Art Time....

Naomi has shown interest in drawing and she can sit on her high chair and draw for hours.

Naomi's hand co-ordination has improve tremendously and I observe her drawing skill and just less than 2 weeks she is able to draw in circles. Before that, she just simply scribble lines.

Take a look at her before and after pictures!

This was taken 2 weeks ago...

This was taken today (27th Aug 2008)

Although not a perfect circle or round shape, she has indeed able to swirl her hand round and round to achieve that. :)

Practice makes perfect

Some tips....

Parents...

If you are planning to potty train your baby/toddler at an early age. I discover these few tips that might be helpful although I still haven't 100% successful in training Naomi but this is what I discover along my potty training journey:

You can start anytime and when you know your baby/toddler is ready esp she starts to communicate with you more.

1. Start with no diapers/cloth diapers during daytime

2. Be very proactive in bringing the potty (Esp. after her milk, meal, water)

3. Normally they won't tell you so I need to ask her "Do you want to 'shee shee'? (Up until today Naomi still can't tell me she wants to do business so I have to ask her often-normally abt 1 hour after her milk/water, she will do her business) cause by asking her often it's something like remind her and hopefully this will be register to her brain that she's doing the right thing by doing business in the potty instead of her pants.

P/S: If I forgot to ask her she will do her business in her pants !

Same = Shame ??!

Naomi is confused with these 2 words but she's not aware of them. I caught her few times making these mistakes but not sure how to correct her or explain to her.

First incident:

1) There's a picture of a frog inside her book and she said 'frog' and i have a tupperware which has a 'frog' cartoon on it and she pointed that tupperware and said 'frog' same, same (but while saying the word 'same', 'same' she's doing the action of 'shame', 'shame' (using her index finger and caressing her cheek). Then I told her same means similar, shame means 'liu','liu' (tak malu) but she didn't get me. I totally forgot about it until yesterday and it happen again.

Yesterday:

2) She saw a 'balloon' picture in her book and there's another picture on the box itself and she told me 'same','same' (and doing the 'shame', 'shame' action at the same time). This time I told her SAME is not the SAME as SHAME. I think this sentence will make her more confused! hahaha...i think i will let her discover this when she grows older while i try to think of a way to explain to her the diff.

wish me luck!

Words...a major development in her milestones

At 17 months, Naomi can say more than 50words already and she's learning new words everyday! So we need to be careful on the words we use at home as she's a fast learner and tend to pick on stuff faster than we expected. If I'm not mistaken her 1st word was 'ma' which of course refers to me - her mummy!

These are the words she use to communicate to us:

Family Members/People
Ah Ma (Grandma) - she calls MIL Ah Ma & my mom Ah Ma too, not sure she knows the diff...haha
Ah Kong (Grandpa) - same thing, calls my dad & FIL Ah Kong
Khor Khor (Sis in law)
Ah Chek (bro in law)
Ah Gu (my bro)
Ta Che (big sis) - Babysitter's eldest daughter
Er Che (2nd sis) - Babysitter's 2nd daughter
Kor Kor (big brother) - Babysitter's son
Baby (anyone smaller than her she will call baby)
Auntie -Babysitter or stranger
Unker - Babysitter's hubby
Da-day (Daddy)
ma-ma (Mummy)
mi (Mummy)
mu-mmy (which is very rare)

Che Che (big sister)

Pets
Chet-er (Chester) - our golden retriever at home
Mi-mi - Babysitter's pincher (dog)
Fi-Fi - Babysitter's pincher (dog)

Animals
Dog
Cat or Mau (in mandarin)
Cak (Cicak in Malay) - Lizard
Bird
phant (Elephant)
Tease (Tortoise)
Snake
bugs (pick up from watching Bugs Life)
frog
shark (pick up from watching Finding Nemo & Shark Tales)
da (Panda) - Pick up from watching Kung Fun Panda
horse
bear
fis (Fish)

Body Parts
Head
Der (Shoulder)
Nose
Mou (Mouth)
Ear
Eyes
Hand
Leg
hair

Objects
kar (Car)
phone
lights
book
pen
milk
ball
bag
shoes
comb
star
cuit (ket) - Biscuit
cake
watch
cup
spoon
apple
chair

Actions
Daw (Draw)
Sma (Smile)
walk
run
lai (Come in Hokkien)
po (Carry in Hokkien)
sit
wait
hai (Hi, usually in dragging tone)
bye
hlo (Hello)
do-doi (I can't think of english word for this!)
hot
cold
come
in
out

kiss

hug

Random pics I took last week..

So far this is the latest pics...see the new haircut? LOL

She wants to pose with her bear but when I ask her to look at the camera, she look elsewhere...

I showed her this pic and said Next time you must look at the camera and pose like this ok? She ignore me and kept saying "Bear, Bear, Bear" while pointing at her Bear in the picture...*pengsan*

Hanging out with Charlotte che che...

Saturday evening we went to visit my friend Hooi Ling and her daughter Charlotte who is turning 3 this Nov. She gave me 3 bags full of Charlotte’s old clothes (I don’t consider them old and they are all very nice and still new looking just that they are too small for Charlotte already, even all the PJs and house clothes are all nice looking! Her mummy has great taste!) Most of Naomi’s clothes are pass down from Charlotte.

They have a golden retriever at their house too. His name is Simba and he’s a very good dog. Simba was staying in the cage and Naomi was so excited when she saw Simba and kept saying “Woo-woo” “Woo-woo” (imitating dog barking sound). Then daddy asked Naomi to give Simba a pet. She put her hand inside the cage and petted Simba on the nose and head. Hooi Ling commented that Naomi is very brave cause Charlotte dare not touch Simba at all! Simba is really cute and nice dog and not aggressive like Chester (our golden retriever at home). When Naomi pet Simba, his reaction was like so cool and ‘manja’ but for Chester, it’s totally the opposite. Chester is a jealous dog and somehow will react in more aggressive way.

Naomi and Charlotte clicked immediately and Charlotte has a lot of toys at home and she shared them with Naomi. Naomi was especially attracted to the slide and she can climb up the stairs and then slide down. I did not expect her to be able to climb up the stairs so I kept asking Tjun Aun to put her at the edge and push her down the slides but she surprised me by climbing up the stairs and then slide down and when she slide down she said “Swooosh”.

After the warm up, we went to Queensbay mall for dinner and window shopping. When we reached there we asked Naomi to hold Charlotte’s hand and walked.
The girls look so cute holding hands and walking together. We had dinner and then went our separate ways for a while as I need to get some groceries and we met up with them again after 15minutes and when Naomi saw Charlotte she shouted so loud “Che, che, che” (Big sister in Hokkien) and Charlotte also shouted back “mei-mei, mei-mei” (younger sister in mandarin). They were like so happy to see each other even just 15mins of not seeing each other…..then they hugged each other….hahaha (Hug as in really use their arms and wrap around each other!).

We left Queensbay mall at around 9pm and in the car Charlotte started to whine “I want to go Queensbay mall” over and over again. She didn’t want to go home yet. Hooi Ling tried to distract her and after 5 minutes she started all over again and she started crying (I feel more like a crocodiles tear) Then Naomi try to console her (as if asking her not to cry) She use her hand and touch Charlotte’s arm and brushing her hands up and down on her arms. When we reached home, Charlotte again complain to the maid “I want to go Queensbay mall” the maid laughed and said “Ok, Ok” “We will go” Then Naomi again rushed to “sayang” Charlotte again and the maid was saying “Wow, this little girl some more can console big sister” Then Hooi Ling said “Ya, shame, shame, mei-mei some more need to 'sayang' big sister” .

Naomi is going to be 1 ½ years next month and 2years in another 6 months time. Naomi is really growing up fast and I can see she’s ready for a sibling as I can see she likes companion to play with.

Careful vs Careless....

This incident happened on Sunday morning when everyone was preparing to go to church. My in laws (mom, dad & sis) was all at the hall having breakfast and watching the Olympics and I went downstairs to prepare Naomi’s lunch as well as breakfast for myself and Tjun Aun. When I went down, I saw Naomi was sleeping soundly. I moved her to sleep with Daddy on our bed before I went downstairs. Daddy of course was still sleeping. I did not wake him up to inform him I was going downstairs (I normally will but I see both of them sleeping so nice so i decided not to wake him up as it was still quite early).

I was in the kitchen for about 10minutes and about 5minutes after that, my father in law wanted to go upstairs and change and then he shouted “Hey, Naomi what are you doing here on the stairs – ALONE?!!” I got a shocked of my life and quickly went to the stairs and I saw her standing on the stairs (looked a bit scared..) and holding on the side of the stairs so father in law quickly carried her down and you know what Naomi did? She was scared and kept saying “Pah, pah, pah” (mandarin of saying scared, scared, scared) and beating her chest gently. Everyone was laughing and also WORRIED cause how on earth did she came out from the room and then walked down to the dangerous staircase??! I was careless cause I did not close the gate upstairs as I thought I’ll be in the kitchen for like 5-10mins and Naomi is still sleeping ma. That’s why she can walk down the stairs! But, what about our bedroom door? I did close the door before I went downstairs as we had the air-conditioned on in the room so I will close the door…this is still a big '??' to all of us. Did she open the door by tip toe-ing? Our door is quite easy to open (just by turning the door knob) but then again by a 17mths old?

Thank God she didn’t slip or roll down the stairs and I guess she must be very careful when she walk down the stairs (esp need to go through the gate and then taking one step at a time) But then again IF I had close the gate, I think she will climb over the gate (like what she did inside the cot) and that will be worst!! So I guess leaving the gate open that day was actually a good thing? I don’t know….I just know that I have to be extra careful in the future and wake daddy up the next time when I need to leave the room (even for 1 minute!) as daddy also woke up only when he heard father in law shouted! God is watching over her and she’s a very careful girl, I know!

Take a look at the pic. She climbed till the 5th steps when father in law saw her!

Potty Training – Updates

Updates > Last Saturday, Naomi was very well behaved and she did all her business into the potty!
She didn’t wet or ‘shee shee’ in her panties at all and I let her wear her diaper during her afternoon nap. She even ‘shee shee’ without my help! I was busy preparing stuff for her bath so she’s half naked already then she went to her potty and sat down by herself ( I wasn’t aware!) cause when I wanted to ask her to go to the bathroom with me then I saw there’s urine inside her potty!! I’m very proud of her!! She’s so independent! When I praise her she will respond happily and clapped her hands and said ‘yeahhh’…so cute right?

But Sunday she wet 2 of her panties and all happened within 1 hour…hahaha
She was standing and drawing at our hall then suddenly she ‘shee shee’! I scolded her and she did feel guilty. So I changed her pants and then remind her again and again. After about 45mins after her lunch and her milk, I brought out the potty again and let her sit on it (She was watching Kung Fu Panda- again!) she did ‘shee shee’ inside the potty but I think she missed the potty at first and her urines was all over the floor then I saw her taking her hanky and wipe the floor! *pengsan* and I told her no need, go and sit over there and I quickly took out the mop and wipe the floor….I know she’s trying to help but….using her clean hanky?! *double pengsan*

Potty train (Part II)

Since Monday, Naomi is not wearing cloth diapers during daytime. I asked my babysitter to let her wear panty with her normal shorts, skirts, dresses and be very proactive in bringing the potty for her (especially 1hour after her milk or water, during her bath time and before & after her afternoon nap etc.) Alice told me it worked! She might not able to tell us yet that she's going to do her 'business' but at least she knows that she need to 'shee shee' in the potty.

Last night, I went to brush my teeth and I demonstrate to her how mummy brush teeth and she took her tooth brush too and started brushing her teeth (without the toothpaste) and I wanted to showed her how to rinse my mouth so I put water into my mouth and said "Pui" (then the water came out from my mouth) she was laughing so hard I tell you as if something funny cause i guess this is the way to get her to rinse her mouth and I let her try. I put a bit of water into her mouth but she swallow them immediately then i told her "No, you don't swallow, if you swallow no water will come out when you "pui" then she tried again...again she swallow the water...then again and again until finally she "pui" out a bit of water....including her saliva....hahaha (she's trying so hard) then in the end i said tomorrow night only we brush teeth again. Then I asked her do you want to 'shee shee'? Then she nod her head so I quickly took off her pants and diaper and I saw her urine trickling down and I asked her to squat down quickly...then she squat down and 'shee shee' !! Way to go girl! I'm very proud of her accomplishment ! Hopefully tomorrow she's not going to wet any panty cause as I heard from Alice she only wet 2 panties so far and other times she manage to 'shee shee' in her potty.

Kung Fu Panda wannabe...

Tjun Aun bought Kung Fu panda DVD yesterday so we played the DVD for Naomi. She did pay attention to some parts of the movie and most of the time she will just wander around the room and play with her other toys. Surprisingly, she watched the whole movie. I was about to send her downstairs to play with her grandaprents then this happened!! She went to the back of the bedroom door and imitate the Kung Fu panda “kick”.
Look at the pictures and see how cheeky she looked!
She really made me laugh so hard and Daddy quickly took out the camera and snapped her in ‘action’!

Potential karate kid? go figure...


The funny thing is she finds it funny too and cute i guess....