Zara took her first step today, at 9months 3 weeks old!

She was cruising using our bed frame as support, and I was just sitting on the floor talking to her. She then turned and stood with her back supported by the bed frame looking at me. I extended my arms ready to catch her if she fell. I told her to be careful. The next thing I know, she took 3, 4 quick steps forward, and landed in my arms.

I was shocked, and after a second, I realised what she’d done and shouted HOORAY! She had this big smile on her face, and then she started clapping her hands. I guess she knew too that she’d achieved some thing big.

I couldn’t believe it, so I placed her back on the same spot, with her back rested on the bed frame; I extended my arms, and I said, “Zara, come to mummy”. Again, another 3, 4 quick steps forward, and she’s back in my arms.

I was so happy, and carried her high up, shouting “Hip Hip Hooray!”. Zara giggling, and clapping her hands.

Daddy heard all the commotion and stuck his head into the room and asked what happened. I got Zara to show us her moves again. And then Tuyam wanted to see it as well. Zara walked again. She was eager to show off her new skill (and so is mummy).

We were all very happy to see this achievement, but think it’ll be some time more before she could walk about confidently but I may be wrong.

This whole week Zara has started going back to Jenny Ah Kim’s house. So she’s back to her old routine, below is the time she spent with me around :

5:30- 6:30am : She stands on her cot and shouts for me (and it goes louder if I tried to ignore it). I will bring her to our bed, place her in between us, nurse her, and we both go back to sleep (daddy seldom wakes up with all these shuffling or shouting).
7:30- 8:00am : Wakes up by the noise we make to prepare ourselves to work. I will be expressing milk while she sits on her high chair to play with things on the dining table.
8:00- 8:30am : Takes her shower either with me or daddy, and either one of us (the one who didn’t shower her) will change her
8:45- 9:00am : She leaves the house together with me and Tuyam. On the journey, she’ll go back to sleep, or she’ll play with some toys or just entertains herself.
9:15- 9:30am : Arrives at Jenny’s place. I hug her and give her a kiss, and go to work.

(time she spends in Jenny’s place under the care of Tuyam)

7:00- 7:30pm : I arrive at Jenny’s place. Pick her up, and ask her about her day (she’ll just smile and sometimes gives me a hug).
7:3o – 8:30pm : I will have my dinner while either Litha (my bro’s maid) or Tuyam looks after her. After dinner, I’ll play with her a bit.
8:30 – 9:00pm : Leaves for home. Most of the time, she would have doze of on the 30mins journey
9:00 – 10:00pm : Daddy will come to carry her out from the car when we arrive. While daddy has his packed dinner, I will play with her or read a book to her. Then daddy will help me give her a wipe, change her to pajamas. Sometimes if she’s still very energetic, we’ll spend more time playing in the room, but most of the time, she would be asking for her last feed.
I will nurse her (while daddy goes back down to do whatever he needs to do), and quite often, she’ll doze off after her feed.
Sometimes, she may still want to play, but I’ll turn off all the lights, and lie in bed with her. She will toss and turn, and do all kinds of acrobatic movements on the bed, but I’ll just ignore her. Most of the time I’ll doze off before she does.
Once she’s asleep, and I wake up from my ‘nap’, I’ll put her in her cot, tuck her in, and then the rest of the time will be mine.

Just some photos of Zara sleeping and crying (from her younger days till now).. Luckily, she sleeps more than she cries.

She just loves sleeping, and can sleep just about any where.

Here is she, crying when she was just born, her 1st time in the pool.. Nowadays, she cries if she feels pain (from a fall), or if she wants mummy, or sometimes, it’s just to get a cuddle.

It’s finally time for Tuyam to come back from Indonesia after her 1month holidays.

We went to KLIA to pick her up. Zara was feeling a bit bored and dopey after a nap on the 40mins journey.

When Tuyam got into the car and said hello to Zara, her face lit up. She started getting excited, kicking her legs, waving her arms, and lifting her head to try to get more glimpses of her kakak pass me (I was seated between the two of them). Then she started making happy noises, occasionally, squealed with laughter while she kept looking at her kakak.

When we stopped to have lunch, and Tuyam went to pick Zara up, she happily reached out her hands for her kakak.

I was worried originally that she may need some time getting used to Tuyam when Tuyam comes back. Looks like she still remembers her kakak and they just hit off right away. Phew!

Last week I bought her Tiny Love’s Musical Stack & Play™.

Initially, I played with her by puting the rings on our head and doing a jig (I did, she just watched), telling her, “look at mummy’s funny hat”, and then tell her she has one too. She would reach for it, and then take the ring down.

Today, I try to teach her to drop the ball into the Elephant Head (a funnel attached to the top opening of the cone). After a few try, with me demonstrating to her, and guiding her hand with the ball, she managed to drop it. She smiled when she heard the cheearing and music the cone made when the ball touched its base. She did that a few more times successfully.

I thought I would remove the Elephant Head, and try to get her to drop it directly to the top opening of the cone. I just told her “Take the ball and put it in (pointing to the opening)”, and she did it without having to demonstrate to her.

She was very happy, and continued to do a few more times. A few times, she actually looked very serious trying to get it right. When she managed to drop it, besides hearing the cheering and the music from the cone, I too cheered and clapped for her. Making her more eager to repeat.

This is a new skill she’d learnt, dropping things through a small opening. While doing this, she also started being able to ‘give’ me things. I used to have to pry open her hand to take some thing from her or have a tug of war with her. When I demonstrated to her how to drop the ball, I asked her to ‘give mummy the ball’, pointing to the ball she’s holding. After a few rounds, she actually placed the ball in my hands.

I must say this toy is worth the investment, and we haven’t even started on the stacking rings yet.

Went for lunch at the Tais with Jenny (my sis in law).

The last time we were here, Zara just recovered from her fever, and she was clinging to me all the time like a koala. This time, she was eager to explore.

While we were chatting in the big hall, Zara climbed up the winding marble stair case. One step at a time, she went. I have to follow her closely, just in case she slipped. She’s very good at going up, but didn’t know how to come down. She leaned herself over the edge of the step, peeping down, trying to figure out how to get down. I have to help her but she started going up again once I placed her back down on the floor.

This is the first time she’s climbing stairs, and I guess if given the opportunity, she will want to practice this skill over and over again.