The very belated third birthday and aqiqah for Dina

I am in the midst of drafting a post on the the kids' birthday when I realized I didn't even blog about their previous birthday. Haha. For memory's keepsake, here we go..

We had Dina's aqiqah and Sara's third birthday somewhere in December 2011. I even hired a photographer for the event and I have hundreds of photos that I found just now after rummaging through my very tidy workstation. We started off the ceremony with marhaban and the usual ritual for Dina's cukur jambul and continue with Sara's birthday celebration later in the evening.

 

Since this picture was taken, one got hitched and one lost 20kgs. Haha.

"Kakak, pujuk adik please..."

After she failed in her attempt to console her sister, she cried. Oh, well...

The cake that I made for Sara's birthday was the biggest cake I've ever baked. It was a three layer red velvet cake with whipped cream and cream cheese frosting. I used three recipes and 1 recipe is about 1.2kg so that makes the whole weight of the cake almost 5kgs.

Yep, my cake was THAT good. Haha.

Sara goes to school....NOT!

So, I decided to send Sara to school, but as you can see from the title above, it is just not working. Heh.

Since we live in Sepang area, I have very limited choices in finding a school for her. Its either Smartreader (Dengkil), Qdees (Dengkil) and CIC (Salak Tinggi). After several discussions and site visit, we chose Smartreader for her. Everything seems to be working out great, the principal there is really nice, Sara likes her, and there's a mini slide (Sara's absolute favourite out of all playground items).

First day, 2nd January 2013. Hubby and me took the day off just to send her and wait for her at school. At night, she was all excited and when morning came, she was a bit moody at first because she had to wake up early. But she was still cheerful and let me braid her hair while she have her breakfast.

We sent her in, make sure she's okay. She asked me to "make friends", so I introduced her to another cute girl there and they seem to have hit it off. Her teacher was also chirpy, and Sara immediately followed her inside, and they seem to be getting along quite fine. In both instances, "seem" is the operative word.

Since she's inside her class and seem to be doing fine, we decided to go for breakfast at the nearby mamak shop. We went back there just to be informed that Sara is doing great. Yeay! We picked her up at 12.00pm, and she looks okay, not really chirpy and cheerful, but just okay. When asked about her day, she'd reply it was okay nonchalantly. Hmm, its not like her to be like this, I mean, she usually talk our ears off especially if its something she's interested in.

Second day, she cried when she woke up, saying she doesn't want to go to school. But, she gives in and I bathe her and send her to school. I ushered her into the main play area where everybody is playing and stayed out in the lobby. To my surprise, she came out crying, and won't let me leave her. So I told her, I'm right here in the lobby but I can't wait for her in her classroom. She wiped her tears and I sent her back to her classroom.

I went to work, and pick her up at 12.30pm. She came out crying, saying that she doesn't want to go to school anymore. My dad was there too, we made arrangement so that I can get back to work and my dad would bring Sara home. I stayed to talk with the teachers, and I asked them what went wrong. The teacher said that Sara looks very sad today, but she didn't cry out loud or throw any sort of tantrum. She'd just sit quietly and do her work, but when she finishes, her tears would drop silently. She even ate her biscuits with tears in her eyes. And I too, almost cried when the teacher told me about this.

My mom called later on, Sara slept on the sofa, and she was having daymares (not nightmares, as she was sleeping during daytime. Haha, lame joke. I know) She'd suddenly screamed "I don't wanna go to school!!!". My mom also told me that she have been crying non stop from the moment we picked her up until she fell asleep, exhausted.

We had a serious discussion that night, Sara and I. I asked her why and she kept repeating that "the school is not nice. The teacher is not nice". She was also a bit feverish, perhaps due to the amount of tears she expressed, so I decided that she doesn't have to go to school the next day. After numerous amount of persuasion, she finally agrees to go to school on Friday, without her uniforms, to explain to the teachers why she doesn't like the school. We had a heart-to-heart talk with all the teachers and principal, and lets just say that perhaps its just not meant to be.

Contrary to popular belief, no Sara is not the one in the red tudung, she's the one at the back, in front of the door. Hehe.

She had fever for almost a week, and cry whenever we mention school. I was also a complete mess that week. In my heart and in my mind, I could only think about her. I mean, I don't want to be such a give-in type of mother who just followed her child's every whim. But, on the other hand, I also don't want to be the type of mother who doesn't care of her children's opinion. I know she's only 4, but if she really doesn't like the school, then I could not force her to go, right?

And, she's telling me her point of view nicely and politely, I couldn't very well ignore that and just push her to go to the place she genuinely dislike, right?

Oy, the predicaments of being a mother. And that's just sending her to pre-school. I can't imagine what I'll be like when it comes to bigger issue. Haha!

In a blink of an eye

November 2011...

Seven months later...

Time really does fly huh?

Missing you...

I was supposed to be on leave today. And we were supposed to go back to Kuantan.

But due to some inconsiderate people creating the so-called peaceful rally, I had to be on duty yesterday. And I had to work today. Yawn.

So, we decided that only hubby and Sara will go back to Kuantan. I suggested it actually, I think it would be good for them, for the much needed father-daughter bonding time.

They went back by bus and I didn't send them to the bus station, for fear that Sara will cry and not wanting to go on the bus. I keep texting hubby to make sure a lot of things i.e making sure she had lunch/dinner/snacks, making sure she bathed/changed/pooped ;) and there was this one time, I called him just to make sure that he didn't leave Sara with strangers even though that person appear trustworthy. I think he got bored and a little pissed by the little faith that I have in him..haha

So, anyway, I have been avoiding talking to Sara, because I fear she'll cry but actually, deep down inside, I fear that she's having sooo much fun, she will not want to talk to me and she doesn't miss me. At all. :( But, last night, because I miss hearing her voice sooooooooooo much, I called her.

Me : Hello sayang...
Sara : *quiet for a while* MUMMMYYYYYY.....BABY WANT TO GO BACK TO MUMMY'S HOUSE....WAAAAAAA....WAAAAAA......
My husband quickly take the phone and tried to console her (They were at a shopping mall, eating ice-cream. Hehe.)

I got a little teary...because I miss her so bad. Hehe...its really different when I am the one leaving her (go outstation or whatever) compared to this sinking feeling when she's the one leaving me.

Sara, mummy misses you too...can't wait to see you tomorrow ;)

Sara is THREE!!

My little angel turned three last January. And only now I had the time to properly update on her. She is such a joy to be with, simply because she is such a chatterbox, and the things she said, the stories she tells, is very engaging. She has a very high imagination, and she loves to pretend talk on her imaginary handphone (she has two of those, black and pink) with her imaginary friends (Aurora, Jasmine or Ariel - yes, the Disney princesses)

She also has her moments that makes me want to rip her my hair off. Sometimes, she refuses to bathe in the evening, or hit me/my mum for no reason, or talk rudely to us, or the most annoying of all, pooped in her pants. Oy! I've had enough of her antics one time, and I said that I'd lock her outside the house if she pooped in her pants again. Do you know what she said?

"Nevermind. Sara not scared. Actually can poo-poo in the pants" Oh, really? Grrrrr.....

I left her outside and locked the grill door, and she cried her heart out. Hehe...I let her cry for about two minutes then I brought her in, put her on the toilet, and leave her to do her "big business". Heh. While I was washing her and put her clothes back on, I told her the reason I was mad, and that she shouldn't do that (pooped in her pants) anymore. She tearfully agree.

Once, she refuses to bathe, I scolded her, and I end up crying with her in the bathroom. In my defense, I was really tired that time and my emotions took the best of me ;p Both of us cried, said our sorries and hugged for the longest time...hehe...

We had sooo much fun during my long maternity leave (3 months plus) and she even said "Mummy, I love you very much when you take leave from work for so long" I asked whether she'd still love me when I return to work and she kept quiet. So, I had to explain to her that I will still play with her, go out with her but I need to go to work to pay for the house, car and other bills. She doesn't quite understand, so I told her I need to go to work to get money to buy her chocolate and that, she does comprehend ;)

Physically, she does NOT look like a three year old. She looked at least 5yo and she can even wear 7-8yo clothing. She weighs 22kgs and 105cm tall. Oh, she also refuses to cut her hair and she doesn't want to wear certain clothes (collared shirt) because she said it make her look like a boy.

I haven't sent her to any school or nursery because she repeatedly told me she doesn't want to go to school. Besides, she's just three :) But, she already knows all alphabets (capital letter and small letter) and can write from A to I, R, T, N, O, P (capital letter only).

She loves to read out loud any letters that we encounter. She seems interested in spelling and she always try to spell things (TRY is the operative word here). Because, when she saw me wearing a t-shirt that says "ASTRO", she'd go "Mummy...A...S...T...R...O....T-shirt?" Haha, no my dear, not t-shirt.

Or, she'd go "P...R....E...M...I...E...R.....tissue?" (the brand of our tissue is PREMIER).
Or, "T....E....N....biscuit?" (my dad bought her Ten10 biscuits)
Never fails to make us laugh, that kid ;)

She's not scared of strangers anymore, and can really converse with people (as long as you talk in English with her, she doesn't speak much Malay but she understands it). Sometimes, she'd say "Mummy, today I want to talk in Malay" and I'd say ok. It's sooo funny watching her try to talk in Malay because she'd go:

"Mummy, mari kita...umm..ummm...apa tu...apa tu..."
"Tell me what you want to say in English and I'll tell you the word in Malay"
"Find"
"Oh, cari"
"Ok, Mummy mari kita cari the toys"
"Toys is mainan in Malay"
"Ok, mari kita cari mainan Sara"

The funniest thing ever is when we agreed to talk in Malay during dinner time, and then I asked her to read doa makan (she knows how to recite doa makan since 2yo), so I was really surprised when she just kept still and quiet. "Sara, recite doa makan. You know how to recite doa makan kan?" And do you know what she replies? "But I don't know how to recite doa makan in Malay" Hahahaha...


She loves her sister very much. She does get jealous from time to time but she'd never hurt her sister and she was always so gentle with her. Sometimes, I caught her saying really random things to her sister "Dina, when you grow up, we don't cut our hair ok? We must keep our hair long, like Ciksu and Cikngah. Don't cut your hair short like Mummy ok?" *__*

And, she loves to imitate Dina (yup, the elder daughter loves to imitate the younger daughter). Once, she came beside me and said "Mummy, come lie down beside Sara. I want to tell story to you" I happily agree and what she did was "rrrrrr....brrrrr....brrrr..." (you know the sound that baby makes when they are cooing and babbling?) Yup, she's imitating her sister.

Or, she would suddenly go on all fours, crawling to me and doing the baby sound. She even asked to drink my milk because "Dina said it tasted like chocolate". She asked me to put the milk that I pumped into a cup, because she wanted to taste it. Hehe.

My dear Sara, you never fail to amaze me with the things you said and discover, and even though sometimes I got really tired answering your endless questions, please know that I am forever thankful you chose to voice them out, rather than keeping it all in. The last three months is really special because I get to spent each waking moments with you, and we have become friends, instead of just mother and daughter. Love you, kiddo!

The VERY belated second birthday

Sara is going to be three tomorrow. I better get this post done before that :p

We held her second birthday sometime in January last year. I think it was 8th or 9th of January 2010. We had a small ceremony, as it was quite a last minute occasion. I had planned for sort of a cupcake-themed birthday and we made it happen even with the short amount of time we had to prepare.

We made cupcake shaped goodie bag for the guests, my mom sew cupcake shape on Sara's tutu dress, we even have a cupcake station (where the children can decorate their own cupcakes). I tried to make her a giant cupcake red velvet cake, but the cake looks like a giant glob of something (definitely not the shape of a cupcake). Oh well, at least it tasted delicious.

Sara was a bit quiet at first because she just woke up from her nap but later, returned to her happy self. I know she won't remember the details of her birthday (she doesn't even care about the cupcake theme and whatnot), but it makes me satisfied that I've tried to provide her with everything I can even though it was a far cry from the image of cupcake party I had in my head.

We had a blast and my mom forbade me from ever again having a cupcake party because the icing on the carpet was sooo hard to clean. Everybody had fun, and that's what matters most, no? :)

Circle-circle thing

About two months ago, my cousin came with her baby boy to our house. She changed her baby's diaper in front of Sara.

Sara just watched her and didn't say anything at the time. Last month, while we were talking together, Sara asked me:

"Mummy, remember the other day Mak Lin came to our house with the baby to see Dina?"

"Yes, I remember"

"Then, Mak Lin changed the baby's pampers kan?"

"Yes"

"Why the baby got circle-circle thing?"

"Circle-circle thing?"

"Yes, circle-circle thing. Here" pointing to her private parts.

Oh. That circle-circle thing. Apparently, she's referring to the baby's ehem, testicle.

Haha, what would you answer to that?

Selamat Hari Raya...Maaf Zahir Batin

Back when I was pregnant with Sara, I have no motivation whatsoever to celebrate Raya. I was 7months plus during that time (same as now) and I was sooooo big. I didn't even wear baju kurung/kaftan/dress, instead I just lazed around the house wearing my baju kelawar. Soooo not phat, I know :p

But, this time, considering that I have another toddler who even though doesn't really understand the concept of raya and whatnot, I feel like I'm being selfish if I didn't celebrate raya properly. So, I bought a kaftan, baju melayu for hubby and loads of baju raya for the little kid.

Early morning of hari raya, I bathed Sara and explained to her that this morning we have to "salam" everybody, say Selamat Hari Raya and seek forgiveness for any wrongdoings. So, that is what she did. I didn't explain the part where people would give her angpow, and she should politely accept it and say thank you.

The first person Sara "salam" was her Totok and Nenek, she said "Selamat Hawi Waye" and kissed them both. When they gave her the angpow, she got curious and asked "What is this?". I quickly reply "Angpow. Got money inside". Then she proceeded to "salam" me and hubby. Hubby handed her the angpow, and she took it. But, when she "salam" my sisters and they gave her the angpow as well, she immediately said "Hey, some more? Yaya got already-lah. See, Yaya got two already. Why give some more?" and everybody burst into laughter.

We went back to Kuantan shortly after the salam session in my house. We thought it would be a smooth sailing journey because the holiday was pretty long, and who goes back hometown on pagi raya anyway, right? NOT! The road was congested by people who took the opportunity of the long holiday to go to Genting. Gahhhh!!!

We stopped over at Temerloh and went beraya to hubby's side of the family and continue to Kuantan later in the evening. Our Raya was pretty relaxed, but even then, I felt soooo tired and lethargic...To top that off, I have never felt sooo huge, I was sweating like a p*g (Kuantan is soooo hot!), and my face was sooooooo round. Several attempts to look phat ended up in me looking fat *cries*

Anyway, I hope it is still not too late to wish everybody "Selamat Hari Raya" and I sincerely apologize for any wrongdoings that I may have commit whether direct or indirectly to any of you. I only took two decent pics; one with the whole family and another with my sisters and cousin. I totally forgot to take a picture of my family (with hubby and Sara). Oh well...

Selamat Hari Raya

Maaf Zahir Batin

*__*

Hi blog...

Hee, I'm surprised I can even remember my own username and password (did have to try twice, cause I forgot my password..teehee..) I guess I have to ask Mr.Firefox to remember my password from now on..

Usual excuse for not blogging in err..two months : yep, busy (read : lazy). But, I'm still baking though, and I recently discovered that leaoven (the one that produces edible image) is located very near to my house. Yeay! So, those who would like to order their cakes with edible images are welcomed to do so (sample as pic below)


As for the baby in my tummy, I'm loving my second trimester. And, its a girl. Yeay! Secretly, I am wishing for another girl, so imagine my joy when my secret wish turns out to be true. However, the bad news is, I have diabetes this time around. I was told that it is caused by the hormonal change in the body and with proper diet, it will most likely to go away after the pregnancy. Which I pray so hard to be true.

Sara has slowly beginning to accept that she's going to have a rival sister soon. Before this, she kept insisting that she's the baby, and the thing growing in mummy's tummy is kakak. Hehe. Last week, we brought her along for the 3d/4d scan and I think she's beginning to really understand that "Mummy got baby inside Mummy's stomach". But, she still refuses to call the baby "Baby". Instead, she calls the baby "Adik" and she calls herself "Baby".

The 3d/4d scan that I went was at PJ Women Specialist and Family Clinic at SS2. I bought the service from www.kasihkusayangku.com for RM100 and I'm really pleased throughout the whole experience. Everything looks good, and my baby kept yawning and at one point, she even sucked her toe. She even opened her eyes (probably out of anger because we were disturbing her rest). Here's a video of the miracle in my womb :

Sara has been really wonderful as of late. She understands that I can no longer carry her (she's already 18kgs++) and she's very quick to apologize if she does something wrong. I don't know why, but lately I've been feeling rather emotional when it comes to her. I'd get mad if I hear my husband raise his voice to her, and she too, have grown somewhat clingy-er to me. Here's a few photos of Sara I couldn't resist to share.

She looks like a five-year-old instead of two and a half, kan?

Err, she insisted to be swaddled like the baby?

Luckily we were all fasting this day. If not, we'd eat her KFC thighs :)

Oh, did I mention she's really reliable these days?
Yep, up to the extent where I can ask her to mop the floor ;p

Tips on how to stop your child from using pacifier

I am not supporting nor rejecting the idea of using pacifier. My motto in raising my kid is work with what you've got. :)

As for Sara, she was on pacifier as early as five days old (I think) and no, I am NOT proud of the fact.I know that kids regularly on the pacifier will tend to develop dental deformities, so we have from time to time try to avoid excessive usage.
Sara has always call her pacifier nu-nu, and she'll motion for her pacifier using her index finger to her mouth EVERY TIME she wanted to sleep. So, what we did was take out her pacifier as soon as she falls asleep.


As she grows older, and able to talk, she'll always ask for her nu-nu when she wants to sleep. BUT, when she reached towards two-years-old, she began to demand for her nu-nu every time she felt neglected by people around her.

For example, when I was watching TV instead of playing with her, she'll walk up to the kitchen, and start to ask for her nu-nu. So, I casually suggested to my mom to start depriving her of the pacifier, gradually.

Little did I know that my mom was also having the same thought, which is to stop her from using the pacifier altogether.

So, what we did was: first, we stopped giving her pacifier by her demand. When she wanted to sleep, we gave her the pacifier, but after 10 minutes of sucking, if she's still not sleeping, we'd take out the pacifier and played with her until she's really sleepy.

Secondly, we'd take out her pacifier the minute she falls asleep (as opposed to taking it out when she has dozed off completely). Sometimes she would wake up, but judging from varying degree of crying (mild meaning she can get back to sleep, screaming meaning I-want-my-nunu-back); we either give it back or just cuddle her until she falls right back to sleep.

However, the two ways doesn't really diminish her need for pacifier. They were just means to train her and decrease her need to depend on the pacifier.

One day, my mom decided to go cold-turkey. She secretly cut the tip of the pacifier and put a black thread inside the pacifier. So, it looks as if there's "worm" inside the pacifier. (Sara is really scared of worms ;p)

She took one look at her pacifier, and say "Nenek, got worm" and together, they threw the pacifier in the dustbin. Later that day, when she wanted to sleep and asked for her nu-nu, my mom reminded her that her nu-nu got worm and its in the dustbin. She must've been really sleepy because she dozed off after that.

During night time, she asked for her nu-nu again, and this time, she pulled my dad's hand to the dustbin and demanded that my dad take back her nu-nu. "Wash first, ok?" she said. Haha.

My dad took the nu-nu and brought her to the kitchen and they wash the nu-nu together. "But, the worm cannot come out-la, Yaya" my dad said. She's dissatisfied, but didn't cry. I take that as a good sign.

She came running to me and asked me to buy her new nu-nu and I said okay. I also told her that "Only baby can get nu-nu, Sara big girl already, Sara kan kakak. No more nu-nu okay?" She seemed to understand and didn't press further.

Luckily for us, starting from that moment on, she'd never scream/shout asking for her pacifier. Don't get me wrong, she did cry and we have had some sleepless nights and our patience are almost running thin. But, we persevered and the result; no more pacifier for the little girl.

Priceless moments...

Mummy, come take picture of Yaya..

Ok, Yaya pretend to watch Barney, mummy take picture okay?



Umm...Yaya pretend to laugh, Mummy take picture okay?




And then, Yaya pretend to become angry, Mummy take picture okay?



Yaya do funny face, Mummy take picture okay?




Yaya smile like cute girl, Mummy take picture okay?

And all the pictures are blurry because I was laughing sooo hard entertaining my cheeky little kid :)

Hi... *sheepish smile*

Hi there, my dear blog. I've been neglecting you, I know. But I have a good reason. I was ermm...busy..not with work, but with myself. You know...I was busy entertaining myself. We do that, you know. A pregnant lady must put aside some time for herself, and herself only.

Okay, I've run out of excuses, so yeah, I was lazy. Seems like my finger can only move the mouse to bloghop and reading stories about other people but too lazy to actually type something.

Hmm, its been so long, I don't even know where to start. Oh, the trip to Bandung. It was a disaster the first day. I puked all the contents in my stomach, which resulted in both my hubby and sister to forbid me from drinking "jus alpukat" (avocado juice). I think they got really grossed out by...I think I got to stop telling stories about that. Just typing those words make me nauseous and feel like vomiting.

I didn't really shop that much in Bandung. I only bought 4 shirts/blouse for myself and clothes for Sara (a lot!) and 3 pairs of baby clothes. I suck at shopping, especially when I have to deal with the constant drowsiness. Okay, enough about Bandung. Moving on to something else...

Oh, my aunt got into an accident two weeks ago. Apparently, my uncle (who was driving at the time) hit another car that was already in an accident. Its kinda hilarious, I mean there was this unfortunate car who was maybe driving a tad too fast, and swerve to the side of the road. The driver must be thinking, luckily I am okay, the car is okay and I didn't hit into any other vehicle. Then, BAM! My uncle came and hit the car as it was repositioning itself to drive away.

When we went and visit my aunt, she was in soooo much pain, even the doctors and nurses didn't know what to make of it. Turns out, she broke two of her ribs during the collision. No wonder she couldn't even sit up straight and her oxygen level was quite low. Everything is okay now, she has been discharged and is now at home, recuperating.

Okay, my favourite topic....Adlyna Qaisara. She is such a chatterbox, and can talk for hours. And the great thing is, we can actually understand what she's trying to tell us. For example, she got this really great story that goes like this "One day, kakak and me. Kakak got red bicyle. Yaya don't know how to cycle. Kakak cycle so very fast. And then, abang want to play. Kakak said "No!. Cannot. Abang cannot play". Naughty kakak didn't let abang play. Then, kakak go away. Suddenly, got dog. Dog chase kakak. Kakak cry. Pity kakak". Tee hee hee...

She also can sing a lot of songs now, and the two songs she can sing perfectly is "Twinkle twinkle little star" and Barney's "I love you". She learned quite a lot from the Barney video she insisted on watching every night. On that note, I really think that Barney is a positive influence on kid, since it preaches about happiness, and the concept of sharing. Although Sara's concept of sharing is slightly distorted whereby she will quickly finish her food/drink and goes to the person who still have food/drink and persuade sweetly "We share okay. Barney said we must share. Okay?" Hehe, nobody ever refused her ;)

Sometimes, she announces out of the blue "Yaya looovvveeee Mummy. Yaya love Nenek. Yaya love Totok. Yaya love Babah. Yaya love Tashu. Yaya love Ingah. Yaya love everybody!" And that is why she gets away with little naughty things.

P/S - I intend to end this post with a preggy picture of me, but can't find a camera and I am secretly ashamed to post a picture of me, since I look like 6 months pregnant, as opposed to 4 months.

Random updates

Since I am now unable to actually compose a decent post about Sara developments, I'll just jot down whatever I remembered. This is not in sequence and may happen around last two months and this month (yeah, sue me...I am a bad and a very forgetful mummy)

1. She's so imaginative and likes to create dialogues; for example : "Mummy,mummy...got cat ot-shide (outside). Cat call Yaya, yaya..nak food. Cat hung-ghee (hungry). Pity cat. Mummy come. Ya nak gif food. Mummy take" or when she hears another toddler crying, she'd say "Mummy, kakak kai (cry). Pity kakak. Kakak nak food." It seems funny that she associates crying with not enough food. Hehe, I see similarities with me there. But, hey, I fed her enough, ok. She's already 15kgs at the age of two ;p

2. Right now, she's in the phase whereby whe wants to sleep in Nenek's room. Every night. I don't really have a problem with that, its just that I pity my mom. She'd go screaming in the middle of the night "Yaya nak cip in Nenek's yuum" and cry like there's no tomorrow. Once, I let her cry her heart out, she woke up with a puffy eyes. I felt so guilty after that and succumbed to her demands to cip (sleep) in Nenek's yuum (room).

3. She's also is at the stage where she copies everything that we do. And if we didn't notice that she is imitating what we do, she'd say "Mummy, Yaya copycat mummy". Note to self : No more saying bad words in front of her ;p

4. I went for a short course last month and when I came back, she was waiting to pick me up. The first thing that she asked me to do was "Mummy, help Yaya. Big nose chit. Babah non know (Babah don't know)" Hehe, can you guess? After 1 week of separation, the thing she misses most is me picking her nose. ;p Anyway, I happily obliged, as always.

5. Oh, she now knows all our names. And if she calls us several times but we didn't answer, she'll start calling our names; for example when she called her babah to come eat and her babah didn't reply, she'll scream "EDIE, COME EAT". Once in Ikea, she called for hubby but he didn't answer, so when she caught a glimpse of him, she screams "EDIE! WAIT FOR YAYA!" :)

6. Its getting harder to feed her nowadays. You know why? Because she'll demand to go to the "shop" and buy "fish, chicken or ta-to (potato) and ne-yert (carrot)" and she also insisted on "cook-cook-cook" all the groceries she bought. My mum will have to follow her to her imaginary shop (which could be anywhere in the house, sometimes its behind the sofa, sometimes near the door), all the while carrying her bag with actual money inside. Then, she'll want to cut-cut-cut her fish/chicken/tato/neyert and cook-cook-cook them. And, yes, she tripled the words to show that she means business.

7. She has a new teddy bear. She started calling it "tay-bee bear" but I quickly name it Molly. (Its not a very cool name, but that was the first name that popped to my head *defensive* ;p). We're thinking that Mama may have to go play somewhere else because Sara's got a new friend.


8. She sings. She can actually sing. I went outstation for two weeks, and when I got back, Nenk prompted her, "Sara, sing to mummy." I'd expected the usual "Na-na-na...ni..nu..." but I had the shock of my life when she perfectly sings "Ibu...ibu...engkaulah ratu hatiku". I almost teared (but had to control, wouldn't want to appear so soppy in front of my mom. Heh) I have a video of it (her singing) but for some reason, it can't be uploaded here.

Aidiladha 2010

Aidiladha 2010 is the best one so far :) Majority of my mum's side of the family came to KL and we had a blast. My cousin each have 4 boys so, that totaled up to 8 boys, in the house. Oy, that itself resulted in chaos and mayhem. Sara was delighted to see them, she kept tugging me to play with "abang". I taught her to say "Abang, Yaya nak main". She confidently went to them and said those words and then came running back to me. Haha.

Oh, did I tell you she can jump? With both legs up? She has been doing that since last month actually.

We had our usual festive dish "nasi minyak" and the best "soto" ever. I was working the day before, so I had no part in the cooking whatsoever (Ohh, the beauty of living with my mum ;p) But, I did bake a cake and I succeeded on making chocolate chip rolls (more on that later, promise!) We just lazed around the whole day, taking pictures, eating, watching telly and it was a very fun and relaxing day. I mean, good food, good company, what's not to love, right?

The "quiet" picture

The "noisy" picture

Later that night, one of the boys came to me and said that they miss my choc chip cookies. It's almost 10pm, I protested. But, seeing their hopeful faces, I just didn't have the heart to say no. But, I imposed a condition : They have to help me. And so, there I was at 11pm, making cookies with my two nephews. They are yawning every 2 minutes, but they helped me all the way to the end.

Some of the boys :)

The next day, everybody went back to Kuantan. Sara woke up and was somewhat disappointed to see that there was no more abang. I, on the other hand, had 300 cupcake to do for a solemnization favor. :)

Tips on toilet training

Hi, my name is Mama. I was given to Sara on her birthday by my Mummy's best friend. I would have preferred other name than Mama, but Sara thought it was my name, since I say "Ma...mama" when she squeeze my chest.

At first, Sara was scared of me, but as she grows bigger, we became friends. She would give me milk, put powder on my face, take out and put on my clothes, put me to sleep and lots more fun stuff we do together.

Right now, my current role is to motivate Sara to go to the toilet. For example, Nenek and Mummy often come to me and ask "Mama nak ci-ci?" and I'd nod my head. They'll then ask Sara whether she'd like to come along. If she agrees, Nenek or Mummy would ask her to take out her pants, in case they got wet and all. When we arrive to the toilet, we'd pee together. Okay, I stand and watch while Sara pees.

So, yeah, I am officially the toilet trainer for that little kid. Sometimes, she'd carry me to her Mummy and said that I wanted to pee, when in fact, she's the one who wanted to go to the toilet. Yeah, just blame it on me, the mute doll ;p

My tutu little girl

"Sara, come Mummy hold your bottle, Mummy want to take your photo"

"NANAK! NANAK! YAYA NAK HOLD!"

O-kay.

"Sara, sara, look here. Mummy want to take your photo"

"Yes. Good girl. Sara do the peace sign."

How?

"Look at Cik Ngah. Follow Cik Ngah"

Like this?

"Sara, look here. Smiillleeee"
Like this?

"Mummy, Yaya tired"

"Okay, okay just one more picture. Please"

*P/S : We couldn't pry the bottle away from her. She insisted on wearing the bottle on her neck all day long.

*P/P/S : My dad says her leg is gemok!