My Two Girls – All About Zara and Zaria

After more than 2 weeks, Daddy finally came home yesterday. I’d been preparing Zara for his arrival, telling her Daddy was coming home, asking her to shout “Daddy” loud loud, and give Daddy a big “BOO” with her monster face when Daddy arrives. I even made her practice a few times to see if she knew what she was supposed to do.

It was dinner time and I was having a tough time feeding her the fish we cooked (freshwater fish with very strong ‘earthy’ taste). She spit out every mouth full I gave her, and said “Don’t Want” (her favourite word now). I had to resort to opening a bottle of baby food, and still progress of feeding her was slow, as she was refusing to open her mouth.

When a car stopped at the front gate, she got all excited, and kept pointing outside and claimed, “Daddy. Daddy.” I brought her out to greet Daddy. All the earlier practices gone wasted; the minute Daddy held her at the gate, she just laid her head on his shoulder, not calling him, not looking at him, but just stayed there, holding on to Daddy.

It took us a while to persuade her to let Daddy put her down (all the time she just refused to lift her head up from his shoulder). After which, I told her to show how clever she was to Daddy by finishing her food, and she cooperated, opening her mouth wide while I spooned her the food from the bottle, eager to impress Daddy. The little one sure miss Daddy, in her own ways.

Daddy bought me a Bree bag (a wee bit too big for me I would say, but then, I shouldn’t complain), and 2 pairs of slip ons from the Birkenstock company. Zara didn’t have any apparels but Daddy bought her some biscuits.

Here’s Zara checking out the bag.

And then, trying on the slip ons.

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.

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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!

Disclaimer : This has nothing to do with my daugther, which the blog is about.

This is a story started by Lin Peh, the rules are written here. They are all rated 18SX (except mine probably), and the story is fictionous. Do not proceed if you find profanity offensive, and explicit sex scene disgusting.

Chapter 1 – Lin Peh
Chapter 2 – PJ
Chapter 3 – Lilian (password chapter3)
Chapter 4 – Cocka Doodle
Chapter 5 – Ah Pek
Chapter 6 – Helen

My beloved leng-jeh Helen passed me the baton to do Chapter 7. After such a steamy chapter she’s written, it’s actually very difficult for me to continue, but I have to oblidge..

Lin Dynasty – Chapter 7

There is something familiar about Horsey, Liong Sek was thinking to himself. While Horsey was tending to Swan’s friends, Liong Sek stole a few glances at Horsey, who had a mask over his face. All these while, Dr Horsey chatted amiably to Liong Sek, about the weather, about the posh Star Mountain Gallery, where his little back room practice was.

One after another, the men shamelessly dropped their pants to show Dr Horsey their privatest organs. The man whose name was Big Bird definitely didn’t have what it takes to be one. And Barney? Wow, his thing looks purple. Leong Sek observed. After giving the men an MMR (Male Miracle Remedy) jab here, some barrier cream there, he told them they could go home and rest. Their disease would be cured in a few days. The men eagerly left, all except Liong Sek.

Just then, there was a creak at the door. 2 pairs of eyes turned towards the source of the sound. A slender leg appeared, trying to back into the room, followed by a half naked back. A lady was struggling to enter the doorway, her blouse lifted to expose her smooth creamy back. She has the longest legs; there was something she was carrying in her arms, covered in a white cloth. The men swallowed their saliva, anxiously awaiting the lady to turn to face them and expose more of her. The lady turned. What was that she’s cradling, which was stuck to her front??

“Oh Shit!” The lady muttered, when she saw the gawking men. “This is not the nursing room?” The men shook their heads in union. She quickly adjusted her blouse, and straightened her bundle, which was actually a beautiful baby. “I’m so sorry, little Zara here is too hungry, and I didn’t really check the sign board at the door” The woman left hastily.

“Nursing room here? She siao or what?” Horsey exclaimed, sweeping off the beads of sweat from his forhead.

To break the silence, Horsey took a pie out from his bag, and asked Liong Sek. “Chic Pie?”

“Sure, Horsey. Chic Pie”. Liong Sek replied, still stealing glances at Horsey.

“Call me Seng Kor, Leong Sek.” Horsey removed his mask deftly, and sunk his teeth into the Chick Pie. He spitted it out immediately, “Ta Ma De! Chick Pie, I said Chick Pie! And what did she give me? Tuna Chic Pie!”

Liong Sek could not believe what he was looking at; the man who was coughing out Tuna Chick Pie looked exactly like him, except for the big hairy mole. “Who are you?” he almost shouted to Horsey. “No wonder he had to wear a mask, that mole is hideous” was another voice coming from within.

“I’m your twin brother. Liong Seng. Didn’t that bloody father of yours tell you?” Seng Kor a.k.a Horsey wiped his mouth and spitted out the last few words.

Liong Sek shook his head in disbelieve. Didn’t Unke Lin just tell him the other day that he was fathered by a Mr Tua, and his name was Lam Pah?

“But I’m not his real son, my real sir name is Tua, he just told us the other day” Liong Sek replied indignantly.

“Tua your Ka Cheng! He was too embarrassed to tell you the truth!” Seng Kor tossed the rest of the Tuna Chic Pie in the bin in anger.

“He fooled with his sister Lin Chin Sia, and she died giving birth to both of us! He thought I was bad luck, because I had this mole that reminded him of our mother. He gave me away!”

“But..” Liong Sek tried to interrupt.

“What do you think Auntie Helen is doing in Italy? To receive a Pukilitzer Prize?” Seng Kor snorted. “She’s meeting up with Albieno Ipodro, the man who adopted me! Liong Sek, look, I had been waiting for this moment. To meet up with you, to tell you the truth, so that we can avenge our mother’s death.”

Chaos ran through Liong Sek’s mind. Albieno Ipodro? The Italian mafia who was made famous smuggling cocaine stuffed in figs and condoms? What was Auntie Helen doing meeting up with him? Never mind the two of them, what is happening to him? So much has taken place the last few days, what with the frequent visits to Lilian; his knees weakened, he couldn’t think straight. Who is telling the truth? Unke Lin? The self claimed twin brother Seng Kor who looks exactly like him except for the hideous mole? Oh, he just wanted to be back into the arms of Lilian.

… cheng cheng cheng….and I passed the baton to my favourite sister in law, King’s Wife.

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.

To follow up on this post, here is how the cot is joined to our bed after one of the railing has been removed.

Every night, I push the cot close to our bed. I put the brakes on for the cot, place a chair between the other side of the cot and the wall (to prevent the cot from even making the slightest move away from the bed frame). Then I place 2 bolsters to fill the up the gap between her mattress and our bed frame.

Put 2 more pillows to cushion the gap. (Our bed frame is slightly lower than the standard bed frame. If we got a bed frame with the standard height, it probably would have been leveled with her mattress.)

Normally if she woke up middle of the night, she would roll over, and snuggle beside me.

In the morning, all the bolsters and pillow will be removed, and we’ll ‘park’ her cot against the wall.

This is the 2nd weekend Daddy is away (the longest ever since Zara was born). I kept Zara occupied with lots of activities in the house as well as hanging out with my siblings and family.

Top (L->R) :
1) Bubble bath, it never fails to pick her spirit up (not that she needs any).
2) Morning hangout in our little grass patch.
3) She loves inspecting the ferns.Middle (L->R) :
1) At my sister, K’s place, that’s Tasha baby (my eldest sis, T’s 2 months old baby).
2) Zara playing with Norman ko-ko’s (Chinese : older brother) musical car track.
3) Sleep over at King’s Wife’s again, playing with Samantha che-che (Chinese : older sister).

Bottom (L->R) :
1) Early Sunday morning smile
2) Played with Samantha che-che’s soft toys
3) Samantha che-che piggie backing Zara

I also went to 2 publisher warehouse sales. One organised by MPH, the other by Times. Discounts were really good. Got lots of books for Zara, and a few books for myself. My loot from MPH.
Times bookshop warehouse sales is still on till end of this week, and it’s held on the 1st floor Atria Shopping Complex. The novels are a steal (but you have to really spend time to search for the title you want), and the Ladybird series are all going for RM5. Good bargain.

Both Daddy and I were engineers before, it is not a surprise that our little girl turned out to be Little Miss Engineer as well.We planned to join Zara’s cot to our bed, so that we can have our bed back she can have her own space and yet she can reach out for me or roll over to curl beside me if she wanted to. Daddy was trying to remove the side bar from Zara’s cot, and Little Miss Engineer got so excited and wanted to help.

“Daddy, Daddy, what are you doing?”

“Daddy, Daddy, come! Let me help you!”

“Daddy, see, this screw needs tightening too!”

*concentrate*

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.