Green Goo and the other viruses in the air ...

Brought V back to the PD after discussion with the staff since the nose swab shows a particular nasty bacteria breeding away and he wanted to make sure that the tiny red dot at the back of her throat was nothing to be alarmed of (other than that was the 3rd "it may be something to do with HFMD"). I still have some antibiotics at home, unused since we stop giving her the nightly antibiotics feed for the Grade 2 VUR, so it saved me some money, since I could use it.

V came back and she told me "I want to see doctor!" I really think she likes the PD, just that her medical coverage no longer covers the cost of seeing a PD past 2, so the cost of seeing him will go up. I intend to use the same PD for number 2, because this PD is really very good, and he really takes time to explain and listen to our concerns (no matter how ridiculous it may seem).

Anyway a quick update on #2 (let's call him Valentino) before I forget again. The last visit with Valentino at 29 weeks, I gained 200g and he, a whooping 700g. With my craving for durians (once I start eating, I can't stop!!!!), I hope my weight gain would not spiral out of control, and Valentino would still gain weight at the normal track. As it is, I am already having difficulty in walking at times, and all his movements are felt keenly. If he gets much bigger than the normal growth track, I think I will have to lie in bed!!! This said, he's still shy, refusing to let us see his face during the scans.

Now, the other virus that is hot in the news ... what else, the swine flu. Attended a 2 hour meeting this morning with almost 1 hour spent on swine flu. My mgr has it worse, she has to attend twice a day for updates. I'm not sure if it's going to go into Red alert anytime, but Orange alert is scary - although the place where we had dinner was PACKED. I guess no more outings to crowded and air conditioned places, so I better stock up my freezer tomorrow :P I have slightly more reasons to be scared I guess, since I do deal with people who work in the HC industry. I just hope no one does anything stupid or inconsiderate, but you know what, I am not too hopeful, given what some of these parents do even when their kids are down with contagious stuff like HFMD (they bring them out because the kids are bored!). I can only remind V and the hubby to always wash their hands with soap.

my major milestonE

Ya, mine, and probably the main milestone I see I have achieved for the past few weeks.

I actually survived without a domestic helper for almost 1 month!!!!

It's a amazing feat to me, knowing me :P We have managed to keep V clean and bedsheets changed every week. The floor is relatively clean and the toilets too.

Just that the house is in a utter mess, but frankly speaking, I think it's only slightly messier than before my last DH left.

So why is it a milestone to me? Because I feel EMPOWERED! I had expected that I would probably just cry myself to sleep, feel helpless and useless. Vanessa came through much better than me - she's not as difficult to care for than I had expected. No doubt my siblings chip in to help, and it helps a lot since V adores them and does listen to them. At the same time, I wonder if they are spoiling her, but I know I can discipline her without much problem, so that's another big plus to to yours truly! I'm still surviving caring for her at night, although my skin and my eye bags are showing the signs of lack of sleep. I'm learning a few tricks to get her to follow her daddy in the morning (so I can have some time to do my own stuff, shower and change for work) and getting her to sleep is not as hard as it would be. It helps she's more vocal now, so I know what she wants and is trying to say. Best of all, she can be reasoned with since she understands what I am saying. I have also managed to cut her nails in the partial dark (I have night blindness and bad astig, so the combination is really not ideal) and get her to let me clean her nose (she's having really yucky green stuff in her nose) willingly.

I feel more confident as a mother, and I guess, that's the best present a mummy can hope for, other than the "I love you mummy!" (which I was trying to get her to say today heheehhe).

Major milestones ...

to me at least ...

1) V can officially button her own clothes! (Although it's more like 1 button out of the four on the front)

2) V has officially said "sorry" to me without prompting! (she upset the lid that I had put her cup of water on it, spilling the water in the process - I was like "V!!!" she went "sorry!")

3) V can buckle her own shoes (although I never knew it was such a big deal until one of her play school teacher remarked on it)

4) V can take one of my handphones, switches it to camera mode and tells me to "smile!"

5) V can do a simple 5 piece puzzle by herself (a picture of an eggplant). I was busy so I left her with a box of new puzzles which I dismantled for her, came back about 10 to 15 mins later and she was like "baby make! baby make! - she was obviously proud of her achievement, but I think this mummy is even prouder!

5) The other day, I was sitting down when I felt some pangs of pain on my abdomen (I had spent the hour earlier mopping the floor and cleaning the tiolets), so I went "pain pain pain!" and make some groaning noises. She quickly came over and hug my tummy. She said "sayang" and kissed my tummy. Needless to say, I almost cried!

Brought her to see her PD today as she was having this nasty runny nose that would be wet, green and slimy and then dried, green and yucky, plus her eyes were tearing quite a bit. She did her "look I am so cute" routine, and she cooperated with the PD. Needless to say the PD was charmed by her. She then went outside and did the same routine with the ladies outside. It's not surprising whenever I call the clinic and said I am V's mummy, and they will remember which kid's mummy!

Surviving another weekend

We survived another week and weekend without a maid but I had help from my cousin and aunt. They came over to help clean up and iron some of the clothes, so for that I am extremely grateful since I utterly am hopeless at housework. We did our share too, changing the bedsheets and doing the laundry (1 thing that I am undoubtedly good at!). V was in a not so cooperative mood, I think she knows it's Sunday, so it's back to the CC routine tomorrow.

She's out with her daddy now, and I'm taking a short break. I am starting to have difficulty in bending down and squatting, which is required when I'm showering or bathing her. She knows that mummy's temper is getting shorter, especially when she refuses to cooperate when wearing her diapers, but as usual, still testing what limits she can push. The other day I just sternly told her off when she refused her milk (she asked for it), she pretended to select another cushion and quickly laid down on the floor. She finished the bottle of milk too, all 240ml of it. She can chug down 330ml at 1 go and that quite scares me!

I'm relishing the attention she lavishes on me though, especially when she wants to sleep, and she wants me to cuddle her or to cradle her on my lap. it's not easy with my protruding tummy, but we'll make do. She knows that #2 in the tummy, and she will tell my aunts about the baby in my tummy, which I thought was quite cute. Whether she's in her T2s already or not, it doesn't really matter. We are spending time together, and that's what really matters.

Photo Shoot - Celebrating V's 2nd Birthday!

OK, please note I paid $$$$ for the shoot, so this is not some paid advertising by the photographer. If you are interested in the photographer, please go to www.tomato.sg. Their rates and works are published on their website.

Updates updates and updates

1) My chocolate cake and muffins turn out GREAT! I'll be making them in near future, and I definitely want to try new variation, since both worked as great base recipes (then again, how wrong can you get with betty crocker's instant cake mix - just don't try other brands!).

2) V had a HFMD scare - had low grade fever, mild diarrhoea and a blister on her tongue. I was stuck with her at home for 2 days, we can't go out and she can't spend her energy. It was the toughest 2 days I ever had spent with her! Anyway, it was a scare and *phew* she could go back to CC and I returned to work. Needless to say, I was buried at work the moment I returned but thankfully my siblings and cousins were around to entertain her even though I returned late.

3) Amidst all that drama of HFMD, V turned 2! Yup, my sweet princess is now officially into her terrible twos. Just trying to get her diaper-ed and dressed up every morning is a chore, I estimate we spend a good 1 hour coaxing her to get dressed! She's been running a mild grade fever for the past few days, not sure if it's flu (running nose) but I have to watch out for any signs of HFMD since the CC gave out a letter on 9th saying that 2 kids from the CC came down
with HFMD.

4) Spend over 1K at our southern island of our island for a 3D 2 N stay. It went surprisingly well, V took to the room immediately, unlike the way she fussed and wanted out from the other 5 star hotel we spent 1 night on our sunny island. Speaking of sunny, yes, it was sunny, but come 3 to 4pm, the dark clouds loomed and yes, lo and behold, our ever faithful thunderstorms never ceases to amaze us. We did managed to go to the Underwater World on the first day, and exited into this terrible thunderstorm. We were all slightly wet, thanks to the massive crowds and not very effective shelters. We went to the Dolphin Lagoon on the second day (apparently 1 ticket gets us admitted to both underwater world and dolphin lagoon) and I got suckered into paying $15 for an "interactive" session - basically pat the dolphin, smile at the camera and we get 1 photo as souvenir. When we get around to getting a new scanner (my beloved CX5900 epson died on me just after I got 1 whole batch of new inks!), I'll post up a pic, or I'll link if my hubby has any on his blog later :P)

5) In the absence of the helper, I'm now the main caregiver at home. Let just say I'm more "maternal" than ever. I spent a good 30 minutes trying to "dig out" the mucus stuck in her nose (green, prob need to see her PD if it gets worse) and cutting her fingernails. I can't tell you how proud I am of my achievement. Perhaps I should consider working part-time once #2 comes out out, but I think I need to settle my work comittments first. We also decided not to renew the contract of our helper after her 2 year contract has expired for various reasons and we are now looking for a new helper. Wish us luck to finding a good helper who loves V and #2!

6) Last but not least, we went for a photo shoot to "celebrate" V's birthday and it was really really good! I'll post up some of my favourite photos in the next post.

Baking!

It's one of those days that I feel the intense itch to bake ... I have bought Nigella Express almost 1 year ago and I still have not baked anything from the recipes, so I decided "Just do it!"

For the inaugural recipe from Nigella express, it's the banana butterscotch muffin, which of course, as usual I'll tweak the recipe somewhat.

I've melted butter in place of vegetable oil, used chocolate chips in place of butterscotch chips and replaced 50g flour with 50g quick cook oats.

The results? no idea, it's still in the oven and I'm not too hopeful. The mixture was thick and clumpy. I always thought muffin batter/ mixture was much more liquidy than this :P anyway we'll know tomorrow.

Meanwhile, my chocolate banana nutella chocolate cake is done, but it's still cooling away. It's made with Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge cake mix, with some changes as usual. Milk replacing water, and melted butter replacing oil (you can tell I really dislike using oil in my baking) and for my own variation, added 3 mashed up bananas, 1 big dollop of nutella into the mix, 1 big dollop of nutella in the middle of the cake with semi sweet chocolate chips, and then topping up with more batter and more chocolate chips. I sure hope it's good :P

Photo (1)

This was taken at the Singapore Zoo last week!

Yet another milestone ...

V is progressing at an astonishing rate ...

Today she uttered the phrase "I want apple" to me, and I was very happy. Just the other day, I was asking her to help me to look for my bag, she went "find mama bag". Today she saw Mr Bean on TV and she went "ah bean!"

She can say "aeroplane sky" but won't say her own name (after all aeroplane and Vanessa are both 3 syllabus words). I guess it's a matter of time ...

We went for a photo shoot today and she was basically "so thrilled" by the photographers she was busy smiling for them (and she doesn't do it for us!). I sure hope she has some great shots so we can print an album for the grandparents to coo at her pictures (she's turning 2 next week).

Terrible Twos?

V is changing her habits like lightning and often I am caught offguard.

1) She now starts her protest from home, refusing to sit in the carseat and crying on the way to CC. She used to start her protest the moment she steps into CC.

2) This morning my hubby dropped her off at the CC, she started clinging on to him, her mouth all downturned ready to start wailing. She did wail as I could hear her cries from outside. When the hubby returned to the car, I asked him and he complained that V did cry, but not for him. She wanted the teacher to carry outside for a walk! *rofl*

3) She is on a milk strike - she only had her usual feed at 7am and throughout the whole day refused milk. She had her nutella bread i packed for her, 2 portions of morning tea and 2 portions of lunch (she asked for more each time she finished her food), then when she reached home at 4pm, wanted rice (she can say 'rice') so they hurriedly cooked for her, she finished 1 and the half bowl of rice. When I came back at 7pm, she was eating again, from my sister's plate (she wiped out 90% of my sister's portion who is a small eater). Then when my hubby came back, she again ate a few spoons of rice from his plate. All this excluding the fact that she already had helpings from her cousins' dinner plate earlier before we reached home. I sure hope she takes her milk tonight! I mean, yes, she drinks quite a fair bit of milk 240ml (8 oz) 4 to 5 times a day but to suddenly drop a few feeds, I am worried if she is getting enough nutrients etc etc etc.

4) She is starting to "streak" again. Last night after I finished bathing her, she refused to put on her clothes and basically streaked in circles around me. *haiz*

Last Trip to the Zoo ...

Well, that's because our family annual membership to the zoo will expire end of the month, and given our schedules, this was the last week we could make it to the Zoo.

My hubby complains about it, that I spend the $$ on the membership, then never go for it, and then make frequent trips at last minute to utilise it. He is just as guilty as me, since he never did quite want to go for any outings on the weekends (he wants to sleep in late till 9 plus). Anyway, we did chalk up enough visits to make it worthwhile, and today, we managed to catch one of the animal feedings. It cost us $23 - $5 for the plate of 4/ 5 sticks of veggies and $18 for the photo they took of us. I am waiting for the hubby to download the pictures so I can convienently link it - I forgot to bring my camera today, or rather I seem to have misplaced it :P

The reason is obvious enough why I'm not renewing the membership (#2 will be popping out in a few months time) but I wonder if V will miss her visits to the zoo. She does complain about the smell, eg when we visit the primates or the zebras, but she seems happy to see the animals (especially when waving bye bye to them). If she does miss her visits to the zoo, then will she blame #2 for it? *sigh* Perhaps I should reconsider when #2 is out.

Off to school!

In the short span of 2 weeks, so much as happened.

1. Vanessa started child care on 2 March. She was happy as a lark, so much so until I felt so useless as a mummy. Everyone praised her, including the principal, the teachers and my fellow mummies. She stayed for 1/2 day, from 8:00am to 1;30pm. She dutifully finished her all her milk, the tea, the lunch given. So much so even her teacher was "astounded" and asked if they should remove the milk feed before her lunch. I told her "no" because V has a mind of her own, and if she doesn't want to eat/ drink, she won't eat or drink. To see her in her uniform, see my hubby's posting here

2. So the following monday, we tried letting her nap and then I picked her up at 4pm, after they had their afternoon tea when they wake up from their nap. She was still very good, the teachers praised her again, that even though she didn't nap for long, she laid on the mattress and didn't fuss.

3. The childcare had an outing to a farm! So I went with her, it was quite fun, she seems to enjoy herself, even petting the rabbit! The teacher was kind enough to help me carry her when I was out of breadth, or rather, tired from trying to catch fishes from the "longkang"! I only caught 1 (so miserable) when I saw the other parents hauling loads into their kids' pails. Anyway, the place was kind enough to top up extra fishes when we all went home, and they are all now happily settling into my water feature (just nice, since all my guppies died).

4. Then .... the crying started, she would cling on, refuse to go to the teacher as per normal. So much so that even the teacher was shocked (since she was so happy to follow them in the first week). Well, it's not better although I was secretly happy for a while. So it's still half day for her at the child care, until she settles. It got so bad on Friday then I cried along with her too!

5. Next week will be bad because I will be very busy at work and I am not sure if I could even have time for lunch, what's more to go and pick her up. How bad, last week I had no time for water and pee break. My phone has lots of missed calls that I couldn't even finish calling everyone back. I could only complete my emails and email enquiries. I dread the coming Monday, but I rather be done with it then to grind my teeth in stress. If anything, I'm more worried about how V is going to cope with child care next week.

6. She had a small birthday party today, it was fun and I think she had fun too. Although she wasn't feeling too good, but she went on to participate in the activities and she even blew out her own candle without any help! Yes, this is a real proud mummy!!!!!! Then ... *haiz* she came down with fever, 39.2! She's now "labelled" with fever coolpatch - one on her forehead and one on the nape of her neck, and with the medication, it seems better. I will have to check her temperature later again to make sure it's not shooting up again. I guess she will be missing her cousins' birthday celebrations tomorrow and school for the coming monday, but let's see how fast she recovers. She's on a growth spurt now, asking for 240ml every 4 hours, on top of her solid meals.

7. Speaking of meals, Takashimaya is having their baby fair and I walloped her usual Pigeon food - I'm $200 dollars poorer, but well, it's quite a fair bit of savings! 20% plus 10%! And she had $6 worth of porridge earlier :P As long as she's eating (with the fever) I'm not complaining.

8. Oh she went for her MMR jab finally. She's now 13.2kg and 84cm tall (I think). It's getting tougher to carry her but she's easier to manage, as in I'll carry her for a short while, she will walk a little way when I asked her to, and then carry her again. She seldom struggles when I carry her (thankfully) so it's not so bad.

9. She's still kissing my tummy on and off, and addresses herself as "mei mei"/ "baby" (in relation to her cousins) and occasionally as "jie jie". We are trying to break the habit of calling her "baby", but really, it's quite difficult :P But I am sure it would be as bad as in my case of my SIL, who were called "baby" by my FIL well into her adulthood :P

10. My birthday wish for my girl? To be always happy and contented. There's a long list more of what I would wish for, but for now, I guess it would suffice.

Busy busy bee

1. Woke up before 8am this morning, and logon to settle some work email, my bintan trip booking and my maid air ticket booking.

2. Finally settled everything by 8:45 am and hubby was hopping cuz I promised to send him to work. I hustled the maid to change and then we all rushed out of the house.

3. Dropped the hubby off at 9:05am (he was 5 min late) and off to the zoo we go! We dropped by the petrol station to pump gas plus get some light breakfast / water.

4. Reached the zoo at 9:30am (i think) and phew, there were plenty of lots still! So we zoomed right in and since we decided we were going to talk (no tram rides!), we headed straight to the "australia outback" with some stop overs, including the pygmy hippo (breakfast stop too!) and the white tigers.

5. We managed to catch part of a show (not the splash one) and V was quite engrossed. We headed next to the splash show but the strong fishy smell put me off, so I ran away from it!

6. We took a break at the Ah Meng restuarant, and we had chicken rice for lunch (at 11:15am). By 11:40am, we were off to check out the orang utans, the polar bears and some gibbons. By the time we were done with the gibbons, V was already in dreamland, so we decided to head home.

7. The moment V was put on the car seat, she woke up and was so awake (5 min power nap!). So we decided to drop by the mandai orchid garden (no plants to buy!) but the flowers on display were pretty. We headed for orchid ville instead since I was quite determined to get some flowers :P

8. We found orchid ville!!! Bought 2 plants, 1 Vanda Miss Joaqium and 1 er, i forgot. Anyway we bought some cut flowers since I wanted to go to the colombarium nearby to put some flowers for my Dad. V was v good, she even wave and blow kisses at my dad picture when we were leaving.

9. Reached home at 1:45pm. V refuses to sleep after a shower. She's streaking around!

10. 2:45pm! Time to go! Off I zoom with V to her playgroup at Kids Loft. Almost got lost, but I did find the place! She fell asleep in the car (for 5 min) and then when we reached, I had to wake her up since I couldn't handle everything. The teacher, Lavina, came to help and V recognised her! She follow the teacher into the classroom, and within 15 mins, back to her perky, cheeky self. Man, the way she was participating in the class, you can't tell she has a serious lack of sleep! But I credit Lavina for engaging her very well!

11. Home at 5:10pm. V is now in the room, with the maid trying to lull her to sleep, but it's been 30 minutes, and I still hear her talking and making loud noises in her room.

12. Time for my bed. Will post up some pics and videos later if I get to it =)

A pain in the butt

.. literally. With this #2, my butt muscles hurt so badly I had to call in the massage lady to give me pre-natal massage once i hit 16 weeks. I just couldn't bear it anymore. The ache is especially bad in the right side, so much so I can hardly sleep on my right side. It also affects my body so much that I wake up in the middle of the night because my body was feeling so miserable. One of the "solutions" I came up was to lean more towards the front, so the pressure is off the butt, but it means more weight will be on my tummy. I doubt I can carry this method for long, but at least it gives me a more restful sleep.

Probably in a few weeks time, I'll make it a weekly massage session instead of once every fortnight. There's only so much my body can take, especially when baby is so active now (I felt #2 kick as early as week 12) so I need all the rest I can get.

It's probably time for me to stock up on chicken essence too - been feeling really weak and tired, despite going to bed early. It doesn't help when I wake up in the middle of the night, and spending over 1 hour trying to find a comfortable position to sleep on.

Going Potty!

We have started to train V on the potty (well the throne to be exact) ... she's will to poop on the throne but it comes to the pee ... *sigh* ... we can coax and cajole her for 30 minutes, she refuses to pee while on the throne. After we put the diaper on, she turns to me, point at her diaper and say "wet". Yes, she peed on her diaper ... for some strange reasons, she just doesn't want to pee without her diapers ...

HELP!!!

22 and almost half months old

The other day i just realised V turned 22 months old (3 days late) but I was so caught up with work I didn't really sit back and count the "milestones".

She's a bit more vocal now, crazy about chocolates still and a lot more "loving".

For Valentine's Day, my hubby got this deal off the web, he paid $10 for a night stay at a 3 star hotel. Wait, don't go "wah" yet ... his colleague got it for $1!!! I am not kidding, 1, ONE, Singapore dollar. Too bad I had a meeting that afternoon, so I couldn't take leave in the afternoon, though my boss was nice to let me off slightly earlier from work.

The hotel is new, and frankly speaking, I thought it was pretty decent, although it reminds me a little of the Japan's corporate hotels (no frills). The bathroom is tiny, but it's still bigger than what you get in Japan! The room was of a decent size, but no way we could put in a cot.

Anyway, we decided to take this opportunity to "test" market - that is take care of V on our own for 2 nights and see how it goes. This is in preparation of our helper's 2 weeks return to her hometown, and we are wondering how she will react. Needless to say, since she beds in with the helper, she was whining for the helper at night. The hubby took care of that, he brought her out for walks and they would returned with her fast asleep on his arms/ shoulder. the same thing happened on both nights, she would wake up suddenly after being put on the bed and wanted to go for the "walk" or "outside" again (based on her finger pointing). The first night i carried her and hum her favourite tune when she was a baby, that soothed her but she took a while to fall asleep. As usual, since I am blind at night, I couldn't tell if she was asleep, I had to inch my way to the light source (the tiolet) and peer at her. Anyway she was kind enough to let me sit on the bed to rock her to sleep after a while, and when she finally fell asleep, I propped myself against the bed, with her sleeping on my chest. Not that she was whining, but I missed it. I missed the times when she would fall asleep propped against my chest, listening to her breathing and smelling her hair. When I was dropping off to sleep, I put her to bed but she refused to sleep in between us for some reasons. So we ended sleeping L-shaped, and her feet near to the edge of the bed. Some sixth sense woke me later and her feet was dangling off the bed! I managed to shift her back into position and she continued sleeping. In the morning, she was quite funny - she woke up and checked "mama!" I answered her and then she went "papa!" then the hubby replied to her. Satisfied, she went back to sleep for 2 good hours, before we woke her up for breakfast.

The second night, after our expensive Valentine's dinner (I spent close to $200), we came home and she was in a good mood, although she kept asking about the dogs and the helper. When she woke up from the first walk, i asked the hubby to carry her and I promptly fell asleep. When she was finally deep enough in her sleep, the hubby put her on the bed, but she again insisted on sleeping in her way. So we ended up in a H-shaped, her head butting my ribs, and her feet landing on the hubby's face. She tossed a bit at night, so she headbutted my tummy, my ribs, my shoulders, my chest ... it was no fun, but I doubt it would be any better if her feet was on my end! I'm glad to say we survived it, and she enjoyed herself. When the helper returned home today, V was stunned for a minute when she saw her. But as usual, soon after, glued to her like a fly on a fly paper. However, I am pleased to note that she wanted me to brush her teeth for her!

She'll be heading off to childcare soon, in preparation for the #2 arrival. Not that I really want her to go so early, but for practical reasons and since I cannot possibly work part-time now, it seemed like the best solution to get her used to childcare first. #2 will arrive sometime in June/ July, and I don't think the helper can cope with 1 toddler, 1 baby and 2 dogs. Hopefully things would have settled down at work enough to allow me to work reduced hours so I can spend more time with V, but I really highly doubt so. Having 16 weeks of maternity leave is already more than what I could ask for (well I did hope for 6 months!) and given the current situation at work, I cannot extend my leave period, so let's see how things work out for these few months.

Oh and ya, #2 is along the way =)

Evan has arrived!

Everyone says hello to my brand new nephew, Evan, 5 lbs 14 oz, 19 inches),borned on Sunday Jan 18, all natural, no epidural.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/88929566@N00/3210734321/in/set-72157612719551223/

Amazed!

Sometimes I can't help but be amazed by V.

Hence the 'rare' occasion for the post today.

We were playing on my bed today and I was shaking the plastic cup 'macaras' she made in one of her GUG session. She was holding on to my jar of face cream, which obviously didn't make any rattling sounds when she try to shake it together with me.

She suddenly zoomed into my old jewellery box, which used to hold some buttons. I though she lost interest in the sing and rattle thingy I was doing with her and wanted to play with her buttons, so I fetched the other box where all the buttons are contained in now. She took some buttons and put into the empty jewellery box. Then she looked up at me and grinned. She shook her box and made some rattling noises with it.

Yup, this mummy was stunned for a little while when I realised what she did. And yup, this mummy is really, really proud of her little princess.

Turning 21 soon ...

21 months old that is ...

V has crossed some milestones of sort ... she will actually dance to Barney when they are dancing, and once the song "I love you, you love me ..." comes on, she will dash around hugging us.

She can imitate some words when we are trying to teach her.

In addition to her previous list of words, she can say
1. walk walk (sounds like wok wok :P)
2. egg egg
3. blue
4. yellow

She can doodle pretty well, she draws quite a fair bit of circles and wavy lines. I've just bought some paint brushes, and probably will go to diaso to get some of the canvas (they sell pretty decent ones for $2) so she can doodle her art and then we can frame it up.

I'm trying to teach her to sign "please open for me" so that she can start linking up words. I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do, since there's this debate that kids who sign will start to talk much later. But really, is that a bad thing? I admit I am worried about her not talking yet (compared to the long list of words my gf listed for her gal) but each child starts on their own pace, and even if she doesn't really want to talk, it doesn't mean I should stop teaching her things. That reminds me to print out the cards that I did some months back :P The Zoophonics pack still haven't arrived after a few months so i made my own version. Time to start putting some effort at the homefront!

hand in hand, just not yours!

V has this funny thing about holding hands.

She can walk hand in hand with mummy, but Daddy cannot hold hands with mummy at the same time! Mostly she will complain and forcefully remove his hand from mine. Sometimes we try to trick her, as in daddy wants to walk hand in hand with her too, so he will make a grab for my hand which is holding hers. She will remove his hand and occasionally allow him to hold her other hand. Sometimes she will try to to chase him away or rather flap him away, sometimes she will hasten her pace and pull me along.

This morning we tried the trick again, but it didn't work. She was happy as long as he was holding my other hand. She even gave him a cheeky smile and wave!

Is she possessive? I think so!