Mummy's entry - reasons to move or not to move Rye Li to her room

The following are reasons are why I should move Rye Li into her room:-

1) She is getting complacent with her cot. She even asked to go into it when she wants to sleep!
She prefers her cot than sleeping with us most of the time.

2) Her room has always been ready even before she was born. Lately, we have added some
things in there like wall decorations, little table and chairs for her to play/write/draw on.
The bulk of her toys have been moved from the living room to her room and eventually, all
of them will be moved into her room too.

3) We will be planning for No.2 soon and hence, we will need the cot.

4) Our room is not big enough to have a cot as well as another bed/mattress in there. Ideally, I
don't mind Rye Li sleeping with us but since our room is not big enough, we have to settle for
her room.

5) It would be nice to get our room back again to ourselves (although I know it will take me
some time to get use to not having Rye Li's cot and her next to me)



The following are reasons are why I should not move Rye Li to her room just yet:-

1) When I need to do things, be it in the late nights or early mornings when Rye Li is still asleep,
I have the assurance that she is safely in her cot and also that she is not able to move about if
she's awake. Unlike if she's in her room, I'm not sure what will she be up to although her
room is safe.

2) When I'm in the shower while she is asleep, I can hear her when she wakes up and usually I
will tell her that I'm in the shower, to assure her that I'm around. If she's in her room, I won't
be able to talk to her although I would be able to hear her since we have the baby monitor.

3) For "convenience" sake. For example, it has been a habit of mine to watch tv while putting
the girl to sleep since she was born. Those days, while breastfeeding her at nights, I will
entertain myself with the TV. Then when she got bigger, she too will watch along with me but
only the commercials...other times, she will just play around on the bed. This was how I kept
up with my shows (Korean/Chinese dramas, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, etc). However,
lately, there are not many good shows (and I don't have Astro) so it is only Monday nights
that I will watch tv (CSI and Criminal minds, only when hubby is around coz I also get
spooked by the gory details of these shows). I know, I know...this is a bad reason! And there is
no way will I put a TV in her room.

For the time being, my decision is that I feel I should not move her just yet for my convenience sake (not the TV reason ok but the fact that she is safely in her cot). But I am planning for this after our trip as I will need her to get use to her room especially when we will be planning for No.2 soon. Anyway, I am anticipating for either one of us or both to be sleeping in her room for a while when we start this. I pray the process of moving into her room will be a smooth one for us!

My first hair cut!

Finally Mummy agreed to a hair cut...all three of us went for one yesterday. She said that if I let Aunty Eng-Eng (papa's friend) cut then I will have one as well.

Initially, when we entered the salon, I was just staring. Papa cut his hair first while I warmed up to what was going on around me. Mummy kept telling me that after Papa has finished, then it will be her turn and then it will be mine. I agreed. Then it was Mummy's turn while Papa entertained me. Aunty Eng-Eng brought out the chair that I was supposed to sit on and Papa asked me to sit on the chair in between Mummy's session to allow me to get used to it.

When my turn came, I willingly sat on the chair while Aunty Eng-Eng did her work. I did move around which all of them kept asking me to look into the mirror to see how Aunty Eng-Eng cut my hair. It was all done in 5 minutes or so. I only trimmed my back so Mummy can still tie my hair except that she won't have to trouble herself to tie my fringe anymore since I cut them off.

Papa said I now look more like a "Hailam Mui!" (Hainanese girl).

Nursery (Day Care) activities

Aunty Ng (my babysitter) organises monthly activities for her nursery for both parents and kids. It was only this year that I got to join in on the events since I'm old enough to enjoy them.

The first was the picnic at the Taman Tun's Park earlier in June. Then in August, there was a kite-making session where one of the kids' parent volunteered to teach us how to make a kite at the park at Taman Tun. Initially, all of us (adults and kids) sat down listened attentively and started making our kites. Eventually, the adults took over and most of us kids were running about and playing while the adults made our kites.

see how attentive we were, even I was listening

helping Papa to make our kite

hanging out with the other kids while our parents made the kites

i got bored hanging out with the others so i asked to play at the stream instead

papa's kite flying

Two weeks back, there was a lantern festival party at the nursery and we also attended, bringing along my lanterns (I have two now). Mummy thought that I would be interested in playing with mine after my first experience but I was more interested with one of the kids' musical one. Later on, I was more interested in playing on the swing in the garden.

with one of my care takers, Aunty Alice, the lantern i'm holding is not mine, i like it coz it's a musical one

the only nice full-shot mummy managed to get that night

Jesslyn cher cher (big sister) feeding me, she loves pampering me at the nursery

the girls, Alinda, Des Ree and Jesslyn posing with the lanterns

happily being a monkey on the swing

Later, Megan Cher Cher joined me as well

And then a whole lot more of the other kids joined us...poor papa, had to be the only big kid as he had to hold on to me

When it was time to leave, I made such a huge fuss as I didn't want to leave. I cried all the way home.

Singing

Finally, Mummy got to capture this...it's been hard for her to record me singing as I usually won't cooperate. Also, the Chinese song is hardly sung to me by papa so it was an added bonus.

p.s. please excuse papa's mistake in the wordings of the nursery rhyme...he never sung it before till i came along!

Fashion Consultant

When Mummy goes shopping and tries out clothes, she will bring me in to the dressing room with her. I used to be very obedient and played by myself while she tried out the clothes.

However, lately, I've been giving her my opinions too!

Just over the weekend, she was trying out some pants and I didn't like them. So I kept telling her

"don yike pants" (don't like pants)

"don wan pants" (don't want pants)

"mummy, pu back pants" (put back pants)

and when Mummy asked me whether I like her pants (the one that she was already wearing from home), I answered "em, I yike" (Em, I like).

But she ignored me anyway and kept on trying the pants, several times. She even went out and get some more to try even after I protested with my "don wan" and "don yike".

Since I couldn't get the message across, I started playing with the dirt on the floor and that got her attention. Also, I think I annoyed her as I kept telling her while she was trying out the pants

"open door", "i wan go owchide" (i want to go outside), "mummy, open door, i wan go ow" (i want to go out).

She had to rush whatever she was doing and when we got out, she complaint to papa that she is not going to bring me in anymore.

As for the pants she tried, she bought them anyway. Hmmph, maybe there will be some other people who will appreciate my opinion!

Being Bold

I’m getting bolder and bolder these days.

Mummy just punished me in my Naughty Corner and after I was left to wail myself out for a while, I calmed down and Mummy came to me and explained why I was being naughty. Then she asked me to say sorry and after numerous attempt of her asking me to say this (I’m stubborn remember?!) I put both my hands up on my head and then said “soyyee mummy”. And then I showed her my tongue.

I guess I caught her by surprise and as I walked away, she grabbed me and put me back to the naughty corner and told me that it is rude to point my tongue out at people. She wanted me to say sorry again but I totally refused and tried walking away. She held on tight to me and asked me to say sorry but I refused again and tried to set myself free from her grasp. I couldn’t free myself so while I made a fuss, Mummy asked me to say sorry again. I had no choice but to do so again by putting my hands on my head and said “soyyee mummy”.

And then I quickly walked away from Mummy and went to Papa and I laughed at him. And then I put my tongue out again and as Mummy started scolding me again, Papa said “she’s not doing it at you la!”. But I showed her my tongue and moved my body from side to side as if I’m jeering at her and mummy said to papa “and what do you call this?!”. Papa was just smiling and I got away with that….don’t think I will be so lucky next time.

Mummy's entry - Yikes!

Received this from my cousin the other day "You are what your pregnant mother ate". Read briefly through it and my first thought was "No wonder" and it also validated my assumptions all this while. That is, why Rye Li's eating habits are also like mine. :D

Some of the things that they have to say (taken from http://www.gulfnews.com)/...

Children whose mothers eat junk food during pregnancy and breastfeeding are more likely to overeat, choose an unhealthy diet and grow obese later in life, according to research using rats published yesterday.

In the study, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, researchers took two group of pregnant rats and gave one a diet of junk food such as doughnuts, muffins and sweets and fed the other nutritional pellets. When the young rats were weaned the team found that the animals whose mothers ate junk food put on weight more quickly, had a taste for unhealthy food and gorged.

"It indicates there is a fetal programming for overeating," said Neil Stickland, a researcher at the Royal Veterinary College in London;

"The foetuses are getting used to this junk food during gestation,"

"We can show a direct link to what the mothers eat and how it affects the children."

You can read more from here.

On my eating habits when Rye Li was in my tummy, I tried my best not to eat junk food at all. In fact, anything with MSG was a big no-no (of course I couldn't guarantee this when we were eating out) but those crisps that are loaded with MSG, I totally avoided them. After reading pregnancy books and stuff, I also avoided canned foods and processed meat.

As for alcohol consumption (I do love those occasional social drinks), I avoided them totally when I found out I was pregnant till the end of my third trimester (it was the festive season - xmas and all!). But I only limited myself to sips, if not less than a glass.

I have to admit that I cannot say "no" to ice creams, so when I had the craving and ice cream was within reach, I totally indulged myself. I never like fries that much but somehow my pregnancy made my eating habits just so weird (my favourites were no longer favourites except for ice cream and my not so favourities became my frequent choice of food) and I had quite alot of fries towards the end of my pregnancy.The fries and choc sundae from McD's became the no. 1 snack then (no wonder the hefty weight gain of a whopping 21kgs!)

When I was breastfeeding, I no longer became so conscious in what I really ate other than alcohol comsumption (which was none in the first 6 months and after that very limited as well). I didn't exactly snack on junk food all the time but there were several occasions that I did. Hah!

So how's Rye Li's eating habits? Well, hubby complaints she takes after me, the junk food queen. So she's known as the junk food princess. She snacks more than eating on proper food (this is very me too!). But ever since she was born, our junk food supply at home has been very limited. Yes, there is the occasional ice cream (and as I speak, there are some ice cream in the freezer but we eat them behind Rye Li's back...haha).

We try to make sure she eats proper before we allow her to snack on biscuits or on cheese or raisins. When we first introduced her to fries after she turned 1, she didn't like it. I was elated but it was short-lived. Several months later, she took a liking to it and now she can even ask for it. And as for ice cream, she totally loves it! So, I guess that clip is so very true. Another fact to validate it, my mom loves petai (a vegetable that you either hate it or love it) and she consumed it the day she delivered me and she always reminded me that I was born with that smell. I love petai to this day and my sister and brother too! :D

Who's daddy?

The other day I was just talking to myself with words I know and I went on with “Ma-mee (mummy) oppis (office), Papa oppis, Deh-di (daddy) oppis” and then I was interrupted by mummy. “Huh? Daddy? Girl, who’s daddy?” and I replied “papa”.

And then another time in the car with mummy, when I went through calling people I know with her and I also asked for “deh-di” and mummy replied “Daddy? Who’s daddy rye li?” and I replied “papa”.

Guess I’m so used to other kids and my caretakers at the nursery using the term “daddy” that papa has also become “daddy” at times but I’ve yet to call him that.

And since we’re talking about papa here, Mummy calls him “Ah Pek” (Hokkien: old man) or “Tauke” (Hokkien: Boss). Don’t ask me why, I also don’t understand since mummy doesn’t understand a word of Hokkien or other Chinese dialects much. And neither of these sounds romantic. Beats me really!

Anyway, just now when mummy asked papa to do something, she called out “Ah Pek” and I also followed suit and went “aa pek” and continued saying this cause I thought it sounded funny. Later on, she was asking him something and papa ignored her and she went “Lim Ah Pek” (something she does when papa ignores her) and I also went “li aa pek” and laughed.

Weekend visitors

Kong Kong and Por Por (my paternal grandparents) are in town…they missed me so much that they took the bus down from Penang just to see me. I’m more than happy with this as I get more attention than usual at home.

Before they arrived, Mummy asked me whether I want to see them and I said “em” (okay). Then Mummy said that they will oi-oi (Chinese slang: sleep) on my bed in my room (which I’ve never slept there at nights) and I replied “doh wan” (don’t want). I’m pretty selfish these days, refused to share whatever I have with anyone including Mummy and Papa.

Mummy also asked me if Por Por can carry me and I said “em” but when she asked if Kong Kong can carry me, I replied “doh wan”. So when they arrived yesterday, I allowed Por Por to carry me but when Kong Kong tried to carry me later, I totally refused to go to him.

Last night, when Mummy was changing me to my pajamas on my bed (I use my bed to change my diapers and clothes these days since I’ve outgrown my dressing table), Mummy asked if Por Por and Kong Kong can sleep on my bed and I said “doh wan”. Then Mummy asked me where are they going to sleep then and I replied “oi-oi here” while patting on my bed. In the end, I did allow them to sleep there, not that I’ve much of a choice here.

Kong Kong and Por Por talk to me in Mandarin. Papa used to till he got lazy this year. So when I was reading my book this morning in front of Por Por, I pointed at the ball in the book and told her “bor” (ball) and she went “chiew” (mandarin: ball). I corrected her “bor” and she said “chiew” again. And I replied “bor” and she kept saying “chiew” till I got irritated and said “doh wan”. She found this amusing though and told the rest what happened.

Mummy told Papa he better continue to speak to me in Chinese if not I’m going to end up exactly like her, a banana (yellow outside but white inside a.k.a totally hopeless in the Chinese language). She found it amusing that Por Por was speaking to me in English even though her English is not good.

Random photos updates

Just some photos we took lately....

I'm pretty independant these days (I try to be)...trying to put on my socks

Below are a few pictures of a full moon party we went to last weekend....

Trying to catch the bubbles while my second cousins blew them

The yummy buffet spread

The full moon cake, very nice deco...and although the colour doesn't looks appealing, the cake was yummy





The full moon baby with her sister, cousins and parents

More random photos below.....

Playing around on our sofa with my balloons (2 of them burst so papa made cute little ones out of them)

I can play on my own at home (when mummy and papa are too busy with their stuff). And these are what I do to entertain myself....

making a mess with my stuff

And this picture is to show you that I've finally gotten my molars, all four of them, 2 up and 2 down. It is just weird that I got 4 teeth at the bottom, 2 at the front and 2 at the back...don't know what happen to the teeth in between.