A Sister for Emma

So the verdict is in, we are expecting a baby GIRL!

I will admit I was little dissapointed with the news at first and stunned (I really thought I was having a boy), we like most were hoping for one of each. But two girls, a little sister for Emma to grow up closely with, we cannot wait and definitely getting more excited and creating a better bond with baby, who is nameless right now. Thinking of another girls name is hard.

It was quite funny when the technician was looking at baby and she got to the gender part she asked, "You did want to know the gender right?" But while saying that I could already identify it was a girl!

The first thing I said to Rod when we were told the sex was, darn not as much shopping for me as I was hoping!!  Rod's first comment was, I need to buy another shotgun!  Rod's pretty excited to have another girl, I think Emma has given him high expectations! haha.

It's fun knowing what to plan for, we don't talk too much about baby to Emma about baby, but the day before our scan we asked her if she wants a baby sister or brother, she responded with, "sister". Now when we ask if she's having a sister or brother she says, "brother".

On to preparing, sorting and thinking of names.....Lots of hand me downs and so starts the second child syndrome :)

Tumble Gym

We've been taking Emma to Tumble Gym for about 6 or 8 weeks now.  It's taken Emma a while to get used to everything, new class, new people, new activities.  Every week we see her adapt more and more.

This week stood out, Emma was able to follow the stretch exercises (standing and jumping, then touch the ground, straddle your legs and bend down,  etc etc), she's able to jump a bit better on the trampoline (feet actually leaving the surface), walk on the balance beam with assistance, hang from the monkey bar (still not lifting her legs tho, but can hold on), completing the Tree Frog (both hands on the ground and both feet off the ground) and sort of doing the bear crawl (two parrallel bars that Em has to climb up on using all fours and walking across like a bear, she usually walks through, but today she managed to climb up top and just stay there, I'm sure she'll get the walking bit soon).  I was amazed how she just arrived in class and did everything she had to do.

I think I was more shocked today when she just went up to the mat and placed her hands on the ground and raised her feet for the Tree Frog - thought to myself, is that my Emma doing that??
Amazing how without you pushing them or always helping them, they can complete a task themself and really surprise you.

Quite appropriate that today was their awards day, all the kids received a certificate and gold medal for the school year.

Receiving her medal and certificate



Our little Tree Frog



21 Months

It feels like its been a busy month, I guess with all the excitement of sharing our good news with everyone, and  Rod's sister, Sharon (Sha Sha - what Em called Sharon) visiting.  It's been fun.

We met up with Sharon in Boston and it took a day or two for Emma to warm up to her.  Em traveled really well.  Kind of crazy to think that after this trip Em has flown over 12 times!! Think thats more than I ever travelled by the time I was 21!

Boston is a great city, nice and compact, and relatively easy to get around.  Lots of history and lots to see.  We tried walking the first day, but then decided to make use of the trolley tours.  We at least got to see all the main sights and our feet got to rest a lot more.  You know a city is relatively small when you can see the State House from almost anywhere you go, even crossing the Charles River.  Em adapted well, taking her naps in her stroller.  Somehow she's gone back to 2 naps a day, quick 30-45 min morning nap, then a later afternoon nap.  She'll only take her morning nap if she's in the car, or if we're out and about in a stroller.  If we're at home, there is no way she'll nap in the morning.
We all shared one room, so I was a little anxious about this, as Emma always sleeps in her own room.  But again she adapted well, first night everyone cleared the room, except for me, then the second night we tried with all of us in the room.  We were all so tired, we all actually fell alseep while waiting for Emma to fall asleep!  During this trip Emma was super clingy to mommy, so left mommy having to carry her a lot, even during some naptimes.  Because we were hopping on and off the trolley we didn't want to put Em in the stroller, which left me carrying this heavy lump for almost 2 hours while she napped (how I wished I remembered our ergo carrier).  We knew if we tried to pass her over to Rod she'd either wake, or she'd still want me to carry her (half asleep and reaching out her hands - bou bou).  The things we'll do for sleep!!  My arms were so sore the next day! 

naptime in the arms

super clingy emma

I've always been wondering when Em will call me from her crib.  Well it started in Boston.  So the great thing about hotels are the heavy curtains which really makes the room dark.  I've always wondered about getting darkening shades for Emma's room, wondering if it'd help Emma sleep in later.  Turns out, it doesn't make a difference.  Em still chose to wake up at 6am!  First morning she was really quiet in the crib, just waiting for us to wake.  Second morning, she's still quiet, but probably half an hour into it, starts calling, Ma, Ma, Ma!  Da, Da, Da!  ( I will say it was cute hearing her call us, we just laid still hoping she might go back to sleep, no such luck)  Our last night, Em took a late afternoon nap, think she fell asleep close to 6 and woke at around 8, in time for dinner, this was nice as we got to see the night lights and enjoy our last evening.  Em slept at 10/11pm, I thought great, we all get to sleep in, nope, 6am on the dot, Ma, Ma, Ma!  Since Boston, every morning now Em will call me at 7am.  Makes me strongly consider keeping Emma in a crib when baby #2 arrives, it's great right now that Emma can stay contained in her crib until I'm ready to get her. All I've got to bear right now are her calls.

After our Boston trip, we came back to NC, spent a week here, then off to Charlotte for the following weekend.  Sharon was meeting up with a friend there that lives in Asheville and spending the weekend there.  Instead of driving up and down (2 hour drive) Rod and I decided to stay the weekend in Charlotte.  So we got to see another city.  Not as exciting as Boston.  But was nice to still walk around and see what it had to offer.  Very quiet city, you almost feel unsafe because it's so quiet.  We spent our Saturday at a kids science musuem, Discovery Place.  I think Rod and I had our fair share of fun experimenting with all the gadgets there.  Lying on a bed of nails, sitting on a chair that elevates by the use of a huge vacuum, taking a science quiz, which clearly is not our strong suite.  Em's favourite part was the huge water table.  Enjoying filling cups of water and spilling it out.  Ending when Em decided to spill water all over herself, instead of back in the water table!  Oh no!!!!

Mother's Day, I was spoilt with hugs and kisses.  Felt really lazy that morning, so we all had breakfast in bed and took our time to check out, then meet up with Sharon and made out way back home.  Amazing to be celebrating my second mothers day.  It gets more and more rewarding.

For the rest of Sha-Sha's stay we did a lot of shopping and hardly any site seeing.  It was really great watching Em and Sharon spend time together, and Em enjoyed having her aunt there to play with her.  I got a few breaks which was welcoming.  Sharon got to see Emma at her music class, one of the storytimes at the library, and we decided one day to go strawberry picking.  This was fun, the strawberries accumulate really quickly and they look so good you almost want to eat them right there and then, obviously Em wanted to do this, we had to stop her.  There were other kids there who's mouths were all red from eating as they picked.

As soon as Sharon left, Rod left for London, so it's been a long week, one more to go.  Talking over skype, Rod can't get over how tall she's gotten and how much more she's talking.  Her latest word - Avocado - "Avo-ca-ca".  It's crazy how her face will change by the week too, this morning I looked at her, and thought there is something different about you today.  Looking bigger I guess.

What Emma's been up to this past month - she's changed in her ways that she's stopped her pushing (thankgoodness), and now she's very caring, stroking other kids or babies (this makes my heart melt, esp thinking of baby #2 on the way), or kindly sharing her toy if one kid asks for it or wants it.  Not everything is given up easily as you can imagine, but for the most part she'll share.  Quite tough when you see other kids not willing to share with Emma after she's been so nice.  Em is one of those kids that will stand back and let everyone ahead of her, then be left with the remnants.  I see this so often at music class, she'll get all excited to pick an instrument and run toward the box, but when she sees the other kids running too, she'll stop about a foot away from the box and just stand there watching the kids grab their choice of instrument, and she looks as me like, hi mom and just smile with her hands behind her back.  I have to go in and tell her to grab an instrument before she's left with the egg shaker AGAIN, poor kid.  But she's happy with that.

Oh this month Em got her first official hair cut, she sat on my lap with my iphone and we managed to get quite a straight cut.  She was proud of it, and I will say she looks a whole lot neater now.
It was quite funny that day.  I was explaining to Emma what I was having done and that after she got to play at the playzone she'd have to be a good girl and sit in her stroller while I had my hair done.  Emma kept repeating the word, haircut, haircut, then "back", thinking that I was going to leave her at the playzone while I had my hair cut.  After a while she started associating that she was going to have her haircut.  Because she seemed quite eager to have her haircut, I asked the stylist if she could cut her hair and she did.

Em has been telling me diaper diaper, basically telling me when to change her diaper.  I do wonder if this is the early stages of potty training.  It was great in Boston, as she'd always remind me to change her diaper.  After a while it became a habit of saying diaper, just so she could get out her highchair and walk.

With the increase in vocab, it's been fun, as now I am able to read stories to Emma and for most books she can end off the sentences as we read.  She's also doing this with nursery rhymes and we're slowly learning the alphabet.  Amazing seeing Emma's memory increase and how she now remembers things.
We went to the post office the other day and the lady behind the counter gave her stickers.  I had to go again about 2 days later and the first thing Em said as we walked in was, "sticker".  I said that we'll have to see if the lady has stickers, so as soon as we got to the counter, Emma asked me to carry her, and just as I lifted her, she looks at the lady and says, "sticker, sticker".  The lady asked what it is she was asking for, everyone in the post office had a good laugh.  So Emma gets one sticker, but of course thats not enough, she asks for "more".

So many funny things happening these days, this post will just carry on and on if I type about every thing.  It's definitely a cute age right now, and I know it's only going to get funnier and more interesting.

Emma's latest thing is to have me wrap her blankets around her.  It's a warm 30 degrees outside and she'll still insist on being wrapped.  Makes for great entertainment - who needs tv when you've got your child??

Videos....

More videos of little Miss Emma.

Enjoying the ride at the mall - ice cream anyone??
Can't wipe that smile of her face.  Took forever to try get her off the ride.
We did this while Aunty Sharon was shopping.

Emma loves her music, and will start moving to the music as soon as she hears it.
So we're walking in the mall, and walk past Abercrombie - this store it known for its sounds of loud music and whiffs of perfume and cologne as you walk past.  Emma cracked us up, as she walked past.  She stopped to listen to the music, then started bopping to the music.  After Abercrombie, she moved onto Hollister and did the same.  Cuteness!!!

Happy Friday everyone!!  One more week and daddy will be home again.

Today she has a pretend conversation on the phone copying everything I'm telling her to say, "Hi Dad, I Love You. We Miss you.  See you soon. Ok Bye."  Emma's relay, "Hi... Dada, Love, Misssss.. you, See, OK, Biii!"
 

Family Update

As most of you already know, our family is expanding.....

We are 13 weeks and 2 days along and everything is going well.  Besides being tired, and just a few food aversions, no complaints with this pregnancy so far.  Seems quite similar to when I was pregnant with Emma, just notice that the weight or the tummy is coming along a lot quicker.

We find out the sex of the baby in June, we cannot wait to find out! 

We're looking forward to our new addition, and can't wait to see what type of big sister Emma will be, a bully, sharing, caring, loving??  It's gonna be fun dealing with two....I think, I hope!

Anyways...we'll be keeping you all updated with our progressions and of course Emma will still be main feature on this blog for the next 5 months, then it's all about sharing, or it may even mean less time for blogging!!!

Happy Easter

We had a quiet Easter weekend.  Here in America we don't get any days off, so it was like a regular weekend.

Sunday, we just went to church, then after the service they had an Easter Egg hunt for all the kids.
Emma had a blast, we didn't expect her to find many eggs, but she did really well, finding 15 eggs.
Daddy had to help her in the beginning, but after a while started pointing them out, and with some encouragement from others she would run toward them to pick them up.  Eventually the adults couldn't resist getting the ones from the trees and putting them on the ground for her to pick up.

Here's Em on her hunt.

Then after the hunt, Em couldn't wait to go on the swings, and lately she has to ride the big swings, no more baby swings for Emma.  We hope you all had a great Easter.

Easter and Sweets are.....

We gave Emma her Easter basket this morning.  Inside was her first pack of sweets.
Think she liked it??

Happy Easter All!!

Emma is 20 Months

Happy 20 Months Emma!  shuwee...another month flown by!

Can't believe just 4 more months until our little one turns 2, it's crazy.  Just yesterday Emma gave me a glimpse of whats to come with the terrible twos!  Can't say I'm looking forward to it!  It's crazy to see your child so out of control, and you can't reason, talk, or do anything, except let her kick and scream until she has let it all out!  There was definitely a point where I wished I could scream the way she did!  I thought the tantrum would stop after 10 minutes or so, but it was about 10 minutes plus a 20 minute drive home that this lasted.  Boy was that ride home fun!  Sounds cruel, but while driving, thinking what can I do to calm her down, I let the windows down and let the wind blow on her a bit, it worked, but for just a few minutes, then it was, no no no! and the screaming started all over again.  Eventually she screamt herself to sleep!  An hour and a half of quietness.  I felt so tired after her episode.

Glad to say that we see more of her better days, than yesterday.  Goodness, think I'd be a wreck if this happened on a frequent basis!  While this was all going on, I had to call Rod and tell him to listen to his daugther, because if I had to tell him about it in the evening, he'd think, "what, not my Emma!".
Fun times!!

So 20 months, and what has Emma been up to?  Big thing this past month is Emma's increase in vocabulary, still alot of babble, but she's saying more words, copying a lot of what we say.  This morning I read one book and she was able to finish off the sentences for me, quite cute.  Her friend Rohan does this quite well, so I thought let me try with Emma and to my surprise she knew the words.  Her latest words, ice, melt, duck (actually saying duck and not quack quack), distinguish between hot and cold, up and down,  there are always times where she'll just say something, and you're like hey, thats cool!
Everything is Emma, Emma Emma - what is your name? Emma, what does this say? "Emma", Who is a monkey? "Emma" Whats the magic word, "Emma"

I keep saying I must jot down all her words and things she says, but obviously I forget to do that.  It's funny hearing her say certain words and it sounds like curse words.  Instead of cup, we hear "kak" and then this morning we get Emma from her crib, she had unzipped her gro, and said, "oh no!", then what sounded like, "oh sh&t!", I think she was saying "zip".  Rod looks at me and says, "thats you!".  Funny how all the bad things she does are apparently my bad habits! 

Em still loves to help around the house, saying, dust, sweep, wash (when I wash the rice, or is she wants me to wet her sponge so she can wash her dishes),  she'll also come running and say "help", when she hears me unloading the dishwasher.   She loves hanging the cutlery, such concentration to get the utensils on the hooks tho.

Tea Party's with Pooh bear is her favorite, feeding Pooh everything from cake, to bananas, oranges, the one day I said to her, Pooh Bear says thank you for giving him all this food, so Emma goes up to Pooh and takes his hand and makes the sign of Thank You.  More funny moments.

We started Emma at gymnastic classes.  We go on Saturday mornings, which is nice because Rod can join us and see how she interacts, what she does, and how her confidence levels improve as she gets used to a class.  Her first class, she walked onto the gym floor like she knew the place, and made herself at home.  She loves the trampoline (jumping only lifting one leg at at a time), and slowly getting used to the balance beam and bars to hang from, altho as soon as she feels the weight of her body she lets go!  Lazy girl.   

We purchased Emma's first pair of sunglasses, she loves them.  Took to them a lot quicker than I thought.  We've been reading this one book which shows a whole lot of kids at the beach, and I ask her to point out all the people wearing sunglasses, probably that is why she was so excited to wear them.  I asked her how her new sunglasses were, and she responded with, "Dark". 

Just last week, Rod's cousin Gavin came and visited for the weekend, it was great seeing him and so wonderful seeing Emma with family.  She took to Gavin so well, and it was as though she remembered who he was, giving him a big hug and kiss when he arrived.   It's amazing how one just knows family.  We see Rod's sister, Sharon next Thursday, we travel to Boston to meet her.  We're looking forward to seeing Sharon and exploring a new city.  Emma gets to see more family, yay!

Well another great month of Emma.  One night I asked Rod, "What would we do if we didn't have Emma?"  Without hesitation, his response was, go on vacations, watch more movies, buy a new car, play more golf, want me to carry on??  and rambled on more things.  Emma even though your dad says silly things like this, we don't know what we would be doing, but we'd definitely be missing out on you and so fortunate and blessed to have perfect little you in our lives.  Just please stop growing so fast!!!  We love you oh so much!

Always laughs in the Fok Household

Oh Emma, how you make us laugh!!!
After bathtime, Emma loves covering herself with the towel and playing peek a boo.  One night we were asking where's Emma and she started responding with, "No" and shaking her head whenever we asked if she was anywhere but under the towel.  We thought it was the funniest thing, seeing this little body under the towel saying "No" and shaking her head, then getting excited when we asked if she was under the towel, and she would pop out.

There are so many funny moments, so hard to keep track of it all. 

Another funny....while Rod was bathing Emma I popped a sweet in my mouth.  I then went to join them on the bed while getting dressed.  Emma caught a whiff of the sweet, came up to my mouth and took a smell, then motioned to her mouth, eat.  I then got tons of kisses after, I guess in hopes I'd share whatever I was eating with her.  Can't get anything past Emma.

Here's the peek-a-boo video, hope this lightens up your day.

New Videos

Our latest activity has been playing with Emma's memory cards from her Aunty Sharon.  Because she isn't old enough to understand matching the pictures by turning the cards over, I thought to try laying out 2 cards and hand her the other 2 and see if she can match the pictures up.  She managed to do this right away, I've slowly increased it, and now she can do up to 9 at a time!  It's unbelievable how quickly kids catch onto things...a child's mind really amazes me! 

I've finally let go and have let Emma feed herself more.  She's doing really well.  There are still the messy moments (as you will see at the end), but it's so great watching her, and even better when she enjoys Mommy's cooking.

Naptime with Pooh

Emma insisted that she take Pooh Bear upstairs to nap with.  A little hesitant to have such a big fluffy thing in her crib, especially when she's sleeping, I didn't want a big fight before naptime.

This was the napping result.  As you can imagine, as soon as she was sound asleep, Pooh Bear came right out of the crib, and I don't think will ever make its way back in again!

I couldn't even see her face buried under all the blankets and pooh!  Just shows how much Emma loves soft things to snuggle with!

Emma's 19 Months

Another month gone by.....this time I'm on schedule, blogging on the right date!
The word of the month has been, "Ma, Ma, Ma"  Yes, thats ME, Mommy!!!
I thought the clinginess got better with time, not worse!  Even though tiring after hearing it the whole day while playing with her, trying to clean house, make dinner, it's really cute hearing "Maaaa", being called out in the middle of Costco, when I quickly run down one aisle to grab something and Dad is pushing her in the cart.  Emma hasn't been a lover of Daddy too much this part couple of weeks, breaks his heart!  If I hug Daddy, she pushes me away so she can hug me, then when Daddy hugs me, she gets angry and pushes Daddy away.  I'm sure just another phase she's going through.  I do worry that it's possibly because I spend too much time with her??

Maybe I blog too much about the good times with Emma, I forget about the "bad" times.  This blog today seems pretty appropriate.

Today was an eventful day of her turning 19 months.  Emma woke in her normal happy disposition.  Always greeting us with smiles, followed by her crawling in her crib and saying "Baba", then walking/jumping around and falling over saying, "Whoa", then grabbing all her dolls and blankets, before we can take her out and get our morning kisses.  I tried to change her in to her clothes for the day.  She was happy for me to put on her pants, but did not want her pajama top off, so we left it at that.  She had her morning milk, but with being a little sick, she's still got a bit of phlegm and coughed up her milk.  The exact same spot she deposited milk on when she was 3 months, except this time it's full cream milk and not breast milk, Yugh!!!  (Cleaning recommendations appreciated).

So we got changed again after a bit of breakfast and just before heading out to run a few errands.  We had the battle of the shoes, all excited about her wearing a new pair of shoes, she wanted nothing to do with them.  So we settled for her regular shoes.  Errands were fine, no hassles there.
We drive home and I entertain Emma with a video on my iphone in order to keep her awake, so we can get home and have some lunch.  (Emma is really good at falling asleep in the car)  5 minutes before reaching home, she has another coughing episode in the car and sounds like she brought something up again,  I tell her not to worry, we'll be home in 5 minutes then I'll clean her up.  She hands me the phone then shortly falls asleep!!! "No!!!!"
Thinking she will take a short nap now, because she hasn't had lunch, I hope she'll wake when I take her out, picturing in my mind we'll have lunch, go to the park as she'll have had her second wind, then have a nice afternoon nap. Ended up Emma napping on our bed for 2 hours!! Yay!! Mom got a nap too!

We have lunch, then get ready to go to the park.  Emma had a long sleeve top on, because it was so hot outside I wanted to change  her to a tshirt.  She wanted nothing to do with that, but she did want to wear her new shoes! "Seriously!"  We got to the park, we sit on the swing for 20 minutes, then at the top of the slide for another 20 miuntes without wanting to go down.  Eventually she decides to go down still taking her time, sitting on the edge, there's a little boy waiting for Emma. He decides to give her a nudge with his foot and she falls!  Tears and all, we leave the playground and go home.  We blow bubbles to make things better, she then eyes the sidewalk chalk and wants to draw, so we draw.  While she's doing that I decide to sweep the garage, she wants to particicpate in this chore too.  A few sweeps in she wants to take off her top, moaning and pulling at it.  So I take it off.  I try put on her tshirt, but no she doesn't this, so I have a half naked toddler sweeping our garage.  Eventually she allows me to put on her t-shirt.  She then wants to water the garden with her new watering can.  Another fun activitity, especially when Emma doesn't want the water to come out of the watering can!  She gets upset!, so she pretends and makes the sounds, silly girl!  She then wants to draw again and blow bubbles, I say No, I want to go inside now.  I try get her inside and she throws a tantrum for a good 15 minutes.  Eventually calms down and wants her water and some crackers, and wants to watch, "Baa", Timmy Time. 

Emma has dinner and cleans plate, Daddy comes home and it's this sweet cock of the head and big smiles, like, "I've been a good little girl the entire day Daddy!"  Dad had the car serviced, so we swapped cars for the day, while we switched the car seat around, Emma got to play around in the car, which brought about another tantrum when it was time to go inside.  She asks for milk, which we give her and I just hope she doesn't cough it up again.  I take a seat on the steps, while I wait for her to finish so we can go upstairs and bath.  She takes a seat next to me.  She then sees her Pooh Bear seat and wants to sit there, so she goes and sits and bounces around on it.  Then comes back to where I am, and instead of just sitting next to me, tries to get comfortable resting against the front of my legs, then stands up again and tries to find another spot, this time sitting to the left of my legs, then wrapping her one arm around my leg and resting her head against it and finishes her milk, "minish".  Thats when I forget about the crazy day we had, all the whining and crying, and just treasure that moment, kiss her hand and tell her mommy loves her so much!  I guess that is when I also forget about the "bad" times, so when I get around to blogging I only remember the good times!

I hold Emma's hands to go upstairs, each step she takes, she says, "Upstairs".  Emma has a bath, we read stories,  have our cuddles, then sleep time!

Happy 19 Months Emma, here's hoping I or we survive the rest!

Videos of Emma

I didn't take too many photos this visit, think mostly because I was just trying to keep up with the two girls.
I did however manage to take a few (this few may still be considered alot to some) videos of Emma during her trip to LA.  Enjoy watching....

As soon as we arrived in LA, Ruby showed us how she loves to jump on the bed!  This has now given Emma an idea and she now loves to jump on our bed.  Here are the two little monkey's jumping on the bed!



Emma took a liking to Ruby's ladybug ride on - after one day she got the hang of it and quite enjoyed riding around on it.  Quite cute seeing her two little legs moving that way!  It's so interesting watching the progression of Emma on this thing.  First to try coordinate the two legs to move, and then to keep her bum on the ladybug.  Then once she got the movement right, had to learn to turn.  After turning she had to get the hang of putting in that extra vroom to get over the carpet, then after getting all that right she learnt how to get off the ladybug.  Getting off something that doesn't have breaks is hard, firstly she'd try hold on and cross her one leg over, but the ladybug would wobble and she'd ask for help, after a while without assistance from us we saw her just pulling the ride on out in front of her, then she'd carry on walking and move onto the next toy.

Ruby goes to school one day a week.   It's really great that we got to tag along and experience something like this.  Almost like a playdate and daycare rolled into one, mommy's and their kids hang out together and go about the activities, from hand painting, to play dough, we got to make kites, play in the sand pit, ride bikes.  We joined in snack time too and this was the first time Emma drank out of a cup and drank juice!!  She did really well considering I hardly attempt this due to the mess.

After snack time the kids and parents split up and one group carries on playing, while the other group go for story time and singing.  Emma had no problem joining in and being part of it all.  Makes me realise that our little girl is probably ready for daycare, but mommy doesn't feel ready just yet.

Here you can see Emma joining in the fun with the music and a feather, it was very hard for Emma to give up the feather at the end.

A short video of Emma decorating her kite

Then she had the opportunity to test it outside.

Last video - Our last day in LA we just spent the day at home with Kerwin's mom and dad.  The two girls dancing to "Dancing Queen".

It was really fun seeing the girls together, although toward the end I think they were getting in each others way.  Ruby needed her space back and Emma just wanted to be able to play with whatever she wanted, her safe option was Ruby's little kitchen, anything else there was a bit of tug of way - kids! so funny!  I think another week together would have been good for them, and interesting for us to see if  they'd just give up all the resistance and just be in peace with each other over toys.

We're going back in June - so should be interesting to see then too how they interact again.  Maybe Emma will be talking more and be able to talk back to Ruby. 

Emma is 18 months

Wow, where has our baby gone??  I can't believe Emma is a year and a half old!  Time has just flown.
I held Emma in my arms like a baby and realized I have not held her that way in a LONG time! I couldn't hold her and she would not let me hold her, rather telling mommy, "WalK, WalK".  Why I capitalise the "K", Emma is in the habit of announciating her K's.  So when she wants to read a book or sees a book, she'll say BooK! 

So independent now, she tells me what she wants to do, where she wants to go, which shoes she wants to wear, and what she wants to eat.  The one day I wanted to give her fruit, she eyed these cheese puffs and insisted she have them, I tried to compromise with, "you can have after you have your fruit", but No she wanted her chips.  So I let her have her way and she had her chips, and a few chips later, she then says she wants her fruit.  At least she ate it, so I couldn't complain.
We've definitely realised that we have to give Emma time to listen to us and change her mind about certain things like giving me my purse back.  Takes a bit of persuasion and sometimes bribing, but she'll eventually do what she needs to do.
This whole discipline is scary, always wondering if what we're doing it the right way of doing things, and are we saying it right too.

Things with Emma just get more and more fun!  We can chase, hide and seek, copy movements, follow instructions.  We love to explore wherever we're walking and stop and smell the flowers along the way too.  We're at the stage where when we're walking somewhere Emma has to hold Mommy and Daddy's hands.  We love it.  And if she gives dad a kiss, she has to give mom a kiss too and vice versa.

Emma is continuing to learn new words, some words are definitely getting clearer.  Her latest words are, "all done" and "minish" for finished.  As you know we've been going to music class, and its so great to see her progress, like one week later she's doing more of the actions the songs call for.  Also in the car, I play her songs over and over, now when I look at the rear view mirror, I see Emma doing actions to the songs.

This week we're in Los Angeles.  Rod is working, and we tagged along so we could spend some time with Ruby, Kerwin and Janine.  So great seeing the girls together.  They got along pretty quickly, Ruby instantly saying I'm going to share my toys with Emma.  The sharing has been a little challenging for both of them.  Bouts of pulling and pushing, but we're getting there, and I guess it's good for them.  With all this sharing, Emma has had to say Thank you so many times, that, that word is becoming a little clearer (too me at least).  Another word Emma is using a lot this week is "share' (or so I think that is what she means) when she wants something from Ruby, which actually sounds like she is saying xie xie (shieh shieh - thank you).
Such fun seeing the girls together.

We're waiting for our 18 month check up to see how Emma is doing, but from what everyone says, she seems to be just fine!!  Definitely heavier, has her nice solid legs, round belly, round cheeks, her hands are getting big and her fingers are getting longer.  We are progressing from 14 teeth to 16 now.

This is definitely a fun time.  So much happening so quickly!  I know I've missed out on writing about other things she's doing as part of her milestones, things happen so quickly, if I don't write in my journal right away I forget.  And now I'm just too lazy to get my journal and search for each new thing she's done since last month!

Nonetheless, Emma is still the happy, just go with the flow kid (until she's tired or hungry), that brings a smile to our face all the time!

The Best Feeling in the World!

So after 5 long weeks with one week break inbetween....Rod is finally home!
Both Emma and I are glad to have daddy back home.

I don't think anything can beat the feeling of your baby running toward you to welcome you home!
Apparently her expression was that of a screaming smile!!  No squealing or shrieking this time tho.

Emma and Mr Froggie

We've been going to Music with Mar (pronounced Mer) - this music class is based on Mr Froggie.  We've been to about 5 classes now I think and Emma is really participating well.  So cute to see her get so excited and helping out.  The classes are really busy and loud, after the first class I did not think I would go back as my head was spinning.  But it's fun for the kids it seems, and that's what matters right?

Here are a few videos of her participation.

At the start of class the kids all get to play with the toy frogs.  Emma says the word Frog.

Emma loved bubbles when she was 3 months old, and now 17 months still loves bubbles.  Thats our daugther, the one shrieking, the only child shrieking!

After fun with playing with the frogs and bubbles, it's time to put the frogs away.  Before Emma would just put one frog in the case, then run back to me, or not even put a frog away just spectate from my lap.  Yesterday Emma was very enthusiastic, putting the frogs away, helping the other kids put the frogs away (more like grabbing it from the other kids), then wanting to help zip up the case.  What I find funny is the teacher said, use slow, safe feet and Emma walks/runs all over the frogs.

Time to learn about rhythm and beat with sticks, the teacher sings a song and calls each child up one at a time to fetch two sticks.   

So much more goes on in this class, couldn't capture it all, but I think you get a good idea what class is all about.  Just great seeing her enjoy class. She gets so excited when I mention we're going to see Mr Froggie.  Well, we're off to story time at the library this morning, another fun activity for Emma, and we get to see more bubbles!

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.