We arrived in Malacca on Monday afternoon, and went over to Ping’s house after we’d checked into the hotel and freshened up.Zara made herself right at home at Ping’s, playing with Shirleen’s (Ping’s niece, who’s about the same age as Zara) toys, or anything she could get her hands on. Shirleen was clinging to Daddy most of the time, I never knew he was such a child magnet as normally kids are afraid of him because of his height (King’s Wife’s kids called him Big Uncle up till today).

Ping’s parents cook very well. They made us nasi lemak for dinner and home made cendol for dessert (yummy!); and for Zara, her mum made her fish porridge which Zara ate the whole big bowl, and saying ‘GHG’ (her ‘good’) all the time.

Clockwise: Delicious home-made nasi lemak; Zara having her fish porridge; Daddy the child magnet (Shirleen refused to get down from his lap); two toddlers trying to read.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel with Ping. The hotel was like an ice box, freezing cold! Daddy gave Zara a quick shower and changed her to pajamas, then we went down to the coffee house to have hot tea to keep ourselves warm (should have brought along my winter jacket and ski mask!).

Zara had a great time playing with the things on the table. She was so excited and busy. Daddy helped to look after her, brought her for walks so that Ping and I were left alone and we could talk.

When it was Zara’s bed time, we sent Ping back home, and then took a car ride just so Zara can fall asleep in the car as I thought she would be too excited to sleep in the hotel room.

On Tuesday, we picked Ping up and went to Malacca town to have brunch, followed by some shopping. It was a good time to be in Malacca, because the town was quiet (traffic was good), and there were lots of Chinese New Year goodies for sale. We bought some biscuits and jam tarts although Ping’s mum have already given me quite a lot of home made cookies to bring home.

We then sent Ping home as she needed to help her mum with cookie making, picked up more goodies from her mum like star fruits and bananas grown in their relative’s back garden. We went back to town for late lunch and then headed back to KL.

Malacca is still a very pleasant place to go to, food is good, and relatively cheap, and there’s still lots of home made goodies to enjoy. We really don’t mind visiting Ping back in her home town yearly when she comes back.

Ping brought back quite a lot of prezzies for me and Zara, but one of the nicest is this handmade (I’m a sucker for any thing handmade or home cooked) Brazilian necklace by one of her Brazilian friend. Very nice. Have to find an occasion to wear it.

(Please do help me with my quizez if you know the answers)

We were very busy with one of Daddy’s best friends’ wedding over the weekend (quiz : Can you still consider someone a best friend if he had been dating a girl for 1 1/2 years, planning his wedding, and you were informed only 1 1/2 months before the wedding about this girl?).The wedding dinner was on Saturday, and the ‘receiving’ of the bride (???, Chip sun liong) was on Sunday.

During the wedding dinner, Zara was a bit clingy because she was abruptly waken from her nap when we arrived at the restaurant. She wasn’t a good sport like the night before.

On Sunday morning we remained behind in the groom’s house when Daddy followed the groom to ‘receive’ the bride. Zara managed to squeeze in half an hour of nap while we were waiting for the bride and groom’s return. It’s amazing what some sleep can do to a toddler. She was in better spirit right after that and for the rest of the event.

Here are some moments captured (Most photos were taken by Daddy, and he has this thing about taking photos in black and white, as you can see) :

She was very scared of the yam seng (Chinese: toasting) session.. way too loud!!.

Paying attention to Aunty Wai Mun talking.

Clinging to mummy most of the time.

Checking out the bride’s bouquet

Mesmerised by the flash from the official photographer’s camera

My best friend (who informed me about all the dates she went on; and told me when she was planning for her wedding, showed me her gown before the wedding, even though we lived few thousands of miles apart. Quiz : Is this the difference between a man’s and a woman’s best friend?) is back from NYC. The next 2 days, we’ll be going to Malacca to visit her. A short holiday for the family.

We went for Daddy’s company dinner in Mum’s Place at Mutiara D’sara yesterday night. The whole upper floor of the restaurant was allocated for the event. It was an informal affair, and dinner was buffet style.

Zara was so well behaved the whole time. There were candles litted up every where and she was very facinated by the flickerring flame. I warned her that it’s VERY HOT HOT, and if she touched it it’ll be VERY PAIN PAIN. A few times when she wanted to touch it, I pointed my finger at her, and she quickly withdrew her hand.

Zara last met some of Daddy’s colleagues 5months back, so I don’t believe she has any recollection of the earlier encounter.

She said Hi to most of them (she would raise her hand and then said “Haai”) and shook their hands (if they asked). She let them hold her hands to walk with her or carry her. She was very fond of this particular girl who is Daddy’s colleague’s daugther. Zara was running to the little girl all the time, puting her hands on the little girl’s lap and just looked and smiled at her.

The whole dinner, she was walking here and there without any reservations, laughed when people laughed (we called it her politician’s laugh). We just let her roam (since it was an enclosed area) but watched closely to make sure she didn’t do anything dangerous, or bump into any sharp edges.

At one point, one of Daddy’s colleague just picked her up very suddenly, and I expected her to look my way for help and cry, but she didn’t even cry or fuss, but just stared at her for a while, and then relaxed.

Even though the event stretched way beyond Zara’s bed time, she was still a sport. When the older kids played musical chair, she was dancing to the music. When some one won the game and got a round of applause, she clapped and laughed along as well.

When it was time to go home, she said good bye to everyone in her sweetest voice (her “ba-bye” is one of the sweetest sounding words she can say) and blew them flying kissess. She also almost hugged every one; and with the little girl she liked, the hug lingerred a little longer.

On one hand I’m proud of her for being so sociable and so easy to adapt to new environment and people. On the other hand I’m a bit worried if she’s too sociable for her own good.

A video capturing Zara dancing to the tune of her electronic keyboard.

With her shaking her head like that, I’m always worried she may get dizzy; but then, she may just be creating a new dance move (Saturday Night Fever – 2006).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzAd3PXtwUc]

Daddy loves fish, any types of fish (not the same type of Piscean Lust that this guy has though, Daddy’s love is the edible type). Big fish, small fish, ocean fish, fresh water fish ; cooked in whatever styled, steamed, fried, soup, curry. And Zara is just like Daddy.

When it’s dinner time, and we put her onto her highchair, she would point to the fish dish (we always have a fish dish for dinner because Daddy can’t do without) and bounced excitedly on her chair chanting, “wis!”

If we gave her just her porridge (cooked with either pork or chicken with vegetable), she would just casually trust her tongue and push the porridge out of her mouth (her way of spitting). We have to take a bit of fish, put it on top of the porridge and tell her, “See, fish! Now, eat.” We can’t cheat her, she has very sensitive taste bud, if she tasted no fish in her porridge, she would just spit out the porridge.

We went to have Japanese dinner during the weekends. We ordered a serving of grill salmon with salt for Zara. The first bite she took, she immediately put her thumb out and said, “Gng” (her pronunciation of Good). She had 2/3 of the salmon steak all by herself!

At home for dinner, the amount of fish she consumed is the same as the amount I would take.

This week for dinner, she refused to have her porridge nor rice, and just wanted fish, nothing else! Where is she going to get her carbo?

This morning, I told her in the car,
Me : Tonight’s dinner, you ask Kakak to cook you fish ok?
Zara : *bouncing in her car seat* Wis!
Me : How you tell Kakak to give you fish?
Zara : TATAK! Wis!
Me : How big you want the fish to be?
Zara : *stretched her arms out and bounced further* (her way of signing big)

The rate she’s eating fish, we’ll have to buy another adult’s portion every time we go marketing. With a big cat and a little cat at home, fish has become a necessity!! Luckily we have befriended the fish monger in our market in Kampung Subang who sells us very good and fresh fish at a reasonable price (used to do marketing in Imbi Market and paid double the price for same amount of fish)!!

It’s first day at work after such a long break *sob sob*. It was nice to spend more than a week at home with Zara, to be there to see some of her development, and to experience some of the funny or special moments.

New Year’s Eve Morning
Zara woke up next to me and saw that Daddy’s side was empty, she climbed down the bed and searched for Daddy
Zara : *extend her palm up* Papa?
Me : Papa in the bathroom
Zara : *half squatted down* Sssssss
Me : *tittering* No, Daddy is not in the toilet to she-she (Chinese: Pee), Daddy is in the toilet to take bath
I think she knows how we adult ‘she-she’ by going into the toilet with me when she’s in her clingy mood, and I told her I was sitting on an adult’s potty to ‘she-she’

New Year’s Morning
Me : Zara, wakey wakey, sleepy baby!
Zara : *stretched and smiled*
Me : Call me, MUMMY.
Zara : *smiled* Mi-na
Me : MUM-MEE
Zara : Mi-na
Ok Ok, will just settle for Mi-na for now.

Later the same day
Me : Zara, call me, MUMMY
Zara : Ah Mee
Me : MUMMY
Zara : Ah Mee
Ah Mee sure sounds better than Mi-na. And yes, she started calling me Ah Mee since New Years Day!!

Breakfast
Me : Zara, what do you want to have for breakfast?
Zara : Mum-mum! (Chinese for food)
Daddy: Do you want bread? *gave her some*
Zara ate and spit out, then shook her head
Me : Mummy get you yogurt then
Zara : Kng! (not sure if she’s saying yogurt or just ‘good’)
I opened a tub of Petite Miam for her and started feeding her. Half way through,
Zara : *pointed to something* Moo-ner-mang! Moo-ner-mang! *excitedly*
I followed her finger, and saw she was pointing to Daddy who’s having a banana
Me : You want a banana?
Zara : *did her more sign by pointing her index finger to her palm* Moo-ner-mang!
I peeled her one boomerang, I mean banana and offered it to her together with her yogurt.
So, banana to her is a boomerang!

Hair cutting at the salon (Zara sitting on my lap)
Yen (the hairdresser) : *Put her hand on arm* So what hair style do you want?
Zara pushed her arm away
Yen : Eh, your daughter won’t let me touch you
Me : No la, where got?
Yen : You see.. *she put her hand on my arm again*
Zara pushed her arm away and stared at her
Me : Yeah hor. I didn’t realise. Do again.
Yen put her hand on my arm one more time
Zara pushed her arm away again.
Haha, the little girl doesn’t like strangers to touch me! She’s started to be possessive!

Nap time
Me : *kissed her cheek* Mummy loves you, Zara. Do you love mummy?
Zara : *stroke my face tenderly with her hand, and looked at me*
Me : *kissed her cheek again* Yes, Mummy knows you love mummy too
Zara : *laid her head on my shoulder* Huh Huh
Me : *Tightened my arms around her* Mummy hug hug you too.

She has been extremely loving these few days, always coming to me and wrapped her arms around my leg while I was standing; or laid her head on my lap if I was sitting; or just patting my shoulder, or stroking my face when I carried her.

Both Daddy and I read a lot at home; in the house, we would rather read than to watch TV (we are one of the rare few who don’t subscribe to Astro or satellite TVbecause we’re quite stingy). When we do watch TV, it is mostly the news (for Daddy) and a movie (DVD) for me.

We introduced books to Zara as soon as she could sit up supported, her concentration span initially was of course very short, not being able to even sit through 1 or 2 pages of picture books. As her understanding of the language and her awareness of her surrounding increased, she starts being able to look at the pages for a longer period, and slowly begins to show more enthusiasm. The first book she really love was Baby, Boo! (the book that actually taught her how to kiss at 8 month old). After Baby, Boo! she seems to show more interest in books, even my novels (she likes to take it and flip the pages to check out what I was reading, probably wonder why I’m so engrossed in books without a single picture).

Every night, before she goes to bed, either Daddy or I will read her 2 books. Most of the time, we asked her to choose her books from her little library; sometimes when we’re bored reading to her the same book over and over again, to provide her with more variety, we picked the books instead.

Even when there’s no one to read to her, she sometimes would still flip a book and read to herself in her own language.

Here are a few of her book moments…

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I’m in the process of trying to wean Zara off breastfeeding. For her 1st year, the only milk she’d taken was just breast milk; except on the occasion when I was away for a week on business trip in May, and I didn’t have enough stocked up for her consumption.

To start off, I tried to introduce her to formula on days when my milk supply was low. I got Tuyam to supplement her with 1 or 2 oz of formula (Enfalac) after she’d taken the expressed breast milk. According to Tuyam, she had tossed the bottle away in anger when she tasted the milk to be different, refusing to take any, and survived on whatever I could provide (i.e. 3oz on some days per feed).

Zara does have discerning taste. I’d tried the formula myself, and I find that it’s absolutely yucky. Very strong iron taste, and so fake (chemical taste). I’m one who would like to know the taste of the food I put into Zara’s mouth, so I’d also tasted my own breast milk. I have to say the taste of breastmilk is absolutely heavenly, it’s creamy but with the right consistency and with a hint of sweetness. It’s not something I can describe, you have to taste it yourself to know what I mean, but I know most would just turn their noses the other way even if it was something you produced (the husbands too would probably not want to taste their wives’ milk).

The other day, I got a pack of of Enfagrow A+ (Honey) sample, and I thought this would probably taste better than the Enfalac. So I got Tuyam to start giving Zara some on days where I could only express less than 4oz per feed. Zara took this better than the Enfalac, according to Tuyam, which is good.

Today, while at home, Zara has been coming to me every 2 hours and asking for milk. “Huh Huh (her pronunciation for ‘milk milk’)! Huh Huh!” she had her head on my chest. One of my breasts was bitten by her 2 days back, and there’s actually a cut, every time she nursed I had to bite my lips and endure the pain, as one of her teeth would just sink right into the wound, the feeling is exactly like rubbing salt to a wound. *ouch* I cringed every time she wanted to nurse.

When she asked for her 4th feed at lunch time, I just told her, “Mummy no more milk milk, you want bottle?” just to test the water. She didn’t shake her head, but instead started chanting “Bottle! Bottle!” I quickly got Tuyam to sterilise her bottle and made her 2oz of formula, and then went into hiding. After 5 minutes, Tuyam came to tell me she’d finished the milk.

After lunch, she again came to me for milk (another cringe). I asked her if she wanted the bottle? Again, she didn’t shake her head. This time, I made the formula instead, and tried feeding her, but she wouldn’t take it from me. She just pushed the teat out every time I placed it in her mouth. After a few tries and she didn’t suck on the bottle, I got Tuyam to feed her instead, and I sat next to them. She refused to take, and gave me that sheepish smile. I thought maybe I should again go into hiding. After Tuyam assured her a few times that I wasn’t around and with her sticking out her head to scan the living room to confirm I wasn’t around, she started sucking on the teat, and took another 2oz.

When I reappeared after she’d finished, she again had this sheepish smile, as though feeling embarrassed that she’d taken formula milk. Maybe she was worried it would hurt my feelings.

After this feed, the bottle trick won’t work any more. Every time she wanted her feed and I said “you want bottle?” She just shook her head and started groping for my breasts. So I couldn’t put off nursing her any longer, and just have to endure the pain *frown*, again, and again, and again(3 more feeds till she slept *ouch*).

On a happier note, I’m glad she’d started accepting formula, which means I could slowly wean her off now. This is my first step. The 2nd step is to prepare myself emotionally. Breastfeeding is a bond I have with her, will I be able to cope when we no longer share this bond?

Office is shut this week, so all of us have to take compulsory leave. I’m home with the little one, and luckily I have Tuyam, or else I won’t be able to even go and clear my bowel with the little koala, Zara, clinging to me.

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She uttered her first phrase 2 nights ago. I was nursing my migraine and I heard her told Daddy, “Uh-Oh, book” while pointing to a pile of books on the floor (Even though it’s not fully in English, it’s still a milestone to capture)

She uses Uh-Oh for things dropped, things missing, things lying on the floor. For the above phrase, her books were scattered on the floor after Daddy read to her, so she was probably complaining about the mess.

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This morning, after Zara woke up this simple dialogue took place :
Me : Zara, lets go downstairs already!
Zara : Mum Mum *excitedly*!
Me : Yes, go downstairs to mum mum!
Zara : Wise (her pronunciation of rice)!
Me : No, not rice. Morning we don’t take rice.
Zara : Wis (her pronunciation of fish)!
Me : No, no fish in the morning. We have bread or biscuit ok?
Zara : Bed (her pronunciation of bread)! Bed! Bed!
When we got downstairs, she went to the kitchen and chanted Bed until I gave her a small slice of bread.
(She loves fish, and rice compared to her porridge, and bread is her staple diet too).

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Before we got broadband, most nights, I will be in the room reading after Zara has gone to bed or interrupt Daddy’s love making to his DIY amplifier to have some small talks.

After we got broadband, most nights, I would be in the study reading blogs or blogging, and if Daddy wasn’t downstairs making love to his amplifier, he would be coming into the study to make small talks, but I would be rolling my eyes and waiting for him to finish whatever he wanted to say so I can go back to whatever I was reading or doing again.

So sad.

So what did we do on Christmas day and Boxing day?

On Christmas day, we went to visit my sister in the hospital again. She was all ready to leave the hospital for home, was just waiting for BIL to come and pick her up.

After the hospital we went to MIL’s place. Daddy helped to paint the grill there, and I tried to get Zara to nap on the thin and narrow piece of padded cloth MIL provided. When I told Zara to sleep, she just leaned back so suddenly, and the thin material didn’t cushion her head, so she knocked her head and cried. It took me some time to pacify her. For the rest of her nap, I had to stay with her just to make sure she didn’t turn (and move out of the narrow cloth) and knock her head on the floor. I also took a mental note that the next time if we need to let Zara nap in MIL’s place, we have to bring our own little matress.

Because I had stayed up very late the last few nights to blog, when it was time for dinner, I had this massive migraine (it always comes when I don’t have enough sleep). When we arrived at the restaurant, I had no appetite to eat, and after just a few mouth full of rice, I retched. I got MIL and SIL to feed Zara dinner, while I rested in the adjoining furniture shop (which was also part of the restaurant).

It was a very bad night for me, went to the toilet many times to throw up, and the throbbing headache was very unbearable. I had an early night, and reminded myself I should not blog or blog surf till too late.

On Boxing Day, I was feeling better, since I had 1ohours of sleep the night before. We visited my friend, Sandy, who’d given birth almost a month ago, together with another close friend YC and her son Bryan. I have to say new borns do grow very fast, the baby looks very different from the time we visited him in the hospital.

While we did some catching up, the kids had a great time in Sandy’s place, playing with Sandy’s eldest daugther’s toys.

Here’s a shot of them, Kei Kei (Sandy’s niece), Yen Mae (Sandy’s eldest daugther), Bryan and Zara.

In the evening, after a bit of rest at home, Daddy decided to bring Zara to the Shah Alam Lake Garden. Zara again had a good time running and walking about in the park. She was curious about almost everything she saw on the floor, the ice cream wrapper, the fallen leaves, the tall grass. I almost freaked out every time she bent down to touch something (I can’t stand her getting dirty).