14 months - a day in pictures

visiting the e twins and learning how to share cranberries while we caught up with friends.

having fun at the park (on a rather warm afternoon), swooshing down slides, and learning how to say raisin.

having her first ice cream truck ice cream. go local! go cheap!

13 months - friday goodness

took friday off to spend solo time with baby because i somehow felt that it would be infinitely better (and less tiring) than heading to work. i was right.

work has somehow been wearing me down even though i don't think the workload is heavy at all. have had colleagues tell me on separate occasions in the past week that i look tired (and like crap), so i guess it is true.

so friday was a welcome relief. we spent the morning at the playground and also having a rather enjoyable breakfast of soya milk and steamed yam cake. then it was indoor play time while i whipped up lunch (fried rice, cauliflower, broccoli and carrots) for baby. baby ate lunch without a fuss, and after her bath, she got her bottle of milk and had a 1.5 hour nap when i took some time to catch up with work emails. 

baby woke up at around 2 and we took the train to causeway point as i had to buy some presents. baby behaved really well in her carrier during the train ride. i think she enjoyed the moving scenery outside the windows and observing people in the train. i will definitely miss the convenience of taking her around in the carrier when she exceeds the weight limit (which should be soon! wurh!).

realised that there were indoor play areas at the mall, so baby got to romp around in the playground for awhile. this was followed by mad driving on the barney toy car. shopping was next and i had a late lunch at yoshinoya with baby munching on the long beans and carrots that came with my beef bowl. all in all, we spent 2 hours out of the house and it was all good! so proud of myself that i managed to handle the outing with a super active baby on my own.

when we got home, baby got her late afternoon milk, followed by flipping through books and playing games with her soft toys.

after dinner, we went for our usual jaunt at the nearby mall and the library. then baby spent some time at our neighbour's home before coming back for her bath and bedtime. 

what a great day. more of such days please!

downsized!

i swear i have smaller boobs now than i had before i was pregnant. what happened? the fats probably travelled downwards and lodged in my thighs. gah. #postpregnancybody

13 months - check up

baby went for her 3rd (and last) pneumococcal jab today. apparently it's the jab that is the most painful of the lot, and her crying definitely proved it. she has not cried so much for past jabs.

anyway, her vital stats as an almost 14-monther are 80cm (97th percentile) and 11.5kg (97th percentile). based on those charts in the health booklet, kids are usually this size when they are 2. she's definitely not going to lose out in the physical and gross motor aspects compared to those kids who were born in the earlier part of 2012. 

13 months - sand success!

she finally got comfortable at the sand playground today! at our third try! there was the initial reluctance, but after a few minutes of standing stock still and getting used to the sand on her feet, baby got moving and even started digging up sand using her hands. she was having quite a bit of fun and so getting her out of the playground took quite a bit of effort. couldn't help it as the sun was setting and she hadn't had dinner. we shall have to plan to spend more time at the playground next time. :)

baby is sticking close to the hubby this weekend so i had plenty of chances to catch the two of them together. nice!

13 months - new words

baby continues to learn new things everyday and we find that she's really quick at picking up new words and meanings nowadays.

she knows and recognises/points to the following things or does the action (on top of what she already knew before): cheek, chin, armpit, banana (said it once so far only when looking at a picture book), shoes, star, zebra (in picture books), keys (and specifically the key in the bunch of keys that opens the house door), ah yi (my sis), gugu (my sis in law), uncle (generic), auntie (generic), baby, 眼晴, 耳朵, 鼻子, 转个圆圈 (she turns in circles until she is quite giddy), 再见 (which is a flying kiss), 睡觉 (where she will rest her head on her hand/arm), close eyes, smelly, thunder

she can say the following when she sees it or does the action: wet (like the wet floor after it is mopped), hive (five, and that it comes after 4), eight, hot (when she sees steam or touches something warm like her milk bottle or bath water), amen, bear, bag, popo (grandma), nana (grandma), bye, clock, 花 ...

the list is endless and i don't think i have covered everything. really appreciative that she's being exposed to both english and chinese at such a young age.

baby fever

who would have thought it would hit so soon?!!! i now have full blown baby fever, although i could sense it creeping up on me ever since i packed away the breast pump when baby turned 1 (how easy it is to forget what a chore that part of bringing up baby was!). 

what can i say? babies, especially great ones that sleep through the night early on and never get feverish after their jabs and who dish out kisses and smiles so generously are waaaay tooooo addictive!!

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13 months - more fun at the zoo

we took a different walking route at the zoo today and got to see the tigers and elephants that we hadn't seen in awhile. baby finally paid some attention to the tigers this time round partly because they were pacing around and also because she thought they were large versions of the cats she sees around our neighbourhood. we know because she kept going "meow meow!" when we were at the tiger enclosure.

we also spent a lot of time at the kidzworld water play area and got ourselves very wet. it was the first time that we had brought baby to the water play area since she started walking, and once she got used to getting splashed by the various water jets, she was off walking around the water that was higher than her knees and plonking herself in the water and kicking up a storm. she even took all the splashing and water in her eyes that came from being curious about what other older kids were doing in her stride. no complaints, and just amusement and enjoyment written on her face. 

she was probably by far the youngest toddler going about her own business and having loads of fun at the water play area. so proud of her! it's so difficult to believe that she is only 13 months old when i watch her acting all grown up.

13 months - enjoying our weekends

we love weekends with baby! saturdays and sundays are the only two days of the week where i feel so energised getting out of bed before 8. i always look forward to peeping into baby's room every weekend morning knowing that i have the rest of the day to enjoy her energy, antics, nonsense and kisses.

 

we brought baby back to the woodlands waterfront park on saturday since she enjoyed the outing so much the last time. her straw cup unfortunately rolled into the  water while we were at the jetty and we spent many minutes watching the blue/green cup bobbing in the water. she even said goodbye to the cup. :(

baby also got all excited seeing a little pomeranian and as the dog's owners were kind enough to stop and let her touch the dog, she was extremely happy. at one point, she touched the dog's fur which was quite long and then said "hair!" and then touched her own hair. everyone watching was very amused. haha. it's moments like this where i am bowled over by how intelligent she is and how she can make such connections at such a young age. amazing.

13 months - just for laughs

CEO taking an urgent call using her wet wipes mobile phone during a lunch meeting with her minions (us).

13 months - woodlands waterfront park

had planned to go to the zoo this weekend but we were put off by the long line of parked cars when we arrived on saturday afternoon that we decided to turn back and have a leisurely late lunch instead. got a bit lazy to make the trip down again today so we went to explore the woodlands waterfront park this evening instead.

had visited the park slightly less than two years ago (while preggers) but hadn't been back since. we found it more bustling today and spent quite a bit of time on the jetty as it was a cool evening and baby was fascinated by the large expanse of water (and kept going wah! when we first arrived). she reminds us so often to find the specialness in seemingly ordinary sights and i find myself looking at run of the mill things with new eyes when i am with her.

baby also got pally with two foreign workers who were sitting at the jetty. did her usual hello and her fish swimming and "no" hand actions to their delight and also blew then flying kisses when it was time to leave. hope it left them happier. she really has this knack of getting people to smile and i love that about her.

rounded off the park visit at the playground where she had many turns at the slide. she's quite fearless when it comes to physical stuff and kept pushing away the hubby's hands when we sat her on top of the slide so that she could slide down on her own. heh. it's so her.