Another Banana

That day, Sze Yi and Sze Juin were talking to each other about something, I can't really recall. Then when Sze Juin mumbled something in Mandarin, Sze Yi didn't quite get it and told her sister, "Don't say in Chinese, pls say in English". But of course Sze Juin don't know what she meant and continued saying in Mandarin.

And Sze Yi kept asking her sister to repeat that in English. Hubby then chipped in, "Why, you're not Chinese? Why have to say in English?"

Sze Yi replied, "No, I'm English".

Daddy's first thought was, "Gosh, another banana like Mommy!" (LOL!)

Honestly, I've seen many scenarios where Sze Yi requested us to repeat what we said in English, like the colors, etc... because she didn't know how to say that in Mandarin. And it's funny to hear her say things in Mandarin at times, her slang was like an Amoh trying to speak Mandarin!

Sigh, and we planned to send her to a Chinese school later...

When A 20-month Old Spice Up Her Vocab...

Recently, Sze Juin picked up a lot of slangs in her vocab. Some, I'm not sure where she picked that up from, like Mommy ah... Daddy ah.. etc (which she kept saying sometime in Dec last year), but obviously the rest were from her sister. For the past few weeks, she added 'lo' and 'lah' into her vocabulary as well. It's funny when you hear a 20-month old speaking words like "bu yau la (don't want la)", "mei you la (don't have la)", "no lah", mommy lai lah (mommy come la)", "sorry lo!", etc.

There's a funny incident that happened last night. She was very excited and it's hard to put her to sleep. She stood on the bed, folded both arms, and kept saying, "Angry!". When I paid no attention to her, she called her Daddy, "Daddy, Ni Kan... Angry!" (Daddy, you see.. Angry!). Then, she lay down with her butts facing up, put both her hands at the side of her face, and imitated her Jie Jie sulking pose, while swinging both her legs in the air (her knees touching the bed). I wished I had taken a video so it saved me all these description. Anyway, she sulked there for awhile, and when nobody entertained her, she suddenly said, "Sorry lo!".

That went on for awhile, so I took Sze Yi out with me to sleep in another room, since Sze Juin was disturbing her Jie Jie from falling into sleep. But I heard her disturbing her Daddy from the other room, and when Daddy didn't response, she called out, loud and clear, "Boy! Sorry lo!". If you've read this post earlier, you'll know why she called her Daddy Boy :) And that's the first time I heard her called him that too.

I can sing

Can you guess what my first song is?

Clue – it’s very close to my first sentence!

Bingo! Yes, my first song is Ke Ren Lai (in Mandarin). It goes like this:

Ke Ren Lai,
Kan Ba Ba,
Ba ba bu zai jia
Wo qing ke ren xian zhuo xia
zai jing yi bei cha!

I can sing the whole song on my own already. And I’m now moving on the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (which was Jie Jie’s first song). But I sang it differently. How? Yes, in Mandarin :)

Yi san yi san liang jing jing,
Man tian dou shi xiao xing xing
Kua zai tian kong fang guang ming
Hao xiang xu duo xiao yan jing

Yi san yi san liang jing jing,
Man tian dou shi xiao xing xing

A Night of Discoveries

Yeah, and it's mostly related to SJ too. It happened that I was home alone with SJ last night, for a few hours. Well, I was taken aback by the things she said and did, all out of the blue and the least within my expectation.

1. She called me Irene!

2. She pronounced her name correctly, Juin Juin! That was the first time I heard her saying her name, and it came out very clearly too. Unlike when her Jie Jie pronounced it, Jun Jun, or Ji Jin :)

3. I was searching for her nappy cloth that I brought back from the babysitter's place, and I asked myself aloud, "Where did Mommy put that cloth?" And I heard her answered me, "I don't know".

4. Her electronic toolbench toy was out of order, no more battery. So I told her to give me some time to put the batteries in. However, this little girl went to take another battery-operated mini piano, took out the battery from there and passed me that!

5. She requested for milk in the bottle, but after I made for her, she didn't want to drink it. Instead, she kept looking at the measurement scale and started counting, three, four, five! Haha, before that, she's been counting 1,2,3, and that night, she surprised me with 3,4,5 out of the blue :)

Story Time

Sze Yi had been requesting stories from us since she was small. Last time it used to be Cinderella, Ali Baba, etc… but now they were no longer constrained to fairytales. She would say, “I want the policeman story!”. Or Mommy’s stories, or Yi Yi’s stories, or the story of the lost buttons, or this curtain’s story, or the story about the Monster that went to school (RS), etc… Mostly, it’s on things around her, or whatever that came to her mind. She even requested me to tell her stories about my car’s wiper! She normally asked for stories when we’re in the car, or when she’s trying to sleep. Ah, boy was I glad that she's slowly getting over this habit now!

Sometimes she would request for stories that we’re all familiar with, for instance, Pinocchio, or the Goldilocks and the Three Bears. But mind you, the storyline would need to be modified. Either the main characters changed, or the storyline would be twisted here and there, and once she liked that, I’ll have to repeat again and again and again for several times before she finally let me go. So, it’s normally very exhausting and I dreaded it when she asked me for stories.

Then one day, I heard her telling one of the stories to her cousin Sarah. It was Mommy’s story, and she was telling her cousin how she was born. I couldn’t stop laughing when she said Mommy didn’t want her tummy to be cut, but Daddy told her that she had to, if not Sze Yi couldn’t come out! LOL! Hmm... maybe (and hopefully) she'll tell me stories next time instead of me telling her!

Negaraku

A few days ago, Hubby was asking me if I still remember how to sing the Negaraku. I thought I've memorized that by heart, but when I tried to sing our national anthem, I realized I had forgotten a few words here and there. We both laughed about it, giving ourselves the excuse that it had been years since we're asked to sing it every week in school last time.

Now, one day after picking SY from school, she started to sing the Negaraku. I was a bit shocked because I never expected her to know it by heart. Now, that brings back my memory of the those missing lyrics.... thanks to my little girl!

When a Child Speaks...

As my little girl is growing up, I was rather taken aback when I heard her expressions at times. Here are some of the things that took me by surprise - I wonder where she learnt all this!

Scenario 1:
One day, Sze Yi was trying to piece her alphabets and numbers on her drawing board. Halfway thru, I asked her to brush her teeth so that I could prepare her for bed. She followed me to the bathroom after much persuasion. That time, Sze Juin was eagerly trying to have her hands on the alphabets too. So when she saw her sister went away, she quickly went there to play with the alphabets. Sze Yi quickly rushed over, trying to prevent SJ from messing her stuffs. She succeeded, and then I heard her say, "Phew, that is close!"


Scenario 2:
SY was reciting the 三字经 with Daddy last night. They went until very far, even Daddy was very impressed. Of course being a banana, Mommy didn't know what's going on. Then I heard her said, "Daddy, let's stop for a while. My mouth want to rest now." LOL! Daddy was speechless!


Scenario 3:
Hubby was showing SY our wedding photo presentations that I did last time. She was very excited and kept asking a lot of questions, "Why Mommy and Daddy posed like that ler, etc. " Then, she told Hubby, "Daddy, I want to marry you too!" I was wondering to myself if she knew that marriage is between a girl and a boy - is that why she told Hubby that she wanted to marry him and not me? Well, that very night, when I was getting her ready to brush her teeth, she said to me, "Mommy, I want to marry you!" I told her that I would have to be her prince in order to marry her, but I'm not a man. She didn't want to listen, so I guess she didn't know the significance of that yet. Later, she continued on, "Mommy, you have to wait until I grow up first, ok? After I'm this tall, then I'll marry you. "

128!

Recently Sze Juin kept saying 128 (in mandarin), and MIL really went to buy the number. However, when it came out, it's 118! So when Sze Juin kept blabbering on 1128 one day, MIL said, "Really meh? That day you tell Amah 128, but 118 open instead!"

Gong Xi Fatt Chai!

Chinese New Year is just round the corner. And I've been taught how to say Gong Xi Fatt Chai by Chik Chik and Amah. They said I was supposed to greet people with these words, and I've been practising hard. And now, I could say it out by myself :)
And oh yes. I was supposed to make sure that the camera setting is right this time. But it happened again. So, you might not be able to see me clearly. I was posing with a big smile in my chinese costume (which was bought by Mommy last year for cousin Sarah, but she couldn't fit into it already so Kim Poh let me wear it instead). And did you see my new shoes? Yes, finally I could wear it now, it's a birthday gift from Aunty Joyce. My, how fast I've grown!

22 Months Accomplishment Report

Scrap Credits:
Legacy Simply Digital Pak by CottageArts

Year end is coming, it's appraisal time! So I guess I can't keep putting off writing my very first accomplishment report - after 22 months. Anyway, it's still better than none.

Weight: ~11kg (taken during my 2nd visit to Dr. Sim's)

Height: ~84-85cm (taken during my 1st visit to Dr. Sim's, by Mommy and Daddy. It's just an estimate since they're not really sure how to use the scale).

Teeth: I've nearly got a full set of teeth by now. Mommy couldn't keep track of that since everything just popped out once she stop breastfeeding me after 15 months.

Vocabulary:

• Able to count from 1-10, with 7 replaced with nen-nen-nen-nen. Here's how the counting goes..."one, two, three, phour, phive, six, nen-nen-nen-nen, eight, nine, ten, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen". And I have a tendency to shorten them down until "one, two, three, nen-nen-nen-nen, eight, nine, ten, thirteen". I love to count from 1-10 (always trying to shorten it after every round of counting, by eating up one number at each round and replace that with nen-nen-nen-nen), then followed by "Go!" and started to run around. I could repeat this for several times until I'm tired.

• Able to recognize and pronounce most of the alphabets by now (except for some difficult ones like W). Our bathroom mat has the words, "STEP HERE" printed on it, and I could read out loud all the alphabets to Mommy and Daddy, much to their delight.

• Able to sing "DO RE MI" in the correct tune and order on my own. But I still can't really do the reverse order yet, since Daddy wanted me to learn that too.

• Able to address nearly all the formalities by now "Amah, Ji Chik (2nd Uncle in Hokkien), Sa Chik (3rd Uncle), Chiew Chiew (Mommy's brother), Siao Yi (Mommy's younger sister), Ta-Yi-Ma (Mommy's eldest sister), Poh Poh (Mommy's Mommy), Mei Mei, Jie Jie, baby, etc. I address myself as Yi. I still can't really say Gong Gong yet, I tend to say "Ngo Ngo" or "No No" instead. And I called Mama (even though I can say Mommy), and Dad Dad (even though I can say Papa). I could also say my Mommy's, Daddy's and Amah's names.

• My language skills include English, Mandarin and Hokkien. I could say short words and make up short sentense now, like: i)Mandarin: Pu Yau, Mei You, Wo Ai Mama, (which has extended to Wo Ai Po Po, Wo Ai Ji Chik, etc... up till Wo Ai Minnie..), Mama, chou Mama (Mama, let's go), Xie (shoes), etc.. (ii)English: Pis (Please), An Kiu (thank you), soli (sorry), bread, egg, square, big, small, etc..., (iii) Hokkien: Mai, Ai, Boh, U, Tau (take off my shoes), Mama, che, Mama (Mama, sit with me), etc..

Motor Skills:

• Able to climb up a whole flight of stairs by myself, without even holding to the railings

• I love to draw (mostly scribble) on a piece of paper and extend my boundary to the table, chair, floor, etc. I also have a tendency to trace things, like put something on the paper, and trying to trace that. I've even tried placing my hands, feet or lying down on the drawing block and ask Mommy or Amah to trace my body parts there, including my head.

• I'm considered potty-trained by now. I would say "pot" and within seconds, Mommy/Amah/Daddy would rush me to the potty. Most of the time, they wouldn't know what type of business I would like to do, because I always just say "pot". Whenever I'm not in diaper, I would normally tell them if I need to use the potty. But if I'm wearing a diaper, I would still inform them if I want to poop, just that I would still say "Pot". But if it's just passing urine, I felt that it's too small a business to notify them. When we're in Singapore, I have no problem using the hotel toilet bowl as my temporary potty. And there's an occasion when we're outside but I was diaperless. Mommy and I was in the car, while waiting for Daddy to buy the newspaper. Suddenly I just say "pot", and Mommy rushed me out of the car. We met Daddy halfway and he carried me to the nearby drain to do my business :)

• I know how to do the sign of cross already :)

• Able to feed myself too, regardless of using bottle (when drinking nen nen) or bowl/plate with fork & spoon (when eating solids), with much lesser mess now. When I taste a certain food, I would close my eyes as if to enjoy it and say "Good". I could now take ice water and spicy food.

• Know how to take off my own shoes, saying "tau", meaning take off in Hokkien.

• Know how to take off my diaper too, so Mommy need to let me wear pants over it to prevent me from doing so.

• Know how to operate the DVD player and change my favourite CDs.

• Could put all the different shapes and colours into the shapes & colours sorter. By the way, I've got a 2nd shapes & colours sorter since I lost some of the pieces for the 1st one. And even though the left over pieces from my 1st sorter are different in color from my 2nd one, the shapes are still the same. I am able to tell that shapes are more important and I managed to fit those into their respective holes, even though the color doesn't match.

• I love to dance and hum the songs at the same time. I especially love action songs, and could memorize all the actions and do it by myself, like the Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, London Bridge is Falling Down, Where is Thumbkin, Head & Shoulder, Knees & Toes, The Bumble Bee song (I don't know the actual song name), I have a Little Donkey (mandarin song), etc. I could twist, and even turn (holding Mommy or Daddy's hand above me and I made a little turn on my own).

• Able to shake hand, high-five, wave bye bye and blow kisses to strangers when meeting or leaving. Would also greet strangers in the lift by saying "hi". And since I don't know how to say Auntie yet, I would normally call them Jie Jie (unless they told me they are too old to be called Jie Jie, then I have no choice but to call Poh Poh (even though they are too young to be Poh Poh!)

Other skills/traits:

• I could memorize the sequence of events in the Barney CDs. Sometimes Mommy was wondering if I really understand the show because I would laugh by myself at some parts of the movie. And I would also know what's coming for the next songs in a CD that I'm listening to.

• Learn to smile when posing for photographs. Initially it turned out to be a funny look (Amah always asked me not to smile instead), but I'm getting better at this now.

• I'm a very determined person. If I didn't get what I want, I would either cry non-stop or purposely fall down on the floor to get Mommy's and Daddy's attentions. And I'm rather strong too, I could win Mommy and Daddy by struggling with all my might until they have to let go of me.

• Able to recognise colors - red, yellow, blue, green

• Able to recognise different types of fruits

• Started to show sign of vanity - I love to play with Mommy's cleanser/toner/moisturizer set and also apply the body lotion on myself. I love to see my own reflection in the mirror, and know how to demand on what to wear when going out. I especially love my "duckling" blouse and jeans given by Kim Poh during my birthday last year. I love to comb my hair, although I mess up more than combing.

• Love to brush my teeth, and look at the mirror while doing it. But I tend to bite on the bristles most of the time.

• Showed interest in reading. I specially love the Ugly Duckling and The Happy Prince stories, and asked Mommy to read that to me. I also enjoyed reading Mommy's Baby Magazine (Practical Parenting), and also the Astro Magazine as well as the cars pamphlets.

• Love flipping thru my photo albums. I have 2 big and 2 small albums, and I always asked Mommy to bring them down for me. I also enjoyed watching my own videos and photos in Mommy's camera.

• I could help with some of the houseworks already, like handing over wet clothes to Mommy to dry, taking in dry ones, or help Amah to wipe the windows and floor using a piece of cloth or tissue. There's a time I love to sweep the house, but not now anymore.

What is Daddy's Name?

I found out what was my Daddy's name around 2 months back. Amah would ask me, "What is your Daddy's name? And I would tell her "Bo...yyy". Coz that's what I heard them calling him.

Then last night, Mommy and Daddy were teaching me how to say Mommy's name. And she was very delighted when I can finally say it out when asked. Of course they had to break the words into 2 syllabus for me but later I could manage without following word by word.

When Amah found out about that, she wanted me to say her name as well. She kept teaching me, but I wouldn't want to repeat after her. Then, later when we reached home (we were doing some shopping at Jusco that time), while I was playing with my toys, Mommy started a conversation with me.

Mommy: What's Daddy's name, Sze Yi?
Me: Bo....yyyy.
Mommy: Good, what is your Mommy's name?
Me: I....rene!
Mommy: Very good. How about Amah's?
Me: Lye..Lye.

Amah was so happy when she heard that!

Ever since then, they would keep asking me in different ways, and they were so excited when I said their names. Amah tried to correct me on Daddy's real name, but I would still insist on Bo..yyy!

Wo Ai Mama

I speak my first sentence today - Wo Ai Mama (meaning I love Mama in Mandarin). Well, actually Daddy is trying to teach me Wo Ai Papa initially. He managed to coax the word "Wo" from me after a long try. But I wouldn't say "Ai". Instead, I straightaway jumped from "Wo" to "Papa". Then Mommy saw that I was very interested on the dragon fruit that she's having. So, she said, "say Wo", then Mommy will give you this". I repeated after her, followed by "Ai" and then "Mama". Then she gave me the dragon fruit.

A triumphant look was on her face when I finished that sentence. Daddy looked amazed and tried to make me say "Wo Ai Papa" instead. After several attempts and with Mommy's help, I finally did.