Sherrie - sick and tantrums

Sherrie is going to be 20 months soon and boy have we had a window to the terrible twos. I am not sure if they started because she was feeling unwell or after a bad night where she was overstimulated (Millers came over twice). Anyhow, we have been on tenterhooks trying not to agitate her into a tantrum. And i still cannot take the hard approach of letting her cry. V thinks differently.. but that is another story.

Sometimes the tantrum occurs once a day but other times it's twice a day. And often it is not preventable because she has some irrational desires and cannot control the intensity of her emotions. For instance, wanting to take off her coat and then wanting to put it back on. Wearing 3 pairs of pants and refusing to let me take even one off.. Such things lead to tantrums and she is often inconsolable and wailing for 20 mins. It breaks my heart. Online advise recommend letting her cry till she comes to me but i dunno how to do this without feeling pain in my heart - other advise include trying to prevent it from happening. Sometimes i can distract and delay it but it's almost like it's waiting to happen then kaboom! OMG..

Maybe it was the illness that brought it on. 2 weeks ago, she suddenly woke up covered in vomit. We thought it was a one off but she soon vomited all her food and had diarrhea. Then she was extremely cranky and we had to give in because we thought she was uncomfortable. It was a difficult time because we never experienced her this sick before (lost weight and looked so tired) and to complicate matters, I fell sick with the same problem too. It also happened the weekend where I had my classes so that made it doubly bad. We brought her to the pediatrician who said that she probably caught a virus that has been flying around and she could go back to her normal diet but we would still see signs of the diarrhea for a few more days. Poor baby.

The result of this whole affair is that she doesn't want to have a bath anymore. not sure why but perhaps she spent so much time in the toilet that she has a phobia for the bath - but she still is ok with the potty. Many of the tantrums were linked to having a shower, so much so that we just had to wash her bum and wipe her down. Not a very clean baby.. Now we have to creative and use the watering can to entertain her.. then in the midst of playing the game, pour water over her, get her wet and then we can persuade her to take off her top.. Otherwise it is another issue of contention. It's been fun trying to entertain her but honestly i miss hearing her have fun when in the bath.

She has also started to sleep later despite the day getting shorter. She still wakes up really early (internal body clock!) so we are getting less sleep and there is so much work to be done. We are trying a new strategy of starting dinner earlier in the hope of beginning her post-dinner routine earlier. Let's hope it will work.

On a positive note, she has such an expanded vocabulary and can say phrases of words. She likes to say 'What's that' to unfamiliar sounds or 'who's that' when someone knocks on the door. She can also name all the characters in Handy Manny and has become addicted to seeing pictures of thomas, dora and others on the google images website. She still loves tv so we try to restrict her watching time and get her to clean up before watching. Potty training has been good and she will tell us that she has to go pee pee and very often, she is right on target. When busy, she will forget to tell us about the pee but the poo is almost 100%. Thank goodness that training was not negated by the illness and she is not protesting about that. Phew.. there is a silver lining in the clouds after all.

Will post more later. Very tired but just wanted to recall this experience before I forgot it.

Sherrie is 18 months

Wow! I can't believe Sherrie is now 18 months! and it has been 1.5 months since I last blogged. Since then we have done so much together and she has grown so much... how am I going to catch up on her progress?

Anyway, here's a start. We went to San Diego, LA and LV at the end of August and she was a great traveller. In fact, much better than me. She ate as and when she was hungry and was not too picky. All she needed was either pasta, noodles or chinese rice and fried rice. She drank water and juice well too. And when it was sunny, she did try to keep her hat on for as long as possible. When she was tired, she didn't fret but fell asleep in the car seat or pram and we would be able to drive peacefully/enjoy the lovely sea. All in all, i think the trips were so wonderful because she was such a joy to be with.

Some highlights include:

1. San Diego Zoo - she enjoyed the zoo alot because she is starting to recognise the animals.. she was so quiet when she was in the panda enclosure... was so afraid she would scream or shout but she didn't.. And in the end, we were all able to observe in awe as the panda ate bamboo lying on his back. What a sight.

2. Swimming in hilton's pool. She took some time to get used to the water. The first day she didn't like it but the 2nd day, she went in after much coaxing. She played 'throw the slipper' (her own invention) with daddy as the seal. how hilarious!! She also made a new friend - Karsten - who sat quietly on my lap for 30 mins just staring at me. To make things even better, sherrie didn't even get jealous! My baby is growing more mature indeed!

3. Playing with sand on the beaches. She wasn't scared of sand but a little uncertain but she soon got over it and enjoyed walking around in the sand.

4. Seeing live seals. She always knew Sealwy but didn't make the connection till she saw seals at the Zoo and also live ones swiming around Shelter island.

5. Touching the cool waters at Point Loma tidal pools. This awesome place was so mysterious when we first arrived, shrouded in clouds. But when it cleared, we were able to climb down to the pools to look at the sealife. Sherrie was so adventurous and wanted to touch the cool water, again and again.

6. Bellagio buffet. She loved croutons and the japanese sesame noodles. She was extremely well behaved, in part largely due to having more people to entertain her and having her friend Andrea around. What a splended night.

7. Learning more words. She learnt to say 'carousel', 'noodles', 'drive' and many other new words on the trip. She learnt so much just by observing and never showed any signs of boredom. We knew that if she was cranky at home, it must be due to boredom. What an insight for us. We need to keep this young lady stimulated.

Nowadays, she is eating well and asks for 'bread', 'milk', 'rice', pasta, yogurt and fruits. She enjoys them all but her fav has to still be bananas and pasta. She can eat them anytime. :)

Her friends are really important to her now. She looks constantly for them by saying 'ka ka' for hanaka or manaka and god for freya (somehow godfrey's name is easier to pronounce). She then goes to the door and says 'out' and then 'play'. She knows that they are her friends and that she can play with them. She has also gotten to know a boy at the bookstore called parker and she seems to like him.. the other night before she slept she said his name.

Physically, she has grown taller and heavier and definitely more agile. She is learning to jump and can go up and down one step. She wants to be independent but still practices caution when she is not sure and asks for help. i like that about her - she is willing to ask for help when she needs it.

Emotionally, she has grown more attached to V, Popo and gong gong, cos they have been spending alot more time with them. I think it's great that there are other people she can now feel attached to. When i am away for my studies next year, at least there will be a support network for her and also V. I hope that she will take to V's mom and Koko.

She has started to love musicals and her favourite one at the moment is the Wizard of Oz - she says 'cause' because the word 'because' is repeated in the title song. She also knows the word rainbow for the song 'somewhere over the rainbow'. She associates lions with the musical too. She also likes beauty and beast and can say the word 'beast'. Cuckoo is still an all time favourite and so is twinkle twinkle little star. She knows the songs very well that she can almost sing along.

Reading is also good fun for her. She can memorise some books and in some way, it has helped her understand procedures like washing of hands after peeing etc. It's great what books can teach because sometimes we may not be the best person to teach her. Oh yes, she has started helping out the dishes and we are giving her stickers for her good behaviour. I hope it will help her be potty trained as well as well behaved. I think she certainly has become less rough and more well mannered.. in part due to growing older but also playing wtih her friends more often.

Sherrie loves animals!

In the last one month, we have signed up as Philly zoo members, so Sherrie has been able to see the animals she has been seeing! for example the other day we saw polar bears, giraffes and turtles. Now she knows how to say turtle! hehe.. i find that she needs to see the live animal before she can match the words. The membership was really a steal and when mom is here, we can go together because it's free for 2 adults! Sherrie, of course, is still free. :)

She said her full sentence a few days ago. It was 'This is a cat!' and she was pointing to the cookie cutter cat. It was so adorable because she was trying so hard to pronounce 'This is a..'. It sounds more like 'dis is a..'. It's hard to say the th sound, so i guess that is very good effort on her part. I think now, she knows other phrases like 'what's that?', 'what's this?" and 'who's this'. Her repertoire of words is also very wide. She can say zoo, bread, cereal, eat, berry, thank you (da), tomorrow (mo mo), leaf, moon, pasta (paka), juice (joos), slide, swing, mouse, house, penguin (pen), bug and many more which I can't quite recall now. But really, it's amazing how much she knows. We have been encouraging her to say words by asking her to 'use your words'. It helps!

The other day, we were pretending to sleep (our way of getting kisses) and she suddenly came running towards us from the room. V thought she must have seen something and I immediately thought of a kachuak. Indeed, there it was, lumbering near the pram. She was so scared and kept saying 'bug' even after we had left the house. She kept whining and clinging to me.. and i wonder who has instilled this fear in her? It must be me... cos i hate them!! We had to go for a walk to distract her. Even so, when she came back, she looked into the bedroom and said 'bug bug' again.

In order to get her to stay away from the air vent, v invented what people commonly use to tell fortune in the olden days, and named it a woozle. She put her hand in there and he made a growling sound. Since then, she has stayed away from it. We deliberately called it the woozle because it's an imaginary creature from winnie the pooh and she won't get a phobia of any other real life object.

She has started running and nowadays ends up very sweaty by bath time. Super fast, i tell you! And it's fun to see her run and play around. She can also control her falling such that she can slowly lean back and land on her head, instead of it landing real hard. Also, she can sit down on a step just by lowering her bum, as we do, instead of crawling onto it and turning around once she sits on it.

Drawing is one of her favourite pastimes now. She keeps asking for 'daw' which means she wants to take the crayons to draw. In fact, she hangs onto the crayon and runs around, which V hates! She tests us by looking at us cheekily before she is about to do something she shouldn't. Then depending on what we say or don't say, she will come back to the drawing board or proceed to do the forbidden thing. By then, we would have to carry her back to the drawing board. Really, these children know how to test their boundaries!

Playing with her bff has been fun too. Summer means we have to stay in during the hottest periods of the day. It is cool seeing them play together. Now they know how to play 'catching'. Sherrie will run and turn to look at Freya and then freya will chase after her. The other day they had a collision at Sang Kee and then both fell on their bottoms. They had a short cry and proceeded to play together again. Oh yes, there was even a tackle! I think Freya took something from Sherrie and then Sherrie wanted it back.. since Sherrie is taller than her, she sort of climbed on her and they both fell to the ground. Twice. Freya knocked her head but she was more shocked than anything else. Sigh, Sherrie has to learn to be a bit gentler!!

Eating wise, she is quite good nowadays. She wants very much to feed herself, even rice! So she will pick up the little morsels and put them into her mouth. Surprisingly, she can eat up her normal portion by feeding herself with her hand. Sometimes she will say 'poon' for spoon and we will hand it to her. She will then feed herself, of course with our help. Of course, the best thing to feed is porridge cos it sticks to the spoon. Eating pasta is still a hot favourite and she still eats it with her hands.

She enjoys looking at her baby pictures and videos. She will laugh and smile to herself when she sees them. So much so that she prefers doign this to the lessons. Maybe we need to take a break from the lessons!! I also prefer the videos.. can't imagine how small and round she was then. And now we have a 80cm tall toddler!! :)

Oh yes, how could I forget? She can say mama and dada now and that's definitely referring to us. She can also say Ah ma, popo and gong gong. And when mom and dad were here, she could play with them almost as if there was no time gap between them. That's a relief, because i know mom will be able to take care of Sherrie like she did when we were back home! In fact, she had a huge laughing session with mom the other night and we had so much fun watching them.

Today, she said 'please da' for please thank you, when she wanted ice cream, without prompting. She must realllly love it because most of the time we have to ask her what she should say. I'm glad that at least she knows that it should be automatic.

Other things she enjoys:

1. Standing on the window sill

2. having a conversation before going to bed

3. 'talking' to Nari

4. kissing freya (when in the right mood)

5. Having buster thrown upon her

6. kicking the ball around

7. playing in her old car seat like a swing

8. climbing onto the coffee table

9. climbing stairs/picking stones at drexel gym area

10. Watching volleyball

toilet training has not been very smooth. for one, she now hates going to the bathroom unless we play a game like 'vroom vroom' and swoosh her to the seat, or let her draw/read while sitting on the potty. Sometimes she pees and poos in there but often there is no real sign! Sigh! it is harder than it looks!! Maybe she is just not ready. But we will persevere!! She has to be toilet trained before i go back to sg! can't imagine her changing diapers while in playgroup! Ugh!!

On our trip to Vermont and boston, she was very well behaved. she travelled well, for the most part and we took frequent breaks when she got restless. In fact, i think she travelled better than me. She enjoyed playing the open spaces and running around. In fact, it was there that she started to be more adventurous and walk on different surfaces with more confidence. She ate well too, but stuck to only a few varieties of food e.g. fried rice, fish and chips and pasta. At least we were lucky to have a few chinese restaurants to save us! On the trip she was exposed to the farm animals and from then on, she could say most of the names and make the sounds. It was really a great trip and i wish i could go again!!

Sherrie the cutie

Sherrie is really growing up fast! She is so cute that we marvel everyday that she is unbelievably cute! Why? She talks to herself, she can learn things so fast, she knows how to give kisses at the right times and so much more! Sometimes you cannot predict what she is going to do and that makes it all the more fun.

The past few days we have been spending alot of time with the Millers because the weather has been sucky and also since it's summer, the days are longer. It's fun for both families to spend time together, the children have company (in fact, in the past 2 days, when Freya left, Sherrie cried) and we share the common interest of food!! Chips, desserts etc are very welcome in our houses.

The girls wore common backpacks yesterday, given by Chihiro. They looked so adorable running around the house with the backpacks high up on their backs, like as if they were going to school. Pity that when it is school going time, Sherrie and Freya will be miles apart. Unfortunately, they will not be growing up together. I guess we really gotta cherish the time we have with them. Not much more - 5 months!

At Manaka's bday party, they played with each other out on the corridor instead of with the group indoors. Freya followed Sherrie around and they had a good time. We got so tired just chasing them through the corridor labyrinth. In the end, we all had fun and Sherrie was so tired that night.

Oh yes, we finally went to the pediatrician! She is 10.47kg, 79.5cm tall! I can't believe how much she has grown! She is more than half my height already and looks so slim. When i look at her earlier pics and videos, she is really slender now. Thank goodness she has inherited V's genes and will most definitely be taller than me. :) The pediatrician advised us to give up formula and switch to whole milk, but Sherrie refuses the bottle. So she said just try to introduce it slowly.. anyhow, our solution is to give her a night snack instead of her bottle - Cheerios with milk. So far, she has gotten the cue and sleeps very well at night. So who said that it was the hunger waking her up at night? I think she had gotten used to it. She took 4 jabs that day and was very traumatised by the drawing of blood. She wailed through it all and then after that kept trying to take off the bandage.

Other than physical growth, she has also showed more maturity. Sometimes she will just sit quietly to read and when she wants us to read, she will bring the book to us. She also says, 'please' when she wants to do something rather than whine continuously. Being with Freya has also helped to train her impulse control. though she hits Freya sometimes when Freya intrudes on her space, she also understands when I tell her 'share'. She will pull back and allow Freya to play with her toys. Also, she also realises that instead of hitting, she can walk away. This is good progress!!

She had a minor accident the other day at the bookstore. She fell backwards and had a big bump on her head. Cried quite a bit, but thankfully, her behaviour since then has been very normal. And we are so relieved. V felt very guilty because he was supposed to be watching her, but i think it's just that she is so much into climbing now, it is bound to happen someday. Talking about climbing, she just loves climbing onto and into boxes. When climbing onto a box, she will carefully climb up and try to sit, then she will stand up without holding onto anything. Then she will feel very proud! :) Playing in the box is also great fun for her because we can do 'see saw' by tilting her to all four sides of the box... and looking at her trying to resist the tilt of the box is so interesting.. Also, we can play hide and seek with the book, peekaboo and all sorts of other games. Who needs the other toys? Haha..

Speaking of toys, we did buy her a musical toy - the helicopter, which she does like quite a lot. It comes with 4 balls and many buttons she can press, also a rotating blade (not sharp of course) that she can rotate and that makes sounds. Very entertaining.

Food wise, she is starting to eat a greater variety of food and fruit. Food - tofu, curry chicken, corn (occasionally) together with rice. We basically just give her what we are eating. She loves pasta too - and i put in tomato sauce with lots of cheese so she can get protein and calcium. Yogurt is still a hot favourite and oh yes, potato ABCs! tried to give her fish sticks and chicken nuggets but she was not fooled! Smart cookie! She also likes apple juice and enjoys drinking water on her own now. I am so glad!! Oh and she loves chocolate... and ice cream... junk food. :P

She has also a greater repertoire of words such as 'wow', 'heart', 'dora', 'boots', 'draw', 'bubble', 'backpack', 'truck' and many others which i cannot recall now. She says 'wa' for water.

Crayons are also a hot thing now. She asks for them by saying 'daw (draw)' and then we will take out the crayons and she will ask us to draw. Now she likes to take them out of the box and then put them all in again. The drawing board is still very popular, thank goodness! what a good present. We bought 2 little boards for Manaka as a bday present!

We brought her to the Drexel fountain with Freya and both of them had such fun, playing and running in and out of the water till they were all wet. After that we haven't had a chance to bring them back again because of the erratic summer weather we've been having. However, we have been spending most evenings together either at the Quad, or in each other's houses. This is what summer is about! Relaxing and enjoying good food and company.

Will update more again next time. One thing is for sure, Sherrie is our super cutie!!

What to do about Sherrie?

Sherrie is becoming more independent now and showing her stubborn streak! I'm trying to switch her from bottle to the sippy but she adamantly refuses. She still doesn't want to touch her milk. And the cup is only partially successful. From 16 ounces a day down to less than 2 ounces! OMG! What am i to do? I guess the only solution is to be patient and hope she will come round to it.. Otherwise, what are we going to do with the formula that we have in the cupboard?

The plus side though is that she is eating more of our food and showing more interest. Putting 2 and 2 together i would say that all the while she was using milk to fill herself up. Now that she has reduced her intake of milk, she eats more of our food and drinks more water to fill up. This afternoon, she had rice with pork and carrots, then pasta with beef and tomatoes. And yogurt. Dinner time, she had rice wtih pork carrots and tofu and a whole banana. Then after that she didn't have anything else. We tried to give her milk in a cup but she only took a little and keep bubbling the milk.. then after awhile she just didn't want it anymore. without the milk cue, it's hard to get her to go to sleep.

Other than this challenge, she is learning fast. She is saying a lot more words such as: bus, truck, train, plane (vehicle words), yogurt, bathe. She has also tried to say heart, book, star, banana and goodnight. She understands alot more than she says though. She can also indicate her wants quite clearly, either by pointing or by saying what she wants.. though pointing is still the way. We have found that by keeping the TV control away, she doesn't seem to want it all that bad - out of sight out of mind, literally.

Oh another thing that has started is that she hits people - to be more specific, Freya. I don't think she means harm, but somehow she ends up hitting her especially when she is very excited. When freya wants to take her toy or she is trying to be curious, Sherrie will hit her head. It is very embarrassing for us and i feel so bad, so we are trying to correct her behaviour through teaching her how to touch someone and then positive reinforcement. Parenting is hard!!

MIL bought her a magnetic drawing board so she has been using it to 'draw'. Oh she knows that word too now..so she holds the pen (in the wrong way!! haha..) and draws lines on the board. She likes it alot.. we draw for her, and use the cookie cutters as stencils to draw pictures. She likes it! I think it's the age appropriate toy for her.. but she is getting bored of her toys actually.. that's why she always wants the TV/computer.

Oh yes, forgot to mention what happened when the parents came. She was so excited, a little disoriented when they were here i.e. how come there ar 2 people on my couch? She warmed up to Mom quite quickly but not to Pop. In fact, i could tell he made her feel rather uncomfortable. Hopefully when they are back she will warm up to him too. It was stressful trying to mind her esp when Pop didn't follow the rules and kept wanting to use the computer.

Anyhow, i will update on the cup status. I don't see the point in making her use the sippy cup since she hates it so i will just move her on to the cup directly.

At the Penn bookstore, where we've been going to play, she has been quite friendly, offering toys/books to people and children who come in. She is so cute! Even carrying two watering cans around to walk around the book store. she also tries to offer them to people. At home though she is not very into 'sharing', which is weird. It's almost as if she needs to make a good impression with people who are new but not with us? Is this the first sign of taking for granted? Haha. Maybe i'm reading too much into it.

Sherrie has a mind of her own

Sherrie has started walking and fast! she can't get anywhere fast enough! And she is brave. She doesn't even want to hold our hand now that she is so confident. When we went to the Smith playhouse, she just wanted to go around and around. Wow! I think the freedom she is feeling is overwhelming her! Who wants to crawl anymore huh!

She knows once we enter the lift on the way home, she will tap Vincent's pocket to ask for the keys. She loves playing and biting the keys so much. If we don't give it to her, she will cry for them. She is also very observant. For eg, she spotted the bubble bottle on the table and actively asked for it. Then she stood up to try to catch the bubbles.

Also, we constructed a box for her to crawl in and out and after seeing me go into the box, she now wants to go in all the time. And when we turned the box around to close off the doors, she complained and asks for it to be opened.

We bought a new toy, Buster, for her. It is the doggy from Tigger & Pooh. She loved it the moment she set eyes on it in the Disney store at Atlantic city. Now she is so attached to it, and tonight she actually fell asleep holding it. She loves playing soccer with is, putting a helmet on it and sitting it on a 'helicopter'. When the helicopter spins and buster falls off, she laughs. :P So cute!

She also has learnt to drink water from a straw. She does throw out the water though. I'm still trying to get her to actually drink it instead of spitting it out. We are trying to move her from the bottle to a sippy and then to a cup. I am excited about that journey.

Her toilet training is going well. We are almost 100% accurate at telling when she needs to poop. however, we still can't tell when she needs to pee. At least most of the gross stuff ends up in the toilet bowl, which makes it much easier to clean. She tries so hard when she is sitting on the bowl and can even tell us when she is done. How amazing!

Another big success is the weaning of the pacifier. We wanted to do it gradually i.e. cutting off a small bit of it so that she would just not like it.. however, the small bit became a big bit and she absolutely hated it. The first night, she cried for 20 mins, and couldn't get to sleep easily. Of course, it was painful to hear and see her cry but in the end, she fell asleep. The next day, she napped quite easily without it and tonight, day 3, she went to sleep quite easily, hugging Buster. I think it is necessary to wean her now, rather than wait till she's older and even more attached to it.

Food wise, she is reallly picky. Her favourites are fruit, cheese and yogurt. Sometimes she will eat cereal in the morning - corn pops. Other times, she will eat some porridge/rice. But the pst 2 days she has not eaten much of these. In fact, she just been drinking alot of milk and eating lots of fruits. I guess we just have to stuff her with fruit to fill her up. It's tiring trying to interest her in food!!

Oh yes, she has learnt to do 'upside down'. She will put her bum in the air while straightening her legs and put her head on the floor, to look at us. Of course we look different; more importantly, i think it gives her a rush to do it. She even knows how to do it on demand. Another cute thing has been doing is to take clothes from the bin (the colourful striped one is her fav) and then walking around the house. Happily smiling to herself while doing so.

Her vocabulary has grown too. Here are the words she now knows:

1. car

2. fish (she says 'shish')

3. nanas (for bananas)

4. bike

5. cat

6. yes

7. no

8. mama

9. dada

And she understands alot more than she says. When doing the brillkids lessons, she will do all the actions on the screen e.g. lift, take, give, hands up and shows boredom at the lessons that have been played too often. Interestingly enough, she hates the lessons on FOOD. I thought that i am a foodie, what is happening to my daughter? Hm...

Sherrie is walking!

My baby took her first steps on her own (i mean, not us placing her away from us and asking us to walk to us but her removing her hands from the wall/stationary object and walking off on her own) last weekend! I am so proud of her! She has taken her time and she is so cute now! She wants to walk, which is much better than forcing her to! And i can tell she likes the thrill. I can see her consciously trying to control her muscles to bend down, squat and stand. She can walk very fast if we hold her by one hand and she enjoys it! I think she will be walking fast soon. Maybe in a couple of weeks time.

She has begun to be more expressive and she is able to tell me what she wants. For instance, she picks up a book and shows it to me, telling me she wants me to read it. And then when i say to her that she's too far away and ask her to bring it to me, she drags it on the floor all the way to where I am. Also, when she wants to eat Goldfish, she will go to the dining table and stare at it or point at it. When she wants milk or something to eat, she will go to the kitchen and stand there. It's so good being able to know what she wants, without having to guess. It's liberating!

She is also able to say some more words. Besides ball, she can say 'bear' and 'bike'. Also, she can say 'duck' and 'ba' - for butterfly. I can tell that she understands what I am saying alot more and responds appropriately to my words. Though she may not say everything - in fact she says alot of kotokoto and dogodogo but I think she is actually talking in her own language. One day, those words will come out! haha.. it's so amusing to watch and tonight i actually laughed quite hard when she very seriously pointed to the pictures in the book and the lego blocks and said 'kotokoto'. It's almost as if she means what she is saying.

Foodwise, she is still picky. She loves her fruits - which is good, likes porridge on and off and has gone off mac & cheese totally. She likes sliced cheese, yogurt and our cereal. Now it's not just cheerios but also bran, honey oats etc whatever cereal we eat. I still don't know what else to cook for her to entice her to eat. the other night she wanted my chicken rice and then the beef hor fun.. so we thought she wants our food. but the other night, when we had sweet sour pork and rice, she didn't want to eat it! Hm.. this is the most challenging part for me. Well, i'm sure with time she will know how to tell me what she wants to eat.

Tonight she was so sweet. She packed up her toys after i read her all her books. She put the lego blocks into the box, then she put the small boxes into the big box. And she tried to put the small lego blocks into the cups too! After that, i changed her diaper and she was quietly lying down. And then i changed her clothes cos they were wet, then i brushed her teeth and then packed her off to bed - all this with no protest. Aww.. simply melting my heart! I love my baby. So much.

Sherrie has taken her first steps!

So, my baby is starting to take a few steps.. when i put her standing up in front of me, she takes 3-4 steps towards me.. grinning all the way and lunging to fall on me. It's so cute to see and i try to put her further each time.. when it's too far away, she just sits down. I think she will try to stand up and walk on her own soon. Most definitely by the time my parents come.

She has more definite words besides ball and balloon now.. She says baby, bear, all the words she knows starting with 'b'. Just tonight, she said 'duck' when looking at a duckling. And she can identify the rabbit - thanks to a board book with a huge rabbit on it! I love seeing her try to talk, and come up with her own kind of language. Very super duper cute!!

She is still eating macaroni and cheese for dinner, but the other night i tried to give her some curry... since it was hot, she literally said 'hah' and opened her mouth. Then she had a bit of diarrhea. Ok, no more curry for her.. haha.. Yogurt is also a hot fav, and teddy biscuits! She points at the teddy and says 'bear'.

She has gotten a new friend, Millie - a soft toy cat from Freya's france trip. Freya has the purple one while Sherrie has the pink one. They are like 'sworn sisters'!! Same clothes, same cat toy.. haha... so fun! They really enjoy each other's conversation and literally 'talk' to each other... it's so fun to see them play together.

Potty time has been fun too. She can just about pee and poo in the potty but really the timing is rather difficult..sometimes miss sometimes hit. But I guess it's a good start. At least she enjoys being in the potty and does occasionally do her thing. I just have to be more consistent.. it's actually quite annoying cos we have to stop her activity just to put her on the potty. If there's nothing, she will sit there for awhile, then soon she will ask to be taken away.

It has been fun spending lots of time with Sherrie. Of course, at times I feel lonely but i'm thankful that she is so alert and observant that I can have a mini conversation with her. Of course, it will be better if i could talk to adults, but i just have to make do with what i have.

Oh I must not forget our trip to Washington DC to see the cherry blossoms. Sherrie was very well behaved! She slept through the whole journey there and then we arrived at the Cheesecake factory.. where she ate our pasta with prawns.. she didn't touch the salmon though. Then we had a good time in Downtown Washington. Taking in the cherry blossoms in the sunset, chasing after many differennt kinds of dogs, taking lots of pics... Most of all, eating lots of biscuits and drinking milk. I totally enjoyed the trip. At night, she just crashed out in the car and then on the bed. There was the case of her missing shoe - we actually had to search for it in the lobby, back out to the road where the car was, but still couldn't find it! I thought I had lost it along the way, but distinctively remember taking the shoes off. So, anyway, we found it near the foot of the bed. Must've flung it off when taking off her clothes! Thank goodness, else we'd have left it behind. No super sleuths to help this time!

The next day was just as nice.. we went down to the White house and again to the cherry blossoms. We also walked around the Washington Monument. By lunch time, we headed back to the hotel area to go to the zoo. It was sooo packed and the poor animals looked so sad! I think cos the weather was so good, many people swarmed the park. Furthermore, it's free entry! In the end, we didn't really stick to our plan of driving back when she was sleepy. She was so tired out by then she slept all the way back to the hotel. When we were about to leave, she woke up! Gosh, did we dread the journey back. Thankfully for milk, biscuits and songs, she did so well and the 2.5 hours passed relatively quickly. I am so proud of her!! I think though, that it's time for us to get a new car seat... the forward facing one. So that's the end of our trip. Hoping to plan for the next one - not sure where it will be but am looking forward to it!

Problem solving

It is fun to see Sherrie problem solve. We do this by creating little problems with her toys - first to train determination and also for her gain mastery over her actions. For instance, we lock the 4 little puppet board books in the box and see how she takes them out. We also stick the globe together and put the plastic shapes inside. the motivation to take out the toys makes her try to pull the globe apart. Of course, we don't make it soo challenging that she gives up just enough for her to succeed.

Other than this, it is cool to observe how she goes about with the little obstacles that happen to fall in her way. She can now climb up the sofa. She just discovered that actually, she is tall enough. Also, she realises that when she steps on my leg she can prop herself up onto the sofa, so now whenever I sit on the floor next to it, you can bet she will be standing on my legs/thighs.

Just 2 days ago, she learnt how to get into her car seat by herself. She actually crawled in and then promptly sat inside to play for an hour. Pulling the straps, standing up in it, and squatting and standing.. and getting out and going in. It was like a new toy for her! Quite fun to watch her to do it because you can see her explore the whole thing and find new ways of playing IN it. Today, when i put her booster chair next to it, she actually walked into it.. and then realised that by placing her feet further apart, the car seat would rock - so there she had an instant rocking chair!

She has grown more confident and now when i offer my hand to her, she will take both hands and want to walk. I find that she really wants to do this outdoors - i guess there is more incentive to walk and see things outside as compared to being indoors. The weather hasn't been great so we've not actually had much chance to be outside. This wed onwards it is looking good, so I am very excited!!

Language wise, she has expressed the words 'ball' (bor) and 'balloon' (bloon) and also she knows now that cows moo. She can also understand how to 'bring me the ball' and how to 'drink from a cup'. It is so fascinating to see her show recognition of the word. You can tell when she hears/sees new words there is little sparkle in her eye. When she knows the words, she either nods, tries to say it, or responds to it by looking for it or even going to it. Language development is truly amazing!

Saying bye for the first time today when V left the house. Normally she would wave. She knows now that when he dresses up and heads for the door, it's time for her to say bye and she won't cry. But the funny thing is, when we goes into the toilet and closes the door, she whines and almost cries.. i wonder if he needs to say bye then too?

Oh yes, i must not forget her achievement in the potty! She has peed twice in the toilet bowl, when I thought it was poopoo time. Tomorrow I must try again and when V has more time, will definitely bring her to the potty more often. I believe she understands what we are trying to do. Not trying to rush it, but trying to make it a good experience for her so that she will want to learn it.

She really lights up our life.. so much laughter and so much learning takes place each day. I simply cannot wait to see how she turns out. :)

Sherrie is 1!

Sherrie turned 1 year old last Saturday! And did we do a lot of things to celebrate for her!!

On Friday, we went to the Please Touch Museum in Philly. It's a museum for children and they can touch everything in it! They can play pretend (complete with supermarket, mcdonalds, hospital etc) and they can just run around and tumble while their parents sit and supervise. It's a wonderful place for kiddos. Sherrie had a great time, she kept smiling when she came back. At night, she also slept early.

On Saturday, we had a play date organised by the graduate resource centre. We had previously asked if we could celebrate her birthday and they said, yes! So we brought a cake and some easter eggs (not easter yet tho!) and then sang her a birthday song. Unfortunately they sang it so quickly I couldn't really take the video. People were so nice they wished her happy bday! (Or rather wished me on her behalf)

After the playdate, we left, went back to pick up our bags and off we went to New York! It was quite a smooth ride and Sherrie slept through it all. We tried to prevent her from sleeping after the playdate and it worked! Thankfully she slept otherwise it would have been challenging trying to keep her entertained while she was restrained.

New York was fun. The first nite we just walked around outside Franci's place (88th and broadway) and had dinner at a Chinese Spanish restaurant. it was not bad and we had some prawns there. Sherrie was quite entertaining - she smiled and waved at the waiters... then back home to sleep for the night.

The next day, we went for lunch at a Greek place and then went to Central Park for a walk. Juliana came with us for lunch and the walk, then we had tea. All the while, Sherrie was well behaved. She made it through lunch, albeit with the help of Goldfish biscuits, and then during the walk, she was fascinated by dogs and all the various activities happening in the park. The weather was fabulous! After the walk we went for tea at the Bouchon bakery, where she sat in her pram watching the revolving doors.. that didn't last long so Vincent had to take her for a walk. The cute part was, she wanted to eat our dessert! Julie so nicely offered her some and she ate. :) Thankful for her company that day, i think Sherrie liked her too! After tea, we went back (long walk) to Franci's place, where she slept along the way.

The next morning, we went down to Times Sq to pick up the bus tickets for our hop on hop off tour. Sherrie fell asleep once we left the house, so we were able to enjoy the bus ride to the Empire State building. Reaching the 86 floor and going out into the gusty winds woke Sherrie up with a start.. but soon after she too was admiring the view of the surrounding NY area. It was awesome! Sunny and clear skies - best time to go up!

After the empire state, we went for lunch at chinatown, where she again, charmed waiters and 2 hongkong ladies who were having dim sum. the food was good and she was so cute.. :) After lunch, we went to the World trade centre site and viewed the memorial. She slept while we looked at the videos of 911. Chilling reminder of how terrorism has changed our world. We wanted to go on a cruise after that but because of a mistake on my part, we missed it and ended up taking a walk on the brooklyn bridge. Nice view from up there.

After the walk, we decided to complete the bus ride and head back to times sq. It was about 6pm and so we decided to head for Ellen's stardust diner (recommended by our bus guide) for dinner. Waiters and waitresses there are theatrette/musical wannabes so they sing songs and wait tables, hoping for a break into one of the many musicals running in NYC. It was a vibrant atmosphere and they even had a mini stage in the middle of the restaurant. It was amazing, because we couldn't catch a musical, but were treated to the songs we all know, from all the musicals we have seen. Sherrie loved it alot! She kept dancing, clapping, waving.. and the waitresses were all so charmed by her, they actually came by to sing to her. She didn't quite dance when they came because she was staring at them but she really had a good time there. She loves music!!

Well so that was Day 1. Day 2 is another entry left for later. Now to update on Sherrie's development.

1. She can stack the cups inside one another.. not always getting it spot on but she's getting there. Sometimes she puts the bigger ones on top of the smaller ones.

2. She likes to transfer toys from the floor to the couch or a surface and then bring them down again.

3. She can nod yes and no! I asked a few questions and she was able to accurately tell me yes or no by nodding or shaking her head. :) So cool! Soon, we can ask her questions and get an answer. Although, i bet, she probably won't do it when she's upset or tired.

4. She understands more of what we say now. Besides answering questions, she can accurately wiggle fingers, touch her toes, her head etc. :) Very fun!

5. She is very friendly to other adults and would go to them to ask for food. She has been eating cheese biscuits, oatmeal cookies, mozarella cheese and lots of new stuff. Recently, she loves our breakfast cereal and milk! So we've been giving her that for breakfast instead.

6. Mac and cheese is her favourite food for now. Gotta think up more recipes soon!!

Sherrie knows words now!

Sherrie knows quite a few words now:

• wave
• point
• clap
• kick
• tap
• eyes
• ears
• nose
• mouth
• head
• smile
• laugh
• colours

This is because she can demonstrate when I ask her to show these words. Either by pointing to the part of her face or doing the action. It's so amazing! Thanks to the brillkids software she is now able to do this! I am looking forward to her knowing more words and speaking her official first word! What's it going to be, I wonder?

Physically, she can now push the walker very confidently and actually enjoys doing it. She also lets go and sits down quite well. She can stand against the wall for 1min but on her own without support, for the most 10 secs. She likes to be supported to chase after a ball and uses her leg to kick it. It's tiring for her and for us, but to see her actually kick the ball pretty far, is quite cool! :)

I bought a sleepywrap for her for our trip to New York and also for me to bring her down to Gymboree by myself. It will be a challenge but i guess it's good for her to meet other babies and socialise. Also, it will be good for me to meet other parents. Looking forward to bringing her to classes.

Foodwise, it is really a challenge. She is quite fussy about food and doesn't like the usual suspects. Every lunch/dinner time is quite frustrating! Like she will just throw the food off the table or eat it and then spit it out. It's hard to get her to eat her vegs.. I am thankful if i can squeeze in some of it... she is too clever. When i try to sneak it in her bread (the only starch she actually likes now) she peels open the bread and throw away the beans.. or broccoli.. thankfully, she likes cheese and tomato sauce.. so today macaroni with fish and cheese and tomato sauce seemed to pass the test. Sigh! Everyday is a learning experience. Oh, another thing I am grateful for is that she likes fruits... so pears, bananas, apples, grapes are all favourites. Avocado isn't so hot though!

Sleeping habits have also changed somewhat. Now she takes 1 long nap (2 to 3 hours) around noon time and then she sleeps at night around 930pm. If she doesn't eat enough solids she ends up waking for a night feed. OTherwise, she can actually sleep through. We really have to start training her to eat properly.. Sigh!

Sherrie is 11 months!

My baby has turned 11 months!! woot!

She will be 1 year on March 6 2010. isn't that fantastic? My gosh, how time flies... and how wonderful it has been to see her grow... simply a miracle.

We've also been here for a month now.. and in this month, she has learned quite a few new things. though she hasn't learnt to stand independently, she does take more risks when sitting - she lets go both hands and lands on her bum.. and hangs onto things with one hand, or hangs onto our clothes or V's chain and doesn't realise that she is actually standing! I think she just doesn't want to... And as for walking, V has been encouraging her to walk by holding her under the arms, and then after 3 steps, he does a hop with her. She is very tickled by that. :)

Foodwise, she is eating the fish, chicken and beef stews/porridge that i make with her. I now add in ginger, onions and yellow peppers. her food is also more chunky now. I enjoy cooking it for her cos it always smells so wholesome!! There is always veg inside as well, so that she gets enough fiber. She simply loves to eat.. Now she loves banana, pears, apples.. the funny thing is she wants to see us scoop the fruit directly from it, rather than have it mixed in her cereal. otherwise, she won't eat it! How smart is she.. and where did she learn that from? I have also begun to allow her to eat directly from the fruit itself (when it is soft) and she really takes HUGE bites! the other day, I had to pry the pear out from her mouth.. because she opened her mouth so big and huge chunk went it... haha... But it is really amusing to watch.

She also eats our biscuits now - like the Meiji biscuits.. And really enjoys doing so. she will take a bite, chomp with her teeth and then smile to herself.. or clap. Oh yes, I've started her on a learning program, using Brillkids software, and she enjoys her lessons. I do them twice a day, as recommended, and show her electronic flash cards on topics like action words, parts of the body, colours etc and then songs and stories. So far, i feel it has been very effective (and cheap, at 12 a month.. since i'm sharing with XR). She has learnt to clap, wave, point and sometimes kick, in response to the word. I'm so proud of her! :) I feel that she is trying very hard to communicate as well and occasionally we hear hello, and frequently she says dada or mama. I am excited to hear her first words!

She is very independent now and can sit in the playpen, amusing herself while I am able to go and do quick cooking (half hour). Of course, we turn on the tV, but she isn't always watching.. instead exploring the toys, standing up on her toes to touch the ledge, etc. And while she's not in the playpen, she is busy crawling around to check out the house.. with lots of supervision, of course. I spend most of the time reading or singing to her. I believe the brillkids has excited her about learning and now she shows great interest in the books.. for now, she flips them, but at least, she goes to them!!

She is a playful gal - always looking for ways to tease and laugh with us. For instance, she will pull V's clothes and then lean in close to him, then giggle.. then she will play hide and seek with us... most times we hide and she looks for us.. occasionally she will run to the room and hide behind the door and we pretend to look for her. Certainly, playing with her now is so enjoyable. Even V can't wait to drop his studies to spend time with her. Sometimes we even feel like waking her up to play!

She now naps either once a day (2 hours plus) or 2 times a day (1 hour each time) so it's easier on us as well. At least it's quite predictable. Also, she sleeps around 103opm and then wakes up around 4 for milk (still trying to cut that out) and then sleeps again till 8am. it's a pretty good schedule and since i've stopped pumping, i get more rest and am better able to play with her. :)

I look forward to her turning one. Am already teaching her the birthday song! I hope she will know how to clap at the end of the song, on the day itself. Still wondering how to celebrate her birthday! Maybe go to the Family resource centre and invite other parents... that will be a surefire way to get to know them and their babies!! I guess I might write to them to enquire.

Now she is very observant and it's almost as if you can see through how her brain is working. For instance, the other day at the centre, I sat on a chair to block her from touching the computer point and she promptly ran away. When i came back next to her, she realised I had left the chair, so she went back to try and get at the computer point again. Then yesterday, I wanted to feed her but she was more interested in touching the spoon and bowl. When i left it on the ground, she came towards me. The moment I touched the bowl and spoon, she stopped and started to turn away. So I tested it by putting the bowl on the ground again. and she came! When i lifted it again, she ran away again.. haha.. she just wanted to play.

I wish I had more time to detail all the happenings with her, but just writing down these essentials before I really forget them.

Lots of pics on fb, so i won't upload here. Just writing down as much as I can before I forget!

Sherrie in Philly

So, we've moved to Philly!

We've been here for a week and Sherrie is sleeping a little earlier than her normal sleep time, but i guess she will go back to sleeping normally soon. She has just gone to bed at 6.45pm US Eastern Time.. last nite around the same time, and she woke up at 5am this morning. Looks like that will be the time I have to get up too.

Moving was tough for her; the plane journey was long and she didn't have space to crawl . She also had to contend with the flight take off and landing. But she was very good. She hardly complained and in the end, we all surprisingly got quite a bit of sleep. So was quite relieved when we finally reached Philly. Of course she was dead tired after the 26 hour journey and crashed out for the night. She didn't even move; which frightened us a little..

Oh, one sad thing happened though. On the 3rd night, somehow, while I was sleeping and V was ont he computer, she woke up very quietly and crawled off the hotel bed, landing right on her jaw. She cried so loudly and there was blood, because her tooth had cut into her lip. I was so worried and felt so bad. We were so tired and jet lagged and poor her had to suffer. Thankfully after much cajoling and sayanging, she fell asleep. My heart hurt so badly when I saw the blood and listened to her wails.

Anyway, re her developments.. She can stand up quite confidently for a few seconds, just holding on the littlest piece of clothing or jus barely holding the bar. She will let go slowly and stand there, smilng to herself for the achievement. In the hotel, she kept doing that and used our knees as the prop. I think she might be able to stand up more solidly by the end of January. And probably by the time it's her birthday she can take her first step. Now, she crawls around the entire apartment and stands up whenever she can and when there is something to help her up. She is particularly attracted to all the dangerous things like wires, plugs etc.. i wonder why babies seem to like these things!! It makes it so hard to follow her around...... i have to keep stopping her from doing what she wants and she ends up crying.... boo.

Words wise, she has a wider repertoire of sounds like 'kotokoto', 'da' and others which are incredibly cute. The kotokoto is repetitive and sounds like Cantonese 'kor tou' meaning 'there'. Haha... Very funny. Although she is not really saying words, she listens intently when i hold something and repeat the word very slowly. I'm a strong believer that babies know more than we think.

Mom and Dad think she has lost weight; I think in the period when we were at the hotel, we gave her more milk than anything else, so i guess she has indeed grown slimmer. But then, having to carry her around alot, she is still heavy to me. Especially now she actively seeks me out to carry her - raising her hands up in the air.

I cooked chicken soup with carrots and potatoes and she loves it! She had two portions of it today and kept wanting more. In the end, i think she ate almost the same amount as I did! haha.. I thinks he will be eating more potatoes here because rice is so expensive and potatoes are cheap. I want to give her pasta but judging from the last time when I did so, I think i might have to wait. Cheese is also not a favourite for her at the moment. I've got one true Chinese baby! haha..

I think she is teething again.. not sure how many teeth or where they are but she has been drooling alot and keeps crying. She puts her fingers in her mouth and bites down on them, which makes me deduce that it's the teething pain. However, trying to put the gel on her gums is difficult because she refuses to let me do so! Oh yes, today i tried brushing her teeth and she lets me if i imitate the action myself... and while brushing, i took out a piece of carrot behind the teeth! Yay! the toothbrush works well.

I've stopped pumping, more or less. Not that i chose it, but the flight and the long journey effectively led to the supply reduction. Now i just use my hand to pump because there is really little milk - like 60 ml for the whole day. Soon, i guess, i won't be pumping much. Anyway, the formula here is similar to the one at home and she doesn't mind it, so thank goodness! I need the time to cook and do housework anyway! And soon, i might go out and meet people too!