in have been around a million dollars. At that price, the buyer's agent share of the commission would be around $25,000, not exactly chump change.

So starting last October, after a failed attempt at purchasing by using a Redfin agent (they offer to rebate half of the commission that they earn by representing you back to you), I decided to work towards getting a broker's license, which would let me represent anyone (including myself) in a real estate transaction and collect the commission. People often assume that one must obtain a real estate salesperson's license first and work as a salesperson full time, for several years before being eligible to be a broker. However, in California, there is a convenient exception that allows anyone with a bachelor's degree to forgo the experience requirement. The other requirements remain, namely passing 8 "college-level" real-estate courses and a broker's exam administered by the state's department of real estate. After shelling out a few hundred dollars to some online real estate courses and maybe 100 hours of very boring reading, I finished the course requirements, and really wished they could have just waived those as well for people with PhDs.

I took the exam a few weeks ago in a testing center in Oakland. The exam itself was 200 multiple choice questions, split into 2 sessions, each 2.5 hrs long. The first session started at 8:30am and the second at 11:30am. This was quite annoying as I finished the first part in less than an hour and had to just wait around for the second part. However, at least this particular testing center (there's a total of 5 around the state) offered computer-based testing, which was nice. Scantrons and #2 pencils would have been way too reminiscent of high school. In addition, you get your results right away after you finish the second part. Nothing like instant gratification (or disappointment).

The exam is pass/fail and you just need 75% to pass. They only give you your raw score if you fail, so I don't know how close I was to not passing. However, I do know that I missed quite a few questions on the first half of the exam. That break between the first and second half presents ample opportunity to psyche yourself out. I noticed several of the other examinees were actively availing themselves of this opportunity.

Well, now that I have my license, I better put it to good use. So if any of you are intersted in buying or selling property in the bay area and have any questions, let me know. By the way, because I have not and do not plan on joining the national association of Realtors, I can't call myself a "Realtor", as it is a trademark. Given the image of Realtors these days, that's probably not a huge loss :)

Extra-curricular activities

Over the past month, we have spent our weekends chauffeurring Ruby to her various baby activities. On Saturday mornings, we go to our baby sign language class held at the local Sports Basement. One of the moms in my playgroup teaches the class. Baby sign language came about from studies showing that children raised in households with one deaf parent and one speaking parent showed increased language and communication skills. The idea is that babies are able to communicate their needs and desires long before they develop the physical dexterity to speak words. Therefore, signing alleviates the frustration during the period of time before babies are able to easily communicate through speaking.

There are lots of videos on Youtube of babies signing, and it's pretty amazing to see.



Ruby is not really doing any signs yet, although it's hard to tell if she is trying to sign milk (opening and closing the hand like milking a cow) or just grasping at imaginary air objects. On the other hand, Steve and I now have a pretty good sign language vocabulary and could carry on a rousing conversation about colors, animals, and family members. We don't know how much baby sign language will help Ruby communicate because she seems like she is a pretty vocal baby, but Ruby always has lots of fun in class.



Perhaps an indication of the kind of student Ruby will be, she always sits attentively and listens for the whole hour of class.



On Sunday mornings, Ruby has her baby swim class at the UCSF pool. The class is quite popular, so there are usually dozens of babies bobbing around in the pool, including a fellow playgroup baby and a fellow birthing class baby.



Each class involves having the babies practice swimming on their tummies and on their backs while kicking their feet. There are also several water-related sing-alongs such as Old McDonald Had a Pool and If You're Happy and You Know It, Make a Splash. It took Ruby a few classes to warm up to swimming. During the first two classes, she squished her face against my chest and hung onto my swimsuit for dear life. However, in the last few classes she has acclimated significantly and is quite happy to paddle around and kick her little feet.

With these classes and our working moms playgroup meeting every other week, our weekend schedules are always filled with baby activities. This I'm sure is indicative of how our weekends will be for many, many years to come. Long gone are the weekends of sleeping in, reality TV on Bravo, and breakfast at 3pm.

Skyping

Since Ruby was born, we have utilized Skype a lot to keep in touch with far-away family and friends. Everyone is always very excited to see Ruby through the webcam, and Ruby has learned to recognize many of her regular Skypers.

Since Skyping is not quite the same as playing with Ruby in person, people have to get creative with ways to entertain her.

They have serenaded her with exotic instruments.



And enticed her with fruits.



There is always much celebration and rejoicing at seeing Ruby.





Do you have a Skype account? If so, you can join in on the fun!

Social interactions

Ruby and I have always enjoyed her playdates with her baby friends. When it comes to babies, I say the more the cuter. In the beginning, whether or not the babies were actually aware they were playing with other humans was questionable. One of the most interesting things to see over the past couple of months has been Ruby and her friends starting to become aware of and starting to interact with one another.

One of Ruby's favorite playmates is her little boyfriend, Julien, who is only 3 days older than Ruby.



Not only are Ruby and Julien in the same playgroup, they also have weekly playdates on Wednesdays when I am at home. Ruby and Julien have been playing together since they were 3 and a half months old. In the beginning, there was not much more interaction than an occasional inadvertent kick to the face.



However, recently Ruby and Julien have embarked on the type of social interaction that will likely define the rest of their childhoods. It goes as such:

Ruby takes a toy from Julien.



Julien takes it back.



There is some swatting and pushing.





Ruby seeks assistance from Mommy.



We tell them to play nice and share.

They say, "Who, us?"