Innocent Comprehension

After work yesterday, I went to have dinner at my sis' place and to pick up Zara.

When I arrived, she was playing in my sis' room. My nephew who's sitting for his UPSR (Primary 6 exams) next week was studying in the room as well.
Me : "Zara, lets go out. Nicholas kor kor need to study."
Zara : "Don't want."
Me : "We must go out. And let Nicholas kor kor study."
Zara : *glanced at his books* "Nicholas kor kor need to study A, B, C."
I shut the room door and led her outside.

After 5minutes.
Zara : *came to me and asked* "Go yi-yi (Chinese : mum's sis) room jump jump on the bed."
Me : "Cannot, Nicholas kor kor studying. When Nicholas kor kor finished his exams, then you can go in and jump jump on the bed like a crazy girl."
Zara was happy with my answer and continued playing in the living room.

10 minutes later, when Nicholas came out of the room to get himself a drink, Zara came to me and pointed to him.
Zara : "Nicholas kor kor finished exam already. Zara can go into the room to jump jump on the bed like crazy."

That's her comprehension of 'study' and 'exam'.

Pst. I'm having problem accessing comments of blog who has migrated to Blogspot Beta version. It's taking forever to launch the comments pop up. If I'd not left a comments in your post, it's not because I'm not visiting you, it's due to this technical problem that I'm not leaving my 'mark'.

Lazy - These few days

I'm getting so lazy... or maybe I should say tired.
Lots of work to do, and these 2 days, I have gone to the office to work and sent Zara and Tuyam to my sister's place.

Zara had a good weekend.
On Saturday at 8am, she woke Daddy up, "Daddy wake up! Zara want go pet shop."
When we asked her what she wanted to do in the pet shop, she said, "See iguana, dog dog, cat cat, rabbit, mouse".
So Daddy oblidged, and I told him his daugther has more persuasive power than me. I could never drag him out of bed like that.

On Sunday morning, when we stepped out of the house for a walk, we met Zara's friend Chloe and her mum walking passed our gate also taking a walk.
Chloe is 9mths older than Zara, and we always see her in the park. Chloe's mum is also pregnant like me, so we have lots of things to share, about our daugthers, about our pregnancies.
So we went walking together, 2 pregnant ladies with 2 toddlers.
After our walk, Chloe invited Zara to her house to play. Zara had a good time there, this is her first visit to a friend's house. She wasn't shy at all, digging out Chloe's toys from her toy box without prompting, playing the slide, jumping on the sofa like it's her own home.
I should invite Chloe over next time but I wonder if Zara will so willingly sharing her toys.

Yesterday when I went to pick Zara up from my sis' place, she told me, "Zara happy. Got kor kor (referring to my nephews) play with Zara."

She must be so lonely always stuck at home with mummy and Tuyam all the time.

And for me, after getting home from my sister's place, I just feel like sleeping and do nothing.. So I went to bed with Zara at 10pm. Zzzzzzz.

Getting Ready For Her Birthday

Here's Zara getting ready for her birthday..

Girl Or Boy

Lots of people are asking me this question.

I had a feeling I was going to have a boy from the very beginning. Because of the timing of conception (on the dot of ovulation day), and the experience I have with this pregnancy is very different from Zara's. Not to mention seeing the baby's hand reach out for the needle during the amnio test, an indication of a boy in the making.

With Zara, there was no morning sickness. My stomach was growing very rounded and towards the side (like a flat wok). With this baby, it is pointy, all growing towards the front.

Do I prefer a girl or a boy? I asked Zara that question as well, "Do you want mummy to have a baby girl or baby boy?" She always replies, "Baby girl." If Zara was a boy, I would definitely hope for a girl, since she's a girl, does it matter?

A boy would have completed the family, an ideal. A girl and a boy, what more can you ask?
Daddy would prefer a boy, he said he could share his engineering hobby with him, i.e. fixing the car, building amplifiers etc.

But deep down, I would like another girl.
I think girls are easier to care for, girls 'listen' more, and when they grow up, they tend to be closer to their families than boys.
From an economic standpoint, a girl would be better, because she can inherit all Zara's and Tasha's clothes and shoes.
My friend who has a girl first and a boy then, told me the caring of the KKJ (Chinese : male organ) is tougher. There are so many folds to clean, like below the testicles, the folds between the penis and testicles etc.

The reason why I wanted to have a second child was to let Zara have a sibling to talk to and discuss things with when we're old and gone. How many brother and sister out there who are very close? Who can talk about anything under the sun? I just look at myself, we're never that close to my brother, I talk to my SIL more than him; but with my sisters, we get along fine (of course there were tongue lashing, fists fighting days), we can talk about anything, our MILs, our sex lives, the latest skin care, etc.

So I was very anxious to know the sex of the baby.

And I am very happy to know that we're going to have another girl! I can sense a wee bit of disappointment in Daddy when I told him the sex, but after a while, he said, "actually, girl is better also hor?" My reply to him is, "No matter what, don't ask me try for a boy huh, I'm closing shop!"

About Baby

Few days back
Me : Zara, mummy buy you new bed, you sleep on new bed ok? Your cot let baby sleep.
Zara : Don't want. Zara sleep Zara's bed.
Me : Where will baby sleep then?
Zara : *pointing to our bed* With Mummy and Daddy

Yesterday night
Me : Zara, mummy buy you new bed, you sleep on new bed ok? Let baby sleep in your cot.
Zara : Don't want. Baby sleep new bed. Zara sleep in the cot.
Me : Why? Mummy get you nice nice new bed woh, you don't want?
Zara : Don't want. Zara likes Zara's cot. Baby sleep new bed.
Me : What about nap time? Can baby sleep with you on the mattress (she has a mattress downstairs for her afternoon nap) down stairs?
Zara : Cannot. Baby sleep in small cot downstairs.
Me : But, we don't have small cot downstairs.
Zara : Baby sleep on the floor then.
Me : But the floor is so hard and cold. You must sayang (Malay : love) baby, let baby sleep on the mattress with you.
Zara : Sleep on mummy's body then.
Me : *roll eyes*

We still have yet to sort out the sleeping arrangement. We thought of getting a new bed for Zara, park it next to my side of the bed (like we did with the cot), and let baby sleep in the cot. Zara doesn't seem keen with the idea.. but maybe she'll change her mind when we bring her bed shopping.

By the way, got my amnio test result, and every thing is ok.. what a relief. So I'm now half way with my pregnancy, 20more weeks to go.

Lawyer Buruk II

Before we went out over the weekend, I had a short top and shorts on, my tummy showing.
Me : *sticking out my tummy* Zara, can mummy go to the supermarket like that?
Zara : *looked at me* Cannot.
Me : Why?
Zara : Because can see breast.
Me : Can see breast meh?
Zara : *pointed to my belly button and corrected herself* Can see belly button.

Zara likes to point to my stomach and says : Mummy stomach got baby.
And I like to ask her back : What about Zara? What is in Zara's stomach?
Zara used to say : Zara's stomach got worms (thanks to SIL who told Zara she would have worms in the stomach if she continued to suck her thumb)
And I told her she no longer have worms, because she's stopped sucking her thumb. Now her reply is : Zara's stomach got egg and cheese (her staple every day).

While checking out our wedding photos.
Zara : Daddy so handsome.
Me : Mummy pretty or not?
Zara : No
Me : Why mummy not pretty?
Zara : Mummy got mole. Like raisin. (referring to the mole I have on chest which is, yup, like a raisin, which could be seen on the wedding photo)

I wanted to test her again later.
Me : Zara, Mummy pretty or not?
Zara : .... (quiet)
Me : Mummy pretty or not?
Zara : Mummy happy.
Aiyo.. cannot say I'm pretty just to please me meh??
I probably have to dress up more nicely at home these days.

I have a night conference, after changing her to her pajamas, I told her I need to go and work, and Daddy will look after her.
Zara : Mummy stay with you (me).
Me : Mummy need to work, Daddy stay with you.
Zara : *trying to get rid of Daddy* Daddy, go to the toilet outside poo poo (referring to the shared toilet outside which we use for big business as the ensuite toilet in the master bed room flushing system is not that good)
Daddy : Daddy no poo poo. Daddy look after you while mummy works.
Zara : Go to the toilet outside to she-she (Chinese : pee) then. Go she-she. Mummy stay with you (me).

21st Month Update

Zara is 21mths today, 3 more months till she's 2yrs old (oh boy, have to start planning for her birthday party).

~ Weight should be more than 9.7kg (didn't weigh her this month)
~ Height : 83cm
~ No new teeth sprouting. She has a total of 16 teeth.

Dexterity :
~ Climbing up stairs without holding on to anything, however, we asked her to at least use the wall to support her, just in case.
~ Able to rinse her mouth and spit out, even moving her cheek to do a through rinse.
~ Able to draw circles (although not perfect).
~ Climbing up ladders in the park unassisted.
~ Able to put on her pants with some help.

Language :
~ She can sing and recite some nursery rhymes from beginning till the end.
~ Her reasoning skill is getting very good.
~ She's learning new words very quickly, and the correct usage of them.
~ She's able to sing along with most of the songs she has on CD, VCD and DVD, for words she's not sure, she'll just mumble something to the tune.

(and lots more which I'd captured in some of the posts)

Feeding and Food:
3 meals and 3 milk feeds a day. Eats a lot of snacks in between,

Her current favourite junk food is chocolate ice cream (she only fancies chocolate flavour and nothing else), which I have to keep a tub in the freezer all the time.

She only wants to have egg and cheese these days for breakfast and lunch.
And for dinner, as long there's a fish or an egg dish, she's fine.

She refuses most leafy vege (just suddenly), preferring only beans (long beans, peas). Luckily she takes lots of fruits or she won't have enough fiber intake.

Emotions :
~ Officially weaned off thumb sucking.
~ Extremely clingy nowadays, probably feels threatened by my growing stomach and the coming baby.
~ Showing preference to which kid she likes to play with in the park, she only likes to 'hang around' this particular girl, who's 8mths older than her.
~ Very affectionate, giving everybody lots of hugs and kisses, and saying "I love you" to Daddy and me.
~ Very emotional, especially when she sees animals in distressed (mummy not in the same league as the animals).

Play and Learn

She started showing interest in stacking blocks, and looks like she's doing quite ok. She was occupied with this for quite a while, leaving Tuyam enough time to wash the dishes and her milk bottles. She was so patient, every time the 'tower' toppled, she just restack them, and she refused to let me help her.

In the evening, while Tuyam folded the day's laundry. She picked up her favourite pants, and started trying to put on. She's doing quite well here, but still don't know how to handle the back, exposing her diaper. She repeated this a few times, taking it off, putting it back on.

When it's time to go to the park and I told her no long pants should be worn. She quickly changed to her shorts.

If she gets better.. she may be able to help change the baby in future. Hee hee.

Lawyer Buruk

My little girl is turning into a lawyer buruk (Malay : a mediocre lawyer) these days. She's learning to negotiate, giving instructions, recalling events.

Tuyam was having tooth ache and she complained to Zara hoping to get some sympathy and hence obedience from her.
Tuyam : Zara, kakak teeth pain pain.
Zara : *not empathetic* Because kakak never brush teeth!

She's been very clingy and prefers me to bath her, even in the morning (which is all done by Tuyam during weekdays).
Tuyam : Zara, come take bath.
Zara : Don't want kakak bath Zara. Kakak go hang tothes (clothes). Mummy bath bath Zara.
Tuyam : Mummy need to work. Kakak finished hang clothes.
Zara : Kakak bath bath Rusty then (Rusty is our cat). Take off Rusty diaper and baju.
Tuyam : Rusty got wear diaper and baju meh?
Zara : Take off Rusty collar then.
I just watched her in amazement, smiling to myself, taking in her 'argument'.

She shouted for me at 5:30pm, asking me to bring her to the park.
Me : Mummy not yet finish work. Later ok, one more hour, then mummy come down and bring you to the park.
Zara : Mummy work work first yeah. After bring Zara to ship park (she always refers to our park as Ship park). Kakak cooking cooking at home. Then mummy bring you (me) to see snails (on our way back, we sometimes get to see snails). Then bath bath with you (me). Then makan (Malay : meal) time!

And every day before we leave the house for the park, Zara will say bye bye to Tuyam and add this, "Kakak cook nice nice mum mum (referring to her dinner) yeah?"

Zara's awareness

Zara is not bothered when I'm around her naked. In fact, she behaves as though it's the most natural thing to do.

When we shower together, she loves asking me to carry her, and she'll cling to me like a koala and lay her head on my shoulder. She probably likes the skin touch skin feeling.

The strange thing is, when Daddy is around her naked (even just being topless), she would say, "Daddy shame shame, never wear baju (Malay: clothes)". If Daddy is topless, she would not let him hug her. She would just say, "Don't want" without giving a reason ("Becausssssssss.. don't want" she would say).

We tried this a couple of times, and the behaviour is always the same. I really wonder why.

~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~

I tried to check if she knows the different between a man and a woman one day.
So I asked her, "Mummy got petpet (Chinese : female organ) or not?"
Zara answered, "Got. Like Zara. Zara got petpet."
And then I asked her, "Daddy got petpet or not?"
Zara answered, "No. Daddy don't have. Daddy got pineapple. Got hair one."
I laughed till I had tears in my eyes. Daddy's definitely doesn't shape like a pineapple, I don't know how she even connect the two.

Weekend bad luck

Just our luck.

Incident 1
On Saturday, while on our way back from the market, at a traffic light on a slope, Daddy stopped behind a small truck loaded with long wooden poles. The truck suddenly backed towards our car; Daddy pressed on the honk, but the truck driver was obviously dreaming, the truck just continued to slide down the slope towards our car, and suddenly BANG! One of the wooden pole just cut straight into our bonnet.

Daddy was furious, he immediately overtook the truck, blocked the truck with his car and got down, making sure the truck driver did the same and checked on the damage. Daddy was pointing at the driver, then his car, we couldn't hear what he was saying, but it's obvious he's very angry, an emotion he doesn't show much in the presence of Zara (he's more patient with Zara than me). Zara pointed to Daddy and said, "Daddy so rude", not seeing this side of him before.

When Daddy got back into the car, he said when they talked about who's going pay for the repair, the truck driver just said he's just a driver for the company truck, and won't have money to pay Daddy.

Incident 2
On Sunday, I went to have dinner at my sis' place and after dinner I brought my dad out for coffee.

As I was driving towards the coffee place, going on a straight road, a sudden BANG! and the whole car shook and skidded a bit sideways. We got knocked by a car exiting from a junction on the left!

I immediately stopped the car, my dad, the hero, stomped out and started approaching the other car. I parked the car properly, checked the damage, unstrapped Zara from the car seat, carried her and walked towards the other car. I could hear my Dad shouting at the young driver, "You just got your license and you are still on probation and you are driving like a madman?!!" He was giving the boy a lecture. The boy was apologising profusely. I told him I'll get someone to evaluate the damage and then bill him. There's a bad dent on the left back passenger side just after the door, all the way to the bumper.

We exchanged phone numbers, and after more apologies from him, we left. I told my dad why he was so angry, and scolded the boy so harshly. What if he was some road bully and beat him up? He's way too gangho. My dad.

I was shaken by the accident, but then I counted my blessings. If I'd drove any slower, or if the driver drove any faster, he could have knocked right into the back passenger car door, where Zara was seated. I don't want to imagine that. And I was driving Daddy's car, and not my car, which has cheaper spare parts, more common colour, and he already has a dent from the day before, so if he needed to knock the dent back, he can get them done all together. Lucky in a way?

My Dark Side

Every night before I go to bed, I always asked for patience and fairness so that I will be able to give this to Zara (and the coming baby) in her (their) upbringing.

I realised when I'm tired, not feeling well and if I have some misunderstanding with Daddy, my mood is sour, and I will then be a bit harsh on Zara.

When she wakes up in the middle of the night because of a bad dream, and on days when I'm not rested, I would actually grumble loudly to her while patting her, "Please la, go back to sleep la. Mummy also needs rest la." (I should have just hug and calm her, and pat her back to sleep)

When she's demands for TV even after she's just watched a whole Barney show, if my mood is sour, I would tell her a firm "NO! NO MORE TV!" No explanation given. (I should have suggested to her other things to do instead of watching TV)

When she runs around naked after a bath, trying to be playful instead of letting me dress her up, and if I'm in one of those moods, I'll yank her towards me, and almost shouting, "Don't be naughty yeah! Quickly, let mummy dress you up!" (I should have explained to her that she should get dress quickly, or she'll catch a cold).

Get the drift..?

Yesterday, I wasn't feeling quite well, because I have a bit of abdominal pain (oh well, maybe this was just my excuse). I was giving Zara a tough time.
"Stop splashing water on mummy yeah. Or else you stop swimming!" when she was splashing water in her playful way in her wading pool.
"Hurry up la, get out of the bath now!" during her evening bath, because she wanted to play longer in her bath.
"You tore your book huh? Ok, mummy throw away the book then since you don't know how to sayang (Malay: Take care) your book." when she accidentally tore a page out from her book.
"Please hold your cup properly la. Why you keep spilling?" when she drank from her sippy cup and spilled some out.
etc.

In the night, when it was time for her to brush her teeth and get ready for bed. She was making a fuss because I got Tuyam to help her instead of helping her myself.
"Aiya, mummy not feeling well la. Let Kakak do for you." I grumbled impatiently.
She gave me a reply which woke me up instantly. She said, "Mummy so rude!". When I asked her what she said. She didn't dare repeat that, but she said instead, "Don't want Mummy scold Zara.".

It quickly brought me to my senses. Why am I being so harsh on her the whole day, or on days when I'm in my sour mood? She's just being herself like any other days. I felt so guilty.

So I have my dark side too, but I really hope such occasions are rare, and I'm still learning to be patient, if not constantly at least most of the time.

What Must You Say?

I've been trying to teach Zara to use the right 'magic' word like Please, Welcome, Sorry, Thank You for different situations. Here is how she uses it.

When she starts shouting for something she wants, like chocolate ice cream.
Me : Zara, what must you say?
Zara : *stops her shouting* Kakak, please, cho-koh-lat ice cream please.
Me : *after Tuyam has given her*, what must you say now?
Zara : Thank you Kakak.

Watching Barney, and she started jumping on the sofa full of excitement.
Me : Zara cannot jump yeah. If you jumped, mummy will turn off the TV.
Zara : *stopped jumping for a mere 15second, then resumed jumping*
Me : Zara, what did mummy say? Cannot jump yeah. Or else mummy turn off the TV.
Zara : *ignored me and continued with the dangerous stunt*
Me : *turned off TV*
Zara : *shocked, looked at me, and then quickly came over to hug me* So sorry mummy, so sorry. So sorry.
I never taught her how to say 'so sorry' before, but I guess I'd used it on her before when I accidentally bumped her head or ate the last piece of chocolate.

Half way through dinner, Zara pushed the spoon away when Tuyam attempted to feed her.
Me : Zara, what did mummy say? It's rude to push the spoon away.
Zara : Thank you kakak. Kakak Please. Zara pao pao (Chinese : Full). Welcome.
Aiks, I taught her to say, "No thank you kakak. Zara pao pao already." instead of pushing her spoon away, and this is how she said it.

When she sneezed.
Me : Bless you. Oops, you forgot to say something.
Zara : Excuse me. Welcome.

Conclusion, she knows when to use Sorry, Thank you, Please, but still confused about when to use Welcome, but she knows it's a nice word to use. :P

Helping Out

Zara is helping out in the house with some of the lighter chores.

When she's in the mood, she puts away her toys by singing, "crean (clean) up" after the mess she created.
She helps to bring new diaper to us when she needs changing and then tosses her used diaper into the bin.
She helps me bring my book to me, or passes me the remote controls when needed.
She helps pass out cutlery during dinner time.

Last Friday, I saw her helping out at the kitchen. She was peeling off the skin of Petai beans. Tuyam said although she's very slow in her progress, she was able to peel off the skin of about 10beans, helping out a little, and keeping herself occupied.


Just hope she'll be able to help out more when the baby arrives. *grin*

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Helping my friend out here.

She has a litter of 4 homebred miniature schnauzer puppies (colour : salt & pepper) for sale.

I would love to have one, but I don't think I have time to care for dogs who needs quite a bit of attention (unlike cats).

If you are interested, please contact : 012-2005658 / 012-2961099 or mc_foong@yahoo.com / omtarre@yahoo.com

You can also check out her add here.

Amnio Test and Weekend photos

Had my amnio test done yesterday morning.

I went in feeling very nervous. I guess the Dr saw my pale face and reassured me everything will be fine by patting on my arm.

After identifying the spot which was a safe distance away from the baby via ultrasound, Dr immediately sterilized his hands and my tummy area with alcohol and started the procedure.

During Zara's time, I was so afraid I just closed my eyes the entire time until the Dr told me it's over. This round, I chose to watch the entire procedure. I saw the Dr deftly inserted the long needle into my abdomen, the strange thing is, there was no pain. Not even a sting or an ant bite feeling (with Zara, there was at least a ant bite sting). With the Dr holding on to the ultrasound scanner and the needle to ensure the baby is at a safe distant, the nurse started extracting the amnio fluid into a tube. It was yellowish in colour, like urine.

I was concentrating on the amount of fluid extracted, and suddenly heard the Dr said, "Oops, baby has moved". I turned my attention to the monitor. I could see the baby's hands reaching out to the needle. Yes, the little one was reaching out his/her hands for the needle! The Dr maneuvered the needle a bit so that the baby could not touch the sharp end which then stopped the amnio fluid from flowing into the collection tube. So it took longer for the desired amount of fluid to be extracted with the baby being so 'busy body' trying to touch the needle every time it was inserted back to the amnio sac.

When the right amount of fluid was collected, the Dr took the needle out, and did another scan on my stomach to show that baby is ok, heart beating etc. I could still see the baby's hands reaching out towards the direction of where the needle was. 10 little fingers all stretched out. What a sight!

When we got home, I showed Zara the plaster on my tummy, and told her I won't be able to carry her, or bring her to the park these few days. I also told her to be careful when she's around me, no pressing on my stomach or jumping on me or 'blood will come out'. She has been trying to refrain herself from doing all these.

We now have to wait 2.5 to 3 weeks for the result.

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And here are the things Zara did over the weekend.

Swimming! She's staying afloat on her own for longer period of time now!

After 3 weeks of not sucking her thumb, we took out her 'present' for her. She had a good time slowly unwrapping the present, then immediately making use of the paint to do some finger painting on paper as well as on the toilet wall.

Who's the mum?

One night during bed time, Zara was jumping on the mattress and refused to quiet down. So I threatened her.
Me : "Zara, stop jumping on the bed. Time for bed yeah"
Zara : *ignored me*
Me : "Zara, you don't want to stop is it?"
Zara : *ignored me* Jump jump jump!
Me : "Ok, then mummy go work work in the computer room (she refers to the study as computer room). Daddy tuck you in then." (Knowing very well she won't let Daddy tuck her in)
And then I pretended to reach for the door knob of the room.
Zara : *Cried* Urgh!!!
Me : *turned back to the bed* So you stop jumping ok?
Zara : *walked towards me, and smacked my shoulder* Beat mummy!
Me : Why you beat mummy?
Zara : Because mummy yai yai (Chinese : Naughty)!
Wah, she thought I was naughty because I threatened to leave the room.

While we were driving to Penang, Zara was getting restless sitting on the car seat for too long. She started swaying her head left and right and that caused her head to knock against the sides of the car seat.
Me : "Zara, you cannot bang your head like that"
Zara : *ignored me, continued to sway her head*
Me : "Zara, you bang your head like that then your head will be painful and you'll be stupid"
Zara : *stopped what she was doing, and stared at me wide eyes* Mummy say stupid!
Me : *shit!* "Ermm.. yeah, because you'll be stupid mah, if you bang your head like that"
Zara : *stared at me still* Mummy say stupid *waved her finger at me* cannot say stupid!
Me : Ok ok.. sorry, mummy shouldn't say stupid. Stupid is not a nice word.
Right, my fault, I told her not to use the word, and I use it myself.

She's getting to be more like me now.. hmm..

Penang - II

We spent most of Sunday in the resort itself.

After a sumptuous breakfast, when we brought Zara to the beach, we saw horses available for hire. Zara was very interested, and said, "Want to sit horsey!" When I asked if she was going to ride on her own, she said, "Mummy sit with you (me)." So I went with Zara. It was just a stroll on the beach, with the horse handler guiding the horse on the leash.

She really enjoyed herself, patting the horse on and off, and kept saying, "Zara so happy." When we got back, she thanked the horse and patted it. The horse handler mentioned she's very brave because most young kids would have been quite fearful of the height while being on the horse, and the size of the horse.

Zara and mummy on the horse; Zara patting the horse to thank it; Zara running about and playing in the resort compound.

For late lunch, headed to town for Sisters' char kuey teow in Macalister Road. Zara was tired and dopey, and only had some prawn fritters from the lobak stall. Then it was a wasted trip to Komtar. Our intention was to get more DVDs (as we got some really good quality foreign film there on our last trip), but because of the raid, the shops were closed, so we left empty handed.

Late in the evening, we brought Zara for a swim. The water was icy cold and even though she was shivering, she refused to get out. She didn't want to leave until she was able to lie in the water and float, and got some applause from two Middle Eastern men watching. She was so proud, and kept telling us later, "Zara so clever to swim. Uncle Bravo Zara."

For dinner, it was again to Nonya Breeze. This time, it was 4 dishes (fish, prawns, vege, egg), 1 duck soup, 1 nasi kerabu, 3 drinks, and the bill was less than RM50.

On Monday morning, Zara wanted horsey ride again. This time, the handler told us he would bring us further, but when we were heading back, Zara asked to get down, she was complaining, "Bum bum pain pain." from the long ride.

Zara patting the horse while on it; Happy to be on the ground again because her bum was hurting; Back up the horse alone for a photo shoot; Thanking the horse and saying good bye.

We then had to check out and move to Equatorial Hotel (as it was nearer for Daddy to get to Prai for work). Daddy headed off to work after dropping us off. Zara and I had a slow leisurely buffet lunch, all she had was some almond flakes and a scoop of ice cream when mummy pigged out.

Back in the room, I had the TV on for her (Tom & Jerry was on) while I washed her bottle in the toilet. Suddenly, I heard her crying outside, I rushed out to check on her, "what happened?". She just pointed to the TV and said, "Cat cat so naughty. Make puppy cry!" And tears started pouring down again. My gosh, she was crying over the scene where Tom woke up a puppy from its sleep (and it started yelping) while chasing after Jerry. No more Tom & Jerry, since it got her so emotional.

Evening was swimming again, and this time, another achievement from her, she could actually let go off my hand, and paddle on her own (with arm floats of course) for a few seconds.

That night, we just had dinner in the hotel as we were too lazy to go out (and don't know where to go).

My morning sunshine.

Tuesday, Daddy left early in the morning. I brought Zara for breakfast, then a swim, and then we had to check out (bloody hotel wouldn't let us have late check out!). Spent the next few hours loitering in the hotel, and also in Bukit Jambul mall while we waited for Daddy to pick us up after work.

To get to Bukit Jambul mall, we had to take a cab there, and Zara refused to get on the cab. She actually pushed the door shut while I tried to get her in, she said, "Want to sit only mummy's car. Don't want this car." Such a fussy girl.

Even though it's a bit tiring for me to handle her alone (esp lugging the bag containing her water, biscuit, Mr Blue, and our gigantic camera etc; and sometimes having to carry her to walk up and down stairs, with the stroller strapped around my shoulder), Zara was a good girl, and it was very easy to take care of her. Most of the time, she just let me push her about in the stroller, and she kept occupied by singing and reciting nursery rhymes to herself.

Daddy came to pick us up from the mall at about 5pm (since no cab wanted to take us back to the hotel or asked for exorbitant price. I heard cabbies were on strike that day because they were supposed to start to run on meter that week), and we headed back to KL.

Penang - I

Daddy had to go up North for a work trip last 2 days. Since I am going to do my amnio test next Monday, I thought I'd followed him so we could stop by at St Anne's to say a prayer before the test.

We arrived in Bukit Mertajam at about 3:30pm on Saturday, the feast day itself. The road leading to the church was closed so we have to walk. There were lots of hawkers lining the street, taking the opportunity to make some money from the event. Some were blasting loud music and songs which I thought was very disrespectful.

We said our prayer in the old church, and then spent some time showing Zara around although it was a terribly hot day. Zara was very interested in the various statues of Jesus and the Saints available, especially the scene of the crucifixion. We tried to explain to her what was happening in each scene in ways she could understand. After that, whenever she see her book on Jesus (which we brought along for the trip), she kept saying, "Jesus pain pain". "Bad people beat beat Jesus". "Put Jesus on the stick".

Zara receiving flowers in the old church; Around the church; an ice cream treat for her.

We then headed to Penang island. We stopped by at Nonya Breeze, a restaurant we discovered on our last trip to Penang a year before, for an early dinner. The food at the restaurant was still very good and authentic, and for a dinner with fish, prawns, chicken, vege, dessert, 4 drinks, it only came out to RM41. Rosie, the restaurant owner, even threw in Zara's dinner (which consist of a small fish fillet and a bowl of soup) for free. No way we can get this kind of deal and hospitality in KL.

We let her have some fun at the beech before dinner.

We stayed in Bayview Resort as our favourite hotel Lonepine was fully booked. The resort was filled holiday goers from the Middle East. Our room got upgraded, and we got a very big and comfortable sea view room. Zara just felt so right at home in the resort, she even walked about among the fully robed Middle Eastern ladies without a hint of curiosity or fear.

After taking a shower, we went out to the night market to get ourselves some DVDs. With the police on their toes, the shop that we visited (which was recommended by Domestic Rat) was pulling down the shutters to close up, and then reopening after they got the all clear sign, a few times. Daddy and Zara got 'shut in' on one occasion and Zara wailed when she couldn't spot me around. Poor girl.

During bed time, since Daddy had to share a bed with Zara, Zara warned Daddy by waving her finger, "Daddy, cannot snore snore."