Falling asleep at Week 37

Hopefully it is the ‘Week 37’ growth spurt, for babywyx has been very cranky during her sleep time for the past week. I have always been the one carrying her to sleep since day 29 (after 4 weeks confinement), but suddenly she is all whiny and crying when I coax her to sleep. Once mommy takes over, she quietens down and is able to sleep after awhile.  That day, mommy was bathing and baby was wailing uncontrollably for at least 10 minutes. There was just nothing I could do to distract her.

Yesterday night was quite bad as well. Trust me when I said I have tried EVERYTHING to comfort her to sleep:

• Her favourite ‘magic bear’ which projects cartoon images and belts out soothing lullabies. She would stop crying and fall asleep staring at the revolving cartoon. It felt hypnotic. Switching it on ALWAYS worked. We didn’t call it ‘magic’ for no reason.
• Pacing up and down
• Sprinting around the room
• Hopping on the spot
• Standing below the aircon vent
• Changing carrying posture & position
• Talking in a calm voice asking her to rest
• Repeating the steps above, in another room
• Letting her watch youtube

So yesterday night I was on the verge of giving up and handing baby over to wifey (who was wolfing down her late dinner). Visibly baby was super sleepy cos one moment she was laying her head on my shoulder then another moment she was wincing and whining. In an attempt to drown out her cries, I started singing ‘My Bonnie’ and VOILA – baby suddenly hushed and stared at where the sounds were projected from aka my mouth. 5 seconds later, her head rested on my shoulder. Her eyes were shut. I placed her in the cot after 5 mins. There, I’ve done it.

Strange encounter... Was it due to the song choice, ‘My Bonnie’? Was it due to the frequency? Was it daddy’s soothing singing voice? Haha. Wifey said perhaps she was used to my mom singing to her to sleep.

Anything works, as long as baby sleeps well. 

How babywyx rests her cheeks on daddy's shoulder when falling asleep (taken some time ago).

EES feedback

Was one of a handful of engineers selected to give post-feedback in response to a less than satisfactory Employee Engagement Survey.

The session was arranged such that officers were encouraged to give honest feedback. Cosy sofa, lots of F&B, casual seating arrangement. It was chaired by an external consultant, and they made sure no management was present, and all feedback would be non-attributory i.e. anonymous.

It was a fruitful session with lots of productive inputs and useful insights... usual topics touching on remuneration, appraisal, audits, procurement processes etc...

Anyway, the final question to end the session was (and everyone had to say something) - if you were the CEO of this company, what would you want to implement?

My response(s):

1) Seek to dispel the myth (or is it not) of how one's career path is religiously tagged to one's CEP, which they claim can be modified to one's potential and performance - for more engaged staff

2) Attain ISO certification (9001, 14001, 18001 and the likes) - apply best practices and ensure consistency in standards

3) Introduce 1-hourly 'active lifestyle' per week - healthier bodies and social cohesion!

kthxbye.