My Chili Padi – 7 month old July 30, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in baby signing, development, Zaria.27 comments
Zaria recently has shown some of her ‘spunky’ side, I’m not sure if it’s her constant exposure to a screaming, shouting, demanding toddler, or she’s now just slowly ‘blooming’.
1. She now knows how to tell us what she wants.
E.g. When she sees me and wants me to carry her, she’ll look at me while kicking her legs and flapping her arms towards me and babble happily, “Ugh! Ugh!”.
She does the same when she sees a toy she wants, and her arms will be trying to reach for the item (or her stare will follow the object of desire) while doing so.
2. She knows how to fake a cry if what she wanted was denied.
E.g. When I walk on without carrying her, she’ll fake a cry, “Eh-Heh.. Eh-Heh.. Eh-Heh” with eyes fixed on me.
3. She now knows how to insist on her demand.
E.g. If I don’t give in to her fake cry, wave bye bye at her, and disapear, her tears will start flowing, and she’ll start arching her back, straightening legs, and bawl.
If I picked her up, she’ll stop crying immediately. It’s the same when the toy she wants is given to her, she’ll stop her crying, and immediately play with the toy happily. That’s one thing good about her, she gets pacified easily.
Last Sunday, Zara got a baloon twisted to the shape of a bear from 1U.
I took it out for Zaria to play at night. We were all seated on the bed, Zaria on my lap happily took the baloon from me. Zara who was reading with daddy a foot away in front of us, immediately snatched the baloon from Zaria, and said, “It’s mine! Not meimei(‘s)!”
Zaria reached her hands out, and did her fake crying (2) but Zara ignored her.
The next moment, Zaria just lunged forward; by straightening her legs and kicking very hard with her arms reaching out towards Zara, she propelled herself into Zara’s arms; but Zara was quicker, and held the baloon high up above her head. Since Zaria miss her airm, she bawled!
Both Daddy and myself just stared at each other, and said, “Wow”. I said out loud what we both were thinking, “Looks like she’s going to be chili padi. “
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Other things the little girl can do :
1) Sitting without support : she can balance herself when she leans forward, but still not very good in regaining her sitting position if she tilted to the side.
2) Twist her wrist (as though saying No more)
3) Babbling wider range of sounds, e.g. Ba Ba Ba Ba, Ma Ma Ma Ma, Mum Mum Mum
4) Signing MILK when she wants me to give her milk
She likes to :
1) Blow raspberry
2) Straighten her legs to stand (of course very much supported), sometimes preferring this over sitting
3) Burry her face on my shoulder, suck on any of my expose skin (shoulder, arm).
4) Eat – she loves her solid and milk. She’s taking 2 x 2 tablespoon of cereal/fruit or vege puree daily, and then taking 6~7 times 3.5~4 oz milk feed.
She has 2 lower central incisors now, the right one appeared early this month, while the left one sprouted last week. Her latest mischief : biting on me when she’s nursing. Unlike Zara, where I only have to tell her NO twice and she stopped biting me totally for the 1.5yrs she was nursing, little chili padi is still doing it after many times of saying NO to her. She even gives me the cheeky smile after biting, showing me her 2 cute teeth, declaring her innocence!
Disciplining Zara July 25, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in language, parenting, Zara.43 comments
I’m the ‘bad’ guy who disciplines Zara at home. I use scolding, occasional smacking and when she’s really naughty, I’ll be putting her in the naughty corner.
There are times when I try to ‘discipline’ her and she ends up putting a smile on my face (although I try not to let her see that).
We were walking to the park, and she was irritated with something and started whining. I yanked her hand and stopped, stood still and looked at her. She took a glance at me, smiled and said, “Haha, I’m so grouchy..” Immediately, she stopped the annoying behaviour and walked on.
She was touching the ‘untouchables’ in MIL’s place (glass deco items), she refused to listen when we told her several times not to touch them, and eventually broke a piece of the glass wear. I told her, “Maybe I should put you in the naughty corner!”
She gestured to the living room corner which was filled with deco items and said, “No, the naughty corner got too many things, I cannot go” o.O”
And there was this time, she was crying for no reason for a long 15mins, so I sent her to the naughty corner. Daddy came to the rescue after a moment, and told her she could come out of it. With tears, she replied, “Cannot! Mummy put me here one!” and then looked at me arms stretched out, “Mummy, I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
To her, since I’m the one who placed her there, I have to be the one who forgive her.
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There are times, when I see myself in her.
I’d heard her said this to the maids often with a very serious face, when she disapproved of their smiling.
“It’s not funny!! It’s not funny you know! You don’t laugh!”
And she’s ‘scolded’ Zaria for crying, “Mei Mei, you don’t cry! You stop crying! Mummy is working you know. You don’t disturb Mummy.”
I’d heard her said this to her Mr Blue, “Look at me! You go shopping you must hold hands yeah?! You don’t hold hands after you get lost! Then you have no more mummy!”
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And recently, she started talking back.
I had been ‘scolding’ her the whole day since she was whiny and cried for the smallest reasons. At night, when I was brushing her teeth and snapped at her again, she told me, “Mummy, you are like a wicked witch la. You always scold me la.”
I didn’t know if I should laugh of be angry with that statement, so I remained straight face and told her, “Mummy scold you sure got reason, ok? Mummy don’t simply scold you.”
End of conversation, for now.
Our Weekend – Short Takes July 23, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in misc.40 comments
On Friday :
Daddy and I travelled 1hr 15mins to Midvalley (rain + Friday evening == jam) and had dinner in Isthmus. Price is on the steep side, but food is hmm.. so so. Don’t think we’ll go there the second time (we try not to step into Midvalley if it’s not absolutely necessary).
On Saturday :
Brought Zara to Julia Gabriel to attend the Edu Drama class. This is her trial class. She was a bit shy, and was more interested in the masks hung up on the wall of the classroom than listening to the teacher. Not sure if we’ll sign her up for this yet.
Confirmed with my colleague in Singapore that it was indeed a very good concert. I convinced Daddy, and managed to get him to drive me to Midvalley and got these with 15% discount:
On Sunday :
I bought more duck eggs from the wet market and did another batch of these :
Bought a good block of Parmessan, some portabella mushrooms and yellow oyster mushrooms from Village Grocer. Cooked for Daddy and myself this for lunch (I swear it tasted better than it looks) :
Baked two dozens of these and sent some over to the neighbours (we have great neighbours, let me blog about this one day) :
And of course, I played with the girls
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I was going to the toilet frequently since the start of Friday, and had burning sensation when I pee. Went to the doctor and confirmed I got Urinary Tract Infection! Dang! The 3rd time I’m getting this since I got married (and the last round, I had to be hospitalised for 5 days because of high fever). But I think I’m getting better already after I started on the antibiotic.
Rock Around The World blog
July 19, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in misc.
16 comments
BabyShern, May adn Sasha in her Tag & Such blog (btw, why nowadays people always have more than one blog huh?) presented me with this cool badge :
Thank you thank you thank you. It’s such a great honour. I wonder if my old calcium deficiant bones can still rock, but I’ll try!!
(Borrowing the pom-cha-cha rabbit from eHon)
And now, my turn to pass on the badge! There are lots of wonder mums, super mums, multi-tasking mums out there who rock. It’s hard to choose, but then I’m always amazed how these full time working mums can cope without a maid, and yet they still rock! So, this is to :
The girls’ ability July 18, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in language, notable, parenting, pregnancy, Zara, Zaria.24 comments
Zaria was taking her nap in the noisy living room.
We were playing different types of music so Zara could dance to it.
We had Jackie Cheung blasting one minute, Eva Cassidy singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow next, then Carly Simon’s Itsy Bitsy Spider.
Zaria slept through the noise, not even a stir from her.
We then changed the CD to Vivaldi’s Spring.
We saw Zaria responding to the tune. She opened her eyes, listened a bit, blinked, then rubbed her eyes, and she started turning around, trying to find the source of the tune (the speakers) sleepily. It seemed she’s remembering the tune, which I played to her weekly (I have 7 sets of clasical tune which I alternated daily) with an mp3 player since I was four months pregnant with her. She rolled to her stomach and liistened without moving for half a minute before wriggling about again.
Ever wonder if a babies could recall things that happened when they were in their mother’s womb? I think they can based on this experience.
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Our paed gave me a sample tin of Neslec 1+. I thought I shouldn’t waste it, I let Zara have it on Sunday. After she’d taken a few sips, I stopped her and asked, “This is a new milk mummy is giving you, nice or not?”
Zara replied, “Not nice, old milk nicer. Old milk creamy creamy. New milk taste like mucus.”
I thought she was trying to be funny, “Taste like mucus meh?”
Zara replied, “Yeah, salty salty one.”
I took the bottle from her and had a sip, “Let mummy try.”
True enough, the milk is a little salty just like mucus.
I think milk companies should hire Zara to taste their milk since she has such acute sense of taste and able to describe the taste using lay man terms. >.O
A Charity Tag July 17, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in misc, myself.comments closed
Simple American has given me this meaningful tag.
A blogger with the tag, Idham has pledged to contribute RM127 to the Darul Izzah Orphanage for every completed meme, how can I not do this? This meme MUST be completed by August 26 2007.
What do I have to do? I only have to complete 17 (yes, only SEVENTEEN) sentences from the list below, and then I drop Idham a comment to say that I have completed the meme . So I just fill in the blank info for the list below and Idham shall contribute RM127 to the Darul Izzah Orphanage! Easy Peasy. Here it is:
1. A person is only as good as ….
2. Friendship is always at its best, when the friends stick around even when you are in difficulty.
3. To love is to give, and never expect anything in return (I’m talking about motherly love, girl/boy kind of love is different).
4. Money makes me …
5. I miss …
6. My way of saying I care is by spending time with a person.
7. I try to spread love and happiness by loving my children, and hope they will be happy, and affect people around them.
8. Pick the flowers …..
9. To love someone is to accept the person as it is (something which is very hard for me to achieve).
10. Beauty is …..
11. When I was thirteen, what I remember the most was trying to adjust to an all girls’ secondary school. (Where are the boys?)
12. When I was twenty one, I remember having a horrible boy friend and gosh, am I glad those days were over.
13. I am most happy when I hear my girls’ laughter.
14. Nothing makes me happier than … (see 13)
15. If I can change one thing, I will change my age of having my first kid. So I can have more energy to play with them, and I could enjoy their company earlier.
16. If smiles were equal to blessing then I’m very blessed as I get lots of smiles from my girls.
17. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could afford holidays all the time and not worry about work or money?
18. If you want to be … then you have to ….
19. Money is not everything but …..
20. The most touching moments I have experienced is experiencing the birth of my girls; nothing can describe the emotion I feel when they were placed on my tummy/arms after they were delivered.
21. I smile when I know my kids love me and need me.
22. When I am happy …. (see 13, 14)
23. If only I don’t have to …..
24. The best thing I did yesterday was to bring the girls to the park, and then let them have some fun.
25. If I ever write a book, I will give it this title, “My Two Girls” (what else?).
26. One thing I must do before I die is to visit the Grand Canyon
27. Doing this meme, I feel like I’m doing something good.
And now I pass this on the following people. You too want to help the kids at the orphanage right? And of course you the other people, you can volunteer to take this meme on if you so please. I tag:
Hope you can do it since it’ll help some orphans.
Other things she says July 16, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in language, Zara.23 comments
These are some things she said recently which is ‘worthy’ of me keeping a record.
After her bath, she came out crying and screaming, she said, My petpet spicy“
I think she probably touched herself with soapy hands in the bath, but ‘spicy’? What a way to describe it.
She called Sam (my niece) on the phone the other day, I heard her said :
“Why you so long didn’t come my house?
You want to come?
I have kite you know
You can play with it, no problem.”
She was trying to tuck her ‘son’ Mr Blue to sleep on her bed.
“Mr Blue. I’m mummy Zara.
You feeling cozy?
It’s cozy here right?
You good boy?
Mummy (referring to herself) sometimes good girl, sometimes naughty girl.”
We saw a kite at our neighbour’s gate front, I asked if she knew what happened to the kite, she replied, “I think the wind suddenly stopped, so the kite fell down lok”
We showed her the wedding photo of the world’s tallest man in the newspaper, and Daddy told her about marriage : a man falls in love with a woman, the man tells the woman “I love you” and then asks her “Will you marry me?” and then they get married.
Zara came to me and said, “I love you mummy.” “Will you marry me?”. Awwwwwwwwwww..
Some of you wanted to know what was Zara’s reaction to my spots :
When I mentioned to her I was going to zap all my ‘moles’, she asked, “painful or not?”
I told her ‘Aunty Doctor’ is very clever to zap, not painful.
“Mummy, I also want to zap my mole, my mole on my knee” (and she pointed her little mole on her knee)
I told her that my moles are different kind of mole, it’s because I’m old already, so I get these moles. She didn’t have to zap hers.
When I got back from the doctor’s. She said, “Mummy look like leapord. Aunty Doctor zap zap mummy’s moles. Mummy old already, got lots of moles.” That’s also the explaination she helped me to give to the curious parents at the park.
Buds Super Soothing Rescue Lotion July 11, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in notable, Zaria.39 comments
Zaria likes to put her hand in her mouth and she drools a lot; the combination of these causes her cheeks to be constantly soaked in saliva, and therefore rashes formed. Zaria’s rash is pretty obvious in her 6th month post.
It did not get healed or prevented by the Mustela Hydra Bebe Facial Moisturising Cream that Zara used daily; nor the L’occitane Mom & Baby Balm that I was using as a prenatal cream.
On Sunday, when we were shopping, a sales assistant recommended us to use Buds Super Soothing Rescue Lotion on her, her shop was out of stock, so we had to shop else where. At Babyland, I found the cream, packed together with Buds Super Soothing Hydrating Bath Wash and Buds First Aid Lotion, selling at RM79.90. I bought it, and started applying the Rescue Lotion on her cheeks immediately when we got home.
Her rashes clearing
I thought I have to blog about this product because I do see improvement in Zaria’s cheeks. Her rash is definitely clearing up. The product is made with 100% essential oil and plant extracts which is safe for babies. It has a very pleasant scent, and supposed to be very gentle on baby’s skin. It was primarily created to treat and sooth ezema.
I used the First Aid Lotion on my itchy spots, and it helps to reduce the itch too. I tried the Bath Wash and I really like the tea tree scent and the soft and gentle bubbles.
Those who are looking for a good natural baby product, you may want to try them.
Protected: Spotted July 10, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in bitching, myself.Enter your password to view comments.
Zaria ~ 6months July 6, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in development, Zaria.39 comments
Height = 68cm
Weight = 7.1Kg
She’s able to :
~ sit very well when supported; momentarily balance herself when not supported.
~ grab an object held out for her
~ pass object from one hand to another
~ babble and scream, doing vowel sounds most of the time, like aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiii, ooooooooooo, aaaaaeeeeeee, eehh-ooooh
~ respond to her nick name, meimei, and at times, Zaria
~ rolls back to front, front to back like a pro now
~ check out a new object by looking at it, shaking it, puting in her mouth, or touching it
~ demand for something while staring at it, and crying
Eating :
Eating her solids well, so far have been giving her home made cereal (brown rice, millet, quinoa) with either potato, pumpkin, apple or carrot, and she takes them all.
Typical feeding schedule : 7am milk, 9am 2 tbs cereal, 11am milk, 1pm milk, 4pm milk, 6pm 2 tbs cereal, 8pm milk, 10pm milk. Midnight, feed on demand.
Not sure how much milk she’s taking, but I think it’s about 3.5oz per feed (that’s the amount she’ll take from the bottle). She nurses directly from the breast most of the time.
She started sleeping through at about 8th week; somehow when I went to Singapore for work last month, she started waking up for milk again. However, it’s more of comfort feed then real feed, as she just have a few suck before dozing off again.
Starting to have a habit of shaking kicking her right leg while nursing.
Temperament / Emotions :
Doesn’t cry much (definitely less than Zara at this age and even at 31months), and when she does, she’s either sleepy, angry or got a fright; and is easily calmed or pacified.
She doesn’t mind anybody carrying or playing with her, but she knows Jelly (my Filipino maid) and myself are her main care givers, so she’ll look out for us when she wants to be comforted.
When she wants me (to play with her or feed her), she’ll squael with delight when she sees me, and will cry when she sees me walking out without giving her the attention.
Archs her stomach when she is displease.
Very patient and good temperament.
She’s taking 2 long naps in the morning and afternoon, and then a short 30mins nap in the night; her bed time is 11pm just like Zara now.
She loves to watch Zara dance, and Zara always have a way to make her squeal with excitement and laugh.
She seems to like books, staring at the pictures, or trying to grab it to put in her mouth.
She loves to watch TV too; when Zara is watching Baby Einstein, I’ll let her watch together.
What is your superpower?
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