Grandparents Visit in Nov 2011

She was asking where were Gong Gong Popo the whole week after they returned home. When we replied they went home to Kuala Lumpur, she said "Ning wants to go Kuala Lumpur to go Gong Gong Popo's house too."

Sweet little Ning.

Ning can fib rationally

I'm pretty sure it isn't the first time, but it is the first time I noticed and confirm she did it intentionally!
Today Mummy asked her to take shower but she declined. After Mummy showered, Mummy asked if Ning wanted to shower too. She said Ning Ning showered already. Mummy: "Ning showered yesterday." And she quickly added, "...today!"
Mummy was quite taken aback because I knew she hadn't so I played along and she was visibly pleased with herself for adding "today" on!
Anyway, Mummy's gotta wisen up so that we can still teach her by reasoning rather than sheer authority.
Oh yeah, Popo, she's been "bargaining" since quite young. First time was which breast to suckle at 2 weeks. First verbal, was also same reason. Thinks she has a special preference to one side.
Very frequently, her main requests will be cold Milo, milk outside, in living room, instead of bedroom. Dora panties instead of nappy, but she's still unable to take it off properly yet, so she'll run and fiddle with her cloth nappy until I ask her if she needed to go. Then she'll be taking it off and putting it back on coz Mummy helped. Until she really had to pee, she'd finallyet Mummy pull down her panties and let her sit on the potty and pass urine.
Sweet.
Good night, sweet little one!

Ning @ 23 months

She has quite a number of songs in her repertoire, including:
Finger Family,
London Bridge is Falling Down
Pat-a-cake
Rock a bye baby
And some Chinese songs only Lougong knows, too complicated for me to remember, I only know the tune

Ning is also very expressive giving specific instructions to get what she wants. E.g. If she wants Mummy to go out while Mummy is lying on soda reading, she will say...
1. Mummy get up from sofa irst
2. Mummy stand up
3. Mummy come (holds Mummy's hand)
4. Ning put on shoe first
5. Mummy take key (sometimes with 'please')
6. Mummy open the door and Ning go out say hello to Kakak and come back ok?
This is the part Mummy have to come up with some excuse or oblige.

She's also eating much more nowadays. Almost one full adult rice bowl of rice with dishes.

She also just had first stomach flu from childcare (8 vomiting cases reported since Ning). She started throwing up after going to bed. We bathed her because her whole body was covered in vomit. Then she nursed again, and threw up again. And Lougong had to change the sheets and blow dry.

Mummy changed her and we moved into next room. She had more milk and tried to sleep, but she threw up all the milk again. Lougong complained I 'overfed' her. So he made Ribena for her. This time we wiped her and changed her. And she just vomited again after Ribena. So we gave up, pat her to sleep. After 45 minutes, she coughed and threw up again. This time on our last dry mattress. I didn't dare sleep lest she threw up in her sleep and choked on her vomit. The moment she started, I'd prop her up. At one point, she didnt want Mummy's milk and insisted on Ribena. This carried on til 3am after which she slept til 06:30am.

We went to the clinic twice. Once her Ning and myself. Second round for Mummy and Papa. Thankfully she stopped vomiting after the medicine. At least the food reaches her stomach, right? Right, then she started diarrhea. Still better than vomit. I've learnt to be very grateful. Sigh. She's still uncomplaining and not even a whine heard throughout the ordeal. I was petrified when she went limp and her head flopped from side to side at one point. I almost begged Lougong to bring us to the hospital, but he reasoned she has no fever, can wait til morning. I couldnt sleep, kept checking her breathing and heartbeat. Both her fast and strong. I'm just glad everything is fine now.

On retrospect, we should've taken turns to monitor her. Instead I watched her til I sleep while Lougong busied cleaning up and then slept.

Cooking again and 3rd morning without nursing

I've been cooking again, after clearing some obsolete stuff in the kitchen and getting some new cookware.
The microwave was sold.
Now we have a Zojirushi Micom 5.5 cup rice cooker and a 6L thermal cooker. The rice cooker makes perfect porridge and rice. It's not too big that it feels overwhelming to wash.
We've 3 main types of menu:
Steamed fish (usually salmon) with ginger juice, capsicums and spring onions
Slow cooked soy sauce chicken with dong Kwai
4 vegetable soup (carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and corn)
So far, the rice cooker is most used. Haven't really used the thermal pot for many soups. Have bought a steam rack for rice cooker, so maybe can have soup and meat :)
At the same time, Ning seems to be eating more now. We found out she could eat half of square bowl full of rice, pork and soup when she had dinner at Aloysius, Brian and Claire's home. So we also target that amount. So far, she's almost always finished her portions, compared to half or less that she's used to.
It's more work and tiring, but seeing her eat and grow makes it worthwhile :)

Club HDB Childcare Sports Day

She ran with a bean bag balanced on her head and dumped it into a bin!

Well rehearsed, kudos to the teachers, Ms Soundhari, Ms Yang and Ms Lee Cheng!

Magic Framed Sep 11

Simple sentences & fave phrases @ 22 mths

Mummy play hide and seek with Papa.
Ning Ning's water bottle straw.
Mummy sit there.
Mummy eat fish ball.
Mickey Mouse fall down on the floor already.
Mickey Mouse see helicopter.
See mosquito bite on elbow.
Put milk in this water bottle (sigh, after I made it in her milk bottle, at least she'll drink it).
Take off panties/nappies first (before toilet).

Where is moon?

Mine!
Mummy! (and repetitions)
Papa!
Wake up!
Let's go!
Don't want doggy wow wow! (after fierce dog barked at her)
Open door. Take keys first.
Playground!
Go playground!
Put on blue shirt.

And she's VERY friendly and clear.
She's pointed and named people quite clearly:
Kakak
Abang
Gong gong
Jie jie
Go go
Uncle
And sometimes, most embarrassingly, AUNTY!
A well dressed 30s lady looked so embarrassed when called aunty that she pretended not to look at her.

So now it's Jie Jie unless Jie Jie turns out to be Mummy, then it's Aunty.

Singing in the bathroom @ school

She's singing away happily while waiting for her turn to shower.

Photos from Nov 2010 - Jul 2011

Another photo by the lake

Ning & Gong Gong @ the Pier

Taken 21 Aug 2011.
This was after breakfast picnic by the lake :)

Photos from Jan - Mar 2011

Photos from Apr - Jun 2011

This isn't how I imagined my home

Would be.

And certainly not how my child's room will be. I need to change the way I live to how I want it to be, before more of my life passed me by.

Call this a midlife crisis. Wake up call. Whatever.

It's time to throw out some stuff that no longer serves their purpose. Lougong, I need your help!!!

Singing songs all by herself!

She's been singing songs to herself a lot lately. It's just recently that we could actually make out most words and which songs! We even caught one or two on video today!

Here are the songs we heard that are almost complete:
Baa Baa Black Sheep
客人来
只要我长大
Chop Chilli Chop

And she runs really quickly when we sing 三只老虎 at the part 跑的快. As if to show us she knows what it means.

She does the right actions for
Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Wind the Bobbin Up
This is the Way
The Wheels on the Bus

Ning can say 1 to 12 most days, although Mummy's thinking why stop at 10? So, whenever we start counting Mummy goes on until 100 or until Ning says "don't want", which has been quite frequent recently.

She's still recovering from cough and running nose. The medicine seems to be taking some time to take effect. Hope she gets well soon!

Singing songs most of the time...

She's been singing songs as she wakes, though she does cry when Mummy doesn't come in after a while, and when she's just toddling around the house.

Her favourites at the moment include:
Chop chilli chop
San Zhi Lao Hu
Gege Baba Zhen Wei Da
She'll be coming round the mountain
And a Cha Cha Choo Choo song that Mummy has yet to learn.

Last Friday, Teacher Soundhri says she cried at the playground and immediately, 2 boys came to her aid, each holding one of her hands and escorting her to the teacher. How sweet :)

Missed spying her in school. The load at work is getting heavier as 1 valuable team member transfers out tomorrow. Sigh. I'll only be able to spy at lunch or tea time then!

Mummy, *muAck*... Painful... "Papa sleep there..." "Papa sit there..."

Yesterday, we were watching the new Shanghai Bund, starring Andy Lau and Leslie Cheung.
 
Mummy cried at the shooting of Andy, Ding Lik, by Leslie's partner, who thought Andy had killed Leslie.
 
When Ning Ning saw Mummy's eyes full of tears, she smiled came over, smack right into my face, one big kiss, *muAck*.
 
Mummy laughed and smiled immediately. Lovely.
 
She can now say "painful" quite clearly and point to where it is painful and ask Mummy to kiss and make it better.
 
Yesterday, she kept pointing to her right big toe, and saying, "painful". It was a little red and the skin was peeling. I'm wondering if the shoes are too tight.
 
There... a very communicative Ning.
 
She also woke up in the middle of the night, said, "Papa sleep there", around 04:30hrs and passed motion. She wouldn't go back to sleep until "Papa sleep there." So Mummy went out to ask Papa to sleep on his single mattress and Mummy with Ning on the double mattress. Mummy snores. That's why Papa's sleeping in the guest room.
 
She's also been pointing to empty MRT seats and saying, "Papa sit there".
 
I love to play with Ning.
 
I think of her even when I'm at work.

Thank You! Mummy sit here! Mummy carry you!

These are the most common phrases I'm hearing nowadays.

Though, Mummy sounds more like "yee yee".

Thank you sounds more like "ang kyu".

And carry you, actually, sounds like it should :P

Although, she should've been saying, "Mummy, carry me."

No complaints there.

She's also been heard to say "scissors" when Papa used one to snip the vegetables at dinner time.

She's also parroting Mummy a lot when Mummy thanks the teachers in both Mandarin and English.

Best received ones are...

"Thank you, Aunty (or Jie Jie)" for the kind souls who gave up their seat in the MRT.

"Xie xie lao shi" and "Thank you Teacher" for the teachers in "school".

"Thank you, Mummy" for when Mummy gives her something or helps her do something.

Mummy's been sick, very sick. I've taken all the medicine prescribed by the doctors, and they almost took all the congestion away. Almost. Now I have no medicine left, except for the cough syrup and panadol. Let's hope the last sniffles will magically disappear by tomorrow morning.

Then Mummy can continue to care for Ning as usual again without worrying about transmitting germs to her by sharing food, or kissing! I feel so bad for keeping an arms length for so long...

Sorry, sorry, sorry! Ok...

Yesterday, I accidentally put my knee on her left hand while kneeling down to sit beside her. It must've been very painful, because she started crying instantly.

Mummy kept apologizing, while she was crying, and kissing her hand.

Then, suddenly she said, "Ok" and stopped crying.

I love this girl, she's forgiven Mummy.

She seldom cries, even when she hit her head last week she cried for a few seconds, and the bruises looked very nasty for that one.

First Happy Drop-off @ "School"

This is the third week she's been attending "school"!
 
Today, Papa carried her into the childcare and we waved "bye-bye" happily to her.
 
It is also the first time she was smiling, instead of crying, when we left her there.
 
We're so happy!

Second Week @ "School"

This week, Ning's having more fun and some food at "school".

Though this is only the second week she's in child care, Mummy's learnt to let go more. I spied on her at meal times, and found she was getting on fine with the other children. The teacher even told me something amusing. She was "cooking" with the toys and offered her friends the food she made, and they "ate" them :) The teachers, as I was told, were hiding and peeping at this game as they were so amused.

Ning may be the youngest toddler in the playgroup, but she's making waves. She's got a sweet smile and she says words that some of the slightly older children don't even know yet. Mummy wrote as much about her in the little communication booklet as I can, holding back, in case the teachers found it too long winded. And I think that it helps, because now, I can see the teachers see her in a different light.

Today, before the children can eat, the teacher told them, as usual, to "put your hands on your lap", and say, "Join us teachers, join us friends. Lao shi qing chi, Da jia qing chi." The latter is Mandarin for, "Teachers, please tuck in, everyone, please tuck in." And I can hear the teacher sound so surprise and loudly said, "Very good, Ning can say already!"  I must say, I learnt this phrase and repeated it to her only twice at dinner time. She must've caught on pretty quickly.

I went to feed her at lunch today, and skipped feeding at tea time, because yesterday, I saw her eat the biscuits and dipped them into the milk. I still went to sneak a peek, and she was cheerfully pulling the cheese out of the bread and biting off tiny pieces. At lunch, she's already eaten half a bowl of the mushroom spaghetti by the time I arrived. Still, she had a little breast milk and was pulling toys off the shelf to play with already, until it was her shower time.

At my lunch time, I stole a peek on my way back, and she was sleeping with the rest of the children.

At knock off, she was on the "bus" (a 6 seater push chair), pointing to things and saying things. When she saw me, she wanted "off" immediately. And asked for milk on the sofa.

Another teacher told me, that she was quite amused that such a young age, she can choose. She was asked, "Do you want to call Papa? Do you want to call Mummy?" And guess which she chose? Mummy! Hahaha, smart girl!

I was concerned that the school didn't really have any curricula for the groups below kindergarten levels, which was 5 and 6 years old and was going to suggest enrichment classes in-house. Then, I received a letter from the Principal that they are reviewing the curricula in a partnership with the Little Skool House International! They'll be briefing us on 1 Jun! And doing some minor renovations come August! Hurrah!

My little girl IS going to learn more than independence in this "school" after all!

I just hope soon!

Ning's First Week @ "School"

It was heart-wrenching.

She cried so hard when the lady at childcare took her from my arms, but she settled down quite quickly at the playground, the first day. Today, she cried longer. I'd thought that it would get easier for her to settle down as time went on.

The first day, she wouldn't eat or drink a drop. The teachers say that she pushed everything away. Toys. Food. Water bottle. When it was time to change to her indoor sandals, she wouldn't let the teacher put them on. She insisted on her outdoor shoes. Once the shoes were back on, she told the teacher, "there" and pointed towards the door, where we dropped her off and said "Yee Yee" (she kept referring to me as "yee yee" since this ordeal started). So, I went and feed her breast milk then, the centre's food, during each of her meal times.

By lunch today, she managed to down half the bowl of noodle, took one bite of the watermelon. By tea time, she drank 40ml of milk! The teachers told me, she still wouldn't let them feed her, so they left it on the table and explained, "Mummy will come later, drink milk first." And she drank it by herself. Good girl!

I did overhear, before walking in at tea time, the teacher tell her not to cry, or else she'd stop carrying her. It breaks my heart that the teacher can be so careless with words with the toddler. The reason for her crying, is she thinks Mummy's not coming back or not caring for her anymore, and saying that is rubbing salt into the wound. I'm so sad.

She could sleep there, from exhaustion of crying and trying to communicate to them, I guess. It's the eating and drinking which I'm worried about. Hopefully, next week, she'd do even better. Once home, we give her more time to unwind and let her sleep later, 9pm (1 hr later than usual). She's happy and seemed to be in her normal cheerful mood.

Today, in the MRT, it was crowded, we were packed like sardines and she asked for breast milk. Luckily, by the second stop, an elderly man gave up his seat for us. And, thankfullly, the young lady next to him gave hers up for him. After feeding, Ning looked at the tired old man next to us, he looked sad. 

I said that "Gong Gong is tired and sleeping." On both our sides were old men, sleeping. When I told her we were getting off the next stop, she said, unexpectedly, "Bye bye, Gong Gong." The old man pretended to continue sleeping, and I was afraid she was disturbing him, so I told her, so that she might give it up, "Gong Gong is tired and sleeping, he may not hear you." And guess what, she said LOUDLY, "BYE BYE, GONG GONG," and waved, to the amusement of the commuters right in front of us and this time, it made the Gong Gong smile and wide awake. It woke the other Gong Gong up too, and she said goodbye to him as well.

Ning Ning is really adorable, I love my daughter.

Ning Will Be Going to Play School

Exactly 1 week from today.

It seemed like yesterday, when she was born and Mummy couldn't wait for her to become more independent. Now, 1 week away from play school, Mummy's actually excited for her and anxious to let go as well.

I've called the school to ask what else I could do to ease the transition, what foods and type of beverages they will be feeding her, their shower, sleep and eat schedule and worked it into our daily routine for the past few months.

Next week, I will bring her in and stay around, making disappearances and appearances throughout the day. Will stay with her continuously until she starts to get more comfortable with her playmates and teachers. Then will start going to the toilet, or snack break, and return quickly.

As she begins to leave my side and notice me less, I might go away for increasingly longer periods of time. Eventually leaving her side for half day on the second or third.

I hope she'll love her teachers and friends and not mind Mummy going away to work...

Action Songs at 17 months!

She's been following the action songs on BabyTV very well, even when the animations change, she still recognizes the songs. I'm so proud! She can do parts of the following songs:

"Hokey Pokey"

Put right foot in and out, then shake side to side, then turn around. She started following the turn around first, then the foot, and recently the shake.

"Heads, shoulders, knees and toes"

She started off with heads and toes, then the knees came in later. Now she can point at her eyes, ears and nose. She knows the parts, it's just that the speed of the song is too fast for her to follow at the moment.

"If You're Happy"

This one's new, she just got it this week. She started with "stomp your feet", then added "clap your hands".

I'm beginning to appreciate BabyTV more and more!

Shower Pals or Toys

It's becoming more common now for her to choose a dry toy (meaning, not meant as a bath toy) to accompany her to the bathroom for a shower or bath.

Today, she picked the big plush teddy bear that she just "rediscovered" from the bedroom.

Mummy undressed her and said, okay, you can pick a toy to shower with.

And she immediately picked up and said "bear"!

I was a little surprised because she usually picked the rubber penguin and squirrel. The plush toy would take a couple of days to dry, and might smell if not machine washed immediately after.

So Mummy explained, that the bear will take a long time to dry, that she can pick another toy. Penguin, squirrel, or even the Mula cup with hole inside and watch the water leak out. She still picked the bear, and pleaded "bear". Mummy explained again, then told her to pick again, and went to bathroom to check on the water level in the tub. When I peeked out, she was already entering the bathroom with her usual pals, the squirrel and penguin.

Mummy's so relieved she didn't go confrontational. Feeling mushy now, didn't feel it just now. I love this little girl.

Teddy Bear ... tail... Me... no tail... Mummy ... no tail...

A couple of days ago, we read Sandra Boynton's "Horns to toes and in between". When we got to the tail, portion, I asked her, if she has a tail. She looked perplexed. The other parts, she quickly pointed to her own, like the eyes, toes, fingers, hands, head, tongue, etc. We skipped the horns, nowadays, she turns the pages very quickly.

So, today, she picked a teddy bear from our bedroom on waking and brought it to the living room. Lo and behold, when she put the bear face down, he has a tail! Then she spoke a lot and it went something like this. "Bear ... (a lot of syllables in between) ... tail, me (points to self and buttocks, and more syllables), no tail. Mama (more syllables, then points at Mummy, then to Mummy's buttocks), no tail".

It was really hilarious! She's telling me what she knows about tails!

So I quickly added on, tigers and monkeys have tails too. Luckily, the soft toys she has had tiny tails. The squirrel and penguin have tails too. Unfortunately, when Papa wanted to know, he picked Mickey Mouse and Pooh Bears, which didn't have tails. Sigh. Must make sure our toys are anatomically correct before purchase next time!

Downtown East Again

We went to Downtown East again on Sunday, stayed 2 nights at the chalet there and just came back this morning. As with the previous visit, the neighbours were really noisy. This time, the next door neighbours were drunk and drank Red Bull til 6:30am! I woke up at 3am because of gastric. Had diarrhea until 6:30am. They were really rowdy and spoke loudly. When I was in the toilet, the upper wall was the old fashioned bricks with slats for ventilation, they went away because of the smell. Hee hee, so I guess my diarrhea did SOME good.

On the first day, we waited for her to finish her nap before heading out. We took a taxi there, and arrived about 4pm. As usual, they gave us 2 vouchers for a total of 4 tickets to the resident attractions there. We had a quick lunch, I had 2, to make up for earlier. Then went to swim in the chalet's swimming pool about 4:30pm. Ning took to the water like a fish. Splashing and kicking in her life vest with a big smile.

On the next day, it rained mostly. We went ahead to Escape Theme Park anyway. The rain eased to a drizzle and the rides were open, though wet. We chickened out of the Haunted House, after stepping in the entrance. It was decided we didn't want to scare Ning. Our first ride was a pleasant boat ride, where we can steer the tube like boat with the engine, and squirt water at others. Our bums were wet, but Ning liked pressing the engine button and waved at Papa when we passed him. We also bumped gently into another family of 2 boats. Our bums were wet, but it was pleasant. Mummy steered with 1 hand, and held Ning with the other hand at all times, even when the water was 1.1 m deep and Papa and 2 lifeguards were on standby.

Next we went on a mini roller coaster. Mummy explained that the roller coaster is a little like a train, except it is faster, and goes up and down. Mummy's really out of touch with rides. Right from the first downturn, Mummy was screaming her lungs out. Ning was cooler than Mummy, she just sat there. Mummy had one arm behind her back to prevent her from knocking her head against the back, and the other hand holding to her hand, no hands holding the bar. Mummy was flung left and right and out of control, audibly. On round 2, she started crying. Papa was sitting behind us. Too late, Mummy must've scared her.

After that ride, she wouldn't sit on any other rides. Mummy only managed to get her on 2 more rides, not without protest though. The Balloon Ferris Wheel, and the Choo Choo Train. Not even the Carousel (or "horsie") could whet her ride appetite. So we went for lunch, then retired to our rooms to let her nap. She didn't nap after some milk, so off we went to Wild Wild Wet for some splashing good time!

Our favourite (with Ning) was the Shiok! River. It was just a long "drain" with water shot like rapids at a few points to make it flow like the river. People sat on tubes floating along it. We like to bring Ning swimming in it. Little effort, lots of distance. My favourite is with Ning sitting on my tummy, Mummy lies back facing opposite the flow, float backwards with the flow. She loves it too. She sees forward, Mummy, unfortunately no. I only needed to kick off the bottom from time to time to keep afloat. Papa's favourite is holding both Ning's hands with Ning in front, him at the back, and let her "swim" forward. She'll be smiling from cheek to cheek until she turns blue. Then, we take her out for a snack and break. When her colours return and she's responsive, she headed back for the "river" again! We also went to the wave pool, unwisely named "Tsunami". Ning was hungry, and I was "sleeping" on the tube. So I fed her on top of the tube in the pool, to some disapproving looks.

This morning, Ning and Papa got up before me. I wanted to sleep in a bit more since I was freezing the night before. We agreed to set the temperature at 25', but Papa went back on his word and set to 23' instead and it was set to blow directly at me. My nose was running and blocked at the same time, whose fault was it? I ignored Papa's effort to wake me. Ning's fine with my noises. Anyway, who can ignore a little girl climbing over her head to plant a kiss on the nose with a big dimpled smile? I couldn't, so I opened my eyes, returned the million watts smile and wet kiss :)

Finally, Ning's also have a funny habit of sitting on us to wake us up. She'd work up a grin and then step gingerly over to where we were lying and sit and rock on us. Mummy's got sat on the stomach, groin, thighs, head and face. Papa's mostly on the face, stomach and groin. Funny girl!

Early Goodbye, Long Goodnight

Tonight, Mummy explained to Ning that Ah Mah is going back to Malaysia tomorrow. She'll have to say "bye bye" then. It took slightly more than a few seconds for the message to sink in (no thanks to BabyTV in the background). Then, she went to Ah Mah arms open and headed for her, but Ah Mah told her "Ah Mah is dirty, don't need to hug (me)".

Ning looked so taken aback and hurt. Then she backed off and said "bye bye" sadly.

I immediately asked Ah Mah, which is more important, a little bit of "dirt" or saying "I don't want to hug you". Disappointingly, Ah Mah says, it's okay, when Ning grows up she'll understand. I'm so sad. She thinks it's okay to hurt her now, then when she grows up, she'll need to understand why her Ah Mah doesn't want to hug her.

Later on, when it was time for bed, she automatically went to kiss Papa (on the waist, as he was having dinner at the table) goodnight. Audibly. "Muack". Then waved and said "bye bye" while walking away. And repeated this six times before Mummy whisked her away into the bedroom. This time, she didn't go to Ah Mah. I guess she's been turned away too many times before...

The Many Ways to Wear Mummy's Bandana

Ning seems to be trying out all of them, including the unconventional ones.

She always have a blast, skips around with the bandana over her head.

Pink Squirrel, Pink Shoe

Busha Pants and "Mau Tau Ying" (Owl)

Mummy ordered 4 Busha Pants from GMarket.com.sg.

We opened them in front of Shay Ning, Ah Mah and Papa. When we identified the owl in Cantonese, it translates literally to "cat head eagle".

Ning went to get the cat and brought it over to compare to the owl. We laughed till our stomachs ached.

The pants are quite well made, only feels a little warm. Guess Mummy will keep them for the child care then.

She knows where the temple (body part) is...

and was probably confused when Mummy kept telling her we're going to the temple today.

On the way to the MRT station, Mummy said, we're going to the temple to pray to Kwan Im today. Then she tapped her hand on side of Mummy's head, where the temple is. Then I realized, hey, she remembers the body part! Mummy then explained that temple is also a place where people go to pray.

Oooh, Mummy is so pleasantly surprised.

On the way home, Mah Mah sat beside Ning in the MRT. When the MRT was out of the tunnels, Ning stood up and watched the vehicles on the road along the MRT tracks. She started pointing out, "bus", "car", "(lor)ry", "taxi" and went "wooo", Papa's sound for moving vehicles. 

Mah Mah reacted like it's the first time she heard Ning do this. I said, whenever we were on the roadside, Ning would do this. :D I'm so happy someone else shares my pride ;) Aside from Papa. Papa's already stepping up on naming things for Ning!

Ning (and Mummy) missed Popo & Gong Gong

We were just starting to eat with Mah Mah and Papa. And she asked "Popo, Gong Gong?" My heart just melted.

Then last night, or was it the night before, it was time to turn off the TV and say good night. She switched it off, then went to Papa first, first kiss, the "bye bye" for good night. Papa pushed her away, saying he's dirty, didn't want to kiss her and make her oily. Mah Mah did the same when Ning went to say good night. Then, she followed Mummy into the bedroom and asked, "Popo, Gong Gong?". She remembers the good night kisses and hugs Popo and Gong Gong gave her and craves for them.

How do I explain to Mah Mah and Papa, which actually matters more? Passing some oil over to Ning, or giving her love?

Ning shows empathy watching BabyTV

I've noticed her demonstrating exaggerated emotions like coughing/crying sometimes while watching TV. I thought she was sleepy and acting up at first. Then, I watched closer.

I saw her watch a bird being kicked by the hippo (by accident), and it fell over. It was suppose to be funny, but she coughed and "cried". Not long afterwards, Humpty Dumpty came on. The ball knocked Humpty Dumpty off the wall and off came his hat and he looked sad. Then she did it again! It's like she's telling Mummy, "Oh no! Humpty Dumpty fell down."

I wonder when she'll start trying to hit the "bad" characters on the TV, like the hippo. 

*grin*

Afternote (29 Apr 2011):

Today, the nursery rhyme came up again. This time, Ning is visibly and certainly distressed. She was already shouting out in distress before the ball hit Humpty Dumpty. I had to assure her that the fairy will make him alright at the end to prevent the tears from falling.

Slightly earlier, while watching "Love" ("Ai"), the foster mother was giving away the baby boy back to his birth mother, and the baby boy was crying and reaching for the foster mother and father. She stood in front of the television and pointed at the boy and at both parents, as if telling them and me, that he wants the foster parents to carry him! And she pulled Mummy to the television. I explained that the foster mother is very ill and may die, so she couldn't take care of him. She has to return him to his birth mother to care. Then she didn't pursue the matter anymore.

Whoa, complex!!!

First really awkward/disappointment situation with Ning

Last Saturday, something really awkward happened.

We were told weeks earlier, by our good friend, Kakak, her Mum was planning a birthday party and inviting us and the other neighbour with 3 kids.

Mummy was preparing Ning for the big day once we were told of the intent. Saying what a birthday party was, there'll be the birthday girl, lots of presents for the birthday girl, and cake, and lots of playing and laughing. We even went to pick out the birthday gift together, saying how she'll give it to the birthday girl. We'll put on a pretty dress and go over with the present and wish her "Happy Birthday!".

Up to the day itself, Kakak did not say anything afterwards, nor did her parents. So we assumed the party was still on. When the guests were arriving, lots of family members, we were surprised at the growing "small" party and thought we'd just stay half an hour at most for Ning to "party" with her Kakaks and Abang, then leave. We even asked Kakak, when she'll be expecting us over, we'll shower and come on cue.

When the last guests / family members arrived, Mummy was worried we were unfashionably late, so Mummy sent an SMS to Kakak. The reply came as a shocker for Mummy. Kakak says her Mum says there were too many guests already and Kakak cannot invite us over. The invitation was purely from Kakak. 

There was a gross miscommunication. Mummy should've checked with Kakak's Mum earlier. 

Now Mummy had the MOST DIFFICULT task of letting Ning down, that we weren't invited, she'd have to take off the party dress (Papa is really mean, we could've kept it on and went out to KFC in it), and we're not joining in the fun. Ning didn't cry, but she ignored Mummy, ignored the party hat and mask that Kakak brought over earlier. She ignored Kakak. I think, inside, she doesn't really know how to react. It is the first time she felt sour and ignored us. I suggested we went to KFC, which was one of her favourite places, for dinner to ease the pain. Put her on her overalls.

On the way out, she saw the party hat, reached for it. Mummy asked if she wanted Mummy to help put it on, she shook her head and swiped her hands at it, indicating she doesn't want it.

When we went out, she looked the other way, away from Kakak's house. I guessed she was still sad.

When we were almost at the lift lobby, Kakak called, to give us cake. Initially, I thought she wanted to ask us over, I didn't want Ning to be subjected to disappointment again, so I said, "It's ok, we're going out already!". Ning didn't want to walk back, even when Mummy had to go back to get the cake from Kakak.

At KFC, she ate and drank very little. Mummy's heart broken.

I felt like I shouldn't have let this kind of thing happen, especially when she's so young and understands what is going on.

We haven't had the chance to play with Kakak or Abang recently, since Popo and Gong Gong's visit, but I hope she'll still remember how happy she was playing with Kakak and Abang and not remember the incident for too long. Maybe I should throw the unpleasant reminders of a party hat and mask away, just in case.

She says goodbye to (good night) and kisses Popo & Gong Gong

The first few nights, Mummy carries her to kiss Popo & Gong Gong good night. Then Mummy sometimes forgets when Mummy's been trying to coax her into the bedroom.

Last night and just now, when she asked for milk and looked sleepy, Mummy said to turn off the TV and say "bye bye" to Popo and Gong Gong because we're going to bed for milk.

She walked to the TV, turned it off.

She walked to Popo, while Mummy went into the bedroom to close the window and turn on the fan, kisses Popo and says "bye bye". Then she did the same to Gong Gong, who was in the dining room. Mummy came out in time to view her saying and waving "bye bye" to Popo and the repeating with Gong Gong.

My heart just melted. Mummy planted many kisses on this sweet little girl afterwards :)

Ning's first independent somersault, in fit of anger

Ning was sleepy, we just returned from a long walk after breakfast.

To cut a long story short, she threw a fit today! For almost half an hour.

She was already sleep deficient and hungry. Mummy made it worse by bringing her to shower despite her protests. After that, she was inconsolable. She wouldn't latch on or lie down still. Even when carried, she was crying and all communications was down. So was sobbing. Mummy braved the teeth, and stuffed one nipple in, and she finally suckled to sleep.

But, before that, when I laid her down on bed, she pulled her butt up so high, hands and feet down, that she rolled over her head! She paused, surprised for a while, she'd probably laugh and try again under normal circumstances, but then, she didn't. Sigh.

I held her in my arms for full half an hour before moving her onto the bed and she suckled some more. We only slept 1 hour before she woke up and asked "ball?" Tried to nurse her to sleep again, but she was rolling about and asking for Popo and Gong Gong already.

She finally slept at 6:00pm, I'm so thankful. Hopefully she'd recover from sleep deprivation. We couldn't sleep at the chalet on Sunday because all around, people were barbecuing till midnight, and after that, our neighbors were playing mahjong till dawn! We checked out yesterday, skipping one night of paid accommodation for our sanity!

Wild Wild Wet on Monday

Wild Wild Wet only begins operation at 1:00pm on weekdays.

We arrived there at 10:30am. Early, and lots of time to kill.

Bought Popo a 2-piece swim suit, or tankini, and Gong Gong, a beach shorts, all for $38.80 there.

We went on the River a couple of times. Then stuck around the children's water playground for a while, going on the reduced scale rides. Once with Ning on the straight slide.

Mummy was wearing the cotton nursing top, it got Mummy stuck on the slides where the person has to lie down. Mummy had to use Mummy's legs to "walk-slide" down lying down. Such a damper.

All in all, I think Ning had most fun on the river. Mummy sat her on Mummy's tummy, holding my thumbs, floating on my back, so she sits facing forward, Mummy floated backwards, feet occasionally kicking off the bottom. She enjoyed the rapids, which sounded like "rabbits", so she was looking around for "rabbits" at first. Then when I explained, rapids, means rapid water, when we were going thru the rapids, she got it. And she says "rapids" whenever we approached choppy waters.

We were very tired, when we got home, we were so tired,  Popo slept before 9pm, no aches, no complaints, except for a little hunger. Gong Gong slept after a Guinness.

Lougong, thanks for everything! *muAcks*

She eats more with company

Today, she had 2 more playmates than normal. Popo and Gong Gong.

She drank 60ml of fresh milk, had loads of teaspoonfuls of soup with bee hoon (short strands, no piling), some tomato and a shred of chicken.

Popo asked her if the soup or bee hoon was nice, and she said, "ya!". Popo kept going at it, and she kept smiling, nodding and saying "yep".

Mummy's pleased.

Today, we went down as usual, but Ning quickly wanted to come up again. I'm guessing the thunder and dark skies are frightening, or she wants to go home to Popo and Gong Gong.

So, here we are. Mummy will try to feed her more tomorrow!

Yesterday, was almost perfect!

We watched just under 45 minutes (in 3 sessions) of BabyTV. Morning, when Mummy was preparing breakfast and Papa needs to get ready for work. Another session to feed her, after that we watched a yoga DVD, she joined in when the guy in Yoga Journal did the Downward Dog pose. After that, Mummy did another 15 minutes of Paula Abdul's "Get up and dance" workout DVD. She also danced, her own style :)

After that, we played together, her toys, played hide and seek with her toys, pretend to feed, toilet and wash the hair for her Baby Pooh and Mickey Mouse. Oh, she's funny at Guardian. Mummy pointed out shampoo for her, and she tapped under the spout, then put her hands on top of her hand, and swipes downwards a few times. She's indicating, shampoo is for washing hair. Mummy's delighted!

At night, she finished almost another bowl of vegetable soup. Earlier in the afternoon, a whole bowl with egg yolk. And in between, nibbled some strawberries, apples and mango, and then some yoghurt.

Today, I can't say the same. I smacked her buttocks 4 times because she poured out all the peas from the cup after I told her not to the first time. Then I asked her, do you want me to hit your buttocks? She nodded. I smacked her faster than I could regret it immediately after. She cried a little bit, more shocked than in pain. Mummy's very concern, I need more sleep, I'm losing my temper and finding her more challenging than I'd normally would. She's a real darling, and I shouldn't lose my temper and shout or hit her. After all, she's just 16 months old, what does she know right?

Bad Mummy. BAD Mummy.

Sad Mummy. Miserable Mummy.

Great morning!

Mummy didn't need to cook, except for some macaroni to go with the leftover cabbage with chicken soup from yesterday. Though she did not eat much, just nibbled a bit of strawberry and a sip or two of soup with yolk, we watched 15 minutes of BabyTV and off we go. We walked Papa to the MRT station, and sat on the koala bear ride on the way out. Papa let go twice, and I think it was just nice because she wanted out by the time the second ride ended.

After that, we went to KFC for chilled milo and had a bit of A.M. Twister there. An old man, really old and wrinkled and bent, sat beside us, greeting Ning with hand. Ning slowly got up and climbed onto Mummy. The old man exclaimed in Hokkien, what little courage she had. In my heart, I thought, that Ning was a smart girl, she knows when to be careful i.e. a stranger that's too friendly.

After that, we went into Guardian to window shop. She picked a few items, and Mummy put back a few items. All in all, it was pretty smooth.

Then we went up to the food court because she wanted to go up the escalator. That's when another stranger said heatedly that I would break her arms if I did not hold her from the underarms (instead of her hands). I thought that that was amusing, a bit on the rude side, but amusing none-the-less.

We went around looking at the foods on display, she wasn't that interested because she couldn't touch them.

And then, we reached a little ramp. We walked down the ramp and suddenly it was like a light bulb lit up in her head. She pulled me up, then she walked down again, walked up, then down, and walk backwards up the ramp and then backwards down the ramp. Well, Mummy was as delighted as she was that she found something so simple so amusing and fun. However, the passersby were not as delighted. Mostly concerned I'd let her walk into someone holding something hot I guess. So, Mummy told Ning we could go to another ramp.

When we reached the other ramp, she ran up and down a few times, then got distracted. She climbed 16 steps all by herself, holding the handrail. We walked home. Half way home, she wanted "up", so Mummy carried her. Then she said, "head" and tapped on Mummy's head. So Mummy praised her, "very good, head". She kept at it and nodded a few times before Mummy realized, she wants to "sit on Mummy's head", she was waving arms and feet when Mummy guessed right and put her up on Mummy's shoulder. She waved at a couple of ladies passing by smiling happily away, and those ladies were also laughing and waving back.

We got home, had a bit of red bean soup, showered together, and she slept after suckling for 10 minutes.

What a great morning!

Imaginative play?

She's been 'feeding' her soft toys, mostly teddy bears and other animals, whatever she eats since we returned from Chinese New Year in Malaysia. I think that's when she was about 14 or 15 months. It'd be really cute, she'd be gulping down her Yakult from the straw, when suddenly, she'd try to feed the ballerina on her shirt through the straw.

This week, when we were thumbing through the Dora the Explorer books, and saw a cake with candles on it, I said "cake", then she "scratched" the cake, brought her hand to her mouth, and make "um yam um" noises! She's pretending to eat the cake! She would also bring the Baby Pooh, sit her up, then tilt her so she falls down, and say "uh oh". Then see what Mummy does, which was to pick it up, kiss her head with a loud "muacks".

After that, I'd see her put her head to the floor carefully, buttocks high in the air, then lie down and say "uh oh". Then she'd stand up and tap her head, and say "uh oh", bringing Mummy on to kiss her head. Funny girl.

On a sadder note, yesterday, I was very tired, body aching all over and didn't have enough sleep. I just wanted to sleep, but she kept coming for me. She cried loudly when I try to sleep in the bedroom and closed the door so she couldn't get out. Then I tried to let her watch BabyTV by herself while I slept on the couch, but she kept coming to me for milk. Serves Mummy right for sleeping past mid night the day before. The worse, is yet to come, I shouted at her when she pushed the bowl of soup and it spilt on my leg and floor. Mummy is so regretful. Slept at 10pm last night to make sure Mummy gets enough sleep.

Hope today will be better.

Cat! Bat! Apple! While lifting flaps from Dora's Halloween book!

I used to say them to her, whenever she lifted the flaps.

Now, she says them as she opens the flaps!

Mummy's elated!

Just not my day...

Ning wouldn't eat most of the foods I cooked from morning.

The only thing she'd eat was the broccoli, after which, she spew the florets all over the chair and floor.

While I was picking up the broccoli from under her high chair, she passed urine, which leaked through the holes for the seat belt and got my hair and face wet.

I was too tired to be angry or cry.

The broccoli was oily, because I cooked it after the soup was ready, so the floor was oily too.

Strapped her in her high chair, turned on BabyTV and mopped the whole house.

Later, she wouldn't pee during her 1.5 hr toilet break, ended up peeing on the alphabet mat.

Wipe again.

Cranky at 4pm, nursed her in the bed room. Rough housed her in bed and she finally had a nap from 5pm to 5:45pm.

Mummy's so sleepy. Mummy's going to sleep latest by 10pm tonight.

Good night, Lougong.

2 more (total 16 or 20) teeth @ 16 months!

The lower left pre-molars and canine's sprouted!

It was a painful discovery as she started gnawing at my nipple when she slept the night before. I dug my fingers in between her jaws and found the buds at the lower left corner.

Sigh, hope she doesn't do this too often.

Very VERY painful.

Oh, and she says (pain)ful. Repeats the last syllable. Sigh, still in the mood to learn when Mummy was wincing away. Hmm, Mummy still in the mood to teach while in pain :P

Four more molars to go, one in each corner and we're done teething until year 5!!!

Baby, (mon)key, (rab)bit, (brocco)li, belt, jeans...

...bus, head, hair, tounge, soup, dog, cat, (cotton) buds, eyes, ice, (ee)ear, hat, jaw, toes, shoes, socks, boots, owl, (s)tick... The brackets are the syllables or sounds she'd leave out.

Can't remember all of them, but she's adopting the last syllable of multi-syllable words. It was so cute, she kept pointing at rabbit and say 'bit'!!! Some she's been saying for quite some time already, Mummy just haven't remembered it when Mummy blogged.

And she likes "uh oh", whenever bear topples over. Then she'd pick him up and kiss him on the nose.

She blew when she saw bubbles on television, and says "ball".

She'd follow Mummy's tunes more accurately now when Mummy sings, sometimes chiming in a word or two. Love the gal :)

Favourite game, hide and show!

She's got a favourite game for some time now, since I cannot remember when.

She'd use her hand to hide a picture or object, then she'd sign "where", both hands with palms facing up, and make the "where", "eh?" sounds, sometimes with the name of the thing she 'hid'. Then she'd bring it out, or remove her hand from the picture and say, "there"!

Hee hee, Mummy did that with the little mouse in "Goodnight moon" by Margaret Wise Brown. Think she picked it up from there.

Very easy game to replicate everywhere!!!

Jaw!!! E!

Ning's saying lots of words super fast, til Mummy has trouble catching up. Sometimes it frustrates her that Mummy can't figure out what she's pointing at and saying. In the meantime, I'm just pointing to other things and saying their names, hoping one of them matched what she was trying to say.

Just now, she traced my chin to my jaw, I said "chin", then she unlatched and corrected me, "jaw"! So confident she's right!

And something else surprised me, she pointed at the letter "e" on her shirt and said "e"! Her shirt's got "Girls love Summer FUN!" on it! And she pointed on the "e" on "love". I almost couldn't believe it was on purpose! She smiled knowingly. 

I haven't been teaching her alphabets for sometime already since she no longer tears the alphabet mat to chew.

Gotta catch up with her pace before she gets bored!

Bye bye, tissue!

We went again in the afternoon, first for tea time buffet at Hei Sushi, then to Daiso and finally to the Splash Park!

This time, we ordered almost the whole range of $2.18 sushi from the menu. Sigh, we should've looked closely when we went with Kakak and Abang the day before. We ended up eating more than 20 plates, between the two of us. Ning tried the Salmon Kakiage and fried lotus root all by herself. She asked for the edamame when Mummy said "peas", but spit it out immediately. I think it's because it's cold, unlike the frozen peas that I used for the fried rice the last week.

Ning did this funny thing. She kept touching the top covers of the sushi plates passing by on the conveyor belt. If I say what they were, she'd not touch them, just watch. Then suddenly, she said "bye bye" and waved at the belt. Mummy thought she was waving at some one passing by outside. Then I saw the wet wipes was missing. It was on the conveyor belt! She put it there and said "bye bye"!

Mummy quickly grabbed it before it went to the next seated table :P

It was so funny! We had fun repeating this, returning the wet wipes to her, then let her put it on the belt and say "bye bye"!

The waiter was so worried she'd mishandle the plates of food passing by on the belt too. One watched us like a hawk, very stern. Thank goodness Ning was only interested in the wet wipes / tissue. 

After the heavy "tea break", we went to the Splash Park and got wet, not really wet. No Kakak, no shower! She wasn't so adventurous, Mummy too. However, she did point to the shower excitedly and said a lot of words excitedly with "kakak"s in between. So, Kakak, Ning was thinking about you and the shower ;)

Round and round, spinning Ning

Mummy noticed Ning doing back ups and turning around lately. She really likes spinning around a spot.

When Mummy sang the "Tum tum chuin" song, she'd get up and do it some more. She said, "Spin! Spin!", laughs and spins!

Lovely! Maybe we'll watch a yoga or dance DVD together and see what she does *grin*.

A great day @ SSC!

Today is a great day!

We went out to Sembawang Shopping Centre with Kakak Nana and Abang Fariz. First we had Hei Sushi, the lunch buffet. The waiter ordered the Youth Buffets for both of them. I said, both were not even 13 yet, that's a compliment to Nana, Fariz and their parents :P

I think it was the first time Nana and Fariz had buffet. The uninitiated "buffetnistas".

So, we took the salmon gunkan, laid the salmon on the soy sauce with wasabe mixture, laid it back on the rice, and ate them. Sweet! Then we had the soft shell crab roll, and crab gunkan, crab stick (Fariz's favourite), complimentary udon, the chawanmushi, cola, mango juice, California temaki, and a lot more. Ning had some udon with soup, a bit of rice from all the stuff I put on her plate, and almost a whole gunkan with cucumber!

After that, we went to toilet before going shopping! Daiso, Comics Connection, Popular and then to TimeZone for Fariz's Animal Kaiser game! Then, it was time for the Splash Park!!!

Only Nana came prepared with spare clothes, besides Ning and myself of course. We were shy of the water features at first, Ning was even apprehensive, until Kakak's excitement and enthusiasm finally rubbed off her! Nana brought her through the "shower curtains" twice, and then she was hooked. She kept sweeping water off her face, but when I asked her if she liked going thru the "shower" with Kakak, she nodded! So off we went again :) From then onwards, she was on adrenaline! Like Kakak. She was saying a lot of things, mostly interspersed with Kakak, loudly, excitedly and VERY quickly!

After an adrenaline rush of half an hour, we changed out of the wet clothes after a quick shower (open). Then off we went to Giant, Kakak for some buns, Mummy bought a nice broccoli, and then back to Daiso. When we went out, it was almost 5pm, and there were shuttle buses waiting, so we took the shuttle back to Sembawang MRT, and the bus from Admiralty back home. Ning fell asleep the moment we were seated in the bus, all the way until we got back into the lift at our block. She was just exhausted. We all were, but I think, at least Ning and I were on a high from the day's happy events.

How about Kakak and Abang?

Ning's daily food intake...

Today, we've made "big" progress on the eating front.

She's still relying largely Mummy's breast milk for nutrition, but after a weekend of planning and 3 consecutive days of a persistently cooking and feeding Mummy, she's managed to eat:

5 whole pieces of fusilli (self fed with spoon, 2 assisted)
A few bites off a broccoli floret (previously pureed)
About100 ml of Milo
About100 ml of Ribena
About 3/4 cube of Laughing Cow's plain cheese cube
2 sides (the brown parts) of a piece of bread
A few cashew nuts and raisins
A few spoonfuls of yoghurt (mostly self fed, Mummy scooping, she puts spoon in mouth)
Half a bowl of soup with egg yolk
1 tiny bite of avocado
Few bites of half an apple

Hmm, I think that's about it.

She's managed to poo without diffculty that Mummy didn't even know when she was done, until she got up and I saw the big pile. Apparently, the dragon fruit consumed the previous afternoon helped. It's travelled out already :)

Papa's a BIG help too, coming home by 7:30pm to have dinner together! Thanks, Lougong!

Will persevere!

Teeth ("teef"), Hair ("heh"), Eye ("ah!"), Toe, Cheese ("cheez")

She's pointing to more body parts and asking for names. She said teeth after popping off the breast! She was sucking midway and pointing at Mummy's face and other body parts.

Mummy names them for her, and she's getting more specific. She'd point to the jaw, then to the temple.  Sometimes she'd point to a few spots of the same part, just to check if the name changes.

Clever girl!

She drew a ball

And said ball!

After Note: She drew the other lines after the ball, defined as a circular/rounded line that connects to itself. It's not perfect, but hey, she's just 1!!!

6 new teeth sprouted @ 15 months!

Mummy was quite surprised to find two additional tooth on top, making it 8 on top, and 6 at the bottom!
 
No wonder she was so cranky after the Chinese New Year trip :)
 
That makes a total of 14 teeth @ 15 months! Only 6 more to go (and no more teething pains, at least for a couple of years) for now!

Identified: The Rhino Song (from Youtube)

Mummy identified another song this morning!
 
She was signing song, with the "Itsy bitsy spider" action, swinging her arms side to side, because Mummy does it when she sings the "Incy Wincy Spider" song from youtube.
 
This morning, lying on the bed, she made a song request, action, then she "sang" to the tune of The Rhino Song!
 
The words were supposed to be,
"Mr Rhino,
Everybody knows,
You've got one tail, four feet, twelve toes!"
 
The tune and rhythm, was almost perfect, just need to fill in with words ;)
 
I'm gonna have to learn more interesting songs to our little song bird :)

First Swim in Public Swimming Pool

We went to the Woodlands Swimming Complex on Sunday, around 4pm for our first swim in public.
 
We love swimming but were daunted by the challenging task of showering after the swim.
 
The weather was just nice, cloudy but still warm. We changed into our swimming costumes and went in to the play pool first. The water was freezing cold! It was the most shallow of the 3 pools and had showers and a water slide. Ning was shivering and turning back almost immediately.
 
After carrying her around the showers and slide, we decided to go into the waist high pool. There, the water almost felt warm in contrast to the first pool. We went in and watched many big brothers and sisters, including little ones with their parents. Most of the little toddlers were wearing floats. Our Ning was one of the rare ones who didn't used any floatation device.
 
Ning watched Mummy and Papa take turns float and swim and she was so excited that she screamed and laughed at the top of her lungs. Towards the end, she was kicking her legs forward, went underwater towards Papa twice, and stayed underwater with Mummy and Papa, smiling!
 
All in all, I thought she really enjoyed the experience in spite of shivering a lot of the time.
 
Planning to go again soon, if weather permits!

Ning uses predictable actions to her advantage

When Ning wants to get the long stick that Mummy puts out of her reach, she uses predictable actions.
 
She'll get a little ball, or puzzle piece, one small enough to roll or throw under the sofa, and chuck it in there.
 
Then she'll go, "ah!" and over comes Mummy.
 
Mummy says, "aiyah, it's too far for Mummy to reach, we'll need the stick", but of course, Ning was already on her way to the stick and pointing at it so that Mummy can take it for her.
 
Once she has the stick, she's no longer interested in the item under the sofa. She'll go walking around tapping the floor and trying to sweep other things on the floor with the stick :)
 
Smart girl eh? Sigh, I'm one busy and outsmarted Mummy. Took me 3-5 times before I realized what she was doing.

Yay (and claps) !

She's been doing this all week!

Just today, she woke up and used the toilet early morning. When she finished peeing on the potty, she said, "Yay!" and clapped!

She'd finish knocking all the pegs in and drops her hammer, says "yay" and clapped!

Then she put the blocks up and knocks them down, says "yay" and claps!

So adorable!!

Poor ants!

I noticed a little black ant today and pointed it out to Ning.

She immediately started stamping her foot on the floor. She was trying to crush the poor little thing, but her aim was not perfect, so it looked hilarious. She followed the ant, foot stamping, to the door, and got on all fours, took her Minnie Mouse shoe and tried to swat it! It was really very funny to watch.

Later on, in the living room, an ant emerged from the foam mat, and this time, she got it with one stamp of her foot.

Poor little ant.

Mummy explained the ants didn't do us any harm, so we shouldn't crush it. How'd she like if someone crushed Ning (hand pressing gently down on Ning's head)? She shook her head. Then nodded when I told her not to kill ants anymore. Let's see if she remembers it the next time we see an ant.

After note: Later, Papa told me he taught her to kill the ant with her foot because she was doing it with her hand, to protect her. Shouldn't we teach her to walk away instead, lest she follows it to the nest and swats it...

More words: Toe! Draw! Straw! Go! Long white thing!

I heard more words this week!

She'd point at toes and say "toe"!
And when she wants the magnetic drawing board, she'd say "draw" and try to reach for it!
"Go" when she wants to go somewhere, and pulls at Mummy's finger.

"Long white thing", I thought I heard this twice, amidst her jabbering while pointing at my rice vermicelli soup. She likes it. Kept asking for more.

She's also showing interest in knowing other body parts, by pointing at Mummy's then her own. When I named the fingers for her, she signed "more", and I said it once more. Thumb, index finger, middle finger, ring finger, little finger.

Mummy's also restarting the flashing of cards, though not as vigorously as before. Only for when she is interested. Today, she pulled out "爸爸" and said "ba ba"! I'm so encouraged! Quickly pulled out mother, but no combo luck. Will try again tomorrow!

"Kakak don't"

She said this repeatedly yesterday while she was on the slide.
 
Kakak Anna was banging under the slide.
 
When Mummy and Kakak Nana realized what she was saying, we told Anna to stop and she did.
 
Then Ning nodded her head :)
 
Wow, she's piecing words together, soon it'll be sentences !!!
 
Earlier this week, she said "Papa, dog!".
 
Long time ago, she said "Put on".

Developing wit and sense of humour

She's beginning to develop a sense of humour, when she sees things that act or look unexpectedly.

We downloaded the "Twinkle, Twinkle" song from youtube.com. There was a silly looking sleepy boy in the video and she laughed at that!

She's also beginning to play tricks on Mummy.

Yesterday, while going to bed, she signed "toilet" nearly 10x just to delay going to bed. She only passed urine the first time. After that, she'd point and say book, and there, to indicate she wants something else. Smart eh... Papa suspected she didn't really want the toilet at bed time after the first sign, last week. I didn't believe it. It finally dawned on me when I was trying to put on her nappy and asked her for the snappy, and she acted like she was going to hand it to me before throwing it backwards and shaking her fists, "no more". Hahaha, I don't know if I should laugh and admire her tricks or be angry!

Yesterday was 3rd day without wetting/soiling diaper

Yesterday was the third whole day she went without wetting/soiling her diaper!

I played safe, put her in a diaper cover for outings and sleep. She'd show signs of needing the toilet, and when placed on her pottete plus (over the adult toilet seat) she went! So far, she's passed motion 2 mornings and last night. I think she feels quite safe on the sturdy adult toilet and with the pottete plus as her seat, she can even fold / pull up her legs and hold onto the sides (of pottete handles) while straining.

It first started earlier this week when she'd wake up after 11pm until 7am, every hour and roll back and forth, not wanting to drink, but unable to sleep continuously. Mummy was very tired from lack of sleep. So I thought, no harm bringing her to the potty, if she wakes it's no worse than waking up every hour, but if she goes, I'd get a few hours of continuous sleep!

The first night, she went to sleep at 8pm. Mummy went in about 9:30pm. She woke at 11pm, latched on, then unlatched and started the rolling, whine, try to sleep, then repeat routine. So Mummy asked, "You want to go to the toilet is it?" She stared a while, surprised Mummy was talking to her in the middle of the night, then she nodded! So, "Mummy take of your nappy yeah..." and put her down in the toilet and she passed urine like a waterfall! After that, she fell fast asleep before Mummy was done fastening her diaper buttons! The next time she woke was 7am, latched on for a while, then toilet again, waterfall and passed motion! What a relief!

After toilet, I'd put her in pants, telling her she's a good girl and can use pants now that she uses the toilet! I let her choose, between cloth diaper or pants and she chose the latter. Sometimes she'd be creative and shake her head at both, then I'd just put her in pants.

So there! We're almost done toilet training! Mummy's so relieved she doesn't have to worry about wiping poo off Ning's buttocks and washing smelly poo-soiled diapers for much longer!

Walking more and more!

Today we went out twice, and twice, she walked independently, unless she comes across an overly friendly stranger (who tries to touch her, or come near).

Especially in the evening, we walked almost 100m non-stop to the fitness corner.

I'm just afraid I don't give her enough opportunities. I can't seem to remember, what's the target for toddling from Doman's book. Gotta go check.

Eating more food now!

Her apetite seems to have been switched on!

She'd actually open wide for me to put the whole spoon in!

However, being the careful little girl she is, she'd open just a tiny slit to taste first. Once she finds it okay, she'd nod for more. Mummy's so glad!

Been feeding her mostly egg yolks with porridge, plums, bits of what I'm eating, even vegetables and minced pork. I think in total, she'd probably taken only 10-15 teaspoons a day so far, but it's a start! She's also drinking less of Mummy's milk, so I'd have to remember to supplement with cow's milk or water to replenish her fluids.

"Make" = Milk!

She's finally saying it consistently!

It sounds like "make", but it's okay, Mummy gets it!

Oh, these are exciting times!

More words! Car! Cow! Clock! Card! Take out! Put back! Dog! Cat! "Mutt" ("sock" in Cantonese)

She's been using them for sometime now, except cow, which Mummy was just shown this morning!

Car, for the IKEA toy cars, and when we're beside the road.
She was sitting on the potty, flipping the "Mr Brown can moo, can you?" book, and pointed to the cow, said "Cow!" for the first time! At least this is the first time I noticed! She's been saying "Clock" (mostly sounds more like "cock") and pointing at the clock in the book, and our alarm clock.

Card when she points at Mummy's booklets of cards (my EZLink farecard, credit cards, ICs, etc), and playing / poker cards, or anything that's cardboard like.

Mummy also just noticed, "take out". She pulled out one of Papa's cassette tape and hands it to Mummy, saying, "take out", unexpectedly. And I did. She's used "put back" with the "fook wa" or "bliss dolls" after playing with them on the rattan chair, simultaneously pointing to the dolls, then to their original place on the shelf.

Dog at the wooden puzzle from Yee Yee, and sometimes outside. Cat, very seldom, at the wooden puzzle or actual cat downstairs.

"Mutt" this morning. Picked up and gave Mummy a pair of socks. I put it on for her to see and said "mutt". She repeated after me, very clearly. She's also said, "yi chek" (this one, in Cantonese) right after Mummy said it when showing her which block goes into which hole shape.

And, (yay!!), she's been calling "Mama" more often now! And when she says it, she does it in a sing song manner, as if enjoying the words.

Oh, Lougong, our daughter's going to be able to hold real conversations with us very soon!!!

A note on letting go...

Some time ago, between the time when Ning was just starting to stand up by herself and the time she started to move her foot an inch or two forward, we started "letting go" of her hands. She usually complains a bit and sits down, but on the very rare occasion, she'd take a few steps.

Somehow, she let me know, I can't remember exactly how, that she doesn't like us "letting go", which was twisting our fingers out of her hands. It definitely did not feel good.

Try to hold someone else's finger very tight, and just because that person is stronger than you are, she twists it out of your hand. It feels really unkind. And she's holding on because she's afraid.

So Mummy made it a point to let her hold on as long as she likes and asks her to let go by herself. This way, she chooses.

At some point or other in the future, it'd be Mummy who'd be afraid she'd not want to hold Mummy's hand.

Better savour the moment while it lasts!

Ning's turning up the volume and testing limits

She's trying out her vocals a lot more now!

The most noticeable is her volume. She'd say things 3x, once softly, once louder, and another loudest, without yelling. She did this most frequently with the words, "Baba" and "Kakak".

Sigh.

No "Mummy" audible...

The best to date is, "Ma".

First time signing and peeing outside home!

Today, after breakfast at the nearby coffee shop, we hung around our flat's void deck. Mummy was blowing bubbles, it's quite cathartic, for Ning to chase. Ning chose to step on them instead.

She was racing against a boy, about 5 years old, who purposely slowed down to baby pace and let her over take him, what a nice boy. After she overtook him, she turned around and urgently started her "toilet" sign. Mummy signed the correct sign and she nodded. So we went to a quiet corner, took off her shorts, held her legs up, she squirmed and complained a bit, and she peed into the drain!!! A lot!

Mummy's elated!

Mummy kissed her, and praised her for peeing with pants off, keeping her pants, legs and shoes dry!

I've been trying a different mode nowadays, since she's been doing it every where but the potty. As soon as she's out of potty and not interested, back into her nappy. When we go out, and Mummy feels it's about an hour and half since last pee, will try to cue her. If she doesn't calm down or pee, will put it back on. I don't want to force her, just let her have the opportunity to let go, if she's ready.

"Calling" Someone is...

calling that someone with a telephone, at least to Ning.

Recently, when somebody approaches our home door, I'd ask her to call out that person's name. And she slaps her hand to her ear, as if putting the phone to her ear, then said the person's name.

When Papa opens the door in the evening after work, Mummy says, "Papa is home. Go call Papa," and she puts her palm flat against her left ear, to "call" Papa.

So funny.

New words: "Zi" (paper) and "zi sek" (purple)

It was breakfast time, and all three of us were at the table.
 
When Ning's thru with eating what we fed her off our own foods, she started to fidget and point to the egg rolls.
 
Mummy pretended to try guessing what she wanted, pointed at all other items and saying "Is it this blue piece of paper, is it that purple piece of paper?" in Cantonese. And it distracted her, she nodded. So Mummy passes her the purple paper. And she repeated after me, savouring the sound "zi", "zi sek".
 
And Mummy noticed, and praised her. She was so proud, and it showed :)
 
Sigh, Mummy's also swelling already.

To Alexandra IKEA for lunch!

We went to IKEA today, after Ning woke from her nap and had her milk.

Mummy brought:
1 jumper;
2 sets cloth diapers in zip-lock bag (both used);
100ml of Meiji fresh milk in bottle (drank 10ml; on breast 3x);
2 baby crackers (finished half of one cracker).

We played with their wooden toys, and she was particularly interested in toy cars, Lillabo vehicles. It comes in a set of 3, a bulldozer, a police vehicle and fire engine. It is well made, I tried pulling apart the wheels and dumping it from waist height to floor, to test durability, it could withstand my abuse. So, we bought a set. And the wooden pegs, hammer them all down, turn over and start again.

She made water, I denied it at first, when a boys mother spotted the puddle, until I felt her bumwear, it was wet. It was so embarassing. Went to change her, she was dripping and still holding and peeing. Found a cleaner, and asked to borrow her mop, but she said it's okay. Sigh.

Then we went and tried out the swings, chairs and tables. She climbed onto 2 types, the really sturdy$49 solid wood nursery chair, and the $19 AGEN rattan chair. No prize for guessing which one I got, the rattan chair. It matches our existing adult AGEN chairs and my butt can fit too!

Made our way back by taxi. The driver was very kind, he took umbrella and helped us carry our stuff to the void deck in the rain. Sigh, there isn't enough taxi drivers like him.

Will explore once a week from now on.

Pretty bored at home.

Singing 5 Little "Duck"s!!

Today, Mummy remembered an activity from "How Smart is Your Baby: 0 - 12 months".
 
Since she knew how to say "duck", I let her fill in the part Mother "duck", in the song. And she caught on! Very happy and excited! However, we seldom get past the third chorus together.
 
Sang "Hush little baby", she started filling in with "duck" at first, then Mummy mouthed "Papa" and again she caught on. Had a few laughs until she is finally sleeping about 3pm.
 
Funny girl.

More walks (without prompting) by late 13 months

She was practically walking the whole time we were at Kakak's house last week.

Mummy was finishing up the pratas for tea break around 4:00pm when we hear Kakak "fishing" for Ning's "Kakak" next door. Nana'd say "Kakak" just audibly so that if Ning's awake, she'd hear her. And Ning responded with a soft "Kakak", and then a louder "Kakak" until Nana heard her!

So, Mummy promptly brought Ning to the door and out for her afternoon outdoor play time, where she can roam in the play ground, or just around the block and stair cases when it rains. This girl loves climbing staircases for what reason I cannot fathom. She'd put one foot up, then lean back holding Mummy's hand and arch her back using Mummy for leverage to get her other foot up (turns out it's not as fun to just lean forward and pull up the other foot).

So on this particular afternoon, Kakak Nana and Abang were both in, they welcomed us to their home and soon, Ning was up and walking on her own. She seems to do this most often around Kakak and Abang. We played Ring a Ring of Roses around Ning, Peekaboo (Abang's best at making funny faces after hiding behind his door curtain), Choo Choo Train (with her as the head engine), a paper aeroplane and just went crazy with Ning walking.

The main reason, I think, she walks so freely there, could be their living room is so expansive and free from clutter! I quickly removed the center piece (her music centre) and rearranged the living room, and she's also standing up to walk more often at home now!

Hopefully, she'd be a professional walker by the time lunar new year comes! Hehe, then she'd free her hands to do the "gong xi" greetings and grab ang pows! :D Just kidding :)

First time @ SSC Water Playground

We went after lunching at Ajisen, about 2pm. It was cloudy and drizzling on and off.

The playground flooring is shock absorbent type. There were lots of water jets and features, as well as a sheltered play area with slides, climbing rope nets as well as rotary play things.

In the beginning, Ning just watched, there were so many children running and shouting, most of them much bigger than she was. Then she walked towards the water features.

She'd skirted around those water jets shooting from the floor for a while. Then, she leaned over to take a look at where the supposed hose was, only to have her face shot by the jets. She laughed. Then, having wet her feet (and face), she ran over two or three jets getting all wet, until this big boy released a jet he was plugging with his foot, just as Ning ran over, the water shot into her nose, I think. That's when she cried, the complaint kind, "Hey, Mummy, that water jet wasn't suppose to come into my nose!" and have Mummy pick her up. She sneezed a few times, naturally, to expel the offending fluids from her nasal cavities.

After that, we went around looking for less "violent" water fountains and found one with slow streams flowing out in a spiral. There she stayed quite long trying to grasp the streams of water and smiling all the way, until Mummy noticed she was shivering. Mummy asked, are you cold? Do you want stop, change clothes and go home? She shook her head, determined to catch that stream of water.

Mummy decided it was long enough, didn't want her to catch a cold on her first play trip at the water playground.

After that, we went to Daiso and before long, she was tired. She fell asleep in Mummy's arms while nursing at 5:30pm and went straight to bed when we reached home.

Hee hee, I think there'll be more visits to Sembawang Shopping Centre in the future!

Perfect pitch Ning

Well at least to me.

I turned on the television last Friday just as the Hokkien series "Love" theme song was played. I've been tuning in almost daily for the past 2 weeks, 7pm.

She was going "ah ah ah" and butting in and out against the tv bench to the tune of the song, note for note, after the show started!

I was VERY impressed by how accurate her pitch was! Now I'm going 2 pay extra attention to her "singing" and figure out which tunes they are!

Pouty Ning

Her new look, pouting her lips and making the "ooo ooo" sound.

She'd do this when climbing steps, bending over, or anything that takes effort.

Funny.

We don't do it, wonder where she picked it up from.

She walked across the living room last night

all by herself while holding Papa's phone. And a bit more. That's more than 10 steps!

She was at first holding Mummy's hand, and she wanted to hold on to Papa's phone which was playing her favourite song, "Happy Birthday". She was putting down the phone, then holding my hand, then picked it up and repeating this until Mummy said, you can let go and walk with Papa's phone, and she did!

10 little steps all on her own. That's one BIG STEP in her life!

Ning's Sporting Cheeky Looks

She'd clench her teeth and smile, as if she knows or plans something we're not aware of.

One word, cheeky.

Will try to get it on camera :P

She's been playing chase with Mummy doing the chasing. She'd ask for milk, we go into the bedroom, lie down, she'd drink a bit, rolls over, broad cheek smile and laugh, and off she goes, backing down the bed. Daring Mummy to chase her and bring her back on the bed. She'll do this until Mummy's tired and won't play along. Then she'd either go out, or come back onto bed and cry til Mummy gets up or she tires.