A Baby's (Not Mine) Day Out

Last weekend I invited my driver Iwan and his wife Ida to visit the museum in Palembang. Iwan did ask me whether it is ok to bring along a 6 month old baby and I agreed. He told me that this baby belongs to Ida's aunt who has 7 children. Every weekend Iwan and Ida will babysit the 6-month-old boy overnight. Iwan said that that baby is very easy to handle and does not REWEL (make a fuss).

I was also anxious to see how a 6 month old would not make a fuss if taken out for a day.


The baby's name is Satria (aka warrior). The couple dressed him up in a thick furry jacket on that hot Sunday morning. Satria also had a singlet covered by a red and white shirt. Iwan was dressed in black (2 layers) while Ida was in tudung (head dress) plus a jacket. I could not understand why they mentioned that they are afraid to catch a cold in this hot weather!


We spent approximately 2 hours visiting 2 different museums at the Ampera bridge area (both within walking distance). They fed the baby milk in a bottle (mixing sachets of milk powder with normal temp water). Satria did not make a lot of noise, only soft grunts and burps. He does not like to wear shoes. So he often kicks his shoes off.

After the museum, they smelt something foul but realized that they did not bring any spare nappies! Iwan said, "he normally poops in the afternoon". It shows that they still need some training before they get to know how to handle babies...Scout's motto, "Always be prepared"!.....LOL!

Therefore, we had to drive to a sundry shop to buy PAMPERS for Satria. Nappies in Bahasa Indonesia are called Pampers irregardless of whether it is Pampers brand or not. After Satria was cleaned up in a public toilet nearby, we headed out for lunch.

I took them to the famous MI CELOR stall in Palembang. Mi Celor is a noodle dish with thick coconut gravy. Iwan held Satria with one hand at the side but the baby kept wanting to pull the plates and spoons from the table. In the end, I finished up my mi celor quickly and temporarily baby sit Satria while the 2 dug into their noodles.

After lunch, we headed home. The A/C in the car was so comfortable that Satria fell asleep. As you can see from the photo, his arms were bent like a bow facing upwards as he snoozed throughout the way home.

It was an interesting day out for us. Not so much of the contents inside the museum but because a 6 month old baby was tagging along. The weekend stay for the baby should serve as good practice for Iwan and Ida but I warned them not to expect the same of their own newborn when Ida delivers sometime in March next year. Every baby is different.

Until now I still have Blog formatting problems: everytime I insert photos, my formatting will get screwed up. I have looked in the FAQ sections of Blogger but could not find a good solution for my formatting problems yet. If you have any ideas on how to resolve it, please let me know.