Catch up with my daughter.

Almost 14 months. Time to write a few things about her, so that I can remember what she does when she was 14 months. Heh. Yeah, I'd been lazy.

She can walk already, but she doesn't like to walk. Crawling is the fastest mode of transportation around the house.

She finishes her big bowl of porriage in ten minutes. Then she proceeds to eat her brother's food. And she opens her mouth the widest when she is fed her brother's food.

The brother, on the other hand, takes at least half and hour to finish his meal.

She can eat rice. Don't ask me how she chew them. She only has 4 front teeth on top, and 3 and a 1/2 teeth at the bottom. The half is because it came out long after the other three and is still very tiny, as compared to the rest.

She doesn't like her porriage nowadays as much as she likes our rice.

When she wears her brother's hand-me-down ORANGE pyjamas, and the brother wears his grandma-buy-from-china ORANGE pyjamas, both of them look like jailbirds who just broke out from prison. I should post a pic of them in the setup! Heh.

She can say these words: papa, mama, gorgor, jiejie, dark dark, ball, book, car, card, cart? She doesn't call her brother by name anymore. She calls him gorgor. Definitely less words than her brother. She doesn't really talk a lot. But she really understands what you say. I was quite amazed too. When I tell her to put her head on my shoulder, she knows to do it! When I ask her if she wants something, and she wants it, she'll nod her head, otherwise she'll shake her head. I'm reeling from amazement.

She likes books. From day 1, she likes books. She likes turning the pages and looking at the photos in the book. She likes playing the piano. She likes climbing up the piano too. She likes climbing up and down the stairs. She likes climbing up and down the bed. She likes playing with water especially at the fountain. She found that she can also play with water when she is being bathed, as opposed to mummy always car-wash-style-quickly-bathe-her, so she has made known her displeasure when she finishes her car-wash-style bath. She likes to swim. Kisses were fashionable for a few months, but no longer now. Morning greetings are fashionable right now. She can hold her own when she fights with her brother. She is learning that the voice can be a weapon of terror. She can get up and down the bobby car without help, but she is still going backwards on the bobby car. She is much better going out now, but she wants to shop as well, and will grab things off the shelves. She can fit her brother's lego. Not too successful yet, but getting there ... somewhat.

She is still super cute and cuddly. Happiness is when I hug and kiss her. Heh. I love her so.

The son is learning to ride a real bike. 2 wheels plus 2 training wheels. He needs lots of motivation and encouragement though. I've stopped violin lessons for him. Maybe continue when he's older. Haiz.

Me? I feel like learning the violin again whenever I listen to my cds. Just more dreams. haiz.

P.S: Now I understand what it feels like to be on autopilot when driving. Heh.

What do new moms need?

After reading this, I thought I would just write something. :)

What do new moms need? If you ask me, and I think back to when I had my first kiddo ... hmm.

Top 5 things for the mother, she'll need:

1. Electronic Breast Pump. Forget about the manual one. I was recommended the Medela one, and until now, I'm still using it. A bit noisy now and a bit creaky, and a crack on the motor part, but it's still surviving well. Heh. Of course if the mother doesn't intend to breastfeed, then don't bother with a pump.

2. Nipple cream. Putting your breastmilk on sore and crack nipples doesn't quite moisturise them, it only helps the healing.

3. Massage. Preferably hot stone massage and the therapist coming to your place. Wrap is optional. For my 2nd kiddo, it was too hot to stay wrapped. So my poor tummy is still budgling. Arrgh. The massage helped with all the tight shoulder and neck muscles from carrying the baby. And it is relaxing to have at least one hour to yourself for the massage. Mine was really good, she even massaged my blocked ducts! Better then being manhandled by those err ... lactating consultants at the hospital!

4. Bottles. Even if you are breastfeeding, you will need to express your milk and get your hubby or anyone else to do the 3am shift. I'm so fortunate that my 2nd kiddo sleeps through the night right from day 1. For the 1st kiddo, when I was a new mom, I just couldn't handle the graveyard shift. Fortunately, sometimes the hubby helped. But I still have to get up, warm the milk, prepare the bottles, express ... what a horrible memory! How did I survive!?!?!!

5. Baby clothes, baby booties, baby mittens, baby blankets, baby towels etc. Trust me on this. When it is your first born, you would want to get the softest bath towel for your kiddo, nice baby clothes, warm baby booties and mittens, and a baby blanket. Hmm, the 2nd one was sharing bath towel with us. Yikes. And she was using her brother's oh-too-big socks for booties and for a while I was searching desperately for her brother's mittens too. I remember I forgot the baby mittens for my 1st kiddo and had to desperately call my girlfriend to buy some for me. Heh heh.

:P

Masak masak

So the hubby relives his second childhood by buying lego. Lots of Lego. We now have pirate set, house set, train set, lots of star-wars and god knows what else.

Me? My second childhood is starting, since having a cute daughter gives me excuses to buy some toys for her, which the hubby didn't think the son should play too much with. But what's wrong with boys playing with cooking? Duh.

So, the kids now have 3 sets of plan toys. Fruits and Vegetables, cooking utensils and vegetable set. I plan to get the tableware set, the breakfast set, the tea set etc ... hmm, that makes almost everything! hahaaha.

Well, the kids love them so far. MM is putting all the food stuffs into her ELC pots and pans (that Min gave), and opening and closing the lid (playing peekaboo with her food!). The son is cooking stuffs for me now. All they need is a stove, a sink, an oven ... whoops.

I prefer plan toys than ELC stuffs, but I must say ELC looks good too. Maybe get the small wooden stove set from ELC ... hmmmm .....

Okie, I seriously like the dolls from The Better Toy Store, but I think my girl doesn't appreciate dolls. heh. Err, can I buy one for myself? :P