Nap

She’s at this stage where 2 naps are too many, and 1 nap is not enough.

With 2 naps, it’s very difficult for me to get her to sleep in the night, and I really want her to sleep by 10pm, so that I’ll at least have some time to do my own things before going to bed.

With 1 nap, she gets sleepy around 8:30pm. It’s fine if I worked from home, but if I was at King’s Wife’s place, she falls asleep in the car on our way home, and then wakes up and becomes very fretful when I have to change her to pajamas; which means I’ll need to spend lots of time calming her.

I try to get Tuyam to let her take 2 naps in King’s Wife’s place (but it’s tough because she gets easily distracted by my nieces) and then take only 1 on days when I work from home.

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

Jump

She started jumping 2 weeks ago. On her first attempt, she fell backwards and landed on her buttocks. On her 2nd attempt (few minutes later), she landed on her buttocks, then lost her balance and knocked her head. After that, she’s very careful, she held on to something (the chair, a pair of hands) when she jumped.

These few days, she just jumps! Happy to have her feet lifted off the ground. Naggy mummy is always saying, “Be carefully, after fall down” when she starts her jumping spree.

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

Request

She had been shouting for things she wanted. E.g. “KAKAK, VA-TER-JEN” (Vitergen). “MUMMY, PUT BARNEY!”

Tuyam taught her to ‘speak nicely’ when she wants something. So now, she request for things nicely, even the way she calls Kakak or Mummy is different. I added and told her she must say “please” for things she wants.

Sometimes she still shouts out her request, but most time, she remembers and speak nicely with a please.

Last weekend, when it was bed time, Zara as usual asked for, “milk milk”. Daddy and I were both on the bed playing with Zara just a while back. Daddy decided to be naughty. He lifted up his t-shirt, exposing his chest, and said, “Nah, Zara, drink milk milk.”

Zara had this very amused smile on her face. She shook her head vigorously and said, “Don’t want.” Then turned to look at me, “Mummy, milk milk.”

Daddy moved his chest closer to Zara, told her, “Daddy also got milk milk. Come and have milk milk.”

Zara still smiling, looked at Daddy’s chest, shook her head and retreated a few pace, “Don’t want.” Looked at me, and said in a louder tone, “MUMMY, milk milk!”

Seeing the two of them like that, I actually had tears in my eyes, trying to stifle a laugh.

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

(This happened a month back)

Zara was playing in the room, and then Daddy came out from the shower butt naked. Zara spotted something she didn’t have.

She stood up, went closer to look at IT. Then decided to touch IT. Instead of using her hand, she went to her toiletry box, took out a tube of diaper cream, walked back to daddy, and use the tube of cream to lift IT up and then had a closer examination of IT. She then giggled out loud.

I was rolling on my bed laughing. Funny why she went to search for a tool to flick IT instead of using her hands.

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”

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.

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

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!

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!)

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

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)

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

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).

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

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)

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

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

I love these moments!

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’s trying to use more and more words to express herself, her pronunciation is not perfect and sometimes it takes a trained ear to know what she’s saying. When trying to pronounce a difficult word, she always brightens up when we understand her.

My MIL always says to her “only your mummy understands what you say”. I guess it’s people like myself and Tuyam who can make out what she says most of the time because we spends the most time with her.

Here are some of Zara’s talking moments, very straight forward.

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

Brought her to the bookshop the other day, when she stepped in, she looked around smiling, and said, “Many Books!”

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

Put a Sesame Street VCD on for her
Zara : *took a glance* Don’t want
(we pretended we didn’t hear that)
Zara : *shook her head* Don’t want
Zara : *pointed to the TV* Off. Don’t want.
Tuyam : What you want?
Zara : Barney! (but of course)

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

She likes playing this game
Me : Zara is a girl or a boy?
Zara : Boy! *looked at me with a cheeky smile*
Me : *pretended to be shocked* BOY?? Oh No!
Zara : Ger! *giggled*

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

And this, really warmed Daddy’s heart.
Me: Zara love Daddy?
Zara : Larf
Then she continues : Many Many

We have been staying on and off at King’s Wife’s place while Daddy is away. Every morning, when I carry Zara downstairs, she’ll be shouting, “Tatak! Batitel!” (Kakak, Bicycle) from the stair case.

She loves to ride on the tricycle that King’s Wife’s Kids used to own. She can’t reach the paddles yet, so Tuyam has to push her around. She’ll put her feet up, and request, “Tatak, Push” (Kakak, Push)

I bought a Barbie Tricycle for her for Christmas, but this is so much bigger, she couldn’t even reach the ground when mounted; she will just push it around in the house, and also use the storage space under the seat to store her little treasures.

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

After seeing us applying moisturiser on our faces, and lotion on our body, she started imitating us. When she’s in the room, she’ll ask for a bottle of lotion, and start pretending to apply on herself too.

I worry for the day when she knows how to unscrew bottle tops, and start opening any kinds of bottles and apply all sort of things on herself. Yikes!

After waiting for 14months, I finally heard Zara uttered her first “Mummy”. Once she started using Mummy instead of Ah Meen, she calls me more often, and with a more tender tone. The wait was well rewarded.

Every morning when she wakes up and opens her eyes, her first word would be “Mummy”. When she spots me, she would be giving me this big big smile while stretching.

If she woke up in the middle of the night, she would sit up and call “Mummy”.

Every day when I returned home after work, she’ll be greeting me with outstretched arms calling, “Mummy! Mummy!”

If she cried or feeling down, she would be calling “Mummy” even though I may not be around (Tuyam would normally call my mobile and have me speak to her or calm her).

When she’s alone with me, if I was taking a bath, she will just stand behind the shower screen, peeping in and calling “Mummy! Mummy!” until I finish my shower.
If I was using the toilet (be it for a pee or a poo), she would stand beside me, grin at me, calling “Mummy Mummy” (it can be very tough doing your ‘business’ with a grinning toddler watching you). She always waits for me to finish, helps me to flush, and then follows me out.

In our long car ride home, sometimes she’ll just reach her hand out to the driver seat, and calling, “Mummy, Mummy”. Normally I’ll explain to her I’m driving, can’t hug her or give her milk.
Sometimes it goes :
“Mummy”
“Yes Zara?”
“Mummy”
“Yes Zara?”
We can go on repeating like this for a while.

However, when I ask her to “call me” (address me), she would say “Ah Tum” (Ah Kim, Hokkien: Mum’s Brother’s Wife). Thanks to King’s Wife, always saying “call me, call me” to Zara and only satisfied while Zara says “Ah Tum”. Now Zara links the words ‘Call Me’ to ‘Ah Tum’.

Another month has passed, and my little girl turned 15th month old yesterday. This is another post to capture her development.

~ Latest weight and height unknown (haven’t been to the Paed, so didn’t get the proper tool to measure her)
~ No new tooth sprouted, with 4 upper and 4 lower full-sized (like corn kennels) teeth.

Dexterity :
Running around more.
Able to retrieve 1 cent coin from the floor (which I think can be quit tough even for adults).

For this month, she seems to prefer being carried than walking. Always reaching out her hands and says, “keh-yee” (her carry) to who ever is willing. Once you held her up, if you wanted to put her back down, she would cling to you, hold up her two feet, refusing to let them lend on the ground. *sigh*

Language :
Amazing progress. One day I took a pen and paper and jotted down the different words she used in a day, and counted about 50words.

She’s also using more non-noun words now :
Dirty, Keen (Clean), Big, Smo (Small), Up, Down, Pretty, Notty (Naughty), High, Spicy, Scah-Scah (Scared), Happy, Kai (Cry), Pus (Push), Pu (Pull)

Use Pis (Please) when asked for things, and Tats (Thanks) after receiving things.
Started calling me Mummy.

She’s also saying more phrases :
Baju dirty
Daddy work work
Uh-pen fie (aeroplane fly)
Tutc Seh-doh (touch shadow)

Able to join in song singing

Able to address people based on gender:
Adult men are Ah-Ter (Uncle)
Adult ladies are Ah-Tee (Aunty)
Little girls are Che-che (big sister)
Little boys are Toh-toh (big brother)
Any toddler or babies are Beh-Pee (Baby)
Any Malay looking ladies are Tak-Tak (Kakak)

Feeding / Food :
Still loves fish, and now starting to like crunchy stuff like crisps (she says Pok-Pok for these things, probably describing the sound of the crunch)

Taking 3 solids meals, 4 breast milk feed + 1 formula feed a day. In between she snacks on biscuits and fruits.

Emotions :
Getting very cheeky now.

Her idol is King’s Wife’s daughter Samantha.

She’s overall a very happy kid, but occasionally may get moody and throw a tantrum or get angry for the littlest reason.