Huirou @ 15 months

My greatest joy comes everyday when I pick her up from daycare. My greatest pleasure is seeing her unfolding personality. Just this morning, she woke up and promptly scoot over to my side of the bed and gave me a big fat "Good Morning" kiss. Now, who won't sayang (adore) a loving personality like that?

Growth, Food Intake and General Well Being

• We've been unable to get an accurate weight reading because now she recognizes the pediatrician and will not let us put her on the scale. So she's still about 9 kg, we think.
  
• Last month she got sick twice. Fever. Then bronchitis. Caught it from me probably, though I had no symptoms. Lucky for me, she rather enjoy her meds.
• After 2 months of dangling between 1-nap and 2-nap days, she's finally switch to doing just 1 nap a day.
• Most probably because we changed to a new baby sitter. The new place is much quieter.
• Speaking of which the new sitter cooks! Yay. Which means I don't have to wake up at 5.30 am anymore.
• So she will have 1 meal and occasional snacks there and dinner with us in the evenings.
• These are the foods that she loves. bread. pasta esp in bolognese sauce. anything that is on our plates even if it's actually the same food that she's eating.
• As for fruits, her current favorite is the dragon fruit and if that's not available, oranges will do.

Physical Development and Communications

• YES. Finally she can walk now. but I am still nervous about that. I keep telling Hubs that if he doesn't take videos now then we won't have videos of her toddling. She'll be walking in no time.... So y'all who knows him, help me out abit?
• She can now stand from her squat. No hands.
• So since she can now walk abit what does she do about stairs? she try to ascend and descend them like us. no more butt first when coming down. Really scary.
  
• She now points to her toy car and says "de de" trying to say "cher cher" like me.
• When I ask: Where's your "ya ya" She grinds her teeth.
• She also knows the fan, lights, tv.
• She especially likes her "shoe shoe". Because whenever I say that, it means we are going out where she can walk around.
  
• She can be persuaded to help me turn on/off the lights
• She will also now gladly throw away "rubbish" So now whenever she picks up any, I just ask her to toss it away. No snatching from her. No tears.
  
• And she looooooves to throw her own diaper away. Big help.

Character and Temperament

• It may seem impossible but now she's much less velcro-y to us.
• She plays alone, and when asked to wait, she can do so, unless she's sleepy.
• At the new sitter's house she learnt to pretend to fall down. Obviously we are not fazed and just laughed at her attempts to garner sympathy.
  

If everything goes well and if our prayers are answered, Huirou will soon be a Che Che next year. And since I haven't got a good picture to show, I figured if I show a 2nd bad picture and some good news, it's a good enough post?

Budding Green Thumb

What do you do when it's rainy and the baby wants to go out to play?
What do you do to distract a baby when mom's (i.e. me) cooking?
What do you do when you are lazy and you don't have a garden to let the baby run loose?


That's right. Hubs takes Huirou gardening. Now before our evening walk at the park, she insists on a little detour to her pot. (yeah. I know those are empty pots) and since then she's had to pick at the grass, leaves, twigs and pieces of paper (aka trash)that are lying around the park. She also insist on squatting by the drain to watch the mosquito larvae swim. Aiyah.....

Huirou @ 14 months

Umm well... at 14 months 1 week cause it gets harder to back track the longer I procrastinate

Growth, Food Intake and General Well Being

• Has EIGHT teeth already.
  
• We are moving her to 2 meals plus a mid afternoon snack since she seems to lose interest in her food already.
  
• So I've begun to be really creative in what I feed her (and hence the sporadic posts :) )
• Her naps are still alternating between 1-nap days and 2-nap days. It seems like she cannot make up her mind to move on to 1 nap a day :)
• Have ALL her immunizations completed already.
  
• last month I bought her a pair of size 3 shoes and now I've just bought her a pair in size 4! Her size 3 lasted 3 weeks!! So I just bought them in the same design (Lazy to find lar!)
  

Physical Development and Communications

• She's walking, NOT. she may take baby steps on her own but she's not gain a sense of balancing yet
• but the funny thing is she can get up on her own by sticking her butt in the air and then push off her arms to stand straight
• And of course she can squat for a long time now
• Her pincer grasp is great, being able to pick up grains of rice now.

Character and Temperament

• She's also developing a headstrong personality; when she's angry she grinds her teeth o_O and I didn't teach her that ok??
• She's also rather impatient and will whine endlessle if made to wait

Huirou loves the outdoors. She gets especially excited when I tell her that we are going to the park ( the playground just outside our house). She knows the Jusco near our house and when we are near it she show us her cute face :0

Huirou @ 13 months

Growth, Food Intake and General Well Being

• Her 6th tooth finally sprouted. This tooth was a particularly difficult one to grow. I think it took 3 months maybe?
• She gets 2 full meals a day, usually including dessert (fruits). Sometimes I will pack along a snack for her to the sitter's house, mostly fruits that keep well. On top of that she gets all the breastmilk she wants.
• She's finally had a taste of some salty foods, but she will eat her slightly bland food when I forgot to salt. (She's been salt-free for the past few months, and I sometimes forgot to season her food properly. I know, bad momma)
• She loves to eat breads, especially the crusty heel of a baguette.
• She prefers rice over her rice porridge (congee), perhaps because she perceive our food as tastier?
• She takes 2 short naps during the weekdays and usually only 1 longer nap at home. Unsurprisingly because we have airconditioning and a very quiet room compared to the sitter's :P

Physical Development and Communications

• This girl can roll around and laze in bed *grin*
• Although she enjoys walking with her hands held, She is still rather suspicious of walking on her two feet alone. She does enjoy leaning on walls and furniture to stand... This is so that she can hold items in both her hands
• But she's learnt to squat for extended period of time. She can also pull to stand from her squat.
• She will pick up objects from the floor and inspect them rather carefully; she especially loves the cracks and crevices in out floor/wall.
• She is also rather apt an getting on and off furniture and stairs but we watch her like a hawk.
• Her pincer grasp is developing rather well that she can hold onto her cookie tightly
• She likes the tar tar song. It took me a while to figure out it's Twinkle Twinkle Little Star! No wonder she was opening and closing her palms. Aiyaaa...
• She will also point to the sky when I say birdy and to the faraway ground when I say dog.
• She says
• She understands that I want her to sit down zhor zhor but complying is another story ...
• She learnt how to pray when we say paipai (pray pray: meaning the altar). She will hold her palms together and move them up and down.
• When I ask her finish up her cookie by saying aaahm, she will put whatever is remaining in her hands into her mouth. even if it is a rather large chunk of food.
• She will tug her shirt when asked if she wants to bath bumbum
• She regularly tells us hmmmph hmmmph that she needs to use the potty; however, she cannot differentiate yet how to say poo or pee. She will also say the same if she went already o_O

Character and Temperament

• This month we see some personality developing! Oh gosh.
• She is willful, always wanting to do things her way. She will thow a tantrum when she doesn't get her way or when some thing is taken away from her. So we try not to take anything from her, not because we spoil her but because we want to teach her that it is not ok to take by force.
• When asked nicely she will hand you objects with a Nah. Cute
• Her persistence in hide and seek will send her looking for a hidden object for a full 15 minutes.
• She's very loving. She will frequently approach us to kiss or hang onto our legs for attention. Sometimes she will just look up and smile while playing.

I started this post being very angry at her because she was spitting out her food (She's had enough) the entire evening and then asking for more food. Then she bit me and when I scolded her she threw a fit and refused to be comforted. I even told Hubs that I have nothing to blog about and she has not grown at all. The amount I have written surely is an indication that she's more angel than devil, and usually only devilish when provoked or tired. Come to think of it, I myself behave crabbily when feeling tired.

Huirou's Many Faces

This little girl is very expressive nowadays. It is an understatement when I say that she wears ALL her emotions on her sleeves. One moment she can be happily giggling away, suddenly she will be yelling on top of her voice wanting something.



When I scold her yai yai (naughty) She makes a sad face and usually will cry if neither Hubs nor I proceed to console her

When she needs to use the potty she goes hmmmmph hmmmmph in a rather unladylike manner. But it gets our attention because it is so unlike all the other little (or big) sounds that she makes. She does this for both pee and poo, though.

When she is surprised, or want our attention diverted to something she sees she goes ohh! and points.

She is constantly keeping us on our toes, and when she goes to bed at night, I sigh in relieve and Hubs will recount the number of times that she went from smiley to cry-baby to smiley to cry-baby to smiley to cry-baby to smiley with a few diva antics thrown in for good measure.

Huirou's 1st Birthday Celebration

We had a small intimate celebration for Huirou at home on the weekend before her birthday. I ordered cupcakes because we planned to share them on Jonathan's birthday with friends.

The cupcakes were from +wondermilk.

Hubs and I sang Happy Birthday loudly and clap so hard our palms were red.


Huirou, being Huirou, was oblivious to all our attention-grabbing antics (we were trying to get a nice photo). She was paying attention to the cupcakes. Somehow, she knew they are edible and was trying to grab them

After 15 minute, I got angry (Snap lar! she's smiling) and Hubs got frustrated (You think so easy, meh?) so we decided that the pictures are good enough. (yaya, we'll post them later) This is one where she's trying to say hi.

Beijing Olympics 2008

What the Olympics have got to do with a baby, you ask?

Well, this is Huirou's first olympics.

Although she doesn't quite know yet what all the excitement is about, she senses the excitement in the air.

Instance #1,
we were having our dinner at a Nasi Kandar outlet near our house one evening, and as usual plenty of people were glued to the screen. Fine, alot more than usual. Infact, the place was packed. It turned out that we arrived 20 minutes before the badminton semi-finals ends. People were cheering and routing for our very own Lee Chong Wei. Huirou was laughing an clapping to the "YES! YES! YES!" shouts of the crowd.

Instance #2,
Since by now we know that Datuk Lee have won the semis, it is natural that we watch the finals too. This time, at my home in Ipoh comfortably. Although the "crowd" is much smaller, we were plenty excited. She laughed and laughed at us cheering (oklah, also to our aiyah's....) Needless to say, I was watching her more than the game.

I will remember how suddenly, during the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008, my baby became so excited over an event she barely knows about.

Huirou @ 11 months

Huirou at 11 months is very very mischievous. It is getting increasingly difficult to get her to pose for a picture. So, I expect to have a lot of candid shots in the months to come. Let's see what have she achieved this month:

Growth, Food Intake and General Well Being

• She weighs 7.3 kg the last time we visited the doctor. It's not much but she's happy and healthy.
• On a daily basis, she eats 2 meals a day ( a heavy brunch, and a light dinner), at least 3 bottles of milk a day at the sitter's and nurses on demand at home, various snacks (fruits, rice puffs, bread) throughout the day and at least 5 oz of water, somewhat depending on thirst.
• Usually takes 2 naps a day. Once, she took a 2-hour nap during lunch and lasted till bedtime.
• She's also cutting four teeth on her top jaw. But currently, only three is visible; Adding the bottom teeth she now has a total of 5 teeth.
  

Physical Development and Communications

• Huirou mainly moves around the house by crawling or cruising along furniture. We have also left sturdy boxes for her to push around, which she rather enjoy.
  
• She is able to dump things out of containers and put them back in.
• She opens and closes her hands when we sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"; She does the same action when asked to wave "Bye" but with one hand only. Subtle, huh?
• When she see children of any age, she utters : didi ; and she calls herself jeje
  
• She can address her papa accurately, with a rather serious looking face.
• When she wants to go upstairs she points.
• When she's excited, she huffs and puffs, and race towards her goal, whether it be nursing or going out.
  
• She recognizes some "words" although she cannot utter them. Among her favorite? Nen-nen (milk), kaikai (going out) and bumbum (bath). She will also stop momentarily if we shout out NO. or UH-UH.
• In fact, she remembers what she's not supposed to do and will look at us if she's near the "forbidden zone"
• When we say "no biting" she smiles and will teeth the object but will not actually bite.
  

Character & Temperament

• She likes to help with folding laundry by unfolding whatever I have folded. In fact, she likes to roll around the unfolded laundry on the bed.
• In the mornings, she lazes in bed with us. Once she's awake, she starts smiling.
• She laughs easily and seldom cries. When she's upset she whines.
• She is not timid at all. She just laugh at the loud bangs that we think will startle any baby.
  
• Her stranger anxiety have improved by leaps and bounds; She now will allow just about anyone to hold her- as long as she's not tired, hungry or in a bad mood.
• She loves to be read to, and will help by turning the pages. Cloth and board books are the easiest for her, but she will need help with actual book pages.
• Loves to play peekaboo. and if you follow behind her while she's being brought upstairs she gets real excited.

The biggest development of all this month is subtle but is the most precious to me of all. She has grown rather independent and can play on her own for some length of time. Previously, she needed to see or at least hear somebody. Sometimes, she will surprise us by waking up from her nap without crying and sit on the bed to play.

Little Gestures from Daddy

Scrapbook details are Here

It is moments like this that reminds me that it's not how big our wedding was or how much money we have lack ; it's the way he does things that is. Not one day. Not one week. EVERY DAY.

At Granma's place I usually stay home while Hubs go get us breakfast. He will get everything that I like to eat. My stomach's growling as I type this! Luckily, Pulau not that much food variety to choose from. Imagine if he's from Pulau Pinang :P


Then, there's this thing where he tries to avoid Huirou looking into the sun. If he is in a situation where that cannot be avoided, he will shield her eyes with his hands.

Huirou learning to be organized

I thought Huirou is going to be like me. Why? She used to only know how to mess things up. *blush* When I fold the laundry she will pick up clothes from the NEAT pile and mess them up. Never from the messy pile. When put things in her basket, she will always pul everything out. Infact, it has become a game of sorts for her.

But now she's a big girl now. She just learnt both "take out" and "put in" can be great fun. I hope she does more putting in than taking out ...

Huirou's Food

Scrapbook details are Here
When I decided to take pictures of Huirou's food, I have planned to take them continuously for a week or so; however, I sometimes forget, or Huirou decides that she wants her nen nen, so I could only just pack her food and go be a cow.

As I am trying to introduce a variety of food to her, her porridges get a little colourful. Most days, it is rice porridge with a variety of root vegetables. When inspiration strikes, I will add in a new ingredient. However, I refuse to go the kwailo route, whereby babies are introduced to Pears and Rice ( major EEEK!!)

Ok, I have to admit that I am making food choices for her based on my own preferences BUT Rice is our staple food. AND her food should taste as good to me, taking into account her food is never salted.

In case you were wondering about her food samplings, she had (clockwise from top left) pureed carrots, french beans, sweet potato, vegetable medley with kailan, beetroot and frenchbeans with some barley. (all from memory...)

She would literally go bananas over bananas. She loves her sweet potatoes but hates yoghurt (so far) She likes to mimic our chewing actions when we eat, and I usually share my food with her if it is something that she can eat, else she will wail. So now if I am eating junk food, I eat it out of her sight :) She is able and willing to pick up bits of food with her fingers to eat. When she's done she sweeps all the crumbs onto the floor. I am trying to show her that she doesn't need to do that after a meal, but it is rather hard communicating with a baby, if you know what I mean.

Huirou @ 10 months

Okay. This post is mainly for Hubs :) He has been looking forward to read about the newest update since last week. I haven't got a very new picture to show but I like this picture taken at Ikano. See how she drives like a daredevil already? *faint*

1. Huirou can definitely crawl faster now. She can also stand longer, even moving sideways a little.
2. She has also learned that she can move stuff around while crawling; it's a funny sight when she's crawling and holding on to her blankie at the same time (just like Linus in Peanuts)
3. She has also learned to use her fingers. GOOD: picking up food and putting it in her mouth. BAD: Digging at the dirt in our groutings and putting it in her mouth. WORSE: Digging at my belly button while nursing (ouchie ouchie!)
4. She will point to things now, especially familiar objects while on our evening walk. Dogs, birds and other children are her favorite.
5. She has also taken a fancy to drinking out of our glasses. However, sometimes she just wants to play and will let the water just dribble out of her mouth, making her shirt very very wet
   
6. She is also more aware of her surroundings now. During baths, she used to just enjoy herself; now she like to investigate the outside of her tub. During bath -time, she will also make big splashes and laugh out loud because she likes the water in her face.
   
7. She was also learnt to whine ...... which is just annoying as when she screams.
8. Will do "tricks" on request: High Five, RedIndianCry (don't need to help her anymore), ClapHands. She will put her hands together even if I hum the "If you're happy and you know it" song. Pretty cool, huh

So that's it for this month, I think . Coz I need to post this before Hubs get off work!

and ohh yaa, she has started to use the potty regularly too...

Huirou's Grandparents

Huirou have 1 each of Granpa and Granma.

They are same in some ways; and different in some other ways.

Huirou's Granma is shy in front of the camera, but is very concerned about her well-being. Every once in awhile, she will call me and ask how she's doing. She's most concerned about her nutrition, constantly reminding me to feed her this and that... which takes like 1 whole hour! And whenever we visit her, she makes sure Huirou is comfortable, and learnt some new skills.

Whereas, Granpa never fail to remember to have his picture taken with Huirou. Infact, he'll act all kanchiong wanting to remove his glasses and all so that he look immaculate in those photos. He is most concerned about who takes care of her when I go to work and always asking us (Me and Hubs!) to take care of ourselves so that we can take care of his youngest cucu (malay: Grandchild)






So you see, although Huirou's Granparents seldom see each other, and are mostly different; they still share a common love for their youngest cucu.

About taking pictures of Huirou

It is never easy to capture images of Huirou. She doesn't automatically smile for the camera. It takes a lot of effort (waving/ jumping around/ making funny noises) and the right timing for a good picture. For this I am thankful for digitals, coz it's free to take take take then delete delete delete.

Sometimes she lunges for the camera thinking that it is a toy, making for many pictures of her with her finger in the way. But then again sometimes because of this we get really really good close-ups of her in play.

Most precious to me of all is in her expressions when she's just being herself. I sometimes keep even the "bad" photos just because there's a little bit of her personality showing through.

Climber on Board

Like the title says, we've got a brilliant climber on board. See for yourself her daily antics ....

Crawling

This video was taken last month, just when she was proficient enough to crawl AND push around toys. (Okok, it's supposed to be her potty but she thinks it's tooooo pretty to poo in ...:) )

Huirou @ 9 months

My little one is growing up very fast. In 3 months, she will already be 1. Just last month, Aunty YokeSim was talking about how we oughta celebrate Huirou's 1st birthday in Ipoh. Then last week, another aunt bought Huirou a PoohbearPillow as a birthday gift.

Huirou is very active nowadays. She scrambles around whichever way she can and often pokes her cute little nose into every dusty corner of the house with her innate sense of adventure. Her curiosity usually lead her to perform all sorts of acrobatics that may include:

1. Crawling over, around, underneath and on top of furniture, boxes, pillows etc...
   
2. Pulling herself up to stand using furniture (or our legs!)
3. Getting from crawling to kneeling.
   
4. Changing directions or positions suddenly on short notice.
   
5. Grasping objects firmly that we find it difficult to take away anything that she holds,
6. Screaming out loud when we succeed.
   
7. Utttering monosyllabic sounds. We heard bababa and nana and dididi and jejeje. But it may just be us hearing things ...
8. Grabbing food out of our hands and feeding herself snacks (80% of which will land on the floor, on her face, in her shirt etc etc)
9. Trying to turn her book pages before I finish reading. And each page of her book consist of only one word o_O
   
10. Playing simple games
• hide-and-seek ( I hide behind the curtains and she lifts it up, anymore complex she thinks I went away)
• Will crawl faster if we follow her from behind on all fours (with some stalky music)
• Will try to avoid our fingers while being tickled, but will laugh happily when we succeed
• Make a funny face and she will smile happily, often with nose wrinkled and eyes shut.

Huirou has recently taken to yelling out really really LOUD whenever she is bored. This has been driving me up the wall; and contributes to Hubs increase migraines. We are hoping that this phase will pass quickly so we get our sanity back. It is a phase, right??

Oh, if you look closely at the above picture, you can see her 2 pearly whites!

Self-Feeding

"Our Darling feeding herself some rusk"

Huirou likes to dine with us. Unfortunately, our table food is often unsuitable for her. Luckily, she's rather happy with a teething rusk or a few pieces of bananas. I often just let her feed herself. Most of her food end up on the chair, her clothing and even the floor though, but she enjoys herself and we (Hubs and I) actually get to eat TOGETHER!! (Hey! It's a big deal when you used to take turns entertaining the baby, okay?) Hopefully, in time, she will learn to eat with us at mealtimes. Wouldn't that be fun??



"The mess that was left"

Nursing Rooms

Huirou loves going out. She will already be all geared up when in the car. She (and we) especially like to go the malls. The deal-maker? Nursing Rooms! Going to the park would mean that we either have to nurse in public, or in the car.

Most of the malls in Klang Valley have nursing facilities. Our favorite are the one at The Curve just because we are not shut up in a dingy little room.

It is truly OUR favorite because It is very spacious to begin with. If we had a pram and an older kid, and bought some stuff, they would all fit in. Definitely not some done up changing room! I like that the room is just curtained enough for privacy, so I get good air circulation. Huirou likes it too because she still can look around at the nice fabric but not too distracted to nurse. The temperature is nice and cool. Moreover because it is NOT a room to begin with we don't ever have to be startled by people trying to open the door (eg Ikea, Kids think it's part of the toilet o_O)

Now that she can sit rather well, I'll usually pack my stuff and adjust my clothing while having her sit in the nursing chair. After nursing, she would smile at me as in the picture. Picture was taken in the nursing room of Aeon Bukit Tinggi. It's only 6/10 for a nursing room but is comfortable enough. Plus it is not next to any toilet, so no "weird" smell :)

ps: go read what my ideal nursing room is at random musings :)

Hui Rou @ 8 months

Due to my heavy workload this month, I couldn’t write as often as I wanted. However, we see A LOT of development in Huirou. As usual, the beginning of each month I feel the need to jot down something so that when Huirou grow up she can read all about herself.

For the record, and with a big reassurance from the paediatrician that she is NOT TINY, Huirou

1. Weighs 7.2 kg. She’s supposed to only triple her birth weight at 1 year old.
2. Is able to crawl on all fours; as opposed to previously when she was crawling commando style.
3. Is able to climb over small obstacles eg the pillows that usually are her barrier from falling out of the bed. So now no more playing in bed with her. She also only naps on the mattress on the floor. She is also rather curious and is constantly investigating something, pulling this and pushing that. She especially test my patience when she screams for somthing that I would not let her have eg. papa's specs, my dirty wallet, the house keys. What shall I do when she's bigger?
4. Is able to sit upright consistently, enabling us to put her in shopping carts, restaurant high chairs etc... when we go out. ( Making it much much much kinder on our arms :) )
5. Is able to get from sitting to lying and vice versa. I consider this a MAJOR accomplishment! Previously she plops down when she's tired or she cries to be helped to an upright position.
6. Is able to manipulate toys in her hands. Previously if you hand her something, it goes straight to her mouth, but now she will choose the parts she wants to chew on.
7. Still speaks alot of gibberish but there are some that we can comprehend. Waah waah waah means I am hungry. Ahwoo ahwoo means I am happy and wanna play. Oklah! Only music to mummy's ears.
8. Can kiss. Say "sayang" ( malay: kiss) and she will purse her lips and approach our faces
9. Can understand when I am angry. If I scold her she will make a sad face. or scream in her determination to do things her way.
10. Recognizes her bottles and my boobs. If you give her a bottle of water when she wants milk she will push the bottle away. If she sees me when she is hungry, she will climb onto my lap and try to get into her nursing position. Incidently, I forgot to jot down that she can already hold her own bottle last month. I try to not let her do that too often, because I read that it may lead to tooth decay... but it is now so much easier to feed her.
11. Exhibits less stranger anxiety this month. I am sure by making this public I am jinxing myself and next month she will be clingier than ever.
12. Enjoys her solids chunkier now; however, we found out that she may be allergic to cow's milk. (Long story... Busy to pump, supplemented, she vomitted, had rashes) So, it's back to 100% Breast milk for now.
13. Is able to play simple games and take jokes.
    
• Many variations of peek-a-boo
• Make exaggerated facial expressions and she will laugh
• Approach her with your "tickling" finger and she will laugh in anticipation
• Pretend to sleep, then peep at her, she will touch your face.
• Blows at my arm with her mouth, making funny noises
• can do the red indian cry. she goes waaa and we help her with our hands to her mouth.
  

In short for this month, we have to put her on the floor. I have to wash my wallet more often; or get a child-friendly one; clean the house more often so she's not eating dirt off the floor . and get my milk supply up to the maximum?

Grrrrrr ... ... I've Got Teeth!

Two weeks ago, we (Hubs and I) thought Huirou was experiencing a severe bout of separation anxiety. It turns out that she's just teething. A few days ago, I realised that one of her teeth has cut through. There is another one right next to it that is still sprouting, but she seemed fine now. I tried and tried for a good photo but she did not cooperate. So maybe I'll get a good pix later to post. I posted just so that I know when she's cut her first tooth.

Take Two

On your left is THE high chair that everybody knows is cheap and good. Yep. You're looking at the restaurant-approved, minimalist Ikea Antilop high chair.

On your right, however, is the IMPROVED version. It is NOT a camera trick





Now you can feed your little one in the living room while watching TV. No need to put a leg on the walker to stop it from moving around. No more being stuck at the dining table while your little one refuse to eat and you're missing the replay of Hamilton hitting Alonso.

Only Available in Hubs Store. Made with 50% sweat and 50% ingenuity.
Baby not included.

A Malay Wedding

Last Sunday, Huirou accompanied Hubs and I to a wedding at Putrajaya. She attracted alot of attention and practically stole the limelight. The place was beautifully decorated and the food was delicious, but all she cared about was Daddy's camera. So we had a lot of pictures of her. We were out for four hours or so, and in all that excitement she missed a nap. So on the way back she was pooped and napped all the way from Putrajaya to Klang.

Huirou @ 7 Months

I bought this dress for her to attend a wedding with us. Really gorgeous right? At seven months, we are seeing Huirou meet a lot of developmental milestones.


Without further ado, our little one has already accomplished the following:

1. Moves commando style ALL OVER the place. She can scoot from one end of our king-sized bed to the other in 10 seconds. (Yep, this geeky momma timed her :) )
   
2. She can rest on her palms and her knees but yet to figure out how to dig in with her knees to crawl. So stay tuned for this exciting event, coming soon :)
3. Able to grab something and pass it from hand to hand. Able to take aim at things she wants. If she doesn't get what she wants, she exercise her verbal skills. see below
   
4. Last month, she will try to desock herself; but this month she can definitely do it whenever she wants. She just pull her socks off with her ...ermm... gums ...
5. Able to sit without support. But still plops down with a BIG thud when she gets tired. When will the young lady learn to be less chor lor??? (Hokkien: rough)
6. Have solid foods 3 -4 times a week. Loves carrots.
7. Able to utter 2-syallabus gibberish. the experts say that these are pre-language development. I just think they are cute. But then nothing is uncute about her.
8. Is a little apprehensive of strangers at the same time have developed some mild separation anxieties. namely, she is getting clingy attached to me

So, she's still the same happy baby. Just physically stronger, smarter, taller, and more willful.

Huirou can sit !

Ya, it's true you know. She can sit already. I previously noted that she can tripod, but now she can really sit on her own. However, she's fearless; When she's tired and want to lay down, she throws caution to the wind and just PLOP! It's really scary to watch but I am sure in time, she will learn to lie down gently :) Sitting up. Check. Next. Crawling?

Prison Break

Hubs say this is Huirou learning to do the Prison Break thingy. I don't think she would be much of a success. Erm... At least I hope not, coz that would be a MAJOR headache for me .......

Stroller Ride

We visited Granma again last weekend. Huirou is so interactive that we didn't want her (Granma) to miss out on the fun. Granma owns a pretty unique stroller that is shared by all her visiting grandchildren. We have to use a pillow to support Huirou but as you can see from the pix, she's rather happy about being wheeled around the pulau

Huirou's Feeding

Recently we have allowed Huirou to taste other foods besides milk. It is really a mess feeding her because she cannot really sit up right without support yet. But she seems to like a number of foods that was offered.

Huirou with the pillow

Sometimes, we really don't have to get expensive store-bought toys.







There was one afternoon when it was nice and rainy and we didn't feel like going out. Not even to the nearby mall......

So Huirou, Hubs and I spent the afternoon at home. While we watch tv, Huirou began wrestling with the pillow that was supposed to be her "insurance" from falling off the edge of her mattress. (btw, she loves those prints on her bedsheet!)

Hui Rou @ 6 months

I better hurry up and post before I forget all the wonderful moments that I am having with my baby. I was eyeing this wonderful slice of cake We decided to buy a cake to celebrate her half-year-old birthday. And the girl is already salivating ......

To keep track of her developments are harder now but I've noted the following:

1. Height and weight is unknown, since she has completed her 1st series of jabs last month already(so no paed visit). But I moved her up 1 size in her clothings last week.
2. Able to roll around, from tummy to belly, from belly to tummy, from head to toe, and every which way. This momma gotta be watch her vigilantly now... ...
3. Able to lift her butt when on her tummy; but with support on her shoulders.
4. Able to scoot around. If her belly is up she moves upward. If her belly is down, she move downwards, using her hands or her legs to push around.
5. She can de-sock herself if she try hard enough. She does it either by rubbing her feet together or grabbing her socks with her hands and pulling.
6. Speaking of which, she now "found" her feet and occasionally wants to chew on them too!!
7. She can also now sit without support for a few seconds at a time, until she loses her balance. She does this best in the bath tub because the tub offers her an edge to hold on to.
8. I didn't notice any new syllabus from her; But as far as speech development goes, she now has more volume control. She no longer just screams, but can vary her voice, and seems genuinely fascinated by her new ability.
9. Able to play simple games: peekaboo with a handkerchief, and a kissing game I invented (I say mmmmm until she kisses me, then as she pulls away I say aah!)
10. Knows how to be "shy" i.e. if she gets overwhelmed by a stranger's attention, she knows to burrow into my shoulder ( or Hubs')
11. Has a will of her own, and will arch her back, and yell if she doesn't get what she wants. Mostly, she just wants to be held, or is hungry)
    
12. On top of all the "new" things, she still consistently sleeps thru the night, sucks her thumbs, coos alot, and genenerally behaves like the happy baby that she is.

- edit - weighs 7 kg :)

Marshmallow Dress

Huirou loves her dresses.

Oops, I think Huirous her dresses, because every time we dressed up to go out, she gets very excited.

Me? I like her Marshmallow dress. It is all pastel and have these little flowers sticking out, as if they are just as eager to see new things, and meet new people as Huirou.

I should think about dressing her more often this way...

"Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes"

I had a realisation this morning as I was singing with Huirou the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes".

The baby books all mentioned it: Babies heads are disproportionately large .... but I didn't know that it means:

She couldn't reach the top of her head with her hands.

Funny, how we get used to seeing baby with short limbs. And funnier when I imagine I have her proportions. Surely that will make me veeery smart.

Learning to Drink from Sippy Cup

Today was a hot day. It was so hot that we didn't even want to drive out; so we hid in our room with the air conditioner on full blast. With nothing else to do, I tried to teach Huirou to drink from a sippy cup, with hilarious results... ....


She was doing so well at first. I would even say she was excited about her new skill. She dropped the bottle quite a number of times, because the bottle was too big for her little hands. But she managed to drink with the sippy cup.



After a few sips though, she started tossing her bottle away. And gave the bottle such an intense look of disgust, it was funny to look at. I think the fact that it contain ONLY WATER annoys her. or maybe she just wasn't thirsty anymore??


So cute, right?