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!)

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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)

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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).

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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)

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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 suddenly wanted to be a baby again. Funny little girl. After her bath on Saturday morning :
Zara : Baby! Oo-Weh Ooh-Weh *immiated baby crying*.
Me : Are you baby or jiejie?
Zara : Baby. Mummy cayee (Carry) *stretched her arm out*
I carried her by placing an arm around her back, and let her sit on my hip.
Zara : Don’t want.
Me : But you want mummy to carry right?
Zara : Cayee! (Carry) *she moved her head and wanted to lay it on my other arm*
Me : Oh..
I craddled her, let her lay on the nooks of my arms, just like a baby.
Me : Happy?
Zara : Happy.
Me : Who’s baby?
Zara : *pointed her chest* Za-ah (Zara).

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Saturday afternoon, a contractor went out with Daddy to the hardware shop to buy some stuff to help us with our rat problem in the house (yes, we have some residence rats who do tap dancing everynight on our roof). When they came back, Zara got excited :
Zara : Daddy!
Me : Yeah. Go say Hi to Daddy.
Zara walked to the door, stood for a while (and probably found out there’s another person with Daddy), turned back.
Me : Why? Go say Hi to Daddy ma.
Zara : *grinned* Shy shy.

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Daddy went for a haircut near my Dad’s place (where we used to live). Immediately we turned into the residential area, Zara said, “Ah Kong (Chinese : maternal grandfather)!”
Me : Yes, we are near Ah Kong’s house
Zara : Ah Kong, house! *stretched her arm out* Ah Kong, cayee (Carry)
Me : Ah Kong not here.
Zara : *turned and face me* Mummy cayee!
We called my father, and arranged for him to have dinner with us, so that Zara can see him.

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Near my dad’s place, we saw the ERL train passing by. Told Zara it was a train. She got very excited and kept pointing and repeated, “Tain! Tain!”
We thought we’d give her a treat. After Daddy’s haircut, we went and parked our car at Tun Sambattan station, and took Zara on a monorail ride. We went to Berjaya Time Square, visited the Borders Bookshop (which Zara likes a lot, especially the children’s section), then took the monorail back to Tun Sambattan.
Daddy carried Zara all the way on the monorail ride, he pointed to her the Klang river, the buildings, we passed, the roads below.
When we got out of the station:
Zara : More more! Tain!
Me : Finished already. Now we go and see Ah Kong ok?
Zara : K.
Me : “Zara happy?”
Zara : Happy! Tain!

Since last Thursday, every night after dinner, we put on The Sound of Music, and show Zara 3 clips from the movie (thanks to DVD scene select) :
1) Maria teaching the Little Von Trapps to sing Do Re Mi
2) The puppet show put on by the Little Von Trapps
3) The Little Von Trapps bidding goodnight to the guests in their father’s dinner party

She loves it! Keeps asking for more (replay) after each song is sung (the below pix show her concentrating on the show)

On Saturday, while on our way to Ipoh, she started singing the last word of the Do-re-mi song with me. This is how we sing together :
Me : Doe a deer, a female
Zara : Deer
Me : Ray, a drop of golden
Zara : Sun
Me : Me, a name I call my
Zara : Sef (Self)
Me : Far, a long long way to
Zara : Run
Me : Sew, a needle pulling
Zara : Dat (Thread)
Me : La, a note to follow
Zara : So
Me : Tea, I drink with jam and
Zara : Bed (Bread)
Me : That will bring us back to
Zara : DO
And then she’ll clap her hands upon completion of the song. Still a long way from Luke Von Trapp, but both Daddy and I were extremely surprised that she had actually learnt up the last words in 2 days.

She also likes to hum the tune sung during the puppet play, but it goes something like this :
Zara : *mumble mumble* eh- Hoo Hoo

Last night, when I told her it’s time for bed, she pointed to the TV set and said, “Put! Put! Bye Bye! Seep!” Haha.. she wanted me to play her Clip #3. After that song, she took my hand pointed upstairs, and said, “Go Seep!”

See, I’m happy taking a rest from Barney!

Russ, our cat, went under the dining table to sleep
Zara : *pointing to Russ* Uss, Seep. (Russ, sleep)
She then tried pulling down the big cushion which she uses for her afternoon nap from the sofa. When she couldn’t, she laid her head on the cushion.
Zara : Seep (Sleep)
Tuyam helped her laid the cushion down.
Zara : *reached her hand to Tuyam* Ah Boo (Mr Blue)
Tuyam gave her Mr Blue, and she laid down and tried to nap.

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After our walk in the town centre in Ipoh at noon, Zara was getting tired.
Zara : *lean back on her car seat* Lie down
Zara : toss eyes (Close eyes)
Zara : Seep (Sleep)
And she tried to nap; after a while,
Zara : *open her eyes, pointed at the lamp in the car* Daddy, off. Off light.
Haha, she thought the glaring sun can be turned off like a lamp.

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I stayed in the study to complete my work and got Daddy to watch over Zara in the night.
Daddy and Zara were happily entertaining each other. When Daddy joined Zara’s cot to our bed and then wanted to change Zara to her pajamas. The little one suddenly realised it’s time for bed, and mummy was not with her.

She started crying and pointed to the direction of the study, “Mummy! Mummy!” Then went and banged on the bed room door!

Exasperated, Daddy brought her out to look for me, “She doesn’t want me ah!”

Every night, only I could get her to sleep, she can be happily playing with whoever, but when it’s bed time, mummy has to be the one next to her. I wonder how she’ll cope if I have to travel because of work. Not that there’s plans laid out yet.

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.

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

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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)

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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*

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

Me : “Zara, where is Daddy?”
Zara : “There” (pointed outside)
Me : “Daddy go where?”
Zara : “Work Work”
Me : “Daddy sit what to go work work?”
Zara : “Uh-pen” (Airoplane)

Daddy has been away for more than 2 weeks now. Does Zara miss him? Or Does Zara know how to miss him? She doesn’t cry for him, but there are signs which shows there’s a hint of longing for the man who reads her bed time stories, who gives her horsey rides.

She woke up at home, and pointed outside (where Daddy had been quarantined for a week because he had a very bad flu just before he left) and said, “Daddy” then looked at me and waited for an answer.

She picked up the phone and started talking to the mouth piece, “Daddy, mm-hhh, mm-hhh” (the mm-hhh, mm-hhh sounded sad, a sound she pretended to make when we asked her to show us how she cried).

She reached her hand out to an imaginary image, and said, “Daddy, Keh-Yee”; “Daddy, Keh-Yee” (Daddy, Carry).

Daddy will be home tomorrow, I would like to see if Zara will squeal in delight to see him. As for me, I will, thinking of those goodies he’s bringing back for me.

And btw, if you are reading this, Happy Birthday, Dear. The lotus plant bloomed while you were away.

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.

While changing her clothes on Saturday, Zara suddenly said, “Ah Tu (Zara’s Ah Ku; Hokkien : Mum’s brother a.k.a King)! Baju(Malay: Clothes).” and then she started touching her cheek with her pointer.
I actually didn’t know what she was saying. King Wife was laughing and explained that she asked Zara to shame King when he was walking about bare chested the other day. Zara must have recalled the incident while I removed her clothes.

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On Sat night while getting ready for bed, I saw an annoying mosquito flying about in the room. Sam was shouting, “Mosquito! Mosquito!”, and I was chasing after it. Finally I managed to slap and kill it. I showed Zara the squashed mosquito in my palm and said, “See, mosquito very naughty, that’s why mummy beat beat mosquito”. She then clapped her hands together and said, “Moh-toh-toh”.

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Zara was taking her morning shower with Sam at King’s Wife’s. Half way through her shower, she just uttered, “Happy!” (she knows what it means, but never spoken the word before). I guess she was really happy to be taking the shower with her favourite Sam che-che.

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A moth flew in the house and was clinging on to the curtains, Zara pointed to it and said, “Mot”. I was surprised as I never taught her the word, but remembered this was one of the many characters that appeared in her story book, Miss Spider’s Tea Party.

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Kids learn very fast, and you don’t know what retain in their memory and what not.