Growing Tropical Fruit...

Some of you may have wondered why we chose "growing tropical fruit" as our url.  In the summer of 2008, we (Seth and I) spent our honeymoon in Rajasthan, India. While traveling in the northern region of Rajasthan, we ended up in a fertility temple. The temple holy man (after being offered a small sum of money) tied a piece of string around a coconut ...

and the remaining bits of string around our wrists.

This was supposed to make us fertile. We joked at the time that if we got pregnant when we got back to Switzerland, we would call the fetus "coconut" - a tropical fruit. Shortly thereafter, there was indeed a coconut which became a "Mr. Coconut" and then our wonderful little Noah. Furthermore, when we started this blog, we had already moved to Singapore and our little coconut was now growing in a tropical country. 

We also liked the word fruit because it is both a singular and a plural word which would let us expand our fruit production if we so wished. Indeed, we have recently started a new venture and are growing a little mango. We chose the name "mango" because the first time we visited Singapore, we came during mango season and found more than 11 types of mangoes at a local store (for those curious - the Mustafa Center in Little India) - those 11 types of delicious mangoes (and a few other things) made us want to move out to Singapore. Below is little mango at 11 weeks and 4 days.

Mango is currently 16 weeks old and seems to be doing great (as am I). Mango is already a stubborn little fruit - taking after his/her parents and big bro. For the 12 week scan, mango refused to position itself for the doctor to take the appropriate measurements and I had to walk for 30min and drink cup after cup of water. At last, after returning to the doc's office, we were able to get the needed measurements. At the most recent 16 week scan, mango had his/her legs closed so the doctor was unable to determine whether mango was a girl or boy. (Luckily we really do not have a preference but it would be nice to know - patience patience - the first lesson you learn with a kid - scratch that - with a fetus!) 

When mango was about 12 weeks old, we told Noah. (As background: he just had four friends who became big siblings in the last few months and he saw the moms' tummies getting bigger each week - so he has an idea of how it works.) He immediately had plenty of questions: how does the baby eat, what is mango doing in mommy's tummy, is it kicking right now, how will mango come out and will mango have its head up like Noah did (Noah was in breach position) and does mango like carrots and scones and so on and so forth. He was very excited.  Since then, he periodically (about twice a day) asks whether mango likes/dislikes something. Just this morning as we were walking to school, the sun was shining and he asked me whether mango liked the sun. Or he asks what mango is up to right now, or how the umbilical cord works or whether mango likes it when I walk around or eat certain foods. At times, he announces that mango likes blueberries or mango does not like cereal.

After we announced the good news to him, he called Aunt Suza and he was very happy to share his news. Seth then gave him a guitar (that we had received as a hand-me-down from a friend for Noah) to sing and play for the baby (and himself) and that was pretty exciting too. Since then, he has been excitedly practicing playing the guitar and singing for him/her... 

The morning after we told him about mango, Noah did not mention mango (and neither did I) so I thought that maybe he had forgotten or was just processing the idea; but as we got home he ran into my room and asked to see little mango's pictures again and to have the pictures for his room.  Shortly thereafter, he was given the green light to tell his friend Kathryn about "the baby in my mummy's tummy" and excitedly shared his news with his friend. Since then, he loves to tell friends and strangers about his baby (though surprisingly not his teachers and friends at school). It is now "his" baby (though sometimes "his baby" refers to the pretend baby in his tummy...). 

The first few weeks after he found out about Mango, Noah had me read and reread all the big sibling, new baby books (il y a une maison dans maman, Tchoupi a une petite soeur, Comment on fait les bebes...). Since we got back from Vietnam, he has seemed less interested in those books but maybe that's because he has assimilated the information? One of the books explains (in a child appropriate but factually correct way) how babies are made and how they grow in the tummy and come out. The other day, he drew what I thought was the sun (a circle with some lines coming out of it). So, I asked him and he said no, it's maman's egg and daddy's "graines" (seeds)! So then I had to explain that only one seed actually makes it into the egg so he drew another circle with one line crossing into the circle and all the other lines around it.... hmmm.  Also recently (while in a restaurant in Vietnam), he drew the following drawing:

and explained it was baby mango - looks a lot like the pictures of a 5 week old fetus with the "tuyau" as he calls it - ie the umbilical cord. 

To help make things more fun, more real and more relatable for Noah, we started a "mango calendar" - each week we write down mango's size (size of a lemon, apple, avocado...), stick a drawing of a fetus of that age (thanks babycenter!) and add a little tidbit about what mango can do this week. 

On Week 12, Noah learned that if you press on maman's tummy, mango will move. After that (and to this day), he often asks if he can make mango move and presses on my tummy and then excitedly exclaims: "I made mango move!". 

On week 13, Noah learned that if you press on maman's tummy, mango will start sucking. He has not seemed as excited about this tidbit.

On Week 14, Noah was very amused and befuddled to learn that mango was now peeing in maman's tummy. This information led to many many more questions, what happens to the pee? Does mango also poop in maman's tummy? Does mango drink its pee? Now every once in a while, he exclaims out of the blue, "mango just peed in maman's tummy!".

On Week 15, Noah learned that if you shine a flashlight or bright light towards maman's tummy, mango will perceive and recoil from it. Of course, since then, he wants to shine lights on my stomach and gleefully announces that mango saw his light and moved away from it.

On Week 16, Noah learned that mango started hearing maman's voice. This piece of information did not seem to impress him much. He was just sad that mango does not hear his voice yet. He tried singing mango a song and asking if mango heard it...

I am not sure he has fully understood the calendar timeline though. Around Week 14, he asked if mango was coming out just after our Vietnam trip (ie around week 16) - I guess waiting 5 months is a long long time for a little kid. All in all though, the calendar has been a success. Noah looks forward to the new entries and it gives him some information and little ways to interact with mango. 

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that mango will need a bed and told Noah he could decide whether he wanted to give his bed to mango and we would buy him a big boy bed or whether we should buy mango another bed like his. He got very excited and explained that he wanted mango to have his bed and wanted mango to sleep in his room... we will see how this all works out when mango is born but I will take it as a good sign for now.

Also, Mango got his/her first present (a plush toy - thank you Petra). Noah graciously agreed to keep it in his room, in a safe place where he can see it but not touch it. He was very cute about it and very big brotherly about keeping it safe for his little mango.

Below are a few pictures we took a few days ago... (tummy definitely "grew" much faster this time than with the little coconut).

In our condo.

Noah showing off his tummy with "his baby" in it.