Up on Daddy's Shoulder

The view is never the same!

A cry can turn into a smile too!

First Movie!

Since it's a replacement holiday, Mommy and Daddy took me (and Mei Mei too!) for our first movie! Guess what we watched?

ICE AGE 3: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS

I had my own seat, in between Amah and Mommy. Juin Juin was on Mommy's lap, and then Daddy beside them. I behaved very well throughout the movie, and so was Mei Mei. Initially, we're scared of the loud sound, but after awhile, I realized it's not that bad. I enjoyed my pop-corn throughout the movie, always telling Amah not to finish it (I was sharing with her).

Halfway thru the movie, Mei Mei fell asleep, so Mommy got to explain to me the scenes. I kept asking Mommy - what did he say? It was funny, but I was still scared in between - need Mommy to comfort me on and off.

When the movie nearly ended, Mei Mei woke up, Mommy breastfed her, and she got excited and kept pointing to the big charactors in front of the big screen. I got restless towards the end, so Daddy asked me to go sit on his lap. Good too, not so scary. So I went, but I had to always remind Daddy not to finish my pop-corn too.

When the movie ended, it's just the right time too. Coz both Mei Mei and I started to feel restless by now, but we made it. Completed the whole movie without the need to walk around. Amah kept praising me, saying that during Daddy's time, Ah Kong needed to keep bringing him out. Guess I fared better than Daddy, huh? Shame on him, hehehe.. Ah, but I couldn't deny that Mei Mei break a record too, coz it's her first movie, and she managed it till the end too. Bravo to her, yeah?

So, next time we can all go watch movie in the cinema together, yay!

Taiping Zoo

It's been raining cats and dogs since yesterday. Initially we thought that our trip to the Taiping Zoo today would have to be cancelled too. Luckily, the rain stopped towards the afternoon. So we headed to the zoo around noon. We've taken our porridge at home, and for the first time, both of us fight to finish them, including our dinner too! Meaning no left overs for dinner already, since we've eaten the dinner share as well!

We slept during the drive there, so by the time we arrived, we're all fully charged and in good mood. Daddy bought the tickets for the tram and we boarded our seats. Since there's only 1 row left at the back, all of us (Daddy, Jie Jie, Mommy, me and Amah) crammed into it. Jie Jie was being naughty, and asked for more space. She didn't want to sit on Daddy's lap. In the end, Daddy had to take the next tram. As we went, Mommy and Amah pointed out the animals to me and Jie Jie. Soon, Jie Jie got excited and forgot about Daddy! Once in a while, she'll ask Mommy, where's Daddy? Mommy would say that since she chased Daddy out of the tram, Daddy would have to sit the next tram. Daddy can't watch the animals with us now. She then said, she would tell Daddy what she's seen, so Daddy won't miss out any of it.

Jie Jie knew nearly all the animals that we passed by, and could instantly recognize them when Mommy or Amah pointed them out to us. Maybe she'd been there last time (when she's about 12months plus). It's my first time here, so I was very excited. When I saw the tiger, I would said "Grrrr..". Then, Mommy pointed the owl to me, and I followed with "Aow!" I also said "pig" when we passed the wild boar, echoing Mommy, of course!

The tram finally dropped us at the elephants' place and called it the last stop. We waited there for Daddy's tram to arrive. See what Daddy managed to capture without us?

Later, Daddy took us for a walk around the place, so that we could snap photos with the animals. Amah didn't join us for the walk since she's tired. She waited at a stand where the tram dropped us just now. Jie Jie told Daddy that Amah's been eaten by a crocodile!

Daddy, Jie Jie and Me - with the elephants.

What's this? What's a seladang called in English?

Jie Jie wanna take a photo personally with that 'beasts'

Wait, can you see what is this?

Take a closer look! It's Jie Jie's good friend :)

We saw so many versions of these, the monkeys, chimpanzee, orang utans, etc.. We even saw some monkeys walking alongside with us, some flipping thru the rubbish bin for food. Jie Jie quickly hid her hotdog bun, afraid of it being snatched by them.

We also saw the hippotamus floating in the lake, leaving only the nose for us to see. When Daddy called out to him, he emerged from the water, showing his full body. Jie Jie was very impressed, so when the hippo immersed himself in the water again, she called out to him. But he didn't want to float up anymore. Guess Jie Jie still hadn't learn the hippo language yet.

We then walked by to find Amah, since she's been waiting for awhile. I love walking, and have been asking for 'walk-walk' all the time, didn't want Mommy to carry me.
Then, we passed by the place where we can take photos with the snake on our shoulders! Jie Jie wanted to take a photo with the snake, but she wanted Daddy to hold the snake instead! Daddy quickly distracted her attention and we went off to see the other animals :)

Up, close and personal with the tortoises (which saved Daddy's life)
Mommy then suggested that we took another tram ride since we didn't get to ride together just now. Furthermore, the kids (yes, we) would be very excited to see the animals again. Daddy agreed, so we went for a 2nd ride.

While queueing for the 2nd ride... (Eii... I just didn't like the way Jie Jie hold me, geli!)

In the tram (again), finally!

After the ride, we agreed to go home. But not after we had some fun at the children's playground. Even me - I didn't want to leave at first. So, Daddy and Mommy had no choice but to let us play for awhile. Then, we went home, but stopped by Batu Kawan for a sumptuous seafood dinner. I had my 3-fruits organic cereal with red rice powder, while Jie Jie got to eat the rice with some dishes. What a tiring day! And thank goodness, it didn't rained anymore after that, just perfect for our outings.

Oh, by the way, on our drive home, Jie Jie was getting very naughty and out of control. So, Mommy and Daddy played a game with her - which animals got 4 legs? To which she slowly named one animal after the other happily and our journey home didn't seem so bad afterall.

The Happy Wanderers

I love to go a wondering,
Along the mountain track,
And as I go, I love to sing,
My knapsack on my back.

This song Jie Jie could memorize by heart,
Even though I don’t really know,
That doesn’t mean I’m not smart,
Wait till you hear what I know!

Though I can’t sing, I could talk,
Coz when I say ‘walk-walk’,
Mommy had no choice but put me down,
Don’t worry, Mom, I’m not going to drown!

Eagerly I waved to her and said Bye!,
Off I went on my adventure,
I met new people and I said Hi!,
Isn’t it exciting in my new venture?

With Jie Jie as a companion,
That’s more than one could ask for,
Though the way she held my hands hurts,
Her only reason was to keep me safe while we explore.

Now let me bring you on a detour
Of my new found skills if I may,
But please bear with my poetry for now,
Coz I can’t find anything that rhymes!

I’m now good in imitating,
By putting my finger in my mouth,
Only to pull it out quickly, saying Aow!
Just like how Mommy used to shout,
Every time I bite on her finger!

Now, I would also point to the durians,
Or anything prickly or hot,
And shout my famous cry Aow!
Before looking at Mommy and smile

Oh when Jie Jie’s angry,
You should see how she folded her arms,
To which I find amusing
And imitated her as well.

Ok now let’s back to our wandering,
Though I’m hopeless in singing,
I could still hum along,
Especially if that song ends with tack, tack, tack!

It Ain't So Bad Afterall...

Yes, because I got to sleep much earlier at night! My prediction came true, both the girls had enough of each other during the day time that it's easier calling the day off.

And, we also got to eat home-cooked food despite my earlier assumption that MIL won't have time to cook. It's easier for her too, because SJ slept quite a lot - once in the morning, and once in the afternoon after Jie Jie came back from school. Sometimes, both the sisters had their nap together, so she had some time to prepare dinner. But at times, Mei Mei would wake Jie Jie up from her nap, and then when it's Mei Mei's turn to sleep, Jie Jie would be waking her up. That's the part that caused the most headache to MIL. So ended up, no home cooked dinner for Mommy and Daddy.

It's true that we survive by learning to adapt to changes. Sze Juin and MIL learnt to adapt to each other as the days went by. Day 1, SJ didn't want any milk. Day 2, MIL learnt that she wanted to use the same bottle as in the babysitter's place. You see, cheap skate Mommy only bought 1 bottle for her, which we used at home. That's the BPA-free one, MAM. Since it's so expensive, Mommy decided to convert her BPA-free storage bottles into milk bottles. It costs only ~RM5 per bottle, and all I need to do is just to put the teats, and viola, you get a BPA-free bottle. Well, I pass two of these bottles to the babysitter, and luckily I took home one set with me. So on Day 2, SJ pointed to MIL that she wanted that bottle, and after that, she actually drank the milk! We're so relief. But after the weekend, the following Monday, she rejected the milk again. I guess she needed more time to adjust. Now, she's doing great. Instead of 1 or 2 bottles of milk, she drank 3 bottles now. That's really some progress. MIL had also discovered a way to let her drink - instead of carrying her, she let her lie down on her own, and feed her that way. During the afternoon, both Jie Jie and Mei Mei would lie down together in their new baby cot (I'll come to that later) and drank from the bottles on their own.

Well, of course, when I'm back (either during lunch time or at night), she'll keep asking for nen nen, and nurse non-stop. During the first week, I've been home during lunch time to bathe Jie Jie, tapau lunch for MIL and nurse SJ before going back to work. It was rather hectic, but it's really nice getting to see her, greeting me when I was back, and hugging me like a koala bear all the time, until MIL had to forcefully remove her from me when I'm leaving for work. To which would ended up with her crying so pitifully, which she never did when I left her at the babysitter's. But luckily there's Jie Jie to keep her entertained, so I could be rest assured that her time spent at home would be more 'colorful'. Both of them were happier now too. They kept each other company, until to the point that Jie Jie stopped doing her homework now, so we'll have to supervise her after we came back at night. Which means, more work for Mommy, and that haven't included the toys that they scaterred around everywhere, the unwashed plates, bottles, clothes, etc. But, I've stopped my early morning pumps this week, so I have more time to do the unfinished work in the mornings before going to work.

Recently, we got a new baby cot for them (them, because SY also wanted to sleep in it, and luckily we got a bigger version where it can fit her too), which can be converted into a single bed. It's safer to leave SJ there, so I didn't need to go home during lunch time to bathe SY (hubby had been chauffering her back from school this week mostly, so I had sometime off to do my things). It's a good thing that we bought it, because SJ had an accident last weekend. She was spinning in the walker, with her head threwn back, and her head hit the corner of our TV cabinet. Both hubby and I were stunned, and we're too slow to stop her. Ended up, her head was red from the hit, but luckily it's ok.

It also happened that after the incident, my babysitter came with some durians (she had a durian farm back home) . Well, SJ smiled when she saw her, but when she tried to carry her, SJ cried! To the babysitter's dismay, SJ didn't want her after only 5 days! Anyway, maybe she came at the wrong timing, since SJ just woke up from her evening nap, and was rather groggy. Also, she just had an accident before that.

Ah, now that we're all used to this routine, I have another worry. After this 1 month is up, my poor baby would need to adjust to a new routine again, if my babysitter agree to continue her tenure... Sigh! Being a Mommy means having to worry about so many things... When would our worries ever end? I doubt if it will...that's the price of being a mother, I guess!

Life without a Sitter

When my babysitter told me that she won’t be taking care of Sze Juin anymore last month, I was devastated. But I was lucky because I have my MIL as backup. Just that I’m not sure how she would cope with 2, instead of 1 now. She’s been having difficulty in getting up and walking about most of the time, so how could she chase around my two naughty little rascals?

Another alternative would be to send Sze Yi to full day. To which she protested vehemently. She has promised to be good, to help Amah take care of Mei Mei, and to listen to Amah. If not, I threatened her that I have no choice, but to send her to full day. MIL was also persistent in saying that she could cope. No maid needed. She also voiced her desire to have both of the kids at home, compared to the current arrangement where the sisters’ time spent together would be limited to only night time’s bonding. All she said was, “they’ll get used to it.” If it didn’t work out, we can send Sze Yi to full day the following month. It’s really risky. I was tempted to ring up Sze Yi’s school’s principal and gave her a heads-up notice. But I didn’t. Still procrastinating…

In the meantime, I tried to persuade the babysitter to continue on. I’ll give her 1 month holiday to do whatever she wanted to do (well, her reasons was she wanted time off to do a lot of things), and then to come back in August. I don’t mind raising her pay. She told me, she’ll think about it. But if my MIL can handle it, then she’ll let my MIL take care of Sze Juin (Actually MIL wanted to bring back Sze Juin after she’s 1, so this seemed like a good timing).

I kind of like the idea of them both being at home, maybe they’ll have enough of each other during the day time, so by night time, it’s easier to get them to sleep? Recently, both of them just didn’t want to sleep, they would play until past midnight. Sze Juin just wouldn’t want to go to bed, and she would get excited when she saw her Jie Jie. The only way to make them go to sleep together is to get both Jie Jie and Daddy into the same room and sleep. It’s no point separating them anymore now, because she would insist to go join them.

But, that is the ONLY plus point. Or so for me, now. I have to mentally prepare myself of the things that would greet me when I go home everyday. I guess life would be harder, with all the housework, dirty laundry, ironing, unwashed bottles and dishes, toys strewn all over the floor, etc.. piled up (my MIL had been really nice to help me with the housework while I was working, so I have less headache after work). I guess I would have to say goodbye to the good old days. Hopefully things would not be as bad as I imagined. Previously, I only have headache with Sze Yi. I would go home to find her not bathed yet, or not eaten yet, homework not done, etc… So my task would mostly involve ‘settling’ her down before I went to fetch Sze Juin. And the best thing of having a baby sitter is that everything got settled for you. Sze Juin would be bathed and fed. And all I need to do was just play with her and nurse her, until it’s time for bed. I guess now, I’ll have to be prepared to settle 2 people instead of 1 when I reached home….sigh!

My babysitter is a really nice person. I am very happy with her so far. She made no fuss when I made 2 major requests – to use nappy cloth and feed her breast milk. Sze Juin was on cloth diapers all the time at her place, except when it’s about time for me to fetch her back, the sitter would change her into disposable. As for breastfeeding, she’s not a 100% supporter, but she obliged me all the same. That’s part of the factor that enable me to breastfeed her 100% till she’s 1 now. As for $$$ matters, she herself lowered the price that I was willing to pay her in the first place, so I actually got a very good deal. Apart from a very clean place, she’s also very flexible. She won’t show me a black face when I was late to pick up Sze Juin. In fact, SJ was there at her place for ~12 hours per day, and I can also pop up very early in the morning because she’s an early person. If I had something on during the weekends, I could just ask and she’s ever ready to say yes to babysitting SJ for a few hours without charging me extra. Overall, this sitter just suits me perfectly well, and I was really sad when she told me that she would like to quit. But somehow, I felt that I still have some hope that she would continue on next month… well, I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

Well, so how did Day 1 go? To begin with, Sze Juin cried when I left for work. She never cried like this when I sent her to the sitter. When she started to make a slight protest, the babysitter would tell her that Mommy needs to work, will be back to fetch her later, and she’ll be OK. No yells that would break my heart, not like her Jie Jie last time. Which makes going to work easier for me. But today, it’s heartbreaking to hear her cry when I left. Maybe the irony of being left alone when Daddy, Mommy and Jie Jie were going somewhere caused her to be so teary and sad.

During lunch time, I went home after fetching Sze Yi. I packed lunch for MIL, since she won’t be able to cook or go buy from downstairs. MIL told me that SJ didn’t want to drink milk, she never drank at all since I warmed up the milk for her this morning. I tried to breastfeed her directly; she just nursed for awhile and then pushed me away. It seemed that she’s full. She’s bathed and taken the porridge earlier. So, I entertained them and fed them fruits while Amah ate her lunch. I waited until Amah bathed Sze Yi before I went back to work. I guessed I would have to do this until we found a way to enclosed Sze Juin so that she won’t get into any mischief. You see, our play pen just gave way the other day, maybe it couldn’t take the weight of them both jumping up and down in it. I would have to find something soon, because Sze Juin could now climb out of the walker, high chair or her stroller even though we’ve strapped her up. And she’s now into climbing things – chair, table, sofa, you name it. So it’s really risky to leave her alone, while Amah’s bathing Jie Jie.

I guess life without a sitter would also mean this….
- more lunch trips home to relieve MIL
- that we’ll have to eat outside food more often
- me going home much earlier, to help feed them, bath them and clean up the mess
- staying up later at night to do the unfinished housework

Sigh… and it’s only Day 1. I wish July 31st would be here soon (arrgghhh, there are 31 days this month!) and my sitter would be back…

While Jie Jie was Doing Homework...

Jie Jie just left to sharpen her color pencils...

And when she came back, Mei Mei was still busy....

sorting things out!

All Eat and No Rules Make Me a Happy Toddler

Today, I was exempted from a lot of 'forbiddens'. Why? Coz I was allowed to eat cold stuffs like ice-cream and cold peach which was just taken out from the refrigerator (although I've tried cheese cake and cold mango last Sunday). That's not all, I even got the chance to eat outside food like tofu. But what I enjoyed the most is this....

Eating the sushi rice with my fingers!

Er, actually, Mommy gave me my teething biscuit, but I didn't want it. Not when I can eat all these. So I threw it away, leaving Mommy no choice.

We dined out today, at Mommy's favourite (as Jie Jie called it. Don't know why, whenever she saw the sushi conveyor belt, she'll say that's Mommy's favourite). I had a field of time. I'm sure you'd say so when you see the pics! Why? Coz I'm oblivious to everything, except eat, eat, and eat...

Everyone was looking at the came except me... until when I realised it's over!

Daddy, Amah and Jie Jie enjoying their meals.

Naughty Jie Jie had switched place with Amah to be at the conveyor belt, and she kept taking the food that came. Despite being scolded by Mommy and Amah, she's still unpertubed, until she was threathened to be left there to wash the dishes if Daddy didn't have enough money to pay later!

As for me, I was busy wiping the table. Need to clean up my mess, if not I might ended up washing the dishes with Jie Jie...

Before they finished their meals (I had finished mine), I grew restless so Mommy took me for a walk. Looks like I still couldn't really let go, I wanted to hold Mommy's hands. Even though I could manage a few steps already, I still felt comfortable holding her hand instead of on my own. But not when I had something to check out...

Well, after they served desert, we made a move. We had too, it's closing time. We were here very late, coz Daddy was stuck at work.

The walk back

On the way to the car park, we saw our favaourites! Jie Jie and I were both very excited, we played for awhile there. This time, even Jie Jie was ok not having coins or tokens with the rides!

Then, it's time to go home. But that's not all. You'll know why :)

A Pressie and a Cake

Last night, I was home rather late. When I reached home, I was greeted by this...





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too bad I didn't manage to get any photos. But, Sze Yi was holding a little pressent made out of her bricks, wishing me, "Happy Birthday Mommy! Here's your present".

Then, after I came out of the shower, she showed me another of her creation - a cake with a very tall candle. She said Mommy is 1 year old, so just need 1 candle. Then, later she went to draw something on her doodle pro and showed me 10 balloons - it seems Mommy had suddenly upgraded to 10 year old! LOL!

What about Sze Juin? She was clapping away after her Jie Jie finished singing the birthday song.

Let's Go Kai Kai

Last Saturday, I was allowed to walk outside the first time, instead of being carried by Mommy or Daddy.

But after awhile, I got tired and just sat on the floor! Ended up Mommy had to carry me.

The next day (which was Father's Day), I got to play in the playground at our condo. Mommy let me play with the slides for the first time (ah, but actually Daddy had let me tried them without Mommy knowing it). No wonder everytime when we passed the slides, I'd point to the slides excitedly, but Mommy always said, "wait till you can walk first". So finally, yesterday I got to walk on the field, play with the slides, climb up the steps, look at the fish, etc... on my own! I was so thrilled! Initially, I just couldn't slide down. Mommy wriggled me a little, pushed my buttock down a bit until I could slide. After a few times, I did it on my own - wriggled down a bit until I could slide down on my own! I spent about 1 hour at the garden there. In between, Mommy took me for a marathon ride (she ran while pushing my little tricycle). It was fun! Both of us got to exercise too.

Maybe we should do that more often next time. You know what? Both Daddy and Jie Jie (and Amah too) was sound asleep at home while we're having this work out on our own. Hmmm... if not I doubt I would get such quality time with Mommy :) Too bad no photos to share, though.

My Daddy My Hero

Anyone could be a father,
But not anybody can be a Daddy.

Daddy,

You gave me confidence I never knew I had,
and mould me into what I am today,
Thank You Daddy,
For being a friend and my pillar of strength!

Happy Father's Day!

To my Daddy with Love... specially hand-made by me!

And this is from Mommy...

Her first attempt at cheese cake - introducing the Cheesy Mango Delight!

Sze Juin's 13 Months Update

Weight: 8.8kg
Height: 70.4cm
Teeth: 8 in total (4 at the top, 4 at the bottom)

Feeding:

- At the babysitter's, she took porridge on Mon, Wednesday, Friday while cereal with EBM/water on Tuesday & Thursday. We came to this schedule after she couldn't poo poo everyday when she's on porridge everyday last time. So she had 3 milk intake (still at ~4oz) on the days she had porridge, while 4 times on the days she had cereal. With this arrangement, she'll poo poo about once every 2 days on average.

- She would now request for milk by tugging at my blouse, said Nen Nen and tried to pull my blouse up.

- The way she drinks milk while I was breastfeeding her was a rare case - she's no longer in the cradle position now. Instead, she drinks while sitting, squatting or standing! If I am lying down breastfeeding her, she would be on top of me, instead of lying beside me. She only stays in the lying position when she's really sleepy or when drinking in the middle of the night. Otherwise, she'll climb on top of me and prefers to drink that way!

- She can drink milk from the bottle on her own. Recently I was having rashes at night, so MIL didn't want me to feed her directly. Instead, she asked me to feed her my frozen supply. So I tried to bottle feed her, she drank in the beginning, but after awhile, she pushed the bottle away. I tried this several times until she's really angry and kept pushing the bottle away. Then hubby tried to let her hold the bottle on her own, and guessed what? She finished drinking the milk while lying on hubby's tummy!

New Food:

Dragon fruit, cake (with walnut inside), choc cake, her birthday cake, Gong Gong’s homegrown apple custard, bread, black bukit rice, 3-fruits cereal, soya, egg (egg yolk and also egg white), scotts emulsion, kim gin hua, red beans, durian, mangosteen, rambutan, etc.

Motor Skills:
- She could squat and stand on her own

- She can climb up to the sofa, chair, table, etc...

- She can now WALK :)

- She can jump! (though she hardly lift her legs, just her buttock). Well, maybe I should put it as she understand the word jump :)

Vocabulary:

- Mommy, Daddy, nen nen, mum mum - the frequently spoken ones this month

- She also speak some 1-syllable words, but I couldn't recall now.

Others:

- She now wanted to play the Kok Kok Beh (rides) when she sees one. Luckily, she's still contented even if we don't put any money or token inside, she would be happy just sitting in it.

- She loves balloons and would ask for one when she sees them in the shopping complex.

- She would put her hands to her chest and showed 怕怕 when we said want to beat her.

- I'm starting her on cloth diapers this week, at night. She's still on lampin during daytime when she's at the babysitter. Only during the weekends and at night, she's on disposable diapers.

- She wouldn't want to go to bed at night if there are still people outside. The only way to make her go into the bedroom is to ask everyone else to go to sleep (including Daddy and Jie Jie) and switch off the lights. Only then she'll be contented.

- She would beat her head if she's angry or didn't get what she wanted. Sometimes, she'll pull her hair too! At first, I was worried if she's annemia, but the paed assured me that she's not (judging from the way she cried during her MMR jab recently).

- She knows how to show "No No" sign - she called me and pointed to the potty and then started to shake her pointer left and right as if saying, "No No, cannot play with the potty".

- She's getting more difficult to control when in the car. She didn't want to sit on my lap, nor the car seat. Instead, she wanted to sit on her own just like her Jie Jie, without anybody holding her at all!

The Awakening Fall

It's amazing how things took a turn of event. Yesterday, Sze Juin had a fall. It's not the first fall, but it's a first from the bed, and the worst so far. I was a few steps away, adjusting the air-conditioner. She was sitting in the middle of the bed, with Daddy sleeping on one side, and Jie Jie at the other. All of a sudden, she just got up and starting walking - towards the edge of the bed. I was shocked and quickly ran to her, calling her name but she wouldn't stop. Faster and further away from me. Then she went right down to the other side of the bed - her head went down first. A loud cry followed just right after that. That cry woke Daddy up immediately. I quickly ran to the other side of the bed and soothed her. It was a great relief to find that there's no bump on her head, or any sign of blood on her teeth. Really, no words could describe how relief I felt.

At night, I was still searching her, anxiously looking for any signs or bumps. Then I felt a slight bump on her forehead. I quickly put the cold compress and ice against forehead. Luckily it didn't turn blue black or got worse. Things went as normal, she's not even scared when I put her at the same location after that. Gladly, I silently thanked God.

And guess what awaits me tonight when I reached home? Yes, she's walking!

I've waited for her to walk before she turned 1 (coz her Jie Jie actually walked long before she turned 1), but it never happened. Well, not exactly. She's been walking on the bed and sofa, but not on the floor. I guessed she's afraid she'll fall. But tonight, she walked steadily towards me, smiling triumphantly with each step.

Guessed the fall last night made her realised that it's not that painful afterall if she falls down :)

Sze Yi's 3.5 Year Updates

Sze Yi with her many expressions while eating the strawberry

It's been a while since I last updated Sze Yi's progress. In fact, I think I only wrote about it once. It's hard to keep track, as she's now 3.5 year old already. But I'll try to keep a record here for her reference later.

Height: ~97cm

Weight: 14.9kg

Teeth:
20 full milk teeth, no fillings yet (she's been to a dental checkup just this morning, the dentist said it's great! But she didn't dare sit on the chair, the dentist had to check her teeth with Daddy carrying her!)


Feeding:
- She could now eat on her own.
- She has been introduced to a variety of food, including fast food and junk food (sweets, etc.). She is no longer allergic to eggs now (she used to last time).
- She still drinks a lot of milk, at least 3 times a day, normally more than that. I have been mixing breastmilk into her formula when Sze Juin was born, until my gynae told me that it could cause dehydration if the composition is not correct. Ever since then, I slowly trained her to take purely breastmilk since I have excess. Intially, she didn't want. But now, she took (I've been making a lot of changes to the way I stored my milk. Initially I gave her fresh ones, and slowly changed that to frozen milk). When I have more supply, I actually breastfeed both of them fully, which lasted for a few months - maybe close to half a year, I can't really remember. Now, she's 1-2 times on breastmilk - about 5oz each time. If formula, she'll take 7oz.
- She loves to eat medicine, especially paracetamol. Even if she's not sick, she would say that she's sick and need to eat paracetamol. So, it's not really hard to feed her medicine when she's sick :)


Motor Skills:
- Able to ride bicycle and manouvre it quite well
- She could dance really well, remembering all the steps and follow the tempo correctly
- Can run really fast now and climb things with narrow steps (just like a sticks, no base at all) on her own.


Vocabulary:
- I couldn't keep track of her vocabulary as it's grown really fast in such a short time. But I still remembered how touched I was when I first heard her say:
i. Good job Mommy -> when she's ~26 months
ii. I love you Mommy -> when she's around ~27 months
iii. Good night, Mommy. Sweet dream. I love you -> just recently (as how I normally said to her)
- She could sing a lot of songs by now. Her recently learnt ones include Red River Valley, 好妈妈 (not sure the exact name of this song, but she kept singing this when Mother's Day was approaching last month), 三字经 (she could memorize up to the 2nd paragraph, beating me coz I'm still at the 1st paragraph), etc. She also could recite poems like 1,2,3,4,5, Once I caught a fish alive, Hey, Diddle Diddle, etc..

- She's very good in memorizing. Before she started reading, she could memorize the whole book (which I couldn't even remember what would come next, but she could). She had memorized more than 2 books:-
i. Numbers -> when she was ~29 months
ii. Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See? -> when she's around 31 months
iii. Peter & Jane series -> when she's at FingerTips

- She even taught Sze Juin how to read when she was just born, but now that she started to recognise the letters, I could see that she couldn't really remember what would come next but need to read first - yes, on the same book which she'd memorized last time.

- She could now read storybooks. In fact, she showed very great interest in reading nowadays. But she could read and read the same book again and again, without feeling bored. Besides P&J series which was her favourite (I didn't even know FingerTips started her on that, I only realized it when I took her to the bookstore and showed this series to hubby - she started reading the whole book much to our surprises!). She could read up to Level 5 on her own now. I suspect that she's still partially memorizing them, although no doubt she could recognise and spell more words now.

- She could memorize our telephone numbers, spell her name and a few other words.

- The only thing that worry me now is that her speech is not clear. For K sounds, it'll come out as F. Example, Cry Cry, become Fai Fai. But I couldn't comprehend why she could pronounce Car perfectly well. She also couldn't really pronounce Rrrr (Sze Juin is much better than her in this!). But she could speak and understand English, Mandarin and Hokkien.


Others:
- She was fully potty trained when she was 2 year plus. Occasionally, she would wet the bed when she didn't feel secured, especially after we've scolded her. But overall, she could adapt really well in public toilets and also outside if we can't find a public toilet.
- She was weaned off the pacifier when she was 38months. ~2 months later, she also doesn't rely to her boh boh (pillow) to sleep already.
- Her writings - very much improved after she changed school. But, I think it's still not so nice :) She had mastered the numbers rather well (1-10), but the alphabets she still need the dotted lines to guide her. She's improving now, but still not very nice when she writes on her own.
- Colouring skills - acceptable, but still not very neat yet.
- Puzzles - she can piece them up for the easy ones. Those that are more complicated, she'll need help.
- Bricks - she's very into building bricks now. She'll build chair, tall tall buildings, potty, table, etc. - She could play on her own now, wouldn't need full attention from us anymore.
- It's hard to believe her at times, because her imagination will run wild. Some of the things that she said, it's not always true, although it's partially true. She loves to 'tembak' if she didn't know the answer. Maybe that's why there are variations to her stories.
- She could wear her clothes (which includes blouse, pants, socks, shoes) on her own, although she still need help on the more difficult ones.
- She could brush her teeth on her own, although she wouldn't want to do it alone normally.
- She's starting to learn how to bathe on her own. She started to slowly let others (except me!) to wash her hair the normal way. I still have to use the baby way with her.
- She's not so afraid of playing in the pool now. At least when we suggested to go for a swim, she happily agreed.
- She could understand logic rather well - she would request that I go back first that day so that we could all sit in daddy's car tomorrow (our car parks were back to back instead of side by side), looking at Daddy's shoes to tell if he's home already (especially after she followed me to fetch Sze Juin from the babysitter, and when she returned home she still can't see Daddy's working shoes, so she'll know that Daddy's not back yet), looking at the lifts display to see which lift would reach us first, etc.
- She's a great sister. She took great care of Sze Juin. Honestly, when she's smaller, I was afraid to leave them alone. Now, I could ask her to take care of Mei Mei while I do some houseworks. She won't let her sister eat things she shouldn't (even though she herself fed her cocoa crunch when Sze Juin was ~5 months old!).
- She's great with manners - Please, Thank You, You're welcome, I'm sorry, May I?, Excuse Me, etc.
- She's rather cho lor - she loves to shout very loudly and acts like a boy, climb high and low, and play rough.
- She cries easily nowadays especially if she didn't get her way (last time, she hardly cried even if in pain like after a jab).
- She is brave enough to see the doctor now, no more crying and would co-operate with him.

That's all that I could remember for now. My little girl is definitely growing up!

Cameron - Here We Come Again!

I have a 2-week break - it's holiday time! The first week, I went to stay in Amah's house for a few days. Then, during the 3-day break for Mommy and Daddy (it's Agong's birthday replacement) so we went back to Poh Poh and Gong Gong's house. Yi Ma came back too that week.

Since it's so hot, we went to Cameron Highlands again. This time, we didn't stay, unlike last time.

It's so crowded this time, due to the holiday season. Lots of traffic jam, we didn't get to go to a lot of places. Most of the time, we're stuck on the road. Our first stop - we wanted to pluck the strawberries, but since there's no big ones, we didn't went in. Instead, we had our favourite Kok Kok Beh rides! Only mine could move, Mei Mei's couldn't. She's satisfied sitting on it without any tokens. I was not that easy to fool :)

Then, we went to the Pasar Tani to get some vegetables and farm products.

We even tried the sea coconut there, but it didn't taste as good as we thought. Anyway, that was an experience, coz we've never had one. It's not as juicy as we expected in the first place.

After that, we went back to the charcoal steamboat that we had the first time. It was so good and cheap that we went back again. The sign said - organic steamboat. Wow, so healthy! This time, we remembered to take some photos (that was before the food was served). After it was served, we're too busy eating and everyone forgot the camera. While eating, a man came to ask us if we wanted to try the durian. We tried one, it's rather expensive, but it's worth every penny. Really nice!
After lunch, we figured that we could only go to one more place before heading home. Yi Ma would need to go back to KL that very day. Since it's so jam, we decided to go back to the strawberry farm near EQ. However, to our disappointment, it's closed. No strawberry picking for that day, but we're allowed to go in and have a look.

Me & Yi Ma

Strawberry farm - closed for the day

We ended up buying and eating strawberry there. See how I was savouring the taste?

Yi Ma helped us take a family photo

Finally, before we headed home... Bye bye Cameron!

Amah's Birthday

On Amah's' birthday, we had dinner at Foong Wei, Amah's favourite restaurant. Daddy had booked a room in advance, and Amah had ordered the dishes of her choices.

I got the seat of honour - just beside the birthday lady.

Oops.. I changed place again, coz I wanted Mommy to feed me.

More photos to follow.... me with my antics.

Daddy with Amah and Sze Juin

Our family photo...

Daddy wanted to take a picture with everyone in...

Singing of birthday song and Amah cutting her birthday cake -

it's Haagan Daz strawberry ice-cream cake!

We've made Amah's day, that's for sure! Happy Birthday Amah!

My Baby Turns 1!

Today marks another important milestone for both my baby and me. We made it - full 12 months! Which means that she could eat almost everything now - no more fear while I silently congratulate myself for successfully breastfeeding her for a FULL 1 year. Yes, except for a few times of formula milk when she had jaundice and also nappy rash during her 1st 2 months (but that was really rare, just a couple of times for 1 or 2 days, the most).

By now, I've introduced her to a vast variety of new food:

Strawberry, Raisins, Corn, Oatmeal biscuit (introduced by my babysitter), Ginseng soup (accidentally given by Daddy, who misinterpretted Amah’s message that she could drink it already, but was actually referring to Sze Yi), Tau sar piah, KFC (just a little bit), mee suah, pau, etc.

I took the day off since my parents were here. But I still sent Sze Juin to the babysitter in the morning since I had some things to settle. In the afternoon, we went to fetch her before we went for lunch. Hubby took the 2nd half off, and we went to pick up Sze Yi from school before we all went for lunch in Queensbay Mall. After lunch, we went back to let them have a short nap. Then in the evening, we took them down to the garden for a walk.

Sze Juin was very excited as she got to ride her sister's tricycle. We got Sze Yi that for her 1st birthday - and she could only cycle all by herself at about 3.5 years old! Either the front pedal was a little too hard to cycle, or she's not strong enough to manage that earlier. Anyway, it's good enough that the tricycle could last this long :)

We only opened the presents at night, after dinner.

The sisters playing with the ride-on cum walker (pressie from Mommy & Daddy)

Initially, Sze Yi wanted to sit on it once hubby assembled that. But after we told her that since it's Mei Mei's present, Mei Mei should have the first ride. To our surprise, Sze Yi willingly accomodated. But of course, after that, she insisted to play on it as if it was hers.

Jie Jie with all her 'babies' on the lion - except Mei Mei!

More presents to follow - which of course Jie Jie enjoyed more. She got the privilege to help Mei Mei unwrapping them.

Hehe, not this time, though. Mei Mei somehow knew how to open a present by now...

At this point in time, she could already called Mommy and Daddy very clearly. In fact, she could really communicate with us now, by letting us know where she wanted to go, or what she didn't want to do. She also showed that she understood us when we asked her questions. Too bad that she didn't want to take milk from the bottle anymore when at home (not even from Daddy or Amah). She would rather wait for me to return home. That means, only one person can bottle-feed now - the babysitter. As for sleeping, it's harder to put her to sleep now when Jie Jie was around. She wanted to play instead. So sometimes, it's easier to put both of them to sleep together, provided Jie Jie would keep her mouth shut and remained quiet - usually when she's sleepy.

Happy birthday, dearest baby. Mommy, Daddy and Jie Jie love you loads!