On Tuesday night, after sharing an ice cream with Samantha che-che, Zara started coughing, the 2nd time Zara she had cough and flu since she was born (touch wood).

Although it wasn’t serious, since I didn’t have any medication at home, I took her to see the Paed on Thursday morning. I told her, “Mummy bring Zara go see Dr to take Medicine ok?”. She started repeating, “Meh-ee-sen”

At the hospital, she was happily running about, playing with the toys and slides at the waiting area.

When it was her turn, she let the Dr checked her without a fuss. I also accepted the Dr’s recommendation of a new vaccination called Pnemocococcal vaccination (for protection against bacterial meningitis, septicaemia and pneumonia). It was when he administered the vaccination that Zara cried. “Bum bum pain pain” She cried and complained. However, she still tearily waved and uttered, “Bye-bye” to the Dr when we were leaving.

1st attempt of feeding Zara the medicine was a breeze. She didn’t know what it tasted, and opened her mouth smilingly. In the night, it was a different story. “Don’t want, don’t want meh-ee-sen”.

The mention of ‘medicine’ made her go all teary; 2 pairs of hands needed to feed her 2.5ml of the syrup (the 3rd pair snapping away on the camera); after swallowing the medicine, she started bawling.

After a nursing directly for a while, she had the happy look again, aaaaah..
She’s getting better already, thank goodness!

Woh, another month has just gone by, and Zara the ‘baby’ is now 16th month old. This is another post to capture her development.

~ Weight unknown, probably about 9Kg? 8.5Kg (updated 23/3/06, measured in Hospital)
~ Height : 78.5cm (taken with her standing leaning against a wall at home)
~ 2 2nd molars (left top and bottom) have sprouted, the other right two are sprouting

Dexterity :
Sometimes she does a skip like run.
She still prefers to be carried than walking.
Started feeding herself with fork (we have to help her poke the food with the fork).
Drinking with a straw like a pro, even blowing bubbles.
Opening and closing bottle tops.

Language :
Very amazed to see how she’s progress in this area. Started being able to pronounce the K sound (used to be Tatak, Ah Tong, now it’s Kakak and Ah Kong etc)

Able to use words and phrases to describe what she wants, what she’s doing and how she feels :
Rest
Tai-yet (tired)
Shy Shy
Don’t yike (like)
Toh (throw) Away
Close eyes
So Many
Larf you (not sure if she knows the meaning, but she says ‘larf you’ back when I said “I love you” to her)
Give some

Very fast in learning new songs.

Knows most of her body parts, even arm pit (ah-pit), back side (beh-sigh), bum (bum bum), button (belly button) and chin.

Able to pick her book and name the main character in the book, Joe-Joe (From Joe Joe’s Revenge), Mehsi (from Maisy’s Bath Time), Spider (from Miss Spider Tea Party).

Able to request for the songs she wants, bee-go (Bingo), Doh-nuh (Old Mc Donald), chuh-den (songs sung by children), sheep (baa-baa black sheep), etc.

Memory :
She’s able to recollect some of the things she’d experienced and tell me back like Feed Zhu-zhu, eat bed (Feeding bread to Zhu-zhu, my friend’s dog the other day); Bug, mummy step step step, sked sked (I spotted a cockroach in the toilet, got a fright and was jumping around, which Zara saw)

Able to tell whose house we’re going when she see the scenery around, esp King’s Wife’s, my dad’s and my in-laws’ place

Feeding / Food :
Still loves fish, and now always asks for vegetable (she says “Vege“) from our table.

Still, taking 3 solids meals, 3 to 4 (depending if she woke up early in the morning for some sip of milk) breast milk feed (3~4oz) + 1 formula feed (~5oz) a day. In between she snacks on biscuits and fruits.

Emotions :
She still loves King’s Wife’s daughter Samantha the most.

A very happy and good girl, the only problem I have with her is during meal times when she can’t sit still to eat.

Zara suddenly wanted to be a baby again. Funny little girl. After her bath on Saturday morning :
Zara : Baby! Oo-Weh Ooh-Weh *immiated baby crying*.
Me : Are you baby or jiejie?
Zara : Baby. Mummy cayee (Carry) *stretched her arm out*
I carried her by placing an arm around her back, and let her sit on my hip.
Zara : Don’t want.
Me : But you want mummy to carry right?
Zara : Cayee! (Carry) *she moved her head and wanted to lay it on my other arm*
Me : Oh..
I craddled her, let her lay on the nooks of my arms, just like a baby.
Me : Happy?
Zara : Happy.
Me : Who’s baby?
Zara : *pointed her chest* Za-ah (Zara).

~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday afternoon, a contractor went out with Daddy to the hardware shop to buy some stuff to help us with our rat problem in the house (yes, we have some residence rats who do tap dancing everynight on our roof). When they came back, Zara got excited :
Zara : Daddy!
Me : Yeah. Go say Hi to Daddy.
Zara walked to the door, stood for a while (and probably found out there’s another person with Daddy), turned back.
Me : Why? Go say Hi to Daddy ma.
Zara : *grinned* Shy shy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daddy went for a haircut near my Dad’s place (where we used to live). Immediately we turned into the residential area, Zara said, “Ah Kong (Chinese : maternal grandfather)!”
Me : Yes, we are near Ah Kong’s house
Zara : Ah Kong, house! *stretched her arm out* Ah Kong, cayee (Carry)
Me : Ah Kong not here.
Zara : *turned and face me* Mummy cayee!
We called my father, and arranged for him to have dinner with us, so that Zara can see him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Near my dad’s place, we saw the ERL train passing by. Told Zara it was a train. She got very excited and kept pointing and repeated, “Tain! Tain!”
We thought we’d give her a treat. After Daddy’s haircut, we went and parked our car at Tun Sambattan station, and took Zara on a monorail ride. We went to Berjaya Time Square, visited the Borders Bookshop (which Zara likes a lot, especially the children’s section), then took the monorail back to Tun Sambattan.
Daddy carried Zara all the way on the monorail ride, he pointed to her the Klang river, the buildings, we passed, the roads below.
When we got out of the station:
Zara : More more! Tain!
Me : Finished already. Now we go and see Ah Kong ok?
Zara : K.
Me : “Zara happy?”
Zara : Happy! Tain!

There was a little package sent to me on Thursday, my very first post addressed to me! When Kakak opened it, out came 2 beautiful dresses! Since Kakak do not know much English, I used simple words like, “Wear baju (Malay: Clothes)” to tell her I want to wear those beautiful dresses!

Kaka put one on for one, and then the other, I love them so much. I twirled around, turning turning turning turning, until my head started spinning, and Kakak had to hold me still so that I don’t fall. She then took the clothes off from me even though I held on to the hem. I wanted to tell her “Please don’t take it off, I want to wear it for the rest of the day” but I think Kakak won’t understand such complex English.

On Friday, mummy worked from home. Yippie! During lunch time, Mummy took out those dresses again, she told me these are from Aunty Jesslyn, who had personally sewn them for me. I went “Wah” upon hearing that. She asked Kakak to put them on for me, and she went to take out the mean looking camera. Ah, who cares about the camera, the dresses are lovely. “Pretty Baju” I told them. Again, I turned round and round and round. I thought it looked like some ballet moves, but mummy said, “Stop turning Zara, you look like you are mabuk (Malay: Drunk)!”

The dress is so comfortable; the baby doll one has beautiful lace at the hem, and an embroidered top. And it’s the same colour as Mr Blue! I was enjoying walking about, playing with my glass pebbles when mummy started asking me to do all the faces I know how to pull, and put the mean looking camera near my face. I had to quickly follow her instructions, or she won’t put away the mean thing.

Ah.. I was exhausted after all these, I went to my pram, announced, “tired, lie down, rest” and hope mummy will leave me alone in my beautiful dress.

Thank you Aunty Jesslyn, for such lovely dresses. Next time if I have chocolate and sweets, I’ll share with Wien jiejie and Lyon ok? HUG HUG! *MUAK*

PS Aunty Jesslyn, too bad I can’t go to the post office myself, or else, I can send Lyon and Wien jie-jie those boring, err I mean interesting, Sesame Streets, Bob The Builder VCDs mummy is ‘forcing’ me to watch.

Since last Thursday, every night after dinner, we put on The Sound of Music, and show Zara 3 clips from the movie (thanks to DVD scene select) :
1) Maria teaching the Little Von Trapps to sing Do Re Mi
2) The puppet show put on by the Little Von Trapps
3) The Little Von Trapps bidding goodnight to the guests in their father’s dinner party

She loves it! Keeps asking for more (replay) after each song is sung (the below pix show her concentrating on the show)

On Saturday, while on our way to Ipoh, she started singing the last word of the Do-re-mi song with me. This is how we sing together :
Me : Doe a deer, a female
Zara : Deer
Me : Ray, a drop of golden
Zara : Sun
Me : Me, a name I call my
Zara : Sef (Self)
Me : Far, a long long way to
Zara : Run
Me : Sew, a needle pulling
Zara : Dat (Thread)
Me : La, a note to follow
Zara : So
Me : Tea, I drink with jam and
Zara : Bed (Bread)
Me : That will bring us back to
Zara : DO
And then she’ll clap her hands upon completion of the song. Still a long way from Luke Von Trapp, but both Daddy and I were extremely surprised that she had actually learnt up the last words in 2 days.

She also likes to hum the tune sung during the puppet play, but it goes something like this :
Zara : *mumble mumble* eh- Hoo Hoo

Last night, when I told her it’s time for bed, she pointed to the TV set and said, “Put! Put! Bye Bye! Seep!” Haha.. she wanted me to play her Clip #3. After that song, she took my hand pointed upstairs, and said, “Go Seep!”

See, I’m happy taking a rest from Barney!

There are expressions or faces I can ask Zara to make, and there are some which have to come naturally.

Here is how she looks when I ask her to:

LAUGH LIKE A HIPPO (showing her teeth)

SMILE LIKE THE MOON (crescent)

DO HER POPEYE FACE

And I like this the best, DO HER CUTE CUTE FACE

These are faces which I cannot get her to act out, but have to come naturally.

CONCENTRATING
CRYING

And best of all,SMILING HAPPILY

Russ, our cat, went under the dining table to sleep
Zara : *pointing to Russ* Uss, Seep. (Russ, sleep)
She then tried pulling down the big cushion which she uses for her afternoon nap from the sofa. When she couldn’t, she laid her head on the cushion.
Zara : Seep (Sleep)
Tuyam helped her laid the cushion down.
Zara : *reached her hand to Tuyam* Ah Boo (Mr Blue)
Tuyam gave her Mr Blue, and she laid down and tried to nap.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After our walk in the town centre in Ipoh at noon, Zara was getting tired.
Zara : *lean back on her car seat* Lie down
Zara : toss eyes (Close eyes)
Zara : Seep (Sleep)
And she tried to nap; after a while,
Zara : *open her eyes, pointed at the lamp in the car* Daddy, off. Off light.
Haha, she thought the glaring sun can be turned off like a lamp.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I stayed in the study to complete my work and got Daddy to watch over Zara in the night.
Daddy and Zara were happily entertaining each other. When Daddy joined Zara’s cot to our bed and then wanted to change Zara to her pajamas. The little one suddenly realised it’s time for bed, and mummy was not with her.

She started crying and pointed to the direction of the study, “Mummy! Mummy!” Then went and banged on the bed room door!

Exasperated, Daddy brought her out to look for me, “She doesn’t want me ah!”

Every night, only I could get her to sleep, she can be happily playing with whoever, but when it’s bed time, mummy has to be the one next to her. I wonder how she’ll cope if I have to travel because of work. Not that there’s plans laid out yet.

Over the weekend, we drove up to Ipoh for a friend’s wedding. It was a simple affair in a local restaurant. The bride, Liew, did not even wear a gown for her wedding, but just a simple dress. Daddy said, “Which is perfectly fine”. I said, “But you only get to be a bride once in a life time, I would at least want a gown.” But then, Liew is a simple, down to earth person; which is why Daddy is very fond of her, and which is also why he didn’t mind driving all the way up for her wedding.Zara was cranky the whole night. Probably because she only napped for 1hr the whole day. Daddy and I had to take turns to bring her out for walks. Not that there’s much to walk about or see, but she was happier than being seated for a long 4hrs.

Clockwise : The bride and groom; Zara finally fulfilled her wish, sitting on a motorbike; Zara didn’t want to sit on Daddy’s lap (see Daddy’s frown?); Jesse, my friend’s 8mth old, sat through the dinner without a single whine

We spent the night in Ipoh, and the following morning after breakfast in the hotel, we went to town for a walkabout. Both Daddy and I always like visiting local markets, so when we saw a building with a sign reading Pasar Besar Ipoh (Malay: Ipoh Big Market), we quickly parked our car and headed there.

I just love markets, not the filth, but it’s always interesting to look at the local produce. We saw a fish monger selling about 10 different types of prawns (very reasonably priced), we would have bought some if we had a big ice box. We bought a bell shaped pumpkin which we do not get in KL (not the imported butter squash, but locally grown). And then the sight of a lady selling beansprout really caught my interest (I actually walked back to the car to get the camera to take the below shots).
Ipoh is famous for beansprouts, and it’s no wonder you get ‘specialists’ only selling beansprouts in the market. Big plastic barrels used to sprout the beans (they looked like huge alfafa sprouts) were next to the stall. I didn’t see how they were harvested but I saw the stall owner washed the sprout in a cement cylinder (I don’t know what that thing is called) and scooped up the amount customers wanted into bags. She was a good sport, and told me I was welcome to take her photos.

What is a visit to Ipoh without meeting up with the local bloggers? King’s Wife even drove up with Seng Kor for a day trip to join the fun. It was a small and intimate meeting. We had lunch with Helen and Hubby, Samm and Gordon, followed by coffee.

With a smaller crowd, and so much time, you get to have a more decent conversation, and able get to know each other better. I’m not supposed to review too much here, but I must say they do live up to the personalities they portray in their blogs. *grin* (Note : Seng Kor did go to the toilet, but I’m not sure if it was to do what Helen mentioned here)

Again, Zara fussed a lot, while sweet little Gordon, spent the whole time seated and amusing himself with tissues and toothpicks. *Sigh*

Clockwise : Daddy keeping an eye on Zara in a local coffee place while I ran back to the market to photograph the beansprout lady; Walking in the town centre; Zara couldn’t sit still, while Gordon didn’t even fuss throughout.

I met up with 3 very close ex-classmates on Tuesday night and brought along Zara and Tuyam.

While we had dinner, Zara was playing with Zhu-Zhu, the schnauzer, one of my friend brought along. Zara fed her bread, patted her, and followed her, calling “Joe Joe!” “Dog Dog!” after her. Tuyam then noticed that Zara has some rashes and swelling on the back of her palms. Zara must be like me, allergy to animals saliva. When my skin touches animal saliva, it’ll get itchy all over; if the rash has just been developed, normally just rinsing it with soapy water will get rid of it. It will get worse if I don’t take immediate action. I quickly got Tuyam to wash her hands, and true enough, soon after that, the red patches and swelling were gone.

Since she has this allergy, we stopped her from playing with the dog. My friend took out a box full of her son’s toys and Zara was happily kept busy by the goodies she found.

I’m an animal lover, at one point, I had 2 dogs, 2 cats, 3 kittens, 2 guinea pigs. Dogs and cats were stray whom I brought home (hid in the boot when my mum wasn’t looking and innocently said I don’t know how it got there). Cared for lovingly by my mum (whom although strict, has never scolded me from bringing stray home) and me. Back then, I always had rashes all over me, but I was ignorant of the cause, and it didn’t’ bother me.

When I was older, I realise the cause of the rashes and itch, and I started being more careful with animals. After handling any animals, I have to immediately wash my hands. No co-sleeping with animals which I used to do. This helps.

Looks like the ‘curse’ now had landed on Zara as well, whom also seems to love animal a lot. Isn’t it ironic?

In my line of work, I can work from home since most of the ‘customers’ I deal with are out of Malaysia and all ‘dealings’ are done through IM, emails or phone calls; which means I can actually work from anywhere as long as I can connect to the network and have a phone with me.

I still go to the office, to make use of the facilities (printers, stationary), and also to catch up on local office gossips; and I feel to have Zara stationed in King’s Wife’s place, helps her development too because she gets to play with King’s Wife’s children, and not just stuck with Tuyam.

On days I work from home, I’ll lock myself in the study above, and Zara will be playing, napping, watching TV downstairs with Tuyam. At 6pm sharp, Tuyam will hand over the shift to me so that she can prepare dinner. This is the time which I enjoy most, especially when it’s not raining.

Zara and I will walk to the nearby park, where I’ll just let her run in the field, pick up anything from the ground to examine (since she hasn’t taken her bath yet, she’s free to get dirty) while I chat with other parents. I’ll give her a helping hand when she wants to go on the see-saw, slide and the swing. This is probably the only reason why it’s nice to be living in this residential area in the suburb, roads are wide, cars are few, and there are 2 parks within walking distant shared among 200 houses.

She always have lots of fun there, and the good thing is when it’s time to go, she normally doesn’t kick a fuss. I’ll give her some time to say bye bye to everything; “Bye bye slide”, “Bye bye sing (swing)”, “Bye Bye park” etc etc. Then we’ll walk back home for her bath.

Clockwise : She wanted to go on another kid’s buggie, and when I said she had to ask the kid for permission, she changed and said, “touch” (seen here using her foot to ‘touch’); “Down!”; Not even 2 seconds, she wanted to go on another different ride; Walking down the slope (which leads to the slide);

“High” “High!”