Day 3 ~ Saturday 29th April

We hired a car with a driver for the day. Our plan for the morning was to visit the Southern coast of Bali, however, we changed our mind after speaking to Sam, from Ellie’s. Instead, we asked our driver Ketut (almost every body is named Ketut in Bali) to drive us up to Tirtagangga, East of Bali using the coastal road.

We wanted to stop to look at how salt are produced traditionally in Bali on the East Coast, but the road leading to that stretch of the beach was closed for construction. After more than 3hrs drive, we reached Padang Bai, a port on East of Bali for ferries to Lombok. We had seafood lunch there, and then headed inland.

Padang Bai : a port mainly used for travelers to get to Lombok. Clear turquoise water, very popular for snorkeling and diving.Another hour or so, we reached Tirtagangga, the best surviving Bali royal water palace.

Around the water palace, Zara was fascinated with all the sculptures, especially the ones in animal forms

What surrounds the water palace fascinates us most. The lush green hilly rice fields, with lots of walking paths, makes a very nice stop for Zara to stroll around.

Zara very happy to be ‘free’ and not confined in her carrier or the car

Rice fields at the foot of Gunung Agong, seen here with its peak shielded by the cloudsWe made another short stop at Candi Dasa, a small coastal town for coffee.

I love these photos. Zara was very chatty and was talking to me, while Daddy took these shots

It was then another 3hrs drive back down to the South. We got off at Kuta and did some shopping and had our dinner there.

DVDs were going for USD1, I bought 10 Barney DVDs for Zara, and 2 sets of clothing. I’d gone past the phase of buying attractive handicrafts which I’d no used for. If I don’t see a use for it, I don’t buy it, it helps with the pocket.

In the night, Zara slept soundly, while Daddy and I watched Four Weddings and A Funeral on DVD. (Ellie’s had an extensive selection of DVDs for loan, and each room is provided with a DVD player.)

It was a very long day, to be confined in the car most of the time from 10am to 7pm to see scenaries like this, I thought it wasn’t worthwhile.

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Zara’s moments in Bali

We brought along Zara’s comfort softie, Mr Blue to Bali, but unfortunately, it got lost in KLIA before we took off. Guess who became Zara’s comfort object? Me!

She’s always saying :
“Mita Boo, where you(where are you)?” followed by
“Want suck suck Mummy’s breast.” (her exact words, no kidding! And her pronunciation for “Breast” is perfect!)
“Want drink milk milk.”
And she continued to mumble, “Don’t want Daddy’s breast. Don’t have milk.”

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She didn’t have any bowel movements the day we did the traveling, I was getting a bit worried. Then she surprised me while we were having tea at the cafe in Candi Dasa by holding my hand and telling me suddenly, “Mummy (in a sweet tone), poo poo oh-di (already). Change dar-per (diaper) pis (please). Smeh-wee(smelly).” in one breath.

Since then, she’s telling us to “Change dar-per” every time she does her poop.

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I think I’d been telling her she can’t do this and that too often. One day during the trip, while we were getting ready to go out, she was singing (tuneless but I know she’s singing) her own invented song. She sang and swayed, “Ten-not (Cannot) Ten-not Do Do Do. Ten-not Ten-not Do Do Do.”

It was a jaw dropping moment for us, followed by lots of laughing.

I was changing her diaper. She suddenly blurted : “Fish Ball!”.
I was curious why she said that, I just guessed and said, “Zara thinks Zara’s toes look like fish ball is it?”. I pointed to her toes.
Zara looked at me (as though I was stupid), then started pointing her finger at her mouth while saying, “Mum mum *point point* (Chinese: eat), Fish ball.”
(Tuyam said she does that very often, when she asked for something to eat, and Tuyam couldn’t understand her, she’ll point to her mouth and sign to us, like we’re some bozos)

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This morning, while at play, she shouted, “Mita Boo (Mr Blue), where are you? Want suck tum (thumb)!”
(She has the habit of sucking her thumb while holding her soft toy Mr Blue)

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While pushing her in the stroller yesterday, Zara counted, “For, fai, sik, sehwen, egg” And repeated. Asked her to do from One, it will go something like “One, Egg, Ten.” (She knows they are numbers but doesn’t know the sequence).

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Zara’s reciting the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle sounds like this:

Diddle Diddle, Cat the fiddle, Cow oh the moon, spot, away spoon

(Actual, Hey Diddle Diddle, The Cat and the fiddle, The Cow Jumped over the moon, The Dog laughed to see such sport, And the dish ran away with the spoon)

While playing, Zara lets me see a side of me from her angle. The way she handles her doll, the way she role play is a reflection of how I handle her.

While playing with her doll (She calls it Baby Doll)
Zara : *took a small bottle of lotion* Drink milk ha. *Put bottle near the doll’s mouth*
After a while
Zara : *smacked the doll* Beat!
Me : Zara, why you beat baby doll?
Zara : *poked the doll’s chest* naughty! Baby Doll!
Me : Baby doll naughty meh?
Zara : Naughty!
(That’s how I behaved when she’s naughty I guess. Yikes!)
A moment later,
Zara : *stroke the doll* ayang (Sayang. Malay : stroke tenderly). *Bent down and kissed the doll’s face* Muak! *carried and gave the doll a cuddle*
(I normally feel so guilty after smacking her, I kiss and ‘sayang’ her right after that)

Later, she was playing with her masak-masak (Malay : Cooking set), she ‘made’ soup and fed me.
Zara : bow first ah (Blow first huh?) *blew the spoon* fu.. fu.. *then put the spoon near my mouth*
Me : Mummy don’t want.
Zara : *she stared at me with very fierce looking eyes* Must Drink!
(Yikes! Sounds like me forcing her to eat something)

I have been busy, but it’s no excuse not to post Zara’s 17th month (which she turned on Friday) progress just like I always did in previous months.

~ Weight should be around 8.5kg to 9K
~ Height : ??
~ All four 1st molars are out, sprouting her 4 Cuspids (canines)

Dexterity :
Started jumping up and down, climbing up dining chairs or anything she thinks she can climb on (like a monkey), .

Trying to drink from a cup, but still needs us to control the tilt of the cup.

Language :
Developing really well in this area.

New popular phrases :
Cannot
Sked sked(Scared)
Not nice

Can tell us her experiences and feelings better :
About the park : “Ship Park. Turn turn wheels! Sit sides (Slides). Sit See Saw”
About Kidzsports : “Many balls. Tow away (Throw away). Big sides (Slides). Tuh-ner (tunnel), sked (scared).”
About a video she watched (Oliver): “Korkor (Chinese : Elder brother) so sad. No mummy. No Daddy. No kakak. Cry.”

Able to say things in different intonation depending on the purpose:
If it’s a request, she goes very sweet and nice.
If it’s asking me where I am, she shouts real loud, “MUMMY, WHERE ARE YOU?”Started using words with four syllables :
– kat-ter-eh-yer (caterpillar)
– eh-mot-on-toh (remote control)

Able to indicate sizes, quantity, ownership and use of other adjectives :
– many baju (Malay : clothes), many toys, many books, so many pebbles
– big snake, small stones, big bus
– mummy’s one, Zara’s one, ah-tie’s (Auntie’s) one
– sessy tothes (sexy clothes), dirty baju (Malay : clothes), wet for (floor), pretty bracelet, bitter cho-tet (chocolate)

Able to say the names of the people closest to her :
– my name, Daddy’s name, Maid’s name, King’s Wife’s name and King’s name

Feeding / Food :
Fish is her favourite food, followed by bread and cheese; loves vegetables which are not too fibrous (asparagus, cabbage, spinach); likes fish balls very much.

Still, taking 3 solids meals (it may sound a lot, but the quantity she’s taking is very little). Typically :
breakfast : one pot of petite miam yogurt, or half a bowl of oat porridge
lunch : one slice of bread with cheese, half a bowl of baby cereal, or half a hard boil egg
dinner : 1 small slice of steam fish fillet or 1 small whole steam fish (pomphret is her favourite) with half a bowl of porridge or rice with soup

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 :
Very good in exerting her rights, but sometimes still confused about what she wants.

Very emotional, sometimes when we ask her to pretend to cry, she’ll act out but then suddenly it becomes real tears flowing down her cheeks.

Very loving, gives kisses (especially for me) and hugs very frequently,

(I have lots to update, but I’ll just do a short post because I have lots to do at work)

Zara doesn’t speak Chinese, or rather nobody speaks to Zara in Chinese so she has not picked up any Chinese. I tried to do what Shiaulin has taught me, to repeat each English phrase I say to her in chinese so she learns to associate the two. However, after a few attempts, I got lazy. It’s tiring when you have to talk to the kid and repeating everything (already, lots of repetition in English to get a massage across).

Then I tried speaking to her just in Chinese, but she’ll say, “Don’t Want” when she hear non-English words coming out from me.
Me : Mummy 和你讲华语好吗 (Mummy speaks to you in Chinese ok?)
Zara : Don’t want
Sometimes she even says : 不要 (Chinese: Don’t want). Don’t know if she really know what it means.

However, she likes this particular Chinese song which I sing (only the chorus) to her quite frequently. Here is her singing this together with me (I must say for someone who doesn’t speak Chinese, her pronunciation is quite good).

Click here to listen to her sing.

我是一只小小小小鸟 – Translated based on my best knowledge
我是一只小小小小鸟
Wo shi yi zhi xiao xiao xiao xiao niao (I’m just a little bird)
想要飞呀飞却飞呀飞不高
Xiang yao fei ya fei que fei ye fei bu gao (Even when I attempt to fly, I can never fly too high)
我寻寻觅觅寻寻觅觅一个温暖的怀抱
Wo xun xun mi mi xun xun mi mi yi ge wen nuan de huai bao (I’d been searching for a warm embrace)
这样的要求算不算太高
Zhe yang de yao qiu suan bu suan tai gao (Is this a very difficult request?)

(The song sung by the original singer can be found here)

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”

Me : *talking to Daddy* Eh, I go for my shower, you look after Zara huh?
Zara : *looked up from what she was doing* Sar-wer. Don’t want.
Me : *turned my attention to her* Huh? Mummy need to shower. Daddy looks after Zara ok?
Zara : *fake crying sound, held my hand* Don’t want!
Me : Daddy look after Zara cannot huh? Why don’t want?
Zara : Don’t want. *Patted her chest* Sked Sked!
(Now when she cannot find a reason for not wanting something, she just says she’s scared. Don’t want to eat fish, because she’s scared. Don’t want to brush teeth, because she’s scared. Don’t want Daddy to look after, because she’s scared)

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Just got into the car.
Zara : Chih-den! Chih-den (Children)! On.
Me : Ok.. Mummy turn on the Children’s song for you.
She listened happily. After a song she likes finished playing, she’ll say, “More more!” (and doing her hand sign by pointing to her palm)
At the start of a song she doesn’t like, “Don’t want! Don’t yike (like)!”
Or she’ll just say, “Off. Don’t want.”

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While waiting for the car after lunch, Zara was admiring the 2 stone lions at the entrance of Federal Hotel.
Me : Let’s go home.
Zara : *waved* Bye bye Nai-yen (Lion). Go hom dee (Go home already). See yoo Monday.
(Every time we leave King’s Wife place in the evening before the weekend, we make her say good bye to everybody, and we say “See you on Monday” to every one, she must have picked that up).

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After changing her to a nice blouse and a denim skirt :
Zara : *put her palms on her cheeks* So tute (cute).
Me : *can’t help but smile* Yeah, Zara so cute.
Zara : *pulled my hand* Hold hand.
Me : *followed her* Where Zara wants to go?
Zara : *point to the door* Show Daddy. Show Kakak.
(Oh, my. She’s really getting vain.)

On Saturday, while feeding Zara lunch, the old newspaper man (a man who goes from housing estate to housing estate collecting old newspaper, magazines, car batteries for recycling; and we get paid a small fee for letting him have these old items) passed by our house.

Like all old newspaper men, to announce his presence, he blasted his recorded ‘advertisement’ repeatedly while driving through the residential area. It was something like this :
“Paper Lama (Malay: Old newspaper). Siu Gu Poh Jua (Hokkien: Collecting old newspaper). Sao Gao Poh-Ji (Cantonese : Collecting old newspaper). Old newspaper. Bateri Lama (Malay: Old batteries)”

Zara very quickly learnt up the ‘chanting’. And here’s a recording of her chanting, with me prompting.

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For those who are interested in the scones recipe, I’d posted it here.

Zara sometimes gets a bit manja (Malay : need affections), and she will start complaining she has pain every where so that I’ll kiss the pain away. Yesterday night was one of those times.

While in bed, waiting for her to fall asleep.
Zara : *turned to me* Mummy
Me : *grogilly* Yes, Zara
Zara : Eyes. Paink paink
Me : *turned to look at her, in the dark trying to check her eyes* Zara’s eyes pain pain?
Zara : *whined and rub her eyes* eyes, paink paink.
Me : *took her hands away* You don’t rub your eyes! Let mummy check. *Checked and found nothing wrong* Never mind, Zara don’t rub your eyes any more. Mummy kiss kiss. Muak *then turned the other to try to sleep*
Zara : Mummy. Boh-dee paink paink.
Me : *turned to her* Body pain pain now?
Zara : *smiled and pointed ot her body* Paink paink.
Me : (realised she’s playing her ‘manja’ game) *kissed her tummy* Ok, mummy kiss kiss. Muak.
Zara : *pointed to her elbow* Eh-boh paink paink
Me : *kissed her elbow* Muak. Where else pain pain?
Zara : *pointed to her knee* Knee paink paink
Me : *kissed her knee* Muak. How come every where pain pain?
Zara : *pointed to her bum* Beh-sike, bum bum paink paink
Me : (never mind, this is a good time for her to name the body parts) *kissed her bum* Muak. Your armpit pain pain or not?
Zara : *pointed to armpit* Ah-Pit paink paink *grinning*
Me : *kissed her armpit* Muak. Your belly button pain pain?
Zara : *stuck her finger into her belly button* Buh-ton paink paink
Me : *kissed her belly button*. Muak. Some more?
Zara : *pointed to her private part* Petpet paink paink *cheeky grin*
Me : Eee. Petpet also pain pain? Ok ok, mummykiss. Muak. *Kiss her diaper*
Zara : *pointed to her ear* Eeyer paink paink
Me : *kissed her ear* Muak. Wah, every where pain pain huh?
…
And it continued, kissed her chin, her mouth, her feet, her hands, her nose, her head, her hair… It’s a bit like doing a revision on all the body parts she knows how to name. I have yet to teach her forehead, eye brow, shin, shoulder, but I guess we’ll soon get there, if she has this ‘pain attack’ often enough.

I just come to realise that Zara has this little raised ridge (about 1cm long) right in the middle of her skull where her hair line is. I don’t know when it started to be there, but 2 weeks ago, I could feel that very tiny little bump (feels like touching a tooth pick covered under a blanket), and it got me worried.

I wanted to slap myself for not bringing this up during the last visit to the Paed. After worrying for another week, I thought I’d bring her to the Dr to have a look.

When I told Zara we were going to see the Dr, she immediately whined, “Don’t want. Doh-tuh.” She probably remembered the injection she got.

She was as usual very cheerful while waiting for the Dr, playing with the toys in the waiting room. When it was her turn, she dragged me away from the door leading to the Dr’s clinic, and put up a fight when the Dr wanted to feel the bump and measure the circumference of her head.

The Dr told me this could have been caused by the fusing of the bones in her skull, since she’s developing normally, and the measurement of her head is within normal range, I should not be worried but I do have to monitor her to see if there’s any abnormal behaviour or if the bump size increase.

How could I not worry? Even after seeing him, I’m still worried! I don’t like to think about anything which can ‘possibly’ happen, or which needs monitoring.

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On a lighter note, I asked Zara if she wanted to play with a Dr set I bought before Christmas.
Me : Zara want to play Dr Dr?
Zara : Don’t wang. Pay. Doh-tuh Doh-tuh
Me : *showed her the set* See, so many things for Zara to play. Zara can pretend to check Mr Blue to see if Mr Blue is sick sick.
Zara : Don’t wang.
Me : Why Zara don’t want?
Zara : Sked sked (Scared)

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For those of you who understand Chinese, click here for a meaningful song which is dedicated to all parents, I could really relate to it now, after being a mum for 16months.