Portrait

"Mummy. Look at this! Look at this!" I wasnt sure what I was looking at so I asked "What is this?" She said in a high pitch, dont you know tone "Mummy lor."
Although it didnt look anything like me but I am proud that she has the sense to draw the hair, the face, the body and the limbs. She is an even better artist than me. Til now, if I were to draw, I am only capable of drawing stick portraits.

More Updates

Jesslyn's some bad habits, which I find quite embarassing if she does it in public. One of the bad habits is sniffing our finger(s) when she tries to sleep. Very rarely she can fall asleep without clutching our finger(s) and sniffing it. It looks like she is sniffing some kind of drug. Yikes! What a view! She also uses our hands to caress her face. Cute isnt it?
I have started encouraging her to use the potty but it hasnt been very successful. She will sit on the potty at her own free will (still wearing her napkin) and say "Shee Shee" but nothing comes out of it. As compared to Jerilyn, I am not very kiasu about potty training.

I dont know if it is a coincidence or I am being over-conscious. The English exam paper that I marked recently was about coping with the death of a father. It reminds me of my mum. I borrowed a Chicken Soup for the Couple's Soul book from the library yesterday. The 1st chapter is about missing the husband who had passed away. Again, it seems to relate to mum. Is there a message behind it?
Jerilyn is quite sensitive to certain words nowadays. When she hears or sees Jesus, hospitals, Po2 and churches, this is what she says "Mummy, you dont cry ar, pls ar."

Do your children use your words against you? When Jerily is angry, she uses what I said to her on me. All the disciplining backfired. She thinks she can do or say what you say. Probably all those freedom of choice and action I instilled in her have more or less influenced her. If she is angry, she says "Mummy (do something). I beat you." or "You go out." or "You sleep with Ginger." etc... Do you face the same problem?

With regards to my mum, Jerilyn talks about her everyday. Its weird that when at my dad's place, Jerilyn doenst ask for Po2 but whenever she goes to church, she would ask me "Where is Po2?" When she sees Po2's photo, she would ask me to call my mum and says "Mummy, dont cry ar." She still thinks that my mum would return 1 day. Yesterday when she saw my tearful eyes, she said "Dont cry Mummy. Everyday cry cry cry. Why you cry?" I told her that I miss my mum and I want to see her. Her reply was "Po2 not sick. She come here. She stay in the next room. Then, we say Goodnight. Sleep tight". Jesslyn, on the other hand, just calls out Po2 out of the blue, meaning she could be lying down when she suddenly jolts up and calls "Po-Po".

Jerilyn has learned to sing the whole of some new songs Humpty Dumpty, Hickory Dickory Dock, Happy Birthday (in Mandarin) and 2 mandarin nursery rhymes. In fact, Jesslyn too can pick up 2/4words from each line. Sometimes Jesslyn is even faster than the song.

Jesslyn's Milestones

1. Weans Night Feeds - 2.5months. I would like to make a correction here. She doesnt need any feeding between 11pm to 5am. Is 5am feed consider as night feed?2. Turns her body, holding her bottle while feeding, watches her fingers as if admiring them - 5months
3. Good hand control: Grasps and plays wt toys, arcs her body backward wanting to free herself, giggles while watching tv, lunges forward if she wants u to carry - 5.5months
4. Kicks vigorously. does pushups. eats solid(her 1st food is cereal, which is the easiest to prepare) - 6months
5. Stands on 4 limbs, moves around by slithering, sits up independently for a few minutes - 6.5months
6. Reacts to the word 'Bye', eats other solid food like bread crumbs and taufoo - 7.5months
7. Pulls herself up to standing position - 8months.
8. Climbs the stairs(4steps), understands bye2 and clap hands, plays 'tim chong chong' - 9months
9. Climbs full flight of stairs, dances to music, imitates sounds like 'yah', 'bah', 'che(jie)', walks a few steps with support, plays peek-a-boo, scribbles, weight 9.1kg,, height 74cm - 9.5months
10. Says "Daddy" clearly(She calls me Daddy too). Imitates animal sounds, has 8 teeth - 10.5months
11. Stands independently for >5secs, puts objects into containers - 11months
12. Runs(3-5 steps) to a target(it was food) - 11.5months.
13. Weighs 9.4kg at 76cm tall, walks 7-10 steps independently, climbs <6 steps up and down the stairs on her soles, added vocabulary, says Thank you automatically - 12months
14. Calls grandparents, calls Mummy(its her fav word now) - 13months
15. Drinks from straw, follows simple instructions "Close the door" "Put it down", "Keep it" climbs the sofa and tables - 15months14. Walks up & down the whole flight of stairs independently, goes up and down her 'car' and pushes it back and forth, gives orders to the maid "Yati, nan-nan", says 2 to 10 - 16months

To save time, it's easier to add Jerilyn's recent development (3y3m old) here: She could push herself up and down the toilet bowl., meaning she can do her toilet business totally on her own. She has started to write by following the lines and dots. She knows how to control the mouse.

New Life

Normally, people mourn and grieve for the deceased but often neglect and forget those who are living.
Thus, this time, I would like to dedicate this to my dad. One month after my mum had gone, we are putting life back in to our life; with some adjustments. My dad is coping quite well with his new life. When I said new life, I mean

• having to take meals alone (I passed by Simee kopitiam 1 fine day and saw Daddy reading newspapers while having a drink there. It hurts to see him alone when it used to be a pair)
• not having Mummy to nag at
• not having Mummy to complain to when he has a mosquitoe bite or a backache
• not having Mummy to share stories with. He cant share with me as I dont know many of their old acquaintances
• having to babysit his grandchildren alone(with the help of a stranger; the maid)
• not having Mummy to share and laugh together esp about their mischievous grandchildren
  It is cruel to take a loved one away from you but it is even more cruel for the dead to leave someone you love behind to suffer the pain and loneliness. Looking at his eyes, I know tears of goodbye must have hung in his heart. We dont really pour our hearts out but there is an understanding. Nevertheless, my dad is still blessed with 2 granddaughters who occupy half of his day and make him laugh and fret at the same time.
  We Miss You so much, Mummy!

Updates

It has been ages since I updated about my kids. Where shall I begin?
Let's talk about Jerilyn first. Over the months, she has learned to cycle the tricycle and oh! She just learned to use the mouse (device) yesterday. There is truth in 'Do not underestimate a child's abilities'. I never thought a toddler as young as 3yo can control a mouse. I mean.... when was the first time I touched a mouse? I have forgotten how techno savvy children nowadays are. I only held and guided her hand for a while before she could manoeuvre the mouse herself. This afternoon, she was playing shape & pattern games on the computer. In terms of reading development, she can spell and recognize a handful of words. She can count to 20 but she cant read some of the numbers.In terms of behaviour, she has picked up some bad behaviour. [There are many praise-worthy behaviours too but just like the media, good news is not interesting. So, let's skip that]. For eg, if she doesnt like it when you reprimand her or limits her freedom, she says "You dont talk to me. You go to hospital/work." to me. To Daddy, she says "Daddy, you go to Singapore." She can be very unreasonable when moody. She learns to warn her sister like the way we warn her. For instance, "Mei2, dont cry. You go outside." She confronts with her arms on the waist, "Mummy, why you scold Kai Lin?" "Why you throw this?"She also knows how to hurt you the most. That is by calling me 'Ah Yee' and my sister 'Mummy'. She would look at me slyly and call me me 'Ah Yee'; point at a photo of my sister and said "This is Mummy."
As for Jesslyn, I am sure you have heard that being the 2nd has an advantage over the 1st child. They have the upper hand of getting the experience earlier than the elder. They also learn through observation and parroting. These are some of the things Jesslyn can do and understand much earlier than Jerilyn.
She can count. You say 1, she says 2,3,4,5...9,10.. 12,13.
She can sing/hum Twinkle, Twinkle. She has no problem humming songs together with the television prog, her tone perfect.
To play certain car toys, you have to pull and let go so that the car moves forward, right? That's what she does. Jerilyn didnt understand 'letting go'.
She bends her head low (like the Japanese bow) when I turn on the shower, expecting her hair to get wet. I didnt teach her this. I still wonder where she learns it from. Her sister still struggles when I wash her hair.
She can imitate difficult words and short phrases very closely. For eg "I love you" "beautiful" "Jerilyn". She is cute when she says "Huh?" if she cant get what you said. She will repeat it many times til she can grasp the word and repeat after you.
She can answer simple questions such as "Where is ...?" Her immediate response is "There!", arm stretched out & index finger pointing even though the thing is nowhere to be found. "What is your name?" "Wei Wei." She understands Yes/No questions & For instance "Have you ...?" "Do you want ...?" "Are you...?"
Other than that, she can now walk up and down the stairs with the rails as support at 15.5months. Some of her favourite words are"Bu Yau ar" (She speaks Manglish)"Go Go Go" "Bau Bau" "Oi Oi"
Character wise, Jesslyn has better PR and more confidence. When she talks, she is loud and clear. Sometimes I find her a bit brash. She must have loved exhilarating adventures such as roller-coaster. She purposely stands at the edge of the bed or sofa and yells "Wouw... Wouw... Wouw". She pretends that she is falling. She doesnt cry like Jerilyn when she wakes up from her nap. If you beat her for being naughty, she stares at you and smiles cannily as if nothing happened.
Jesslyn is as 'wai siek' (gluttonous appetite) as her sister. She can eat even the hardest food ie 'ubi kentang'. She wont let you eat in peace if she is not given a share. In fact, I have to make sure that my house is never short of snacks to fulfil their big appetites. My sister can give a testimony on this. Like Jerilyn, she wants to feed herself too. When feeding her, she has to be given a spoon too so that she can feed herself at the same time. You cant solely feed her cuz she would rather not eat.