18 Months Updates

I’m 18 months today. No height and weight measurements this time as my checkup with the doc is another 3 weeks away so will update on that later….I’m much taller now and I think I’ve definitely put on some weight but overall, still kind of petite.

Teeth – still 6; 4 on top and 2 at the bottom. No idea when are the others are coming out, no signs at all.

Speech – a whole lot more words since Mummy’s update. She forgot to mention that I make words up for those I cannot pronounce properly.

thank you : “ta ta”
balloon : “noh-noh”
music : “peh-pik” (every time we’re in the car, I will be asking for my music to be played)

I’m also more expressive these days;

get down : “get dum” (mummy is trying to correct this as she says it is not nice to get dumb)
put back : “pu bak” (when I’m done playing with my toys, I will get mummy or papa to put them back)
don’t like : “don yike”
don’t want : “don wan”
oh no : “o no”
oh dear : “oh duh”
oh my god : actions only – I will put both my hands on my face

I’m making more sentences as well. Most of them will sound baby-ish but mummy and papa can roughly make out my sentences. This morning I asked papa “wa u wan?” (what you want?).

I also recognize objects easily and will inform mummy or papa when I see familiar things. For example, I recognize the star on mummy’s clothes and will point at it and say “star” or when I notice flowers or bubbles on tv, I will go “fa-wah” and “bub-bles”.

I can also say “soh yee” (sorry) now but when I do say this, my hands will automatically go on my head (actions taught by Aunty Ng, my caretaker at the nursery).

On my physical developments, I’m jumping and skipping around these days but will be told off when I’m doing this on mummy’s and papa’s bed.

Busy Saturday

Last Saturday was a packed one for us as we had 3 functions to go to. It started out with the picnic Aunty Ng (my caretaker) organized for the nursery in the morning. It was held at Taman Tun Dr. Ismail’s park and most of the kids from the nursery went. Other than the mini treasure hunt activity which Mummy took part in, we were also playing at the man made beach there till I got sun burnt a little (Mummy didn’t know that there is a stream there for us to play so she wasn’t prepared to bring sun protection or my swimming gear). It was a pity that we had to run off to Tristan’s (Mummy’s friend, Aunty’s Jocelyn’s son) birthday party in the afternoon so we left early.

Jesslyn and Cecelia looking after me

Felicia and her mummy (Mummy's treasure hunt team) helping her to finish the water from the baby bottle

Felicia showing off her finished bottle

The no.1 team (actually, mummy's team finished first but since mummy drank half of the bottled water by opening the cover initially as she didn't know so her team opted for 2nd place instead)

My cot-side buddy at the nursery, Shon, whom is 3 weeks older than I am

Taking a dip in the man-made beach, down the stream

All warmed up and having fun

The elder kids playing in the water

The rest of the kids having their fair share of fun under the hot sun

Shon, also having fun, although he looked so serious

Aunty Alice (one of the caretakers at the nursery) assisting me as I blow for bubbles

Aunty Ng (the owner of the nursery and also my caretaker aka as yee-poh) and I

We were late for the birthday party so we missed out the cake-cutting session. Nonetheless, we still had our fair share of the buffet spread and I pigged out with their creamy pasta and cheese cake!

Posing with the birthday boy, Tristan

Later in the evening, we went for dinner with Grandpa and Grandma as Ah Kong, Ah Por (my paternal grandparents), Peh Deh (papa’s elder brother) and Aunty Mei (Peh Deh’s wife) were down here from Penang for the weekend. They left on Sunday morning and I will be seeing them in less than 2 weeks for Peh Deh’s wedding…yes girls, he’s no longer available! Will post on that trip for sure as I hear we stand a strong chance to finally meet up my blogger friend, Lucas. We knew each other way before we were born. ;)

My Room

When you look really hard into the clear sky at nights when there are loads of stars to see, you will come across my name….

sorry, not very clear as the ceiling is white in colour but you can roughly make out the word

Impressed yet? Haha, this is what I see anyway at nights in my room. Papa had the itch to stick those glow-in-the-dark stars stickers several nights ago. He had been saving these for 15 years and now he has decided to put them up in my room. He allowed me to stick them first on the wall and then later, when I was asleep, he went on to finish my whole room, even on the ceiling and this is the outcome.

My room has always been there before I was born. I guess it became my dressing room as I’ve yet to sleep there, just a few day naps recently.

The first decorative peace in there would be the curtains. Ah Por (my paternal grandmother) sewed it for me.

Aren’t they nice?

Then the second decorative items in there would be the “photo gallery” Papa made in my second month.

It remained like this until I was nearly a year old when Mummy bought some letters and decorated my door with my name.

The final one (hopefully there will be more!) is the recent stickers. Mummy was really touched with Papa’s effort on this. I wonder what else will he do to my room…I hear that there are other stuff which he got that he has yet to put in there. Maybe when I’m ready to sleep in there.

Happy Father's Day!

I made Papa a decorative card for Father’s Day at Aunty Ng’s yesterday. It was really fun as all of us took turns to paint on the paper plate. I was allowed to paint it myself and I think it became a mess so I was assisted along the way and this is the outcome…

Papa has yet to see it as he has been away for the last 3 days and will be home tonight…so this is my welcome home present for him. Happy Father’s Day Papa! :)

Mummy’s entry – Monkey See, Monkey Do

Rye Li is at the stage now where she loves to mimic others around her. We were at 1 Utama two weekends ago and we were in a children’s shop, browsing around. This girl, noticed that I was looking at the display of children’s clothes and she followed suit.

Later on, at another store, I happened to squat down and was looking at some things, this girl came next to me and squatted as well and touched those things that I’ve touched before.

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Rye Li usually sees me doing my facial regime at nights ever since she was a baby and lately, whenever I’m doing this in front of her, she will copy my actions as well. When I dab the face toner on my face, she starts to pat her face. When I put on my eye gel around my eyes, she starts pointing at her eyes or rub them. When I put on the moisturizer on my face by rubbing them gently on my skin, she will start pointing all over her face.

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She has also learnt more words. I am amazed at how fast she is picking up new words all the time. When I ask her to say a word, she will always have a go at it. Most of the time, they are never pronounced properly but you can tell that it is the word she has been asked to say.

For example;

O-ren for orange

Eh-pa for apple

I’ve also taught her to say her Papa’s name and she will say “den-nissss” (Dennis). When I asked her to say my name, she will go “neen-nee” (Syn Nee). My mistake for teaching her, her Papa’s name first as whenever you mention “name”, she will go den-nisss even when I asked her what is my name. She will also out of the blue say his name for the sake of saying it (of course I’m a bit sore as I was the one that taught her to say these…haha).


She cannot pronounce the “K” sounds so when you ask her to say “kor kor” (Chinese for elder brother), she will say “tor tor”. When I ask her to say “kong kong” (Chinese for elderly men and in this case, her paternal grandfather), she will also say “tor tor”.

When I ask her to say car, she will go ”tar”.

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At times, she will surprise me with words that I’ve not taught her and I assume it was at the nursery that she picked these words from. For example:

I was putting on her clothes after her shower one day, and when I took her shirt to put it on her, she pointed at it and went “Nais!” (nice). Luckily she says this most of the time for the clothes I chose for her.

One night while she was lying down in her cot, drinking her milk, she started scratching her neck and she looked at me and went “chi-chi” (itchy) and indicated to me that she wants me to scratch for her. Now, there are a lot of “chi-chi’s” just so I can scratch for her.

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And now that she can say “I wan” (I want), it is always “I wan” this or “I wan” that and she surprised us one day when she answered us “I wan” when we told her no. She stressed it some more with “aaiiiii waannnnnnn”.

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Few days ago, I was talking to Aunty Ng (her caretaker) about a picnic that she is organizing. We mentioned the word park and this girl went “pak, I wan pak….pak. I wan wok-wok(walk)”. Her papa used to take her to the park nearby our place to walk and she knows what “park” means. I’m also surprised that she can remember vividly what the pavement of the park looks like as when she sees her photos on our pc at home, she will say “pak”.

can u believe that she can recognize this picture as the park's? and this was taken in March!

I’m in between very proud and at the same time “why so fast?!” about her speech ability as she knows how to manipulate it to get what she wants. Even if she doesn’t get her way, she knows how to annoy me with her whines.

Jealousy

I don’t like it when Mummy or Papa carries other people’s babies or children. I get real uptight and will start to show how upset I am. Last week, Aunty Ng’s nursery was closed for a week and I was at Ai Yee’s (Mummy’s sister) place where Kakak (Ai Yee’s domestic assistant) looked after me during the day while Mummy and Papa were at work. I didn’t mind this as Ro Wyn cher cher (my cousin sister) and Jo Tien kor kor (my cousin brother) were around to keep me company as well.

One of the evenings when Mummy came to pick me up, she hugged Jo Tien kor kor and Ro Wyn cher cher and I started protesting big time. It didn’t work and I showed my temper and tried pushing them away from Mummy. That didn’t work too and I started kicking and scratching and pushing Mummy. I got told off by Mummy for this.

Over the weekend, I got to hang around with Mummy and Papa on their bed. Mummy was hugging Papa and I got really upset about this. I was standing next to Papa’s face at that time and out of my anger, I kicked him in the face! I was reprimanded by Mummy immediately by saying that I am not allowed to kick people at all and that it is rude and I cried. She didn’t give in to my cries and put me on the floor where I cried louder. She asked me to say sorry (my sorry is by putting both my hands on my head) to Papa but I didn’t want to so she just left me on the floor to cry. After several minutes of them ignoring my cries, Mummy asked me whether I want to get back on their bed and I stopped crying and nodded “yes”. And she asked me to say sorry and I put both my hands on my head.

This is the first time where I showed my jealousy when Mummy and Papa were hugging each other. I never had a problem with them kissing or hugging each other before. Is this a sign of me growing up already?!

My new found hobby with my stroller

These days I only use my stroller to sleep




or to push around





I don’t like to sit in it and be pushed around. As you know from the previous post, if I’m not walking, I'll get Mummy and Papa to carry me!

Mummy's entry - 'oopsies' while handling rye li

Just last week, while carrying Rye Li on the way down to our car park via the lift, I accidentally knocked Rye Li's head against the wall while entering the lift. At times, I do forget that she is not part of my body and hence, will subconsciously do things like how I will normally do.

And this brings me to realize that this incident is one of many 'oopsies' (accidents) that I've encountered while handling her ever since she was born. Actually, there was this one oopsie when I was 5 months pregnant with her. Again, I forgot that my tummy is already showing and while entering this narrow public toilet, I closed the door, hitting my tummy while doing so. It hurt like mad and I was so worried my baby also got hit. I was apologizing to my little baby then.

Ok, the following are the other oopsies:-

1. Scratches

My nails were cut short when I delivered her (a reminder by hubby that I have to do so for his sake but he still got deep scratches from my already cut nails during the delivery!). Anyway, as the weeks go by after delivering Rye Li, with the hectic lifestyle of a newborn baby, I obviously didn't get the privilege of 'My-own-time' and hence, no time in cutting my nails. So, there were a few oopsies where I did scratch her with my nails. Of course, they were not deep ones but since a baby's skin are extra fragile, the effect of just one light scratch is pretty obvious no doubt. Whenever this happens (yes, it happened several times till now, like I said, no time-lar), I will definitely cut my nails that day itself when I got the chance.

2. Bathing time

You know how slippery a baby can be in the bath. No, I didn't drown my baby but there were a few incidents where she slipped off from my grasp and nearly swallowed some water. There was this one time when she was laying down on her bath chair placed in her bathtub. I just looked away for a second to take her towel above me with one hand holding on to her and when I turned back, I realized the bath chair has slide off and lying flat on her bathtub. She was also lying flat and the water level was covering both ears but her face was still above the water. I immediately picked her up when I saw this and this girl was so calm, not even a reaction from my panicky state. (I think she was about 4-5 months old then).

There was also this one time (ok, maybe twice but I swear that this is it) that she actually slipped down to the side of her bathtub and her face went into the water a little. She probably swallowed some water too but she did not cry from this.

After the above oopsies, I was so glad when she can finally sit up on her own but then I still was very careful because I was still using her bathtub to bathe her. I felt a whole lot better when I stopped using her bathtub and resorted to just showers for her, while she sit on a stool. Initially, I worried that she will slip and fall when she stands up on the wet floor but now that she has mastered walking and all, she is more stable.

The recent oopsie during bathtub (and I hope final) was that the shower head fell right on her head last month. After her showers, I will place the shower head back to its position which is situated at the top, hooked to the wall. Before this oopsie, there was once when I placed it back, it 'popped' back out from its placing and I managed to catch it in time. I should have realised then that this can pose a danger to my girl but all this while, this has never happened while I showered her. And true enough, last month, after showering her, I was putting it back to its place and didn't realize it came out and fell right on top of Rye Li's head. Ever since then, I have left it hanging down.

3. Knocks

As mentioned above, I accidentally knocked Rye Li's head against the wall while carrying her. That was not the first time. There were a few knocks she had while entering the car and onto her car seat. As I said before, I do forget at times that she is not part of my body but instead, sticking out from my body. I am mostly careful while carrying her especially when I was using the baby sling when she was much younger as her head will be sticking out. But when you are rushing for things and have too many things to think of, you do forget at times.

We have also accidentally knocked into her while we are at home. Since she is so tiny, it is hard to realize that she is next to us at times and hence will tend to walk into her. So far, nothing major, just little knocks or she will just fall on her bum.

4. Falls

Rye Li has fallen a few times off our sofa but it is always on to her play mattress on the floor. She has also fallen while walking or running.

The major fall that she ever had was during our Bangkok trip where she fell off the baby cot there. That fall could have been avoided if I had some sense in me to make sure the latch go in all the way. You see, the latch couldn't go in all the way, just half way at both ends so I took it for granted that it will be alright. The baby cot's railings are those that open outwards. And I witnessed the whole fall (I was several feet away from her), how she was walking along the railing when the railing gave way and her body followed suit, flying out from the cot to the floor. I cried along with her as I felt so stupid for not ensuring her safety - I have been so careful ever since she was born till then in making sure she doesn't fall off her cot at home or from our bed as I've heard too many stories to scare me and then this happened. I still cannot forgive myself for this - Thankfully, she was not hurt from that fall.

Before this fall, I have been so paranoid about her falling off our bed that I had encountered many nightmares whereby I will wake up suddenly from my sleep thinking that she is falling off and me trying to grab on to her. I have startled hubby many times by this as I will immediately sit up from my sleep and grabbed on to whatever was around me at that time. And as always when I had these episodes, Rye Li is sleeping soundly in her cot!

Before you start thinking what a horrible mom I am, please note that all these were accidents, not intentional at all and they do not happen all the time, just once in a blue moon! And yes, I do feel remorseful after that especially when I realized that certain ones could have been avoided. Other than the fall off the baby cot and the shower head episodes, there were no more huge dramas and I sure pray that there will not be anymore. I hear it is common to see your little one go through bumps and falls that will even cause bleeding. I hope this will not happen to me...

Not just pillows or my baby sling

Last night, Mummy was changing my bed sheet and my pillow cases and chucked the old ones on the floor. I happened to tumble across them on the floor and picked one and started sucking my thumb. And then I noticed the other pillow case and picked that one up too. And I was caught red handed by the camera…

Hijacking Mummy’s pillows

It all started when I was around 8 months old or so. You see, at that time, I refused to sleep in my cot. I will cry and when I wake up finding that I’m already in my cot, I will also make a fuss. That time, my cot was situated at the bottom foot of Mummy’s and Papa’s bed.

So Mummy decided to move my cot to her side of her bed. It sort of worked a little while till I got cranky again, insisting that I want to sleep with Mummy and Papa. Mummy doesn’t mind this but she is afraid that I will fall off the bed especially when she needs to get ready for work in the mornings or when Papa is away for work.

Then Mummy notices how I used her pillow to sleep when I’m on her bed. So she decided to lend me her pillow to sleep in my cot then and it worked. In fact, not long after that, her pillow became mine so Mummy was pillow-less for several months till she took another pillow from my room (yes, I have a room but it has been a guest room all this while).

About a month back, this new pillow of Mummy’s has also become mine! Mummy used to take it back when I’ve fallen asleep but since whenever I wake up for milk or in the mornings, I will fuss that I want it back so she has totally surrendered all her pillows to me. She is still pillow-less now and told me that she’s going to take some of my savings and buy herself a very nice pillow!

the pillow at my head is Mummy's first pillow and the one in my arm, is her second one

Lazy to walk

Lately, whenever we go out, I will request to be carried all the way. Walking is something I rarely do when we go out these days unless I see something that fancies me.

Even when Papa takes me out for walks to our condo’s swimming pool and garden, I will request to be carried. If they put me down to walk, I will lift up or curl up my legs and arched my back, protesting to be carried.

Mummy is amazed at this as just earlier this year, I went through a phase where I didn’t want to be carried all the time when I know how to walk. And now that I’ve mastered walking and running, I want to be carried all the time. She complaints that I’m to heavy to be carried so Papa will be the one carrying me most of the time or she will use the baby sling if I want her to carry me.

Mummy has heard that there will be a stage where toddlers who know how to walk will want to be carried all the time but she didn’t expect it so soon.

Going home from Aunty Ng's

Mummy has been wondering whether I’m the only one from Aunty Ng’s nursery that refused to go home when it is time to go home.

The last few months, the only way for me to follow Mummy into the car is to have Aunty Ng giving me some biscuits so that I can enjoy them in the car ride home. And Mummy has mastered giving me biscuits at the back seat while she is driving (pretty dangerous, but she will tell me to wait when she can’t pass some biscuits to me).

Mummy also noticed that I don’t seem to be interested with the fact that she has arrived at Aunty Ng’s to pick me up. I’ll be at the baby’s room and will be carried out when Mummy has arrived. Thus, I get preoccupied with the elder kids playing in the living room when I’m being carried out and I will not show any reaction seeing Mummy. I will just tend to look at Mummy for a second and then my eyes are always staring at the other kids.

So today, Mummy was in Aunty Ng’s kitchen when Aunty Alice (one of the caretakers at Aunty Ng’s nursery) took me out into the living room. I only realized that Mummy was in the kitchen when she called out to me. I just looked at her for that split second and then I went on looking at the other kids play.

Mummy asked Aunty Ng whether I’m the only one there that does not show any interest in her Mummy and Aunty Ng reassured her that there are others too like me. But Mummy still think otherwise as she has noticed many times how happy the other kids are when they see their Mummies or Papas.

She has come to a conclusion that I’m lonely at home – either this or that she does torture me like how her friends and family have claimed when she tells them that I refused to follow her home!