23months! One more month before Zara celebrates her 2nd birthday. We are really happy with the way she’s growing. Every night after she goes to bed, we like to stare at her, and talk about her achievement in the last 23months. It’s just amazing, how much she’s grown.

~ Weight : 10.1kg (2 weeks ago)
~ Height : 86cm (3 cms in a month? But we do realise some of her pants just suddenly shortened)

Dexterity
~ Started feeding herself with a spoon
~ Able to press pieces of play dough in a mold to get the shape and print she wants.
~ Floating in a pool with her arm floats (actually she started this in Aug but she’s getting really good now)
~ Hold a pencil, marker the proper way (nobody actually taught her this), and able to draw circles or lines or curvey lines (she said she’s drawing snakes or worms) intentionally (though not perfect yet)
~ Able to do the thumbs up sign to indicate “Good” and thumbs down to indicate “Bad”
~ Walk up and down stairs without holding on to the railing (but we still insist she hold on to the railing for safety reasons)

Emotions and character
~ Becoming very homely, prefers to stay at home most of the time. And wanting to go home after spending some time out.
~ Started to have strong dislikes about some people. These people make her cry or fuss when they go near her. Like the case with Daddy’s friend and KC.
~ Sometimes she pretends to be a baby. When she doesn’t get her way, instead of telling us what she really wants, she whines. When we change her, she likes to making the ‘ooh-weh’ ‘ooh-weh’ sound, and says, “Zara’s a baby”
~ She’s very into manners now, so she’s using Excuse me, Thank You, Sorry, You’re Welcome, Please when appropriate.

Language
~ Since Phuket, she started pronouncing her name perfectly, stressing the Z and the R. She’s no longer calling herself ‘Wawa’
~ She’s using words like ‘accidentally’, ‘uncomfortable’ now
~ She’s picking different words to differentiate baby and adult animals; and some cases masculine and feminne of animals.
She goes like this, “Daddy horse is called stallion; Mummy horse is called Mare; Baby horse is called Foal.”
“Daddy chicken is called Cockerel; Mummy chicken is called Hen; Baby chicken is called a Chick.”
~ She likes to pretend to speak in different voices and tones to represent the baby, the daddy or the mummy talking (just like voices I used when I read her Goldilocks and The 3 Bears) when she’s at play.
~ She’s able to sing a few songs completely, e.g. Old Mc Donald, Do Re Me, London Bridge Is Falling Down, Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars etc.; and recite some nursery rhymes, e.g. Wee Willy Winky, Pussy Cat Pussy Cat, Hey Diddle Diddle etc.

Learning
~ I’m trying to teach her phonics, and so far, able to teach her the B sound and the C sound.
~ I’m teaching her Mandarin, so far, she knows how to say 嘴巴(mouth), 鼻子(nose), 眼睛(eyes), 耳朵(ear), 没有(don’t have, no more), 要(want), 不要(don’t want). We don’t speak Mandarin at home, so I think it’s quite an achievement. 😛

No Maid
Tuyam has gone home to Indonesia for a month for her Raya holidays. Oh boy, this mummy with big stomach has to take care of Zara most of the time.

I’m having my sister’s maids to help out in caring for Zara (and I work from my sis’ place), but since Zara is still not quite used to them, she keeps coming to me for things and for a cuddle.

28 more days to go before the maid comes home (if she did come back).

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New Phrases
Zara is using words and phrases she learns either from the TV or from us. Here are some new ones.

Me : “Zara did you touch Rusty (our cat) just now?”
Zara : “No way! Zara didn’t touch Rusty.”

In the car,
Zara : “Mummy, Zara want eat pop corn”
Me : “Mummy forgot to bring.”
Zara : “Say Sorry girl girl (sometimes we call her girl girl).”
Me : “……. Ok. Sorry girl girl, mummy forgot.”

Me : “Mummy loves Zara so much”
Zara : “How much?”
Me : “….. Very much.”

While swimming,
Daddy : “Wow, Zara can float now!”
Zara : “Pefect!”

After dinner,
Daddy : “Good girl, you finish your dinner.”
Zara : *grinned* “Excellent.”

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Yakking
On days when she’s in the mood, she yaks non-stop. Here is a conversation taken yesterday when she was telling my nephews what she was going to do to get ready for bed:
“Mummy change this baju (Malay : clothes) for Zara”
“Dirty already mummy.”
“Must take off and Zara put in the laundry bag”
“Then kakak will wash wash the baju with the hands.”
“Zara brush teeth, and don’t let the water run (the latter phrase is from Barney)“
“Then change Pajamas”
“Then mummy spray rose water on the face (when I apply my skin care in the night, I spray some rose water for her as well).”
“Zara smell so nice”
“Then read books, then bed time.”
She was saying this without pausing for a reply or response from us. My sis Filipino maid said she talked like an old lady.

Just when I thought Zara is getting used to her bed, we had this conversation yesterday during bed time.

Zara : *just out of the blue* “Kakak put the cot away already.”
Me : “No, Daddy put the cot away, in the other room.”
Zara : *pointing to her bed* “Mummy, throw the bed away”
Me : *shocked!* “Why?”
Zara : “The bed so slippery” (so untrue, but I guess she’s just coming out with excuse)
Me : “No, the bed is not slippery.”
Zara : “The cot is better. Throw the bed away. Zara want the cot.”
Me : “But Zara is already a jiejie (Chinese : Big sister). Cot is for babies, Zara is not a baby, but a jiejie now”.
Zara : “…. ”
Zara : “Mummy, Zara want go downstairs.”
Me : “It’s bed time, why does Zara want to go downstairs.”
Zara : “Zara sleep downstairs.”
Me : “Downstairs got mosquitos and lizards at night, and Zara will be lonely if Zara sleep downstairs alone.”
Zara : *tears started rolling down* “Zara don’t yike (like) the bed”
Me : “Zara sleep on mummy’s bed then, mummy sleep on Zara’s bed. Ok?”
Zara : “Zara want mummy hug hug to sleep.”
Me : “Ok, Zara sleep together with mummy then”

So she slept on my side of the bed.

We never used to take note of such events, but since we have Zara now and would like to expose her to as much as we could, we spotted a banner around KL the other day about this Lantern Fest in Central Market happening on Sept 30th.

While dressing Zara up, she asked for her jeans to wear. When I took out the jeans we bought recently, she said, “Don’t want this one. Not nice. Want the flower one. The button got flowers one.”.. So she chose what she wore.

Off we went to KL town. Firstly, a stop at Lakes Gardens (yet again) to feed the monkeys and a round of play in the huge play ground.

While feeding the monkeys, one of the monkey touched Zara’s hands while trying to reach out for the peanut. She immediately said, “Don’t yike (like) monkey touch Zara. Go home (asking us to bring her home)! Don’t want feed monkeys any more!” (Recently, although she likes animals still, she prefers not to touch them or let them touch her except the cat in our house.) We finished throwing the last bit of peanuts from the open pack (with Daddy carrying Zara), and then left for the play ground.

She greeted the ‘friendly’ dinosaur first. Then it was off to the ginger bread man bridge. She loved the swing there. She said the see-saw is better than the one from our park.

When it got dark we headed to Central Market and had a quick bite at the food court. The Lantern Fest was at the Central Market car park. They were giving out free paper lanterns, goodie packs with drinks and mooncake (but we didn’t take it since we don’t really fancy mooncakes). There was a lantern making contest, and the lanterns were hung in Central Market itself for every one to view and judge. There was also a stage put up for some cultural performance.

While some VIPs were making speeches, we just explored the surrounding. We found out there was going to be a lion dance, and a lantern procession.

Touching the Lion’s head, she only wanted to touch the head with her straw. Exploring while waiting for the speeches to be completed.

We even managed to see a Dragon Dance, something not as common as the Lion Dance. It was quite nicely done (with the dragon twirling, twisting, flipping about chasing after a ball), and our very first experience seeing one.

Lantern procession (the photos didn’t turn out quite well). Dragon and Lio Dance.

We left when an elderly lady took on the stage to sing some Chinese oldies. 😛

Zara is really turning into a fussy little girl. She demands and specifies what she wants and if we don’t give in, she would make a big fuss or nag us.

E.g.
If she ordered macaroni and cheese but you give her oat for lunch, she just refused to eat, kept saying, “Zara want maca-no-ni and cheese only!” “Don’t want anything else”
If she wanted grape flavoured Vitagen and we gave her apple flavoured, she would be repeating, “Zara want purple (grape) Vitagen only! Don’t want green (apple) one!”

Sometimes we’ll have to tell her some white lies to make her accept what we offered or just ignore her cries, other times, we’ll just have to give in to her demands.

On Tuesday, we brought out the lantern for her to play. I lighted it with a blue candle. She was making such a big fuss, chanting, “Don’t want this candle, want pink one!”, “Want pink one!”, “This candle not nice.” “I don’t yike (like) this candle! I yike pink one!”

I refused to budge, for the whole time the blue candle was burning, she complained.

Then when Daddy wanted to shoot some photos with her and the lantern, and the flash went off a few times, she started complaining. Cringing her eyes, and saying, “So bright the yight (light). Mummy, take sunglasses for you (me).” “So bright!” “Don’t yike (like) so bright.”

These are the best shot we could take.

She enjoyed the ‘blowing the PINK candle’ in the lantern after Happy Birthday had been sung.

Zara turned 22 months today. I have been so busy with work and also planning for the next family holiday (before I get into 3rd Trimester), I haven’t been updating my blog that frequently. Anybody has any nice hotels to recommend for Phuket, with nice beach and especially away from the parading ‘ah kuas’?

Ok, ok, this is not about my prep for my holidays. This is about Zara.

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~ Weight : 10.3kg (2 weeks ago)
~ Height : 83cm (is it possible that she keeps gaining weight but not height?)

Dexterity
~ She likes to drink from a cup instead of a sippy cup, and if she pays attention to what she’s doing, there won’t be any spillage.
~ She likes feeding herself with a fork and doing very well. Still need some assistance when she uses a spoon

Emotions and character

I start to see her displaying some ‘Terrible Two’ characters.
~ She never used to walk too far away from me when we’re out. Now, when she insists that she wants to leave or go somewhere else, and I tell her to wait for a while, she walks away mumbling, “Zara want go home (or wherever)”. And without looking back, she walks straight on.
~ She cries and shouts when she doesn’t get her way (but I totally ignore that)

She’s also doing lots of ‘pretend’ play nowadays
~ She has conversation to herself and her soft toys, something that goes like that,
“You want milk?”
“Don’t want.”
“You want cheese?”
“Want”
“Here, cheese. Take.”
~ She dresses up and pretends to be a queen, a cowboy, or even an animal

Pretending to be mummy carrying a baby

She sometimes have emotional tussles with herself, and have conversation like this with herself
*reaches her hands out to me* “Mummy hug hug Zara”
*put her hands down* “Don’t want.”
*reaches her hands out to Tuyam* “Kakak hug hug Zara”
*put her hands down* “I don’t want. I don’t want.”
*reaches her hands out to me again* “Mummy, mummy, carry you (me)”.
*put her hands down* “I don’t want. I don’t want anybody” *starts making crying sound*

Logical Thinking
She’s able to think logically,
~ when we asked her if she can fly, she will reply, “Cannot, because Zara don’t have wings”.
~ she knows, “Zara’s family got Daddy, mummy and Zara.”
~ she knows she’s still small and can only do certain things, e.g. “Zara now small jiejie, cannot play with scissors. When Zara big jiejie, Zara can cut cut with scissors”

Language
~ She’s talking non-stop, and picking up new words all the time. Some of her pronunciation is still off (e.g. In-doh-nee-sah for Indonesia; Taffik yike for Traffic Light), and we sometimes have a tough time trying to figure out what she’s saying, but when we do, we can always see the smile on her face, that she finally made us understand.
~ She loves books and picks up lots of new words from books. She can spend a lot of time flipping through books, and sometimes reading to herself (retelling the story in her own words).

Her book moment before bed time

Note : I’m absolutely trying to catch up on my blog reading, so don’t mind if I’d not been visiting.

We didn’t go any where else during the weeked except to get Zara her new bed from Ikea. But here are 2 conversations which took place last week which makes me wonder what kind of thoughts Zara goes through in her mind.

Daddy wanted to take a shower. I asked him to see if he can shower Zara.
Daddy: “Zara, come, Daddy bath bath you.”
Zara: *stared at Daddy’s naked body* Don’t want!”
Daddy: “Why don’t want.”
Zara : “Because Daddy so ugly. Like ugly duckring (duckling).”
Daddy and I both tried to stiffle our laughs.
So Zara thinks Daddy is handsome, but has got an ugly body.
Daddy said this is probably her ‘natural defence’ against men, no naked men should go near her, even Daddy.

On another occasion, Zara asked me to go down to play with her, and I said I don’t want.
She said something I couldn’t hear from upstaris, but Tuyam repeated what she said. Tuyam claimed that Zara must be angry for me rejecting her, and she told Tuyam, “Kakak, cut cut mummy. Then cook mummy. And then eat mummy.”
Now upon hearing that, I quickly went down and question Zara.
Me : “Why Zara said Zara wanted to eat mummy?”
Zara : *quiet* (her way of showing she’s embarrassed at what she’d done
Me : “Zara eat mummy already, then no more mummy. Who sleep with you?”
Zara : *quiet*
Me : “Zara is Goliath? So naughty one huh?”
(she has recently started reading some bible stories, and so far, David and Goliath is her favourite)
Zara : “Nooooo. Not Goh-lier. Cut cut fish and eat fish only.”

There are times when Zara wakes up in the morning, and refuse to have Tuyam take over the caring of her.
“Don’t want kakak jaga (Malay : take care) you (me). Mummy jaga you (me).”
“Mummy need to work. Saturday and Sunday then mummy will jaga you.”
“Mummy don’t want work work. Jaga you (me).”
“Cannot. Mummy don’t work work, then no money to buy Zara cheese, chocolate, and fish”
As though she understands, she’ll follow me downstairs.

However, on such a day, there’ll be some protesting when Tuyam gives her her monring bath.
“Mummy bath bath you (me)! Don’t want kakak do.”
And if mummy didn’t oblidge (which I won’t on weekdays), she will cry, while taking her bath, while being changed.

And after that, she’ll walk to the study (where I work) with more complaints.

“Go mummy there. Mummy jaga you (me).”
(The cry is very fake)

And some days, there will be lots of shouting from downstairs from the little girl, asking me to go down and play with her.

“MUMMY! COME DOWN AND PLAY! PLAY BALL WITH ZARA”

Fun eh? Working from home?

We went for a 3D scan last Thursday, and we brought along Zara, thinking it would be good for her to look at the baby as well.

Our Doctor did the scan himself together with a sonographer, and we spent more than an hour doing this.

Zara was very chatty throughout, but also got restless after 2mins.
“Doctor put oil on mummy’s stomach”
“Doctor check check mummy. Check check baby”
After a while, “Mummy carry”
She wanted to climb up the bed I was lying on, and then said this herself, “This is not the play ground, this is hopital (hospital) bed. Cannot crimb (climb) up.”
After a few bored moments, “*pointing to the door* Daddy go there!”
When she saw a glimpse of the baby, “There, baby there on the compiter (computer)”
And most of the time, she kept wanting to get out, “Open the door. Zara want go out!” “Open the door!” “Daddy, please, open the door please.”
When nobody responded, she started banging on the door, and tried to open it herself, making lots of noise. That was when I told her I’m very upset. “Sorry mummy. Sorry.”
“Zara cannot talk loud loud, must talk soft soft like doctor.”

When we’re done, she was so glad to say, “Thank you very much! Bye bye, See You” to the Doctor and the sonographer. Ah, I should have brought her some books to keep her occupied.

Back to the baby, every thing is ok. Throughout 1hr+ scan, she was moving nonstop. One moment she hid behind her hands, next moment, she hid behind the placenta, another moment she lifted up her legs and covered her face, and then did some kicking motion. She was always on the move. See, if I didn’t know she’s a girl, I would have thought she’s a boy again, based on her activeness. Dr was having a tough time trying to capture a perfect shot of her face.

However, we did manage to see she has the same skull shape as Zara, she has rather big and slim feet, she has the same button nose like Zara; daddy said, “Don’t all babies look like this?”, oh well, maybe they do. Most important thing is she’s doing well.

Here’s a shot of her, the best I could get from the video clips that were given to me from the scan. Daddy said the scan looks like abstract art. Doctor said he’s not satisfied with the machine, not giving him crisp enough image. (The 2 ‘hook’ like thing next to her face are her hands.)

As for me, I’m doing fine, big, but fine. Into my 23rd week (coming to 6months), have put on ~6Kg, feel like I’m 8months pregnant, always tired, always hungry.

Yesterday at the park,
Me : “Zara, Mummy stomach ache, maybe ceret beret (Malay : diarrhea).” (actually trying to tell her we may need to rush home)
Zara : “Come mummy, Zara hug hug. *hugged me* Mummy ceyek beyek. Make mummy better.”

5am this morning.
Zara : *rolled over to my side of the bed* “Zara drink milk”
Me : *groggily, checked the clock* “Still night time, morning only drink ok”
Zara rolled back to her cot, tossed and turned, tossed and turned. 2 minutes later,
Zara : *rolled back to my side of the bed* “Mummy, Zara drink milk”
Me : “Zara hungry is it?”
Zara : “Zara hungry, better drink milk now.”
So I had to crawl out of bed to make her milk.

This morning, upon waking up, she examined the crucifix that was hung at her cot, and started talking to her self.
“Jesus on the cross”
“Jesus don’t want to come out, so shy shy.”
“Jesus come out loh.”
“Then can see Zara loh.”