Independent and Caring

My soon to be 3 year old daughter melt our heart every day. With her bubbly  character, she chirp around the house with her ever growing new vocabulary and creativity. 

May be she observed her jie jie's growing independent every day. She picks up the habits of doing things on her own as early as 2++years old. She wears her own clothes every day, clean up her painting brush and palette, wear socks on her own, organize her shoes the way she wants it and brush her own teeth every morning. She helps me organize her clothes in the cupboard too.

I enjoy her every day. We chit chat like BBFF. She started going to school every Wednesday to Thursday. When I drop her off, she will remind me these:

Mommy, please remember to take care of yourself. Please remember to eat and don't rush. And don't be late today. I don't want to be the last one in the school. 

It's a wonderful experience. 

Self Navigation at 35 months old @ school

Ee Wern started school recently. It is 3 times a week. She was excited and look forward for it since jie jie started going back to school on 2nd Jan.

She was excited when I sent her on the first day. She walked into the school on her own. Her favourite teacher guide her to take off her shoes, line up her bag, wash her hands and queue for temperature check and applying moisquito repellent. It's the same routine every day. One of the teacher will welcome her upon her arrival to school. 

The second week is entirely different. There's no dedicated teacher. She is required to perform the same routine all on her own. I was watching her from far today. I felt for her. In my eyes, I feel it's too young to allow her to navigate on her own. She is only 35 months old. End of the first day at second week, she told me she doesn't want to go to school.

This is a Montessori school. The children are train to navigate on their own based on their own capability. The children is train to be proactive and inform the teacher when they completed their work. The children are expected to go to toilet on their own when they need to and eat when they are hungry. At 35 months old, she is expected to do all these on her own.

Deep in my heart, I know she will be able to do it. She is Miss Independent at home. She has to remind me that she wants to do certain thing her way daily. So I told myself to give her a few more weeks.

 

Wait, Ee Wern, what did you say again?

It was painting day. So we rolled up our sleeves and you were focus creating your masterpiece. From using a fork to create pattern, you venture out, to fingers printing. It was unusual. This is because you don't like dirty hands. However, you were happy and contented doing thumb printing. I enjoyed the moment. You started to explore and messy, messy and messy. I think I winked my eyes with displeasure. Eventually, I had to say times up and time to clean up. You followed me to clean up. As I was focus cleaning the stain on your dress, you whispered, 'mommy, is shhh shh st.. (this is what I heard).

I stopped. I asked, what did you say again? I learnt to slow down to notice. You gave me a big smile with sparkle eyes and said : Mommy is the best! Wow, you have blown me away. Here I am, cleaning grumpily and chasing the next items on the to do list, you simply slow me down so I can enjoy the moment.

Thank you for that compliment! I am sure 'the best'. *Grin*

Ee Wern communicates with mommy

16 months 3 weeks old

This week is our second week at BSF at Bethesda Bedok -Tampines Church. The first time, you were not aware that mommy will leave you to a 2 hours class. You cried a little and hold on pretty well. Today, you cried when I leave you, for a few seconds. Mommy realized you can control your emotion very well. Teacher said you were not certain at first, eventually you starts to participate and enjoys it. 

Mommy thinks you adapt fast in new environment. Tonight, after dinner, you were holding the table mat. You put it on the floor and lie down on it. Then, you stand up and 'tap dance'. You did this for a few times. Mommy don't understand so I sat down besides you as you wished. 

Mommy starts to understand when I gave you a towel that you used in BSF class. You happily lie down. then, you stand up and tap dance again. Mommy was moved. Moved by your desire wanting to share your experience with me. You were delighted when I acknowledged that this is what you learn in BSF. 

Mommy admires your ability to communicate using your body language so I can understand. Daddy and mommy love you.

Mother's Day 2013

As Mother's and Father's Day is approaching, this is the theme song at home by you, Ee Rynn. You hummed it every day. It's lovely.

Mommy, mommy, I love you,
And you know I really do,
I know you love me too,
That's why I sing for you.

Daddy, daddy, I love you,
And you know I really do,
I know you love me too,
That's why I sing for you.

~and~ 

Mmmm is for mommy,
Mommy, I love you,
Mmmm is for mommy,
Mommy, I love you

Mmmm is for mommy,
Mommy, I love you,
Mommy, mommy, mommy, I love you
Mommy, mommy, mommy, I love you

~and~

Happy Mother's Day to you

Happy Mother's Day to you

Happy Mother's Day to mommy

Happy Mother's Day to you

You were so excited about Mother's Day. On Saturday morning, you planned with daddy. You told daddy your plan and write it down in your planner. Throughout Saturday, you told me you have surprise for me, but you cannot tell me. Mommy enjoyed your excitement.

Ee Rynn: mommy, I am going to tell daddy a secret but you cannot listen. Mommy, cover your ear.

It is very cute to see you whispering to daddy. This happened throughout Saturday. 

On Sunday morning, you bounced out from bed. You woke daddy up. You ask me to stay in the room. You prepared toast bread for mommy and daddy helped to fried an egg. You told daddy you want to serve the breakfast on a serving tray. You even told daddy that mommy should drink fresh milk today instead of milo or coffee. You told daddy it's healthier to drink fresh milk. You put the Mother's Day card beside the tray when you served the breakfast. 

Mommy enjoyed the breakfast this morning. As usual, you would want me to share my breakfast with you and you will end up eating my portion. 

In the afternoon, mommy get to rest. You were so excited when daddy took out the cake for Mother's Day. You commanded to put 4 candles. We ask why and you said you like it. We were so full after the cakes and you requested mommy to take early snack again. You served yogurt on the serving tray. Your excitement has put a smile in mommy's heart. I never felt so special before. Someone who want to serve me so dearly :-) You continue to sing Mother's Day song throughout the afternoon. 

Next, you plan to swim. You want to play game in the swimming pool. So we tag along. When we reach the pool, you met your friend and continue playing with her until dinner time. Throughout our dinner, you continue to sing the Mother's Day song. Mommy really enjoyed your excitement. 

You have made a potpourri pouch for me from school. You told me you thread the potpourri pouch on your own. Thank you, my dear.

For Ee Wern, you enjoyed the food. As mommy didn't cook today, you get to eat out. You tried pineapple fried rice, mix vegetable, abalone soup, grilled potatoes, stewed pork, marshmallow and lemongrass ginger Haagen Dazs ice cream. You kept asking for 'mum mum'. You were so bubbly throughout the day.

Mother's Day will never be the same without both of you. Thank you for making mommy's so special. Thank you daddy too, for all the arrangement and planning. I love the buffet dinner.

 

you plan this in your planner

 

yummy breakfast

 

yummy cake and sumptuous dinner

happy faces

 

potpourri pouch

 

 

mommy didn't know that I am a super mom to you :-)



Growing up - Ee Wern 13 to 16 months

After your first birthday, you demand for more attention.

We (mommy & jie jie) brought you to Dr Tan at Loyang Point for your 1 year old vaccine. Dr Tan expect you to cried. He said it's expected and every baby that came to him will scream on top of their lung during vaccination. Mommy was distracting you with songs and a plush toy. Jie Jie was performing in front of you with songs and dance. As Dr Tan insert the needle into your arm, you make a sudden glance at Dr Tan then your arm. Dr Tan was astonished with your reaction and gave you a smile. Haha, you made it without a whim. Similarly, like your jie jie, she never cried at every vaccination. Mommy thinks both you and jie jie are brave :-)

You understand us. When mommy said where is the wet wipes, you will look for it. When daddy said put the block back into the container, you will too. You will show your cheeky face to attract attention. You will try out different expression when stand in front of mirrow. You will shout excitedly when you see daddy appear after work. You will scream to jie jie when you can't get the toys you want. You will comb your hair with mommy's comb and smile in front of the mirror.

From 14 months old, you called daddy and 'mum mum' (means food) fluently. Sometimes mommy mistaken you of being hungry because you said 'mum mum' all the time! You show no interest in walking. The only interest you have is explore, explore and explore.

Mommy always fascinated with your concentration. You have figured out from opening a cap of any bottle to emptying the content of a basket/can. I am amazed with your ability to learn by observing and practicing. You started to doodle at the 15 months. You can hold a pencil the way it should be to draw lines. You would point to the CD player so we played your favorite songs.

You knew when we are upset with your behaviour. You would exhibit sad expression so we can empathize. Mommy always amazed with the ability of a 15months old child in communicating and understanding.

After Mother's Day on 12 May 2013, you started calling mommy! Yay! Subsequently, you called 'jie jie', baby, duck, come, here, there, Barbie and ball. When things go wrong, you will call for attention and babble 'oh'. You enjoys attention as all toddlers are. When you stand up on your own, you will cheered and clap. You make sure we clap and recognize your milestone too.

You love to explore. You would stack a block on top of each other and cheered. You would take a magnet and fascinated with the 'sticking' effect. You would doodle and call us to join you. You would direct us to direction you want to go. You would walk into the toilet to flush and giggled hearing the sound of gushing water. You would squeeze lotion in to your palm and apply on my leg. You would kick very hard when I applied nappy cream. When I looked angry, you would shout in your sweetest voice 'mommy'. You would play peekaboo by pulling up your shirt. You would 'fall down' on your own on jie jie's bed and giggled and said 'bom' (means falling down). You like to experience cause and effects moment. You loves to smash your sister's castle and giggled. 'Jie jie' will end up crying because she puts effort in building it. When mommy sing 'rock a bye baby', you would anticipated the falling effects and giggled. You like it when 'jie jie' dance and stop and act like a statute.

You started walking wobbly at 16 months. This is when we were back to Malaysia for a month holiday. You started crawling up at staircase in our Malaysia home. You were so curious. Mommy is exercising every day at the staircase without stopping your curiosity. At every outing, you will call 'mommy come'. You want mommy to be with you all the time. This is when daddy said you need to go to day care so you are not too sticky to mommy. Hahaha, daddy is jealous. :-P 

You are a happy toddler. Your endless excitement and smile warms everyone that meet you. You are very comfortable around people. Your gesture is gentle and polite. You will show your cheeky look with a smile to show 'no'. When daddy prohibit you from doing something (by showing a serious and disapprove gesture), you will stay quiet with a sad face. There are times we saw you would hold your tears from flooding your eyes. We feel you manage your emotions fairly well as a 16 months old. 

You love to flood your lap with lots of books. If I didn't hear you for more than 5 minutes, mommy knew that you will be in sister's room, sitting by the book shelf. You will empty the shelf and pick your favorite book. Then, you would hold the book and trotted out to show me. You will continue to walk around with the book and babble continuously. It's a pleasant moment to watch your excitement. 

Watching you growing up is a previous experience for daddy and mommy. We love you.

Growing Up - Ee Wern

February 2013 - 1 year old

Seeing you every day brings joy to me. At about 9 months old, you understand and respond when we say 'clap your hand, Ee Wern'. You started explore with you hand. You would stared at your hand and talk to it. This happened when you woke up in your cot. At about 11 months old, you would hands up your hand when we said 'Ee Wern, hands up'. It shows there are a lot if things going on in your mind which you can't express yet.

You love to look at pictures book. You would stared at it and 'bla bla bla' and 'ta ta ta'. Sometimes, you would even said 'uh' and ti ta ta ta ti ta ta', as though you were telling the story to me. You loves to take things out from the closet, fruit basket or emptied anything you can find around you. As you love emptying the basket, you like the sorting game too. At a year old, you would take in and out the cubes from and into the bowl. You would place it into and take out gently from the bowl.

Your skills of grabbing things is strong. When you grabbed a toy, it's hard to take it from you. At about a year old, you understand when mommy said, 'give this to mommy'. You would think for a moment and slowly hand it to me. That gesture was very sweet. When we said 'no more', you will hold up your right hand and shake it indicate the gesture of 'no more'.

Your ability to understand simple instruction amazed me. We would asked 'where's the ball?' And you would looked around and looked for it. When we said, 'please bring the ball to us', you will crawl and brought the ball to us. Besides the word ball, you understand 'banana, grapes, apple, orange, and kiwi too.

You love to point at things. Whenever you were outdoor, you would point and said 'ta', 'ti', 'te te' and so on. You want to tell us! We are very happy that you want to share your story with us. I love it when I asked 'where is mommy's nose?'. Because you would use your pointy finger to point to my nose.

You love music too. At about 11 months old, you would swayed your body especially when your sister dance in front of you. At first, you would observed your sister. At a year old, you swayed a little harder. Wherever you hear upbeat music around you, you swayed your body from front to back and back to front. We would sit back and watched. It was so cute.

You like sturdy things that you can grab, things that make sound when you shake and bright color items. You like to snatch our spectacle. When you touch something soft and sticky, you would react. We can see from your face that you feel 'yucky'. This happened when you touch your porridge, bake beans and pasta. Recently you discovered that water will drip from sponge when you press it. And you said 'uh' and showed me your findings. It was fun to be able to share your discovery moment with you.

You are a determine child too. Whenever you don't want something, you will use your hand to push it away or you would turn your face to left and to right. Therefore, training you from teats to soft spout is never easy. You would rather not drinking milk because of new changes. Recently, I want to train you to use sipper (hard spout), but you rejected it. Your ability to explore around safely amazed us. You would carefully explored on things around you. You would strolled safely around the sofa, TV bench and chair too. I never worried to leave you alone with Ee Rynn to cook or shower.

You love your sister. Whenever your sister play with you, you would giggled and laughed. But of course, you would scream when your sister took away toys from you.

We are happy watching you growing up every day. We love you.

Outdoor Exploration - Rock

Ee Wern is 1 year old. She is a curious explorer. I like the way she explore with her hand. Her way of picking up things and pointing to things is so unique.

I brought her to a rock near our swimming pool. She spotted an ant crawling around. She used her pointer to point to the ant and giggled when she saw the ant moves away.

Then, she starts patting the rock. She said: oh oh.. She would pat and pat and pat and said oh oh oh. I guessed she tried to tell me it's hard and rough, mommy.

Then she started to stroll a little. It was fun to see her explored.

Ee Wern learning to self feed

9th November 2012 : 3 days before 9 months old

Ee Wern, it's your second day learning to self feed using your hand. Yesterday, you were puzzle when I handed a plate with bread to you. You did swallow your saliva. This showed that you know it's food in the plate. But you didn't initiate to feed yourself. You looked at me. I think you must be waiting, waiting for mommy to feed you. :-)

Then, mommy hold your hand to signal you should pick up the bread. It took you a while to response. You then put your hand into the plate and mommy helped you pick up the bread. Automatically, you open your mouth. It showed that you really understand the whole process! Smart baby. When finished, you examine the plate. You can see the picture below on you holding the pink colour plate.

During dinner today, mommy gave you another plate with bread. Immediately, you pick up the bread. Smart! You tried to put into your mouth but missed it. You still need to practice as this takes a fine motor skills. Your sister Ee Rynn helped to direct your hand to your mouth. Sisterly love.

It is a joy seeing you learn and progress.

Peekaboo Ee Wern

4th November 2012 : 8 months 3 weeks old

Your world has widen a lot more. You have started playing and exploring a lot. Peekaboo remain as one of your favourite game. You entertain yourself today with my shawl.

You teaches me to have fun with things around us.

Ee Wern first visit to swimming pool

22nd Sept 2012 - 7 months old

She was very quiet and observant. She touched the floatie, the water and look around.

Cute

Ee Wern's milestones - 6 months old

It's amazing! Ee Wern has decided to sit up today. We were travelling around Penang n it was in a cafe, she decided to sit up and explore.

In the same month, she explored her hands n starts clapping too.

Ee Wern's milestone - 5th months

Ee Wern progress well this month. Her curiosity surge and she started to explore. She will signal her needs and wants to us. She will makes different sounds to express her wants eg. hungry, sleepy, want attention, want to play or want a diaper change.

All the picture below showed her curiosity. She looks at her finger, grab the clip fan and trying to turn her body backward to touch the wall. She is such a curious baby.

Ee Wern's milestone : Turning on her tummy

5th July 2012 : 4 months 3 weeks old

I feel amazed with Ee Wern's development. It's always a miracle when BB grow at their own pace.

Since yesterday, Ee Wern has been practicing. She push her body to turn on her tummy. Everytime she tried, she will make the 'puff puff' sound. She never stops. :-)

This morning, she made it on her own!

Ee Wern's milestone : Lifting her head (1)

20th June 2012 - 4 months 8 days

Ee Wern can lift her head steadily now. It's great to see her progress.

God Bless :-)

Ee Wern's milestone : Lifting her head

5th June 2012 : 3 months 3 weeks old

As I put Ee Wern down on her tummy today, she is able to lift her head temporary. Seeing her grow each day is such an amazing journey.

Ee Wern's milestone - sleeping habit

31st May 2012 : 3 months 3 weeks old

Ee Wern's sleeping habit has become predictable despite all the crazy traveling. She started to travel since a month old.

I feel she is so special as she adjust to new environment in a day or two. After 3 weeks training her to sleep on her own, she achieved the ability to self soothe n sleep. It's a blessing.

This 3 weeks is an experience to me. It had teach me the important of consistency n predictability again. I allowed her to practice to self soothe many times. It's important for baby n children as it gives them a sense of security.

As of 31st May, Ee Wern is able to sleep on her own. Sometimes she cried, sometimes she doesn't. She self soothe herself very well in the day time. As for night time, she needs me sometime.

With consistence practice, I am sure she will master the skill of self soothe to sleep soon.

Ee Wern's milestones - self soothe

19th April 2012 : 2 months 7 days

Ee Wern has learnt to dose off herself after crying for 15min. Her crying indicate that she's tired n want to sleep.

I have distance the picking up time from immediately to 30min. Initially she knows that I will pick her up eventually. However, this time I am determine to let her cry. After 15min, she slept.