Gong Xi Fa Chai

On Chinese New Year eve, instead of dining at our place (the initial plan), we had it in MIL's because BIL was bringing 6 of his friends from the Philippines to join the dinner (we only knew later that these 'friends' were actually his new girl friend and her family/chaperon).

No pix to show for the dinner since it was quite kelam-kabut (Malay: chaotic) to be having so many people in the house for dinner (normally it's just 6 of us).

On the first day of Chinese New Year, as usual, we visited MIL early morning, and then it was lunch with my family. Zara did the GONG XI, GONG XI sign while addressing the family, and she also served tea to my side of the family (since this is our tradition).
All I could say is these 2 days were really hot!

Next few days there'll be no blogging as we'll be going for a holiday (unless I got so bored and there's free broad band connection in the hotel).

HERE IS TO WISH EVERY ONE

A HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

GONG XI FA CHAI.

新年快乐!

Wakey, Wakey, Sleepy Baby

Have seen many photos from Mom2Ashley titled Good Morning Ashley. Just like Ashley, Zara is always in a good mood when she wakes up in the morning, I thought I too should capture moments like this.

This was taken last week, Zara was still sleeping when I had finished changing for work. Camera in hand, I woke her up by using the standard wake up call, "Wakey, Wakey, Sleepy Baby!" This was what greeted me, a smiling and good smelling (yes she smells like a sweet in the morning, and best of all, no morning breath!) toddler!

eyes opened; a cheeky smile; hands stretched out to be lifted up (to sitting position); a moment on the bed before she climbed down to start her busy day

On another note, I contributed my angelic voice singing to Lin Peh's Chinese New Year sing song project. Go here, if you want to know what it's all about and hear some of the bloggers singing!

Weekend - Fullmoon Party, Zoo Visit, CNY Shopping

Tasha's Fullmoon Dinner
It was already a month since Tasha (my eldest sis' daughter) was born. We had a little family dinner party in a restaurant.

It was a typical Chinese dinner with shark fin soup and suckling pig (both of which we don't take), and because it was close to CNY, we got to lou-sang (raw fish salad) as well.

A full blown karaoke session was going on in another section of the restaurant (probably a company dinner). This group of people, blasting singing extremely outdated songs in horrendous voices. Tasha slept through, oblivious to the noise. Zara on the other hand was showing lots of interest in what was going on on stage, she kept wanting to get out of the room and when she saw people singing, she started dancing too, never mind if their singing sucked!


Tasha sleeping
Zara dancing









The singing and torturing didn't end, until our last course was served and when the group has left. What a noisy dinner.

Zoo Visit
Daddy dragged brought us to the zoo again on Sunday. He thought Zara has picked up quite a lot of names for animals, and it should be more fun for her compared to the last time.

The weather was so hot, and Zara so much heavier, it was quite a torture, physically, when I had to carry her in the sling.

Zara was quite excited when we could see the elephants, giraffes and flamingoes up close. We got a chance to feed the camel, but Zara wouldn't do it as she was afraid. I fed it instead, and Zara just looked on gingerly.








At one resting area, the zoo keeper was handling a tiny green snake. He passed it to me when I showed interest in it. And yes, I had the little fella twirled around my arm (Daddy was so disgusted he just walked away, so no photos of the snake lady). I asked Zara to stroke the snake, but instead, she was squashing the snake with her pincher grip! I had to unclutch her 2 fingers, fearing for the snake's life. I quickly passed the snake back to the zoo keeper.

We spent almost 2 hours in the zoo and at the end of it, we were all sweaty and smelly, and then, it was to KLCC to enjoy the aircon and to get some retail therapy!

Shopping
This was the only weekend left before CNY (Chinese New Year), so we went to KLCC and did lots of shopping both on Saturday and Sunday. The sales are still on, more reason to grab something.






As usual, we bought the most for Zara. She had to have new top, new bottom, new pajamas, new everything for CNY.

Daddy wanted to get me a good and expensive handbag. One which is big enough to hold some of Zara's stuff like a water bottle, a few pieces of diaper, a tupperware to hold some biscuits.

We were looking around in Coach, Furla, Burberry (oh, Zara just loves the signature sheep on display) and Ferragamo. I loved this and this (with pix shown), but when I looked at the price tag, I just cringed (although I pretended to look cool and behaved I could afford 10 of those).

In the end, I settled for a LeSportSac which was just 10% of the price of the above items. I am too kiam siap (Chinese: stingy) still can't bring myself to buy a bag with a 4digit price tag.

14 month old

I have to be discipline and do this every month, just to capture Zara's development. She turned 14 on Saturday, I had been so busy, only have time to do this now.

Weight: ~ 7.9Kg (weighed 27/12) but I believe she's about 8.5Kg now b'cos she feels very heavy.
Height: ~77cm
This month, she sprouted another tooth, so she has 4 upper teeth, and 4 lower teeth now.

Dexterity :

walking up stairs while holding up the rail, or the wall

likes bouncing on her feet, a bit like jumping, but not lifting herself off the ground yet

walks up and down steps

Language :
She has us amazed on this area, her understanding of the language is really good, and she's picking up new words almost every day. She's also started to join them to make them into phrases. Additional words she'd learnt this month :

Nah-yen (lion)

Nam (lamb)

moong (moon)

Spicy (after saying this, she'll stick her tongue out panting)

Laugh (Giraffe)

Stairs (she sometimes confused this with UP, she'll say 'stairs' when asking me to carry or asking me to lift her up to the bed)

Panda beh (Panda)

Pane (Plane)

Paink Paink (Pain, she says this while pointing her index finger to her chest)

Skeh Skeh (Scared, she says this while patting her chest)

Big

oh-nang (Orange)

gap (grape)

nai-nai (night night)

tir-tee (dirty)

soo (shoe)

She says phrases like :

Tatak, wis (kakak, fish; meaning she wants kakak to give her fish)

Bye Bye Nah-yen/Papa

Go up stairs

Go park

Bird bird fai (fly)

More more biskuh (biscuit)/moonermang(banana)/wise (rice)

She knows almost all the body parts : *eyes, ears, head, *nose, hair, neck, face, stomach, *pet-pet (private part), *breast (thanks to breast feeding), legs, hands, feet, pointer, belly button
(*she knows how to say the word too)

Feeding / Food :

Favourite is still fish.

Still mainly on breast milk, but on days when supply is low, she's willing to take a bottle of formula even from me unlike previously

Emotions :

Started calling me Ah Meen (Ah Mee slowly turned Ah Meen)

became even more clingy.

Giving me more kisses on the lips nowadays

Showing some toddler tantrum nowadays, by crying, kicking her legs, arching her body when she doesn't get her way

Sociable, but when confronted by a stranger, can be a bit more quiet then her normal self

Being Tagged 3 5 times

I got tagged by King's Wife, Egghead, The Diva, YL, Greenapple, on the same tag, I'd better do this quick, since this is spreading so fast, most of the bloggers I know would have been 'infested' with it very soon!

Here's the tag/meme:

4 jobs you've had in your life:

primary school teacher (every day after work, left with no more voice, and I felt as though I'd been in the disco the last 6hrs getting my ear blasted)

administrator in an English language centre for pre-schooler (cum substitute teacher, cum bum cleaner, cum baby sitter, cum child psychology)

system administrator in IBM (after that, there's no turning back; only big corporation like this lure me)

my current job, doing business processes in XYZ company

4 movies you could watch over and over

Joy Luck Club

1492: Conquest of Paradise

The Emperor and the Assassin (荆坷刺秦王)

Hero (英雄)
(actually most of Zhang Yimou's movies I can watch over and over, just because I have problem understanding the Mandarin they speak :P)

4 TV shows you love(d) to watch

Whose Line Is It Anyway

American Funniest Home Video

?

?
(I don't really watch that much TV)

4 places you've lived

Kajang (Primary school days)

KL (most of my life)

Stafford, England

Shah Alam (now)

4 places you've been on vacation to

French Riviera and the Alps (before we got married)

Turkey -Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Pamukkale, Cappadocia (for our honeymoon)

Sabah - Hike up Mount Kinabalu, Pulau Gaya, Sukau Rainforest

Thailand - Kok Mak, Kanchanaburi (for our 5th wedding anniversary)
and many more before Zara was born, but I chose these 4 as they gave me the biggest impact.







4 places you would rather be

at the beach

in the mountains

shopping in the factory outlets in US

driving along Hwy 1 on the West coast of US (instead of getting stuck in a M'sian jam)

4 of your favourite foods

Duck - roasted, stew, grilled, fried, I just love duck!

Japanese - tenzaru soba, unagi, ramen, sushi

Dimsum - (only pork-free version) Cantonese, Shanghainese.. absolutely love it!

Deep fried stuff.. sinfull.

4 of your favourite beverages

teh si (tea with evaporated milk)

pure fruit or vegetable juice

lemon grass tea

soya bean

4 (or more) websites you visit daily

www.zara-low.blogspot (very important site, please book mark it)

www.blogspot.com (most of us think this is also important, and will pull our hair when the site is down)

the company website (to check stock prices, keke)

all the blog sites in my book mark (if there's updated post)

4 tagged

allyfeel

Fannie

Two Little Fellas (again, I know)

Helen (I know you LOVE tags)

Enjoy doing it!

New Year New Template

So we're supposed to buy new clothes for ourselves for Chinese New Year.

Since I eat full nothing to do (Chinese: too much time in my hands) the blog template is the 'clothing' to our blog, I thought I'll spruce it up and give it a new look too.

After all, some of these itchy backsides people, like LB (going for the minimalist look, but in the beginning was giving maximum firewalling to his site anxiety among his readers); Ah Pek (now the romantic poet); Seng Kor (his blog now has his portrait, mask removed); have already upgraded theirs.

I made some changes to this template, and Viola! New Year, new clothes!

PS! Do I still need to give this guy credit since the template no longer looks like the original?

A morning with a busy toddler

Zara's Ku-che (my SIL) gave her this bag over the weekend, she told Zara it's for her to take along when she goes shopping.

Yesterday, when we were about to leave the house for King's Wife's place, Zara wanted to take the bag along, and she kept muttering "Ping" "Ping" while holding it. Probably she wanted to go shopping with it. Here is Zara with her 'aunty' looking bag.




















(L) We going shopping?? Let me take my bag
(R) Oh, I better make sure I bring my phone along.

(L) Ok, I think I got everything in my bag
(R) Lets go now




















(L) I need to make a call to get an appointment to do my hair
(R) Hello? Baldilocks Hair Salon? Can I speak to Richardo please?

Bye!

Zara was in one of her 'naughty' mood this morning.

I gave Zara her First 1000 words book to 'read', while Daddy and I were busy getting ready for work. She was happily flipping, pointing out to things she knew and uttering the words.
"Ao" (Cat)
"Dog"
"Nai-yen" (Lion)
"Eh-Bit" (Rabbit)
and then "PIAAK..." she tore out one of the pages; she held the torn piece in her hand and looked at me.

Since she learnt how to appreciate books, she had never torn any pages out of any books. I wonder what happened this time. I went over to her :
Me : (stern voice) Zara, that's not nice! Why Zara tear the book?
Zara : Tuck (Take)! (she gave me the torn piece)
Me : (stern voice) Mummy don't want!
Zara : (gave me a fake smile)
Me : (lecture time) Zara likes this book right? Then why Zara naughty? Tear the book?
Now you see (put the torn piece next to the page it was torn out), you cannot see Elephant any more.
(Shouted to Daddy) Daddy, you see, Zara tore her book!

Zara stood up, and started pulling her pajamas top up (a sign showing that she's nervous). I picked up the book, and wanted to put it back to the shelf. Zara immediately hugged my leg.

At this time, Daddy stuck his head out from the bathroom, "What happened?". Before he could say anything else, Zara quickly let go of my leg, walked to daddy, and hugged his leg. This is probably her way of saying sorry, so I thought.

I picked her up, and said tenderly, "Zara saying sorry is it? OK, next time don't tear your book any more ok?" I put her down, and continue dressing, while Zara walked to the shelf to pick another book.

5 seconds later, "PIAAK.." She did it again, this time she tore a page from her Nursery Rhyme book.

I quickly went to her, smacked her hand, and told her sternly, "Zara cannot tear your book! Why Zara naughty?" Daddy chipped in, "Zara, you tear your book again huh? Why you naughty?"

What happened next really caught us off guard.

Zara looked at us (normally if I smacked her, she would fret a bit, but this time she didn't).
Tossed the torn piece down at the book.
Waved her hand in the air and said, "Bye"
While walking towards the bed room door nonchalantly.

What the.. ?? My jaw dropped!

I asked, "And where is Zara going?" She just turned back and looked at us one more time, and tried to reach for the door knob, and said "Bye" again (of course she's not tall enough to actually open the door and get out)

Cha-dou! (Cantonese : Being caught off guard)

I can't help wondering what will happen when she gets older, she'll pack her bags and go to Mama's (Cantonese : Paternal Grandma) or YiYi's (Hokkien : Mum's sis) house? Or she would talk back like this kid when she knows how to speak better?

Note: I normally used yai-yai (Cantonese: naughty in a mild form) instead of naughty, unless she's really badly behaved. As for smacking, I do it only when warning has been issued and she just ignored it.

Separation Anxiety

After the long break during Christmas & New Year, and with me working from home twice a week since we had broadband, Zara has become ever closer to me.

Starting this year, on days I go to the office, when I drop Zara and Tuyam off at King's Wife's place, Zara would kick up a fuss. She would be reaching her hands out for me, put on a very sad face, refusing to follow Tuyam or Lita (King's Wife's maid) into the house. Normally, I'll pick her up from the car seat, say my bye bye firmly, tell her to be good and that I'll see her later, passed her to either Lita or Tuyam, get back to the car and drive off. Making our parting short and sweet.

this is how she looks like when she doesn't want me to leave her (this is not taken at King's Wife's place, but the situation and the expression is the same)

Tuyam said at King's Wife's place, Zara would be fretting, and during nap time, she would be tossing and turning, and mumbling Ah-Mee (her pronunciation of Mummy). Sometimes Tuyam has to call me in the office and let me talk to her. Normally it's just a 'Hi' from her, some talking from me to tell her to be good, listen to kakak, and then a 'bye' from her and end of conversation. It seems to help her to feel more settled.

While working from home, she would constantly try to climb up the stairs, or point up to the study from the courtyard, and start calling "Ah Mee". I have to avoid coming downstairs, because if I do, she would rush to me, then cling on to me and refuse to go with Tuyam when I have to go back to the study to work.

Even in the middle of the night when I have to go to the washroom, if she so happened to turn to my side and found I wasn't there, she would sit up and then call for Ah Mee (crying will start if she didn't see me in a few seconds).

I wonder what would happen if I was given a summon by the boss to go for a business trip??!! How will the both of us cope with the separation anxiety?

Weekend Culinary Feat

Besides going shopping on Saturday and visiting my eldest sis on Sunday, during the weekend, I spent quite a fair bit of time in the kitchen.

Saturday
After we came back from the wet market, while we were sorting out the shopping, Tuyam commented about Daddy buying apples again as we already had some in the fridge. Daddy mentioned that those in the fridge were not nice, and he would like to chuck them away.

I just read about Greenapple's post about double boiling apples to make a drink, so I thought I'd tried it out using these 4 unwanted apples + 5 mud-chou (Chinese: honey dates). After 5hrs in the slow cooker, a wonderful drink was produced. We all loved it, especially after it has been chilled! Thanks Greenapple!

Since Zara loved Ping's mum's fish porridge so much, I made Pomphret (couldn't get Mayao/Kurau from the market, so I just substituted it with Pomphret) porridge using her method for lunch. I didn't like it at all *blech*, but the little cat took 1 big bowl for lunch, and another big bowl for dinner! So I guess it must be good for her standard.

Sunday
After coming back from my sis' place, I got Daddy to look after Zara while I tried to bake some chocolate chip cookies for Chinese New Year. I like making this because it's so simple and the recipe is a hand-me-down from Ping's Australian FIL.

While trying to get Zara to take her evening nap in the living room, Daddy fell asleep first before Zara (=.=), and Zara walked to the kitchen to kay-poh (Chinese : busy body). She was very good though, I told her I was busy, the oven was hot, and asked her to play at the dry kitchen area while I worked on the cookies. She cooperated, and stayed out of my way and the oven's!

.

Dough on a baking sheet, nice golden choc chip cookies

I managed to bake 2 bottles (old Hollick bottle), they are very nice, just a bit too sweet (I forgot to adjust the recipe like I used to in previous years).

And for dinner, I thought I'll make salt baked red mullet, a recipe from Jamie Oliver. The fish was stuffed with ginger, spring onion, coriander leaves (the recipe calls for fresh thyme, rosemary, lemon and bay leaf, and since I didn't have any of the ingredients I compromised with what I could find in my fridge), laid it on a bed of course salt, covered with another layer of course salt, and then baked in the oven.

Fish before entering the oven, cooked fish with the salt cake scrapped off

I find the fish was too salty, I think probably because I pricked the skin accidentally before I baked it. However, both Zara and Daddy loved it. I chose the bits which were not too salty for Zara, and Daddy just cleaned up the rest of the fish after Tuyam and myself took a little each.

Anybody has any proven cookies recipe to share which is easy to make, and delicious? I would try to make another batch of cookies the coming weekend.

Tasha & Zara che-che

I went to visit my eldest sis, T, at home. My little niece, Tasha, who's now 3 weeks old, have grown quite a fair bit compared to the last time I saw her. She has very chubby cheeks and even double chin now, thanks to Enfalac A+ and a little breast milk (my sis is still breastfeeding, but because her milk volume is very low, Tasha's main source of milk is from formula. Still, it's better little than none).

Tasha has very big eyes and prominant double eye lids, compared to the time when she was born, her features are now even more prominant. She doesn't look Chinese at all (then again, both T and BIL don't look like Chinese too)! I think she's going to grow up to be very beautiful.

Zara was very happy to see Puh-Pay (her way or pronuncing Baby) Tasha. She was very gentle with Tasha, looking at her tenderly and stroking her. She even tried to sing and dance for Tasha (as since on the top left hand of the photo below).

She got a lot of praising from me, I told her she really behaves like a che-che (Chinese: elder sister) now.

After All She's a Girl

Zara's physical strength sometimes makes us wonder if she's going to grow up to be a tom boy.
When she was 10months old, she would lift up an orange using 1 hand;
At 13th month, she would try to lift up her tricycle, and drag it to wherever she wanted it to be. And once, she even carried a bag with 2 tins of formula (sample from her Paed) weighing 1Kg in total from the living room to the kitchen.

Recently, however, she has shown some feminine interest. When she gets hold of a hair clip, she tries to clip it on herself. And when she spots my bracelet or spots hers, she would ask for it; and then attempts to put them on her wrist.

To make her keep her hair clip on her hair, we tell her, "Zara looks pretty!".
To encourage her to have the bracelet on, we tell her, "Wah, Zara's bracelet so pretty!".
She would then happily have those pretty things on.

When she puts on these 'pretty' accessories or put on a piece of clothing she thinks is beautiful, she point to those items or pull her clothes up to to show off when she sees familiar faces. She would like the person to comment that it's pretty before she walks off with a grin.

After all, she's a girl; she likes pretty things, likes to look pretty and likes to be complimented.

Jojo

One of Zara's favourite book was about Jojo a baby who likes to play with his food instead of eating it. Every time when Zara misbehaves, we'll ask her if she's yai-yai (Chinese: naughty in a mild form) like Jojo. Actually Jojo isn't really naughty, just playful, but it was appropriate to use this to teach Zara.

A few days ago
Tuyam told me this conversation took place when she was looking after Zara, and Zara was throwing her toys in a tantrum.
Tuyam : You naughty huh? You Jojo?
Zara : Za-ah!
Tuyam : You not Zara, you naughty, you Jojo!
Zara : *pointed to her chest* Za-ah!
Tuyam : You Jojo!
Zara : *kicked her legs, about to cry, pointed to her chest* Za-ah!
Tuyam : Ok Ok, you Zara, not Jojo.

This morning
I was changing to my work clothes and Daddy was in the shower. Zara walked into the bathroom, and started tapping the shower screen.

Me: (while adjusting my clothes) Zara, what are you doing?
No response from the bathroom, so I went to check on her, guess what I saw? Zara had her hands in the toilet bowl playing with the water! *YUCKS*
Me: *rushed to her and slapped her hands*
Zara, yai yai!
Mummy told you cannot touch that!
It's big people's potty!
The poo poo goes in there!!
Very dirty!
Zara touched it, get germs, then stomach PAIN PAIN!
(Had to say the above phrase by phrase, so she could understand)
Zara: *clapped her hands* beat!
Me: *scooped her up* Yeah, mummy beat beat Zara because Zara yai-yai!
Zara: *stared at me* (I think she knows she's at fault)
Me: *brought her to the sink* Now your hands are dirty, must wash hands!
Zara obediently let me wash her hands. After cleaning her up, I brought her out of the room.
Zara : *pointed to her mini library* Jojo! *clapped her hands* Beat!
Me: Yes! Zara yai yai like Jojo lo, that's why mummy beat beat! Next time don't be yai-yai any more ok?

Not sure if she understood my 'long lacture' in the bathroom and will not pull that stunt again, but she definitely knows how to relate to Jojo.

Malacca Trip

We arrived in Malacca on Monday afternoon, and went over to Ping's house after we'd checked into the hotel and freshened up.

Zara made herself right at home at Ping's, playing with Shirleen's (Ping's niece, who's about the same age as Zara) toys, or anything she could get her hands on. Shirleen was clinging to Daddy most of the time, I never knew he was such a child magnet as normally kids are afraid of him because of his height (King's Wife's kids called him Big Uncle up till today).

Ping's parents cook very well. They made us nasi lemak for dinner and home made cendol for dessert (yummy!); and for Zara, her mum made her fish porridge which Zara ate the whole big bowl, and saying 'GHG' (her 'good') all the time.

Clockwise: Delicious home-made nasi lemak; Zara having her fish porridge; Daddy the child magnet (Shirleen refused to get down from his lap); two toddlers trying to read.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel with Ping. The hotel was like an ice box, freezing cold! Daddy gave Zara a quick shower and changed her to pajamas, then we went down to the coffee house to have hot tea to keep ourselves warm (should have brought along my winter jacket and ski mask!).

Zara had a great time playing with the things on the table. She was so excited and busy. Daddy helped to look after her, brought her for walks so that Ping and I were left alone and we could talk.

When it was Zara's bed time, we sent Ping back home, and then took a car ride just so Zara can fall asleep in the car as I thought she would be too excited to sleep in the hotel room.

On Tuesday, we picked Ping up and went to Malacca town to have brunch, followed by some shopping. It was a good time to be in Malacca, because the town was quiet (traffic was good), and there were lots of Chinese New Year goodies for sale. We bought some biscuits and jam tarts although Ping's mum have already given me quite a lot of home made cookies to bring home.

We then sent Ping home as she needed to help her mum with cookie making, picked up more goodies from her mum like star fruits and bananas grown in their relative's back garden. We went back to town for late lunch and then headed back to KL.

Malacca is still a very pleasant place to go to, food is good, and relatively cheap, and there's still lots of home made goodies to enjoy. We really don't mind visiting Ping back in her home town yearly when she comes back.

Ping brought back quite a lot of prezzies for me and Zara, but one of the nicest is this handmade (I'm a sucker for any thing handmade or home cooked) Brazilian necklace by one of her Brazilian friend. Very nice. Have to find an occasion to wear it.

Very Busy Weekend

(Please do help me with my quizez if you know the answers)

We were very busy with one of Daddy's best friends' wedding over the weekend (quiz : Can you still consider someone a best friend if he had been dating a girl for 1 1/2 years, planning his wedding, and you were informed only 1 1/2 months before the wedding about this girl?).

The wedding dinner was on Saturday, and the 'receiving' of the bride (接新娘, Chip sun liong) was on Sunday.

During the wedding dinner, Zara was a bit clingy because she was abruptly waken from her nap when we arrived at the restaurant. She wasn't a good sport like the night before.

On Sunday morning we remained behind in the groom's house when Daddy followed the groom to 'receive' the bride. Zara managed to squeeze in half an hour of nap while we were waiting for the bride and groom's return. It's amazing what some sleep can do to a toddler. She was in better spirit right after that and for the rest of the event.

Here are some moments captured (Most photos were taken by Daddy, and he has this thing about taking photos in black and white, as you can see) :

She was very scared of the yam seng (Chinese: toasting) session.. way too loud!!.

Paying attention to Aunty Wai Mun talking.

Clinging to mummy most of the time.

Checking out the bride's bouquet

Mesmerised by the flash from the official photographer's camera

My best friend (who informed me about all the dates she went on; and told me when she was planning for her wedding, showed me her gown before the wedding, even though we lived few thousands of miles apart. Quiz : Is this the difference between a man's and a woman's best friend?) is back from NYC. The next 2 days, we'll be going to Malacca to visit her. A short holiday for the family.

Too Sociable?

We went for Daddy's company dinner in Mum's Place at Mutiara D'sara yesterday night. The whole upper floor of the restaurant was allocated for the event. It was an informal affair, and dinner was buffet style.

Zara was so well behaved the whole time. There were candles litted up every where and she was very facinated by the flickerring flame. I warned her that it's VERY HOT HOT, and if she touched it it'll be VERY PAIN PAIN. A few times when she wanted to touch it, I pointed my finger at her, and she quickly withdrew her hand.

Zara last met some of Daddy's colleagues 5months back, so I don't believe she has any recollection of the earlier encounter.

She said Hi to most of them (she would raise her hand and then said "Haai") and shook their hands (if they asked). She let them hold her hands to walk with her or carry her. She was very fond of this particular girl who is Daddy's colleague's daugther. Zara was running to the little girl all the time, puting her hands on the little girl's lap and just looked and smiled at her.

The whole dinner, she was walking here and there without any reservations, laughed when people laughed (we called it her politician's laugh). We just let her roam (since it was an enclosed area) but watched closely to make sure she didn't do anything dangerous, or bump into any sharp edges.

At one point, one of Daddy's colleague just picked her up very suddenly, and I expected her to look my way for help and cry, but she didn't even cry or fuss, but just stared at her for a while, and then relaxed.

Even though the event stretched way beyond Zara's bed time, she was still a sport. When the older kids played musical chair, she was dancing to the music. When some one won the game and got a round of applause, she clapped and laughed along as well.

When it was time to go home, she said good bye to everyone in her sweetest voice (her "ba-bye" is one of the sweetest sounding words she can say) and blew them flying kissess. She also almost hugged every one; and with the little girl she liked, the hug lingerred a little longer.

On one hand I'm proud of her for being so sociable and so easy to adapt to new environment and people. On the other hand I'm a bit worried if she's too sociable for her own good.

Zara Dancing

A video capturing Zara dancing to the tune of her electronic keyboard.

With her shaking her head like that, I'm always worried she may get dizzy; but then, she may just be creating a new dance move (Saturday Night Fever - 2006).

Got Tagged Again

I was tagged by Helen, yet again. Since I'm such a loyal reader of her blog, I have to show some support.

The Rules: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom spot.

1. The Cosmic Abyss
2. Between Lambs & Mutton
3. The Life of An Independent Babe
4. My All
5. All About Zara

Then you select five people to pass the love on to. Here's my selection :
1. Jasmine - what did you do before Faythe came? cooking?
2. Mom2Ashley - what do you like doing?
3. Allyfeel - life before Drs Seger.. :P
4. Shopping Mum - shopping? shopping? shopping?
5. Twinsmum - My long lost school mate, I want to know everything about you!
(Seng Kor, see, this time you didn't get tagged)

1. What were you doing ten years ago?
I was doing my final year in a small town in UK. Studying, working hard. However, living in the same block of flat with some gorgeous Italians, Spanish and Greeks did provide some motivation to stay in and study *drool*.

Daddy (back then just my boy friend) and I continued with our relationship long distant via weekly phone calls and the occasional exchanging of parcels. His contained Milo, Ikan Bilis, Chinese herbs; mine contained Photos (no digital camera back then), gifts, cards (and the relationship barely survived being 1 year apart, but it was still happy ending after that *phew*)

2. What were you doing 1 year ago?
I was home struggling with a new born, without a confinement lady (sent her packing on day 2); mum (who's passed on) or MIL (didn't offer) to help. In a way, it was a blessing. I learnt things from scratch, by reading books and from the net, I did things my way, and cared for Zara all by myself for 3 months (alright, with a little of Daddy's help as well as maid's but still it was My Way)

3. Five super fatty and high cholesterol snacks you enjoy:
1. Potato Crisps/Chips Lightly Salted (no can do for other flavour)
2. Keropok or Prawn/Fish Crakers
3. Curry Puffs (love them!)
4. Rich butter cookies (made with real butter and not margarine)
5. Cashew Nuts or Almonds

4. Five songs to which you know all the lyrics off your head right now:
1. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
2. You are My Sunshine
3. Sing a song of Six Pence
4. London Bridge Is Falling Down
5. Row Row Row Your Boat
and many more
Gee, soo sad, only can remember nursery rhymes. I have very bad memory, lyrics of songs I'd learnt up I'd forgotten now. These are songs I sing daily, so I have to remember them!

5. Five things you would do if you were a millionaire (actually how far can you stretch a million dollar nowadays?)
1. Get more involve in charity work (the same as Helen)
2. Buy a piece of land and build a small house at the coast of Wales, a Greek Island, New Zealand or Australia.
3. Travel the world, see the places I wanted to see but haven't (Sahara Dessert, Ayers Rock, Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, Santorini, Mykonos, Meteora).
4. Take years off from work, go back only when I want to not when I have to.
5. Set up a trust fund for Zara's (or any additional kids I have) education (by then how much would have left?)

6. Five bad habits:
1. Messy and untidy (you see my desk at work, you know what I mean)
2. Quick to lash out (Daddy got the most lashing, poor thing)
3. Absolutely love anything deep fried (I have to watch my cholesterol)
4. Zara has to be cared for my way, anybody's way is NO way
5. Day Dreaming - love to just lie on the bed or sofa and just stare into nothingness

7. Five things you like doing:
1. Spending quality time with Zara
2. Eating unhealthily
3. Reading (blogs/books)
4. Shopping (never mind if I'm not buying anything)
5. Traveling (been a while I'd indulged on this)

8.Five things you would never wear, buy, or get new again:
1. Nursing bra (once I'm done with nursing)
2. Breast pads (once I'm done with nursing)
3. Eye shadow (I looked like I'd been punched in the eye every time I apply this)
4. Red lipstick (makes me look whorish)
5. Tight fitting clothes (don't want to be a dumpling or ham-yuk-zhong, and my body expends and shrinks so frequently I won't know what size I'll be next month)
Oops, but 1 and 2 I may still buy and wear and use them if I have another kid right?

9. Five favorite toys:
1. My Olympus E500 DSLR
2. My Pentax Optio 555
3. My Electrolux Oven (could have made use of it more)
4.
5.
As for toys I played when I was younger, none really 'lived' that long to still be with me. Also, I am not a gadget person, can't even come out with the other 2.

There you go Helen.

Little Cat

Daddy loves fish, any types of fish (not the same type of Piscean Lust that this guy has though, Daddy's love is the edible type). Big fish, small fish, ocean fish, fresh water fish ; cooked in whatever styled, steamed, fried, soup, curry. And Zara is just like Daddy.

When it's dinner time, and we put her onto her highchair, she would point to the fish dish (we always have a fish dish for dinner because Daddy can't do without) and bounced excitedly on her chair chanting, "wis!"

If we gave her just her porridge (cooked with either pork or chicken with vegetable), she would just casually trust her tongue and push the porridge out of her mouth (her way of spitting). We have to take a bit of fish, put it on top of the porridge and tell her, "See, fish! Now, eat." We can't cheat her, she has very sensitive taste bud, if she tasted no fish in her porridge, she would just spit out the porridge.

We went to have Japanese dinner during the weekends. We ordered a serving of grill salmon with salt for Zara. The first bite she took, she immediately put her thumb out and said, "Gng" (her pronunciation of Good). She had 2/3 of the salmon steak all by herself!

At home for dinner, the amount of fish she consumed is the same as the amount I would take.

This week for dinner, she refused to have her porridge nor rice, and just wanted fish, nothing else! Where is she going to get her carbo?

This morning, I told her in the car,
Me : Tonight's dinner, you ask Kakak to cook you fish ok?
Zara : *bouncing in her car seat* Wis!
Me : How you tell Kakak to give you fish?
Zara : TATAK! Wis!
Me : How big you want the fish to be?
Zara : *stretched her arms out and bounced further* (her way of signing big)

The rate she's eating fish, we'll have to buy another adult's portion every time we go marketing. With a big cat and a little cat at home, fish has become a necessity!! Luckily we have befriended the fish monger in our market in Kampung Subang who sells us very good and fresh fish at a reasonable price (used to do marketing in Imbi Market and paid double the price for same amount of fish)!!

I Got Spanked

After reading JoeC's post where he got spanked by this group of ladies (although they call themselves bitches, I wouldn't use that to address them) whose blog is about giving blog reviews or bashings, I thought I'd submit mine for spanking too.

I got mine reviewed on 1st January 2006. Wasn't I lucky? To read the content, go here, but basically, this is what they said.

Recipe for Boredom
4 cups of baby pictures
3 tbsp of “what zara did”
1 default Blog template
a dash of English
6 months of crap
Combine all ingredients in a pot, mix until smooth, splatter across the internet. Serves 23,958,591.
I give it 1 hand up.

Oh well, I knew what I was into when I submitted it for review. Just have to take it lightly. Even if it was a big yawn, I'll still continue with my blog, I did warn in advance, it's ALL ABOUT ZARA, and not about anything scandulous.

So if you want, you can submit yours for some bashing or spanking too, but just take it with a pinch of salt and not too personally. Like what JoeC said, "Mereka tak pernah makan nasi lemak."

Blog on!!

End of Holidays

It's first day at work after such a long break *sob sob*. It was nice to spend more than a week at home with Zara, to be there to see some of her development, and to experience some of the funny or special moments.

New Year's Eve Morning
Zara woke up next to me and saw that Daddy's side was empty, she climbed down the bed and searched for Daddy
Zara : *extend her palm up* Papa?
Me : Papa in the bathroom
Zara : *half squatted down* Sssssss
Me : *tittering* No, Daddy is not in the toilet to she-she (Chinese: Pee), Daddy is in the toilet to take bath
I think she knows how we adult 'she-she' by going into the toilet with me when she's in her clingy mood, and I told her I was sitting on an adult's potty to 'she-she'

New Year's Morning
Me : Zara, wakey wakey, sleepy baby!
Zara : *stretched and smiled*
Me : Call me, MUMMY.
Zara : *smiled* Mi-na
Me : MUM-MEE
Zara : Mi-na
Ok Ok, will just settle for Mi-na for now.

Later the same day
Me : Zara, call me, MUMMY
Zara : Ah Mee
Me : MUMMY
Zara : Ah Mee
Ah Mee sure sounds better than Mi-na. And yes, she started calling me Ah Mee since New Years Day!!

Breakfast
Me : Zara, what do you want to have for breakfast?
Zara : Mum-mum! (Chinese for food)
Daddy: Do you want bread? *gave her some*
Zara ate and spit out, then shook her head
Me : Mummy get you yogurt then
Zara : Kng! (not sure if she's saying yogurt or just 'good')
I opened a tub of Petite Miam for her and started feeding her. Half way through,
Zara : *pointed to something* Moo-ner-mang! Moo-ner-mang! *excitedly*
I followed her finger, and saw she was pointing to Daddy who's having a banana
Me : You want a banana?
Zara : *did her more sign by pointing her index finger to her palm* Moo-ner-mang!
I peeled her one boomerang, I mean banana and offered it to her together with her yogurt.
So, banana to her is a boomerang!

Hair cutting at the salon (Zara sitting on my lap)
Yen (the hairdresser) : *Put her hand on arm* So what hair style do you want?
Zara pushed her arm away
Yen : Eh, your daughter won't let me touch you
Me : No la, where got?
Yen : You see.. *she put her hand on my arm again*
Zara pushed her arm away and stared at her
Me : Yeah hor. I didn't realise. Do again.
Yen put her hand on my arm one more time
Zara pushed her arm away again.
Haha, the little girl doesn't like strangers to touch me! She's started to be possessive!

Nap time
Me : *kissed her cheek* Mummy loves you, Zara. Do you love mummy?
Zara : *stroke my face tenderly with her hand, and looked at me*
Me : *kissed her cheek again* Yes, Mummy knows you love mummy too
Zara : *laid her head on my shoulder* Huh Huh
Me : *Tightened my arms around her* Mummy hug hug you too.

She has been extremely loving these few days, always coming to me and wrapped her arms around my leg while I was standing; or laid her head on my lap if I was sitting; or just patting my shoulder, or stroking my face when I carried her.