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.