Mummy's entry - On her conversations

Rye Li being the natural chatterbox that she is never fails to surprise us with what she has to say. At times, she can be really rude as she must always have the last say, of course, with me telling her off for being rude. But still, stubborn as always, she will then give me that “hmmph” look when she knows she can’t answer me as if her actions seem to be louder than her words.

Here are some more of her conversations with us…

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One night many months back, while on the bed getting to sleep, her papa got close to her to give her a goodnight kiss but instead smell her and she went :-

Rye Li: Why you smell me? You think I’m McDonalds? You want to eat me ah?

Or while lying down on the floor watching tv and we accidentally brushed against her, she will go :-

Rye Li: You think I’m a chair? You want to sit on me?

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She loves to complaint about her little mei-mei whenever Haye Li does something wrong. I know she wants to see my reaction towards her mei-mei and I do scold or correct Haye Li when she is in the wrong too. They’re both at the stage where they will fight over a toy or something and at times mine or their papa’s attention. When one does something, the other will follow. It can be so tiring! For events that I didn’t witness and this girl will come to me and complaint about her mei-mei, depending on my mood, I will tell Haye Li off or at times I will tell Rye Li to stay away from her mei-mei especially if she knows her mei-mei is going to snatch her things.

Last nite, Rye Li came to complain to me that Haye Li stepped on her when she was lying down on the mattress. I didn’t see this and I know Haye Li didn’t purposely want to step on Rye Li and she probably want to get to the other side in which Rye Li was in the way. I just took a different approach this time….

Rye Li: Mummy, just now mei-mei step (ped) on me when I was sleeping on the mattress

Mummy: What do you think I should to her? If mummy scold her, she will probably cry and then she will do it again. So how?

Rye Li: Beat her

Mummy: Yea, but she will just cry and then stop. And probably do it again to you. So how? What should we do to mei-mei so she can learn to behave?

Rye Li: Beat harder!

*Maybe a sign I should stop smacking them when they’re naughty*

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On Mother's Day over the weekend, we spent the day at my parent's place and Rye Li was hanging out with her two cousins, Ro Wyn and Jo Tien. My mom (their Grandma) was with them at that time and in their conversation, my niece, Ro Wyn mentioned that "Grandma is fat".

Rye Li replied "You're not fat Grandma, you're just nice. My papa is fat!"

This really made her Grandma's day that day!

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The most interesting of all are her conversations with her papa over the phone when he is away on his business trips. There will always be the duty calls at nights before her bedtime.

A typical conversation will sound like this :-

Rye Li: Papa, where are you now?

Papa: I’m in XXX

Rye Li: You sit aero plane ah?

Papa: Yes

Rye Li: You stay where papa?

Papa: I’m staying at XXX hotel

Rye Li: Oh, you stay with who?

Papa: I’m staying alone

Rye Li: Ok, what are you doing now?

Papa: I’m with my customer having dinner

Rye Li: Your customer what name?

Papa: XXX

Rye Li: Your customer boy or girl?

Papa: Boy

Rye Li: You having your dinner where?

Papa: In a restaurant

Rye Li: What is the restaurant (‘s) name?

Papa: xxx

Rye Li: Papa, what are you eating?

Papa: I’m eating so & so. Ok Rye Li, papa got to go already.

Rye Li: Ok papa. I love you papa. Talk to you tomorrow night. Good night papa (*typical response every time she ends the conversation*)

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At times, the conversations can also be like this…

Rye Li: Papa, you go there for how many nights?

Papa: 2 nights

Rye Li: So you come back Friday ah?

Papa: Yes, I come back Friday night.

Rye Li: Oh, who is that papa? *upon hearing some voices at the background*

Papa: Papa’s friend and customer

Rye Li: What’s your friend (’s) and customer (‘s) name?

Papa: xxx and xxxx

Rye Li: Boy or girl?

Papa: Boy and girl…Uncle XXX and Aunty XXX

Rye Li: They stay with you in your hotel room ah?

Papa: No, they don’t stay at the hotel

Rye Li: Oh. They stay where then?

Papa: I don’t know Rye Li

* Note: I have not taught her at all to ask these questions to her papa and I myself don’t even ask such things of him. God knows where she has learnt how to interrogate her papa like. She would always ask if her papa is with somebody or not and whether that person is staying with him. I wonder if we women are all born natural at asking these questions. LOL!

Mummy's entry - She remembers

When it's bed time and I'm trying to get the girl to go to sleep, I will pretend that I'm sleeping. Lately, this girl has been pointing to my face and go "nose, mouth, eyes, eyebrow, forehead, ears, cheek, chin,etc" while pointing to the respective parts.

I didn't think too much about this until I realised that when she was much younger and not talking then, I used to do this too to her while getting her to sleep at nights. I will go "this is your hair, this is your head, this is your forehead, this is your eyebrow and so on". It's been a while since I've done this and when I realised this, I was praising her that she actually remembers me doing this to her and did it again at her while she was smiling.

I also realized now that I do not talk to her as much as I used to when she was a baby because this girl can talk so much now and love asking me questions. At least I'm still singing to her but it is irritating when the girl interrupts and say "no, no, like this"...and she goes on singing herself or she ask me to sing a song she likes instead. I'm just thinking how fast these new phases come up and I sure do miss my baby. The only time I get to go back to those days is when she's sleeping! LOL.

And since we're on the topic of her remembering stuff, she just told her papa "I got so many toys, Mummy didn't buy me toy" (indicating that I didn't buy her a toy from my Bangkok trip!). What do I do with this girl?!

I want...

Lately, I’ve been saying “I want”, well, it sounds more like “I wa”….

It’s no longer “bor” when I want a ball to play with, I will say first “bor” and if I’m not heard, I will go “I wa bor” and I will keep repeating this till the message get across to Mummy or Papa.

The same goes when I want my toys. I will say first “toy” and point to them and stressed further “I wa toys”.

This usually happens when I’m on my baby high chair. But for other times, it is mostly when I want to be carried. I will look up at Mummy or Papa, and hit them on their legs and go “I wa po-po”

Mummy is wondering who taught me to say that or when did I pick this up.

Mummy’s entry – Let’s celebrate!

Finally, the little girl has poo-ed in her potty for the first time without struggle on Sunday morning. I was trying to use the same tactic as the nursery, that is, to entice her with a bucket of water while sitting on her potty. In fact, I took one step more and added her favourite, “bubba” as she called it for bubbles. I was too late in trying it on Saturday morning as she had her little ordeal again while having breakfast – by the time I took her to her potty, there was a little poo in her diaper. I tried anyway but nothing else came out.

Later in the night before getting her ready for bed, I tried it one more time but to no avail. At least she had fun playing with the bubbles.

Then on Sunday morning, I thought that I’d give it a go again except that she was the one that prompted that she wanted to poo, knowing that her papa needed to poo (also due to the fact that I mentioned bubbles for her to play with earlier on). So, I put her on her potty and got the bucket of water and made some bubbles for her to play. And of course, the usual “nnggm-nnggm” sounds along the way. This went on for like 5-10 minutes; she played with the bubbles and towards the later part I can see that she is trying to poo but nothing came out yet. So I thought she was holding it in. Then she wanted to stand up and showed her concerned look and I told her that it is okay and played with her bubbles to take her attention away. Another 5 minutes went by and I was about to give up when I heard “poop” and then another one after that….I was so happy that I actually cheered her on….and she also peed (also her first time in the potty). I continued cheering, praising and gave her a big kiss…screamed for her papa and asked to bring the camera too (yes, I was going to post the picture here of her sitting on her potty but decided not to since she was fully naked then. And no, I didn’t take picture of the poo!).

I know this post sound ridiculous but ever since that horrible ordeal, we have been monitoring her poo situation with anxiety. That morning just made us so happy for her. Now we hope that she will poo in her potty when she’s at home. We will see how the next weekend goes.

And instead of the pic of her sitting down on her potty, I’ll let you enjoy this video clip of her dancing to her music. Let’s celebrate!

Progress Updates – towards 15 months

Since CNY, I have learnt to speak more words…

“Ow” – out

“ais” – ice

“bor bor” – ball

“rai-rai”/ “raiee” – Rye Li

“ro-ro” – row as in “row, row, row your boat”, whenever Mummy sings this song, I will go “ro-ro....ro-ro”

“po-po” – when I want to be carried

“ngo” – no, I will shake my head “no” when I do this and also move my hands from left to right

“whek” – wet

“uh o o” – Uh Oh

“merk“– milk, I will ask for this when I wake up in the middle of the nights

“dock” – dog

“ba ba” – bye

“tah tah” – thank you

“pom pom” – bathe

“ai”/”ah” – I, as in when you ask me who’s Rye Li and I will lift my hands up and say “ai”

“bok” – book

My weight as at 10th March 2007 is 8.7kgs and 71.5cm in height, still pretty tiny. And I’ve finally finished the third dose of that pnemo-thingy jabs….bad news is that I will still have to see my doctor when I hit 18 months for the next jab. Bummer!

And because I walk very steadily now, I’m the only baby at Aunty Ng’s that is allowed to come out from my cot and play with the other children. I like playing with the elder kids around me and I get really excited when I'm given this chance to get out from my cot. Also, recently, I am allowed to join them for the classes in the mornings where we learn stuff like learning new words , the ABCs and singing songs.

Ushering the year of the pig!

As usual, Papa will get carried away when he travels overseas...he had too much of time waiting at the airport when he was on his way home from Hong Kong last month. He had to transit for 3 hours at Singapore and he went shopping.

And this is what he got me...

And he also got the same for Mummy...



What's so special about these shoes? Here's a closer look at it...



Yeah, it's a special edition to usher in the new lunar year of the boar and Papa like the idea that both Mummy and I will be wearing the same shoes. It is still kinda big for me but it should last throughout the whole year.

On my physical developments :-

I was 8.1 kg and 70cm as at end of last month. I can walk steadily now and refused to be carried when we're outside. Mummy has gotten Ah Mai (Papa's sister) to get the "strap" from US (thanks to Belle's Mummy for the tip) and apparently she gotten me the Dog strap (not literary dog strap but where the bag part of the strap is in the shape of a dog, will put this up in the blog later when we've received it) as that was the only one left in the shop. I guess with this strap, I can run around when we're outside and Mummy and Papa dont have to worry about losing sight of me.

Actions that I can do when you ask me to :-

I can clap, "Gong Xi-Gong Xi!" (Sorry, Mummy didn't manage to get this on video yet), show you my tongue, touch my head, point at my nose, touch my ears, show you my belly button, dance, put back my toys, sit down, stand up, shake my head "no", point at things that I want you to get for me, pat on my lap, peek-a-boo, stomp my feet, shake my bum.

Words that I can say :

- Mum-Mum, Mama = for food and also for Mummy

- mmmore = no more, finished, don't have

- Duck-duck = duck

- isssth = please, cheese, fish

- deh = there

- wo-wo = dog, bird, or any animals that move

- ber = bird

- pah-pah = papa

Here' s wishing to all of you Gong Xi Fa Cai and have a good one!

We're still in KL as we have to wait for Ah Mai to arrive tomorrow (1st day of CNY) and then we'll be off to Cameron Highlands from the airport (poor Ah Mai, she was stranded in New York for 2 days as there were no flights out to LA so she had to wait, she was supposed to arrive here yesterday). Ah Kong, Ah Por and Peh Deh (Papa's brother) will be up at Camerons today and will have their reunion dinner without us. As for us three, we will be joining Mummy's side for the reunion dinner which is the usual at her grandma's house. Will blog more after our trip to Camerons and Penang!

Gong Xi, Gong Xi!