OUM

In effort to disengage Nunu from the idiot box, we've discovered a whole new world of fun and interactive learning in a... erm, 'smarter' box?

Her favourite hands down is Starfall.com since she's starting to learn how to read. Other great finds are Noggin, CBeebies and PBS Kids, and the all time favourite, Sesame Street. I wished I could have introduced her to these websites sooner. Or 3 1/2 is the perfect age to let her hold her own mouse.



There are dozens more to be explored from KidSites and linkopedia. I was pretty impressed with the printables that I've found on tlsbooks, Enchanted Learning and Do2learn and printactivities.com. Today, we had a field day printing out activity packs from nickjr and math worksheets from Kidzone. And here's where I plan to go next to teach Nunu Arabic, although she's quite good with her Qiraati class in school (I got a funny quote from Nunu about this!)

I'm super excited. I may never have to buy a single workbook again for Nunu! Or enroll her for Kumon, for that matter.

Anyone got their favourite site to share?

RANDOM UPDATES: 40th MONTH

Nunu's fleshier and rounder on the face. The Big Bad Wolf in me just couldn't resist.

She loves mayonnaise. She can have bread, butter and mayo for breakfast.

Foods that top the list would be soft tofu, fishballs, chocs and everything else that comes in contact with her mouth, not necessarily a food item. Yup, at 3 she still is orally inquisitive.



Answers my command to tidy up whatever mess she makes with a hearty "Baiklah tuan!"

She can help and wash herself up in the bathroom, but I'd like to keep an eye on her anyway. Not because I don't trust her to be clean enough, but she will always announce how many of those... 'ehem' comes out.

She has an imaginary friend whom she calls Aran. He's the boy she blames whenever something goes wrong around the house.

She learns bombastic Malay words and sentences from tv, which makes her sound so grown up, it boggles me.

Below is a sample of her handwriting.

35TH MONTH UPDATE

It just dawned to me late this evening that we have exactly one month before Nunu turns 3. Her teacher was telling her to carry her own bag coz she's a big girl already and will be 4 next year. Although what she said was technically true, I knew she forgot how old Nunu really is and corrected that Nunu would turn 3 next month.

Wow. How time zooms by. I still haven't recovered from last year's nightmarish party. I think we'll give this year a miss, but I'll make sure I get that cake right this time!

The teachers at school mentioned a few times how playful she is nowadays. Well, their exact word was naughty, but I do believe she is more playful than naughty. Kids are supposed to be playful right, but I'm not sure how to teach her to show some obedience when the time calls for it. She's never pays attention until she's screamed at. Even so, that doesn't always work. This morning I was about to give her a firm lesson (not sure what I was about to do, but she was definitely close to getting it lah) she immediately broke into a birthday song, complete with wooga wooga dance.

She's always been a handful, but I would never describe her as difficult. Maybe I should just scrap that banner title on Nunu's blog, coz well, we've all heard the adage that 'words become flesh'.



I just learnt that she enjoys egg sandwich. I prepared her pb&j sandwich for breakfast one morning, and made myself an egg sandwich. She took one taste of my sandwich and continued to hijack the whole thing for herself, and traded hers.



One thing that I'm extremely proud of is she's beginning to follow me while I perform my daily prayers. One day she was really bothersome and made it very difficult for me to stay khusyuk, another day she just said, "Kakak nak ikut!" so I laid out a very tiny mini sejadah for her and put on her one and only slip on tudung. Since that day she would insist on praying beside me and when we finish, we'd salam and kiss each other and the expression of pure love on her face when she does that is such, I don't know, belly-cooling?

There are times when she dilly-dallied so much that I just couldn't wait for her and started my prayers without her. When she finally came back into the room and saw me praying, she'd bawl and whine. It happened several times and I usually kept my patience in check, stopped praying, put her tudung on and started praying again with her in tow. But last night, I lost my cool and gave her a whack on the butt and nagged her for not learning her lesson when I was being nice. Must I be mean to her, only then she gets the message? She sniffed throughout the prayer session and while doing the sujud, I heard her mumbling, y'know, the same way you'd hear a person in solat recites the ayat in prayers, kumat kamit like that.

Wanna know what 'doa' she was mumbling? The theme song of Berani Jadi Bos that's been airing on Astro Ceria! Goodness, I should really encourage her to watch other channels lah! How to be khusyuk when she's around ah?

Anyway, after prayers, we salam'ed and kissed as we usually did, and I tarbiah her a bit and made her promise not to misbehave again when I'm in prayers. We did the pinky promise and she gave me a big hug, complete with "Saaaaaa-yang Momma!".



Something that I'm not proud of. She likes to korek lombong and acts so silly when we disapprove! And she enjoys tormenting us with her boogers. Eeekk! Help, any tips to handle this?

POTTY TRAINING : FINAL REPORT

I know, I know! There's so much exciting stuff happening in my life right now but all I wanna blog about is how Nunu's halfway to being diaperless.

After much stress over the poop in panties hoohaa, she's now a pro at using the big people's toilet for all types of toilet businesses *big round of applause please* We always find her diaper dry in the morning so one night I figured we'd probably should let her go diaperless, but she peed on the bed anyway coz she had too much to drink and I forgot to ask her to empty her bladder before going to bed, so the bedtime diaper stays for now until Momma's ready to haul that humongous mattress down the stairs again so we can get it aired.

However, I'm just glad it's almost over. I'm not saying that things went on smoothly all the time. There are hair-tearing moments and mild degree of brain hemorrhage when she's just too playful and touching things that she shouldn't be touching, having cramps on our legs at uncomfortable public toilets and racing to the toilet for the 5th time coz she says she wants to go but there's nothing there. But I have to agree when it's all worth it when she come up with something so hilarious you'd feel all those bad moments get flushed down when she's all done and happy and both of you are relieved.

There's one incident I don't really think people would find amusing if I post it online, but to me it certainly was a sign - for me to shuddup of course, and stop making it seem like it's all about me me me. I was tired of waiting for her to poo (it was our 5th trip to the loo) and I impatiently roared, "Bila berak nak mai ni?" (when issit coming? I know, what I said doesn't make sense at all) and she innocently looked up to me and replied non-chalantly "Nanti sat kakak panggil." (wait a second I'll call for it) and she proceeded to summon for, y'know, her poo! And she went, "Berak, oh berak, mai! mai!" (Ohh poo! Come! Come!) (Bav, you getting this story? Makes sense or not?)

And it came on cue! Like, finally! And we laughed ourselves silly coz she knew she was being silly and funny, and my horrible attitude - all flushed down.

Gosh, I'd never forget that cheeky grin of hers!

It's so great to know that she was definitely developmentally ready to do this, coz let's just say this fails just like my other parenting endeavours (okaylah, let's just stop all those self-deprecating nonsense, that's just ONE failure for the record, which is getting her sleep in her own bed) I'd have to put the blame on someone or something, coz like my ustazah used to say "bukan salah ibu mengandung" (it's not the fault of the pregnant mother)

So siapa salah? nanti gomen jugak yang salah :p

Of course I'm joking, but it feels so liberating for both of us. The bathroom reeks with pungent stinky diapers no more. I don't have to buy another pack of diapers until no.2 comes along (whenever that is, and i might even consider *gasp!* cloth diapers). She's proud of putting on her own panties and pants, although nak tergeliat mata mak tengok. And it's easier to pinch a bum that's not covered with a diaper. Not that I'm saying she's been acting unlovely, on the contrary, she rarely gives me problems and headaches like she used to. Big girl lah katakan. I just love the feel of an un-diapered bum :)

On another note, Nunu's awfully rajin these days. She has lost interest with toys and such and is concentrating more on appearing 'intellectual'. She writes a bit in her exercise book and shows to me what she has done. She surprised me one time by tracing all the letters in a book, coz I didn't know she could do it all on her own.



Apparently, she can do a lot of things by herself now.

*Sniff*

NUNU BIG GIRL, KAN?

Weeks after prepping my mental strength, we're finally taking on the challenge. Potty training that is. I've put away the carpets, and I've bought the book (check out some of the awesome titles at 1ChildrensBook.com!) which Nunu totally adores, she even brings the book to school.



At her age, it shouldn't be a big deal actually. I mean, we all know that a child must be physically and emotionally ready to be able to do her business out of the comforts of her diaper, but sometimes it's hard to accept the fact that she's just a small child, and when will she ever be READY when she can talk so pandai one kind. Like Martian always say when she's being cheeky,

"Cakap saja pandai, berak pun dalam seluaq lagi"

So yesterday was Day One of our Potty Operation. 3 false alarms later, she squatted on the bathroom floor and finally peed. We clapped and praised her joyously. She was proud of herself, "Just like Hannah!", the strawberry-blonde main character in the book.

And like Hannah, who's free to play at the playground without the hassle of a wet diaper, I can say that's Nunu's motivation too for now.




But I'm not putting too much high hopes. This may take a while.



Whenever you're ready, baby. Coz Momma is.

THINGS ARE IMPROVING

Aren't you glad when the 'this' in the phrase "This too shall pass" is finally over? And you felt slightly silly agonizing over something that seems trivial now?

Nunu has several achievements at school that I almost let slip, just when I felt like I wasn't paying her enough attention. When I was discussing with her teacher the other day, I was in for some shocking finds. Under my very nose, the cheeky girl has recognized most upper case letters in the alphabet. She's still confusing the letter M and W (which is her favourite letter, btw). The teacher reported that she knows her letters for about a month now was surprised that she didn't show off her new skills to me.

We both quizzically looked at her and questioned her about this, but she just gave us a sheepish smile. At home, she rarely has the interest to go through the alphabet with me, but I think that's fine.


It's no big deal, Ma!

Thanks to several cheapo CDs, she very good at recognizing shapes including pentagon and hexagon (wtf right? I don't think I know what a pentagon is until I took my UPSR or something!) and also colours. She insists that some blues are indigo and some purples are violets (I know, wtf right??)

She's starting to count properly now, slowly and in sequence the way I've been trying to teach her. Before this, all she did was point point point and blurt out the numbers, which clearly means she hasn't grabbed the concept of numbers . I don't know exactly when but suddenly she understands if there is a number 5 on the page, then there must be five stalks of daisies there, so on and so forth - and I almost missed that! But she's not so much into counting too lately.

Her current hobby or shall we say 'craze' ...

... is pen collecting and practicing her penmanship.

For a girl who hardly stays still for a minute, the feeling while watching her tracing her letters in deep concentration is amazing! We went shopping for a writing table for her the other day, and Nunu tested on one by writing on a table. The saleslady commented, "Wah! See your daughter hold the pen, like pro only!"

There is a catch, however. She's simply obsessed with mechanical pens, she would snitch any pens she fancies and hides them in the book bag to bring to school. She unscrews them and takes them apart until the springs and little parts go missing, so you can say goodbye to all those pens.

"Sorry, Ma! I promise not to steal your pens or be notty in your office."


"I'll try to be more helpful around here. This is the colour violet."

The school hired an Indian nanny to take special care of the littler children like Nunu, and as expected she has grown very close and manja with the Aunty. Sikit-sikit Aunty this, Aunty that. This was no different from how she behaves when she stays with Mak Nab the babysitter (whom still in service, if anyone wonders. I send Nunu to her on Saturdays and days I had to 'go away') which beats the purpose of sending her to school actually, but I'm not really complaining. Since Aunty arrived, she's been eating and bathing well. Within a week, she's beginning to take naps with the other kids and overall seems happier.

Most days, I pick her up from school and we walk back to my office and I try to get some work done. An almost impossible task coz the girl is always up to something! Look at the chair behind her, teruk dikerjakan! In between phone calls and discussions, I try to get her eat something and occupy her time with some coloring.

But most of the times, she just keeps terrorizing the place lah!


Or I can cheer you up and make that headache go away!

DON'T TRUST A TODDLER...

... with a packet of milk, a bowl of choc chip cookies and a cooking utensil playset.

I'm sorry she didn't get to say bye bye. I'm using the SD card from the old Nikon which is too slow for the new Lumix, so I can't record a satisfactory video unless I get a new high speed memory card. The most I can get from the camera sans card is a 30 second video using the internal memory.

That explains the short videos.

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I just realized it's the 4th day of the month today, so today Nunu must be ...

...

OMG, I can't remember how old she is! I had to count and recount, so she must be... 27 months today. Oh my, momma's so pathetic. More pathetic than that woman I saw last night on 'Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?' who claimed defeat at the question "How many decades are there in two millenia?"

So consider this a short update on her. She's 85 cm tall, 11kg. She's an erratic eater, drinker and sleeper. She still insists she needs to wear diapers. She knows there are ghosts and bad people, and she's absolutely crazy about Dafi. She's currently listening to Indonesian bands and some pop stuff.. Last month, she won't stop singing Dewa's 'Dewi, kaulah hidupku... aku cinta padamu sampai mati and Estranged's 'Yang terindah... masih ada... yang tercantik... itu kamu, kamu". These days it's Aliff Aziz's 'Sayang sayang sayang'.

I'm not sure what to blog about the little girl anymore. She's been saying the darnest things lately and has been taking my breath each time since I tried to hard analyzing what's going on in her head.

Indeed it's hard to keep track of her now, but allow me to list down some of her words that tickle me every time. Now, like most novice talkers, she has the most adorable toddler lisp and she confuses her 'r's and her 'l's, so that happens to caterpillal, Kippel (the dog), coloul, tidol and lobot, just to name a few.

Sometimes her 's's, 'r's and 'l's interchange with 'th' sound, so getham, bithu, methah, bethak, and luthus had us in stitches. She loves her 'Ke-thok' shoes (can you guess what those are? CROCS! They're actually asadi croc imitations, but who cares?) and momma's name is Fa-thee-han. Heh heh.

HELL SENT, HEAVEN LOVED

It's Nunu's 26th month today, another update is due, but I don't know if I'm ever able to do this again. I've already missed the 25th month altogether. It's not like I'm being pressured to come up with a milestone progress report or anything, in fact I don't feel pressured at all. Hence, the sporadic blogging.

I have a feeling that I'll stop doing this (monthly updates, I mean) coz let's face it, in the beginning I was this eager proud mom who would religiously keep track of her firstborn's every single move for posterity's sake. Over the course of time, I think I no longer have the drive, maybe I was a bit delusional, but that won't stop me from blogging about my child, the main reason why I'm blogging at all. So, this shall be the last monthly update about Nunu, but worry not, this shan't be the last I blog about her :)

Someone summed up her two-and-a-half year old daughter as perfectly as I would describe Nunu at the moment.

"Meanwhile, LN is a delight. And a tantrum-thrower. And a comedian. And pure joy. And a terrible two monster. What an exhausting yet fabulous combination."

One-minute devil, one-minute angel. And that's what two-year-olds are, which sometimes I unintentionally forget. I admit things get hellish at times living with a cranky clingy toddler, and I've been terribly testy, all for the wrong reasons too. Fortunately, I repent almost immediately when the fiery little missy would indignantly look up at me and boldly demands to know why she's being treated so unfairly. Tsk, I'm terribly sorry Nunu, if I've caused you to suffer in any way when I'm being short with you or being the hell-sent mother you think I am sometimes.

I'm a shouter, a growler, I'd yip and yap at the slightest aggravation, which I should be working on to tone down a little, I know. I surely hope it's not a hereditary trait, coz she'd also shout at me sharply for no reason at all, or when I wasn't paying attention to her, or when she thinks it's amusing she's mimicking those kids pretending to be 'mak tiri garang' on Tom Tom Bak.

But we enjoyed a couple of mock-shouting matches sometimes, just to let off some steam. We never mean the things that we said to each other.

She loves chocolates to death. She knows someone is unwrapping a piece of chocolate just by the rustling sounds it makes (or any other candy/snack wrappers) . And I'm okay with chocs as long as she brushes her teeth (which he loves doing to death too). My little 'ko-ho-ho-lic'.

She would call out for me in the sweetest most angelic voice, almost in a sing-song manner. Many a times Tok told me she has the most melodious voice she's ever heard from a kid. Seriously.

She's a good wrestler these days. I'd pin her down and tickle her all over until she begs me to stop (or don't stop), then she'd fight back and try to pin me down and does the adult-paralyzing maneuver, the nose-mouth-finger hook (ouh, don't ask me how a two year old outplays me, she does have her technique all figured out, I'd have to surrender all the time)

She loves accessories. Apart from her hair clips and hair grips, she's awfully proud of her shades (oooh, momma, so oh-rensh!) her bracelets, vanity bags, shoes and other girly stuff. But definitely not a mami jarum junior in the making, hell no.

Our nightly routine nowadays is a round of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' for bedtime reading (she memorized almost the whole story!). Sometimes we have a mini bolster jostling/fencing match till we're huffy and puffy and all tired out. Then we'd snuggle and cuddle under the covers and I'd rub her back until she goes to sleep, not before I conk out first of course.

And did I mention, she's weaned? Yes, the lil nenen girl is off the breast. Get that, OFF THE BOOBIES. Yeah, can hardly believe that myself, I couldn't imagine being a mother without being a milking cow. But, alhamdulillah, I did it without regrets. I intended to make a big deal about it by drafting a special post just about 'weaning her over' since I'm a little bit excited how painless the process went, but that happened over a month ago, on New Year's eve in fact, so nope, I'll spare you people the 'stale news'. Maybe some other time, one of these days, we'll see :)

Main thing is, at the rate she was going, she didn't look like she's interested to self-wean, so I gave her a little incentive in the form of 'salt'. One taste of the salty tit, and she declared that my boobies are 'broken' and nenen is no longer 'tasty' :)

I hated to do it, but it's one of those things that you've just got to do before the whole experience turns sourish. And I'm so relieved it went well, and we didn't experience any setbacks or serious aftereffects, except for some fussing at night and a few mind boggling night wakings, but those soon were past and she's sleeping beautifully these days with minimal wakings.

Like a little angel.

Shot by Aaron Kok

********************************

A lot of things made me feel so emotional these days. One of the trigger factors is this blog, particularly this post and this (oh please, please don't skip this link, do read this grieving mother's post!) A friend shared with me the link to her blog, and coincidently tomorrow is the anniversary of her daughter's passing. I cried buckets reading this paragraph (gosh, I even cried reading all the beautiful comments) :

The Regrets.

I know people say not to have them. That they are pointless and will drive me mad. But they are there. Not about that day, not really. I know we were doing nothing other than living out a normal day. That I believed she was safe and sound. That I tried my absolute very best, every single day of her life, to keep her safe. I didn't even let her go to the shopping center for fear that she'd get lost. So I don't really feel like I could have done that day differently.

What I do regret though is not just taking more time.

Just kneeling down and putting lippy on her, every single morning, regardless of what someone might think or whether she's too young or if she'd ruin her new Oilily top.

I wish I'd taken her shopping on so many more days. I was just waiting until she got "easier", when she might not pest or maybe get lost or throw a tantrum.

One of my first entries on this blog is about wanting a proper tea party with her. I never did it. I have no idea why but I never did. I guess I thought I had time.

I regret not letting her wear whatever she wanted every single day - why did I think it mattered?

She asked me to sleep in her bed one night. Why didn't I? I just regret these things for me. Not for her. She had everything she needed. She had love. SOOOOOOOO much love. Every single day, she was loved. She was happy. She was cherished and adored. But for me, I am sad.

Does reading this post make you feel like you want to cherish your child/ren more? I don't know, but reading stories about mothers losing their child chokes me. How does one cope? Tok herself have lost three of her own, and when she stares wistfully with faraway eyes, I wondered if she still grieves for them, or if she ever stops worrying about her existing ones and their own offspring.

Do take time to say a prayer tonight for the little angel, Ava and all the other angels in heaven who have left their loved ones behind.

***********************************

24th MONTH UPDATE

This should be Nunu's somewhat long overdue 24th month (going to 25th) progress report. Please note that some of these milestones were reached when she was 22 or 23 months, but I was too lazy to do a post.

To date, I can say she is above 80 cm but shorter than 90cm. This was indicated by the height chart provided by the Bukit Merah to show that children below 90cm can go in the water park for free. I'm convinced she is 12-13kg plus another 10kg. Why? Coz she always lugs around that smelly lil' Elfent and of course that 'anak gajah' can add invisible kilos when you have a clingy tot at your hips all the time :)



Everyone tells me that she is 'ringan mulut'. Yeah, she can talk alright. No surprises in that, I thought. But sometimes, she did blew me away with some of the things she said, and when I realised she was throwing in some descriptive words in her sentences, either in English or Malay, I couldn't help pausing and wondering, "Hmm....where/when did she learn to say that?" I think her brain works in Malay, her sentences are mostly structured in Malay, maybe some rojak words here and there. Hmm... time to subscribe the Disney Channel, you say?

Her gross motor skills improved. She's a little less clumsy, doesn't fall or stumble as much as before, and she can kick a ball hard! A lefty, sometimes she forgets and eats with her left hand, but would switch to her right hand if we tell her to. She still insists on me dressing her up, but she can wiggle her butt into a pair of jeans if she wants to.

She's not so good at scribbling or coloring. She'd rather hand me the crayons and pens, instructing me which colour to use and watch me do the work. Only sometimes she's be interested to join in but she loses interest fast.

In terms of cognitive milestones, she enjoys make-believe play with her doll friends. She's not 'stingy' to share her food with her teddies, and she holds Barbie's hand and gives her a daily walk. She would 'cook' her favourite 'meehoon' dish and serve it to her make believe friends too.



She can tell her colours (except for black, I think? I don't think she ever says black) and the only shapes she knows are 'love' (heart shape) and "star". She can count perfectly to 10 and recognizes the numbers. She can count to 20 too, but sometimes she skips a few numbers when she's too excited to finish and she only recognizes the number 17. Oh, should I be worried that she now recognizes the Col Sanders and the Golden Arch logos? She'd be screaming in excitement everytime she sees these HUGE signs on the way to my mom's house and asking for a treat. She even knows the logos of Shell and Caltex (Copex!) and each time we pass by a "Copex", she asks for "Meknonals" because we always go to this McD drive-through near my mom's place which happens to be in the vicinity of a Caltex station. So she can connect the dots lah, Caltex = McD *pengsan*

Not only that, I think the fact that she can recognize the roads and routes that we use is amazing. If we're at this particular junction, we are near Mak Tok's house, or Mak Nab's house, or Tok Ma's house. Long before we reach this particular billboard that she likes on a stretch of road we rarely use, she'd jump and say "Abang nomot (comot)!" (it's a paint ad with a very scruffy looking boy smeared in paint)

She knows the names of some familiar faces too. Neighbours and their kids. Certain famous people on TV. Last night while I park my car in front of my mom's place, I overheard in between her babbles, that she was calling out the names of the people associated with my mom's household. Tok Ma, Tok Bah, Nenek, even Abang Shahmi and Aunty Ja, although they don't live in the same house, we always meet the boy and his mother at my mom's house for gatherings. Same goes with Mak Tok's house, she'd call out the names of all her cousins, aunts and uncles.

One night, while driving to our dinner destination, we casually quizzed her a bit to sing the alphabet song. It seemed to us that she was still struggling with the whole alphabet, so both Martian and I helped her a bit going through each letter, but both of us knew it was just for fun, and we weren't really hoping that she learns her letters at the age of two.

Surprise, surprise, a few days later, I was again blown away when she casually recited to me the whole song, in perfect sequence and perfect pitch (siap ngan "happy2 shall we be, when we learn our ABC!) I'm sure every parent will feel excited and proud when a child can recite the alphabet correctly from A-Z, right? (well, maybe not W... she pronounces it as 'babal-yew'!) I'm not sure if she recognizes letters other than A (she would gladly point to an A if she sees any on our T-shirts) coz she's never inclined to sit down long enough to read through the alphabet with me. She surprised me too one day when she showed to me a cloth peg and said, "Mama, see! A!"



There are many many more, but I guess I should save some for the next month. I enjoyed every bit of her development, and hopefully I'm not too oblivious of her daily achievements. And as all mothers are guilty of saying, she's growing up too darn fast!

23 MONTHS: THE TERRIFIC TWOS

You wake up wailing, wanting out of the room
Made me carry you downstairs, then asked for a spoon
You held it tightly, then pointed to the door
'Liplap lights!' you demanded, and a dozen silliness more

You won't calm down, you won't shut up
You're not sick and you don't want a rub
Thrashing, whining, my patience stretched thin
I'm sorry I snapped and became so mean

I know it's difficult being almost two
Night terrors, night wakings, it's not really you
It could be bad dreams about things that you fear
So baby, don't worry, momma's here

I'll try, next time, to be more understanding
There'll be more episodes of two wills colliding
Thus whenever you show fractious toddler behavior
I hope to respond with tolerance and gentle humor

I'll pledge to embrace your every age and phases
Forget terrible twos, coz you never cease to amaze us
With your curious mind and cheery disposition
Your quirks, your babbles and funny song renditions

And everyone's smitten by your sweet manners
Saying thank yous and sorrys, respecting your elders
Grateful that I'm blessed with a precocious child
So when you're acting your age, I'll sigh - and SMILE!

THAT THING YOU DO

At 22 months, there are many things that I'd like to remember about Nunu, once this motherhood -induced brain degenerative disease gets the better of me and I would entirely lose my memory (and my sanity).

I would have forgotten how her giggle was when she was 7 months old if it wasn't for the humble technology of my handphone's video camera, she had the goofiest laugh which is now replaced by an almost ungirliest giggle I've ever heard from a toddler.

And my, she's getting more boisterous by the day! She can spend hours scampering around and gamboling about the house chanting 'La-yi! La-yi!', clearly expecting poor Momma to run after her.

And funny, did I mention how cheeky and funny she is? Especially when she's about to have a bowel movement, she would tell me, but if I ask whether she's done, she would say in the most casual manner:

WAIT WAIT WAIT!!

Haha, cracks me up every time. And just for fun, I introduced her to the potty last week. I don't understand why she was deathly afraid to see her own 2 little golden nuggets the shape of oversized Hershey's Kisses in the potty, but it was hilarious. She convinced me that she's not yet ready to be potty trained, because each time she wants to 'uk uk' and I point to the potty whether she wants to go there, she takes the potty and flings it to the floor.

She's getting awfully bored of her books now, so maybe it's time to get her some new materials. I've tried some flash cards on her, but she's more inclined on playing with the cards ala snap! but it's okay, one at a time, baby.

She enjoys activities with crayons (though she spends most of the time arranging them in the box!) and stickers (and it took her a short visit to a relative's house to find out from the other kids that she can actually put those stickers on virtually any part of her body)

Nunu's top of the pops at the moment:
- Rasa Sayang eh (thanks to the controversial tourism ad)
- Nenek nenek si bongkok tiga (yesterday during iftar, she sang the whole song on her own!)
- Kenek kenek la odeh ( she loooves the 'ah! ah!' and ' uwa, uwa, uwa' part )
- Tom Tom Bak (the astro ceria version, not the 'mak ayong dedek' version)
- Miss Polly had a Dolly (I've to sing this song to the tune of 'The more we get together', how pathetic)

Funny, when she wants me to start singing the rasa sayang song, she would make these gestures.

OK, I'd better figure out what I need to do for raya now. Pretty miffed that my tailor hasn't return my call to inform whether my baju is ready :(

And I need to get my oven 'berasap' ASAP.

LEGALLY 21 & THE CLOSET COMBAT

As usual, I'm running late. Before I knew it, it's time for another Nunu update. I feel like it's been ages since I blogged about her, save for that entry about her being banished to the naughty corner.

Her latest gab-gab, yappity-yap:

"What is your name?"

"NU-NU!" she enthused. Why Nunu? Coz apparently she can't say 'Nu-ha' without us helping out by saying 'Nu' first! So, I thought her to say Nunu lah dulu.

What is momma's name?"

"mama ENNN!" of course, my real name is way to complicated.

"What is abah's name?"

"TAMM!" haha, pelat melampau anak aku ni.

And yes, she's very pelat, orang sini kata pelat keling (no offense to Indians!). It's 'vann, two, three -' when she's counting, 'vett' when we want her to hurry, and ' Tok VANNN!' when she calls her grandpa, but no, it's not 'vater' if she's thirsty :D She'll say '-ater'...

She thinks she's old enough to wear make-up now. Which is odd because she hardly acts like a lady at all these days. The nanny reported 2 tubes of Avon lipsticks are ruined, and at least one compact powder is not compact anymore.


Nunu tonyoh2 & gobbling up a tube of chapstick


Powdering up before she goes out to meet the boys.

All right now, on with the motherhood rants. First things first, see that baju kurung Nunu's wearing? Well, what do you think about it? There are two pairs actually, so see the here, okay. I honestly thinks the colour's too aunty (even worse when pingki jamboh thinks Nunu's as purple as the purple dinasour itself! Gahhh!) but I have to say the worst thing about it is that the material isn't cotton.

But do I have a say if my loving husband bought at a nearby bazaar last night, thinking that his dear wife would fling her arms around him, plant him a smooch and couldn't thank him enough for saving her the hassle and stress of picking out a perfect baju raya for her daughter? Although I do remember we discussed earlier last week about picking something pastel and cotton for our kid, not gaudy and *gasp* polyester? (oh dear, I do sound like those 'fashion strategists' in Ugly Betty, don't I?)

Would you blame me if I wasn't so thrilled? Even if he did call me up at 11 pm last night (while I was already half-way to neverland) to tell me about the purchase, and I think in my sleep I just mumbled 'uhuh, uhuh, go ahead lah!'

What should I do? *add whiny effect* I'm worried that even the subtlest suggestion that his pick wasn't up to standard, he'd feel that I don't trust his judgment/selection (well, he IS clinically certified colour blind!) or appreciate his effort (he rarely buys Nunu's clothes). It is unfair if I confess to him that he has robbed me the joy and pleasure of shopping for Nunu's raya clothes. OR should I just shut my pie hole and endure the unflattering comments I'm pretty sure I would get come raya visiting time?

"Ooooh how cute is Nunu? But the colour kan, macam makcik2 sikit eh? Mana beli ni?"

Gahhhhh!!!!

Another thing that is driving me up the wall these days is Nunu's wardrobe eccentricities. I'm this close to being as mad as a march hare here. As predicted, the onset of the justifiably named terrible twos is approaching fast and hard, and toddlers are always typecast as power crazy, unreasonable and plain difficult, right? Yeah. Out fly through the window are all my mummy cool and disciplinary tactics! I am not prepared for this!

She's beginning to demonstrate control over what she wears now, the control freak. In a way, she's trying to learn to be independent in the fashion department and developing her own style and dress sense, but it's senseless if she insists on wearing her 'duck' or 'monkey' denim pants all the time!

She wants to wear a skirt on a rainy day, a long sleeved T-shirt on a scorching hot day, a 3/4 pants to bed. And don't get me started when she wants to pick out combo of her outfit, what a fashion disaster! A hot pink shirt with blue pants, or an orange top with a green capri! Eeek, I should just let her be, but what an eyesore. Sakit mata tengok weh.

Hey, I'm not the only one complaining. Even the nanny couldn't stand her. No sooner did she was all dressed nicely, than she jerks her pants off down to her diapers. This act of disrobing, if ignored, would trigger off an even undesirable behavior, a bare bottom striptease!

There were times when upon much coaxing, kicking and fussing, she accepts the more sensible choices that I provided her. I learnt that if I compromise and not be a totalitarian, I can avoid the dreaded power struggle (although at some point, she wins all the battles!)

But not without first turning the whole closet up side down (looking for her denims, what else?)!

TURNING 20

I wish I have the luxury of writing a detailed (borrowing Nad's term) 'progress report' about Nunu, as I find that overall she has bloomed in such a way that I cannot point out how much she has grown and and in what way she has changed.

But I shall try my best, fleeting as those moments maybe.

For several weeks now, Nunu has been downgraded to being a backseat passenger. I finally got her a decent car seat that didn't have to cost a bomb, after she's outgrown the old crappy seat and has found a way to release herself from the flimsy straps. So you can see in the picture here that she is securely (and happily) restrained. I can finally get my mind at peace, knowing that I've done my best protecting her from potential harm.

Speaking of car safety, is anyone aware that objects that are not secured in the car pose potential danger too? Read some articles in Reader's Digest about several issues, and it seems that although the US has tough laws of car safety for children, a lot of auto deaths involving children now are due to flying objects during a crash, and accidents when the car is being backed out. So a quick reminder to parents, keep your car clutter free, and always know where your children are before you back out the car.

Anyway, my initial fear that she'd kick up a fuss once she realised the status change was unfounded. The transition was a breeze, and she hardly disturbs me while driving nowadays. If she's in a chatty mood, she'd ask me to sing for her favourite songs, or demand to watch some videos on my mobile phone. Otherwise, she's be happy basking in quiet companionship & looking at passing vehicles.

Goodness, I miss those times, when she would pester me to read "Three Blind Mice" and other rhymes in her tattered book over & over again during our daily commute. How I wish ones of these days, she would pick up that book again & shouts, "Ma! Dong-bell!", and I'd launch into my opera act & warble the lines to my own tune, theatrics and all, solely for self-amusement at first, but I noticed that she enjoys & appreciates my creativity by smiling and giggling at the right places :)

In terms of speech, she has started to say 'the darnest things'. Milk, that used to be 'meek', is now 'milko', sometimes 'milk-koh'. In my attempt to put emphasis on good pronunciation, she backfires with over-exaggerated accent :)

She's also in the habit of speaking with a distinct slur of some sort, like she's dragging the last syllable of the word and join it with an 'eh' or 'ah' in a 'meleweh' style, prolly her way of communicating a request, and expecting a response or an answer. For example, "Mama andi (mandi), ah?" "Mama, nak kut (biskut), eh"

She's a pro at drinking from the cup now. I can trust her taking her milk from a cup without major spillage. Bottles might be tossed out by next month.

She's a habitual chair & table climber (and other worthy furniture) . No amount of disciplinary action taken against her could dissuade her from pursuing such dangerous stunts. Great thing about this is, I don't have to tell her to sit on her booster chair during mealtimes, she would gladly climb up the seat & attempt to buckle herself up. That, she still need me for :)

She's very into Afi & Abah, Bob the Builder and Thomas & Friends, but she only watches the telly when the songs are on. I had to listen to the theme songs and memorize the whole darn lyrics coz she would occasionally demand me to sing these songs on a whim. I've taken to recording these theme songs on my mobile and let her loose with it. It proved to be a fairly fabulous idea to entertain her this way during our drive up to KL last week. Very very well behaved, that girl, alhamdulillah. The downside is, she might think that the phone belongs to her one of these days :)

Her latest antic is singing 'Burung Kakak Tua'... in her own tune & style. Momma's girl indeed!

MUTIARA HATI

*dusts off cobwebs with broom*

For the longest time, I've been wanting to post a video of Nunu saying these:






From the Mutiara Hati theme song, her favourite sinetron (Nabilah... oh Nabilah!)

She started singing those parts since she was 15 or 16 months, but I don't know why I never caught a video of it earlier. Now she's grown tired of repeating the same requests, and has resorted to a curt compliance.

Nothing much to write about her (late) 19th month milestone, she's still the walk-funny, talk-funny girl. Not many milestone crossed, I suppose (or maybe momma's been too busy/muddy-brained to notice/blog about it)


This is her doing the "oh my god" expression


doing the shame-shame + pinch pipi expression

18 GOING ON 19

It’s terribly late of me to do an 18th month development commentary on Nunu today, as she’s approaching 19 in a few days time anyway.But it's not fair if I give it a miss, so I’ll just make this a quick one, in a totally random order:

She’s 9.5 kg and 78 cm tall.

She has 8 teeth.

She had her last 18 month jab last Thursday and gave the doctor a good fight.

She’s not really physically stable – she still stumbles and trips takde angin, takde hujan. Maybe she’s a klutz like me, I don’t know

She runs funny - in a total careless abandon way, very much like Rachel or Phoebe when they went jogging in the park.

She can kick a ball forward and throws a ball upperhand.

She can hop like a bunny rabbit.



She’s really good with shape sorters now. And she can unzip zippers and unscrew cap bottles.

She arranges toy cars in a straight line and her colour pencils back in the box (not perfectly neat, of course but she tries!)

I can trust her to eat on her own using a spoon. Most of the food goes into her mouth, but she likes to stick out what doesn’t suit her taste and throws it down on the floor.



If we are in the car, she insists that I throw the unwanted food bits out through the window.

She loves wearing other people's shoes, and especially my house slippers. Well, at least she doesn't find them delicious anymore :D



She can take off her pants and diapers, but she has no idea how to take off her shirt.

She likes to drink Nespray Honey with a soft spout bottle, and occasionally in a cup.

She still prefers nen-nen, none-the-less

She knows the key words in her nursery rhymes and sings along to them.

She knows where her legs, toes, armpit and belly are - and she can name them too! Belly-button is no more "butter" but "battenn" now.

She understands gender differences - knows the differences between a girl and a boy, a kakak and an abang, an uncle and an aunty.

She has been conditioned to be extremely fearful of ants, roaches and lizards.

When climbing up the stairs to the bedroom to turn in for the night, she calls out “Bye-bye! Nite!” even though there is no one around but me.

She can walk down the stairs unattended, but with supervision.

She regularly helps me throw bits and pieces of rubbish into the dustbin.

She has several favourite TV programs -namely Afi dah Abah, Tom Tom Bak and Mutiara Hati.

She demands we switch on the 'tatun' channel for her, but it doesn't mean she would watch.

She insists we rub on 'ebet' if she feels 'atai' or if she hurts herself.

Last night while watching the news, she calls Sammy Vellu "Adin" - who is Mak Nab's next door neighbour :D

SEVENTEEN AIN'T SO SWEET

Nunu turned seventeen a couple of weeks ago, and what better way to honour the day than to display some monumental juvenile behaviour.

Drink milk, "NO!"... take a bath, "Takmo!"... brush your teeth "NO!"... eat rice, "Takmo!"... pakai baju, "Tak Maaaaaaaaooo!"



Sigh... nasib baik mengaji pandai!

These are not the usual kickings and screamings, tantrum-throwing diva-like attitude. Something in her eyes in between those bouts of defiance spells trouble, challenging me and pushing my limits.

For example, she enjoys contradicting me. This 'anak dara' , at seventeen, decides to have an identity crisis. It exasperates me when she wants to believe she's always right.

It's not like she's never been naughty or rebellious before. I have been trying to discipline the girl since she turned one, but either my efforts are sabotaged or the kid outsmarts me time and time again.

You know lah, kids. You 'babab' their arms and they stretch out their hands as if it's a game. You 'jentik' them and they try to 'jentik' you back. You 'cubiitttttt' them and it breaks your heart when you see them 'cubit' themselves in the thigh. The nanny reports to me that when she's being scolded, she would make 'muka kering'.


I believe it looks something like this... a distant, blase look.

Hana mentioned about the sacred mommy super power simply named "The Look" in her entry, and more readers chipped in with comments about other tools and techniques to get your children under your submission.

Problem is, despite several attempts to give Nunu my "look", she will respond with her own counter "look" - scrunch up the face and try to look cross.

I guess there has been only 3 occasions when she showed some desirable response towards our reprimands.

The first time was a couple of months ago when Martian, fed up of cleaning up the mess, smacked her hands as she tried to rummage the CD cabinet. She bawled & came running into my arms.

The second time, she broke Mak Tok's flower vase. I didn't swat her bottom, but gave her a severe lecturing (maybe my "look" worked that one time) and her eyes watered, her lips quivered and she hugged me in genuine remorse.

The third time, a couple of days ago, she was soooo 'syiok' in a nen-nen session that she dug her thumb into my sides. I gave a yowl, placed her in front of me and gave her a good scolding. She was probably shocked at the suddenness of my displeasure but she did something different this time. She stayed put, but moved her face & gaze at other places, left right while her eyes watered though she really was fighting back the tears, her fist made small circular movements (as if fighting back the urge to lunge at me & gauge my eyes!). Her lips puckered and quivered and 'terkebam-kebam' while she made some eye contact with me but immediately gazed elsewhere.

She did this for a full silent minute or so, but I felt like it was for the longest time. She finally broke the stand off by holding out her hand & said "-lam". Momma is such a sucker - so I let her kiss my hand and gave her a hug. It wasn't not a fair match.

That's the good thing about her. Be it a small offense of a huge one, all my reprimands will elicit an instant 'salam' and hand kissing in return for an instant forgiveness.

There were more events that showed her increased level of assertiveness, but I'm not here to complain. I'm certainly looking forward to more battles with her once she's approaching the 'terrible-twos' I've heard so much about.

I'm sure, other mommies would tell me, it's just a phase. Of course, kids change and develop at an amazing pace, we can hardly catch up, especially for 1st time parents. At every age, at every level, everything is a phase.

Like most girls at seventeen, Nunu is full of endless chatter. Although almost everything this is still gibberish to me (I'm sure she thinks she carrying a perfectly comprehensible conversation with me), I'm not overtly excited anymore at the new words she's beginning to say.

I have to come to terms that at this age, of course she's talking. Momma has to learn to get a grip lah.

She's beginning to speak in short sentences, a mix of phrases she's accustomed to hearing & some she's learning to form herself, for example "Ma, nak -kung (dukung)/ -yun (turun)/ -teh (water)", "Abih dah", "Kakak/Abang -dai (pandai) and the best one yet,"Na na, tak tau".

A fleeting thought stopped me from prattling on about Nunu's speech development. Sometimes, I wonder if I sound like an annoying & arrogant parent when I write these updates. Do people read this, roll their eyes in disgust & find my entries sickeningly self-indulgent, boring & reeks of pride?

I get this notion from another mommy blogger who mentioned that she didn't want to sound that of an over proud parent when she writes about her boy's developments.

Which made me think, I mean, people actually care whether you sound obnoxious or not? Do they think that when we talk about our children, in an implicit way we are bragging & are undermining other children who are not blessed with the same capabilities?

Ada manusia macam ni?

I can only hope that there are more people who thinks like me (don't puke if I'm so goody-goody), who writes for posterity and the sheer novelty of it; who enjoys reading parental blogs to share experiences and try to be a better mom, not just to past time or forge allies or foes.

A few years down the road and I'll probably forget about these moments. When she farts & nonchalantly says "Poott!" and cheekily grins.

When she bumps her head and comes running to me saying, "Ma -keet, guhhm!"

When she says "be-la-lah" for umbrella, "bo-bo" for rainbow, "ah-ah-do" for avocado and "te-te-te" for elephant ( I know, doesn't make sense, but that's how she calls her elephantine friends).

Speaking of stuffed elephants, Nunu now has a BFF in the form of a particular Boots toy elephant that I got for free that she's grown awfully affectionate to. I understand that children will get attached to a toy, and somehow I've been waiting to see when this would happen to Nunu. She used to love all her stuffed animals, but this time around, she won't go anywhere without 'te-te-te'.

Celik mata, cari te-te-te, pejam mata, cari te-te-te :)

People has been noticing that she has more hair now. Boleh lah... setakat nak taruk hairclip. But she's still being mistaken for a boy, even when she's in a skirt! Pffftt!


Tengah ushar-ushar abang2 UiTM


Sekali kena interview, terus malu daaaa...