Emma can Thread

With it being so cold and not quite sure if Emma is over her cold, I've been trying to find things to do with her.  I got this Lacing Beads in a Box (supposed to be one of those things you find on sale, so you buy in hopes to give it to her as a gift later), nice bright colorful shapes to thread onto a piece of string.  I  guess then I should be calling it stringing??

We started playing with this on Monday, and Emma caught on pretty quick, the only thing that put her off was the tip was too short, so mom had to come up with a solution, and used some tape to make it just a little longer.

Well this helped so much and now Emma can string on her own, so amazing to watch her catch onto things so quickly!

And they say this toy is from 3 up....pft.....haha....maybe by 3 she won't need the additional tape!
Another post from a bragging and proud mom!!  Well done Em!

Sleeping Emma

Just the other day I was saying I've never been able to take a pic of Emma sleeping as she always wakes up or moves with any sound she hears.  However today was the day I finally captured a pic.

We had gone for a walk this morning and Emma fell asleep in the stroller.  Emma has a way of falling asleep with any type of motion.  Em obviously knew I needed the exercise.   So we both benefited from this, Em gets her resting time and mom gets her "exercise".  So her naps were pushed out and she clearly wasn't sleepy even at 2pm.  Too funny, she was kicking her legs and talking away before finally falling asleep.

16 / 17 Month Update

Emma is 17 months!  It's funny that Ma Ma and Yeh Yeh always remind me of her monthly birthdays, and then I'm like shoot what has she been doing to blog about.
When I looked at Emma on the 22nd there was something different about her, despite the crusty nose (due to her first cold she just caught), she seemed to have grown an inch overnight, and by her politely pulling things from our side tables and other tables, comfortably pulling draws open and sifting through the things that are in it, confirms it.

I realise I didn't write a 16 month update, so thought I'd combine the two.  Quite a difference a month makes.

16 months was filled with lots of No, No, No's and Oh No!'s.  The No, No, No's were contagious, Ma Ma and Yeh Yeh were starting to sound like her when we would ask them a question.  And I caught myself saying it too - maybe that is where she learnt it from in the first place?  Along with "Ja".  I wondered where she learnt this from and then heard myself responding with "Ja" when asked a question.  These little things you don't realise.

Now at 17 months, everything is a stern "No!" with running away from me!  Where did she learn this from?  Seems so cheeky, but cute at the same time.
She has this way with her eyes, she'll give you this side stare and almost rolls her eyes, as if to say, you're a little crazy! Hmmm...I'm beginning to wonder if I look at people like that, if so I better change my ways! :)

We went from 9 teeth to now 14, and I learnt not to just stick my fingers in Emma's mouth to feel for teeth.  Both Em and I got a fright!  Those chompers are sharp!!!

At 16 months I was still teaching Emma how to climb down the stairs, now at 17 months, actually as from yesterday (23rd) Emma can make her way down both flights of stairs.  It's something to spectate, yesterday she was a little unsure, getting stuck on the middle platform, then today completely confident coming down saying 'Weeee!!" as she slides down on her belly.  Such a monkey!
Talking of Monkey, I now ask Emma, "Who's a monkey?" and she's respond with "Emma".

Emma's speed up the stairs has improved too - before I was able to quickly run upstairs to grab my shoes and Emma would still be at the bottom of the stairs, today I did this and as I came out the room she was almost at the top of the stairs - guess no more of doing that now!  I know my folks are cringing at the idea that I even do that.

So now Emma has caught her first little cold - little runny nose and slight cough at night.  Mothers instinct, I knew she was going to get sick after a little boy coughed over her.  Not wanting to be the paranoid mom I didn't grab Emma away for the child, instead asked Emma to move over to another piece of equipment, except she decided to stay and stare at this boy.  He coughed again and thats when I had to take her away.  And now she's sick.   I said to my sister that I wasn't given the manual nor trained to manage a sick baby, it's a little scary.  Her symptons aren't even bad, so pray for me when she's really sick.   I just hope she gets over this little cold soon, always feel so sorry for her hearing her cough.  And I think she's feeling a little cooped up, this morning after breakfast and getting dressed she asked to put her boots on and pointed to her jacket.  I asked if she wants to go out and she nodded.  Unfortunately I had to distract her with other things to keep her indoors for now. 

Emma's skills - she's improving with her ball kicking skills, only thing she never looks up, so Rod and I are always having heartattacks trying to catch her fall or just hoping she doesn't run into anything.  So weird that just when you think she's about to hit her head, she somehow manages to swoop right past and not get hurt - shew!
Same thing goes for walking backward, she walks and walks not knowing where she's going, and it's almost like she enjoys the unknown, cos as soon as she walks into the couch or the wall, she's say, "whoops" and fall on her butt.
Drawing and coloring in - subtle changes, I ask her to draw circles and she goes round and round, we're working on up and down and side to side, slowly getting the hang of it all.

I've always wondered when a baby starts to remember things.  Obviously it all starts from when she's born, but in terms of remembering names and/or saying them or times where I've said when you wake up you can play with that toy.  Well Emma seems to forget about that toy she wanted to play with before naptime, but before we went to Hong Kong we had our bathroom painted, the painter's name was John.  Emma would call him John John, well he came back in the New Year to do some other stuff around the house, and when Emma saw him, she said John John!  Now I'm encouraging Emma to learn the family's names and or "titles".

Emma's domestic skills have improved, her household duties now include dusting, sweeping, sometimes wiping the floor on hands and knees, making the bed (she especially enjoys jumping into the pillows and duvet), and cooking saying stir, stir, stir or sizzle, sizzle.

Rod's been away for a week now, two more weeks until he gets back.  So between talking to her grandparents and dad over skype, Emma has become good at giving cyber kisses (blowing kisses) and cyber hugs (wrapping her arms around herself and making hugging sounds).  I actually had to teach her how to hug me properly, when I asked for a hug she hugged me the cyber way, thats when you know you're on the computer too much.

Everyday there is always something new, something improved, this child never seizes to amaze us.  We can never get enough of her, smiles and all.  Gee 1 and a half years next month, before we know it Emma will be speaking sentences and I won't have to ask her over and over again what she's saying.  Emma will gabber away something, I have to ask her to repeat in hopes I'll understand, she'll say it exactly how she said it, but her silly mom still can't make out what she's saying.

Can't get enough of these smiles, and look at all those teeth!

Looks do change

In my mind Emma still looks the same to me as she did a few months ago.

But looking thru photos I came across this one and boy has Emma changed - so chubby and no eyes.

9 months ago.

Emma talking to Daddy on the phone

This is quite a sweet video worth sharing.

Rod is away in London for 3 weeks, so Emma started talking on my phone, saying Da-Da and chatting away (I do wonder if the high pitched voice will stick?).  It was too cute.  In this video you can see her calling her dad and talking, then showing off her skills of how she can use the iphone.  Sadly she knows how to access her favorite apps.

Emma's Words

With Emma speaking a bit more, we're asking her to repeat words we're saying.
They come out more sounding like the word, than actually pronouncing the word, it's really cute.
Goofy is Goof, Donald Duck is DoDuc, Minnie Mouse if MinnieMinnieMinnie, Mickey is Minnie too.

We reached a confusing patch when we asked Em to say the word "Please", because we've been using sign language for so long, whenever we say, "Say Please", she'll sign it.  Now with her speaking we're trying to get her to actually say the word.  Well it's a neverending, "Say Please, Emma" and she'll sign, so the other day we said, "Emma, say the WORD, Please", she signs, "Emma, use your words, say "Please"", sign again.  "Emma can you say the word?"  Emma replies with, "Word".  Almost!! haha.
Well now we have her saying "Psh", with the sign, so we've made some progress.

The other night, Emma thought it would be fun to spill/throw her food on the floor, I told her that was naughty and she must say sorry mommy.  What came out of her mouth after sounded a bit like, "I'm sorry", but saying it with gusto.  Your heart melts and you can't resist giving her hugs and kisses, but then you're wondering if you're encouraging that behaviour?

Most mornings when Em wakes up, I'll open the blinds with Em and say, "Good Morning Rustic Wood Ln" or "Jo Saan".  This morning she asked me if she could pull the blind open, by saying "Pull", then when they opened, she said "Josaan"

I know this is just the start of all the cute things that'll come out of her mouth. 

Settling back in

Just when I caught up with all the laundry, cleaned the floors, made our meals, it’s time to do it all over again!  Vicious vicious cycle!

We’re home two weeks now and pretty much back on track, mainly talking about Emma’s sleep schedule!  I got to live my/our ideal schedule for just one week.  I think it had a lot to do with jetlag, but our little Emma was going to bed at 7/7:30pm, waking at 8am and taking one nap a day for 3 – 4 hours.  I thought it was too good to be true,  just as I was getting used to this, and thinking of all the things I could do while she’s asleep (laundry, cleaning floors, catching up on my blog), she decided to wake again at 5am, resist her naps until 12pm and then only nap for an hour to an hour and a half.  What fun!

Emma got so used to sleeping in our arms, in the stroller, in the car, in our bed, I always had to be in the room for her to fall asleep, so has taken some readjusting to falling asleep on her own, in her crib.  We still have tears before bed, but she’s at least not crying for as long as she used to.  Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only mother that lets her child cry it out so often!?

Thankfully we have had some mornings of sleeping in, which always come as a surprise, and I’ll gladly take those whenever she allows.  I just need to be ready to use the time wisely.

The weather has been freezing, so we’re cooped up indoors most of the time, we do trips out to the mall when we can to play at the kidzone there, go to music class when naps allow, otherwise I have to try think of things to do around the house.  Being home must seem so boring to Em now, after everything she saw in  Hong Kong, the hustle and bustle of people and cars. She got to experience every mode of transport possible, plane, bus, train, plane, boat and taxi.  In Emma’s eyes she probably thinks of  Hong Kong as dirty and disgusting (that’s due to us continuously telling her not to touch things on the bus, wanting to press elevator buttons etc) a place where there are lots of people like mommy and daddy (quite funny when I asked her to go to daddy, she had to stop in her tracks and look at everyone before spotting her dad).  A place where she got to eat so many Cha Sui Bow (steamed roast pork dumplings), yummy mein, chicken drumsticks and egg rolls (the family were amazed at her appetite and how clean she would clean a mini chicken drumstick).  And a place where she got so spoilt with gifts and love from the family.   Thank you to the Fok Family for spoiling Emma and us so! 

Yesterday (actually now a few days ago) I attempted finger painting with Emma.  I didn’t have paint, but I read somewhere to use flour, water and food coloring.  Em kept saying draw, draw, draw so I’m trying to make my concoctions of Red, Yellow, Blue as quickly as possible before the interest dies.  I obviously didn’t play the entire thing out in my mind, as I didn’t think of an apron.  So I quickly had to think and decided to use a big plastic bag, cut a hole for the head and arms, and voila we have an apron.  Well Emma did not take to this lightly, fussing when I tried to put the bag over her head.  After a while I gave up and thought about what I was doing….I’m telling my child it’s okay to put a plastic bag over her head.  Hmm…not such a good idea, so I managed to find a plastic bib, turned up the heat, took off Emma’s layers, rolled up her sleeves, covered her pants with a  towel….goodness, what a paranoid mother.   All this for Emma to say, No, No, No, No, No when I tried to show her how to paint! Ahhh!!!!  Come on Em, it’s fun I say….dipping my finger in the “paint” and stroking the paper with my finger, which left shivers going up and down my spine, like scratching your nails down a chalkboard.  I hide this and just smile and say, “Look it’s so much fun!” , instead of stroking now, I make dots with my fingers….this seems to grab Em’s interest and she sticks her fingers in the paint and starts “painting”.  Special special moments!!!

Emma’s work of art (looks a bit like she used ketchup and mustard to paint!).

This is just one of the things we’re doing to keep busy in this cold weather.

After our two week vacation it has good to be home.  We realise how spoilt we are with living space, how many things we have in our house that probably aren’t needed, or aren’t that important, and also how you’re able to make do with the few things you might have.  We obviously miss the family, that goes without saying.  We were spoilt with being cooked for, for two weeks, that I’ve found it hard to find the energy to make a meal for us – opting for left overs, or the easiest meal to cook.  I blame jetleg, which sadly I’ve gotten over and now have no excuse. 

Red, Yellow, Blue

Emma surprised me this morning.  While eating breakfast, Emma was playing with her stacking cups and out of the blue, she pointed out the colors and identified them!  I was stunned, this was not something I had done with her recently, or made an effort to teach as yet.  I guess without realising I do label the colors when she plays with the cups, and she plays with her toys that name colors too help.

So proud of my little girl.  Growing up way too fast!

Surprisingly when I pulled out the camera to try recapture the moment, Emma was able to somewhat reenact the moment.  It's funny though, most of the time, I'll ask Emma to repeat a word I say and she pronounces it the way it's meant to be said, but when you ask her to say it again, she can't or won't.