You talkin' to me? Huh? Huh?

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

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

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

Immunisation Shot at 2 months

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

(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.

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

1. What if she refuses to take formula? (Well she will and does take formula, but she makes her preference for breast milk very clear.)
   
2. 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...)
3. 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

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!!!!!