Daddy is away in Shanghai, and I decided to spend a few nights with King’s wife and my 2 nieces.

Their palace place is very close to the office (if I chose to walk, I could reach the office in 10mins), so staying there means I don’t have to leave for the office so early, and I can spend some time with Zara in the morning before going to work.

Today, we both got up at 6:50am. I got up this early because I have a 7am meeting, and when I tried to carry Zara downstairs (so we can keep an eye on her, since everybody is downstairs doing their own chores), she got up as well and refused to go back to sleep.

I nursed her while I was on the phone (thank goodness we don’t have video conferencing yet!), when it was my turn to talk, I have to hand Zara to Tuyam. Her whining and complaints didn’t escape the ears of my fellow colleagues in other parts of the world though, but people are so used to all kinds of ‘noises’ in such meetings (for example we heard someone pee-ing into the toilet bowl, followed by the sound of flush in one meeting; and another time we could hear loud snores after 30mins into a conference all the way till the end, apparently that particular audience found the meeting too boring) they just commented “Aw, that’s your baby. Sorry you have to work this early” and the yada yada yada continued.

Anyway, the meeting finished half and hour early, so I have ample time. Here are the things I did with her before I went to work:

Helped Tuyam bath and change her

Brought her out to the garden for a walk (she loves King’s wife‘s water feature)

Played and talked to her while she’s having her breakfast.

And only then I took my bath and went to work.

Next few days while staying here, I can continue to enjoy these easy mornings.

I have been pretending to cry when Zara does something not to my liking for instance not wanting to eat the food I’d spent a lot of time cooking; pulling my hair; wriggling about when her diaper is changed.

I did that a few times to show her that I’m sad or upset.

One day last week, when I said, “If Zara yai-yai (naughty), then mummy will cry”. She started rubbing her eyes, and made the Uh-Uh-Uh sound, pretending to cry. Wow, such a copy cat, so good in imitating me.

She started ‘crying’ on cue. Asked her, “Show mummy how you cry”, she would start rubbing her eyes and ‘cry’.

After one week of asking her to do this repeatedly to ‘entertain’ us and family members, she got fed up. She stopped doing it now. When we asked her to show us how she cries, she’ll just look some where else. Pretended she didn’t hear us.

Here is a video capturing her doing this, but she would only do it for a short while, not wanting to repeat her performance.

We attended the Bloggers’ Meet in Kepong yesterday.

Zara took her nap a wee bit too late, and the traffic from Shah Alam to Kepong was so bad (not to mention the distant) so we ended up arriving at 8pm, 1 1/2hrs later than the start time.

By the time we arrived, most people had already eaten their dinners and had warmed up to each other. We didn’t get to move about to talk to most people, since we have to order, eat, feed Zara, entertain Zara, and take photos.

Managed to speak or say Hi to some :
Egghead, Loc Kee, MSAU, sue, Twinsmom, Jason, Milly, Willwolf

I didn’t get to say Hi to :
1+2mom, Suzette, peekaboooh, Young Brat.

Egghead was the orgniser, but I didn’t get to speak to him at all (except asking for directions on the phone). Managed to utter a few words to beautiful J (you are one lucky fella Egghead), and got Zara to shake hands with Little Skywalker. Egghead had already published the detail of the event in his blog.

We sat at the same table as Sue, who’s pregnant (beautifully, I must enviously say), and still made it ON TIME with Ivan.

I went over to introduced myself to MSAU, but I couldn’t recall her immediately; after a while when I could link the Panda icon to her blog, then only I know who she was *blush*. Her little girl SQ is such a sociable girl, even reached out to say Hello to Zara and I.

I could spot Sweet Sweet immediately when we entered the restaurant. Sweet Sweet is just like her name, such a sweet little girl, sitting quietly together with her parents, Loc Kee and SSM.

Willwolf was busy snapping away photos in his SLR. Even Daddy was attracted to his gadget, kept asking me to find out from Willwolf the model of the SLR. The photos turned out to be very nice, the wonders of SLR. Willwolf’s little brother son is quite a lengjai (good looking), and always have this cheeky smile on.

Jason, hmm, such a sweet young man, the kind of guys you will bring home and your parents would approve off. The only thing he’s not sweet about is he called us Uncle & Aunty shamelessly. Made us feel like we’d come to a kids’ party, and we’re so old.

Smilley Milly was very sweet and quiet, she’s so good with kids. Zara, who’s normally very chosey actually let Milly carry her.

Twinsmum has such friendly personality. Making sure every body was comfortable and aknowledged every body’s presence. The twins, Anabelle and Isabelle are such beautiful girls, and nice soft bob they have (I’m always on a look out for nice hair, since Zara has very little).

Our table was next to Suzette & Peekaboo, but I didn’t even take the time to say Hi to them. How embarassing. Never mind, there’ll always be another time (I hope).

I saw another pair of twins at another table, younger than Twinsmum’s twins, later, I was told, she is 1+2mom, another opportunity to introduce myself and befriend a fellow mummy was wasted. *shame on me*

I didn’t see Young Brat at all, I think I was mainly attracted by the sights of kids, since he is still a young bachelor (with no kids obvioulsy), I didn’t spot him. (Was he the one seated next to Milly?)

The food at Milwaukee Steak Corner was really quite good, and reasonably priced. I didn’t expect my Calamari Steak to be 2 huge grilled sotong/squids though, as the ones I’d eaten in US before were actually diced up squid pancake/pattie. Good, but tough, and since we have to entertain Zara, I didn’t have the luxury to chew my food slowly. Daddy had grilled Sole, very delicious indeed, and for the price of RM17, worth it!

We’ll definitely come again if ever we’re around this area.

The highlight of the event was Twinsmum’s birthday celebration. The organiser and co-organisers got her a cake, and we all sang her birthday song (although most were too shy and mumbled the song more than singing), saw her ‘speechlessly’ thanked us, and had a slice of the cake.

This was both Daddy and my first meeting with cyberfriends. We came because we thought Zara would enjoy it, but I think it was too short a time for her to spend with the kids. I think I enjoyed this more, meeting with people whom I’d read their ‘diaries’, seen their deepest thoughts, laughed at their silliest jokes, and it was nice being able to link up faces with writings style, or a story.

I definitely will go to another one of these bloggers’ meet again. Thanks to Egghead again for organising this.

Here are some photos taken (if you find any of your photos offensive, please leave me a comment and I’ll remove it):

Sweet Sweet is such a sweet looking child. No wonder already booked by Luke Skywalker.

I can’t tell the twins apart, but they are both very cute.

Zara’s potential boy friends, Ivan and Luke Skywalker, and their parents.

Siao Qing : “Your hair very nice la, which hairdresser did you go to?”
Zara : “There, that Baldy Locks unisex salon in Kepong Baru”

Cons of working from home:

• We don’t have streamyx at home, so I have to use the bloody slow 28kbps line, netmeeting or the application I’m supporting will work like a snail with this speed
• Already, I’m working in isolation (my other team members are scattered all around Asia), not going to the office means I will miss out on local organizations gossips and updates
• I can work in peace in the office (won’t have a screaming Zara asking for mummy mid way through a teleconference)
• no one in the Malaysia office will know I’m dead if I work from home all the time

Pros of working from home:

• I don’t have to travel 30mins (highway all the way) to my sis’ or bro’s plc to drop Tuyam and Zara, and then another 15mins to the office; then in the evening, do the same. Save patrol, save toll (RM3.60 one way) & most importantly time
• When I start work, I don’t have to feel already half tired (from all the driving)
• I get to spend more time with Zara (since time is not used for travelling)
• I can spend all my break time playing with Zara as well as to nurse her (it definitely feels better than using the pump)
• I can check on the food Tuyam feeds Zara
• I can take a nap during lunch time with Zara
• The best part of working from home is able to see Zara popping her head into my home office occasionally with this big big grin.

Don’t I love my job for allowing me this flexibility?

I worked from home yesterday because I have back to back meeting starting from 7am (starting work so early is a torture like asking me to die early early, don’t know how egghead does it).

In the evening, I asked Tuyam to chop some iceberg lettuce and abalone mushroom, and then used this to make porridge for Zara. I left her with the instructions and went back to work.

When dinner was served, I scooped out some of Zara’s porridge into her bowl (I prefer to feed Zara when I’m around instead of getting the maid to do it). I noticed instead of chopping up the lettuce or mushroom to real small (baby with 4 teeth) bite size, Tuyam has cut the lettuce to long strips, and the mushroom big chunks. Both are not easy to chew. How’s the little girl going to manage?

I asked Tuyam, what happened here? She said “tak cukup kecil ke (is it not small enough)?” I told her both are equally difficult to chew, they are not fish or carrots, so these fibrous or rubbery stuff should be chop real finely like we chop up garlic for stirfrying.

Anyway, I scooped smaller pieces of the chopped up vege and mushroom and started feeding Zara, and reminded her to chew.

She took a mouth full, chewed real hard. Started whining, “Errr..” Gave her another mouth, she took it, and whined further. When the 3rd spoon reached her mouth, she pursed her lips, refused to opened again, and just turned her head away from the spoon. This didn’t look like her usual shake-head-don’t-want-any-more reaction. Let me try again.

I dipped a pair of kitchen scissors into the porridge to try to cut the vege and mushroom into smaller pieces. Then offered it to her, she pursed her lip still, and looked the other way.

We told her, “Zara, you try first, mummy cut up everything smaller already“.
The lips are pursed, head to one side.
“Zara, please. You try first”
Still the lips are pursed, but she looked at me
“Zara, really, you look at the spoon, every thing small small already”
Lips still pursed, but she looked at the spoon
“See, mummy didn’t bluff you, you try first. Please”
Opened her mouth, took the porridge.

Aaah, she finally accepted the spoon. We continued to feed her, and she continued to eat it, until she was full, she started shaking her head to indicate she didn’t want any more.

So, our little critic has come out with her own way of giving different ratings to her food:
4 star : eat, and eat, and eat — food is really good, right consistency for me, thumbs up to the chef
3 star : eat, eat again, then turned head, pursed lip — food is good, but not right consistency for me (like this case), please do some thing to correct it.
2 star : eat for a while, then shake head — food is bearable, but enough is enough.
1 star : 1st bite already shake head — I hate this please feed this to the cat

Zara has always been attracted to oranges. Since I’d read that citrus fruits should not be given to babies below 1yr old as it may cause allergy, I’d never given her oranges before, only the whole unpeel orange for her to play with. And every time when she wanted to put the orange in the mouth, I would stop it, worried about the pesticide and all. Of course, to her, the temptation to bite the fruit is greater if the fruit is forbidden.

Today, I thought I’d do her a favour, I cleaned an orange with those plant based vegetable detergent, and passed it to her. She happily took it, and started putting it in her mouth, biting on it (she probably thought how come I didn’t stop her from biting this time). The oil from the orange peel must have tasted bitter, she cringed, then whined, even shed some tears, yet, she continued to put it in her mouth for another bite, and another bite. It was real funny to see her doing this, bite, cry, bite, cry. Wicked, I know.

Here’s a video clip of her with the orange, she probably can’t decide if she should give up or take another bite. A love / hate tug of war.

click here for video

After dinner
Zara crawled to the TV cabinet in my sis’ house yesterday.
Touched some of the switches
Pulled some of the wires
Took her Wheels In the Bus VCD
Handed me the VCD and said, “put, put, put, put, put”, and then kept touching the TV screen.
Did she just say “PUT?”, or was it just coincidence? We never really taught her this word before, and we always say “Play” for VCD/DVD, never “Put”.
Anyway, it was time to go home, so I told, “We go home first, mummy will PUT for you at home”

Back At Home
Told Daddy about what happened ealier.
Daddy: Zara mummy said you so clever, you know how to say PUT? Say again. PUT
Zara : Put Put Put Put Put
(Daddy clapped hands, Zara grinned)
Daddy: Zara, say mum, mum, mum, mum, mum
Zara : Mum, mum, mum, mum, mum…. (non stop)
(wow, in the mood to talk)
Daddy: Call Daddy then, Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa
Zara : Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa (didn’t look like she was directing this to Daddy)
(I cannot tahan/stand any more, so I chipped in)
Me : Zara, call mummy, Muh-mee, Muh-meee
Zara : …… (grinned)
(Maybe too hard to call Mummy, let me try again)
Me : Zara, say Mimi, mi-mi
Zara : (immediately) Aao, Aao, Aao, Aao
Me : Zara, Mummy is not a cat, say Mimi, MI MI
Zara : Aao, Aao, Aao, Aao (non stop)
Me : *roll eyes*
Daddy : *Laugh*

I don’t know which part of me resembles a cat or a furry animal (which she also uses “AaO” on).

Up till today, she still doesn’t want to call me. Aigh.

A colleague who took beautiful photographs for her sons gave me this tip on photography

Simple tips of taking good shot of children with any camera is to “GET CLOSER”. Moving closer eliminates all the distracting elements in the background and show a more intimate picture of your subject.

I took her advice and over the weekend tried to shoot some close up photos of Zara, and yes, the result is amazing.

Zara’s hand in mine.

Our feet. I like the shot Dinah took with Ashley. Here’s my version.

Zara sucking on her thumb in her cot early Sunday morning.

Zara staring at the TV, watching her favourite VCD, Wheels On the Bus

Still staring at the TV.

Here she is, playing with the toys on her walker.

Both Daddy & I last went to the zoo probably 20-30yrs ago. Having Zara means we have to revisit some of these places we would never go on our own as adults.

Before we went, I made a few SMSs to check if my nieces and nephews would like to go with us, however no takers, nieces have full day activities, nephews shopping in KLCC.

We arrived at the Zoo about 4:30pm. It just rained, so it was quite cooling and the sun was tucked behind some clouds, a very pleasant day to walk about outdoor.

Just after the entrance, there was a miniature horse and an orangutan out with the zoo staffs which we were allowed to pose next to them for photographs. With the horse, Zara was ok, although not daring to stroke it, she didn’t mind taking a photo with it; when I brought her to the Orangutan, and asked her to give the Orangutan ‘five-five’, she just stared and the Orangutan’s palm (which was extended out to receive the ‘five’ by its handler) and its longish fingers for 5seconds, and then turned away crying.

We didn’t bring our pram, so Daddy carried her in the carrier throughout.

We can see that she likes the birds, Pelicans, and Flamingos at the lake; the primates; the giraffes; she would look at them, and then back at us to smile. I also brought her small animal photo book along, every time we came across an animal which could be found in her book, I flipped and show the page to her. Hopefully, she can relate the 2 later.

When we arrived at the section with all the big cats, she started meowing like a cat. Pointed to the panther (which looks very much like our Rusty at home), she said “Aao”. Pointed to the jungle cat, she said, “Aao”. And then it was “Aao, Aao, Aao” non-stop.

She got her first fright when we were looking at a huge bull. While we were near the bar, trying to get a closer look, it threatened to charge at us. All of us had a fright; you know you are safe behind the bar, but the menacing bull looked as though it was going to charge out of the bar, to rip us apart with its horn. Daddy took flight with Zara, Zara cried in fear, I too almost dropped the camera. (seen here is daddy fleeing with Zara from the charging bull)

The 2nd fright she had was with the Hippopotamus. We were lucky, the hippo decided to emerge from the water when we were at its cell. The animal was extremely huge, dark skin glistening, walking clumsily around. Zara cried seeing such a giant. I tried to pacify her by telling her that the Hippo is not ‘naughty’, so she didn’t have to be afraid off. But nothing could console her; she looked at the harmless beast, and cried in fear. Daddy had to quickly take her away. While I was taking a photo of the Hippo, I could hear Zara’s cry echoing, poor girl.

After this fright, we had to bring her to see something she’s familiar with. We brought her to see some local bulls (not as intimidating as the earlier bull) and some wild boars. While pointing out the animals to her, we sang her the Old Mc Donald song, Oink Oink here, moo moo there, and she started being cheerful again, and squealed with delight occasionally.

We left the place all in good spirit.

It was a nice visit, I think we’ll probably do this again when Zara can walk on her own, and can appreciate the animals better. I believe it will be soon.

This morning, after I’d finished expressing milk for Zara’s morning feed, I went upstairs, and found Zara already up, and Daddy entertaining her.

I said “Good Morning Little GIRRL” and she gave me this big big smile in return . I swept her into my arms, and asked her to give me a hug, she just leaned herself forward a bit (that’s her way of hugging). Then I told her to give me a kiss. Willingly, she placed her mouth on mine, and lingered for a while. I think she was trying to taste my breakfast from my lips.

What other nicer way to start a day? To see my little one in good spirit, getting a hug and kiss from her. Nothing beats this, unless she surprised you with her new vocabulary.

While I was getting her clothes and toileteries ready, she pulled on my pajamas pants to stand herself up. Then she pointed the flower print on my pants, and said “Puh-wer”. I stopped what I was doing, and asked, “What is it?”.
She pointed to the flower print and said again “Puh-wer”.
“Yes! Yes girl, this is flower”. I beamed.
“Puh-wer”. She repeated. Then clapped her own hands, aware of her achievement.
“Clever girl!” I clapped as well.
I swept her up, and gave her another hug. She was smiling and happy.

After that I went into the shower with her, and gave her a quick rinse. While in the shower, she pointed to her bathtime books, “boo”, and then to the wall tile “Puh-wer” (I had some of those floral tile stickers stuck on a few of the tiles).
“Clever girl!” I was really happy.

After that, daddy took her out of the toilet to dry and change her. While he was at it, he took the opportunity to get Zara to speak more since she was in the mood.
“Diaper” Daddy pointed to the diaper
“Ugh!” Zara responded
“Powder” Daddy pointed to the powder
“….” Zara took the puff to examine it.

Fat chance daddy. Maybe there’s too many ‘-er’ words for one morning.

I notice that Zara likes to surprise us with her capability. She observes when we teach her to do something; or when we speak, she looks at the movement of our mouth. She doesn’t like to repeat after us, but takes her time to digest, and then surprise us one day by uttering the words we’d taught her (although pretty limited for now) or do something we’d shown her earlier.