Fussy Little Girl with lantern

Zara is really turning into a fussy little girl. She demands and specifies what she wants and if we don't give in, she would make a big fuss or nag us. E.g. If she ordered macaroni and cheese but you give her oat for lunch, she just refused to eat, kept saying, "Zara want maca-no-ni and cheese only!" "Don't want anything else" If she wanted grape flavoured Vitagen and we gave her apple flavoured, she would be repeating, "Zara want purple (grape) Vitagen only! Don't want green (apple) one!" Sometimes we'll have to tell her some white lies to make her accept what we offered or just ignore her cries, other times, we'll just have to give in to her demands. On Tuesday, we brought out the lantern for her to play. I lighted it with a blue candle. She was making such a big fuss, chanting, "Don't want this candle, want pink one!", "Want pink one!", "This candle not nice." "I don't yike (like) this candle! I yike pink one!" I refused to budge, for the whole time the blue candle was burning, she complained. Then when Daddy wanted to shoot some photos with her and the lantern, and the flash went off a few times, she started complaining. Cringing her eyes, and saying, "So bright the yight (light). Mummy, take sunglasses for you (me)." "So bright!" "Don't yike (like) so bright." These are the best shot we could take.

She enjoyed the 'blowing the PINK candle' in the lantern after Happy Birthday had been sung.

Saturday and Sunday

On Saturday, we collected a nice cake ordered by Eve (someone I got to know through blogsphere), before we went to have dinner at Mizu, Bangsar Village (the set dinner there is just oh so wonderful, but the price is a bit high, so we only go on 'special occasion'). Since it's my day (not to mention Daddy upset me earlier in the car), Daddy looked after and ran after Zara at the restaurant, while I slowly savoured my chicken tepanyaki (which I normally don't fancy, but Mizu does it so well). After dinner, we proceeded to TGIF to meet with Daddy's friends. Zara was acting up, the minute she spotted one of Daddy's friends, she started crying, and pointed to the exit "Want go home! Want go home!" "Go there! Mummy, go there! Want go home!". We tried very hard to distract her with the things hung on the wall, but she just didn't calm down. After about 10mins, we gave up. We thought it might be due to the lighting in TGIF, so we adjourned to Secret Recipe and told our friends to meet there. The moment she heard we were leaving, she waved bye bye to everybody at the table, "Bye, See you later". Zara was her happy self again in the brightly lighted Secret Recipe. While playing with some sugar packs, Daddy's friends walked in. There she went again, started crying, and kept saying, "Go home! Want go home". Daddy's friends thought they better leave as her crying was getting louder. Zara immediately calmed down after they left. That is so strange, she has never shown such fear or dislike for any person, not with so much tears and emotion. So it was just the 3 of us, in Secret Recipe, cutting up the huge cake collected from another Secret Recipe. (Thanks Eve again, for the cake..)

Zara ate the crispy flower and leaves on the cake

On Sunday, we drove all the way to Lake Gardens for Zara to feed the monkeys. A car stopped next to us, and a lady carrying a baby watched us fed the monkeys from the car. She then asked me if I was Zara's Mama. I almost went pale (what a reaction). She said she's Vanitha, who also has a blog. Daddy gave me that "see!-post-more-photos-la" look after they left. After the monkeys, we brought Zara to the big play ground in the gardens. She absolutely loved it! She wouldn't go near those wired dinosaur frames (meant for plants to creep on and grow) around the play ground, she said they are "big, black and uh-gree (ugly)" but loved the colourful dinosaur, saying they are so "nice and friendly" (Anybody knows Vanitha and her blog URL?)

Relocation

Saturday was the big day for Zara to relocate from her cot to her single bed. She calls it her 'jie-jie (Chinese : big sister) bed'. We got her involved in 'helping' Daddy to install the bed, pretending to be 'Bob The Builder'.

Upon completing the installation, we saw a hint of disappointment in Zara. We asked her, "Do you like your bed?". She said, "Don't yike (like)." When she woke up from her afternoon nap, she cried and wailed, asking me to hold her for almost 30mins. When we asked her what happened, she said, "Zara so yoneyee (lonely)" and then later, "Got bad dreams". I wonder if the new bed gota do with this.

In the evening, after all the bedsheets and bed guards have be put up, she seems more interested in her bed. I told her she can still roll over to sleep with me if she wanted, and that I can still hold her hands in the night when she goes to sleep (something she likes). However, the last 2 nights, she didn't sleep very well, waking up in the middle of the night, and wanted me to cuddle her. Daddy said maybe she miss the scent of her old bed.

I hope she gets use it to real soon.

22nd Month Update

Zara turned 22 months today. I have been so busy with work and also planning for the next family holiday (before I get into 3rd Trimester), I haven't been updating my blog that frequently. Anybody has any nice hotels to recommend for Phuket, with nice beach and especially away from the parading 'ah kuas'? Ok, ok, this is not about my prep for my holidays. This is about Zara. ~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ Weight : 10.3kg (2 weeks ago) ~ Height : 83cm (is it possible that she keeps gaining weight but not height?) Dexterity ~ She likes to drink from a cup instead of a sippy cup, and if she pays attention to what she's doing, there won't be any spillage. ~ She likes feeding herself with a fork and doing very well. Still need some assistance when she uses a spoon Emotions and character I start to see her displaying some 'Terrible Two' characters. ~ She never used to walk too far away from me when we're out. Now, when she insists that she wants to leave or go somewhere else, and I tell her to wait for a while, she walks away mumbling, "Zara want go home (or wherever)". And without looking back, she walks straight on. ~ She cries and shouts when she doesn't get her way (but I totally ignore that) She's also doing lots of 'pretend' play nowadays ~ She has conversation to herself and her soft toys, something that goes like that, "You want milk?" "Don't want." "You want cheese?" "Want" "Here, cheese. Take." ~ She dresses up and pretends to be a queen, a cowboy, or even an animal

Pretending to be mummy carrying a baby

She sometimes have emotional tussles with herself, and have conversation like this with herself *reaches her hands out to me* "Mummy hug hug Zara" *put her hands down* "Don't want." *reaches her hands out to Tuyam* "Kakak hug hug Zara" *put her hands down* "I don't want. I don't want." *reaches her hands out to me again* "Mummy, mummy, carry you (me)". *put her hands down* "I don't want. I don't want anybody" *starts making crying sound* Logical Thinking She's able to think logically, ~ when we asked her if she can fly, she will reply, "Cannot, because Zara don't have wings". ~ she knows, "Zara's family got Daddy, mummy and Zara." ~ she knows she's still small and can only do certain things, e.g. "Zara now small jiejie, cannot play with scissors. When Zara big jiejie, Zara can cut cut with scissors" Language ~ She's talking non-stop, and picking up new words all the time. Some of her pronunciation is still off (e.g. In-doh-nee-sah for Indonesia; Taffik yike for Traffic Light), and we sometimes have a tough time trying to figure out what she's saying, but when we do, we can always see the smile on her face, that she finally made us understand. ~ She loves books and picks up lots of new words from books. She can spend a lot of time flipping through books, and sometimes reading to herself (retelling the story in her own words).

Her book moment before bed time

Note : I'm absolutely trying to catch up on my blog reading, so don't mind if I'd not been visiting.

What's in her mind

We didn't go any where else during the weeked except to get Zara her new bed from Ikea. But here are 2 conversations which took place last week which makes me wonder what kind of thoughts Zara goes through in her mind. Daddy wanted to take a shower. I asked him to see if he can shower Zara. Daddy: "Zara, come, Daddy bath bath you." Zara: *stared at Daddy's naked body* Don't want!" Daddy: "Why don't want." Zara : "Because Daddy so ugly. Like ugly duckring (duckling)." Daddy and I both tried to stiffle our laughs. So Zara thinks Daddy is handsome, but has got an ugly body. Daddy said this is probably her 'natural defence' against men, no naked men should go near her, even Daddy. On another occasion, Zara asked me to go down to play with her, and I said I don't want. She said something I couldn't hear from upstaris, but Tuyam repeated what she said. Tuyam claimed that Zara must be angry for me rejecting her, and she told Tuyam, "Kakak, cut cut mummy. Then cook mummy. And then eat mummy." Now upon hearing that, I quickly went down and question Zara. Me : "Why Zara said Zara wanted to eat mummy?" Zara : *quiet* (her way of showing she's embarrassed at what she'd done Me : "Zara eat mummy already, then no more mummy. Who sleep with you?" Zara : *quiet* Me : "Zara is Goliath? So naughty one huh?" (she has recently started reading some bible stories, and so far, David and Goliath is her favourite) Zara : "Nooooo. Not Goh-lier. Cut cut fish and eat fish only."

Mummy Jaga You (me)

There are times when Zara wakes up in the morning, and refuse to have Tuyam take over the caring of her. "Don't want kakak jaga (Malay : take care) you (me). Mummy jaga you (me)." "Mummy need to work. Saturday and Sunday then mummy will jaga you." "Mummy don't want work work. Jaga you (me)." "Cannot. Mummy don't work work, then no money to buy Zara cheese, chocolate, and fish" As though she understands, she'll follow me downstairs. However, on such a day, there'll be some protesting when Tuyam gives her her monring bath. "Mummy bath bath you (me)! Don't want kakak do." And if mummy didn't oblidge (which I won't on weekdays), she will cry, while taking her bath, while being changed.

And after that, she'll walk to the study (where I work) with more complaints.

"Go mummy there. Mummy jaga you (me)." (The cry is very fake)

And some days, there will be lots of shouting from downstairs from the little girl, asking me to go down and play with her.

"MUMMY! COME DOWN AND PLAY! PLAY BALL WITH ZARA"

Fun eh? Working from home?

3D scan

We went for a 3D scan last Thursday, and we brought along Zara, thinking it would be good for her to look at the baby as well. Our Doctor did the scan himself together with a sonographer, and we spent more than an hour doing this. Zara was very chatty throughout, but also got restless after 2mins. "Doctor put oil on mummy's stomach" "Doctor check check mummy. Check check baby" After a while, "Mummy carry" She wanted to climb up the bed I was lying on, and then said this herself, "This is not the play ground, this is hopital (hospital) bed. Cannot crimb (climb) up." After a few bored moments, "*pointing to the door* Daddy go there!" When she saw a glimpse of the baby, "There, baby there on the compiter (computer)" And most of the time, she kept wanting to get out, "Open the door. Zara want go out!" "Open the door!" "Daddy, please, open the door please." When nobody responded, she started banging on the door, and tried to open it herself, making lots of noise. That was when I told her I'm very upset. "Sorry mummy. Sorry." "Zara cannot talk loud loud, must talk soft soft like doctor." When we're done, she was so glad to say, "Thank you very much! Bye bye, See You" to the Doctor and the sonographer. Ah, I should have brought her some books to keep her occupied. Back to the baby, every thing is ok. Throughout 1hr+ scan, she was moving nonstop. One moment she hid behind her hands, next moment, she hid behind the placenta, another moment she lifted up her legs and covered her face, and then did some kicking motion. She was always on the move. See, if I didn't know she's a girl, I would have thought she's a boy again, based on her activeness. Dr was having a tough time trying to capture a perfect shot of her face. However, we did manage to see she has the same skull shape as Zara, she has rather big and slim feet, she has the same button nose like Zara; daddy said, "Don't all babies look like this?", oh well, maybe they do. Most important thing is she's doing well. Here's a shot of her, the best I could get from the video clips that were given to me from the scan. Daddy said the scan looks like abstract art. Doctor said he's not satisfied with the machine, not giving him crisp enough image. (The 2 'hook' like thing next to her face are her hands.)

As for me, I'm doing fine, big, but fine. Into my 23rd week (coming to 6months), have put on ~6Kg, feel like I'm 8months pregnant, always tired, always hungry.

A Famosa Resort

We had another fun filled but busy weekend. Heard a lot about A Famosa Resort, so we thought we will make a trip there before I get too big. We left the house at about 12pm, there was a massive jam on the highway caused by a major accident, near Seremban, it took us almost 1 1/2 hrs to drive through that stretch. Jason recommended that we stay in Tampin town instead of the resort, since Tampin is very near A Famosa, and there's a brand new 'budget' hotel just opened recently. We arrived at 4pm and went to check out the hotel first. For RM110, Wangsa Mas price wasn't 'budget'; since it's new, it's relatively clean but the room is very basic. After we checked in, with the directions from the hotel receptionist, we headed towards A Famosa, Daddy was saying, "Just in time for the Animal Safari, to see the action (of the animals) in the evening." After 30mins of driving and A Famosa was no where to be found, Daddy got a bit annoyed. "Near is very a very subjective word. Your friend's kind of near, is definitely not my kind of near." Daddy even got more furious when we arrived at A Famosa shortly, and the parking attendant at the Animal Safari told us they are closed at 5pm. So no animals for that day, we headed towards the Cowboy town instead. We paid RM30 per adult (Zara is free since she's below 2yrs old), and when we got in, Daddy was not impressed. It was a dead town (since we were early), with just a street with buildings built to look like a cowboy town. "For this they charge RM30?" Mr Grump said. Since it was too far to go back to Tampin for dinner (so we thought) and too early for anything, we just had an early dinner in a Chinese restaurant in Cowboy Town.

After dinner, we walked about the 'town'. Zara finally meeting a pony (she has been keen to see one since she saw it in her Barney DVD), she was so eager to pat the ponies, and got a kick on her calf by one unfriendly black pony, poor girl. One of the cowboys greeting visitors at the entrance. Red Indian with a very small head.

For RM10, Zara is able to get unlimited ride on the amusement park in the town, but all she wanted was the Carousel. We tried to put her on one of the aeroplane rides (that just goes round like the carousel), and we had to get the operator to stop it mid way because she was crying and screaming.

She didn't want to get down, always asking for 'some more' every time when it's over. We had to lie and said the batteries of the horses need to be charged for her to get down. We definitely got our RM10 worth.

These trampolines were meant for some 'bungee jumping' and the section was closed. We just let Zara jump on one, since she loves jumping on bed so much.

Showtime in Cowboy Town starts at 8:30pm. This was when we started feeling 'worthwhile'. First show was Red Indian show, or 'Fire' show, followed with Animal Carnival.

'Red Indians' spinning torches, swallowing and spitting fire. Trained animals (from chickens to lion) walking the street

And then it was fireworks. Zara got a bit frightened by the blasting sound, but with our hands covering her ears, she started enjoying it as well.

The most spectacular of all the show

We left after the fireworks. This time, with the A Famosa guard giving us directions, it took us about 5mins to get back to Tampin. We took a wrong way earlier. "Your friend was right, it is very near." A cheerful daddy said. "And for RM30, it's quite good entertainment in the Cowboy Town hor?" That night, both Daddy and I didn't get a good sleep, and for some extend, Zara too. We had extremely noisy neighbours, who came in a group, and booked a few rooms. They were slamming doors, shouting to each other across rooms, playing loud music. At 2am, I couldn't stand it anymore, went out of our room and shouted at them, "Oi, what time is it ah? You don't need to sleep other people need to you know?" After a few sorry, I thought they will be more quiet, but then the noise didn't stop till 3am, and then started again at 5am. Gosh, I almost wanted to slap them when I met them in the morning.

And for Zara, I'm not sure if she's starting to get attached to her room, or she finds the hotel room too 'basic' for her liking, she started asking us to "Go home" when we changed her for bed. And middle of the night, she woke up a few times, looked around her, and then nudged me and said "Mummy, go home". She dropped back to sleep when I told her it's too far to go home. So it was like no sleep for me the whole night. The following morning, after checking out and had breakfast in Tampin Market, we headed to A Famosa Resort, to 'revisit' the Animal Safari. Zara was chanting "Go Zoo, go see animals" the whole morning.

Entrance fee for Animal Safari is RM35/adult, free for Zara again. We missed the morning shows (shows start early, and then get repeated in the afternoon), since we arrived at about 11am.

Zara is always keen to meet 'animals'.

We caught the bird show, which was really good.

Photos with the trained birds after the bird show.

For lunch, it was 4 packs of Tong's Garden's nuts, and 2 milo ice shared between Daddy and I. Zara had her milk, and some nuts. Oh well, we were not 'stingy' and unwilling to spend. The cafe in the Animal Safari only served some I-don't-even-know-what-they-are Middle Eastern meals if you ordered over the counter. For more common dishes like Fish and Chips, Chicken Chop, you have to purchase the voucher from the entrance of the park. Stupid system? That's what I told the lady mending the restaurant.

We then watched the Wild Wild West show; the most boring of all shows, for me. However, Zara was so entertained by it, and can even recalled what happened ("Good cowboy take gun bang bang bad cowboy. Bad cowboy fall down from the building. Then got Red Indian jiejie." etc). And then followed by Multi Animal Show (with dogs, monkeys, raccoons performing).

Daddy then took the Safari truck with Zara to go around the park. I wasn't allowed on the truck because I was pregnant, and the guy mending the station said they already encountered 7 miscarriages of pregnant ladies who went on the truck from the bumpy ride. It was a 20mins ride, and Zara said she liked it as she could see lion, tiger and giraffes.

By now, Zara wa very tired, but she kept saying, "Want to see more animals", and trying to keep herself awake. However, 3minutes later, she was asleep in her pram. We only let her have a 30mins nap, we woke her up when it was time for the Elephant show.

Photos with the casts from the Wild Wide West show, and then with the Elephant from the Elephant show.

After the elephant show, it was already 5pm. We took Zara to the last attraction, the Chicken farm. Daddy sneaked his hand into the chicken coup and pulled out a little chicken for Zara to stroke. She really loved it, after that she kept saying, "Little chicken so cute and soft". The Animal Safari is worth the RM35 entrance fee. The place is cleaner, and you get closer to the 'animals' than Zoo Negara, and the shows are all quite entertaining. Very worthwhile for parents with young children.

6 random facts about me

Laundryamah tagged me on this, 6 random facts about me. 1) I love Zara to bits, she has given me so much joy, happiness and not to mention amusement... oh well, you all know about this already. 2) Secretly, I worry I won't be able to give the same amount of love to the baby I'm carrying. I pray every night and ask that this won't happen, and that I'll love them both equally. 3) I love deep fried food.. Gosh.. it's such a sin to have Puri (Indian deep fried bread) for breakfast, then a piece of sweet potato fritter and a curry puff for tea, and then Lay's potato chip for snack. I feel guilty eating like this, but it's like an addiction.. 4) I'm very untidy (messy table, messy wardrobe) but I'm obsessed with cleanliness. 5) I live in a house I like, in a nice neighborhood. However, I hate the distant it is away from everything (the Chinese coffee shops, the shopping malls, the good nurseries / kindergarten / schools). 6) At the peak of my health, I could run 4Km, now I can't even walk 1Km without resting. Not tagging anyone....

Short conversations

Yesterday at the park, Me : "Zara, Mummy stomach ache, maybe ceret beret (Malay : diarrhea)." (actually trying to tell her we may need to rush home) Zara : "Come mummy, Zara hug hug. *hugged me* Mummy ceyek beyek. Make mummy better." 5am this morning. Zara : *rolled over to my side of the bed* "Zara drink milk" Me : *groggily, checked the clock* "Still night time, morning only drink ok" Zara rolled back to her cot, tossed and turned, tossed and turned. 2 minutes later, Zara : *rolled back to my side of the bed* "Mummy, Zara drink milk" Me : "Zara hungry is it?" Zara : "Zara hungry, better drink milk now." So I had to crawl out of bed to make her milk. This morning, upon waking up, she examined the crucifix that was hung at her cot, and started talking to her self. "Jesus on the cross" "Jesus don't want to come out, so shy shy." "Jesus come out loh." "Then can see Zara loh."

Share Share

Zara is at a stage where she's very reluctant to share her things, and we have tried hard to make her understand that sharing is nice, sharing is good. We also remind her that her friends share with her, and so do mummy and daddy. E.g. "Chloe share with you her toys when you go to her house to play right? So you also must share share." "Mummy share with you the nice chocolate ice cream right?" "Daddy share with you the watermelon right?" etc. And "must share share" was something we say to her often when she's not sharing. Sunday after we'd finished shopping in Ikea and took the lift to get to the car park, Zara saw 2 little girls holding on to an Ikea bear each. From her pram, she said to one of the girl nearer to her, "Give you (me) the bear please." When the girl clutched on the bear tighter, Zara said to her, "Must share share mah." Yikes, she thought every thing should be shared and everybody should share.... although she's still reluctant to do her part.

Fun Fun Fun Weekend

The weekend was all fun for Zara. Saturday, my sis came over with her daughter Tasha for a while to collect Zara's walker. Zara was so protective over her toys, worried we'll be giving away her toys to Tasha.

See how much Tasha has grown.

Later that evening, we went to Elisa's 1st birthday party in Temptations, New World Hotel. It was a good buffet spread. Zara had lots of cheese and some bread sticks for dinner, had some fun running around the place, collected some balloons from the clown. Mummy ate from 7pm to 9pm non-stop. Oh boy, I was stuffed! When one of the guests breast fed her little baby in a corner, Zara was just staring at the two of them, probably reminding herself how it used to be. I had to drag her out of the corner and left the mother with some privacy.

Zara playing with a balloon the clown made her; the birthday girl and her family; the beautiful cake (but I didn't dare to eat any of the icing); Zara and daddy in the crowd.

Thanks to Allyfeel, we had a free trial session in Gymboree. I dragged daddy out of bed early morning to send us there.

Zara enjoyed the session, although she wasn't participating as a group (I guess it's common for kids this age), she drifted out of the group, and played with the other things, and I kept having to drag her back. I was really exhausted at the end of it.

After breakfast, Daddy suggested to bring Zara to Lake Gardens to feed the ducks and monkeys. So we bought some peanuts and bread and headed to Lake Garden. It was 35degree at that time, and it was 12noon. I don't know why I let Daddy talk me into going.

We were lucky we spotted some monkeys on the way. Zara threw peanuts to the group of monkeys to feed them. After the monkey feeding, we walked about in Lake Gardens, trying to spot the ducks to feed. Imagine before Zara, I could run the whole garden (about 4Km) together with Daddy. That day, to walk just from the car park to the lakes, I was panting and had to stop a few times to rest. We didn't see any ducks, but Zara still have a great time.

See how similar the 2 of them look like in the 1st two photos. Zara was exhausted after spending an hour in the park. I wish I could take her place in the pram too. What a workout for all of us