Learning Alphabets

I bought the LeapFrog ABC refrigerator magnet for Charlotte last year but I wasn't really teach her on recognizing the alphabets until lately. I started to associate letter with words that she knows, and also trying to show her the shape of some letters like O, H, and I to help her to relate and remember it.

From the recent week learning, once again she reassured me that she IS a fast learner. She is now able to recognize the bottom 2 rows of letters on the picture. Although sometimes she still confused with O and Q, H and I, but she is definitely getting there.

She Loves To Sing!

Charlotte started her singing "talent" by completing the sentence with the last word, like this. Remember her favorite lullaby? She is also able to fill in some of the words everytime the song is play. She is now able to sing a few complete songs like twinkle twinkle little star, rain rain go away, happy birthday to you, and others.

Last week, I bought her a new toy after discovering that she was pretending to sing using a microphone. I was very surprise to see that because I have not told her about microphone. She probably pick it up through TV program, wedding receptions that we have attended and etc.

The toy set comes with a microphone, a mic stand, a base that has a musical feature that plays 24 different songs, and a mini amplifier. First, I only gave her the microphone and keep the rest for other days. She was very excited when I gave it to her and she happily singing away. I kept the rest of the set in my room.

Yesterday morning, as I was getting ready to work she discovered the remaining parts of the microphone and requested for it. I have no choice but gave it to her as she seems to know that those are suppose to complete the microphone that I gave her earlier. So, I took the set downstairs and set it up for her.

See how stylish that is...

Toilet Trained

Charlotte is now graduated from potty to toilet. I posted about her potty training in Nov 2007 and I bought her a children toilet seat some time early this year. I started her with just wee wee using the toilet seat. At first, like every other new toy she was very excited with it and always wanted to go toilet instead of potty whenever she wants to wee wee. When the excitement went ago, it will only depending on her mood. Sometimes I took out the potty but she wanted the toilet, other time I took her to the toilet but she requested the potty instead.

Lately, it has been very consistent that she would want to go to toilet whenever she wants to wee wee. She also has successfully did her "big business" since the last 2 weeks using the toilet!

I took this picture last week as she did her big business, cute eh?

Happy Mother's Day

Really what it means to me is nothing more than seeing Charlotte growing healthy and happy. I started to REALLY realized the real meaning and responsibility behind this simple yet warm title "mother" after I became a mother myself 30 months ago.

Is it a stressful, exhausting and around the clock responsibility being a mother? You bet but yet it is the most satisfying accomplishment you will ever get. Every night before I shut my eyes, I look at my beautiful girl and she means the whole world to me. It's worth the effort and I can't be more satisfying doing everything that I could, for her.

Charlotte, of course is still too young to understand what Mother's Day is about but we celebrated Mother's Day with a full day of agenda, revolving around Charlotte's interest though...that's what mothers do after all, right? She only napped for 1 hour that day before we headed out to EQ for a swim and celebrate Mother's Day with my mom.

Here is what did for my mom, because I know Charlotte means a lot to her too.

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there!

Who Is Charlotte's Brother?

Charlotte woke up this morning in a very happy mood. She played with me as I was getting dressed to work. In between, she suddenly sat down on the bed and pout...

Charlotte: Charlotte sad (crossed her hands, and pout)
Me: Why?
Charlotte: My brother?
Me: Huh? Who is your brother?
Charlotte: My brother?
Me: Who is your brother? Where is your brother?
Charlotte: People take my brother away...
Me: Huh? Who?
Charlotte: My brother...
Me: People take away? Where?
Charlotte: Shop
Me: Huh?? Which shop? Queensbaymall?
Charlotte: No...

In fact, she has been talking about "my brother" very often this week and every time it's with that sad looking facial expression and tone. I really don't understand what is she trying to say or is it just her imagination?

We have been teaching her about "grandmother", "grandfather", "father" and "mother" by associating them with KongKong, MahMah, Daddy and Mommy but we have yet to introduce her "brother" and "sister" because I think it is difficult for her to associate since she doesn't has anyone to associate to.

I am puzzled about the "my brother" thing that Charlotte has been repeating lately. Hopefully it is just her imagination.

Professional Shots

I didn't blog about the family photos we took back in Oct 2007 at Shalom, where we took our wedding photos too. We were not given soft copy and I couldn't reproduce it because I don't have a scanner at home. I tried over and over again, and finally I got the best of it although not as good as the original copies.

I did a digital scrap using a free trial from Smilebox and checkout my creation of our first family album taken by professional!

World Music Festival

We get free tickets to the 2008 World Music Festival sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism Malaysia. Why free? Well, the Platinum Sponsor of this event is the E&O Berhad and they reserved tickets for thier customers!

We get 2 adult tickets and Charlotte (children under 6) anjoys free admission too. Thanks to E&O!!

My 2nd Project

Yippee! My brother just came back from Oregon and he brought back the photo book that I have been long waiting for. Since I made Charlotte's first year with paper scrapbooking, this photo book is all about her 2nd year outdoor activities and vacations.

Oh by the way, did I mention that it is FREE?

Sand & Beach

Charlotte had her 2nd experience with sand and beach last Sunday, together with a couple of her playgroup friends. I picked up her beach play set a few days ago and thought it has been quite awhile since we took her to the beach. So I made her a promise that I will bring her to the beach again this week and also inviting some of her friends. It was not a pre-arranged event but we had a very good turn out! The kids had fun, the parents discovered new beach :)

Charlotte's previous experience with sand and beach wasn't very encouraging but she has improved so much this time round. In fact, she enjoyed the sand, water and sea shells so much that I managed to "cheat" 2 delicious sandwiches that JM made while she was happily playing.

We all brought along quite a number of beach toy set and all the kids had fun digging, pouring, and building sand molds.





Both Charlotte and Bryan soon advanced out to the sea water, Wei Xuan was very determined and only wanted to play with the sand. Charlotte then discovered that she could make rain with the watering pot that we brought and she was very busy filling water and pouring it out over and over again.




What an interesting post she made!?

It was a great great outing I have to say and it is a better location then the famous Batu Ferringhi beach considering the distant and crowd. I think we should do it again ;)

My First Project

Finally it is ready to be shared! I started this scrapbook many many months ago, I only made very small progress each time mainly because I can only do it at night when Charlotte already goes to bed. However, my job requires me to work at very odd hours simply because I am holding a worldwide position and I have quite a bit of late night meetings. Many times I felt like completing this scrapbook but I just couldn't find enough time and "spirit" especially after long night meetings.

I'm glad that I finally completed it and it is all worth the effort. I hope this will give Charlotte a good memory and story of her very 1st year.

I am so proud of this accomplishment. Thanks to those whom provided me so many advices and assistance especially in material sourcing from overseas.

3rd Semester At Kindermusik

It has been months since I last participate at Charlotte's music class at Kindermusik. We still continue her lessons but her daddy brings her most of the time due to my injured wrist condition. In fact, we just signed up the 3rd semester for Charlotte and the theme is Fiddle-Dee-Dee.

I noticed a great deal of improvement of Charlotte participating, enjoying the lesson and so much more responsive compared to the last time. She was very involved and responsive to every single action and movement the teacher asked and very independant. I used to (and had to) do everything together with her and beside her, encourage her to get involved. She is able to take the instruction from the teacher and did the action/movement that the teacher asked wihtout needing me to partner with her. She can partner with her teacher and with other kids and she is ok to hold hands with others (including other parents) when it comes to a circle activity. Of course, on and off she will look out for me and sort of asking for assurance and praise when she did it correctly.

When it comes to story time, she paid full attention listening to the teacher and all the time she was sitting on the "story telling mat"! The teacher will only take out this mat when it comes to story time and she will put it away when the story is finished. Charlotte used to decline sitting on the mat together with the rest of the kids. She preffered to sit on my lap but yet couldn't sit still throughout the whole story time. This round, she sat down on the mat before I even told her to do so, and she sat there throughout the whole story time and was answering questions that the teacher asked, totally responsive and involved!

Towards the end of each session, there is about a 5min "quiet time" where the teacher will pull out a basket of soft toys for them to take one each and lie down listening to the soft music while the room light is dimmed. When the quiet time is over, the teacher will ask them to put back the toy and continue for one last activity before they sing the "Goodbye" song. Charlotte was so tuned to that "quiet time" and I could see she totally into the relax mode when the light was dimmed.

I talked to her teacher after the lesson and the teacher said probably she is ready to be graduated from "Our Time" to another level. I was so happy to hear that!

Drawing

Charlotte's drawing has improved from merely scrapping lines and drawing circles to this...



These pictures were captured last week. She told me that she was drawing spiders (1st picture) and flowers (2nd picture). I was very happy and excited to see that she is another level advance in her hand/wrist movement and control.

She is able to reproduce the "spiders" but not the "flowers" though...

Princess Tooth Brush

It wasn't a very successful activity with Charlotte when I post about the teeth brushing training back in January this year. I didn't give up, nor give in, but continue to look for ways that I can keep Charlotte's teeth white and clean.

I bought her this about a month ago...

With the spinning motion, chances to get each and everty of Charlotte's teeth brushed are higher compared to the manual/traditional tooth brush, especially when she struggles. She named it "Princess Tooth Brush" and she loves it as usual, new toy to her! Of course, each time she negotiated with me that she wants to hold the tooth brush and brush herself. I promised her when I finish brushing her teeth I will give her the tooth brush. This deal went pretty alright for the first few days. I could brush her teeth completely and totally hassle free. But she gets smarter each day and very soon she insisted to have the tooth brush and brush herself. I had no choice but to force her down, and of course she cried! As she cried, I quickly turn on the tooh brush, locked her in my arms and start the brushing. In fact, it was very easy because her mouth was wide open and I could see very clearly and move the tooth brush freely (ha!). This continued on for a couple of days and I did the same, locked her in my arms when she did not cooperate.

By the 3rd time, she knew she is not going to win in this battle. She cooperated very well when she saw me bringing the tooth brush. She said "Charlotte lie down". Yes, I told her to rest her back in 45 degree angle, either on the couch or on the bed. That way I can see her teeth better witout having to bend down and twist my neck. She then let me brush her teeth without any struggle. As a reward, I let her had the tooth brush when I was done. She was happily "brushing" and said " Charlotte massage!". I have no idea where she learn that "massage" thing from.

It has been about 1 month now, I brush her teeth every morning and night. Although every now and then she still try her luck to negotiate, but when I ask her if she wants me to force her down and brush, she will cooperate rather well. Brushing has became another activity that both of us enjoy doing together.

"Weaned" From Bottle

If I have not write about how Charlotte takes milk I should probably do it here as I want to remember it and I also want Charlotte to read about it when she grows up. I did however, post about her being a picky eater earlier.

Charlotte takes milk very reluctantly, in fact at her age she only takes about 6-7oz, 2-3 times a day. Because she rejects milk I feed her when she sleeps. She takes pacifier when she sleeps, so what I did was pull out the pacifier when she was already asleep and quickly swap it in with the bottle tit. Without much hassle she normally finished the 6-7oz milk.

About a month back, I continued to do the same but she kept pushing out the tit each time I swapped the pacifier with the bottle. Sometimes I managed to feed her maybe only 5oz milk in a day. By the 3rd day, I knew this trick doesn't work anymore. I switched to the sipping cup instead. But she rejected it after the first sip. I had no choice but to spoon feed her. Sometimes she pushed away the spoon and the milk spilled everywhere. What I do next? I use the syringe, yes the syringe when you need to feed them medicine. I know it's not a very good idea, but at least I can feed her until the last drop without having the milk spilled all on the floor and ended up with one cranky toddler and an angry mother.

I thought maybe it's the formula so I switched the formula milk. Her PD recommended Nestle Nutrien. It came in a small 400g can and Charlotte could finished off in about 4 days. Although still "spoon" feed, I thought Charlotte like this formula milk better than the Pediasure. So, after bought 4 separate cans for about 2 weeks I purchased 1 carton (12 cans) straight away. Feeding was alright but later I found she ended up with constipation. I had to switch back to Pediasure. Now the Nestle Nutrien would be my back-up, use when Charlotte rejects Pediasure again...

So, officially Charlotte is "weaned" off from bottle. This is an unplanned milestone but not a bad thing to happen anyway. Also, since now she is taking milk while she is "awake" we get to brush her teeth before bed :)

Back To Basics

If you think this is about cloth diapering , you are wrong. I know it's like a hot cake these days but Charlotte is potty trained, so I don't have to worry about diaper anymore.

I can't recall what was the discussion topic we had last Friday night that lead to Charlotte asked us to bring her on a ferry. We agreed to it of course, and we thought it's a good idea to let her explore and experience new thing.

She had her first ferry ride last Saturday night. We took a ferry from Penang island to the mainland. We were lucky that the wait at the Penang jetty wasn't very long. It was only about 10min if I'm not mistaken then we were off to the ferry. Initially, Charlotte was a little nervous. She said "Charlotte (s)cared" as we took her down from the car and carried her to the front of the ferry to show her the "sea view". But very soon after, she said "Charlotte not (s)cared d". I think she enjoyed the ferry ride very much. It was a very nice night, breeze and all but it was a bit too dark. She couldn't really see the view as we wanted her to but overall it was great!

On Sunday, we took her for another ferry ride. Haha, it was our idea this time. We were somewhere in town till around noon and it was almost Charlotte's nap time. So Pat suggested that we go to the Sunway Carnival Mall and let her sleep in the car for a bit, then we take ferry back from Butterworth this time. Sounds perfect and off we went. The traffic was smooth and it only took us <30min.
We had lunch at the mall and walked around for a bit then we decided to offer Charlotte another ferry ride. She happily accepted it and was very looking forward to it. We got very lucky this trip as we were boarded to the upper deck of a double-deck ferry, all for vehicles! I got a little excited myself too (he! he!). Again, we got down from the car and watched the ferry took it's journey from one end to the other. We had a greater view this round as it was a day time and Charlotte was very excited as she saw many other boats and ships clearer too. The weather was a bit warm though. We would take a evening ride next time ;)

It was a great experience for Charlotte, and for us too (I think my last ferry ride was maybe sometime back in 1980s). The only regret was, I didn't bring my camera, for both trips :(

Charlotte's lullaby

Nope, it's not Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, it's not Rock A Bye Baby or other traditional lullaby. Read on if you want to know what that is...

Charlotte enjoys movie a lot, by now she has watched Madagascar, Ice Age (1 & 2), Barn Yard, Open Season, Toy Story (1 & 2), Shrek (1, 2 & 3), Snow White, The Ant Bully, Bugs Life, Bee and many more. Lately, she picked up a song from Toy Story 2, which played when Jessie told Woody a story of her past. Charlotte refers to that song as Woody Song because she associate it with that movie.

For past few nights, she kept asking me to sing this song to her when I tuck her to bed. Well, it is a very nice song but I couldn't remember the entire song (yet). So, what I did was just repeating the 1st verse. Last night, she asked again and of course I sang it to her. She was sleeping in my room last night because Brenda was sick. As usual, I sang it over and over again, repeating the 1st verse. Very soon after, I heard Pat snored...it was before Charlotte fell asleep :0 That was alright because Charlotte did eventually fall asleep too. It was until about 4am, Charlotte woke up and asked me to sing that song again!

It is a very nice song, "When She Loved Me"

When somebody loved me, everything was beautiful
Every hour spent together, lives within my heart
And when she was sad, I was there to dry her tears
And when she was happy, so was I
When she loved me.

Through the summer and the fall, we had each other, that was all
Just she and I together, like it was meant to be
And when she was lonely, I was there to comfort her
And I knew that she loved me.

So the years went by, I stayed the same
And she began to drift away, I was left alone
Still I waited for the day, when she'd say "I will always love you"

Lonely and forgotten, never thought she'd look my way,
She smiled at me and held me, just like she used to do,
Like she loved me, when she loved me

When somebody loved me, everything was beautiful,
Every hour we spent together, lives within my heart
When she loved me.

Checkout this part of the movie in Toys Story 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is_hpHzEMiE&feature=related

The difference is my baby, I WILL always love you!

Big Question Solved!

Charlotte is quite a fast learner. She picks up new things as soon as it is introduced to her. Like how she learn the shapes, numbers, new words, even some simple opposites. There is something that we have been teaching her since many months back but she doesn't seem to pick up anything. That's colors.

I tried many ways of introducing colors to her, the very direct way was to pick out 2-3 colors and tell her what color that is and have her to repeat. But she couldn't name it when I asked her again. I tried the Baby Einstein, books, and take every opportunity to introduce and teach her the colors but never successful. I was very very worried if she is color blind. I asked her PD, Dr. Rama if there is a way to test a young toddler like Charlotte if she is color blind. Dr. Rama assured me that it is still too early for her to name the color at her age although there are some more advance toddlers are already able to do that. He also said that it is very unlikely for a girl to inherit color blind, furthermore there is no one in the family (both Pat's and mine) is color blind. I have friends that also shared their toddlers' color learning experience with me and showed me article that talked about the same concern but I never stop worry if Charlotte is color blind as she has been a very fast learner in everything I thought her, except colors.

My big question solved, well not exactly but finally I am convinced that Charlotte is not color blind. She is just not ready to name them. How? See this...

Actually I gave her the instruction to put the balls onto the matching color slot, and she did! I am now convinced that she is not color blind, but just not able to name the color, not yet.

Thanks to Shooi for the brilliant idea and sharing the toy with me :)

Very Observant!

The first thing Charlotte told me when I went to pick her up from MIL's place last night was "Pek Pek" and pointed to the picture rack where MIL keeps all her children's wedding photos. I told her no, Pek Pek is in KL, he is probably flying the aeroplane right now. But MIL told me that what she was trying to say is there is a new photo added to the collection, Pek Pek's wedding photo!

MIL said she noticed that the first thing in the morning when she went into the house. Wow, she is that observant! After dinner, MIL showed me the mini wedding album and as I was flipping through Charlotte sat beside me and kept pointing at BIL and said "Pek Pek! Pek Pek!". I told her yes and pointed to the bride and ask her to say "Auntie Angie". But MIL didn't like it, she corrected us and said must call "Ah Mmm". I know that, but I just thought it sounds a little too old to call her that way. Anyway, I followed.

Charlotte was then happily repeating "Pek Pek! Ah Mmm!" as she pointed to the pictures. Sometimes, she got too "kan cheong" and instead of "Ah Mmm" she said "Mmm Mmm!". Oops, sounds like "ng ng" (pangsai) :p

Uncle Peter and Auntie Angie (Pek Pek & Ah Mmm)

Flower Girl

It was Pat's elder brother's wedding last Saturday and we traveled to KL on Friday morning with much of anxieties. Yes, anxiety because Charlotte is going to be the flower girl walking on the red carpet at the wedding dinner! I had been telling her and also training her how to walk, slowly and properly, straight and smile months back but I doubt she knews what she was getting into.

When we arrived at KL we were surprised by a beautiful flower girl dress that her uncle had bought for her for that special occasion. This actually doubled my worried if she was able to do as told given that extra investment (>RM200) that the groom made. I crossed my fingers (and toes) until Saturday late afternoon when we dressed her up in that stunning dress. See how beautiful she looked... and she behaved rather well while waiting for mommy and daddy to get ready. She sat down on the floor and read the books that I brought along. How I wish she would behave that way everyday :)

The rehearsal was at 5.30pm but Charlotte just woke up from her nap (she was sleeping on the journey to the hotel) when we arrived at the hotel. She was kinda cranky and didn't want to participate. We had no choice but to hold our anxiety further. She finally agreed to a little bit of practise after a good ~30min of negotiation. I knew I had to keep my distance from her because she might get clingy to me again if she saw me nearby. So, I let Pat took over the role and practice with her on the red carpet.

Charlotte was partnering with Zoe (niece of the bride) as flower girls. When Zoe finally came all dressed up, both of them held hands and practice on the red carpet. Although the timing was a bit out, Charlotte was walking very fast and Zoe (4 years old) was trying to hold her back, at least both of them were walking straight. It was very close to my expectation, actually I had only very low expectation because I knew it is going to be a difficult task to ask from a 28months old toddler. For one moment, I though it isn't a mission impossible after all when I saw the good partnership between Charlotte and Zoe. Then I was told they are suppose to hold a basket of rose petals and throw it while they are walking on the red carpet. That's a mission impossible, I thought.

No matter how it's going to be, it has to be done right? What more can I do other than repeating the same instruction over and over again to Charlotte: walk slowly, walk straight, cannot cry, cannot say mommy carry, take the petals from the basket and throw as you walk...I was like a broken recorder, trust me.

Another surprise came when we were given the flower crown to put on the flower girls. The mission was getting tougher and tougher. But again, luckily we had Zoe as an example. Charlotte would do just whatever Zoe was doing. So, Zoe's mommy put on the flower crown for Zoe and then I told Charlotte to let me do the same and she did :)

See how sweet both of them looked. I tell ya, they were the attraction (of course, before the bride and groom arrived) of the entire cocktail party. So many cameras were focusing on them and they too posted for the pictures :)

I was counting the minutes and the seconds for the dinner to get started. I knew Charlotte couldn't hold very long with all the accessories on her. But as usual, the bride and groom did not come until close to 8pm. Of course I knew the dinner won't start as how it was stated on the invitation (7.30pm sharp). Pat and I actually when for a quick shopping in the afternoon to get a new toy for Charlotte. It was meant to keep her on her high chair during the dinner but I had to use this secret weapon when Charlotte started to ask to remove the flower crown. I set-up the game for Charlotte on one of the empty tables available at the cocktail party and she was very excited and interested with that new toy. Very soon after, the game has attracted almost all the children and parents at the cocktail party and all cameras, phone cameras, video cameras were focusing at these children again...

The flower girls and page boy (and other children too) were focusing at the "Catch the Bug" game. It was a hit for the children at the cocktail party!

The "show" started at 8.00pm when the bride and groom finally arrived. It was a very interesting experience to see a 28months old toddler as a flower girl walking down the red carpet. She started walking very well as told. But she had forgotten to throw the flower petals as she walks. Suddenly she stopped and started to throw the flower petal at the spot she stood when I reminded her to do so (I was walking at the side) while Zoe and Christopher were already way ahead. It was so very funny and I think I heard all the guests were laughing at the funny moment created by this innocent flower girl.

That was not all, the funniest thing was Charlotte went up all the way to the stage when the dinner started. She was so proud of herself (I think) as all camera men ran towards and started to capture picture of her again. She posted and danced on the stage happily. We had to forcefully carried her down from the stage when we realized that more children were coming towards and wanted to go up to the stage as well. There were wedding cake and champagne glass fountain arranged on the stage and we didn't want any accident to happen.

see the cheeky look when she was getting up to the stage

I had to say that it was a very fun and exciting experience for me as a mother of a flower girl at this special occasion. I shared the anxiety as the bride & groom, but for a different reason :)

Rain Rain Go Away

Yes, this is one favorite song of Charlotte lately maybe because of the recent wet weather. I took this video when we were having dinner at Ipoh "Ong Kee Nga Choy Kai" (my husband prefers this than Lou Wong, I have no idea).

This is how Charlotte sings it:

• Rain, Rain, Go (a)way,
• Come (a)gain (a)nother Day,
• Little Charlotte Want(s) (to) Play,
• Rain, Rain Go (a)way...