A day filled with activities!

Little gal woke up early today... Once at 6am and another time at 8am. Hubby woke me up and we headed off to East Coast Park! Our nice neighbour lent us some "beach" equipment and this did make the sand play more fun!

Reached there at about 9am and the weather was really good.

Papa and Mama got car, I got my own ride too!!!

It was blue skys and we were lucky to find a shady spot on the beach! :) This is little girl's third exposure to the beach and the sand. Her exposure was 4 months ago and her reaction was like she was feeling sand for the 1st time!

Did not want to scare her off... So put her on the mat to play first...

So when I lifted her off the beach mat and wanted her to stand on the sand, she held her legs in seating position! -__-" (sadly, did not get this really funny posture of hers) Resistance is futile, evil papa and mama took off her shoes and plonked her on the sand. She finally stood up and daddy covered her feet with sand.

It was quite funny to see her "escaped" feet on the sand in tiptoe position. After a while, she decided to get my support and pull out the other leg.

  

Without much progress in her playing... I took her for a walk down to the water. Yeah, she love the way the tides came in on her feet (mama got her pants wet... Gee...).

Maybe she thought water signify "washing feet" = end of play... So tiptoe-ing her way from the sand to the beach mat, she grab her socks + shoes, stuck them in our direction and went "NAH". She wanted us to put on the socks for her. 

 After our refusal to wear her socks, she finally got down to playing with sand.

 After a good 2 hours, we cleaned up and left for yummy prawn noodles along Tanjong Katong Road! *slurps!* The same evening, little gal had some play time with my neighbour's two boys. It's really great catching up with my neighbour and her sister while the little girl play with the boys cars...

Psst... this was after lunch, we were waiting for the A/C to cool the car interior while little one pace up and down this walkway...

MY FAVOURITE PHOTO OF THE DAY!

Check out the clear blue sky... :)

16 months already!

Like I always like to say time flies when you are not noticing. She is already 16 months old and in another 2 months she will be 18months! For some reason, I think that 18 months is another major milstone for a child. Maybe it is because 18 months is the time where she will not be considered an infant in a childcare centre enviornment.

Most probably I will send her for weekend classes until she enrolls in a childcare centre. :)

So what has the little girl been up to recently? Well nothing really much I would say but she can walk really well. Meaning she can walk very fast as if she is running. But that also means she will trip over herself.

Behavioral wise, she acts like a "spoilt brat" sometimes. Maybe it comes with toodlers this age where they have realise the meaning of possession... Usually she will listen and follow instructions when I say "Give". But if she is unwilling and u forcefully take it, she will give a "bo kam wan" screech and "splat" on the floor. It is an all too familar scene in a toys store! My strategy is to just ignore her and walk off, leaving her "splattered" on the floor... Usually I will not snatch unless they are items she should not have in the first place (e.g. rubbish form the bin - yes, tell me why she is rummaging through the rubbish bin or dangerous items like glass cups). After about 2 weeks, she does not dare try it on us now...

I decided to train her into having "tu-tu" (pacifer) free days. According to child expert books, infants get addicted between 9 to 12 months (opps, she is beyond tat age!). Whatever the case, I decided to let her go cold turkey without "tu-tu". Her journey started on the night before April Fool's day. It was no joke really... Having to put up with her struggle. The intial two weeks were great and she settled pretty well without the "tu-tu" both day and night. Then something seem go wrong after a night stay at my caretaker's place. She started waking up every few hours, crying madly and refusing to go to sleep unless someone keeps her company in the room. I am guessing a few possibilities:
1) she is insecure because we took away her tutu and about 2 wks later, she slept overnight in an enviornment where she seldom spend nights at; or
2) she is sleeping lesser in the day, making her more cranky at night and possibly not sleeping too well; or
3) she is afraid of the dark; or
4) she was feeling hot (she has some rashes on her back which is believe to be heat rash).

Today I caved in and gave her the tu-tu after close to about 3 weeks of cold turkey. BUT it was only for the noon nap. I wanted her to zzz well for another 1 hr and see if she will sleep better tonight... Keeping fingers crossed...

Dancing... YEAH!

Little girl is finally 15 months and this is a little dance to celebrate her 15 months.

She went into a dancing frenzy and was enjoying herself everytime the music came on. She was not interested in the educational bits that said "Bib" or "Diaper" or "Elephant". Hope you'll enjoy the clip as much as hubby and I enjoyed her dancing... (PS: please bear with the horrid singing and the very messy house... :P)

Little things in life...

I LOVE TO BITE STUFF

(reads... "everything I can get my hands on including dirt")

The little one has developed a bad habit which I am trying to help her kick... And that is biting or putting everything in her mouth. The most recent being a ten cent coin, the nose of the seal massager among others... Here are pictures of her being caught in the act!

The lollipop was a freak accident. She was on my lap watching Elmo sing her favourite "Elmo Song" and instead of the usual climbing up to hit the laptop keyboard, she sat quietly on my lap. I thought maybe she was tired already then suddenly she turned and pulled the lolly out. YIKES! The wrapper is broken!!! I wonder how much of the sweet she actually took... No more sweets until she is in primary school!!! :(

Monkey See Monkey Do (Using the magic mop)

Cute isn't it? She's been playing with the mop for 2 weeks already. Daddy finally had the chance to see it for himself and took a video... It was close to her zzz time and she insisted on playing with the mop. When she hits corners and get stuck, she'll scream until the mop moves again... *opps... check out my attire! GEE!!!*

I am FULL! I do not want more milk or milk with cereal! Please let me off!!!

Feeding milk to my daughter needs some creative direction because she simply refuses to finish the 150ml of milk! I am desperate because she is only taking a total of 400ml of milk a day. Is that considered little? I should perhaps ask the PD? Website says toodlers between 1 to 2 years should get about 600ml of milk...  So to get her to finish, I will mix the milk with cereal or rusk to feed it to her... In the above occassion, she was TOTALLY not interested! Desperate as I was, I gave up trying after 8 spoons of the cereal... And that was after hubby gaves me dirty looks saying that it was enough and that her little belly seem to be bursting on the seams... 

Chinese New Year!

This is little girl's 2nd CNY and I was super ill-prepared for it. This is especially the case for me since I did not have much time to do spring cleaning! 


We went to Vivo City for some last minute shopping on Thursday... And little girl met Clifford the Dog! You can see how happy she is despite us not feeding the machine. :) 

 

 

Papa told mummy to get into the picture... so act cute together with my little girl... 

Chinese New Year Eve and the 1st day of CNY were spent in Malaysia JB. Yearly, we would visit hubby's paternal grandma. On the eve, we dropped by a very desolate Giant and little girl had her "dinner" there. Hubby took the opportunity to take pictures and only this one came out clear enough. 

In my enthusiasm, little girl had two pieces of traditional chinese new year dress which I bought from a bulk purchase. The material was really good and she look so adorable in it. The red one was my favourite and the pink is daddy's favourite (ERHMM! Makes sense why the better quality photos show the little one in pink and not red...). 

Taken at little girl's favourite corner of the house (yep right next to the pot of plants)...

Running away cheekily after throwing one mandrin orange on the floor...

Day 2: Visiting Mummy's Paternal Grandmother- and so the long wait for the Fei Fei Wanton Noodles began...

Little girl spent most of the CNY holiday at my mother in law's place. Sadly, my maternal grandmother passed away on Day 2 of CNY and I had to help my mum with the funeral. Although little girl never got to see or know more of my maternal grandmother, she is one great lady who was encouraging, loving and positive about life even when things got tough. She will live in our hearts forever!

Immunisation Records

I recently learnt from other experienced mothers that our little one's immunisation records are required when we register them for Primary 1. And this could sometimes add on stress to the Primary 1 registration if the records of compulsory immunisations are not updated properly. :)

Thanks to ImekiO and Luthadel for educating me on the website to check the record!!! I logged in and found that the records were indeed not properly updated (especially the ones I took at the GP's clinic!).

The website to check is http://www.nir.hpb.gov.sg/nir/sv/eservices/eservicesv?ACTION=DISPLAY_VIEW_FAQ_BY_CATEGORY&CATEGORY_ID=URCP

You will need your SingPass to login to the website. After logging in, you would be able to check your child's immunisation record by keying in his name and DOB or just his NRIC.

What should you do if the immunisation records are not updated? You can call up the clinic where you took the immunisation and tell them to do it! OR if you think it's a hassle to call the clinic, you can just fax a copy of the immunisation record on the Health Booklet and fax it to 64381015 for updating. :) After that you can just check back in about 3 working days... :)

Dinner @ Alexandra Ikea

Hubby and I could not decide where to eat since the usual hawker stalls we frequented were closed on Tuesdays. What better way then to settle dinner @ our favourite place - Ikea! There was meat ball specials and we love them! 

We were there pretty late and yet the queue was SUPER long! Anyway, while waiting for the food, I looked up and guess who I saw! My neighbours!!!! Found out that they were headed for anchorpoint since the queue was long. Told them that hubby was in the queue and can join my hubby to order... 

We took the opportunity to take photos of the two little gals sitting together! Overall, it was really fun because we got to catch up, exchange some parenting tips and the two kids enjoyed the presence of one another!

 

 Little one entertained by the packet of Sugar... 

  

Neighbour was good! She manage to get the 2 little ones to smile!

  

Hmmm... Neighbour's little girl munched on grapes while my little one munched on straw! *opps*

  

It was an accidental click of the photo button. But I thought this is really cheeky and cute! :)  

 

Memories of my 13.5mth old toodler...

It's been such a busy time for me at work... Usually it will be really late by the time she goes to sleep and I'll be dead tired too... 

At 13.5 months old, she is no longer a baby... more like a little adult and learning new things everyday to amuse me and hubby. Below are just some ratings of my little one's development...  
  
Language development: SLOW
- she's still blabbering baby language but sometimes will try to pronouce certain words (e.g. BBRRRIIIII while pointing to birds.) cannot believe that her first word is not papa and mama! 
Whoever who told me that babies who stick around older kids will learn to talk faster, THIS IS TOTALLY NOT TRUE!!!! 

Understanding Instructions: AVERAGE
She can understand 
- A stern "NO" will make her stop at her tracks, 
- "Give" and she will pass you the item, 
- "Throw" - she will take her soiled diapers and throw them in the bin
- "Go to Papa" - she will strut quickly in the direction where hubby is seated or standing

Understanding vocabulary: AVERAGE
- "Hot", she will immediately pause and not touch the item, 
- "Banana", a head turner! It's her favourite fruit, never fails to catch her attention and she will flash her most brillant smile if there's one in your hands. 

EMOTIONS
- Whine and demands to be picked up even if she happens to trip and fall (This has been corrected. When she whines, hubby and I will just tell her stand up on your own. After 2 days, she will pick herself up.)

- She begins to cry if you snatch something that she's holding tightly to. Using the word "give" will not garner reaction. (This is a behavior which hb and I are still deciding whether we should teach her about)

- Whines and pretend to cry if she does not get a mouth of the fruit you are having (to the extend that she will stare at you with the "Mama/Papa, PLEASE?" sad puppy eyes look. And if hb is hugging her, she will open her mouth wide and bend her head forward when the food is going towards his mouth)

WALKING: GOOD
- Walking is her favourite activity and something which she is best at. When we are out, she walks around full of purpose (as if she knows where she is heading to). Only thing is she will walk right into the legs of unsuspecting adults.  

SOCIAL SKILLS: AVERAGE
- She loves other kids. Especially those with balls and battery operated cars. (she chased after a boy who was on a battery operated car.)


OTHER WIERD ACTIVITIES SHE WILL PARTAKE: 
Pushing her own pram or even the super market trolley - 
Currently her favourite activity, even if it means bending down by the waist to push. And even if it means pushing a trolley that is filled with 3 packs of 5kg rice, 2 bottles of 1 litre oil, 18 tins of assorted tin foods and 6 packets of instant noodles among other things (hubby told me that she was actually using her strength to push the trolley when he let go and yes the trolley moved for over 2 metres... and if hubby did not stop her, she would continue pushing! SUCH strength at this age!!!).