(Fluffy) Rants of a (Geeky) Mom

Angry Birds Craze

2011-09-26T00:27:00.001+08:00

Yes, the birds have invaded our family. HN is rather a huge fan after discovering it on the iPad. Here’re some of her interpretations of the Angry Birds:

MC decided to put her box of blocks, now 3 months into its cold storage, to renewed good use. We bought some key rings of the red Angry Bird plushy and plastic Green piggies, removed the rings, and showed HN how she can build fortresses with the blogs. The result: Angry Birds 3D.

三岁。

2011-08-01T11:44:00.000+08:00

迎来了三岁生日。好不容易松了一口气，因为终于顺顺利利度过了在托儿所、爷爷家、阿公家的小party。可是，可是，生日才一过，你却又忽然间发烧了⋯⋯ T_T 别要这样让人心疼了好不好呀，虽然未来的日子里还有很多很多东西会让爸爸妈咪和你一起心疼一起烦的吧。

我该说什么。

2011-07-10T14:52:00.002+08:00

小人儿最近时常在托儿所和其他小朋友碰撞，额头上的楼角起了一幢又一幢。

她还有心思和我描述当时情况：“某某跑跑跑⋯⋯”“人家跑那你也不用和人家一起跑啊！人家跑你别跑啊！不对！这种话我应该是在你上中学时才需要对你说的吧，为什么现在你三岁我就要说这种话了啊～！”

OSS Educational Software

2011-06-15T11:27:00.000+08:00

Ahhhh the joy of Web 2.0! I got this link on open source educational software, looks interesting. Now just to wait for the right time to properly introduce HN to computers…

模版式造句方法！

2011-05-04T10:49:00.000+08:00

学习语言本来就是这样的，不过这也太经典了。去托儿所接宁儿时，她爬上自己的专属座位后，开始快乐地嚷嚷：

宁儿: 妈咪快点驾车！快～点！驾车！不然慧宁要，骂妈咪了！
我: -_- ⋯⋯老师是不是今天骂哪一个小朋友调皮了啊。

‘There are five lights’

2011-03-28T10:25:00.000+08:00

HN went ‘There are four lights’ on me.

Well you see, she has this jigsaw puzzle where there are five strawberries in a group. It’s her favorite plaything of the week.

So last week her granddad bought some strawberries, and after lunch, served up four of them in a tray to her. HN beamed happily at me and said “5 stwawbewwies!”

Me: Let’s count them! One, two, three, four strawberries!
HN: FIVE stwawbewwies!
Me: Er, no, honey, there are only FOUR.
HN: FIVE STWAWBEWWIES!!!
Me: …OK, fine, five. T_T
HN: (Nibbles on strawberry happily)

NLP-oriented speech

2011-01-21T09:54:00.000+08:00

HN’s speech is rather NLP-oriented. She’d say “慧宁/妈咪/驾车” or “慧宁/衣服/穿” i.e. all segmentations done. Her sentence structures are SOV rather than SVO though...

Mila’s Daydreams

2011-01-18T08:20:00.002+08:00

Do hop over to have a look at Mila’s Daydreams. Baby Mila’s mom used towels, blankets, whatever she can get her hands on to create “scenes” while Baby Mila naps/gurgles happily. Moms, try this especially if your babies are not crawling yet: this sort of stuff is pretty much impossible once they get mobile!

It’s a great shame though that Adele (Mila’s) mom had to stop putting up new pics because of the thoughtless picture misuse and copyright infringement. Just goes to prove that there will be 脑残 anywhere you go.

Colours!

2010-11-30T11:45:00.000+08:00

小人儿最近很爱喊颜色。Red! Yellow! Green! Blue! White!

怎么病得较重的是我啊

2010-10-02T10:58:00.000+08:00

宁儿发烧，喉咙痛。医生说最近有手足口症肆虐，但看过宁儿后说不是。即使屁股上好像有些红疹，也应该不是。

但是两天后，我也病了。口疮都来了。第二个早上手指头上也长出小红泡来了！

我就这么好彩头地得了手足口症，一连三个医生都说成人很少会得的啊⋯⋯T_T 医生仍然认为宁儿不是手足口症，所以接着要小心她没被我传染。

接下来的一个星期，我嘴巴痛得不得了，一面吃东西一面想哭。宁儿倒是慢慢好起来。

再一个星期，送宁儿回托儿所，的确是有好多同学得了手足口症。又担心宁儿会再来一波⋯⋯

结果的结果，宁儿没事儿！难道是她先得了手足口症但症状不明显，传给了我再在我身上发扬光大？！

唱唱歌

2010-09-15T14:56:00.000+08:00

宁儿一边踏着单车（直接用脚蹬地板的）一边很悠闲的嘴里哇哩哇啦的——

“轰嗡嗡嗡（误），轰嗡嗡嗡，呜～～！”

嗯，五音还不会飘得太离谱的说。

慧宁语

2010-08-15T14:29:00.006+08:00

蚂蚁 = “咬”
orange = “orin”, “already” 或 “orient” 或 “orenja”

其余待考察！

Aug 23 追加：Laksa = “lalak”!

Aug 31 追加：最爱词句 = “uh-oh”，适用于任何“凸槌”场合。还有 “knock-knock”, “敲”, “baby”

Sep 4 追加：“knock-knock” 继续发扬光大中；“来～”开始蔓延。被蚊子叮了会可怜兮兮地伸手说“咬～”，甘愿说了“爸爸～开～”，和舅舅skype时还会叫“舅～”

出院了

2010-07-07T09:48:00.000+08:00

这次的感冒还真恼人⋯⋯搞得宁儿七荤八素，上星期三早上根本完全软瘫了。住了两天半医院＋ nebuliser treatment （晚上可以回家睡觉），星期五早上总算教医生和护士们领教到她的厉害。咳。小孩子“面皮薄”（福建发音）还真是不到你不信。（所以我 po 文根本不敢用任何正面字词啊啊啊啊）

近来二三事

2010-06-04T00:01:00.003+08:00

好久没写东西了⋯⋯流水帐也好，这个博客原本就是拿来记录一些鸡毛蒜皮小事的，他人读了可能嫌罗嗦烦闷，还请看官莫怪。

❦ ❀ ❦

家里的日光灯用久了，开灯时时常会过好一阵才 “叮” 一声的亮着。结果宁儿学了去，会陪着灯儿一起 “叮～！”

问她 “电灯说什么？” 心情好的话，她回答 “叮～！”

甚至是那日我问得舌头打了岔，出口的问题是 “谁说叮？” 她竟然答 “kiàn kēng”！

❦ ❀ ❦

这些日子宁儿会自己开关电视了。O_O 幸好，要她去冲凉、睡觉时她还是愿意关电视的。甚至是坚持要自己关。偶尔不听话，还一直回头去开回电视时，就只好用遥控器关了 Astro，再告诉她电视机也睡觉了。

❦ ❀ ❦

还有还有，这个星期也就是六月开始，宁儿开始去 nursery/playgroup 了，只有早上。So far so good. 根本不求她什么 “不要输在起跑线上”（天知道这是我最最讨厌的一句话之一），只是看她在家里总没有同龄的小朋友一起玩，只有一个不太会陪她玩惹她开心的笨妈妈（阿公阿嬷也有自己的事情忙啊），怪可怜的。

［六月四追加］啊啊已经开始发现不对路了，今早已经开始不要进门了⋯⋯可是，她的同学们竟然很开心地跑出来，一个劲地喊她的名字。（啊跑出来的都是小男生⋯⋯）

What a lousy way to start a work day

2010-05-24T09:50:00.000+08:00

What is this stupid drivel?!??!!

Paid maternity leave is “ridiculously generous”?!??!?!!

Pregnant women and new mothers are the causes why Western companies got bankrupted?!?!?!

“Lawyers should consider that human rights are subservient to the performance of the economy”?!?!?!?!?!?!

AARRGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Wiggles to perform in Malaysia on June 8

2010-04-23T10:00:00.000+08:00

Wiggles to perform in Malaysia on June 8

OM OMG OMG!!!! My first “kid's-idol concert”!!!!

(As if I'm really up to bringing HN to a concert, har har har.)

Pink vs Blue

2010-04-01T10:59:00.000+08:00

At times I've preferred pastel blue over pink for HN. Apparently, up till the 1980’s, the convention was that blue was for girls and pink was for boys!

Night job, day job

2010-04-01T10:32:00.000+08:00

Yes, this is my story, alright. Except that I don't get to nap during the day…

她排的

2010-03-30T15:42:00.001+08:00

前天晚上服侍宁宁入睡后，出来收拾客厅时才发现她的“杰作”：

我是有点难以置信啦，但孩子她爸发誓说他自己绝对没有去碰那对拖鞋和那个袋子。

蓝天，白云⋯⋯哎呀差一点

2010-03-29T22:18:00.001+08:00

要不是那天宁宁心情不好没笑容，我还真想把这两张照片卖给保险啦产业啦教育储蓄计划啦什么的当宣传照⋯⋯

Night terrors? Is that what it is?

2010-03-23T10:40:00.000+08:00

Babycentre's article about night terrors explains a lot. Now I'm not so worried. :-)

Five, six, pick up sticks

2010-03-21T20:01:00.000+08:00

是“撞彩”还是⋯⋯？

Exploits of a (Geeky) Mom

2010-03-20T08:39:00.001+08:00

How could I have forgotten to post this xkcd strip? Fits this blog title exactly!

宝宝睡吧

2010-03-16T23:45:00.000+08:00

宁宁，当妈咪告诉你“该睡觉了”，你不必推妈咪躺下，为妈咪盖被还轻轻拍拍妈咪⋯⋯然后自己跑出房间去玩！！因为该睡觉的人是你啊啊啊～！

はなす

2010-03-15T21:32:00.000+08:00

上星期四，“被单”。

昨晚，指着车里的小灯，"light"。

Pocoyo Supports Earth Hour

2010-03-12T23:11:00.000+08:00

超～可～爱～的海报～～

一定要支持哦！可以的话，不只是每年的三月二十七日晚上那一个小时哦！

So TV ad campaigns are effective after all?

2010-02-27T09:22:00.000+08:00

So that Astro TV campaign ad on "Jadikan membaca budaya kita" is actually effective... every time HN sees it she rushes off to get a book, rushes back to her seat, and proceeds to read the book.

又黑青

2010-01-13T10:33:00.000+08:00

上个月，扭到手（其实就是轻微脱臼！）。

昨天，敢死队摔了个大跤，左脸颊黑青了一大片。经过医生鉴定，无大碍，哭过就好。

一觉到天亮

2010-01-07T14:49:00.001+08:00

上个周末开始吧，宁儿如果睡前肯好好喝完奶的话，就可以一直睡到清晨六点才要喝奶了。

最近两天更是一直到七点才醒，而且还不要喝奶！就直接吃早餐，洗澡过后才抱奶瓶了。

希望可以就这样保持。

That's It!

2009-12-22T21:53:00.001+08:00

It looks as though I'll have to stop breastfeeding HN. Even though I still express every morning while I was in KL for a conference last week, my milk supply has dwindled steadily. HN isn't letting me off so easily, though. She still insists on suckles after every bottle, despite me telling her mommy's milk isn't quite enough anymore...

Pulled Elbow

2009-12-13T23:46:00.001+08:00

I guess it's bound to happen sooner or later, given the no-holds-barred way HN frolics around... but she still gave us a turn. Friday evening and we'd just came back from SP, and she'd just finished her bath and was playing and rolling around like nobody's business (as usual). When suddenly she started wailing LOUDLY.

I ain't worried yet.

And she doesn't stop wailing after a few minutes.

I took a good look at her and somehow it seemed that her left arm's not quite right. No swellings, no bruises, no nothing, yet she's holding it a bit limply.

Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap.

I tried to get her to grab a ball, she takes it up slightly, wailed even louder, and drop it away. I gently raised her arm, she shifts her shoulder as if to avoid touching a nerve, and screams.

Oh CRAP. I insisted that we took her to the pediatrician RIGHT AWAY.

Well, the pediatrician quite promptly confirmed that it's a pulled elbow (i.e. "mild dislocation of the elbow which is the result of the lower arm slipping out of its normal position at the elbow joint", OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH I can't stop wincing as I read and typed that!!) after ruling out accidental swallowing something, tummy upsets, fractures etc. She put things right in a jiffy (as promised by all the articles I looked up later) and prescribed some pain-killers, and assured us that all is well now, but we should avoid touching her left arm for a while (strictly no further massaging!!!) and especially not lead her by the left arm.

Quite understandably, HN was still sniffling as we left the clinic. I said to her "well you'd better not play so roughly from now on." To which she sniffled, whimpered and nodded her head vigorously.

After tucking her in that night, I googled some more, and learnt here that pulled elbow occurs slightly more often in females (check), and in the left arm (check). Most common cause is axial traction i.e. a pull/yank on the child's hand or wrist; 2nd most common cause is a fall; some cases have been reported after rolling over (check).

Come the second morning, HN was still miserable and kept fussing and crying, although she's using her left hand and arm more. I insisted that we head to the pediatrician's again for a follow-up.

You know what? The moment she saw us changing clothes, she stopped crying. There was even a hint of a smile when I put her in her car seat. And she was beaming when we reached the clinic, the rascal! And sure enough, the pediatrician confirmed that the arm's alright after observations, but acknowledged that it's probably still tender, and that HN would make the most of the oppotunity to get extra hugs out of us. HN was given a generous patch on the elbow, and we were on our way.

By late afternoon, she was her usual mischievous and frolicsome self, rolling and dashing all around again. And that, reader, if you were reproaching me for the seemingly cold-blooded, calm tone of this post, is why I can write thusly 2 days after the fact. I was a miserable, emotional wreck on Friday night and Saturday morning, nearly driving MC up the wall too.

And once is quite enough, thank you, so HN, you'd better honour that promise about not playing so roughly again. EVER!

写写画画

2009-11-26T22:39:00.001+08:00

宁儿上个星期开始就似乎爱用手指在墙上比比划划。TVIQ 的 Øistein Kristiansen 的节目看多了吧。就试着在她面前写字（好久没拿笔了，真是罪过），又试着给她一枝笔，看她什么反应。结果今天⋯⋯

话说回来，她那天也试着单手拿着一双筷子对着碗比划，但那始终太早了吧喂！

自己来吧

2009-11-24T15:26:00.001+08:00

嗯，这其实已快是一个月前的事儿了⋯⋯

话说自从牛年农历新年一过，知道安娣就快抱孙后，就忐忑不安地时不时忧心着宁儿的看护问题。安娣也是有点舍不得，所以起初就说，试试看同时顾两个吧。就试试吧。就这么样，十月中，小人儿回家来了。

两个星期后，安娣投降了⋯⋯

小人儿也是个大嗓子，再加上有小肠气的缘故，不得不多些心机看顾他。宁儿又正值最好奇好动。在多方考虑后、和母亲商量后，我还是决定带她回大年，由我和母亲轮流带她。

始终不希望，不能接受小孩子好动、只希望小孩子如若古早时乖乖喝奶不乱跑的人们，言语不慎间伤害了宁儿（还有我）。绝对不要。

歩こ、歩こ！

2009-10-20T10:50:00.001+08:00

For about a month or even more now, HN had been able to walk by herself but was very reluctant to let go of our hands or any supporting furniture.

Then finally on Deepavali Day (that's last Friday and I'm posting this on Tuesday), at MC's colleague's open house in Kulim, she was so taken up with a fluffy gorilla toy that she took it with both hands and walked around everywhere to show it off. Since then there's no stopping her — except when she's adamant that she wants us to walk with her.

好累，好爱睡⋯⋯

2009-10-11T15:22:00.000+08:00

决定了！以后若太久没上来更新就用这个标题来灌水！>:D

该骂的时候就要骂！

2009-10-09T11:07:00.002+08:00

最近宁宁越来越皮了。喝了奶不肯睡觉，还绕着床沿走来走去对我笑⋯⋯

一天忍无可忍，大喝一声：

“不要太过分了厚！”

乖乖，果然奏效。宁宁马上收起了嬉皮笑脸，快手快脚爬上床，自己躺下，扭了几下头，就⋯⋯睡着了。

哼哼，果然要骂。但她爸爸就心疼了。

所以说啦，妈妈总是扮演坏人的角色⋯⋯

你牵动我的每一个思绪

2009-09-24T11:21:00.000+08:00

今早一起身就听到你的哭声。后来就听安娣说你又排便不顺了。

怎么了呢？是妈咪给你喝水不够吗？还是吃太多“好料”了？又或是假期太多太多东西玩，你忘了要每天嗯嗯？

结果，一颗心又七上八下了⋯⋯

我要走要跑！

2009-09-24T11:06:00.000+08:00

开斋节假期带慧宁回 SP ，一下多了两老，再加上屋子空间宽阔了，这小瓜竟一发不可收拾地一直要人牵着她走路。

她是走得越来越稳了。所以就更加兴致勃勃。出去吃顿饭，没十分钟就又要下来走，还一桌一桌去和人家打招呼。

在中环广场时由于没有心理准备，忘了带鞋子出去，结果⋯⋯这小瓜竟然就赤着脚，绕着广场走了一圈又一圈。真是“虾虽”死了。

流水账

2009-09-08T10:40:00.001+08:00

啊好久没更新了。又忙又没心情。TMD 新闻天天没好事，有时真的好后悔把孩子生在这个国家。

Anyway. 慧宁也满周岁了（撒花！撒花！）臼齿也已长到第四颗了（但痛死她了）最爱听辣歌跳舞，但高手唱的慢歌也会忙不迭拍手，如许冠杰啦，孟庭韦啦，潘越云啦。

上个月开始就已经会坚持要自己喂自己了。成功率大概是 40% 吧，总可以吃到好些饭粒。有时还会很好心的要喂爸爸妈妈。

困扰已久的便秘问题可能可以解决了，因为医生让换了 Novalac IT 奶粉配方。专门针对便秘的特别配方哦。价钱有点贵就是了。现在喝着的是医生给的 400g 罐装，外头货源确定中。

会说的单音有 papa, baba, mama, lala （只出现过一次但唱了好久）, gigi, chichi, shhhhh⋯⋯

最爱拉着我的手，陪她整屋子走，但就是不肯放手自己走。也还不太会平衡就是了。而且只让我牵，她爸爸要牵她都不让。

最爱和人抢滑鼠，抢键盘。还抢电视遥控。每每进入设定画面就把遥控交回给我们，要我们“修”。修好后又把遥控抢回去了。

发烧

2009-04-13T08:23:00.016+08:00

Started Friday evening (Good Friday) and it's now Monday... teething?

UPDATE: OK it's roseola! a.k.a. 假疹. Alarming as the fever can get pretty high, but apparently it's harmless and the only treatment is to let it run its course. She really had a hard time when the rashes erupted — was up the whole night and kept clinging to me. I couldn't put her down at all. We could only get some sleep around 4am. When dawn came we bundled to the hospital. Thank goodness she had some relief with Calamine...

But the poor thing's lost precious weight... A sick baby is a sad sight to behold.

Babbling

2009-04-08T08:25:00.008+08:00

Hui Ning started babbling again: "Awawawawawa. Wawawapapawawabaawa..."

UPDATE: 3 days later and now she's developed a very nice pattern of "papa, papa, papa, pa pa pa paaa. papa."

捉迷藏

2009-03-29T08:22:00.008+08:00

话说昨晚宁儿又在学步机里溜达呀溜达，就撞上了玻璃门。怎么知道这小瓜就忽然拉起了落地窗帘，躲了进去⋯⋯

MC 还在唤着她“慧宁跑去哪里了？”

她还竟然会又躲了二、三秒⋯⋯才又忽然掀开窗帘，露出两只大门牙对她爸爸笑得卡卡声！

而且，同样的把戏又在玩了两三次才甘愿。

现在的小孩子哦⋯⋯

Second tooth — and mayhaps a third!

2009-03-13T09:31:00.000+08:00

We noted a second upper front tooth sprouting last night. And this morning the babysitter told me she suspected then a lower front tooth is coming out as well, but it's a bit further in and we'd have to feel for it.

Crooked teeth? Say it ain't so...

再次挂彩

2009-03-11T14:30:00.000+08:00

小瓜今天又再挂彩了。吃完晚饭，还在车上时，妈妈还摇了个电话来问慧宁有没有乖（还好啦，还……好……＊心虚＊），没想到一回到家安娣就抱着个瓜出来和我们报告……玩得太得意忘形了，一个跟头栽到地上，嘴唇给牙齿敲得——破相了！

红色的血流呀流……虽然给她喝了些水后就止住了，但安娣还是担心伤口会发炎什么的，就马上抱她去看医生。

结果……车还没开到路口，这个瓜就已经乐不可支地笑呵呵，跳上跳下了。（这么晚了还有得逛街，yeay!）（yeay 你个头啦，没把人吓死。）

到了诊疗所，见到医生还对医生笑呵呵，搞得医生有点难以置信这个瓜十分钟前才刚摔破嘴唇。看了伤势后，确定没有大碍，只是拿了些消肿药以防万一就是了。

只是啊，从此以后“大只虫”这个外号是更加摆脱不了了！

Finally - A Pearly White Tooth!

2009-02-28T23:56:00.001+08:00

After much grizzling, howling, mewling and frustrated gnawing — the first signs of a single hard, pearly white front upper tooth appeared this morning!

Stand -- at 7 months 3 weeks!

2009-02-22T20:45:00.012+08:00

OMG She's standing!

This means the the bassinet has to go then. Sure, sure... look smug about it all.

Little Jedi in Pink

2009-02-04T10:37:00.010+08:00

Pretty in Pink.

MC turned out to know more about Star Wars than I did. The moment he saw Hui Ning in this new dress, he made a beeline for the camel humps at the Penang Municipal Park.

こんにちは赤ちゃん

2008-12-11T14:51:00.001+08:00

I finally found the video, song and lyrics to this Japanese song, こんにちわ赤ちゃん ("Konnichiwa, Aka-chan" or "Hello, Baby") I first learned it from my Japanese teacher many years ago, and apparently Hui Ning loves it when I sang it to her...

こんにちは赤ちゃん

唄　　梓みちよ（1963）

作詩　永　六輔

作曲　中村八大

こんにちは　赤ちゃん　あなたの笑顔

こんにちは　赤ちゃん　あなたの泣き声

その小さな手　つぶらな瞳

はじめまして　わたしがママよ

Konnichiwa akachan, anata no egao

Konnichiwa akachan, anata no nakigoe

So no chiisana te, tsubura na hitomi

Hajimemashite, watashi ga mama yo

Hello baby, your smiling face

Hello baby, your crying sound

Your tiny hand, your round eyes

Nice to meet you, I'm your mama

こんにちは　赤ちゃん　あなたの生命

こんにちは　赤ちゃん　あなたの未来に

このしあわせが　パパの望みよ

はじめまして　わたしがママよ

Konnichiwa akachan, anata no inochi

Konnichiwa akachan, anata no mirai ni

Ko no shiawase ga papa no nozomi yo

Hajimemashite, watashi ga mama yo

Hello baby, to your life

Hello baby, to your future

This blessed happiness is papa's wish

Nice to meet you, I'm your mama

ふたりだけの　愛のしるし

すこやかに美しく　育てと祈る

Futari dake no ai no shirushi

Sukoyaka ni utsukushiku sodate to inoru

The symbol of two people's love

I pray to bring you up, healthy and beautiful

こんにちは　赤ちゃん　お願いがあるの

こんにちは　赤ちゃん　時々はパパと

ホラふたりだけの　静かな夜を

つくってほしいの　おやすみなさい

Konnichiwa akachan, onegai ga aru no

Konnichiwa akachan, tokidoki wa papa to

Hora futari dake no shizuka na yoru wo

Tsukutte hoshii no oyasumi nasai

Hello baby, I have one request

Hello baby, a little sometime with papa

A quiet evening, just the two of us

That's what I'd like, so good night!!

お願い　赤ちゃん

おやすみ　赤ちゃん　わたしがママよ

Onegai akachan

Oyasumi akachan, watashi ga mama yo

So please, baby...

Good night, my baby. I'm your mama

The last two stanzas are hilarious, no? :-)

Roooooooolling

2008-11-14T17:25:00.000+08:00

Hui Ning mastered the art of rolling over 2 nights ago and can't stop doing it. She rolls whenever she "senses" that she's on a large, wide, flat surface. She even sleep-rolls. Funnily enough, she never rolls if she's in her crib, as if she senses that there's no point trying. However, she does try to roll in the bouncer, much to the horror of all present! And on occasions when she's really too tired to roll over successfully, she gets really frustrated and babbles angrily. That's the double hair-spiral in action, I suppose.

Nursing tops from Blessedmums.com

2008-11-14T17:08:00.000+08:00

A while ago Dr C told me about Blessedmums.com, where you can get some really trendy nursing tops. They're quite reasonably priced too, especially when they're on "crazy offer".

The website wasn't very up-to-date with information on availability and one of the models I wanted was all sold out, and another wasn't available in the colour I wanted. They were very fast in informing me via SMS the very same evening, so I was able to specify my alternative preferences immediately. They confirmed everything just as fast this time, and I received my orders 2 days later.

You talkin' to me? Huh? Huh?

2008-10-27T21:50:00.002+08:00

I was sitting by Hui Ning's bouncer, reading the newspaper, when she got bored at staring at the world outside and started staring at me.

"Hmmm? Whatcha lookin' at, Hui Ning? Huh? Huh?" (complete with the head motion and all)

"Huh." went Hui Ning. Complete with a slight raise of the head.

*Blink.*

"What's that? Did you really talk back to me, kiddo? Huh?" (With head motion.)

"Huh!" (With head motion!)

"Huh?" *head*

"Huh!" *head*

"Huh?" *head*

"Huh!" *head*

"Huh?" *head*

"Huh!" *head* *giggle*

(repeat... for about a dozen times)

We both ended up giggling helplessly.

Hui Ning discovers new game

2008-10-12T15:44:00.001+08:00

Hui Ning was begging for her meal yesterday morning. Begging so hard, she tried her old trick of rolling over onto her side, hoping a breast would somehow magically appear in front of her. No joy, so she tried harder — by seeking really hard with her little mouth ever more to a side, so hard she's almost burrowing her little face into the bed. (Erm... you're not going to find anything in the bed, darlin'.)

She was burrowing so hard that suddenly she rolled right over onto her tummy!

And she raised her surprised little head up high. And held it there for like 5 seconds. And somehow promptly rolled back onto her back again.

MC and I just stared at her dumbfounded, and burst out laughing. (Darlin', you're not supposed to do that yet for, like, another 2 or 3 months. You're just 2.5 months old...)

It took all of another 5 seconds for it all to sink in for Hui Ning. Then she burst into a brilliant, glorious, wiiiiiide smile. (Wheee!! New game!!) For most of the rest of the day, she tries again and again at repeating the feat, with only 1 further success. Needless to say she's excited and tired to bits by the evening.

Luckily (or not so luckily?) she forgot about her new game after a good night's sleep and didn't really try rolling over again. Otherwise we'd have to start re-arranging everything to keep her from rolling off her bouncer (them straps can't really keep her in, she has a way of wriggling her way out), the babysitter's big bed, etc....

Daddy's li'l girl

2008-10-02T14:02:00.001+08:00

She is truly her daddy's daughter, from looks to sleeping in style.

Immunisation Shot at 2 months

2008-10-01T11:47:00.003+08:00

Hui Ning turned 2 months yesterday, and we took her to the doctor's for her immunisation shots. As usual, she's simply fascinated by the bright lights and insisted we walked around to show her all the stuff while waiting her turn.

The doctor and nurse were both impressed by her cuteness. And she herself even smiled at the doctor when he listened to her lungs and heart (all clear BTW).

And then came the shots... She howled, all right, but just for maybe half a minute. She let out a few more protesting yelps as the doctor moved away and the nurse and I calmed her down.

(me: Mommy's here, and Hui Ning's such a brave girl!
HN: I didn't like that, OK.
nurse: Yeah this doctor's always jabbin' people. So bad.)

But all was well as we were leaving and she even deigned to look the doctor in the eye as if nothing ever happened. Even the doctor was impressed. "Alright already?! So fast?!"

Back home, she seemed extra sleepy. Meal, and then sleep at 1pm straight away. It could be because she's had an exciting day out (she's always sleepy after visits to the doctor's, so many things to see!), or it could be the vaccine taking effect. We're just worried that she'd be feverish later.

She woke up howling loudly at 5pm, tears running everywhere. We thought it's the fever, but turned out that mucus was blocking her nose again. (She didn't really have a temperature either.) I quickly cleaned out her nose and she quickly calmed down, though with a few pitiable sniffles. A meal of breast milk later and she's fast asleep again. Though I was really a tad concerned about the swollen redness at her injection site; until I read that it's common at babycentre.

3.5 hours later she's awake again — and my god can the girl smile!!! And all that leg-kicking! Albeit the left leg, which received the shot, is less vigorous, but still kicking nonetheless. I feel as if she's a tad warm to the touch, but MC said she's just fine. She was so happy and playful anyway!

Gooooood girl, Hui Ning!

Mommy-is-So-Proud-of-Her-Darling Rant

2008-09-29T13:35:00.008+08:00

(Yes, I am going into Proud Mommy mode. So there! )

Hui Ning started to half roll over when she was around 3.5 weeks old, i.e. rolling onto her side. Not just any random rolling over. You see, I usually breastfeed her lying down (I find her too heavy to carry, eheheh). She was especially hungry and was going "eeehhh~~ eeeh~~~ eeeeh~~" and almost on the verge of tears. I laid her down on the left side of the bed and was getting myself ready, when she raised her legs and with some effort, rolled over to her right side. And waited for me in that position without bulging. She did it again and again since then, always rolling over so that she'd be facing me!

We suspect that she talks, albeit in her own language i.e. her own lexicon + grammar (a really simple one, we're guessing). She'd go into sudden bouts of loud babbling with a variety of sounds and even different intonations. (OK I'm probably too hopeful there, but hey, take another look at the post title While what she's trying to say is anybody's guess, there are two utterances that we're sure about.

"Hewwww" (like the Japanese "ヒュウー Hyuuuuu"): "I'd like my meal now, please." Usually uttered in a very sweet tone.
"Ow-wow" (or Ow-wow-wow-wow, depending on degree of annoyance): "Where's that milk now? Let's have it now, shall we?" Usually a short while after "Hewwww", in a firmer tone.

If the "Ow-wow" request is not honoured, it's "Eh! Eh eh eh eh eeeeeh eeeeeeeehhh~~~ eeeeehhhhh~" or even "WAAAAAAH!!! WAH WAH WAH" time. Go figure.

Hui Ning's also started to drool and blow bubbles with it. We didn't think much of it, until the babysitter told us that babies aren't supposed to start doing so until around 4 months old. (BTW she also thought that babies only start babbling around 2 months, but Hui Ning's been babbling since, like, 3 weeks.)

Then this happened last night, about 2 days short of her becoming 2 months old... We give her the pacifier when she's absolutely can't stop begging for one (which happens usually only at night). It kept falling out of her mouth though, and she kept using her hands to frantically "mop" all over her face to find it again.

MC told her "Why don't you use your hand to hold it in instead? Like this..." and took her left hand to hold it against the pacifier while it was in her mouth. That seemed to keep her happy for a while, and we thought that was that.

But there was more...

Roughly an hour later, Hui Ning's pacifier fell out again, though not far off from her mouth as she was in my arms. She actually picked grabbed the handle between two fingers — forefinger and thumb — and calmly put it back into her mouth!!

Was it a coincidence? Not really. That was using the left hand. About 5 minutes later it fell out again and this time Hui Ning used her right hand (again, forefinger and thumb) to retrieve and popped it back in. But as she got more and more sleepy though, she lost her "touch"... when it fell out as she became really drowsy and could only frantically wave her hands all over her face to try to find it again. Awwwwww.... At that point I just picked her up, pat her a little and she's off to Dreamland...

I Make Milk.

2008-09-25T16:44:00.002+08:00

WELL. Due to the current China milk scare, my former detractors are now saying that how lucky that I'm breast-feeding Hui Ning!

BTW, their gripes were that

What if she refuses to take formula? (Well she will and does take formula, but she makes her preference for breast milk very clear.)
What if she refuses to feed from a bottle? (She does feed from a bottle, and sometimes we give her breast milk in a bottle too, so that daddy can enjoy feeding time as well...)
What happens when I resume working? (I've already got myself a milk pump! And there's a fridge + freezer at the office! Now all I have to do is get a place where there's some privacy, otherwise I'll... I'll... hide under the desk in my cubicle? I still fit in there, I'm sure.)

Football Dads

2008-09-17T09:49:00.004+08:00

I've heard of football dads — guys who can't wait to dress their babies in their favorite team colours. And as I suspected, MC is one, too!

So Hui Ning's first introduction to football was when one of the Olympic football matches was showing on TV, and I brought her out to the living room. MC took her over, pointed at the TV and said, "See? Football!" “看，踢足球！”

Hahahahahahahah!!!!

Her second brush with football, specifically with the EPL, was during the live telecast of Liverpool vs ManU the other night. This time MC took her in hand, pointed at the TV and said "See? Liverpool!" “看，利物浦！” (This time even his football kaki friend who came over to watch the match also cannot tahan...)

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!!

Let's Talk

2008-09-12T15:07:00.003+08:00

Hui Ning looooooves company. People talking to her, or holding her. And she'd protest loudly if she feels lonely...

It'd always amuse people when their first meeting her. Everyone would coo and gurgle and talk to her, all the while when she's smiling ever wider and wider and amuses people even more. Eventually though, everyone — and I really do mean everyone — have problem keeping up the conversation and surrender with variations on "oh dear, who's got all the time to keep talking and talking and talking to you darling? And I've run out of topics to talk to you already!"

I coulda told them that when she was 3 weeks old...

I've a good mind to read to her from the Lord of the Rings. We'll even go into the Appendices if needed. And after that, we've got the Hobbit, the Silmarillion, the Unfinished Tales, even Tolkien's Letters and the Histories of Middle Earth!

Wanted: Superheroine Moniker

2008-09-05T14:13:00.004+08:00

Needing the service of a superheroine? Look no further than me, the... er... ah.... hmmm. I need a superheroine moniker. Any suggestions?

Hush. I just sneaked into the enemy's secret hideout and trying to find out where they're keeping the hostages.

I hear a scream! Hang on, I'm coming!

You ain't getting away, you baddie!

Take that! *POW* *SMASH*

Another day, another baddie in the garbage can. I'm off!

Hui Ning Trivia

2008-09-04T17:59:00.005+08:00

Where to start blogging about your baby? There're so many bits and ends and trivias about Hui Ning...

She's got two spirals in her hair!

She had her first smile at three days old, when her grandparents jangled a bunch of keys at her in the morning! This here is one of her sweetest smile caught on film so far, on the evening of the 3rd day.

She's strong. My husband told me she gripped the sides of the basinet as soon as she was placed in one after birth; and kept kicking when the nurse bathed and wrapped her up in a towel. Until now I can't quite hold her without a swaddle — she'd be a bundle of flying limbs.

She hates baths — and what's more, she's strong enough to desist: she tries to "stand" in the tub when we tried to sit her down. (It's probably those twin hair spirals at work; the Chinese believe kids with twin hair spirals are a handful.) The confinement lady said she never met a baby who hated bath times so much.

She can be impatient. She'd frantically waggle her head from side to side trying to grab a nipple, and when she can't get it after a few tries, she scrunches up her face and "stamps" her feet against thin air... She's more skillful at breastfeeding nowadays, but darling, I hope you'd grow to be more sweet-tempered. That's one of mummy's traits that mummy hope you won't inherit.

She gets really cranky trying to get to sleep. I often feel reduced to tears too... but everytime she wakes, she flashes that angelic smile and all is forgotten. Sigh.

She weighed 2.5kg at birth; now at 1 month she weighs 3.5kg! Not bad at all for a small-breasted mom's attempt at breastfeeding eh? (Although we do give her a supplemental bottle of formula or two at the times of day when my milk supply is not so abundant)

What does it mean?

2008-08-10T23:46:00.004+08:00

I've been getting questions on what Hui Ning's name means...

Wong 黄 : the family name.
Hui 慧 : wisdom.
Ning 宁 : tranquility, serenity.

Although we were looking more at individual characters rather than what they mean as a group while thinking of potential names, I like to think that Hui Ning 慧宁 means "having the wisdom to achieve tranquility of the soul". I really hope that she'd have a blissful, happy (but not blissfully ignorant!) life, able to take any stumbles and falls along the way without much undue mental and emotional anguish...

The Birth of Baby Hui Ning

2008-08-10T22:33:00.006+08:00

!!!!Too Much Information (TMI) Warning!!!!

OK you have been warned. Proceed with care, those of you who aren't sure you want the details of the birthing of my little baby girl. Nothing too explicit, but still, I know some people might feel queasy.

12 days ago, on the morning of 30 July... (if you're wondering why I can almost pin down the times so nicely in the chronology, that's because there's a clock in my face, hanging on the wall right opposite my bed in the delivery room.)

6:05am: I woke up feeling a weird sensation. When I rushed to the toilet, it turns out that I've just lost my plug. Since there was no pain yet, I wondered if I should wake up MC (my husband) — when my water broke and started gushing out. OK then, no need for any more wondering. It did get MC into a bit of frenzy. He kept urging me to get going while I was still calmly (contraction pains hadn't started yet, you see) checking one last time the stuff to bring to the hospital...

6:30am: We arrived at the hospital. All the way the water just kept trickling and trickling, and I couldn't control it at all. Somehow all the traffic lights on the way turned red as we approached them... Luckily we didn't opt for a hospital on the island, otherwise it'll be an agonising journey, what with the midnight bridge closure and all.

6:50 am: My obgyn came in, looking dishevelled in a T-shirt (how do doctors in general and obgyns in particular get themselves going anyway?? Energizers??). I was only beginning to dilate, so he's a bit concerned if it's going to be a long labour. Yeow. In the meantime the nurses put on a fetal monitor, and the baby's heartbeats sound deafening in the room...

7:10 am: I feel the contractions starting, but not really painful yet.

8:20 am: OK they're getting painful now. The nurse handed me the anthonox gas mask and it did help, somewhet. This hospital allows husbands in the labour room, so I've got a hand to squeeze on too.

9:00am: Apparently I've dilated 1.5–2cm; my obgyn proclaimed it "not-too-bad".

10:40 am: AAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHH the PAAAAAAAIIIIIIN!!!!!

11:00am: I pleaded for an epidural. The nurse told me that my dilation was progressing well (6cm now) and it might be over in another hour. But with the pain I'm feeling at this point I doubted that I'll have any energy to push when the time comes (since the pain gets progressively more intense after this). Plus my muscles are way too tight, and I tense even more whenever a contraction hits — not a good thing. So I asked for the epidural anyway.

11:20am: Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh relief. after the epidural. Just 5 minutes before I was moaning like some pitiable kitten and almost on the verge of clawing someone and wringing their limbs off or strangling their necks.

12:00pm: I'm starting to feel some pressure down there, but it's not time to push yet.

12:15pm: The nurse told me to start pushing whenever I feel the contraction/pressure. It's getting close.

12:45pm: The obgyn came in again, apparently it's time! After some preparations, the obgyn sat down and 3 nurses huddled round and everyone started urging me to push! Push! PUSH!!!

(TMI — If you must know, it was like a bad case of constipation. And the earlier contraction pains were like bad cases of period cramps.)

12:58pm: She's out! Hui Ning came into the world, a small bundle of 2.5kg, gasping for air when I saw her, but otherwise not making too much noise (unlike the cliched loudly wailing baby you always see in movies). A nurse wheeled her out to the next room to be bathed etc, with my husband in tow.

Later he'd tell me that almost immediately from birth, Hui Ning had her eyes opened wide and gazing at everything in her sight, even grabbing at the nurse's fingers as she bathed her, gripping the sides of the bassinet, etc. She was even kicking off the nappy and towel when they tried to wrap her up.

Back in the labour room the obgyn continued his work... OK I guess this part is so TMI I won't relate it here to jaga the faint-of-heart readers. Later the nurse brought little Hui Ning back to me.

She is soooooo beautiful, with her large, bright eyes and soft hair. She's the splitting image of her father, especially her lips...

Sure, any mom would gush about her new-born babe, but gimme a break, this is MY baby and I have a right to gush about MY baby. Geeky moms gush about their cute babies too, see. Hehehe.

Welcome, Baby Hui Ning!

2008-08-04T22:51:00.003+08:00

Notice the change in the blog title?

Yeah, baby Hui Ning arrived roughly a week earlier, at 12:58pm on 30 July 2008. My water broke around 6a.m., so I guess my labour wasn't too long for a first child...

I'm still pretty exhausted (and time-constrained!) to blog much -- you know the drill In the meantime, here are some photos.

38 weeks

2008-07-29T16:04:00.002+08:00

Until I saw myself on film I had no clear idea how big I've actually become....

1.5 weeks to go (assuming we're following strict due dates)! :D

Counting Down

2008-07-22T14:59:00.002+08:00

About 2 weeks to go now. My tummy now feels pretty solid all the time. We've packed the hospital bag, but always feeling as if we're forgetting something or other... well you know the feeling. In the meantime, my obgyn says everything seems to be going pretty well. Hope it stays so (and for all future proceedings too)!

32 weeks

2008-06-16T11:02:00.003+08:00

32 weeks and I'm at 54kg. Yeow. That's around 15kg weight gain – with the baby at an estimated 1.6kg right now. Doctor says that's pretty average.

The hospital's finally scheduled an intensive antenatal class for 5 and 6 July, a month before my EDD. Registered today, and fingers crossed that we'll be able to attend it in time!

30 weeks

2008-06-06T14:47:00.002+08:00

I'm really bulging.

Sleepy.

2008-06-02T14:02:00.002+08:00

I'm getting sleepier and sleepier everyday. Easily tired.

When I told my doctor this morning, he said it gets worse.

Guess my GAIM status message will be permanently "sleeeeeeep" until delivery then — and then some!

Laksaaaa!!! Sushiiiii!!! Waaaaaa!!!

2008-05-28T14:48:00.002+08:00

They're off-limits to me since my pregnancy started. The sushi because raw food are a big no-no, and I do prefer the raw fish type sushis, so I can understand that. The laksa though...

MC thinks it's because of the laksa leaves. Dad thinks it's the pineapple slices. Mom said she's heard nothing like that and it's all balderdash. The doctor scratched his head and said that Well, what I really want is probably to avoid any conflicts, so just keep quiet and don't argue lah, since it's not like a staple diet anyway.

Of course MC promises me that I can eat all I want once the baby's here – pity him, he can't really have any of those (and crabs too!) if I can't eat them. But once the baby's here, and since we want to breastfeed, I wonder if the yummies will still be forbidden?

I waaaaaant laaaaaksaaaaaaaa......

Wow. You're A Spirited One.

2008-05-14T11:47:00.002+08:00

For the past one week the baby has been moving so much I'm getting tired and exhausted, even though I'm not the one doing all the rolling/fluttering/wriggling!

The good side is that daddy finally got to feel the li'l 'un actually wriggling under his palm...

Gmail's on to me!

2008-05-10T22:35:00.000+08:00

I've started getting ads about baby food, playpens, blood stem cell banks etc in my Gmail! They're on to me!

iGoogle Artist Themes

2008-05-02T16:12:00.003+08:00

iGoogle introduced some themes by contemporary artists recently, and among the collaborators was Anne Geddes:

One of the world’s most respected photographers, Anne Geddes creates iconic, award-winning, internationally acclaimed, and beloved images. Her imagery captures the beauty, purity, vulnerability, and preciousness of children.

Starting Engine...

2008-04-22T13:58:00.002+08:00

(TMI Warning Ahead!!)

Guess what? Even though I'm really small-chested (somewhat "improved" after pregnancy) I've started producing drips of colostrum yesterday!

What's probably more amusing is that when I told my husband he went "stop squeezing it all out now!!!"

Telepathic baby?

2008-04-18T16:01:00.006+08:00

After lunching at a shopping mall today, I was going to head straight back home when suddenly a niggle prompted me to go browse the shelves of the in-store bookshop instead.

"Oh alright, just a quick browse..." I thought, since that I've always found that particular bookshop lacking in variety. All school reference books and stationery and nothing else, so to speak.

So imagine my surprise when I saw a copy of Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care! For one thing, I thought the series was discontinued. For another thing, I never expected this particular bookshop to stock anything useful (I hope the outlet manager doesn't read this – or do I hope (s)he is? )!

Hmm. Did my baby know about it and urged me to go upstairs so that I'd save some money to get this pocket edition (cheaper) of a classic instead of other books instead?

Beached Whale Alert

2008-04-17T13:25:00.002+08:00

Note to self:

Never lie flat on your back, however tempting the idea may be.

Especially when you know there's no one around to give you hand to get up (or even roll-over!).

A lifesaver blog in the early days

2008-04-12T14:59:00.003+08:00

Early on in my pregnancy, I thought I was going nuts because I couldn't stand white rice and had a really windy stomach – with gastric on top of that. My husband bundled me off to the doctor, only to have her throwing me out of her consulting room.

Yeah I thought I was weird. My mom never had stomach problems during both her pregnancies, just the vomiting. My mom-in-law is an even luckier soul, she didn't have any morning sickness for all her three kids!

So I thought I was really weird. Till I came across of nine months... and beyond. I'm not alone in my quirks! Her posts were really reassuring to read in those early days.

22 weeks

2008-04-05T22:44:00.002+08:00

This is how I look like now, 22 weeks into my first pregnancy:

Yes, I've got oily skin. With spots. And my bump is kinda pointy (don't ask me how to tell a pointy pregnant bump from a rounded one; I'm told that mine is kinda pointy). And yeees I know quite a few people who're going "I toooold you it's gonna be a booooy!"

Well, the truth is: we don't know yet. And I don't think we're going to know for sure until the birth – my husband wants it to be a surprise, despite my mom-in-law's asking everytime we visit her.

What, another blog?

2008-04-04T19:42:00.006+08:00

And you're not even posting regularly on the other blog!

Yeah, well. Just in case I get the urge to blog about fluffy stuff. You know, especially about the baby, and all. And fluffy stuff just doesn't go with the other blog.

Just imagine... baby talk? Whosum ooglum cutesy baby-booo?

...

Nope, definitely not on the other blog. So here we are then!