My Two Girls – All About Zara and Zaria

These are some things she said recently which is ‘worthy’ of me keeping a record.

After her bath, she came out crying and screaming, she said, My petpet spicy“
I think she probably touched herself with soapy hands in the bath, but ‘spicy’? What a way to describe it.

She called Sam (my niece) on the phone the other day, I heard her said :
“Why you so long didn’t come my house?
You want to come?
I have kite you know
You can play with it, no problem.”

She was trying to tuck her ‘son’ Mr Blue to sleep on her bed.
“Mr Blue. I’m mummy Zara.
You feeling cozy?
It’s cozy here right?
You good boy?
Mummy (referring to herself) sometimes good girl, sometimes naughty girl.”

We saw a kite at our neighbour’s gate front, I asked if she knew what happened to the kite, she replied, “I think the wind suddenly stopped, so the kite fell down lok”

We showed her the wedding photo of the world’s tallest man in the newspaper, and Daddy told her about marriage : a man falls in love with a woman, the man tells the woman “I love you” and then asks her “Will you marry me?” and then they get married.
Zara came to me and said, “I love you mummy.” “Will you marry me?”. Awwwwwwwwwww..

Some of you wanted to know what was Zara’s reaction to my spots :
When I mentioned to her I was going to zap all my ‘moles’, she asked, “painful or not?”
I told her ‘Aunty Doctor’ is very clever to zap, not painful.
“Mummy, I also want to zap my mole, my mole on my knee” (and she pointed her little mole on her knee)
I told her that my moles are different kind of mole, it’s because I’m old already, so I get these moles. She didn’t have to zap hers.

When I got back from the doctor’s. She said, “Mummy look like leapord. Aunty Doctor zap zap mummy’s moles. Mummy old already, got lots of moles.” That’s also the explaination she helped me to give to the curious parents at the park.

Zaria likes to put her hand in her mouth and she drools a lot; the combination of these causes her cheeks to be constantly soaked in saliva, and therefore rashes formed. Zaria’s rash is pretty obvious in her 6th month post.

It did not get healed or prevented by the Mustela Hydra Bebe Facial Moisturising Cream that Zara used daily; nor the L’occitane Mom & Baby Balm that I was using as a prenatal cream.

On Sunday, when we were shopping, a sales assistant recommended us to use Buds Super Soothing Rescue Lotion on her, her shop was out of stock, so we had to shop else where. At Babyland, I found the cream, packed together with Buds Super Soothing Hydrating Bath Wash and Buds First Aid Lotion, selling at RM79.90. I bought it, and started applying the Rescue Lotion on her cheeks immediately when we got home.

Her rashes clearing

I thought I have to blog about this product because I do see improvement in Zaria’s cheeks. Her rash is definitely clearing up. The product is made with 100% essential oil and plant extracts which is safe for babies. It has a very pleasant scent, and supposed to be very gentle on baby’s skin. It was primarily created to treat and sooth ezema.

I used the First Aid Lotion on my itchy spots, and it helps to reduce the itch too. I tried the Bath Wash and I really like the tea tree scent and the soft and gentle bubbles.

Those who are looking for a good natural baby product, you may want to try them.

Height = 68cm
Weight = 7.1Kg

She’s able to :
~ sit very well when supported; momentarily balance herself when not supported.
~ grab an object held out for her
~ pass object from one hand to another
~ babble and scream, doing vowel sounds most of the time, like aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiii, ooooooooooo, aaaaaeeeeeee, eehh-ooooh
~ respond to her nick name, meimei, and at times, Zaria
~ rolls back to front, front to back like a pro now
~ check out a new object by looking at it, shaking it, puting in her mouth, or touching it
~ demand for something while staring at it, and crying

Eating :
Eating her solids well, so far have been giving her home made cereal (brown rice, millet, quinoa) with either potato, pumpkin, apple or carrot, and she takes them all.
Typical feeding schedule : 7am milk, 9am 2 tbs cereal, 11am milk, 1pm milk, 4pm milk, 6pm 2 tbs cereal, 8pm milk, 10pm milk. Midnight, feed on demand.
Not sure how much milk she’s taking, but I think it’s about 3.5oz per feed (that’s the amount she’ll take from the bottle). She nurses directly from the breast most of the time.
She started sleeping through at about 8th week; somehow when I went to Singapore for work last month, she started waking up for milk again. However, it’s more of comfort feed then real feed, as she just have a few suck before dozing off again.
Starting to have a habit of shaking kicking her right leg while nursing.

Temperament / Emotions :
Doesn’t cry much (definitely less than Zara at this age and even at 31months), and when she does, she’s either sleepy, angry or got a fright; and is easily calmed or pacified.
She doesn’t mind anybody carrying or playing with her, but she knows Jelly (my Filipino maid) and myself are her main care givers, so she’ll look out for us when she wants to be comforted.
When she wants me (to play with her or feed her), she’ll squael with delight when she sees me, and will cry when she sees me walking out without giving her the attention.
Archs her stomach when she is displease.
Very patient and good temperament.

She’s taking 2 long naps in the morning and afternoon, and then a short 30mins nap in the night; her bed time is 11pm just like Zara now.
She loves to watch Zara dance, and Zara always have a way to make her squeal with excitement and laugh.
She seems to like books, staring at the pictures, or trying to grab it to put in her mouth.
She loves to watch TV too; when Zara is watching Baby Einstein, I’ll let her watch together.

I swing. I jump. And then I shout,
“This is what I’m all about!”
I’m Zipping, Zooming, Zara – the greatest gymnast of all.

I cartwheel on.. then off the mat. My leaps are short, or long – like that.
On and off, short and long,
I do it all, ’cause I’m so strong.
I’m Zipping Zooming Zara – the greatest gymnast of all.

A forward roll. A backward flip.
I’m high, then low, I rarely slip.
Forward, backward, high and low.
I’m putting on a wonderful show.
I’m Zipping, Zooming, Zara – the greatest gymnast of all.

My feet are near. Out far they go.
Up and down, near and far.
I feel like I’m a superstar.
I’m Zipping, Zooming, Zara – the greatest gymnast of all.

And I even have a side kick. The flipping, drooling, Zaria.

Now, do you want my autograph, before I get too famous and popular?

‘Gymnastic’ is currently her favourite before bed time exercise.
Original text is taken and slightly modified from The Greatest Gymnast, currently one of Zara’s favourite books.

Kept Zara occupied for an hour by letting her do handpainting on a linen cloth (which can be kept as an art piece or wash away for reuse).
And she loves watching the baby fishes swimming in our ‘water feature’, and spotting the mummy fish which is pregnant.

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Two For The Price of One, that’s the bargain I got by bringing the two girls to Kidzsports, where Zaria is too young to be a paying guest, but old enough to have some fun.

Zaria had lots of fun in the pool of balls, then later she was really enjoying herself at the swing, so much so that ……
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She fell blissfully asleep.

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Met Baby Shern, and his mummy at Zara. Zaria’s potential boy friend, Baby Shern was touching Zaria now and then. So cute! And I’m so envious of Baby Shern’s thick hair!

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I was in Zara on both Saturday and Sunday, since it’s their sales, and I just love the kids’ clothes there. I got the girls their birthday dresses (which is 5 and 6 months later, and Tuyam reminded me that they may outgrow the clothes before they get a chance to wear it), and lots of ja jam bo clothes spagetti strap tops for Zara in different colours.

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Had my biggest fright, when Zara fell from the high chair (she was monkeying around), and knocked her head on the metal leg of table in Fish & Co. I thought I was going to pengsan (Malay : faint) when I saw her crying and knew the severity of the fall.

Luckily, she was still alert despite the fall and was able to tell us where it hurt in between her wailing. She even repeated, “I don’t want to have stitches! I don’t want to have stitches!”, remembering her cousin Norman had some stitches on the head a month back when he knocked into a lamp post.

I really thank God it was just a small cut on the head. After 30mins of trying to calm her down, she was back to her normal self. She was even able to model her dress back home to Tuyam.

Besides the cut, she didn’t have other swelling on the head. This morning, when asked, she told me, “I’m fine. I’m better already.”; “a little bit painful only” and “I cried so much because I have a fright.”

Aunty Milkmaid and Babyshern’s mummy tagged my mummy on 7 vanity related facts, and Aunty Mott tagged my mummy on 7 random facts. Since Mummy is not vain, but lazy very efficent, she’d combined them, and got me to do it instead.

Here are 7 facts about me :
1) I think I’m pretty, because I look like my mummy (mummy held my hand and type in the last phrase).

2) Every time after a bath, I have to put on this Mustela face cream, and then have my hair combed nicely, this is my beauty regime. But kakak doesn’t stop there, she’ll rub on diaper cream on me even though I’d stopped wearing diaper, and also put on this ‘spicy’ oil on my stomach as though I’m still a baby.

3) I like to wear my Ja Jam Bo clothes (my kakak called it sexy clothes, my mummy say it’s called spagetti strep, I called it Ja Jam Bo clothes because that’s what the jie-jie who sings the Ja Jam Bo song on TV wore), showing off my shoulders and back, but I don’t like to show off my belly button, because I don’t want people to shame-shame me.

4) I like to have my hair long, but I don’t like to use clips, so sometimes I look like a shaggy dog (that’s what my daddy and mummy call me when they want to put on that clip on me).

5) I like to learn new words read books to expend my vocabulary, but when my daddy and mummy ask me to remember how to write A, B, C and the numbers; Oh boy, I think they are pushing too hard. They don’t know it’s ‘difficult’ for me to remember all these.

6) I love my meimei, but I think my mummy and daddy sometimes over react to some of my meimei’s achievement. They hooray her when she knows how to throw things, or when she says pbbbbttt! What about me? I can do all these and more!

7) I’m obsessed with scent, a training I got since young, because my Daddy and Mummy got me to smell whatever new things they showed me.
“Zara, see, this is a pumpkin, smell it.”
“Zara, this new lotion is nice, smell it.”
By sniffing a linen cloth, I know if the cloth is mine or mei-mei’s (mei-mei’s have puke or milk smell which is quite obvious).
And guess what, every time I come back from an outing, I like to smell my feet to see if they are smelly and need washing! Am I clever or what? But why my mummy and daddy didn’t hoorray me for this?

Now, I want to tag my mummy’s old friend Uncle Benny;
My mei-mei’s potential mother-in-law no. 1 Auntie Dr;
My mei-mei’s potential mother-in-law no. 2 Auntie Whoisbaby

Her love for Daddy :

Her relationship with Daddy has improved a lot since Zaria was born.
She told Daddy, “Daddy I love you so much”
Daddy asked her back, “Why do you love Daddy?”
She said, “Because you (are) so clever to jaga (Malay : take care of) me. That’s why.”

She told me, “I love Daddy so much.”
I asked her why she loves Daddy, she told me, “Because Daddy never scold me, only angry with me.” (what she didn’t say is : unlike mummy who always scold me and occasionally smack me or send me to the naughty corner) “o.O

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On why I can’t cane her :

She tossed some sea shells into the court yard the other day, crushing them.
Me : *shook my head* “I think I have to go and buy a cane already. When someone is naughty, I’ll cane that someone.”
Zara : “NOOOOOOO! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
Me : “Why are you screaming?”
Zara : “YOU CANNOT!”
Me : “Why I cannot?” *looked at her and wait for an answer*
Zara : “Because…” *thinking*
Me : “Yeah? Because…?”
Zara : “I’M ZARA!”
Me : *trying to stiffle a laugh* “I know you are Zara, so…?”
Zara : “I.. I………..” *Lost of words* “AAAAAAAAAAH!” *cry*

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On boiled egg :

I wanted to make some steam egg and Zara wanted to help me shell the egg.
Zara : “Mummy, I help you peck peck the egg.”
Me : “You cannot peck the egg because it’s not boiled egg.”
Zara : “Oh, this is girl egg.. cannot peck, only boy egg can peck.”

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On Hamburger :

We saw a Ramly Burger stall, with a big burger picture.
Me : *pointing to the burger picture* “Zara, what is that, do you know?”
Zara : “It’s a bun”
Me : “It’s a special bun with a special name. Do you know the name?”
Zara : “Hmmmm… It’s a McDonald Bun“
(talk about branding!)

Whoosh! 4 more days and Zaria will turn 6months. We let her have her first solid yesterday.

Soaked rice grain; blending the rice; Zaria all excited in the kitchen; Zaria kept entertained while the cereal was being cooked

Recipe:
1 soup spoon organic brown rice
1 oz breast milk
some water

Soak brown rice for 2 hours
Blend brown rice with water until grains become fine
Cook liquid rice over slow fire, stirring often for about 5~7mins
Stir in Add breast milk and bring to boil.

Yummy Yummy, faster, quick, feed me, feed me!

She loves it! Kept opening her mouth and trying to grab the spoon! Next week, I’ll add quinoa and millet into her cereal.

Me : “Are you happy? Pao pao (Chinese : full) already?” Zaria : *big grin*

Sisterly Love

Zaria will be turning 6months next week, and is more responsive to her surrounding. She adores Zara, especially when Zara is dancing or singing, she’ll be watching Zara intently smiling. On the other hand, because Zaria is tougher now, Zara is able to hug and hold her and not crush her, Zara is enjoying the company of Zaria more.

Zara is also starting to show her love for her sister. She is willing to share her toys with Zaria, and when Zaria takes one of her favourite item, she will swap it with another less favourite and tell Zaria, “This one jiejie play. You take other one.”

At Zara’s bed time, if Zaria cried in the midst of me cuddling and talking to Zara, Zara will tell me, “Mummy, you go feed Zaria.” She no longer clinged on to me leaving her sister to cry.

2 days ago, when I was having a teleconference, Zaria cried because it was time for her feed. Since the meeting was about to end, I told Jelly (my other maid) to pacify Zaria while waiting for me. I heard some commotions downstairs caused by Zara. After the meeting, I checked what happened. Jelly told me Zara was very anxious when she heard Zaria crying so pitifully, so she kept saying, “Aunty Jelly, mummy meeting, you feed meimei the milk in the fridge! Meimei hungry.” “My mummy meeting cannot feed meimei, you feed meimei with this one (shoving a pack of frozen milk into Jelly’s hand).” “You don’t feed meimei after I smack you huh!”

When my aunt came visiting a week back, she pretended she wanted to bring Zaria home, and carried Zaria to the door. Zara cried, looking desperately for me for help, “Don’t take meimei! Cannot! Cannot take! It’s my meimei.” She only stopped when Zaria was back into my arms.

Sometimes, when she thinks I’m not looking, I can see her leaning over to kiss Zaria and mutter, “I love you meimei”.

I’m rather pleased to see this progress. 🙂 But being her normal self, she still say things like, “I’m pretty. Mei mei is ugly” “Meimei ugly because meimei’s eyes look like ganster (I wonder if she really knows the meaning of this).” or “Meimei so ugly because meimei’s eyes so small like daddy. Meimei’s hair botak like Ah Ku (my bro). My eyes big like mummy and my hair so long and soft.” “o.O

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On another note : My sister came over with Tasha 2 weeks back, I attempted to take photos of the 3 girls together. Boy, it’s tough. It’s hard to make them look at the camera the same time. Here are some ‘nicer’ shots.