How She Calls Us

After reading Vien's post about her new nickname, it reminds me that Charlotte is doing something similar too and me too want to write about it on Charlotte's growing diary...

Charlotte calls me mommy and she calls Pat daddy. A few months back, she started to call me "mom" sometimes and gives me a cheeky look every time she does that. Later I found out that because Brenda calls me ma'am (but sounds like "mom") so Charlotte also follows.

Sometimes she calls her daddy "father". She picked up the word "father" from a book that we bought for her but application wise she picked up from "Toy Story 2" (from the part when Zerg told Buzz Lightyear that he was his father). Recently, she calls her daddy "papa". Why? Because my nephews call their daddy "papa" and when Charlotte goes over to their house she picked up this from the conversation my nephews had with their daddy.

From "papa", she also change and calls me "mama" sometimes. It shows that Charlotte understands the meaning behind these words. So, it is depends on her mood for who she calls and which address she'll use. To us, it's just as nice as "mommy" and "daddy" and we have no worries.

I am now in the middle of teaching her to differentiate between her paternal grandparents and maternal grandparents because I realized that she has difficulty telling us which Ah Ma or which KongKong she is referring to. At the moment, when she tells us "this Ah Mah" she is referring to paternal grandparents maybe because she goes there everyday, and she feels closer to them. And when she wants to tells us about maternal grandparents she'll say "another Ah Mah" or "another KongKong".

I discussed with Pat as how we can help Charlotte differentiate between her paternal and maternal grandparents but the names need to be something very close to the current one, or at least something Charlotte understands the meaning already. So, we will start to introduce "grandpa" and "grandma" as paternal grandparents (since they speak English to her) and "KongKong" and "Ah Ma" as maternal grandparents.

Hope it works :)

It Wasn't That Tough Actually

Charlotte's "sleep-must-have" is not any other than most of the babies'/toddlers', a pacifier. But besides pacifier, she needed something else to calm her down and that's my hand (or auntie Brenda's hand). This is something very strange that she developed, she was not only holding my hand, but she loved to "scratch" on those joints like knuckles and elbows. When she gets sleepier, the scratches get more intense and it was so painful. Sometimes, both Brenda and myself will have damaged skin on our finger joints because of that.

2 weeks ago, I decided to break that habit. I thought it would be a good timing because her daddy was away for a business trip and he will not be disturbed from his sleep if Charlotte couldn't sleep well without that "scratching". I started her bed time routine as usual, sang some songs on her demand, read her some stories and said a prayer. Then when it was about time to shut her eyes, she asked for my hand. Obviously I told her no and explained to her the reason. Then what happened? Of course she cried, it started from a very soft cry hoping for me to give in, but I didn't. Then the cry went louder and louder and then.....she vomited (because she just had milk lah)! That was about 11.30pm! I had to wash her, change her and change the bed sheet too, but still I didn't give it. Actually, after Charlotte vomited she was kinda "worried" because she knows I will be very mad when she did that. I took that opportunity to stay firm and I told her to go to bed, only with her pacifier. She did exactly what was told without any fuss and very soon she was asleep. Maybe she was tired from all that crying. I thought OMG! I will have to go through the crying and vomiting for the next few nights or maybe weeks *worried*.

Then of course I told Brenda to do the same during her afternoon nap, no giving-in is allowed. If she couldn't sleep, just let her be. Brenda told me that Charlotte only slept for less than an hour that afternoon. When it was bed time again, and I told her the same thing before bed. She still asked for it, but I kept both of my arms under the blanket. She started to cry again, but I told her if she cries she will vomit and mommy is going to be very upset if she did that again. Well, this time it worked! She stopped wailing and shut her eyes. I could see that she was trying very hard. Very soon, her pacifier dropped off from her mouth and I knew she was already in dreamland. Phew! The second night went better than I thought.

It has been 2 weeks and I am very glad that we have successfully "wean off" that finger-joints-scratching habit from Charlotte. Although she still tries her luck especially with her Auntie Brenda in the afternoon or at night she asks to sleep on my arm, neither of us give to her. Seriously, this went smoother and easier than I thought and both Brenda and myself are very happy with this improvement (we will have no more damage skin on our arms).

One last habit to break, that is her pacifier. Will do that when the time comes, wish me luck :)

Good Laugh

No one gets to see this side of Charlotte except us, close family members. She usually very conscious about herself when she is with strangers or people that she is not very familiar with. A smile would be all to catch but not big laugh like this...

I took this opportunity to get these pictures for memory, I like to hear and see her big laughs. Trust me, it is very funny and it makes you laugh too.

My Little Musician

I am glad that Charlotte shows her little interest in music, like songs, dances and musical instruments. She likes to play with the piano at home and I noticed that she is playing it with her finger coordination instead of palms or with loud and heavy bangs. She sometimes pretends to play and ask us (either me, or Brenda or her grandma) to sing, and sometimes she would just stand besides the piano and sing along as I play the songs that she is familiar with.

Last week, when we were about to leave for dinner her daddy told her that we are going to this restaurant where there will be people playing piano, and other instruments like drums and cello. Immediately she requested to play on the piano and refused to leave the house if we don't let her. She played for maybe a good 10min and finally agreed to leave as she accomplished her "dream" of being a pianist.

When she is ready I will be looking out for piano lesson for her but for now, it will be just simple rhythm and beats that I teach her as well as from her Kindermusik classes.

Just For The Record

Read & Write

Since I last post about Charlotte's writing development, for numbers she is now able to write 1-5. I am teaching her everyday with simple instructions or command that I create to help her in making the each stroke as she writes.

I told her daddy about this develoment and we definitely want to encourage her more in reading and writing. Daddy bought her the LeapFrog Read & Write Leap Pad, she absolutely loves it!

Happy Father's Day

Daddy came back from the States just in time to celebrate Father's Day, but I think Charlotte was the happiest person instead of daddy because of the loads of new clothes, pants, shoes, swim suit, socks, and toy that daddy brought for her.

What Charlotte gave daddy then? Charlotte greeted her daddy by saying "Happy Father's Day" and with a big kiss. I witnessed the biggest smile on daddy's face that day!

We then celebrated this special occasion with my parents at the g Hotel. Charlotte greeted her grandpa the same way when we met at the hotel. It also put a big smile on grandpa's face :)

Imaginative Play

Grandma bought her this big masak-masak set few weeks back. It was just in time to rescue her because I was at the edge of my temper when she threw up after the last spoon of her milk. She stood still as I was scolding her and getting her changed, and she knew that a few slaps on her backside was coming. Grandma and grandpa came to visit just in time and she was rescued and distracted with this toy set. A short moment after that, she pretended to serve me with food that she cooked with a "fake" smile on her face, it was just like "let's try if mommy accepts this and forgive me..." kinda look.

Last night, she asked for the set again and she was happily playing with a different type of mood as compared to the last time she played it.

New Toy!

My dad has more 7 aquariums at home, with all kinds of fishes, big, small, cheap, expensive fishes. Everytime Charlotte goes to KongKong's house she will be very amazed by all those fishes and admires KongKong when he does the cleaning and water change. Last weekend, she went to KongKong's house and her grandpa has decided to buy her a small aquarium and "donated" some small fishes for her to start with.

We took home maybe about more than 10 fishes that day. Charlotte learn from "Finding Nemo" that she is not suppose to disturb the fishes by knocking at the aquarium. She shows her caring and love from the way she takes care of the fishes. Sometimes, she sits in front of the aquarium and observes the fishes for quite a bit. Something to keep her busy for awhile :)

We woke up yesterday and found there were more than 5 baby fish in the aquarium! Congratulations Charlotte!

1,2,3...

Nope, it is not counting. Charlotte can count from 1-15 (although sometimes she still got the 13 and 14 mixed up) way earlier. What I mean is writing!

Yes, she starts with some alphabets and numbers. She can write H and A, O (obviously as it is the same as drawing a circle) and 1, 2 and 3. Her 2 is very good and consistent now, but 3 still need to practise.

Manuka Honey

I learn the benefits of giving Manuka Honey to Charlotte from several motherhood friends of mine and I started to give it to Charlotte a few of months back. Not too long ago, I heard from Byan's mommy that Manuka Honey that we bought from Jusco was out of stock and she was running around looking for it as the kid was not feeling well. That time it didn't trigger me that I need to buy one as I thought the bottle that I have at home still left about 20% and it should last for quite sometime.

Just last weekend, I had a little sore throat myself and I thought I should take some Manuka Honey to sooth my throat but as I open the bottle, it was just barely a couple of teaspoonful left. At the same time I also noticed that Charlotte was also "rubbing" her nose more often then usual. Immediately I went to Jusco to get another bottle. When I was there at the organic corner, the staff told me that the Active 10+ was sold out, in fact the last bottle was just sold a few moments ago.

Panic? A little bit because I don't know what else I should do, buy Active 15+? It was sold out too. Only left with Active 20+ and 25+. As I asked for more info, to give a little boost of immunization and for toddler use Active 10+ is good enough. Furthermore, the price is a bit steep for Active 20+ and 25+.

So I went to the health corner as I remember they too are selling Manuka Honey. The difference is the Manuka Honey is imported from New Zealand, and it has UMF 10+ certified whereas the one I used to get from Jusco organic corner is a repacked version. Seriously, I am not really concern about the quality of the repacked Manuka Honey but since I am running out I bought it from the health store instead. The price is slightly more expensive, for the same size (500g) it is RM109 vs. RM 76 that I bought from Jusco last time, but I have no other choice :(

I'm Going To The Beach!!! (Again)

It's school holiday and Charlotte's cousin, Christopher arrived Penang on late Friday noon last week. Since there is no access to the beach in KL, Pat suggested to bring them to the beach on the weekend. Charlotte, the playful little one as usual very excited about it, below is the picture taken when she shouted "I'm going to the beach!!!"

This time, I noticed she has overcome the fear of the dirty sand, and the sea water that wash her feet while she stood by the shoreline. She was very engrossed in only 1 activity --- picking up shells and throw it into the sea.

I was wondering how she could keep doing that and as I took a closer look, she was not only picking up and throwing, there is something else she did in between, find out what that is from the video clip...