Potty training totally undone by HK trip

During the trip, we used disposable diapers all the time, on average 2-3 a day.

We packed 20, for first 3 days, and it lasted the 8 days till we're home.

However, once home, she's going totally in her nappy. No more toilet signs, or complaining she wants to pee by stopping feeding. She just pees when she wants to, in her diaper.

Mummy's 3 goals: Toddle, Talk and Toilet.

Mummy's depressed about the toilet, she was doing so well before the trip. Sometimes, Mummy just changed the diaper for the day, though it wasn't wet.

Talk, she's picking up words faster now. I hear milk, fa (Cantonese for flower), buka, car(d) pretty often, among her other words. Mummy's quite confident she'd have no problems communicating her needs.

As for toddling, we're thinking of getting her a push-ride toy. May shelf that idea, since she's taken her first steps yesterday. Will continue to coax her to let go.

As for toilet, sigh, it feels like I'm starting all over again :'(

First independent steps @ 13 mths 2 wks!!!

I was starting to worry...


She took 3 steps at a time towards Papa on our living room floor, and a couple more times towards Mummy or the TV bench between 9pm and 10pm!

Small steps, sometimes dragging the foot, sometimes crawling fractions of an inch with toes, and the rare times when she lifted the whole foot and puts it forward!

Incidentally, we bought her a pair of fitting and less slippery (solid rubber base) shoes from Metro yesterday. Wow, children's shoes are expensive, $29.90! It's the most comfortable, smooth interiors, soft leather, solid rubber base. We tested a couple of designs and sizes, she's using the smallest size 13 with about 1cm of space at the toes.

Got myself a shopping trolley with folding seat @ $19.90 but one of the wheels came off when Lougong was rolling it home! Hope I can find out what's wrong and fix it.

I think she's been walking on our fingers pretty well. It's just that she hasn't done it by herself, and wants to hang on to us. I've also brought her down to playground nearly everyday for the past 4 days where she sees many other little children, one who's only slightly bigger than her, walk on their own. Also, I've begun to let go of one finger, and tell her, 1 hand only, and she can still cruise pretty well. And I think that was what did it for Ning's walking too :)

Last night, Mummy coaxed Ning, saying she can walk really well, even without hands. Asked her to walk to Papa, just a few steps. At first she was uncertain, wanted to sit down or hold Papa's hands. So we pat the floor in front of her. And when she inched a little, we clapped and made a big deal of it! Then she stood up on her own and tried a few more times!

Ah, happiness!!!

Speechless communication - Penguin Song

I was showing her the book, Head to Toe by Eric Carle.
The first page was a penguin. The second, a giraffe. Whenever I try to turn the page, she'd turn them back to the penguin. So, I pointed at and named the penguin's beak, wings, flippers, stomach, eye, head, etc.

Then she pointed at penguin then at LCD monitor and nodded.
So Mummy asked, "Do you want the Papa Pinguin music video?", and she nodded.
She then raises both hands for Mummy to hold, then walks over to the monitor.

Mummy plays the video (from youtube) and she laughs and claps, points to Penguins!

7 days & 7 nights in HK and Macau

We arrived at night and checked in to our rooms Ah Shan Hostel @ Sincere House. The rooms were not what we expected and were separated, reunited on 2nd day, but the service was polite. Only disappointment was 3rd day when the lady Boss threaten to charge for the triple room if we didn't switch a 2nd time. Anyway, the authorities came and proclaim double deckers illegal and had them dismantled on 4th day.

Travelling makes people hungry. Pre-order your AirAsia meals, double portions, if you're prone 2 hunger. The warm meals were sold out before the 15th row on the 4 hour flight.

Over the 5 days in Hong Kong, we visited Temple Street, Ap Liu Street, Fa Yuen Street, Sai Yeong Choi Street, Wong Tai Sin Temple, Po Lin Monastery, Giant Buddha and rode cable car to Ngong Ping, Avenue of Stars, had dinner at Jumbo Kingdom.

Buy your tickets for Cable Car and probably Ocean Park, Disneyland to avoid the long queues. We spent 2 hours in the Ngong Ping queue. And 2 hrs on way back, 5pm. Go after lunch, stay over night, return after lunch to catch sun rise and avoid crowds.

The 2 days in Macau, we went to Largo de Senado and St Paul's ruins. Along the way, we spent most of what we have on Almond cookies, food and none in the casinos. The Guinness Stouts are a steal. Instant noodles tasted great, just not their dry ones.

Love instant noodles for supper.

Popo was a champ, climbed 250 steps up to Tian Tan, to see Giant Sitting Buddha. For Popo, we should request assistance/wheelchair. While on streets, to get a shopping trolley with seat. Dual use, seat and shopping cart ;)

Ning's a champ too, bringing laughter to all and being mostly fuss-free.

Walking on adult hands, preferred

She holds up one hand while the other holds Mummy's finger. Then she lifts her bum and off she goes.

No longer crawling as much as before. Sometimes she hardly depend on Mummy's hands, figure she has Mummy right where she wants and feels secure.

Maybe nothing to attract her out of her secure zone. Hmm.

Buka, star, dog

She's saying "buka" perfectly, we taught her the meaning after she learnt how to say it. Now she points at closed doors, boxes, umbrellas and says "buka". It means open, in Malay.

She pointed at the star in Dora's Fairytale Adventure songs book and said star. "S" sounded soft. Then she flipped to the Boingy Bing song and pointed at the dog, said "dog". "G" quietly. Yay! Mummy's "dog" prevails over "wow wow"!

HK & Macau Trip Photos

At Ngong Ping 360', Lantau Island.

At Golden Lotus Square, Macau.

Ruins of St Paul, Macau.

Duck!

She says it with much aplomb, arms outstretched or pointing at her new toy ducks!

Funny gal.

She's got a bad runny nose, green snot and snorting away in her sleep.

Poor little thing.

She was still so active today!

She's climbed up the IKEA bench and tried...

to climb up the sofa and the normal bed.
 
Just one problem, there's not always enough space for her to turn around and come down.
 
She's also been climbing up and down our mattress, as if working out, for fun. She's opened and closed the IKEA revolving shelf's bottom door by herself.
 
She's also very clingy when Papa leaves for work.
 
Mummy's been slacking on the flash cards since returning from Malaysia and falling sick.
 
She says Kaka(k) very well and often when our neighbour's kids come over, or can be heard.
 
She's gotten into a habit of holding up hands to walk, rather than crawl, to go somewhere. Hoping she'd walk independently soon.
 
I love this little girl.

Aims with her bum

Recently, she's been doing something rather amusing, to me at least. Papa hasn't had the chance to witness it yet.
 
First time was with the Potette Plus, minus the plastic bag. Since it is 'clean', I allowed her to do what she wished with it.
 
She pulled it near the bed. Pulled herself up beside the bed. Used her leg to kick it around a bit while holding the bed for support. Then she tries to sit on it, at first I thought, like a stool, off centre or too far back. When she finally sits right in the middle, as a potty, she flaps her arms happily and pants in bliss, then only did I realize what she was trying to do! Praises, lots of cooing, clapping and kissing! And she attempts again, a few more times :)
 
Today, she does it again. This time, with the new rubber duck that Papa just bought. She throws it forward, back, then she crawls in front of it, and starts pushing her butt up in the air, as if reverse parking, then attempts to land on the duck. When she finally hits spot on and the duck squeaked loudly in protest, she again flaps her arms and pants happily! Then only Mummy realized, she was trying to make duck squeak by sitting on it. She does this one more time when we're in bed, throws duck off bed, the muddle around the edge, and squeak! Happy baby. Mummy was floored with laughter.
 
Sigh. The things Ning do. Should video! Where's that camera?!

Birthday Gift (career/life/luck) Selection

She was already to go the moment we put her on the floor, even before Mah Mah has finished laying the gifts down.
 
The gifts were:
Egg representing food & beverage / abundance
Pencil representing creativity / law
Book representing academic
Calculator representing accountancy / engineering
A $10 note, representing finance / financial wealth
 
Or something like that, Lougong, correct me if I'm wrong yeah.
 
 
Okay, so she creeps over, swipes the egg aside after a glance, then picked up the pencil. After holding it correctly, she headed for the book and drew a line, or two, on the cover. Ops, whom it belongs to, sorry yah! Then she swipes / punches the buttons on the calculator, very shortly, and held the $10 note. This time, she won't let go no matter what we tried to exchange it for, not even Mummy.
 
Funny girl.
 
So, my interpretation, open for interpretation, she'll have enough to live on not to care for it much (egg), and will dabble in creative works or law (pencil) and also be academic staff (book; professor, maybe), she'll make calculated investment / choices and holds on to her wealth carefully.
 
I hope.
:D
 

She also demonstrated that...

(during the last 2 weeks)
 
Keys open locked doors.
Ning asked Popo to bring her out. Popo shows that she cannot open the door because it is locked. Ning points to bunch of keys hanging next to door, then touched her index finger at the key hole.
 
When it's time to sleep, we go upstairs.
About 9pm daily, she'll start creeping to foot of stairs and point upwards then nod, indicating it's time to go up for milk and bed. The amazing thing is, the timing is very regular for a 11 month old who can't 'read' a clock / time yet!
 
That a pencil or a pen is for making marks on paper!
We've shown her before, to teach her the actual purpose of pencil so she won't poke, bite or eat the pencils and pens she finds. She found a pencil and paper (that Cerys left around) at Popo's and started making marks too. Mostly striking lines and dots on the paper. She chose the pencil during her birthday 'gift selection'.
 
Switching on and off television.
This skill is quite empowering, especially when it comes to the television. Now Mummy must respect her wish to have Mummy pay attention to her.
 
She understands Mummy don't allow hitting people, even if they find it funny.
She was swiping Mah Mah away initially, then when Mah Mah reacted funnily, she began doing it on purpose. I said sternly, "No hitting Mah Mah", and looked at her disapprovingly, shaking my head. She didn't do it again. Come to think of it, she didn't really swiped much later on, except when she's sleepy and really don't want others to carry her.
 
She understands the Cantonese word "Pai pai" and can do so.
Worshipped the altar for ancestors and Goddess of Mercy.
 
Swipe the touch phone and make things appear and disappear
Omnia II has a 'desktop' which when swiped changes. She did it a few times today. Wonder what other programs she can play, might come in handy while traveling.
 
What 2 is
There were 10 preserved fruit wrapped in paper in a bottle, she was initially taking them out randomly and putting them back in. I asked her to take 2 out for Mummy. After taking 2 out, I waited. She tapped on the bottle as if to say, 2 already, what are you waiting for? I said, "Oh, thank you!" and praised her for it. Then I poured out all from the bottle, and asked her to put 2 back in, and she put 2 in. Then she swiped the rest away.
 
I'm impressed. I'd never thought that a baby can be so intelligent so early, though I've read it and believe it, it never ceases to amaze me.
I'm just hoping I'm doing enough to feed her learning apetite. Gotta find out more about our natural environment to point things out to her.
 
Have vowed to myself:
to show her at least 10 new things a day;
read at least 10 books to her a day;
do as much doman cards to her as possible a day.

Chatter Climber Descender

We spent the last 2 weeks at the grandparents and celebrated her birthday @ Crystal Palm restaurant :)

In this span of time, she learnt...
Wo wo is dog,
Meow is cat,
Kai kai means going out,
Mum mum is food,
Poot poot is car (sigh)
From Popo and Gong Gong.

said...
Go(ng) Go(ng) go where? when she saw photo of Ah Gong.
Thank yee (you), after playing with Gong Gong, and separately after playing with Cerys.

Climbed 1 step and half at Popo's,
descended the bed by herself by putting 1 foot over edge first, roll on to her tummy, then lower both feet till they touch the floor,
crept with knees off ground, when put in a dress (hamper normal creeping),
said the sweetest "Papa" over the phone to Papa,
and can now easily climb on and off our mattress and guest bed.

Hmm, will monitor and see when we can restore our bed to normal height.

Hitting Mummy (with books, palm, etc)

Mummy is bruised in the right eye from Shay Ning's hits.

Okay, I'm partly to blame.

I'm tired and sleepy, and she wants to read. When a nudge and "Momma" doesn't get her what she wants, she use the book to hit Mummy, usually in the eyes. As if willing me to wake.

Yesterday's hit was quite heavy, board books, and I can feel a deep bruise under the right eye. I was furious, said "That was painful!", took the book and threw it into the cot, out of her reach. Then turned away. She looked taken aback, then she tried to kiss me. Awww. Felt so guilty right after. I got up immediately, wake myself up, wash face, and played with her instead of wishing she'd take a nap.

Sigh, the joys of motherhood.

Ouch.

Crisp and clear "Done" yesterday

She said it crystal clear, "Done" after going on the potty.
And in the most adorable little girl tone!
I just melted inside and was wishing for more :P
 
Saying a lot of "mm, (o)kay".
And a whole lot of other words which I don't understand.
Am beginning to notice she says them consistently.
Need to tune in more often then.

Laughing to sleep, again

This time, while nursing.

She was one her way to dream land, sucking occasionally. Then she chuckled and lost the suction. She frantically latched on and continued.

Did this 3 times before falling asleep. Napped almost 2 hours.

Still not taken her second nap for the day though. Am a little concerned she might nap late and wake-up later, instead of going to bed earlier tonight.

Am so happy to see her chuckles every time.

Nipple, areola and breast

She knew and pointed them out correctly after being told twice!

Amazing!

Ning enjoys using the Pigeon aspirator!

She had quite a fair bit of dried up and backed up mucous in her nostrils from the cold last week. So, we used the aspirator Yee Yee bought for us. This was our second attempt.

It was bedtime and Mummy just couldn't bear to hear her snorting and drinking to sleep.

So, Mummy filled up the aspirator with water, blew out the excess at the angle which I think we'll be aiming at.

Once she saw the object, she reached for it. We let her hold it for a while. Then Papa held her up, in case she loses her balance. Mummy positioned the aspirator in one nostril, she's so excited (pleasant surprise). Then Mummy sucked. Whoa, angle too steep, Mummy sucked up water! Spit! Bleah! And she laughs.

Then Mummy tried again, and one BIG chunk of dried up mucous and the trailing wet bits suctioned into the water! Gross! She was so eager to have the other nostril suctioned she was aiming her nostril at the aspirator! Mummy sucked and sucked until finally her nostrils are cleared. Hurray! We all had a good laugh.

Mummy was disgusted by the thought that I could've sucked up the mucous into own mouth but it was worth the risk because Ning slept without a sound except clear breathing that night.

Learning things super fast @ 11 months today!

Well, we started noticing last few weeks.

When I pointed out the 100 boys painting, I was looking for details to show her. I pointed out things like lanterns, swords, flags, drums, trees, etc. I did this once, some time ago. Today, I said, "Hmm, let's see, where are the flags in this painting?" And immediately, she held out her hand and pointed, with index finger, to one of the flags! Wow! I was so thrilled, I praised her repeated then I asked her where the swords were (at our level), after which, she kept pointing back at the same flag. Haha, next time, I'll remember not to over do the praising part.

Papa taught her to carry the musical mobile's remote control like a handbag. And she's doing it, then on her bum, pivot one round, as if modeling it :)

Mummy balanced lion rattle leaning forward on the cot railing. Ning pushes it down, Mummy says "Ah!". Then Mummy rolls it up again. Soon, she was doing it herself!

All 8 front incisors are out by 10 months!

She's got a very toothy grin now!

And she's also learning things super fast, especially things we don't teach her! E.g. Mummy playfully mouth and teeth lightly bite her hand, and she reciprocates back later! I thought she was gonna bite, felt her teeth, but it just scraped my hand.

She's drooling a lot, probably due to the flu. After sneezing, she'd drool, then continues to drool until her chin and chest are wet.

The gums are whitish and bumpy where her right premolars are expected (up and down).

We certainly don't have to be concerned she's not getting enough calcium!
I think!

Still, Mummy's gotta keep drinking milk and get her dose of calcium.

2 sick gals

With running and stuffy noses.

She's still alert and active, even with 2 streams of mucous running. Only sign of discomfort is when she sleeps, we hear the stuffy nose laboriously doing its job.

This is her first cold. Mummy's got it too, with headache. Her mucous turned green yesterday. Its been 3 days now. Hope we get better soon.

Back to Bits cards...

After the fun long weeks with Popo & Gong Gong, and after seeing her demonstrate her amazing ability to understand and show her understanding, Mummy is determined to get back on track with the Bits (Bits of Intelligence) cards.

After going thru this for 4 months, I thought I'd be an expert at flashing those Bits, but I'm wrong. I'm still fumbling, it's too smooth for me to quickly pull and show.

Only those Bits in plastic wrap, I can flip up to speed :)

And she's showing something else when she doesn't want to look at the bits.
She's turning away from the old bits! The new bits, she'll look for a split second.
The older bits, she refuses to see, and looks for other things to look at.

Have reached the 94 dot card. Almost finishing with Wild Animals, then move on to Opposites or Colours. We're almost done with Primates (I) and Flowers (I), our third and fourth set.

Am currently doing the following (on average) daily:
2 sets of 5 dot cards, 2-3 times
2 sets of 5 english words, 2-3 times
2 sets of 3 multiplication with dots, once (this one she always looks)

I divide them into to sets each, so each session, I do one set each. Sometimes, if she's distracted, I'd split them into more sessions. Am taking it easy over weekends, as the father frequently distracts her, although I'd sneak in one session or two when he's in the shower or out running errands.

I'd put her in the bumbo seat, so she couldn't get up and explore freely, then quickly flash her those cards. I had to get those flashed cards out of sight, or she'll look at them instead of my new set.

Am considering starting Chinese words. I asked Ning if she wanted to see Chinese cards as well, and she nodded quickly. However, we haven't been using Mandarin around the house often, so we need to figure out how to integrate Mandarin in our learning. She always looked perplexed when I start talking to her entirely in Mandarin.

Papa speaks to her in Cantonese whenever we're home together.

Have to figure this one out.

Too many books, she's skipping pages

There is such a thing as too much of a good thing...

I've purchased over 90 boardbooks, and over 100 hardcover books for over SGD $800. Most of them old books, some are new books (8 Touch the Art books).

After disinfecting with Dettol and airing them, I've arranged them all on the IKEA bench well within her eye-level and reach. I've taken a bunch for bedside reading, like Eric Carle's The Very Lonely Firefly, which has many flickering lights at the last page, Sandra Boynton's Pajama Time and Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy, Dr Seuss' ABC, Nursery Rhymes (6 in box) and Look & Say (6 in box).  She loves turning this Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy book and is very fast and efficient too, and she touches all the padded places. It helps that the words are large and few, so Mummy can read as quickly as she touch and turn.

Previously, with only 2 boxes of books, she'll slowly turn all 6 pages, even by herself. Now, when Mummy reads, she'll quickly turn 2 or 3 pages at a time, or close the book, or pick up another book.


I love reading Sandra Boynton's books, they're easy to read to the 10 month old, and has lots of nice illustrations. Ning loves to look thru the cut-out shapes of the front cover and has a gleeful time grinning and chuckling seeing crescent shaped Mummy and other things.

Eric Carle's books, she has no patience for them yet. So, maybe we can do that after Boynton's.

Dr Seuss, again, initially, she loved the ABC book, would stay on the book from front to end, and ask for more. Now, she'll move one before I get to D for Duck Dog and doughnuts. She stays until C because Mummy always praises her for looking at the ceiling when I read "Camel on the ceiling, C c c..."

I wonder, if it's too many books, or just a phase.

Will try keeping the excess away and just release a few a week / month.

Find me turtle, pelican...

I squirted all the air out. All sank to bottom of wash tub. Sometimes she'd stand-up to look.
And she picked all 6 up correctly.
Crab, dolphin, octopus and another crab.
She is starting to demonstrate her understanding more every day.

Standing unsupported a few times

Now she lets go whenever she can. Sometimes for more than 10s at a time. I always watch in trepidation.

Ning said "Go where?"

When Mummy kept telling her to finish her milk before we go out. Mummy needed to pack lunch.

She unlatched and said "Go where?" loud and clear. I was surprised but managed to answer her.

So pleased.

Doing a Popo (the movie, like real)

Nai (Milk in Cantonese) and Tata (Goodbye)

Popo and Gong Gong was here for less than 10 days and she's already saying "Nai nai nai nai.." and waving "Ta ta ta ta"...

Last night, after Popo & Gong Gong left for home, she flipped the two-sided grandparents photo frame around, scratched at Gong Gong's face, then pointed at Popo's face, then frown. She looked at me sadly, as if saying, Popo & Gong Gong is missing tonight. I explained they've gone back to their own home, but we'll be visiting soon, then she moved on.

By bed time, she was doing a "Popo" look, sucking her upper lip in and pouting her lower lip up and getting all excited. It's quite sad, Popo & Gong Gong's gone home and no one to compete with her...

The picture below shows what doing a "Popo" means... taken in Jun 2010, at 7 months old.

Standing for 5s; and later fell asleep laughing

while smacking lips and Mummy smack lips back. Papa started responding to Ning's smacking lips, and she chuckled. Mummy joined in. We took turns smacking lips and she was laughing, smacking lips, and laughing until she closed her eyes, still smiling and laughing and dozed off last night. We'd love to lull her to sleep laughing every night! Let's try okay, Lougong?

Just shortly before that, she came to Mummy, used Mummy as a prop and let go to stand for a full 5 seconds! She did it 2 nights ago, for about 2s.  She was so happy when we cheered her, she tried again, but I think she's tired, so not as successful in later tries. We still applaud her. Will give her more opportunity to use Mummy as prop :)

Cantonese Oy!

She replied "oy!" and nodded when Popo asked her if she wanted to go out in Cantonese. Popo and Ning repeated this conversation at least 3 times.

In Cantonese, that means affirmative.

Chatterbox in the making

She mumbles while drinking milk, babbles while pointing to objects, pulling to standing, trying to switch the TV on, almost every thing she does. Her sounds are getting more complex as she rolls and twist her tounge, sometimes with the aid of the occasional thumb or fingers.

So far, heard:

"pou pou" = carry in Cantonese
With outstretched arms

"poodon" = put on
With shirt or dress or bib in hand

"there" = there
when asked where things are
Sometimes she'll point or just look in the direction.

"ok" or "mm" = ok
When asked if she wanted to go outside or milk or toilet. Although she's been nodding and shaking her head more since last week. It's funny, sometimes she'll shake then nod her head as if she's either mistakenly used one or she couldn't make up her mind.

"meehlk" = milk
When Mummy's been oblivious to all her hunger signs, usually watching TV or on the Internet, and she's on the brink of crying. Hee hee. Its not often. So I don't get to hear this very often. Maybe it's more difficult to pronounce.

"boh" = ball or anything circular
When she wants or sees ball

"book" or booh = book, with very silent k
When she wants or is playing with her books. By the way, she can now turn most of the board books pages by herself. And, she also demonstrated she knows one title from the other. When I played "This little pig" with her toes, she picks the book up. And when I play "Round and round the garden", she picks up the corresponding title. Tried to give her "Teddy bear, teddy bear" as "Hey diddle diddle", her hand stopped mid reach. When I said sorry, it should've been... She grabbed it smiling, as if "ah, so that's a mistake".

"tickle-tickle" when she wants the "Round and round the garden" book or tickling.

"Zhe ge" = mandarin for "this one"
When she is playing with many toys as if taking stock

It's mooncake festival

Today!

Have hung up some lanterns all ready for tonight. We've got chicken herbal soup, lo han chai and rice. We've also got snowskin and traditional mooncakes.

Clown dog from Abang & siblings

My neighbour's boy came over yesterday. While both were sitting on the playmat in front of the television, Ning picked the clown dog from among 2 teddy bears, Mickey Mouse and frog soft toys, and put it beside Abang.

What a coincidence or good memory! Abang and 2 Kakak came over and gave her the clown dog and a tiny pink dolphin some months back.

Wow!

Nodded to "Do you want..."

Mummy to read this to you?
To go outside?
To use the toilet?
Drink some water (from sippy cup)?

Oh, Mummy's so pleased.

Cruising the TV bench

Time to move all the remote controls, plate, hi fi and stuff all the way back and out of her reach!

"Put on" my bib!

Yesterday, I was just going to settle down for my "ee mee" with vegetables for lunch when Ning woke up from her nap. So, I fed her first, then sat her on the high chair with a frozen water-filled teether.

She was happily gumming it away for a minute when she took the bib from the backrest of her high chair, held it towards me, dropped it in front of me and said "put on"! Well, it sounded more like "pooodon", but under the right context, I deduced it must mean "put on" :)

Why? The frozen teether was dripping on her spaghetti blouse!

Smart girl!

She's started cruising along walls

this week!

I'm pleasantly surprised. Soon, all those places without furniture, which we've carefully laid out so that her movement is more restricted, will be within her reach!

Time to observe and re-assess our living & dining room safety!

Climbed onto the bed (mattress on floor) twice

She did it twice, once last week and once yesterday.

She wanted to have a closer look at her spaghetti strap top that I took out for her, just before bath time.

Tried to get her to repeat it after getting camera, failed.

Now camera's on standby in be bedroom :)

Rocking to songs, says "Ahhhh!" for owl @ 9m (last month)

She started rocking to the "ABC" alphabet song in her 9th month. Now she rocks whenever she enjoys a song :) Like "Twinkle Twinkle", or other nursery rhymes, hummed, sung, or just the instrumental music.

She's also started saying "Ahhh!" happily whenever we reach the 3rd page of her "Twinkle Twinkle" book, where there's an owl and I say it for her.

Roused from her nap early, gotta go.

Putting objects into boxes

Some of her achievements, to-date:

She's put alphabet blocks into the Pureen wet wipes box.
She's put 1 board book back into the box (set of 6).

I'm amazed, can't wait till the day she can put everything back into their respective places, hahaha. Then I don't have to pick up after her :)

7th tooth spotted last week

Just a few days shy of turning 10 months. It's the 3rd upper incisor, on the right. Her right teeth always seem to pop out first.

These seem to irritate her more. She's also salivating more though thankfully only when she's gumming objects, unlike a snail which leaves a trail of mucous wherever it goes. I've seen babies like that. Lots more wiping to do...

Slobbery kisses @ 9m

Our dear daughter is finally catching on to kisses :)
 
She planted a wet one on my right cheek while I was reading "Dr Seuss's A B C" to her tonight. I planted one right back on her left cheek and continued reading.
 
Then she reciprocated, and vice versa, over the next few pages. By the end of the book, she was off to her next fancy of the moment.
 
Sigh.
 
:D

Pointing at wants @ 9m

She pointed at the toilet this morning and Papa potted her with instant resulting. Later I asked if she wanted the toilet and she affirmed by pointing too.

She's really very aware of what's said. Now when I read Dr Seuss A B C, when I reach C, she'd look up even before "camel on the ceiling". Funny girl. I wonder if she is looking for the camel up there.

Solid snakey stools

She had some sweet potatoes day before yesterday and finally pooed after 3 days without. And yesterday too.

I think her intestines are finally maturing. Her farts smells like adult farts too.

We'll introduce more foods to her by 1 year old. She'll have cake when she's 1 :)

Papa will be pleased.

Little drummer girl

She can drum, shake the maracas, blow the trumpet and rock to and fro to the tunes of "ABC" and a few other nursery rhymes. Looks like a one gal band in the making to me ;)

Forgot to note this, she scratched Gong Gong's..

photo when I showed her the pictures in her photo album. We went thru the whole album and that was the only picture she frowned, and then scratched. As if saying, "Where is Gong Gong?"

That was about 2 weeks ago. I called up Gong Gong to tell him. He was very happy to hear that.

She belted out "ABC Song" with "Ba"

Papa played the Alphabet Pal tune of "ABC Song" to her one morning last week. Then we put away the thing to feed her breakfast. She belted out "Ba ba ba..." to the tune of the "ABC" song!

Beautiful butterfly in my garden

Found this in my garden after lunch one day, 28 Aug 2010. It was feeding on the nectar from my chilli padi plant. I didn't even notice I had 2 chillis.

I feel so happy, thankful

We have Ning.

Papa joined us for a nap earlier. When she woke, she was smiling and playful. I love to hear her pleased sounds.

I love blowing on her stomach, making sounds like letting wind rip. Nowadays, she does it to me too. Sometimes she misses, I can hear blowing, but mostly she succeeds.

The best thing is, Mummy giggles, and she smiles blissfully. She's doing things to please us. Sometimes Papa doesn't realize it yet. She blew on Papa's stomach but received no response.

Sometimes, we teach her stuff like how to hit the drum with drumsticks, and when she finally hits it, we fail to show appreciation, either we've moved on to other things or take it for granted she'd learn it sooner or later. Only on afterthought, we'd applause and praise her.

We really need to appreciated the little person's achievements more. It shouldn't be taken for granted until a milestone is missed.

I love this little person. Here she comes trying to climb up my legs.

Melody mix (3 yrs onwards)

This "I'm Toy" is for making music. She's making "music" alright ;) the xylophone is out of tune. Sigh, I had high hopes that such a quality product would make it right.

Removed the handheld bells, in case it comes off. That will have to wait till she's 3 years old.

Guiro playing

Right and wrong way, she's trying it every way. Like a baby would.

Cruised 1.9m bench

Today, she broke her 2 feet cruising distance by cruising the entire length of the Ikea bench.

First grabbed moving toy train, then grabbed 3rd of 7 stacking cups, then grabbed Mummy's stacked up wooden beads.

After that, Mummy introduced the biggest keys on the keyboard, the space bar, enter, shift and + keys, otherwise she'd pull the whole thing to the floor.

Finally, she reached the mouse, and Mummy properly introduced the mouse pad and mouse, right and left clicks as well as scroll wheel to Ning.

She's also cruised the ottoman and other bench too. A bit.

Avid walker-wannabe

She takes big steps and even tries to take several steps at once while holding my hands, sort of skip-jog.
Sometimes she tires and will not bear her own weight. Then I'd just let her sit and we amuse ourselves whichever way she chooses.
Really looking forward to the standing unsupported and walking milestones. Then we can take in some fresh morning air together and go to the playgrounds!

Licensed to cruise

She started by pulling up to stand last week. Both legs rooted to the floor.

She's now tip toeing and lifting each foot above the floor, not necessarily towards her intended direction, leaning until her feet are brought nearer her destination. Sometimes, she'd successfully moved one or two feet away this way.

Since she started this, I haven't been tracking her crawl mileage. Doman says 400m per day to properly complete that development phase. I believe it too, will try harder. Its just so tiring to crawl around with her and swing your buttocks in the air like her. Toys placed out of reach doesn't work that well when there's so much of our stuff within reach that she'd much rather try get.

There.

Maybe she can stand without support soon. She's been letting go for 2s. Maybe she'll walk by her first birthday? The grandparents will sure be busy the next time we visit.

Blew her trumpet @ 9m 3wks

She blew once by accident late last week. Over the weekend, she's managed twice or thrice each time.

Today, intent on capturing this feat, I gave her the trumpet and aimed. Wow, she rewarded me with a splendid repertoire of blows.

Hurray!

Correct pronunciation of "Dr Seuss"

You’re wrong as the deuce
And you shouldn’t rejoice
If you’re calling him Seuss.
He pronounces it Soice.

Drooling a lot

Since last week. Chewing and drooling a lot. It definitely isn't because of hunger because she won't have puffs, crackers, porridge or milk.

I suspect the last 2 upper incisors are the culprits. Let's hope they quickly make an appearance soon without further delay.

Her neck is also wet! Ah!

Propped standing-up

Playing with beach ball

Separation Anxiety

This is what happens when I go and empty her potty. Or rather, the aftermath.

Porridge, Crystal Jade Consistency

After 4-5 unsuccessful attempts, which included 2 different ordinary pots for over an hour, I think I finally got it right.

1 cup (400 ml) of pulverized rice, with 2 fish fillets (palm-size) and 1 tablespoon of pulverized fried anchovies with 1600ml of water. This enough for 3 servings (excluding baby's portion).

Using the pressure cooker, it takes 10-12 minutes to bring up to high pressure, 10-15 minutes at medium heat at high pressure, then another 20 minutes to depressurize. Otherwise, it'll take 1 hour at high heat with a normal pot. I switched off the flame the moment it started spurting porridge through the vent.

Yummy.

She willingly opened her mouth for seconds despite a 10 minute feed under an hour ago. Hmm, maybe we can do this more often.

"More" Mummy

Am regularly giving her 'rides' on my tummy against galloping tune. When done, I'd ask her if she wanted more, and do the American Sign Language (ASL) sign for more. I had hoped she'd follow suit.

However, when she does want some more, she'd pull both my hands together and make me do the "more" sign instead.

Aiyah.

Oh well, still, she's communicating in ASL, just not using her own hands :P

Push to stand day (9 mths 2 wks) !

She's pushed to stand six times today!

Once against the ottoman for the camera.

Once on the bed against the headboard for wedged board book.

Thrice on the floor against the IKEA bench for keyboard, yellow cup and mouse.

Once on the floor against the sofa, first time, for some opened junk mail.

Wow!

And I observed, today, she actually took mini steps towards the support while standing. Previously, her legs would begin slipping wide open as her feet perspire and she dare not lift her feet to bring them back close.

We'll soon be seeing her cruising! Better remove all those heavy or fragile items out of her reach this Saturday.

Okay! Actually sounds like 'mmm (o)kay'

We didn't realize it until the 9m development assessment. The nurse turned to us and asked if we're okay with an appointment date and time for the next assessment. Ning excitedly went 'mm (o)kay'!

I wasn't aware, I thought she was her usual self, babbling in excitement.

The nurse got excited, "Wow, she said 'Okay!'". And tried to ask her differently, "Do you agree?" but Ning only bounced up and down my leg showing her excitement by gleefully 'hyperventilating'.

Wow. I missed the word, aiyah.

On the topic of communication, she now regularly shakes her head for "No". It's very funny most of the time, frustrating at times when you say "It's bathtime!" after running the water.

After note:
Realized she picked it up from me, I have a habit of saying, "Mmm, okay". It hit me only when I said it myself after potting her, then settling her down for milk.

Swollen eyelid from mosquito bite

Her right eyelid swell up yesterday morning from a mosquito bite. It was red and angry.

I left her to sleep after feeding and potting her @ 0815hrs. When I returned from marketing around 0945hrs, she was awake with Pa and the eye was swollen already.

Initially we thought she had an eye infection and she kept trying to rub her eyes. She could barely open her eye. I was in a really hurry to bring her to the hospital for a check up. Her father was concerned but surprisingly calm under the circumstance.

We waited and see.

Her eyeball was unaffected. That was a relief. And the swelling reduced by about 1700hrs. When she finally napped at 1725hrs, I snuck a peek under the eyelid (Popo suggested might be heaty pimple), nothing. As I brushed my finger lightly across her lid, it found a bump, typical of a mosquito bite. Mean nasty mosquito!!!

Papa killed one really full mosquito later, I hope that was the guilty criminal.

When she woke around 2000hrs, the double eyelids were once again apparent, although it was still red. She slept around 2230hrs last night and woke up at 0730hrs this morning.

She's all better this morning. Phew.

Push to stand props

Here is the setup for her first independent push to stand against the sofa!

Ning's day with our telephone

Taken off the line of course. She's been playing with it since 10 minutes ago and isn't tired of it yet.

Seems like she'll examine and taste every coil in the cord, try to coil it, scratch every button on the keyboard...

Ops, wrote too soon. She's peeling the foam alphabet mat to savor again!

She drank from a glass

I heard her swallow 3 times! She did this consistently both times I offered her the glass.

Previously she sips and wets her mouth, not really swallowing much.

Hmm, need to review our feeding equipment.

Serious separation anxiety

Ning's got a really serious case of separation anxiety. As soon as I leave her side, she starts crying and crawls after me.

If she even suspects I'm going to leave the room, she'll crawl over and try to sit on me. Usually if I'm sitting on the floor or bed, she'll sit on my thigh. If she's leaning over getting a toy nearby, her buttocks will still be on me. When I'm lying down, she'll either sit or lie face down on my stomach.

When I go to the toilet or deposit her nappy into the laundry basket, she crawls all across the living and dining room to me. She follows me everywhere, mostly crying, but sometimes calmly if I wait for her every few steps.

This phase is quite endearing if only I didn't need to go to the bathroom so often or cook.

Tomorrow will be a challenge. It's both laundry and cooking day.

Turning board book pages

I was reading Jeffrey Archers Honour Among Thieves in bed yesterday. Ning kept trying to get the book, which I held high enough to avoid her little grabbing hands. I explained these pages are thin and easily torn, so she cannot have it, and I started reading out loud.

After a while she gave up and crawled over to her own board books placed, as always atop the bedside box, and started playing with it. Or so I thought.

I started noticing she wasn't putting them in her mouth as usual. So I asked if she'd like me to read "Twinkle twinkle" to her and waited for her to give me or dump the book. Instead, she painstakingly turned the book right she up and I quickly read the title. After that, her fingers were trying to "scratch" the second page towards her. Using this method she managed to turn 3 of 4 pages (6 pages if including cover) of the board book!

She repeated this with "This Little Pig" in the living room on a separate occasion. Looks like we can give her more new reading materials!

"Dee ah" is actually "there"

Realize it recently when I opened the windows and I said "there". Then changed her diaper and I said "there". When asking her where was the ceiling fan, "there"!

I said "there" more often than those words I wanted her to learn! It's no wonder she picked it up before all the other words.

Wow.

I must mind what I unconsciously teach her.

Clapping @ 8m

She was getting the idea with the clapping. I saw her trying a couple of times, but not making any sounds, she'd quietly quit after one or two attempts.

While having steamboat in Cameron Highlands, we met an 11-month-old boy who kept clapping away. And that's when she was really into it. She kept clapping, this time with sound!

She tried so hard, and finally she picks it up!
So proud of this little girl!

9 months development assessment today!

The vital statistics of a 9-month-old baby:
Weight: 8.63 kg (75%)
Length: 70.3 cm (>50%)
Head circumference: 46.3 cm (90%)

She definitely feels heavier than 8.63 kg.

She's passed all the tests in the clinic, including a hearing test. She was so excited when we reached the high-pitched left ear, she didn't respond until she calmed down. The nurse also commented, how happy she was just looking atht he hairy plastic ball she threw onto the chair in front to make her look forward instead of the source of the sound before she switched it on.

The nurse placed a knotted rubber band in front of Ning to test her pincer grasp, and Ning just looked at it, swept it away, until I told her, it's okay to play with it but don't eat it. Then Ning was given a small cube to pass to each hand, this one she wasn't interested, picked up and threw away. I should've given her my handphone, that always worked. I'd say cannot eat, then she'll "keh keh" pass from one hand to another, then try to steal a bite. Hahaha.

Then we placed her on a mat on a high counter for crawling. I commented how high it was, and the nurse just confirmed with me if she can do it at home and I assured her yes. Last test, standing with support. We let her stand on floor holding on to a children's table. The nurse said "She has a very steady stand. Just give her more opportunity to pull to standing."

Nurse says to give her lots of opportunities and NOT to use a walker, because it makes babies tip toes, which is unnatural.

Nurse noted: ACTIVE BABY in the remarks section :P

Sigh, so happy.

A fun albeit tiring long weekend @ Cameron Highlands

We went back for an extended weekend to Ah Gong and Ah Mah's place last weekend, which started on Thursday evening, and came back early yesterday morning.

During the trip, we spent most of the time in the car, with Ah Gong at the wheel. He's a really fast and steady driver. I would usually be very concerned if I saw the speedometer go past 90 km/hr, but the Toyota Camry was surprisingly stable and vibrated very little, I actually slept the last 130 (or more) km ride home.

Let's see, Ning has really warmed up to Ah Gong this time round, pulling his chin hairs and the contents of his breast pockets like his glasses, pen, lighter, etc. He had to relocate those items to his pants pockets. Ah Mah made Ning laugh by twirling the strings from the pineapple lantern hanging in front of the apartment.

Ning's also ventured a closer look at Uncle Yuan's newspapers while he was reading it. Uncle Da even managed to 'detect' her need to poo when she started going "aaaaaaah"! I just realized it she pooed shortly after.

We stayed in a 3-room shophouse above Joo Hin shop (RM300 per night). It was a home with basic amenities, very clean. The weather was colder than I expected in Cameron Highlands. We put on the long sleeved pyjamas that Ah Mah bought for Ning for the first time. Ning wasn't used to it, she kept tugging the sleeves and the pants.

She had a worried look when wearing her socks. As if I've made her toes disappear and kept trying to pull it off while nursing. I had to take one off before she'd continue to drink.

Funny girl.

I was sneezing away while she's still sweating while we had steamboat @ O.K. Tuck on Saturday night. She probably sneezed 5 times only the whole time we were up there.

Ate fried abalone and enoki mushrooms from the "pasar malam". Yummy. The strawberries at the "pasar malam" @ Brinchang is the best! RM10 for 2 square pack of large strawberries. The quality and value for money decreases as you drive down/up.

She's so fun! Uncle Da took some really good pictures of our little family but he couldn't download them. We really hope he could recover them.

*fingers-crossed*

Crying angrily @ bedtime

Sigh. I thought the rock first then feed routine worked. Even singing happily to her couldn't distract her from her outburst.

Back to square one.

One thing that's amusing is she is babbling a lot of syllables as if complaining about Mummy. If she wasn't crying so hard, it is almost hilarious.

Took a video earlier, she muttered less once she saw me with the camera. It'll definitely make it into the next DVD.

Stride-2-Ride toy

Little explorer games

Just thought of a new way to keep her occupied.

I placed the basket of toys in one corner far from her and she creeps towards it and is having a blast digging up everything. Pouring out the contents on the floor. Then fiddles with each toy in turn. I also scattered her toys all over the sides of the living room to give her more reasons to move around.

One good thing about this new development is, she's less demanding of my attention, though I still need to keep an eye on her, lest she finds a live wire or something.

That's how I get to come online and surf a bit.

Ning is creeping & crawling @ 8 mths

Forgot to note, she's also creeping i.e. crawling with stomach off the floor, hands and knees on the floor.

And getting more adventurous.

And more impatient when I try to button her jumper after potty. Or when I try to feed her when she wants to go exploring again.

Sigh.

She signed toilet @ 5am

this morning.

The sideway fist shake was very obvious, even in the dark. Only thing I couldn't really see was if there was a thumb stuck in between the index and middle finger.

I potted her and she passed urine instantly.

What a pleasant early morning surprise.

The start of crawler & explorer Ning

Today is like exploring day for Ning.

This afternoon, she backed off the mattress, tried to pull up beside the cot and the night stand, managed up to a half squat before sitting down again. Then she went to bang the sliding doors of the storage area under our window. After that, she went to test the stability of our rattan chair (the legs are in desperate need of dusting/washing).

And in the evening, in the living room, from the center, she crawled towards the TV bench corner to get her rattle, then to the checkerboards to knock them. After that it's off to the wooden triangle to flip some ABC blocks before coming back to center.

Finally, back to Mummy who's busy trying to video her. She climbs onto my legs and grab my breast. Okay, end of exploration, at least for now :) That's the second time she's done this, climb on and try to grab the milk direct. The first time was while she was playing in the living room after my lunch.

Deeeaah, Dah, Duck! Jer, Je, Che..

She's been sputtering a lot of "da", "dee", "deeaah", and suddenly she says "duck", so I quickly gave her the only yellow "duck" soft toy with the loose thread nose and fading eyes. And she has some fun with it, and saying "daaaack" before it ended.

She can also say "che che" (Cantonese for elder sister) though sporadically.

And sometimes, her babbling does sound like she's having a conversation in Cantonese :) Most of the times, I think it sounds more like English. The intonations. Or, maybe I'm just reading too much into it, haha.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

That's Ning's first movie @ the Cathay Cinema at Woodlands Causeway Point. We watched the 3pm show and Mummy paid $6 for it with NETS.

Ning seemed to enjoy the first hour, sitting facing the screen on Mummy's thigh. After that, the movie got a little darker with eerie music.

She fussed. I nursed her but she kept looking back at the screen as if willing it to be silent. I guessed she wanted to nurse to sleep.

Took us out for a toilet break and returned for the movie. Sat away from the center crowds in case she started fussing again.

We finished the show together :)

This wasn't my first choice, they didn't show Despicable Me, the animation and Inception was one and half hour later. There's why.

She tried to take off her own clothes

After i shed mine for bath.

It was time for bath and I usually undress before her. Today is the first time she did that.

Ning's in the Wok

Haha, I did it.

Shh, don't tell the grandparents.

She's really good at balancing in it too.

Wok and spatula play

Introduced the word wok, so I dug up our wok for her to play with. And what fun is a wok without the spatula?

Am so tempted to put her in the Wok for a spin. Will sure get scolding from Popo.

Second night without a single nappy change needed

This week. Or was it a third? I think there was one where we missed the wake up toilet call because both of us were too tired to heed her toilet signs.

The trend seems to steer towards 2 toilet calls per night and a very urgent wake-up pee.

This week she averaged 4 diapers daily i.e. If Mummy isn't out of tune with her needs too much. There were one or two days this week when I changed just to refresh her nappy after bath.

She used 18 daily as a newborn. At 4 months she averaged 8-12 daily. Now at 8 months, 4 daily is such a big relief for Mummy.

It seems like the goal is nearer. That she'd go and use the toilet by herself, hopefully by 15 months.

5th tooth out

It is the 3rd front lower incisor on the right. No wonder she's been salivating a lot lately.

I love peeping at the little teeth whenever she laughs, babbles or just smiles.

Speaking of teeth, she's eaten bigger portions of the baby cracker without gagging. Almost a third.

She calls. Head (dropping to floor from sitting position) getting heavy.

She understands our conversations

Yesterday, I was talking to Popo on the phone (speaker mode) in Cantonese and Popo asked me to 'lock' Ning in the cot if I needed to cook or do other household chores. I said she'd cry, Popo says it's okay, she'd settle down. Ning started to cry inconsolably when she was happily mouthing her rattle away earlier. I had to assure her that I haven't put her in her cot for a very long time and won't be doing that just to do chores. Then she stopped crying.

By the way, when I do cook, she sits on the high chair with me in the kitchen. I'd give her a pot or lid to bang with a spoon. I'd let her sit on the floor if I was going to be quick, otherwise, it's the high chair. I'm also quite a 'messy' cook, tend to flick water all over the place, and pieces of cut vegetables may fall on the floor. So, these are the reasons for the high chair.

Today, she was playing with her telephone rattle before bath. After bath, I dried her on the bed beside her fresh jumper and the rattle. She kept picking up the jumper to gum the collar. To get her off the jumper, I asked her, "Why don't you play with your telephone rattle? It's been waiting for you since before you bathed." And she immediately rolled over to get the rattle and let me dress her :)

The many toilet signs of Ning's

First, there's the ubiquitous "boo" which can mean toilet or milk. Then there's the bringing of both hands together trying to sign "toilet" in ASL (American Sign Language) which either ends with frustrated flapping of both hands or putting the cooperative thumb into her mouth.

The surest sign of all is the stop nursing, pull both legs up and thump down or starts shuffling towards the toilet, this one usually is for poo.

The best one is after bedtime, she'll pull her legs up, rotate to land her legs on either Papa or myself repeatedly, refuse to nurse, until she either wets her nappy and cries, or I bring her to the potty. Like last night. Sometimes its quite a rude awakening when you get thumped in the stomach or other sensitive areas.

The amazing thing is she doesn't cry first, but makes these signs in her sleep, occasionally accompanied by "uh uh" sounds. Right after I put her in position, she'll pee, eyes closed all the while. The moment i put her back in bed, she's fast asleep already. Then I'll fasten her nappy, button up her jumper and shift back to the middle of the bed.

Just now, while playing sitting up beside her cot, she suddenly blurted "tte tee tte" without looking up from her play. So I asked her if she wanted toilet. No response, busy playing. Then after a while, she looks up scans room and stared at potty. Then back to play. I plucked her up to go, she complained a bit, then peed in the potty.

I'm so in awe. I mean, from birth to now, this is really a big achievement.

Ning is a definitely a "clean-wanna-be" baby.

Funny Mummy scratching beach ball

Like a DJ scratching disc with serious intensity. Like real. More like a mad violinist with shaking head.

Made Ning laughed repeatedly with that one.

She's also a funny one, straining her neck to watch TV over her gym.

We had a late swim @ 6pm to make it more conducive for Ning to go to sleep tonight. It worked. Sort of. She only slept 10 minutes to 10 pm. Late but with very little complaint.. Rocked a little, whispered that its late and its time to sleep. We can continue to pray tomorrow. Then she said "boo..." so I potted her. Then told her "milk" and nursed her. She nursed for about 5 minutes, rolled over, rolled back, whimpered a bit and then laid back asleep.

*phew*

Learning seems to work

After the last addition equation today, 2+2=4, I was contemplating which card to let Ning "play" with for a while. She did crawl all the way across the bed to the dot cards.

So I said, "Hmm, which shall I give to you to play, 2, or 4? 2 seems too simple and boring, 4 then," and she picked the right card!

Yeah, it may be a fluke you say, but it made my day.

*beaming-with-pride*

Time to prep for tomorrow's sessions!

Ning's learning program

I started with the English reading program, following the book to the T, and then added Math, following the notes that came with the cards.

However, I had a problem finding 15 happy sessions half an hour apart. So it quickly dwindled down to 2 sets of 5 words i.e. 6 sessions per day, and another 6 sessions with the Math dot cards. You really need to flash very quickly. I'd lose her after the third card, meaning, she'd start looking at other things.

In between the beginning and now, I've also stopped and restarted Math cards, tried 3reading cards per session, 2 sets per day. Then decided to follow the book on 5 cards per set and hone my flashing speed.

Most of the time, if she seems to be in the mood, I'd do as many sets back to back. If she's not in the mood, I'd stop and wait at least 15 minutes for the next session.

And it's sort of evolved to 2 sets of 5 English words, 2 sets of 5 dot cards and 3 sets of 3 equations. She's particularly interested in the dot cards (crawled to them in favor of camera or phone or colourful musical Lamaze flowers) and especially attentive with the addition equations (just started 3 days ago).

I hear her waking, gotta stop!

Preparing for Ning's learning

This is the first time I'm writing on helping Ning learn to read and do math. I started with the physical program when she was 5 months old after reading Glenn Doman's "How Smart is Your Baby".

Took me some time to source for used cards within my budget (original costs SGD2,700). Found some old posts on forum but was usually too late. Finally a set from 6years ago that has all I needed for one-fifth of the retail price and started using them when she was 6 months old.

The set has the following:
1) "How to teach your baby to Read" English Kit (Volume 1 & 2)
2) "How to teach your baby to Read" Chinese Kit (Volume 1 & 2)
3) "How to teach your baby Math" Kit
4) "How to give your baby Encyclopaedic Knowledge" Kit (10 sets)

I was told the latest copies of the reading kits contained over a thousand words and my set from 6 years ago only had about six hundred and a little more. It was enough for me to get started, I thought. Once her sight has developed considerably, will make slideshows or own A4 cards :)

Sitting down from standing is also a skill

Just found out about that from BabyCenter newsletter.

She's developed this pretty quickly after standing. It's suppose develop in the 9th or 10th month. I think we don't give her enough opportunity to pull to standing though, we just put her to the cot bars / gym and she hangs on from there.

Will sit her down at the cotside more often. It's definitely sturdier for pulling up than the IKEA baby gym.

Developmental milestone: Walking

Lip smacking and teeth grinding

Ning's added lip smacking and teeth grinding to her repertoire of new sounds ;)

She woke and started grinding her teeth since 2 nights ago. A little eerie, but very amusing. Its like announcing the arrival of her upper pair of incisors to complete her first bite!

Captured the smacking in this video.

The grossest poo clean-up

Since we had dinner at the restaurant at Kota Kemuning. Then she had poo leaked onto the floor through her string high chair onto a neat round puddle on the floor. I didn't realize there was so much poo and got it all over my sling and clothes when I carried her to the car to change. It was Gong Gong who asked if I'd dropped her "round toy" on the floor. It was then that I noticed the puddle of poo.

Horror.

They'll probably remember us for a very long time.

Today, she was nursing leaning over the foot of the bed. And she pooed while nursing. I smelled it and saw poo trickling down her left leg and on the floor. I thought she'd said "poo" and tried to sign poo, but she fussed so much the last time I potted her I'd thought maybe later, when she REALLY has to go.

Too late.

Bathed her. Wiped floor.

Lessons learned:
No stand-up nursing.
Heed any hint for toilet.

Leaning over the bed

Ning likes to crawl backwards to the foot of the bed. When she reaches the edge, she drops her feet foot by foot on the floor. Then she'd bend or wiggle her buttocks with her upper body leaning over the mattress.

It reminds me of a scene where the lady leans over a bar waiting for her cocktail. Still underaged.

Blogging with Omnia II

Discovered I can lower resolution of video, limit to 15s maximum, and I can email to this blog! So much easier than with the digital camera and desktop computer.

Also, have setup Hotmail & Gmail on the Omnia II. Together with the free Starhub broadband SIM card, I'm definitely going to be updating more often now :)

First slightly easier bedtime since...

... a long time ago, at least it seems like it.

Today, Pa and I had dinner with Ning in the high chair until 8:30pm. Ning started "aaaah"ing and shouting, some of her usual sleepy signs, besides rubbing her eyes, or fingering her ears.

I carried her into the bedroom. This time, instead of putting her down to nurse, I skipped that part and started rocking her. A couple of times after she started to put her head on my chest, I placed her on the bed to nurse. She turned away and cried a little bit, and then a big sigh, and was asleep. In less than 5 minutes!

Today, she slept over 3 hrs in the afternoon. Tonight, she was asleep by 8:30pm. She must be really tired with the crawling.

Hope it works tomorrow!

First "Long" Distance Crawl @ 8 mths

Non-stop!

And she's not crawling for my mobile phone, soft toys or the camera. She was heading for the math dot cards!

Gym workout sitting-up

Recently she's been shouting like in this video a fair bit, mostly when Mummy isn't in tune with her needs and at bedtime.

She's really quite the professional sitter by now.

Only worry is when she's either sleepy or so pre-occupied with gumming things, she may sometimes just fall backwards.

Oh fun! Spotting a 8-month old!

Butt-pulling crawl

She doesn't do this often or for longer distances.

Rolling and pivoting on her stomach is still the preferred mode of transport.

Afternote:
Right after I emailed this out from my Omnia II, she did a long distance non-stop crawl and I happened to capture it! Yay!

Buttocks high in air, on all fours limbs

She reminds me of how her cousin Cerys Zeze "crawled" in Port Dickson with only palms and feet touching the sand.

Shay Ning's just pushing off the ground and sometimes to sitting, not moving forward like that yet. And yes, she's crawling (stomach on surface) and creeping (stomach off surface) intermittently. I'm a little confused, thought she'd crawl first, then move on to the latter after mastering the crawl. She seems impatient to get straight to standing and walking.

Time to remove all possible dangers from her level, where practical. We'll start with anything we don't want in her mouth like plants, soil and other potentially harmful objects or substances while she's still within my speed limit.

Heart-breaking bedtime

She's crying lots at bedtime again. only consolation is cooing and rocking her to sleep. milk alone doesn't work. At least not for the past 5 days.

What else can I do to ease her into sweet slumber?

1st Upper Tooth (Right) Erupting @ 8 mths 1 wk

Yup. She did it again, rubbed her right thumb's skin right off.

It's teething time again.
Been shouting a lot lately when sleepy.

Guess we can now blame it on teething, how convenient :P

I missed the gentle gurgling & babbling Ning Ning, but then again, this is necessary if she's to start talking soon, I guess. At least she's not crying and still trying to communicate, albeit frustrated and sometimes in vain.

Babble & shout on!

She signs for milk @ 8 mths 1 wk !

Whoa!!! And it's so accurate!

She's really good at it, should get it on video! When she signs milk, I'll quickly echo "MILK" and sign the same. Then she looks so amazed, that she'll keep signing milk and looking at her hand as if it's magic, sometimes forgetting I'm still offering her milk :P

On another note, she's not used "meh'lk" for some time now. Maybe it was because I didn't show enough enthusiam and encouragement when she did. Should really pay more attention to how I react to these things.

She's also been trying the ASL toilet sign. She'd bend 3 fingers and have difficulty with the thumb in before the index finger. All this while, she'd be concentrating hard, biting her lips and frowning. Then she'd just bring her thumb to her mouth before shaking both hands violently as if exclaiming, "Aiyah! I need to go to the toilet NOW!!!" Sometimes, not often, because she'd be impatient to pee already, I'd guide her fingers and she'll watch attentively.

Push-sit day

Today, is push-sit day. She did it once during lunch as I was having my packed economy rice. And at least 5 times in the evening on the living room floor. Once on the bed before sleeping.

Papa's been nagging me to video it. So I set up the camera to film her while I folded diapers. After a few deleted videos, I finally caught her in the act.

And Papa's reaction was so disappointing. He said it looked like she pushed against the sofa. Sigh. Asked me for another video. I thought he'd be thrilled to finally see it.

Sigh.

Anyway, YAY! She can push herself up to sitting position now! It's official! Hurray!

Ning Ning knows how to get off from bed and sit up from crawling position. All by herself!

When she reached 8 months. Yes!

She sat up all by herself @ 8m

Today!

The deed was done about half past six in the evening. She was rolling and pushing backwards as she's been doing a lot lately. Initially we thought she was learning to crawl.

Popo was right. She was trying to sit up. Thumbs up for Popo.

As she pushed herself off the alphabet mat, I nearly pulled her back in. Then, with one leg stretched out and the other bent, she finally stretched out both legs , pushed back with both arms. Slowly she pulled back lifting both hands off the floor. At first she wobbled a little as her legs was in perfect split, then she pulled them back a bit.

And she smiled. Finally accomplished.

Pincer grasp captured @ 8 mths (started 7 mths)

I've been observing this new development for a while now. Why no photos? That's because she's been practising while nursing, on the other "milk bar".

Today, I captured it on camera!

Lo and behold, she's got the pincer grasp! Most can do it by 13.5 months. It starts as any part of thumb and index finger at 10 months for most, and graduates to tip of thumb and index finger!


I'm so happy and proud!

*grins*

Crawling, commando style, in sight @ 7.5+m

She demonstrated her crawling twice yesterday, when I was busy with the telephone and another time with putting away the camera.

She was like, whoa, making these exaggerated movements, landing quite roughly each time she rocks her body from side to side to make front movements. Actually, it looks more like a boat rocking sideways twice and one big forward rock. Must give her more motivation to move i.e. more attractive stuff to move towards e.g. my mobile phone (we allow her to hold and fidget with it, but strictly no mouthing) :P

She's got a bruise the size of a pea under her chin, I wonder if it's from the crawling. Or the fall from mattress on Thursday morning. She didn't cry if, and when she fell. Papa found her in the middle of the floor on her tummy by the time she did cry.

Recently, she's been showing off her strength by kicking everything including the heavy pillows off the bed. Mummy's pillow almost landed in the potty or on the "puddle" of spilt pee on the floor at the foot of the bed. At the high chair, she's dropping and watching stuff roll on the floor. Mummy's exhausted from picking things up, so unless it's urgent or needed, it'll stay on the floor for the mean time.

Yesterday, she again lunged backwards until the foot of the bed. I watched. She wasn't alarmed. She placed her feet down, bounced a few times, as if testing if the floor will give way. And then Ning lifted her upper body off the mattress with her hands holding onto the mattress, and stood there for a bit, just bouncing and smiling at me. Then, she plonked her tiny backside down on the floor, a little too quickly, she had a surprised frown, she looked at me as if I'm responsible for it.

Way to go!

Hope she does this whenever she wants to get off the bed.

Baa... baa... (for 2 straight days in a row)

black sheep? No, it's for Papa. In Cantonese, Papa's pronounced more like "Baba".

We were back from more than a week of visiting the grandparents in Malaysia and she was away from Papa for more than 5 days. After which she spent 6 straight days with Papa at home, plus 1 more day in Singapore when I had my fever (3rd engorgement since labor day) and Papa took care of her most of that day.

So when Papa went back to work on Thursday, she was calling for Papa in the day and in the evenings. She would stare at the bathroom door, when I left it opened after bathing her, and the bedroom entrance in the evening. Both places where she most frequently sees her Papa appear.

I had to call Papa on the telephone when she's frustrated that her "Baba"s went unanswered and my explanation does not pacify her. Then when Papa's voice is broadcasted over the speaker phone, her face lights up with the brightest 2-teeth smile.

I keep falling in love with this little girl.

Sigh.

Hanging 3s, standing 5mins

She can hang from my thumbs independently for 3 full seconds 5 times today! Previously, I had to grip her still. This is a pleasant development. Ashamedly, I wasn't really consistent with this exercise, so this is really a pleasant surprise.

Today I placed her standing against the cot, using 2 bars for support. She could stand for a full 5 minutes before whining as she was tired and afraid of falling. I asked her to let go and sit down, with me supporting her underarms, and she let go 1 arm by 1 arm.


Tried playing toss with lion rattle today. I do think she gets it, although her tosses range anywhere between dropping it down in front of her or flicking it towards me.

Hmmm, what other games can I play with her?

Pottying situation update @ 7.5m

Ning's still going to the potty.

Some weeks, I don't even need to scrub a single soiled (poo) diaper. At others, especially after introducing new foods (like watermelon) she'd go in her diaper and more often.

When the weather's really cool and feels like we're in an air-conditioned environment, she wets more diapers at night or while napping than her usual 8 per day.

And it's been really cool recently. Good for long naps, but the laundry piles up pretty quickly and drying takes more than half a day. So by the end of the day, I'd be rushing to fold them before the last diaper is used up.

Hmm, we haven't reached the tipping point for going diaper free yet, which is three or less diapers a day.

Am planning to get her a sturdier Bjorn potty from Mothercare so that she can sit on it by herself now that she's become quite professional at sitting up without support :) Let's hope I'll "bump" into a potty sale at Mothercare's soon!

"Baa baa" and "Meh'lk" or "Meh'k"

That's what she's been saying the last 3 days, rather consistently.

"Baa baa" for Papa :P
"M'ehlk" for Milk.

I'm so happy! This is an early surprise.

Yeah, I realize she's not saying "Mummy" yet.
I'm still very happy at this new development!

Some photos from last week

Love the big doe eyes and long curvy eyelashes!


Spot the difference between Papa and Shay Ning (the stubbles don't count)!


Aiyah, you're blocking the television Mummy!
She's "watching" Cantonese serial with Popo.


A blur but nice photo of Popo and Gong Gong playing with Shay Ning.


A moment with Gong Gong.


"It's so hot and I'm so tired, Gong Gong..."


A snapshot of the action going on in Popo & Gong Gong's living room with 2 granddaughters around :)

New fruits, choking and throwing up

This week, Shay Ning got to try guava, apple and green pear as stick pieces, thanks to Gong Gong. However, when she was trying to eject a bitten off piece of guava, she choked and threw up the most since birth. The offending piece was only 2mm thick, and about 1.2cm long. Her face turned red, a very dark red. I was very alarmed but kept calm because I need to control what I do in order not to worsen the situation.

Today, we tried with scraped papaya and it happened again, she threw up on Papa, who didn't really believed me when I recounted the ordeal. All Papa said was "You should watch her more closely". It's like saying, you're not doing your job well.

I'm saying she's NOT READY for SOLIDS and to do my job well, I AM NOT FEEDING HER ANY MORE SOLIDS TILL I THINK SHE'S READY!

How many times must she choke and throw up before you'll give up on the idea she is? You yourself said every baby is different. Why must you insist that she start her solids 'like other babies'?! Why can't I start her when "I" feel she's ready?!

I'm so hurt. I'm her mother.

Why must I listen to what others have to say thru you, when you yourself don't want to feed her?! Why must I prepare food and force her to finish them when you don't even want to feed her anymore?

Why don't you listen to me instead?

I'm so upset about this.

A most eventful week @ Popo & Gong Gong's

In this week, Shay Ning's...

Been a great party buddy @ Huey Huey Yee Yee's wedding until 11:30pm. She was bouncing on my lap and laughing gleefully to the on stage singer's oldies right to the closure of the dinner. I'm so happy. Her Gong Gong and Popo are also very entertained. Papa's a little apprehensive as he has to leave her that night to go home.




Spontaneously waved "bye bye" whenever we said "bye bye" and "good night" to Popo.


Gave lots of "High 5s" and "5s" to Mummy, Gong Gong and Popo.

She's lunging and plucking her butt up and above the floor more and more now. Her butt is rising higher and higher off the floor, sometimes with one leg stretched out kicking. Am wondering if she's trying to crawl or sit up.

Gotta go now, Shay Ning calls :)

It's past 7pm now and I've just fed Shay Ning to sleep.

This is also a week where she got to see and hear her Papa the least as Papa left his mobile phone at Ah Gong's place. When she met him for the first time after so long, the emotional display was a surprise for all of us.

Papa was walking out of Gong Gong's toilet. She focused, unmoving, at Papa all the while. When Papa finally reached out to carry her, she pouted and cried, pouring out her feelings at finally seeing her Papa. As soon as Papa carried her, she stopped and was smiling again. So emotional. Such a darling.

Independent sitter @ 6m

This was taken at the last week of her 6th month. Have video too :) Too big for blog.

The "Pucca" cushion is her motivation in this picture. Just kept mimicking "Pucca" and kissing sounds to amuse her.

She said "papaya"

After i playfully said the word a few times while pointing at the word card.

And she knows parrot from hornbill. Asked her where is parrot, and she looked at the right picture. Same results with hornbill.

This means she does understand. And i am afraid I'm not feeding her enough knowledge.

Sometimes I just need to relax. At least I'm aware and not taking her for an ignorant baby.

Shaking head means "No", Mummy!

Previously, she'd shake or spin her head for no apparent reason.

Now, if you ask her a question and she really doesn't want it, she'll shake her head. Most frequent questions receiving a shaking head are:

1) Do you want to go to the toilet?
2) Do you want more milk?
3) Are you done?
4) Without asking, when she's done on the potty, she'll shake her head and start grabbing my upper arm to lift her up and off the potty.

Amazing little person.

P.S. This started around late last month i.e. about 6.5 months.

De de, di di, da da... we we, wa wa... te te, ss ss...

Sounds that she's making a lot starting yesterday. And a whole lot of other combinations. It's like an explosion of sounds yesterday, right up to just before she falls asleep. It's like she's discovered she can make these sounds and want to keep going the whole day :)

Again, most obvious and earliest words, unfortunately isn't Mummy yet, is when she wants the potty. She'll start making the "te te" sounds with raising her legs up while lying down. Toilet. :P I'm holding her over the potty with her legs up. That's why I think she's trying to say "toilet".

And when she's done, I'll usually ask "Are you done?". So when she was done, she'd make the sound "de de", as if experimenting with the starting of the word "done" and occasionally, twice yesterday, "dang" or "done" right after she stopped peeing!!

I'm so amused, that I hold her just a little longer over the potty, see if she will repeat. Bad mother. Bad mother.

Okay, must respect her and quickly respond properly from now on.

*grins*

She eats broccoli @ 7m

More than rice cereals and cabbage-carrot soup puree. I was pleasantly surprised when she chewed and swallowed huge spoonfuls.

I'm not saying that she didn't blow heaps off the spoon, gag and act like she's throwing up, or deposited heaps all over her high chair table, hands, legs and floor, I'm saying more of this stuff actually made it into her stomach. And she's got loads of it in the poo to show for it.

So far her diet has been rice cereal made with pulverized rice with expressed breast milk, carrot puree with rice cereal, cabbage-carrot puree, raisins and banana. The last 2 she had very little and either undigested or spitted out. The cabbage-carrot soup puree resulted in only 1 poo a day over 3 days. Suspect its the salty soup, no salt added but the blended fried anchovy might have salt.

Broccoli puree actually tastes quite nice 'au naturel'. Maybe we can use it as a healthier bread spread.