My Two Girls – All About Zara and Zaria

On Sunday morning, we went to the hospital to visit my friend, Sandy, who’d just given birth to a baby boy.

I’d forgotten how fragile and small a new born baby is until I have the little fella in my arms. The little fella was quite a busy body though, scanning his surrounding with only one eye, as the other had some discharge which has stuck the lids together.
(I felt so bad, when I took this photo, the flash just went off and gave him a startle, sorry little fella)

I was carrying him half the time we’re there, while Daddy entertained Zara. Zara was very curious about the baby. When she was near the baby, she tried to poke her finger into the little baby’s mouth when he yawned, and also tried to poke his eyes. After that, we have to make sure she’s far away from the baby, just in case she hurt him without realising.

She also tried to imitate the baby’s whimpering, and laughed at herself after that. For the ~2hrs we were there, she was very well behaved, playing with Daddy, looking at the baby from a far, walking about the room and checking out things, and of course eating (the bread my friend baked before she went into labour). When she became too chatty, and raised her voice, Daddy brought her out of the room for a walk.

I have been encouraging my friend to breast feed, and sharing with her all the benefits (my experiance with Zara). My friend who didn’t breast feed her first baby because of lack of information, is trying to do it for this little boy now. She was telling me the Pediatrician told her that it’s best to mix feed the baby for the first few days so that the baby won’t get dehydrated, and then get jaundice. Although I think that’s crap not true, I don’t want to discourage her as well, and just said do what she thinks is best. It’s better for the baby to consume even a little breast milk then totally none at all like her first child.

After we left the hospital, while in the car, Daddy & I were chatting about how small and helpless new borns were, and it’s hard to imagine 12months ago, our boisterous little girl was just like that, it’s just amazing how much she’d grown. It would be nice to relive those days of caring for a new born, so, we’ll have to work harder on the ‘project’. I just hope it won’t take us another 6 years to get there.

I hope my friend’s journey to breast feeding will be a successfully one, and all the best with her new born baby!

Added at 11:05am :
Breastfeeding does cause jaundice, but this is mainly due to insufficient milk for the first few days, and it’s not life threatening. Readings :
–website 1
–website 2

I love these few shots of Zara. Despite Daddy’s Fear, I’ll still post them.

Zara was trying to fake a cry to get her way with something.
Zara was giving her favourite che-che (big sister), Sam a hug. This was taken during her birthday, when she wasn’t feeling very well, and she just wanted to ‘manja’ (get pampering from) her che-che.

Zara playing with Daddy, part of her nightly routine.
And the best of the lot, Zara giving me a kiss on the lips after lots of pleading from me.

Daddy doesn’t read my blog that frequently, if he did, he always have something to say, either I could improve on my English, or my English has been improved, or the photos are nice etc. etc. I always just rolled my eyes and pretended I didn’t hear anything when he made comments.

This time, he was looking at the birthday and the milestone post, and this conversation took place (based on my memory because it happened last week).

D: *folded his arms, stood at the back of me, watching the the screen* Wah, you put so many photos on your blog?
M: Yeah, nice hor?
D: Nice, but there are photos of our house, our faces
M: *roll eye* (what is his problem?) So?
D: Zara is getting older already. You should stop posting photos of her in your blog. *saw my eyes rolling* I mean, you can still blog, but just don’t put photos
M: Part of making the blog interesting is the photos, and I love photo blogging.
D: You don’t know what kind of people out there who are reading your blogs.
M: And?
D: And these people may be weird, and may stalk Zara..
M: People who read my blogs are parents themselves la. Aiyo! *slapped my hand on my forehead*
D: They may pretend to be parents.
M: …. *my eyeballs are fully white by now* We have met some of them in the bloggers’ meet ma
D: Those you know are genuine (Twinsmum, Egghead, Sue, Loc Kee, 1+2mum confirmed genuine parents), but you don’t know if there are any weird ones lurking out there.
M: You have to take the fun out of everything huh?
D: I’m just telling you, just be careful, especially now she’s older. *walked off*
M: *pointed middle finger at his back*

I’m not sure if any of you feel threatened by posting your kids’ photos on your blog, or even posting your own. Or if you chose to remain anonymous (photo wise), what was the reason. I never thought about it like Daddy did, but Daddy is always worry about too many unnecessary things.

So if one day I stopped posting Zara’s photos, it could only mean that my censorship board has started tightening his grip on my blog.

You get 15% off for toys, stationeries, clothing; and you get 5% off for baby items and in the supermarket. Very attractive. So I took a day off yesterday, and went shopping with King’s Wife.

We met up at Delicious at 1-U for lunch. I had a grilled vegetable sandwich, and offered some to Zara. The fussy eater has developed new skill to refuse food must be due to too many force feedings from mummy. She let me put the food in her mouth, but she just casually trusted her tongue to push the food out. Clever indeed! So, she didn’t like the sandwich.

From her knapsack, I took out a hard boil egg, to the gasps of my nieces (“You have an egg in your bag!?”). I thought maybe she’ll have the egg for lunch instead. I offered it to her, she took it, but just like earlier, she pushed the egg out with her tongue. OK, didn’t like the egg as well.

Luckily I have another back up, I took out a banana (My nieces: “A banana?? What else do you have in the bag??”) for the just-in-case situation, because Zara never refused bananas. True enough, with the banana, she happily took and swallowed it.

After she finished her banana lunch, and my nieces were done with theirs, King Wife’s and I got them to bring her to the big cushion right in front of the restaurant to play while we slowly enjoyed the rest of the lunch as well as our drink.

Once we’re done over stuffed ourselves with lunch, the shopping spree began. We thought we had ample time, so we took our time glancing at some of the shops in the new wing, and had afternoon tea before we went to Jusco, by then it was already 4:30pm.

We regretted not coming to Jusco earlier, because there was so much to buy. We spent almost 3hours shopping for Christmas presents, since there’s 15% off for all toys (within the family, Christmas presents are only meant of the kids). Zara has been very good, most of the time she just followed Sam around, playing with some of the toys, or happy just being able to explore, touching this and that.

I bought a bicycle for Zara, toy house for Sam (she chose it herself), model figurines for my 2 nephews, and Alicia (King’s wife older child) chose herself some earrings and necklace. I stocked up on lots of baby wipes and bottle cleaner as well. When I saw the bill at the cashier, my jaw just dropped, close to RM800RM600 even after all the discount! Christmas is a very expensive season!

With supermarket items having 5% of discount, guess it’s only wise to stock up on things. I bought more rubbish.

At the end of the 8hr shopping spree, my whole car was stuffed with shopping bags (just enough room for Zara’s car seat), a very big hole in my wallet, and a very tired Zara. She’s good though, not much fretting, and just went along with us.

Jusco is sure smart to have such a deal going during this time of the year, and I’m (along with King’s Wife) always such a sucker for sales.

We went to One Utama to shop for some masak-masak(cooking set toy) for Zara on Saturday.

On our way to ToysRus, we went past this shop with 2 huge Christmas trees. I thought it was a good time to introduce Christmas to Zara, so I walked her to one of the trees, and pointed to her, “Zara, look, Christmas tree”. She looked at it, scanned the tree from bottom to top, and then frowned and went hiding behind my back.

Daddy squatted down and tried to bring her near the tree again, but Zara was just clinging on to my clothes, hiding her face behind me (peeking occasionally though).

“Zara scared scared?” I asked her, she patted her chest (indicating she’s afraid). I tried to tell her that there’s nothing to be afraid of, and pointed to her all the familiar ornaments like stars, bears, balls etc to her. However, she just refused to go near the tree, and kept patting her chest. We thought maybe the tree is too big, and she got frightened by the size, and didn’t pursue.

After ToysRus, we went to Jusco to look for a tree for our house. We were glad to find a 4ft tree with ornaments going for RM49.90. Since we’re such al-cheapos We thought it was a good buy, and quickly grabbed one.

On Sunday, Daddy set the tree up, and placed it in the living room, next to the TV. Every time when Zara wanted to get near the TV console (to reach for her own VCDs), she avoided the path nearer to the tree. Sometimes, she would throw glances at the tree and pat her chest.

I wonder why she’s afraid of the tree! Not so afraid that she would cry, but enough to make her want to avoid it. However, this really suits us, we don’t have to worry about her pulling the ornaments or the tree down! *grin*

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And the latest addition, brushing her teeth with toothpaste at the sink..

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I used to brush her without toothpaste in the earlier months, but I thought I should start her with toothpaste since she has 6 teeth now, and is eating lumpier and more fibrous food. She seems to enjoy it a lot. She is swallowing the water used to rinse her mouth even when I’d asked her to spit it out; I think it’s because she likes the bubble gum taste of the Oral B kid’s tooth paste.

Am I too early in brushing her teeth with toothpaste, especially since she’s eating the toothpaste instead of spitting out? When did you start your kid on tihs routine?

Here’s a video taken today of Zara talking (of course with me instigating).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7MDd2QLNk0]

Here is what she said just in case you have problem understanding what she’s saying.
She replied, “Za-ah”, when I asked her what was her name.
She said “Bi-kngh” after my ‘biscuit’ (her new vocabulary, which she is repeating quite frequently).
And she said Park when her shoes were handed to her.
(it’ll take a while to load)

Zara’s car seat is long overdue for an upgrade. Although she has not reached the weight limit of her infant carrier (9Kg), she has already exceeded the height limit (72cm) quite a few months back.

Even though we’d bought her a front facing car seat during the mega sales in August, we didn’t replace it immediately because the infant carrier is very portable (easy to install into my car on weekdays, and move to Daddy’s car on weekends) and has a canopy (good for transporting her in and out of the car during rainy days and shield her on sunny days) .

We set ourselves a target, when she turned One, we’ll do the upgrade. Finally, yesterday night, Daddy installed the new car seat into my car (after 30mins of struggling and some swearing).

This morning, when it was time to leave the house, I told Zara “Come on, lets go, we’re going to Ah Kim’s house already” She automatically wobbled towards her infant carrier and wanted to climb into it. We told her, “Zara now big girl already, che-che (big sister) already, no more baby, must sit in BIG car seat now”. It was like a ceremony, 3 of us (Daddy, maid, myself), fussed over her and placed her into her new car seat. And thank God she likes it, and didn’t complain.

Now, while driving to work, she’ll be seated behind me, instead of next to me (like she did when she was in her infant career). I can’t hold her hand or stroke her face while driving any more…. *sob sob*.

Just for the records, this is her in the Infant Carrier in August.
And today, the big girl has been upgraded to her spacious car seat.

Why do I feel as though I’m going to marry her off soon?? *Sensible me talking : I have to get a grip of myself!*

Since Zara wasn’t feeling well, I was working from home on Monday and Tuesday so I can keep an eye on Zara, and if required, can immediately bring her to the Dr’s. This mean I get to spend more time with her. Her are some limited ‘conversation’ I have with her.

Morning
I walked downstairs, where she was playing
Zara : *look up and smile*
Me : Hello Zara!
Zara : *point to the TV* Poot
Me : *pretend* Put what?
Zara : *point to the TV, and that ‘don’t-be-stupid-you-must-understand-me’ look* Poot! Poot!
Me : Oh, you want mummy to put the Wheels in The Bus for you is it?
Zara : *point her index finger to her other palm* (now she used this not just to sign MORE but also for WANT)

Milk time
I came down from the study
Me : Zara you want milk milk?
Zara : *put down what she was playing, came to me* Kng
Me : *looked at her quizzically* Do you want milk milk?
Zara : Kng
Tuyam (maid) : Itu dia sedang cakap dia mau susu (She’s saying she wants milk)
Me : *scratched head, but anyway placed her on my lap* Ok, milk milk then.
Zara : Kng *then sucked her thumb* (an indication she wanted milk before she use this Kng word)
I laid her down, and nursed her. I have absolutely no idea how ‘Kng’ symbolises milk.

Lunch time
Me : Zara, mummy wants to go out to buy lunch, you want to come
Zara : *ignore me and continue playing with her toy*
Me : Zara, you don’t want to go kai kai? (go out in Cantonese)
Zara : *looked up, grinning* Tai Tai!
Me : *patted the infant carrier seat* Let’s go then. After mummy let Zara drive car car ok?
Zara : *walked to the infant carrier, while waving her hand in the air* Oooo Oooo Ooo Ooo (her way of relating to car)

Evening
She spotted me coming down from ths stairs
Zara : *pointed to the door* Park!
Me : *asking the obvious* Zara wants to go to the park?
Zara : *wobbled towards the door, still pointing* Park!
Me : Raining outside, cannot go to the park
Zara : *Still pointing outside* Park!
I carried her and showed her the pouring rain
Me : It’s raining outside, we cannot go to the park, after you will get wet
Not sure if she understood what I was saying but she willingly let me lead her back to her pile of toys

Night 1
Zara climbed up to the stairs, reached for her pair of new shoes (which are still too big for her) resting on the steps
Zara : *put the shoes near her feet, and looked at me* Hok Hok
Me : Ok, mummy put on your shoe for you, then you can go walk walk
I put on her pair of shoes for her
Zara : *grinning* Hok Hok! Hok Hok *walked around in the oversized shoes*

Night 2
Sat on the sofa with Zara. She stood up, and went to the edge, where the arm rest is.
Zara : *clapped her hands* Hong!
Me : Yeah, you go there, after you Bong! and fall down
Zara dangled one of her feet outside of the arm rest, and grinned at me
Me : *point my finger at her* No, no! Go there after you fall down!
Zara pointed her finger back at me and reached her foot out further
Me : You naughty huh? After mummy beat beat you!
Zara : *beat her own thigh* Umph!
Cheeky little girl she is!

After starving herself and survived only on breast milk for 4 days (Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon) , she finally regained her appetite, and started eating (solids) again today.

Her had lots of biscuits, bread and half a bowl of porridge. I normally limit her intake of biscuits (worried about constipation), however, today I told my maid to give as many as she wanted, as long as she is eating them.

As for her porridge dinner, the food critic refused to be fed using her usual kiddy spoon, turning her head to the side when the spoon reached her. She kept pointing to the chopstick nearby. So, I tried with chopstick and she happily took them. It’s not easy to scoop up runny porridge with chopstick, luckily my chopstick skill is quite good, and I managed.

For an already relatively thin toddler, she is now even thinner. Her ribs are jutting out now! Her stool has hardened although still a bit soft, and she’d stopped vomiting. She’s recovering! I’ll try to fatten the next few days.