Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? Ah-hem... Phoebe.

Dear Phoebe, mummy caught you looking at the mirror in the walk-in closet. I hope you loved what you saw. You will grow up to be a person full of confidence and self-worth. Mummy and Daddy will give you all the support and encouragement, and you will have to learn that there's no task in life that will be too difficult if you look up to God and try your very best. You are a winner.

Dresses

She admires her dresses. I hang her dresses in the closet upstairs. I will only bring them downstairs when I want her to wear the dress. She will exclaim with "Wow" when she sees me holding her dress on the hanger and she will take it from me. Drags it everywhere for quite sometime before letting us take it away from her.

There was one night, I took out the dress and told her that she will wear it the next day. She refused to let go of her dress, held on to that dress until she goes to bed. I had learn the lesson, will not take out any dress until the moment I want to let her wear.

First Barbie Doll

Bought two Barbie dolls for her from Tesco. This Barbie has a handbag, sunglasses and a comb. I spoil the sunnies when I un-packaged it. I accidentally cut the wire that holds the glasses together thinking they were just packing materials. :) Anyway, the handbag is still there. She can't wait to set her hands on it.

Sometimes I had to take away the doll and told her that "Barbie koon (sleeping)". Last night, she was playing with it until I had to confiscate it again. And say "Barbie koon".

I guess I have to be prepared to play make-believe games with her in the future. Maybe a kitchen set or a bedroom set for Barbie soon. :)

(Trying to comb Barbie's hair)

DIY Activity Table

I didn't have a special activity/writing table for Phoebe. I just let her draw on A4 size paper, but most of the time she can't control her pen to only draw within the paper. She will drag on until it is drawn on the table. In order not to have marks on my table, I covered my coffee table with big sheets of paper. And hold them together with masking tape.

Now, I can safely let her draw and stamp wherever she wants. :)

Flying..

We bought another laundry basket for Phoebe's toys. My maid had been putting her soft toys on the bouncy net. Whenever Phoebe wanted to sleep, those toys will be moved to the sofa or put on the floor. So this laundry basket will be for that purpose.

On a lazy Saturday morning, for the fun of it, daddy put Phoebe inside the basket and see what her reaction will be. She loved it. Later Daddy asked her if she wants to fly like a bird, and she of course say "Ai (want)".

So, the video is for you to enjoy. She didn't have enough after the 1st round. At the end, they went for at least 5 rounds and tire Daddy out. Simple fun.

Cathy Craze

Cathy is the name we gave her soft caterpillar. This particular caterpillar was give by my co-worker, Erika, as Phoebe's birthday present last year. She will call her "Cathy ya, Cathy". She calls on Cathy more than she calls Daddy. So happened that Cathy sounds like Daddy. Daddy always mistaken when she calls on Cathy.

She had been holding on to Cathy whenever she had a chance. Holding her to sleep like a bolster. We brought Cathy when she was hospitalized to comfort her. Took Cathy along when we go to unfamiliar places.

Now, Cathy had become her comfort toy that she can't do without. She also had been kissing her, biting her, throwing her around etc. The beads in Cathy had become lesser and Cathy turned to be thinner.

Cathy won't live long with the way Phoebe is handling her. Hence, I asked Erika to buy another 2 more as back up for me before they run out of stock.

She was having so much fun playing with the multiple Cathy(s) when I brought them home.

16 Months Update

At 16 months, coincidentally, I took Phoebe for her last Pneumococcal jab with Dr Tan. He did a development assessment of Phoebe. He asked me when was the last time one was done, I told him, "Err.. never". It was really never done while Phoebe had all her required jabs at Island Hospital. So, I got to know what she should be/able to do at 16 months.

Motor Skills

• Grab on things when it is passed to her
• Take smaller objects out from a container
• Put in smaller objects into the container
• Pull out clips
• Relating to previous action. When 2 cubes are stacked up, she knows how to stack the 3rd one.
• Insert rings into a stacker
• Bend down to pick things up
• Write using a pen. Doctor gave her the multi-colored pen. She attempted to write, then later, she was trying to switch to other colors.. Doctor said.. No, write Phoebe. I said she attempted, but that color you gave, there was no ink. She was trying to switch to another color then write. :)
• Flip pages of a book. She could do this since she was younger than 10 months.
  

These were what Dr Tan asked her to do. However, some of the things, she told doctor "no". Doctor was stunned, "huh? You tell me No?" I then have to relay the message and she did it. Before we went into the clinic, we had to wait for like 20 minutes. I took the chance to prep her that doctor will inject (told her ''took'' in hokkien) on her and it will not be painful and she shouldn't cry. She said ok. At the end of the visit, injection was given, she still cry and say "pain-pain". Now, if I ask her while pointing to the injection scar on her thigh, "Doctor do what?", she answered "took". LOL. When we were home, her Ah-Mah asked her what did doctor say, Phoebe answered "pain-pain". Some of her other progress.

Answer to questions

• Phoebe go where? Kai-kai
• Aeroplane go where? Airport
• Mummy go where? Mummy work
• (While in the car) Mummy drive what? Car
  
• (While passing Hannah's house) Whose house is this? Anna
  
• Do you want nen-nen? Ai (Want in Hokkien)
  
• Do you want mum-mum? No
• Do you want mummy kiss? Ai (Want in Hokkien)

Combining 2 words

• Mummy come. Come.
  
• Phoebe cry
• Daddy work
• Mummy sit down
• Cathy (her soft caterpillar) yang-yang (sayang)
• Mummy kiss (she says this 1st thing in the morning when she wakes up, or when she's jealous of daddy)
• See kite
• See moon
• and many more. Can't remember

Flipping book while lying on her tummy. She seldom do this now. This was a rare moment.

Enjoying her book.

Another tummy time.

Playing with a ribbon during Easter Sunday service, saying she's going kai-kai

With Mummy at EHC 10th Anniversary Celebration. We now have the same hairstyle.

New Addition to the Family

We adopted a 6-year old Golden Retriever, Lady, some weeks back. When she first came, we could not accept her size. My maid made a comment that Lady looks like a sheep. Yes, she is as huge and even bigger than a sheep. Our reference was of course our little Miniature Pincher, Ebony.

She came with an unkempt fur. With the thick fur, she always like to play with water to cool herself down in this hot weather. It also took forever to dry when she had her bath. We had to do some grooming. We tried using the shaver, like the one we use for hair, it didn't work. At the end, it was the scissors.

She originally relate quite well to Ebony, but recently we found some holes on Ebony's hind leg. We suspect Lady bit her. Since then, they had been separated. Lady in the front yard, and Ebony behind. Hope we can put them together soon.

Sheering Lady

Celebrating Ee-Po's Birthday

Phoebe's Ee-Po, my aunt, had her birthday end of last month. We were out celebrating at TGIF.

Phoebe was literally stuck to her Ee-Po during dinner and after dinner. We needed to get her distracted in order to leave the venue. She had a chance to play on the mobile animals that needed an older child's company. Kelvin was there with her. With only us around, she can only play on those that doesn't rise high.

With Ee-Po during her birthday

With Kelvin on the coin-operated mobile animal

All of us. For the album

Thank you Dr Tan Eng Guan

Created a little card to thank Dr Tan for his care for Phoebe. Brought the card to him during one of the visits and he was surprised to see his photo in the card. Most of the thank you cards he received only had the photo of the child he cared for. :)