The "Swimming" Breakthrough

No, she still can't swim on her own yet, but she could swim with the floats, and without her feet touching the ground! Yes, this is really a breakthrough for her, thanks to Daddy's hard work. Before that, it's so hard to even get her into the water, as she's so afraid of people splashing her.

We just got them both a pair of arm floats each, and SY got an additional ring float. I dared not buy two sets for that, as it looked so small and I'm not sure if it would fit. Maybe it works because it's small enough, it fits at her waist without it slipping down. So she could swim in the adult pool now with all these floats, even asking Daddy to go away to swim, she could handle it on her own :)

What about SJ? She's still afraid and was clinging to me like a koala bear, kept saying "I'm scared". Then Daddy took over, and she could enjoy lying her head on the waters, enjoying the sky. Hmm... so the credit should go to Daddy yeah? :)

22 Months Comparison

When I look thru Sze Yi’s accomplishment report at 22 months, I couldn’t help comparing them to Sze Juin’s. Well, there are things that SY could do better, and vice- versa. For instance, SJ is much better in speech and vocab, but SY’s better in reading and recognizing alphabets.

They are about the same in weight and height at 22 months (although SY’s statistics showed that she’s slightly taller: 84cm vs 79cm, but SJ's height was taken during her 20 month's check up).

Other similarities:
- Number of teeth (about the same)
- Able to count up to 10
- Able to climb the stairs on their own
- Delighted in drawing (just that SJ scribbled in SY”s books instead of tables, chairs, etc)
- Able to feed themselves
- Able to take out their shoes and pants
- Could master the more advanced shape shorter (this happens to be still the same shape shorter from SY’s time), where there are more shapes and colors compared to the new tortoise one.
- Could identify different types of fruits
- Could take ice water and tolerate spicy food
- Potty trained
- Loved action songs and could learn the actions by heart
- Friendly towards strangers, greeted and waved to them as if long-time friends.
- Could memorize the sequence of songs that’s going to be played from a CD
- Displayed the sign of vanity and insisted to choose their own clothing. There’s once when SJ was so crazy about ‘mouse’ t-shirts that I had to make sure there was at least 1 set of mousey clothes on hand before I dared to change her. After that, her taste changed to her sister’s clothes, especially her sister’s school uniform!
- Could help with the housework such as passing the wet clothes to me, wiping the table, etc. I dared not venture further by letting her try the broom.
- Also a very determined person, even Mommy couldn’t get her to do the things that she didn’t want to do.
- Loved brushing and would brush on her own most of the time (but she bit on the bristles too of course)

Things that SJ still yet to master:
- Recognizing the alphabets. We somehow hardly went thru this with her
- Identifying colors
- Interest in reading. Blame it on Mommy who never bothered to read to her. The few times that we did, she pushed the book away so we just gave up.
- Doing the sign of cross. She refused when I tried to teach her last weekend!
- Haven’t tried singing the DO-RE-MI with her. She just knew DO, RE and MI, that’s all. While her Jie Jie knew the whole octave last time.
- Didn’t show any interest in learning how to operate the DVD player, even though she loves the remote controller. She only requested for certain songs or movies, but hardly attempted to put it on herself, unlike her Jie Jie last time
- We had never really showed her the photo albums, but she could tell who’s who when she looked at the photos displayed here and there.
- Didn’t want to drink milk from the bottle which is my greatest headache now

Things that SJ fares better than her Jie Jie at 22 months:
- Her great command of vocabulary and ability to speak in longer sentences with much accurate pronunciation.
- Able to sing some songs already
- Fully diaperless
- When posing for camera, she could smile more naturally than her Jie Jie then
- Could play on her own much much better than her Jie Jie
- Easier to handle, more understanding and able to take instructions better
- Could watch movie in the cinema already! Just last weekend, we took them to watch Alice in Wonderland. She’s been to at least 4 movies by now, while her Jie Jie’s first was when she’s ~3.5 year old.
- She breastfeed longer than her Jie Jie and have better immune system

Ya, no 2 child is the same, they grow up according to their own pace. The most important is that they grow up to be healthy and happy persons.

Milk Strike!

It's been more than 2 weeks now that SJ went on milk strike while I left her at MIL's house during work hours. Starting this month, she went to Amah's house because our contract with the babysitter has ended. The babysitter wanted to travel and do something else.

Everything went rather smoothly with this change, except that SJ didn't want to drink milk at all, and her poo poo was not that regular anymore. Initially I was rather upset, and tried all means to make her drink milk. I've tried using cup, syringe, straw, mixed EBM with milo or cornflakes, or try different brands of milk formula, etc. but all to no avail. During the first week, she would nurse non-stop after I came back from work, and during the weekend, she skipped her usual porridge but feasted on me 24 by 7.

Came the 2nd week, I managed to slowly switch her to Pediasure (chocolate flavour) when I discovered that she could accept Milo. So I passed that (Pediasure & Milo) to MIL during the weekdays, but to my dismay, she rejected it too! And I also noticed that she hardly asked me to nurse her in MIL's house unless I asked her if she wanted milk. She only asked for milk when we're in the car going home, or when at home.

Now, I ask MIL to feed her yoghurt and I'm glad that she still takes it. At least that's the only source of milk that she takes when I'm not around. I'm not sure if I could wean her off my breast completely... as my target dateline is approaching soon. She's turning two in 2 months time, and I couldn't accept the fact that a 2-year old child doesn't drink milk. If any of you know of any other alternatives to make her drink milk, please kindly let me know, ya. I'm also considering to reduce my pumping frequency soon, since now I only rely on SY to help me finish them, or else I'll donate them away too.

For now, this would be her famous phrase, "I don't like nen nen. Nen Nen no good la. I want Mommy's nen nen." Sigh...

A Passport Finally!

Everyone in the family has got a passport except me. So when we went to have our photo shoot last month, Daddy and Mommy took this opportunity to let me have my passport photo. Much easier and don't need to queue up at the Immigration Department later.

So, how do I fare?  Compared to Jie Jie's one :)

Growing Up

Mommy considered me a big girl now, coz I can bathe on my own already. But I love to play with the shower gel and shampoo, so I took soooo much longer in there, which made Mommy cross at times. Still, it's a great milestone, don't you think so? When I'm done, Mommy would come in to check if there's still soap on my hair and body, and then off I'll go to find what I like to wear and dress myself. Uh...I still didn't like to comb hair on my own yet.

I also told Mommy that after Aunty bathed me in school, I would towel dry myself, blow my hair (Mommy don't believe that I can blow my hair on my own!) wear my own clothes and put the dirty clothes into the bag that Mommy prepared. Guess going to school has trained me to be independant, yeah!

Finally Graduated!

Yay, this would be the final episode, hopefully. I'm finally diaperless, including at night too. Oh, but on and off, there were accidents (Oops!). Still, Mommy gave me my scroll because those only happened when I was super tired. So at 21 months, Mommy declared me fully potty-trained. Hurray! (jump high and throw hats...)

What we Did on the 7th Day of CNY

This free digital photo album personalized with Smilebox

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...

My little mousey

Yesterday when I went to fetch Sze Juin from the babysitter's house, she told me that my little mousey's getting very good at getting her attention.

Scenario 1
Babysitter: Ni chiang huai dan, Auntie bu  yau ni liao
(You're so naughty, Aunty don't want you already)
SJ: Yau la, yau la, yau la (kept on saying until the babysitter have to say what SJ wished to hear)

Scenario 2
When the babysitter tried to ignore her, SJ would use both her hands to pull the babysitter's face till she looked at her

I guess she'll miss my little mousey when she finished her contract end of this month. And it surprised me when the babysitter said bye bye to her, SJ replied, "See you!" and happily trotted away after me, before she went on with our usual conversations.

SJ: Mommy ah, Daddy leh?
Me: At home
SJ: Jie Jie leh?
Me: At home
SJ: Aunty leh?
Me: At her house too
SJ: Oh, ni kan, Aunty chuan, mei mei (Oh, you see, Aunty wears, pretty - pointing to her blouse and pants)

Recently the babysitter had given SJ and SY some very nice clothes and shoes too, which SJ happily paraded in front of MIL (she really turned round and round, with one hand holding her buttock, in front of MIL). What a funny sight - we couldn't help laughing as she kept saying, "Amah, ni kan" (Amah, you see) and turned until MIL paid attention to her.

My Potty Story Episode 2

Now that I have been successfully potty trained during the day time (@ ~19 months), Mommy's hoping that I could graduate fully for the night as well before my diapers stock ran out. The last pack was finishing soon, you see, and if she buy a new one, it would take me ages to finish that. Jie Jie's unfinished one was passed on to me after she's fully potty trained, and that was XL size. I'm still in L size currently. So you know how early my graduation would be compared to Jie Jie's if I could make it this season :)

My potty progress as of now:
- I could hold my wee wee/poo poo until they find a suitable place for me to do my business
- I refused to use the diapers when there's really no choice, so there're times when Mommy even made me wait until we went home coz it's hard to find a suitable place
- I could take off my pants on my own and go to the potty when I'm at home
- I've never wet the bed during my afternoon naps so far

How nice if could stay dry during the night time too...

There were nights when my pampers were dry. So Mommy would recycle that and use it for the following night. But that's the most that Mommy would dare to venture so far, as she's not sure if there'd be side effects if she recycled for more than 2 days. Hence, I would get a fresh one after Day 2. Oh, have I told you that I'm allergic to all types of diapers (including the bum genius cloth diapers) except Mamy Poko? So, before I was potty trained, I would wear lampin (the traditional cloth diaper) at my babysitter's house, and Mamy Poko at home - Mommy had experimented with several different types of cloth diapers and disposable diapers but to no avail. My skin seems to like Mamy Poko better.

Even though it's been a few nights in a row for a few weeks that my diapers were continuously dry, Mommy's still dare not take the risk yet, or else she'll have lots of cleaning to do. Now that I hardly wear diapers during the day time, I refused to wear one at night too. Sometimes, I even slept without any diapers or pants on throughout the night, ooops! (Yeah, that's when Mommy gave up fighting with me, and she also dozed off after I fell asleep). But if I accidentally wee wee on the bed, I would quickly wake Mommy up, and she would bring me to the potty. No doubt the bed's a bit wet, but at least I saved her further work (no need to clean the bed protector, just the bedsheet would do) since the potty's also quite full by the time I was done. Mommy always praised me for my ability to hold my wee wee.

If it's not due to a few accidents on and off, Mommy would have declared me fully graduated. It's been close to a week when she consecutively found my diapers dry after waking up in the mornings. But during the recent KL trip, I was diaperless throughout the entire trip - except for using 1 diaper at night which gave me away. You see, last 2 weekends, Mommy and Daddy took me to KL to attend a close friend's wedding dinner. And you know what? Daddy didn't want to take Jie Jie along because she's naughty!

How did I survive?
- I could wait until Daddy found a resting point when I announced that I wanted to use the toilet, while we're travelling
- I poo poo at the hotel toilet bowl coz Mommy forgot to bring my potty along
- I went to the ladies (ahem, yes like a big girl) 2-3 times during the wedding dinner
- and NO accidents!

Ah, but my diaper that night was rather heavy, coz I slept until 10.30 am the following day. Too tired from the whole trip, I missed my afternoon naps and I was really very tired. That gave me away.

But this week, I have been dry all night (even though I've been drinking milk and water in the middle of the night). Mommy found a solution - if she could make me use the potty before I sleep, I would made it till the next morning. Just that at times, I threw tantrums and refused to use the potty before sleeping.

So, hopefully my next potty story would be the final episode. And that better be before my diapers stock ran out!

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.

Numbers to call

Now that I’m a big girl already,
I am well prepared if I ever get lost.
Why?
Daddy’s taught me to memorize by heart
the 2 most important numbers –
his h/p number and also our house number.
So, if there’s anything,
I can always ask people to help me call these numbers.

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

No more tears!

I learnt that doctors were not scary monsters during my scheduled checkup last month.

Mommy went thru the steps with me (breathe in, breathe out, let the doctor check my ear, take my temperature, open my mouth, etc), while we’re waiting for our turn. So, when our turn came, I did as what we rehearsed earlier and made Mommy & Daddy really proud of me. I didn’t cry, though I nearly burst out when the doctor asked me to lie down to check on my tummy (ahem, that part was not rehearsed!) Anyway, I only cried when the horrid needle poked me, and that was understandable, so Mommy and Daddy still thought that I performed really well. Compared to previous visits because I would cry immediately when we walked into the doctor's room, and burst out when the doctor tried to check on me. And guess what I got as my reward? The doc gave me a lollipop!

During my 2nd visit last week, we saw a different doctor, and I surprised him by greeting him when we entered. He even praised me for being very friendly :) And recently during my JE vaccination yesterday, I saw another different doctor. Again, I didn’t cry but co-operated with her all the way, including when I knew the needle was coming. Ah, but it’s too painful for me, so I cried very pitifully after that. When Mommy asked me to wave bye bye to her, I hesitated a little and pointed to my painful arm, before finally waving bye bye to her. Hmm.. I still find it hard to comprehend why I needed to be nice to her after she hurt me, aww!

All in all, this is a great milestone for me :)

Breastfeeding Humour

I didn’t realize that I have such influencing power on my kids at such an early age when I chose to breastfeed. Why did I say so?

1. At ~2.5 year old, Sze Yi insisted to bring a nappy cloth everywhere together with her Ernie, sat down, pulled up her blouse up, put the nappy cloth underneath, and nursed Ernie, imitating the way I breastfed Sze Juin. That’s because I was very leaky then, so I had to use the nappy cloth to suppress the leaking side while nursing. She did this outside, even in front of the babysitter, although I told her that Mommy didn’t breastfeed in public.

2. At ~20 months, Sze Juin would put her baby doll at my breast, asking me to breastfeed her baby doll too!
I sure hope when they become mommies later, they will follow my steps to breastfeed their children.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On another side note, SJ would be in all sorts of positions when she’s nursing – sitting, standing, lying on top of me, or even squatting in front of me. She could also turn 360 degree while nursing, I didn’t know how she did it. One day, she was turning round and round while nursing, and I felt very painful, so I told her to stop.

Me: Juin Juin, can you pls stop turning round and round? You’re hurting Mommy.
Sze Yi: Haha, like a sharpener!

I couldn’t agree more!

Separation Anxiety?

Starting last week, Sze Juin cried and protested everytime I dropped her off at the babysittter's place in the morning before we went to work. That was after the 2 weeks of consecutive 3-days-weekend. She said she wanted to go to school like Jie Jie.

Maybe we took her out too frequent during the holidays? I wonder why only now she started to show this separation anxiety.... I've always admired her for being understanding enough since she's a baby, she never cried when we left her there. She did cry when we left her with Amah during the 1 month when the babysitter's away, but maybe that was because she didn't want to stay at home while everyone's going out. Even when the babysitter's back after 1 month, she still willingly accepted her, no crying. And now - at 19 months, she started to show this separation anxiety? Hmm... hmmm... hmm... It broke my heart having to leave her despite her crying so pitifully...

Well, at least today she didn't cry, as if knowing that there's no point crying afterall. Poor baby, I hope she'll get over this phase soon.

Of Movie and Parks

We ushered in the new year with another movie - Alvin and the Chipmunks 2! We watched it on the 2nd day of 2010, and this time, even Sze Juin stayed up to watch until 3/4 of the movie.

I was expecting Sze Juin to doze off after a while, since she haven't had  her nap yet, but the chipmunks got her interested. She stayed on till the chipmunks' presentation on stage (yeah, the most important part!), before she finally dozed off to the chipmunks-land...

As for Sze Yi, she watched the whole movie till the end, of course! This was her 5th movie (including the Christmas Carol which she watched with her friends during her school holiday programs), while the 3rd one for Sze Juin.

After the movie, Sze Juin woke up (because I took Sze Yi to the toilet so I had to pass her over to Daddy). So, instead of going home for them to continue with their nap, we took them for a swinging time at Youth Park.

More workouts to follow...

First Day of 2010

We started the first day of 2010 with a healthy exercise at the garden where we stayed :)

They had just installed lots of new 'toys' sometime during Christmas for us

After we had our bath, we headed over to a party. Nope, not a new year party, but a new year birthday party! You see, my cousin Sarah's birthday is on New Year Day.

Birthday girl ready to cut her Ben10 cake

Me, Samanta and Sarah

You must be wondering where's Mei Mei. She's still sleeping in Amah's house, too tired from the morning exercise just now. So when she finally came over, we've finished eating and were playing bubbles outside the house.

Everyone's busy with their bubbles

Mei Mei found something to play on her own

The 4 cousin sisters eating their bananas and trying to say banana when mommy snapped :)

Well, we're all tired after the party, and went home to rest. However, that night, I complained to Mommy about my tummy ache. Since my complaints were rather persistant, Daddy and Mommy got worried and took me to see the doctor. Luckily it's not appendicitis, as they feared. Just something minor - somehow I've eaten some bad germs, causing the wind in my tummy to be stucked so my poo poo couldn't come out. That's the term the doctor explained to us :) She gave me probiotics so that the good germs could fight those bad germs and also some medicine for the gas in my tummy.

What a way to end a new year day. Anyway, as long as everything is fine, that's all that matters, right?

A Happy Family

I was blessed to have such an understanding husband who always tries to make my wishes come true. Even though he’s not a Catholic, he made every effort to go to Church with me during special occasions. This year was no exception. He fulfilled my dreams to attend the Feast of the Holy Family together as a family – with the kids too of course.

This feast means a lot to me, as it signifies the unity of a happy family. I especially love these phrases, which were extracted from Col 3:12-21:

Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

Can you see us receiving the Holy Communion out there? Well, Sze Yi wanted to receive It so badly, even though I've told her that she's not big enough yet. She went back to her seat angry, with both arms folded when she didn't get anything. Poor child, I hope she'll understand things soon.

The kids loved the Christmas Crib so much, and kept requesting to have a look at it everytime we passed by...

Well, we left right after communion as the kids didn't behave, but that's more than I could ask for. It's always nice to be able to attend Mass as a family. And it was a special day because we could ask for special blessings for our children and also a happy marriage on this feast day. Well, that would be my wish for the coming new year, and I sure hope yours will be fulfilled too. Happy 2010, everyone!

Christmas 2009

This Christmas we went back to my parents house in Ipoh. I was contemplating whether to bring them to the midnight Mass or the morning Mass. In the end, I decided to bring them to the midnight Mass since SJ has quite a long afternoon nap. However SY didn't sleep at all in the afternoon, but I decided to take a risk since she hardly slept in the afternoon at times, and could still stayed up till quite late.

Furthermore, my mother's choir team would be performing that night, they would sing a few Christmas songs for about half an hour before Mass started.

The church in Ipoh that we went to was rather strict with children. They would not tolerate children that made noises, so they had a special room for children - they call it The Cry Room. So, you could imagine that all the kids would be there, but it's actually quite small to fit that many people. Anyway, when the church's choir sang the Christmas songs during the Pre-Mass, the kids were very excited and joined along. Sze Yi learnt a few Christmas songs from school, some of which I didn't even know. So, when she sang along with the choir that night, everyone including the parents could feel the Christmas atmosphere. It was so jolly, especially when you hear the children's voice trailing along. Even SJ didn't want to be left out and wanted to sit on the top of the pews like her Jie Jie and the other girl.

Little Carollers in action

However, I didn't get to really concentrate in Mass that night since the kids were not behaving. I used biscuits to distract them, but in no time, SY had finished distributing them to the kids and they asked for more. In no more than 10 minutes, things got noisy again. After awhile, SJ kept wanting to go out for milk (I didn't want to breastfeed her in there, since I didn't bring my coverall, and SJ would still pull it up anyway) while SY got sleepy and lay down on Daddy's lap. So we left after Holy Communion, but since our car was blocked by another car, we waited in the car until Mass finished. At least they were more manageable in there.

How did we celebrated Christmas this year? Well, we spent most of the time at home, or dining outside. My father was not very well, so we had to be selective on the food we ate. Anyway, we had a great family time all the same, especially the kids. Other than tormenting their Aunty and Uncle, they enjoyed feeding the fish and playing in the garden.

My father enjoyed gardening so he planted some vegetables and fruits in his little garden.

A simple lanscaping in my dad's garden

A small vegetable plot with some fruit trees and other plants

Apart from that, Sze Yi also enjoyed feeding her Mei Mei...

 

She's such a little busybody, she created so much mess for me. And, surprisingly SJ preferred being fed by her Jie Jie rather than me. When I wanted to feed her, she would resist and prefer to eat on her own!

We went back on boxing day, and let them opened their other presents that night (of course, they had opened & played with the presents from my family earlier in Ipoh).

Sze Yi enjoying the unwrapping most of the time, while SJ didn't really bother.

She's more interested in her lu lu chia

 All in all, we sure had a merry time, and a great get-together with my family too!