Zara’s Speech Development September 25, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in development, language, Zara.Tags: language development, speech development, toddler
24 comments
Zaria was playing, and lost her balance. She fell down and knocked her head. While comforting Zaria, I asked Zara : “Why didn’t you catch meimei when she fell?”
“Because.. because….”
Me : “Because what?”
Zara : “I’m not super man” o.O
Me : “You don’t have to be super man to catch meimei”
Zara : “Because.. because.. (probably working on a better excuse) I’m not a safe-ter.” 😐
Fair enough I guess.
She woke up at 7am.
Zara : “Mummy I want milk”
I wanted to sleep for another 10mins so I told her to wait for a little longer.
Zara : “But, Mummy I want milk!”
Reluctantly, I got up : “Ok, we go she-she (Chinese : pee) first.”
Zara : “Mummy, I’m tired, don’t want to she-she.”
Me : *About to lay back down on the bed* “Since you are tired, then you have your milk later then.”
Zara : “I’m tired, but not that tired, mummy. I want milk. o.O”
She has also started using, “anyway”, “Oh Well”, “It’s like”, e.g. :
When I don’t entertain her when she comes to the study “Anyway, I’m going down stairs now.”
When one of her toy doesn’t work “Oh well, never mind. I’ll do this then.”
When asked why she likes the potong ice cream “It’s like ermm.. very creamy, errm.. cold and sweet”
I don’t know how she picks up some of the words she uses and applies in her day to day speech. Maybe it’s from us who speak the Queen’s English Manglish at home, maybe it’s from TV (my limit is 3 shows a day, and no, we don’t have Astro or cable TV at home. She only watches my selections of DVDs or VCDs).
She uses “Me”, “I am”, “You are” pretty well these days. She doesn’t speak that well all the time. Nowadays, she is trying to use feminine and muscular form in her speech… so some of the phrases can come out like this :
She name is lamb
He name is Mr Blue
And then past tense for her means adding “ed’ at the end :
The car spoil-led
I stand-ded on the naughty corner
The milipede died-ded.
It’s fun to see her development in this area, and sometimes it’s amusing too. Daddy and I can never have enough of this.
Small Girl Using Big Not so Big Words
September 5, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in language, myself, parenting, Zara.
47 comments
On a day when she had flu and she knows she can’t have anything cold :
“Kakak you warm up the ice cream for me la.”
On Daddy’s drinking in the restaurant :
“Daddy, you don’t drink beer la, after you mabuk (Malay : drunk) laaa.”
On her not able to handle her umbrella (kid’s size) in a windy, drizzling day :
“Mummy, I cannot handle any more. *Passed me the umbrella* You help me la.”
On me choosing her a DVD to watch (as she kept asking for the same one to be played in the evening for the past week) :
“Mummy, why you so stubborn one? I said I want to watch this show la, not that show.”
On Daddy blocking her in the toilet (Daddy brushing teeth and she needed to use the toilet bowl) :
“Excuse me Daddy, your big back side blocking me la.”
On me not wanting to bring her to the mini market :
“Mummy, you don’t be so selfish, you bring me to the mini market also”
Thanks to Leap Frog, we saw her using phonics the other day (nobody prompted her, she just picked up a book and did it):
*Referring to a picture of cat* Ke-ke-ke-ke Cat
*Referring to a picture of fish* Fe-Fe-Fe Fish
*Referring to a picture of a yo-yo* Ye-ye-ye-ye Yoyo
*Referring to a picture of a diamond* Die-Die-Die Diamond
The last bit made me laugh!! But, anyway, she got the concept right.
Notes : I’m the culprit who speaks with all the ‘la’s at home. Daddy has been ‘advicing’ me not to use so much la in my conversation with her, as she’s picking up all these from me. But I’m Malaysian la!
Innocence August 24, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in language, Zara.26 comments
Occupation
Me : “Zara, Maisha’s (our neighbour’s kid) daddy is a pilot you know. Do you know what a pilot is?”
Zara :“Pilot fly(ies) plane.”
Me : “Maisha’s daddy so clever right?”
Zara : “My Daddy even more clever. My daddy is a driver.”
My personal Trainer
In the park, Zara : “Mummy, come, chase me.” *started running away from me*
Me : *stayed put*
Zara : *turned back and stood in front of me* “Chase me mummy.”
Me : “Mummy lazy.”
Zara : “No mummy, you must exercise. Make you strong. Come, run with me.”
Nursing
During dinner, I was telling Daddy, “I need to quickly finish my dinner, so that I can nurse Zaria.”
Zara : “Use stethoscope?”
Whiney Zara August 20, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in parenting, Zara.26 comments
Don’t be fooled by the face, she’s very capable of driving you up the walls
The whining started on Friday.
“Tomorrow we going cinema?”
“Yes.”
“The cinema turn off lights one?”
“Yes. But it won’t be very dark, because the big screen like a big TV will be very bright.”
“I’m scared, I don’t want to go.”
“But mummy and daddy will be going with you.”
“But I don’t want to go.”
We brought her anyway, and in the cinema, she sat between Daddy and I. Mid way through the show, Ratatouille, she started saying every now and then, “I want to go home!” “I don’t like the cinema.” “It’s too loud.” “It’s too dark.” “I want to go home”. Luckily, the whole cineplex was booked by our company, I allowed her to walk up and down the stairs next to the aisle, she was entertained until the movie was over.
Then on Saturday, she started her whining again.
“I don’t want to go to school.”
“You just go and have fun.”
“It’s not fun la. I don’t want to go to school la.”
“You go and learn new songs and read new story books. Maybe you’ll get to play with sand and water this week.”
“But I don’t want to go to school.”
Daddy even said, “Maybe we should stop her, she seems to be traumatised by the whole thing.” (Whining == traumatised? *roll eyes*)
We brought her anyway. I was supposed to have 15mins play time with her in the class (parents are allowed to be with the child the first 15mins), but when she got into the class and I was getting seated, she told me, “Mummy, you go out and wait. You don’t stay here.” o.O
After class, we met with Chanel and family in the market. Zara was whining the whole time, “I want to go home, I want to go home.” Even crying pitifully. But when we brought her to Wisma Bakti for a warehouse sales (the place was full of slides, see-saw for sales), she was happily playing and forgot that she needed to go home.
In the evening, Daddy asked where she wanted to go.
“I want to go One Utama.”
“What do you want to do there?”
“I want to go buy something.”
“What do you want to buy.”
“……. I want to go look at people walk here walk there.”
In the end, we just went and had dinner in a Chinese restaurant some where in PJ and Zara was whiney again, chanting “I want to go home” the whole time, even while enjoying her fried fish.
It’s really getting very difficult to bring her out these days, she only wants to do her own things, or else, she’ll be chanting ‘I want to go home’ throughout. Very annoying, very ‘fan’ 烦. Haih.
Zara Singing August 17, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in development, language, Zara.41 comments
Here is the girl singing in one of her better mood (allowing me to capture her on Video shows she’s in better mood or she won’t cooperate with the camera).
Can you also spot Zaria entertaining herself at the background?
Weekend is coming, and she’s started the I-don’t-want-to-go-to-school conversation again.
This time she’s saying, “But I don’t want to go.”
“But It’s not fun.”
“But I cannot come out.”
She even said, “After say ‘You cannot go out!'” (stressing “You Cannot Go Out” in angry tone).
When I asked her who said that? Did the teacher say that?
She replied, “Kakak said” (as in our maid). *slap head*
Finding excuses again..
Haih….
Reluctance August 13, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in development, language, parenting, Zara.34 comments
On Friday, we told Zara we’ll get her a school bag for her to bring to school on Sunday.
Zara : “I’m going school tomorrow?”
Me : “No, on Sunday. Tomorrow is Saturday.”
Zara : “I go school tomorrow tomorrow?”
Me : “Yeah, it’s day after tomorrow.”
Zara : “I don’t want to go to school.”
Daddy : “Why? You can learn new things and be clever.”
Zara : “I don’t want to be clever.”
Daddy : “Why don’t you want to be clever?”
Zara : “Because I want to be a clown.” o.O”
Me : “Never mind, you just go and play and have fun then.”
End of conversation 1.
Zara : “I want to go see monkeys. I don’t want to go to school.”
Me : “We can go to school then we go and see the monkeys.”
Zara : “I want to see the monkeys first!”
Me : “The monkeys are going to school in the morning, because they need to learn how to climb trees, how to shell a peanut. So they won’t be around in the mornings. We can go and see them after your class.”
Zara : *thoughtful for a moment* “The monkeys go to school and frighten the teachers then.” o.O”
End of conversation 2.
Zara : “I don’t want to go to school.”
Me : “You just go and have fun Zara. Do your painting, play with the slides in the school. Just have fun.”
Zara : “I don’t like the park in the school. I like the park on grass one. That one no grass, not nice one.” (The school has an in-door play ground)
Me : “But you like Gymboree, there’s also no grass in Gymboree too.”
Zara : “I don’t like Gymboree. Our park in XXXX YYYYY got grass, is even more better.” (XXXX YYYYY == the name of our residential area) o.O”
End of conversation 3.
Zara : “I don’t want to go to school.”
Me : *for the xth time* “School is fun Zara, just go and have fun.”
Zara : “But I scared.”
Me : “Mummy and daddy will wait for you outside right?”
Daddy : “If you have any problem, you just come out and we’ll be there.”
Zara : “I open the door and come out?”
Daddy : “Yes, we’ll be waiting for you outside.”
Zara : “If I have any problem, mummy and daddy will be there?”
Me : “Yes. We’ll be outside. But I don’t think you’ll have any problem, so after class, you can come out and we’ll be waiting for you, ok?”
End of conversation 4.
Zara : “The dinosaur will go to the school and attack the teachers.”
Me : “Then what will happen to the children?”
Zara : “The brachiosaurus will play with the children. The T-Rex will attack and kill the teachers.”
Me : “Zara, there are no more dinosaurs. They are all dead.”
Zara : “All die already?”
Me : “Yes. All dead.”
End of conversation 5.
So how was she in class? When I said my good bye, I told her we’ll wait for her outside; before I left, I put my thumb up and mouthed the word “You’ll be ok?” Her eyes were a bit wet, but she nodded her head.
I went in and checked on her again when they were playing in the indoor play ground. “Mummy waiting for me outside?” She came forward and asked. I said yes, and told her to have fun.
Basically, she was ok in class, according to the teacher. This time, she didn’t even tell the teacher she needed to leave to go to Lake Gardens like she did every now and then last week.
I wonder if there’ll be more of such conversations every weekend when it’s time for school again.
Going To School & Dragon I August 6, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in development, language, Zara.35 comments
We’d started sending Zara to play school once a week since 2 weeks ago. It’s a 1.5hr per week pre-kindergarten program which includes lots of play time (sand/water play and gym), with a bit of singing, reading, and phonics teaching.
Unlike Julia Gabriel Edu Drama class (which we eventually didn’t sign her up), I cannot be with her during lesson.
She cried the 1st lesson when I had to leave her (adviced by school to let them handle her even if she cried); separated by 2 doors, we could still hear her loud wailing. She stopped 20mins later, when they started doing sand and water play as well as painting.
Yesterday, she shed a drop or two of tears when I left her. Telling me with trembling lips, “Mummy I want to go home.” I just said my goodbyes and told her I would wait for her outside. She was ok throughout, but kept coming out when she had a chance to tell me, “”Mummy, I finish already. Can go home now?” The teacher told me she was ok in class, but every now and then, she would ask the teacher if she could leave to go to Lake Gardens to see the brachiosaurus (the teacher actually asked how Zara knows such words). o.O”
After lesson, we heard her saying to herself, “House is for mouse. Mouse lives in a house.” (they were probably doing the ‘ouse’ sound in class) and also singing some unknown songs. Looks like she’s already picking things up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Saturday, we went to Lake Gardens. After which, we thought of having dinner in Hakka Restaurant.
Daddy : “Zara, we go to Hakka Restaurant for dinner ok?”
Zara : “No No. I want to go Dragon I. I want to eat the noodles there. Because the noodles there is so nice.”
Daddy : “But Hakka Restaurant is also nice.”
Zara : “No. The restaurant is too loud (even though she may not know where Hakka is, she always use this excuse to get us out of a restaurant). I want to go Dragon I. I want to eat the juicy pow. The juicy pow and the noodle very yummy one.”
Daddy to me : “Er, where is the nearest Dragon I?”
Me : “Mid Valley.”
Daddy to Zara : “Ok. Daddy bring you to Dragon I.”
(See, if I asked Daddy to bring me to Midvalley on a weekend, he’ll say I’m crazy. Whatever the daugther wants, he’ll just oblidge.)
Zara ate 1/3 bowl of plain la-mien (Chinese : Noodle) with a serving of 4 juicy pow xiao long bao (Chinese : pork dumplings). At least she ate what she said she wanted, and that made Daddy happy.
I know I’m fat and whiney August 3, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in language, parenting, Zara.36 comments
Zara wanted Daddy to show her some pictures on the computer, but she hasn’t taken her bath yet. So I nagged told Daddy : “Get her to bath first la.”
“If you start showing her now, she won’t go for her bath.”
Then to Zara : “It’s almost 10pm. Zara, you go and bath first.”
“You don’t bath, mummy ask Daddy not to show you huh?.”
“Go, go and bath first.”
Zara spoke scornfully, “Mummy, you stop it! You stop whining ok? Enough of whining ok?”
o.O”
~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was talking to Daddy casually while flipping through Donna Hay’s recipe book.
“Eh I think I’ll be fat if I was a chef, look at all the food I would be cooking.”
Zara heard what I said, and joined in, “Mummy you are fat wut.”
“Your stomach like pregnant wut.”
o.O”
I know I’m fat, you don’t have to remind mummy ok?
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.
~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~
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!”
~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~
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.
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
What is your superpower?
All About Zara and Zaria 