The Snackinator

Another quality that is beginning to manifest itself is Jae's ability to stomach a whole box of cookies or sweet junk food right after her meals. It's like she knows dessert is part of the menu. And she knows where to get them; the grey cabinet in the kitchen that has limitless amount of cold things inside.

And she knows which of her parent has a softer heart and will have a higher chance of helping her open the fridge door. I kept a tray of jellos and cookies just at her height so that she can pick anything she likes. Normally one isn't enough and she would pull me to the fridge again when she stuff everything into her mouth.

I've started to introduce her to ice creams and boy she loves them so much. We just don't really know which flavors she prefers. It seems like anything, as long as it's sweet and tasty, is good with her.

Her useful vocabs to get her snacks? "Prezz", "Ahh skimz", "Yes", "cold", "yay" and "more".

The Dah-Dah-Lah-Lah Song

It's just amusing to see your little kid invent a song on her own and jiggle to the beat. Right now I'm not sure if it's inspired by one of the Barney songs or it's actually one of the songs she's trying to sing. But whenever the little one gets into the singing mood we'll keep quiet and listen, exchanging smiles and looks between ourselves.

Strange Bruises

Jae's been getting strange bruises and scratches all round her legs recently. I have to assume they are the direct result of our daughter's fun-loving, never-say-quit-until-I-climb-to-the-top-of-this-strange-structure attitude. But if it's some odd corners at the center that is giving her the boo boos they should be doing something about it.

It looks like she's got a bad twist at her left ankle today. The back of her ankle is swollen and she wouldn't let me touch it. She seems to be walking just fine so it's either she has a very high pain tolerance or I'm just looking too hard. But I'm quite sure there's something there. A huge mozzie bite or a swollen ankle.

I think I'll talk to the teachers when I send her down tomorrow.

The parrot

Jae's progressing very well in her linguistic and motor skills. She's starting to pick up words from us and sometimes even remembering them and the usage of those words. Earlier this morning when we were on the way to school, she was babbling about either Barney or biscuits when she said "finished" while doing the palm rotating movement. I was a little surprised by that. Usually she would say "no more" which is a combination of her basic words "no" and "more". I still can't remember where she pick up that word.

Her swimming skills are getting better despite of stopping Aquaduck for a few months now. We have been religiously bring her to the pool every week and practicing her swimming and diving. Now she's able to hold her breath for a good 2 sec and kick herself forward. The good thing is she's not afraid to try again even if she choked, which makes a lot a difference when we are trying to teach her a skill.

Right now, her life pretty much revolves around Barney, biscuits, school and sleep. She's loving Barney so much it's the first thing she demands every morning. And she doesn't care if she has watch that CD for the twenth time.

Her First Bag

A Little Growing Person

Jae's officially 18 months now. 1 and a half years old in other words. Suddenly I realize she's no longer just a cute little thing that smells nice and cuddles up our chest for a sleep. She's now a little person, with distinct personality and preferences.

Unfortunately Jae got my temperament - which I got from my dad - and her mum's stubbornness - which she got from her dad too. That makes her a very nasty stubborn kid whenever she wants something. Fortunately she also got the mischieve gene from both of us so although it's tiring looking after her, she never fails to give us a laugh with one of her many tricks.

I'm still thinking of a way to make her learn to channel her temperament into something useful. My dad didn't teach me that so I'll have to figure it out. In the meantime we just have to manage her.

The Curious Case Of The Infection.

Jae developed a mild chicken pox early last week. At first even the GP we saw wasn't sure if it's chicken pox since her symptoms are suppressed by her vaccination. But after asking around we are quite sure it was chicken pox. The fever only lasted two nights and she only had little rash-like bumps on her tummy and knees. Other than that she was still hopping and climbing around.

Then came the second infection 3 days ago. She developed a 40 degree fever that doesn't go down even with paracetamol. For the first time, we saw her really tired from her fever. She would ask me to put her down on the bed and fall asleep on her own. On the third we decided to bring her to KK before the fever go any higher. The doc wasn't sure what infection she got since she didn't have any visible symptoms other than the fever. They even run a test on her urine to see if there's an infection there. Nothing. So we got a few more bottles of stronger painkillers and wait for the infection to run its own course. Luckily it only took another night before Jae get back to normal temperature.

I'm not sure why but eversince she's become very very clingy. Like a Koala. Didn't want to us to get more than a step away from her. It's quite tiring especially we have been trying to take care of her at home for the past two weeks.

Hopefully she'll get back to normal soon.

There goes the chicken

大头

Competition

Valentine's Dinner

It has became sort of a tradition for us to cook Valentine's day dinner back at home. Partly because we got our share of rip-off set dinners from our younger days but also because wifey's parents don't really plan for Valentine's Day. 

This year wifey took the effort to find out an "atas" butchery at Bukit Timah for our supply of steaks and ribs. All fresh air-flown meat from all over the world. If anyone's interested I can find out what's the shop's name. But I can tell you, after the succulent steaks I don't think I'll ever pay for another steak in restaurants. Fresh steak are so good you can actually eat it on its own. Yes, no need black pepper sambal mushroom rubbish sauce. Just be brave and get a rare cooked steak. The juices will retained and you'll realise that beef is actually sweet! Plus two pieces of 2in  Wagyu beef is only less than 14 bucks! 

Dessert was Nutella Crazy Cake. Loaded with Nutella chocolate and nuts. We caught Geraldine and Jae quietly nibbing the cake while we were enjoying our steaks. It was so funny. Two of them went quiet suddenly and I wondered where were the two rascals. Lifted up the bind and saw two rats nibbing a corner of the cake at the kitchen!

I wish I got a photo that. Would be classic!

Anyway, happy belated Valentine's Day

Our World With Jae