Just some random sampling of cute and endearing moments with our little girl. Such behaviour of hers might not repeat again.
- When I squat down, open my arms and call Hannah’s name, she would giggly make her clumsy baby walk towards me and hug me.
- She’d let us hold her hand and walk with her.
- When she stood up on her high chair to play, I would give her a displeased look and told her firmly to sit down. It might take her a while but she would eventually ‘guai guai de’ squat down. I would continue to stare at her and say “leg leg” and then she would slowly put her legs down to a sitting position. She might avoid my glare and then afterwards check whether she had gotten my approval by making some eye contact.
- Hannah would shake her bum bum to the beat of songs played to her.
- She would walk over and sit on my laps when I hold out a book to read to her. Sometimes she would look up to me and make eye contact while I was reading to her.
- She would laugh at us when we make funny sounds.
- She would put her little finger to dig my nose and poke through my lips.
- She would sit at the entrance to the kitchen where I prepare her meals and ‘wait’ for mommy to play with her.
- She could understand the meaning of my words even though she could not utter them herself yet. For example, I have asked her to hang her towel back on the rack where she had pulled it off (I didn’t expect her to do it actually) and she understood me and tried in her own messy manner to spread the towel on the rack.
- She would blow me a kiss after I put her down to bed for the night.
- She would open her mouth widely and say ‘ahh’ for ‘amen’ during our bedtime prayer.
- She plays ‘hide and seek’ with me when it is time for bath. She would disappear from my sight and then reappear to check whether I’m still around. Upon seeing me, she would giggle and go back into hiding. :)
- She yaks on her pink diaper cream tube (pretends it to be a mobile phone).
Of course, we had our share of exasperating moments with her too. For instance, she would sometimes cry without apparent reason.
Below is a recent video taken of her trying to get her hands on her wet laundry and her latest play-thing (green cushion). :)
Awww… so cute! Now I know why that’s called a ‘bum cushion’, hee!
Can I check with you, how much you bought your playyard for, and where from? Am thinking of getting one for Gabe, and also a playmat to cushion her little knees from the floor.
I bought the neck float from the person you recommended, and tried it out on Gabe, but she swallowed water poor thing! Thankfully she won’t remember it. But I think I have to put the float aside for now, because it doesn’t seem to get along well with her. Instead, she’s using a sitting float my mum bought for her, it works better… (see my FB profile pic!)
Hi Lisa,
I bought our play yard from the Singapore Motherhood bulk purchases section. There’s this importer by the nickname ‘Crazy about Korea’ who brings in Haenim play yard. Prices vary depending on the colour-scheme and no. of panels. The standard is the 4-panel but many mothers (including myself) went for the 6-panel becos it was more spacious. You could see the thread here: http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/messages/581296/4206552.html?1280104906 . There are also mothers selling their preloved play yard and I came across one of the threads here: http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/messages/976106/1249186.html?1280105911 . I think the preloved options could be a good deal as Haenim’s play yard of a decent quality. BTW, I remember seeing Haenim play yard on sale at Kiddy Palace. You might want to check that out as the price might be competitive. Anyway, this crazy about korea person prob still offer the best deal in town. It was the case when I bought it.
Oh ya, the playmat. Crazy about Korea also import playmat. Depending on quality and size, the price varies. I saw Mini Toons outlets also selling playmat (see http://www.minitoons.com/toonsfloormat.html). Their prices are lower but quality-wise I’m unsure. I wanted to get the playmat initially too. However, Hannah has learnt to differentiate hard floors from her soft mattress and could move about safely without injuring herself and so I didn’t get the mat in the end.
I’m so very sorry to hear that baby G swallowed pool water. I’m sure she has no recollection whatsoever :) Hannah is using a waist float now. I bought one from kiddy palace for her age.
Hope that you’ll be able to get what you need at a good rate :)
Sorry, the URL for the minitoons website is http://www.minitoons.com/toonsfloormat.html
Hannah such a dear! Wish my little one was like her. My girl at just under 13 months has never sat still to hear me finish even one page of reading. She flips through story books at amazing speeds and prefers books with flaps and lots of pics thst she can point at, like those dictionary types, rather than the story books. Sigh.
I have some qns on feeding toddlers, hope u can share ur experience/advice – Should I let my girl snack between meals? So far I haven’t really let my little one snack as I did not want to upset her milk feeds. Her lunch at noon would consist of a chinese bowl of porridge followed immediately by fruit (usually abt the portion of one small kiwi). Wonder if her tiny stomach can take so much at once! At abt 3pm she wld be given 210 ml of milk. Then dinner at 6pm and it’s porridge again. At one week shy of 13 months she’s 75 cm tall and weighs abt 9.3 kg. So I guess she’s getting enough food? Are we supposed to gradually drop their afternoon milk feed?
Can hannah drink from a straw bottle? We tried giving our girl one but she just bites on the straw. Should she be trained to drink from one or it’s just something they will pick up eventually?
I also bought the Haenim playyard from the crazy abt korea person! I think the retail stores do not sell the 6-panel versions ( I saw them on sale at United Kids, Tampines One, they are packaged in a box of 4). The crazy abt korea does sell them as 6-panels and he has a “balloting” system as he breaks up the 4 panels for seperate sale. I remember opting for the balloting system and ended up with 2 identical activity panels (instead of 2 doors). Speedy delivery, good quality. Think it’s a much much better investment than a playpen!
Hi Kym,
Thanks for visiting our blog again :)
Just to encourage you, Hannah also can’t sit still for very long when I read to her. And she would sometimes dictate the pages she want read. She prefers books with flaps for her to open and close too! There’s this Barnie book where the flaps are really well-used.
Aiyoh, I’m just a greenhorn like you when it comes to toddler things. :P I did thought about giving Hannah snacks initially but she already had sufficient nutrition from her regular meals and snacking IMO was unnecessary. But I do occasionally give Hannah cheese cubes when her next meal would be delayed. Now that you mentioned it, I thought maybe giving our toddler some healthy mini puffs or biscuits immediately after the afternoon milk feed might be a good idea as they would need more energy to stay active as they grow. My hubby and I normally bring along snacks for Hannah for our outings so as to keep her occupied while we have our meal. I intend to check this snack thingy and aslo about milk intake with my pd the next time I bring Hannah for her vaccination.
I gave up the sippy cup and straw bottle some time ago. She saw them as toys and had fun either biting or squeezing them. I intend to wait till she’s ready for the actual cup to do the transition. In the meantime, I would sometimes feed her water using a spoon to encourage her to learn to swallow larger amounts of liquid.
I also fed Hannah a fruit immediately after her main course. If it is kiwi, the portion is half of the standard kiwi size. :)
About the Haenim play yard, Kiddy Palace has started offering 6 panels too. I don’t know whether there are any conditions attached though. But it seems that the market is catching up with parents’ demands. :)
Thanks so much for sharing! Feel more reassured to learn that my little one is ‘normal’… :)
It’s a blessing to be able to learn from hannah and your experiences, it keeps me on my toes for what’s could possible be up next! And I’m already getting cold feet hearing abt the Terrible Twos from some friends!
Hi Kym,
You’re very welcomed :)
I’m not just apprehensive about the Terrible Two now, I’m also dreading all kinds of possible parenting difficulties beyond the ‘2’ after my colleague recently related her experience with her 5-year-old. Still, let’s not forget to enjoy every moment of growing up with our children :) We’re growing together with them as well :)
Hey Ling, thanks for sharing the resources for the playyard! J and I will have a think about whether we are going to invest in the whole thing, i.e., playyard + playmat, or just the playmat, or none at all! We take very long to decide on things, heehee.
Gabrielle is on solids now at 7 1/2 months, she’s still having 5 milk feeds a day, with 3 solid feeds somewhat like breakfast, lunch, and supper. But she doesn’t eat much of the solids portion, just maybe 50ml after the milk. My mum is having fun experimenting with pureeing adult meals for her!
God bless!! :)
Hi Lisa,
You’re very welcomed too :)
I’m usually the one who’s excited about acquiring new things for Hannah while Yang would always remind me of practicality, budget, etc :)
Wow, pureeing adult foods – sounds like fun to me too! :D