Better start to the day

This morning mummy left for work feeling lighter than usual. Why? Well because Baby Boo Boo decided to awake from her slumber at 6.25 am. And watching those eyes adjust to seeing mummy and being able to kiss those cheeks, lips, face, bum bum, the list goes on.... is just priceless. Giving you that tight squeeze in the morning truly makes my day. Thank you for making my day sweetheart!

xxx

mummy

You love these things....

There's no way avoiding these little machines. They are up every alley in nearly every mall. You go totally nuts when you see/hear one. Mummy's on it with you every time. It was a little embarassing at first, having adults look at me moving around on this animal but mummy got used to it soon enough! As much as I try, mummy can never figure out what animals they are.

Knocked-Out!

Your routine always goes out-of-whack during the weekends. What more when its a long one! It took you forever to 'go out' for your morning naps. And you refused to sleep in the afternoons. So at night, you are knocked-out by 7-8 pm. Last night we were watching Corwin's Quest on Animal Planet. Boy do you love animals, ALL animals, anything with a face! Last night's feature was on crocodiles mainly, kangaroos,monkeys and snakes too. Since learning how to walk, you can't seem to stop. You walk around in circles, back and forth, up and down. You look like a little drunkard sometimes. It took you probably a half hour to wind down last night. When mummy saw you were wobbling a little more than usual, I picked you up and sat you right next to me. As usual when you are tired, you would dig your face in anything soft and cuddly, a pillow or a stuffed toy, sometimes the lamb skin downstairs. You would lie still for several seconds in one spot then suddenly sit up in a half asleep state and find another soft spot. Yesterday, you found the perfect place to rest facing the TV on mummy's lap. In unders 60 seconds you were out. Like a log you fell asleep on me. I love that feeling. I know exactly when you knock-out. Somehow your body becomes limp and you are rested.

When you are tired and sleepy you want one of two things, your nennen or your cucu. You can't sleep without the latter. And even when you are already asleep and your 'best friend' falls lout of your mouth, your hands will move about frantically looking for it. When you finally find it, you grab it and stuff it in your mouth. Sometimes you grab it by the pacifier end and put the handle in your mouth. It's so entertaining to watch you get it the right way in. All this is done with you eyes closed and while you are still asleep. Hillarous! Mummy laughs silently every time. When I see Mr. Cucu out of your mouth and you are still soundly asleep then I know you are truly out for the night.

She Walks

It was the last day in July, our flight to KK was the very next day. You had been walking with assistance from mummy for a couple of weeks. I knew you had it in you if you would only try. You seemed to want to do it on your own but always pulled back by fear. On this day you had an audience. Mummy, Aunty Otta, Uncle Allen, Kak Mon and Kak Mimin. So many cheers from every corner. The excitement, the claps and encouragement, the smiling and eager faces; all these forces combined with your strong little legs and you walked! Around 4 steps at first. Then as you saw how proud we were of your accomplishment, you refused to stop. Your next try you made it 8 steps! Woooooo! My angel walks, it's official, she's a walking toddler! I could not kiss you enough. Could not hug you hard enough. A mummy beaming with pride as she watches her little baby grow right in front of her. Ahhhh...that milestone that is such a huge step, the biggest difference between baby and toddler. How fast time flies from when we brought you home from the hospital. It's now been a month and guess what? You are eager to run! Practically flying now! Watch out world here comes Elil!

The walking video to come....

xxx

mummy

Random Elil Pix

My juling friend makan sandwich

Your expanding vocabulary and responsiveness....

You are a copy cat. Everything mummy says, you repeat. Shan has got two new pets, Pegasus and Star she named them. They are chickens, the small type. Ayam Semarak my colleague tells me. When we ask you, "Where's Pegasus & Star?", you point outside and say "asus tarr". Daddy is now "dedi" and you still don't say mummy. Somehow, the 'mee' just doesnt roll out so easily. Mummy's anxious now. *sigh* When its about time and you hear a car approaching outside, you go "dedi dedi dedi" whether its daddy or mummy. You let out a sharp, "Yeeeeeeee! Yeeeeeee!" when you are 'geram'. This is usually when mummy doesnt give you what you want.

You know where your eyes, nose and belly-button are. Mummy calls belly-button 'tootchi', you laugh whenever I say this word. It is a funny word come to think of it. I think its a Sabahan thing, or it could be a Wong thing. You like flowers and when mummy mentions flowers, you point at any flower you see be it a real one, plastic, embroided on your blouse or a print, in a picture frame, you name it. You are very clear on YES and NO. You nod your head for a yes and shake it left and right for a firm no. And when Kakak Mon tries to force feed you, you give her a tight slap on the cheek or a sharp pinch on the hand. This is hilarious. Serves Kakak Mon right, no more forcing!

Another thing, you have mastered the art of fake laughing. Anytime mummy and daddy laugh in your presence, you come up with your own little joke to laugh about. And then this little hilarious action makes us laugh even harder which is such a treat for you. You are so amused and entertained by this you let out an even more exaggerated laugh. This goes on and on until either baby or mummy and daddy cannot keep up.

You love books. We try to make it a habit to read to you before bed time, but this doesn't always happen. What amuses you is the flipping pages action, the colorful pictures, and the sounds mummy makes when imitating the animals. Haha! You ocassionally read on your own. Mummy doesnt disturb and watches silently. You flip the pages, sometimes the book is upside down, other times you flip back and forth between pages and you even read the back leaf. As you try to get a better grip and flip the pages of the book, you read the story aloud. Of course this is only deep mumbling and sometimes you manage to add in a tune or two. Ah such an amazing experience to watch you read!

For a while you enjoyed playing 'Round & Round The Garden' on yourself. You would point at your palm and move your finger across trying to imitate Shannon who taught you this in the first place. When mummy saw this for the first time, I thought you were pretending to write. Wah, my baby's a genius! You enjoy the first part, 'round and round the garden, like a teddy bear' but get a little stiff (smile still plastered on your face) when it gets to the last part, " a 1 step, a 2 step....a tickly under there!".

A while ago mummy wrote about your roaring like a lion. You have not forgotten this. Something new you learned during our trip to KK, roaring like a lion or tiger at the sight of:

a) A Tiger Beer trademark - mostly on kedai kopi advertising and sometimes on mummy's/daddy's beer can.

b) Maybank trademark - on any Maybank bank
So everytime you roar, we look around everywhere for either a real lion/tiger (haha) or a Tiger Beer advertisement or a Maybank.

When we say, "kai kai' or "vroom vroom" you know this means were going for a ride. Your excited face will take over and you will be kicking your legs away. Sometimes you respond by saying "broom broom".

And finally, you can walk! But this deserves a post all on its own. So watch this space.

xxx
mummy

More shots from the Zoo....

Givin' you some lovin' in between animals

So pandai oh the elephants. So bodo oh the people who fed them twisties n gummies.

Seconds after daddy took this shot, all the giraffes came right up to sniff us out.

These guys were too muscular for mummy's liking

Happy Happ Joy Joy

I think this was the colorful parrot that didn't say much

Reaching out to Mr. Pony

Concentration, concentration now begins, keep the rhythm...subject

Mari kita pergi ke zoo...

Bergembira disitu...

Guess what we did over the weekend? Yup you guessed it, we were at Zoo Negara. Mummy and daddy's last trip was over 2 years ago. We were there with Aunty Otta, Aunty Pu Nie and Shannona. Boy has the state of our national zoo deteriorated since then. One example, mummy and daddy were intently looking into a glass enclosure for the captive animal/reptile. We had no idea what we were looking for because the spider web infested label holder was hanging off its hinges and there was no label in sight. After a while we realized it was empty. We were staring at nothing other than crickets. There were several other lit up boxes with only crickets as inhabitants. It's in such a sad and rundown state but we still had a great time, you, daddy, Kak Mon, Kak Yeni and I.

You love animals. All animals. It's so amazing to see you react and respond to animals. The excitement in your face and actions, the sounds you make and how you lunge toward the object of desire. When you are excited over something you tend to let out a cheeky sort of laugh. This happens especially when you see your chiu chiu or when you want nennen and you see your bottle. By the way, daddy calls it cee-yu cee-yu, Kak Mon calls it cee-cee - all code language so you are not reminded of your lovey.

Anyway, back to the animals. We started off with the monkeys. I think we might have come at the wrong time because they were lazing around, picking out ticks from each other's heads. Not much movement and very little sound. So the monkeys derived little excitement from you. We continued walking and the next animals were the hip hippos. Perfect timing! They were in the midst of lunch. Show-offs they were. Posing for the camera with the hippo's trademark grin - a wide open mouth displaying a set of yellow teeth. However, it's not too attractive during lunch time when they have half-chewed grass in their mouths.

Mummy held her breath when taking this shot

A whole different level of chubbiness

Next we went to the kiddy corner which really didn't look all that kiddy-friendly. Most of the kandangs were empty and the ones that did have animals in them were in such terrible conditions. Surprisingly the little wabbits and guinea pigs looked in the pink of health. You spotted the pony from a mile away and when mummy brought you near, your legs were flying about everywhere; you couldn't wait to get near. Mr. Pony is chubby-wubby and stumpy-tumpy. Everytime mummy brought you near to touch him, you'd back away. Poor baby scared of the little pony.

Hello Mr. Pony

You would not go any nearer than this

There were kangaroos, and snakes, squirrels and alligators. We saw colorful birds. Bright pink flamingos too. Surprisingly you were not too impressed with the birds. You go a little crazy when you see the crows fly in the sky during our evening walks at Aunty Otta's. But the colorful parrots did nothing for you. You spent a while bonding with the chickens. Mummy was a little freaked by the porcupines. Somehow, I imagined them shooting their thorns at me.

Paahck paahck paahck

Oh dear

Flamingo watching

Thorn-shooting porcupines

Your favorite were the lions. Of course because you are such a pro at roaring like a lion. Finally, you got to see one of those things in real life be it from a electric gated and moted distance. The elephants were a hit with you too. Well, they're trained to perform. And some ignorant people were feeding them, no not peanuts but Twisties and Gummies! The elephant would reach out with its trunk and vacuum the goodies right off the people's hands. Then when the feeding stopped, these pandai elephants started showing little stunts, like kneeling and lifting a leg up in the air. Trying their best to get rewarded. Pretty cute if you ask me. You showed liking to the Sun Bears as well. Especially when they stood up on twos. Maybe they reminded you of Barney. That's what Kak Mon said when she saw the bears, Barney! Mummy wanted to tell her that Barney is a dinosaur and not a bear. But I didn't.

More pix on the way....

A Tooth Story

Days after your birthday bash, you were ill. Teething did cross my mind but I brushed it away quicky because there have been so many teething false alarms. One morning a week after your party mummy noticed something white on your bottom gums. I rubbed my finger on it and whaddya know, its rock hard, a tooth! Mummy is so excited. Finally, you will be able to chew your food! Late in the evening, after work, mummy and daddy bring you to Dr. Lam for the second time because your fever would not subside. While waiting for our turn, mummy notices 3 other white spots on your gums. After some wrestling with you to get your mouth open, and my finger in, mummy felt 3 other teeth. No way! 4 teeth all at the same time? No wonder you were so ill. Mummy shows you to daddy and he confirms that we have 4 alright.

The next morning, mummy checks your mouth again to see how those pearly whites are coming along. To my shock, your mouth was back to its pure gumminess. No more pearly whites. They seemed to have disappeared in shyness. I am a little worried. Is this normal? So after a day of being toothful, you go back to being toothless.

Fortunately, a week or so later mummy spots two white caps at the center of your bottom gum. Daddy spots it too. This time we don't get all excited about it and keep silent until they broke out fully. Two days later, thank God the two decided to break through. They have been growing bigger ever since. So my dear little angel, for now you have two little caps to chew your mommom. Mummy got you a funky green and orange toothbrush to help you keep 'em clean. I know you don't quite have much to brush at this point but I read that its good to get you used to having a toothbrush in your mouth for when you actually do need a brush.

Chatterbox

Your vocabulary is astounding. Granted your words do not sound like actual adult words. But to you they sure count as real words with real meaning. We dumb adults just need to tune ourselves into babydom before being able to understand the complex language of baby. So when you open your mouth to chatter mummy gladly joins in the conversation and boy do our conversations go on and on and on. Mummy hopes in 20 years we will still be able to have our little girl talk like this. Nowadays you enjoy pointing at different objects around you and asking, "dis?" "Dis" is actually "this". And when you say this while pointing at something, you are asking mummy what that something is. So mummy is more than happy to explain and describe. One morning, (like every other morning) you greet mummy with the sweetest smile and you immediately look down at your disney print pyjamas. You point at Daisy Duck and say, "dis?". Mummy tells you it's Daisy Duck. Then you point at Minnie Mouse and ask, "dis?" "That's Minnie Mouse baby boo". You smile. This goes on with every other character on your pyjama.

Other random words that roll off your tongue:

dada - sounds like daddy but your usage can be confusing
rara - could be Shan's doll, Sara or grandma
neneh - your chiu chiu
mama - you have said this a couple of times but you don't really use it. Mummy's still waiting
papap - you tend to say this over and over again. Not too sure what you're referring to.

And all sorts of baby talk that mummy doesn't quite get at this point. You seem to be talking a whole lot more these days. Just random jabbering depending on your mood. There are times you scream out words on top of your lungs, other times you seem to talk to yourself in a silent whisper. It's so rewarding just watching you as you go about playing on your own, or watching the tele and having these small conversations with yourself. Mummy really wonders what goes through your head. Ahhh....the wonder of you.