Zara was flipping one of her favourite books, Maisy’s Bath Time (it’s about Maisy’s friend coming to visit Maisy when she’s just about to take her bath), and trying to read it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAepX0CTXK4]

This is what she said :
She said the book was Maisy’s, then Mummy’s then eventually said, Zara’s.
She said “Going Upstairs, ya” when she came to the page where Maisy’s friend went upstairs.
… (don’t know what she said in between)
She said, “Floor, Put on the floor” where she got to the page with the picture of the racquet.
On the last page, where the text was, “Splash Splash, Maisy and Tallulah play in the bath, Hooray!” She read, “Splash Splash, Maisy bath, Hooray”

Me : *talking to Daddy* Eh, I go for my shower, you look after Zara huh?
Zara : *looked up from what she was doing* Sar-wer. Don’t want.
Me : *turned my attention to her* Huh? Mummy need to shower. Daddy looks after Zara ok?
Zara : *fake crying sound, held my hand* Don’t want!
Me : Daddy look after Zara cannot huh? Why don’t want?
Zara : Don’t want. *Patted her chest* Sked Sked!
(Now when she cannot find a reason for not wanting something, she just says she’s scared. Don’t want to eat fish, because she’s scared. Don’t want to brush teeth, because she’s scared. Don’t want Daddy to look after, because she’s scared)

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Just got into the car.
Zara : Chih-den! Chih-den (Children)! On.
Me : Ok.. Mummy turn on the Children’s song for you.
She listened happily. After a song she likes finished playing, she’ll say, “More more!” (and doing her hand sign by pointing to her palm)
At the start of a song she doesn’t like, “Don’t want! Don’t yike (like)!”
Or she’ll just say, “Off. Don’t want.”

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While waiting for the car after lunch, Zara was admiring the 2 stone lions at the entrance of Federal Hotel.
Me : Let’s go home.
Zara : *waved* Bye bye Nai-yen (Lion). Go hom dee (Go home already). See yoo Monday.
(Every time we leave King’s Wife place in the evening before the weekend, we make her say good bye to everybody, and we say “See you on Monday” to every one, she must have picked that up).

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After changing her to a nice blouse and a denim skirt :
Zara : *put her palms on her cheeks* So tute (cute).
Me : *can’t help but smile* Yeah, Zara so cute.
Zara : *pulled my hand* Hold hand.
Me : *followed her* Where Zara wants to go?
Zara : *point to the door* Show Daddy. Show Kakak.
(Oh, my. She’s really getting vain.)

On Saturday, while feeding Zara lunch, the old newspaper man (a man who goes from housing estate to housing estate collecting old newspaper, magazines, car batteries for recycling; and we get paid a small fee for letting him have these old items) passed by our house.

Like all old newspaper men, to announce his presence, he blasted his recorded ‘advertisement’ repeatedly while driving through the residential area. It was something like this :
“Paper Lama (Malay: Old newspaper). Siu Gu Poh Jua (Hokkien: Collecting old newspaper). Sao Gao Poh-Ji (Cantonese : Collecting old newspaper). Old newspaper. Bateri Lama (Malay: Old batteries)”

Zara very quickly learnt up the ‘chanting’. And here’s a recording of her chanting, with me prompting.

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For those who are interested in the scones recipe, I’d posted it here.

I had finally settled the hotel reservations in Bali; being such a cheap skate after lots (and I mean LOTS) of hunting around, comparing locations, prices, checking out reviews, we’d finally settled for 2 small properties, Ellie’s in Nusa Dua and Barong Resort & Spa in Ubud. Not sure if it’s such a good idea not staying in those big reputable resorts, especially with Zara, but I like smaller places (not having to compete with big tour groups), we shall see.

(Thanks to those who had suggested places to stay in my last post)

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Yesterday, I invited my side of the family over for tea and dinner. We ate out for dinner but for tea, I baked some scones.

Simple recipe of mixing everything in the food processor, cutting the dough up, and then baking it.

Nothing beats fresh from the oven scones with a dollop of whipped cream and strawberry jam.

I baked about 30, and at the end of it, we have about 6 left for today’s breakfast. 9 of us took 24 scones!! But they are pretty small though.

As for Zara, since her 1st birthday, she’d never seen so many people in our house before. She had fun, playing with her cousins, going to the park with them, and best of all, getting to see her youngest cousin, baby Tasha (her inspiration to become a baby) again!

Playing with Norman Ko-ko; getting ready to go out for dinner; giving Tasha a big hug (almost suffocating her in the process); Tasha giving us a rare smile (she’s grown so much, compared to older photos).

In the car, while on our way to home after dinner, I asked her, “Zara happy or not? So many people came to Zara’s house to play with Zara?” She said, “Happy! *pointed to her chest* Zara.”

Zara sometimes gets a bit manja (Malay : need affections), and she will start complaining she has pain every where so that I’ll kiss the pain away. Yesterday night was one of those times.

While in bed, waiting for her to fall asleep.
Zara : *turned to me* Mummy
Me : *grogilly* Yes, Zara
Zara : Eyes. Paink paink
Me : *turned to look at her, in the dark trying to check her eyes* Zara’s eyes pain pain?
Zara : *whined and rub her eyes* eyes, paink paink.
Me : *took her hands away* You don’t rub your eyes! Let mummy check. *Checked and found nothing wrong* Never mind, Zara don’t rub your eyes any more. Mummy kiss kiss. Muak *then turned the other to try to sleep*
Zara : Mummy. Boh-dee paink paink.
Me : *turned to her* Body pain pain now?
Zara : *smiled and pointed ot her body* Paink paink.
Me : (realised she’s playing her ‘manja’ game) *kissed her tummy* Ok, mummy kiss kiss. Muak.
Zara : *pointed to her elbow* Eh-boh paink paink
Me : *kissed her elbow* Muak. Where else pain pain?
Zara : *pointed to her knee* Knee paink paink
Me : *kissed her knee* Muak. How come every where pain pain?
Zara : *pointed to her bum* Beh-sike, bum bum paink paink
Me : (never mind, this is a good time for her to name the body parts) *kissed her bum* Muak. Your armpit pain pain or not?
Zara : *pointed to armpit* Ah-Pit paink paink *grinning*
Me : *kissed her armpit* Muak. Your belly button pain pain?
Zara : *stuck her finger into her belly button* Buh-ton paink paink
Me : *kissed her belly button*. Muak. Some more?
Zara : *pointed to her private part* Petpet paink paink *cheeky grin*
Me : Eee. Petpet also pain pain? Ok ok, mummykiss. Muak. *Kiss her diaper*
Zara : *pointed to her ear* Eeyer paink paink
Me : *kissed her ear* Muak. Wah, every where pain pain huh?
…
And it continued, kissed her chin, her mouth, her feet, her hands, her nose, her head, her hair… It’s a bit like doing a revision on all the body parts she knows how to name. I have yet to teach her forehead, eye brow, shin, shoulder, but I guess we’ll soon get there, if she has this ‘pain attack’ often enough.

I worked from home today. While working, I heard Zara fussing in our room. I went over to have a look.

Tuyam picked the below set of clothes for Zara to wear after her morning shower.

Me : What happened?
Zara : Don’t Want!
Me : Don’t Want what?
Zara : *Point to the clothes* Don’t want
Me : You don’t want this baju (Malay : Clothes), then what Zara wants to wear?
Zara : *smile* Sessy Tothes
Me : *don’t believe my ears* Zara wants what?
Zara : *smile* Sessy Tothes
Me : Sexy clothes?
Zara : *pointed to another set of clothes Tuyam has selected for her* Sessy Tothes.
Tuyam : Yeah la. Dia tak mahu itu, dia mahu sexy sexy punya (Malay : Yeah, she doesn’t want that, she wants something sexy)

And so, a set of ‘sexy clothes’ she has! She’s happy now!

Hmm.. I wonder if this has got anything to do with King’s Wife.

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I brought Zara to see another Paed today (I didn’t say we’re going to see a Doctor, but told Zara we’re going to get an uncle to check her). A very old and experienced doctor highly recommended by a friend.

When I told him about my worry. He just laughed, and said parents nowadays worry too much. After checking Zara thoroughly (felt her head, her back, and the routine check of ear, throat, teeth) and asking Zara to do a few things (helped him turn on the thermometer, gave him high five, shook his hand, played pat a cake), he said Zara can understand him very well, and her overall development looks fine.

He then proceeded to say that the raised ridge is formed by the 2 front skull bones fusing (I think the bones are called metopic suture). It won’t do her any harm. I asked him if it would eventually go away, and he said very likely it won’t, and will be there even in her adult life, but it shouldn’t get any bigger.

This kind of makes me feel better.

By the way, thanks to all your kind words left in my last post. Really appreciate the support you have given, it’s kind of like having a group of friends standing by you. Thank you!

I just come to realise that Zara has this little raised ridge (about 1cm long) right in the middle of her skull where her hair line is. I don’t know when it started to be there, but 2 weeks ago, I could feel that very tiny little bump (feels like touching a tooth pick covered under a blanket), and it got me worried.

I wanted to slap myself for not bringing this up during the last visit to the Paed. After worrying for another week, I thought I’d bring her to the Dr to have a look.

When I told Zara we were going to see the Dr, she immediately whined, “Don’t want. Doh-tuh.” She probably remembered the injection she got.

She was as usual very cheerful while waiting for the Dr, playing with the toys in the waiting room. When it was her turn, she dragged me away from the door leading to the Dr’s clinic, and put up a fight when the Dr wanted to feel the bump and measure the circumference of her head.

The Dr told me this could have been caused by the fusing of the bones in her skull, since she’s developing normally, and the measurement of her head is within normal range, I should not be worried but I do have to monitor her to see if there’s any abnormal behaviour or if the bump size increase.

How could I not worry? Even after seeing him, I’m still worried! I don’t like to think about anything which can ‘possibly’ happen, or which needs monitoring.

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On a lighter note, I asked Zara if she wanted to play with a Dr set I bought before Christmas.
Me : Zara want to play Dr Dr?
Zara : Don’t wang. Pay. Doh-tuh Doh-tuh
Me : *showed her the set* See, so many things for Zara to play. Zara can pretend to check Mr Blue to see if Mr Blue is sick sick.
Zara : Don’t wang.
Me : Why Zara don’t want?
Zara : Sked sked (Scared)

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For those of you who understand Chinese, click here for a meaningful song which is dedicated to all parents, I could really relate to it now, after being a mum for 16months.

These days, if Zara didn’t fall asleep after she’d taken her milk, we would lie in bed, and in her limited vocabulary, we’ll chi-chat. Her long sentences are normally punctuated with lots of pauses.

Me : Zara lie down with mummy
Zara : Lie down. Toss Eyes. (Close eyes)
She saw the room light was still on.
Zara : *pointed to the light* sitch off, light (She said Switch off, instead of just off!)

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Me : Zara likes Kidzsports?
Zara : *giggled* Spots! Yike (like)!
Me : What can Zara do in Kidsports?
Zara : Pay (Play).
Me : What can Zara play in Kidzports?
Zara : Many ball balls! Throw away! Jump!
Me : Remember the big slide?
Zara : Member. *extended her arms out* BiiiiG side!
Me : Remember the tunnel?
Zara : *pat her chest* tuh-nuh, sked sked (scared)

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Me : How mummy call Zara when mummy come home from work?
Zara : Ter Ger (Little Girl)!
Me : How daddy call Zara then?
Zara : Ger ger (Girl Girl).

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Me : Zara, how the jie jie in the Sound of Music sing already?
Zara : Cuckoo! Cuckoo!
Me : *I hum the beginning tune* Zara sing some more
Zara : *singing out of tune* Ah-deeoh ah-deeoh (Adios, Adios)
Me : Remember the small jiejie (Chinese: big sister)?
Zara : Member
Me : Zara sing like the small jie jie
Zara : Sun, seep (sleep), *wave her hands* good bye, good bye. (Actual : The sun has gone to bed, so must I)
(The song Von Trapps kids sang to the guests before going to bed)

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The other day, she hugged me and said, “Af yoo” (Love You, something I say to her very often).

I love these moments!

On Saturday evening, Daddy & I brought Zara to the another park which is about 500m away from our regular park. It was so quiet, we shared the whole place with another family with 3 boys. The main play area is shaped like a ship, so we told Zara this is the “Ship Park”.

I made a mistake by asking Zara to slide down the ‘tunnel slide’ (below) on her own; she had a fright and didn’t want to attempt it again, even when I said I would go with her.

On Sunday, we brought her to Kidzsports, One Utama after lunch. When we arrived, she was running towards the pool of balls shouting happily! This time, we made sure we brought along our socks, so we can both be in the play area to take care of Zara.

My fault for getting her to slide down the tunnel slide the day before; unlike the last trip where she was happily exploring everything; this round, she seemed to be very afraid to go on the big slide or climbed up the rubber steps. When we had to crawl over tunnels, she refused to get in. Kept saying, “Don’t want. Sked sked (Scared), tuh-ner (tunnel).” I had to coax her many times, telling her this is not THAT slide, and I’ll be with her, before she agreed and moved just slightly forward.

Her favourite is still the pools of balls.

After Kidzport, we went to Dragon-I for dinner. Zara shared the chives and shrimp ramen with me, and she loved it! Zara got restless half way through, so Daddy brought Zara to look at the Shanghai si-fu making dumplings. One of the si-fu gave a piece of dough to Zara. That kept her occupied for a while, she rolled it around like a piece of play dough.

I had to say, the dough is so elastic and soft, it did not stick to my hands or crumble when I roll it into a thin bracelet for Zara. No wonder the ramen is so nice, and the Shanghai dumpling so famous. Unfortunately we don’t take pork, or there would be even more dishes to enjoy.

MIL : Zara still wearing diaper during day time?
Me : Yes
MIL : Aiyo, let her wear her panties without diaper la. Tell her to let you know when she wants to pee or poo
Me : *smiled and shrugged*
She reminds me again and again that her kids were toilet trained from a very young age, and I waited too long to train Zara (MILs are always quick to point out your shortcomings).
Hmm, I listen to the expert, and I won’t push Zara as long as she’s not ready.

We tried several time to get Zara to sit on the potty, she played with it, stepped on it, walked around carrying it. She’ll freeze and say, “Poo Poo.” when she’s about to poo. If we asked her to sit on the potty, she would say “Don’t want. Skat skat”. I don’t know why.

Because the 2 of us are inseparable at home, she likes to follow me to the toilet and have seen me used the toilet bowl. I told her, “This is big people’s potty. Next time Zara become big jie-jie, Zara can use this potty.” She normally helps me flush after I’d finished using the toilet. “Fus (Flush).” She would observe closely to see whatever that’s being flushed away, “see-see (pee) no more!”

One day, while we were in the toilet, she pointed to the toilet bowl.
Zara : “Poo poo.”
Me : “Zara wants to use big people’s potty to poo poo?”
Zara : “wang”
I placed her on the toilet bowl, held on to her and started coaxing her with sound effect.
After a few moments of trying, she just said, “No more!” and wanted to get down.

My maid said she did that again last week.

I guess when she’s ready, she’ll do it, according to her schedule.