Bible Verse of the Day

Emma

All about Emma

Emma-18monthsScrap Credits
Just The Way You Are quickpage from Blagovesta Gosheva
Boxed words Volume 4-Love & Wedding empty tag from Chantal Taake

Weight

7.5 – 7.6 kilos.

Height/Length

Not measured.

Teeth

9 teeth: 5 bottom teeth (3 incisors and 2 canines) and 4 upper teeth (4 incisors).  Might have more now, but she won’t open up her mouth long enough for me to count them.

Oh, and I need to start brushing her teeth soon!!

Motor Skills

  • Big milestone of the month is that Emma started to WALK!  She was a little unsure at first, but she is now quite adept at squatting, then standing and then walking (or rather toddling) her way to places she has not explored before. (video to follow soon, I promise!)
  • Loves to shake her booty to music, especially cartoon shows on television.

Communication and Social Skills

  • Shakes her head “no” if she doesn’t want something.
  • Pushes something away when she doesn’t want it, e.g. when she has had enough of food.
  • Clearly points and says “There, there!” when she wants to indicate where to go.
  • Beginning to enjoy “The Wheels of the Bus”, complete with actions.
  • Once or twice, I heard her calling me “Mi!” 😀
  • Says “Per” for “diaper” (like when I say “Let’s go change your diaper!”)
  • Moves her lips to my cheeks (or sometimes my lips) to give me a kiss when I ask for it.
  • Favorite shows currently: Elmo’s World and Hi-5.  These are the shows I put on TV when I need to cook or attend to something without Emma.

Food and Feeding

Most of her diet still consists of Mommy’s milk but she is showing an increasingly keen interest in the food and drinks we take.

We didn’t really try any new foods this month, but it was more like reinforcing the food she is familiar with.  She is beginning to take more porridge and drink more water.  I’m trying to remember to give her probiotics when I can.

blessed

I am so blessed because…

  • I have three precious wonderful little human beings to dote after; three little ones who think the world of me and love me unconditionally.
  • Ethan, my eldest, is doing good in school.  Despite my initial reservations about having him start regular school when he had been homeschooled for eight months prior, I really enjoy listening to his stories and anecdotes about what happened in school.  Minor issues do occur, like leaving stuff in school and classmates who are rather “naughty”, but I suppose I will have to let go eventually, let him fight his own battles and watch from the sidelines as he gains independence and courage.
  • Hannah, my second one, is slowly but surely becoming more confident in her abilities.  She is very sociable and I can tell she has many friends in school.  She picks up languages really fast, especially Chinese and BM, and she does not hesitate to practise at home.  She is more or less a “mini me”, so to say, determined and stubborn, and she pushes herself to her limits.  She’s also very creative and loves spending time creating works of art: drawing, painting, coloring.
  • Emma, my littlest one, although rather timid, is getting very used to having her siblings around her.  She relies on me totally and she is slowly starting to explore outside of her boundaries.  I can see a combination of Ethan and Hannah in her.  It’s magical.
  • My kids are spending time enjoying music, and not doing academic stuff all the time. Ethan is enjoying his ukulele classes (though he seldom practises!), and Hannah is also loving her weekly piano lessons.  Emma too, loves to shake and move to music when we do play it. 🙂
  • I hardly have time to blog because my day is filled with the need to ferry the kids everywhere and anywhere.  School, music classes, playdates….
  • Although my kids don’t necessarily LOVE everything I cook, they still eat their meals and are growing up healthily.  I try to keep meals nutritious and healthy but I’m thankful sometimes for takeouts and fast food too.  Don’t judge me, I’m just a mom. 😛
  • I get to tuck them in at night, say our prayers together and give each one of my little miracles a hug and a kiss goodnight.
  • I get to see them grow up to be a responsible, caring individuals and I am there to mould and guide them as best as I can.
  • We all learn new things together every day and we all know that although we each are allowed to make mistakes, it is these mistakes that give us the opportunity to be a better person.
  • God blessed me with these miracles and they are truly my world and my all.  I love them so, so deeply.

Here’s an interesting and fun activity that we can all do with our family (regardless of age).

When September came around, we decided to have this little interesting competition of our own. Since I had just gotten hold of some sunflower seeds from my aunt, I suggested we each plant a sunflower and see whose will bloom first.

The planter I used could fit five sunflower plants just right, so we labelled the spots accordingly and each selected two sunflower seeds. Two for insurance… Just in case one didn’t sprout.

And then we waited.  And waited (and watered daily) …..and waited some more.

One week later… And this is what we have currently:

sunflowers

As you can see, only the kids’ seeds have sprouted.  Ethan’s sprouted first (after 5 days), followed by Emma’s and then Hannah’s.

I just hope mine won’t be the last one to sprout. Okay, I just hope mine will eventually sprout … and bloom.

Watch this space for more updates in time to come! 🙂

Scrap Credits
“Celebrate GDS!” collaboration kit paper from Go DigitalScrapbooking.com
Summer Picnic Alphas from
 retrodiva {designs}™
Boxed words Volume 4-Love & Wedding empty tag from Chantal Taake
St. Patrick’s Day Frame cluster from Suzy Q Scraps

Weight

7.4 – 7.5 kilos.

Height/Length

Not measured.

Teeth

9 teeth: 5 bottom teeth (3 incisors and 2 canines) and 4 upper teeth (4 incisors).  Sorry I made a mistake last month about the number of teeth on the top and bottom.

Motor Skills

  • Emma is beginning to balance herself and reach for places to “walk” to.  She is not confident to take unsupported steps yet, but I know it will only be a matter of time before that happens.
  • Likes to make big splashes in the bath tub.
  • Likes to move to music and dance.

Communication and Social Skills

  • Loves to hold the Astro remote and pretend to change the channels.
  • Will resist and protest when we try to take her somewhere she doesn’t want to go, or get her to do something she doesn’t want to do, or take something she is holding away from her.
  • Says a few words: “ba-book” (for “book”), “ba-boh” (for “ball”), “deh-doh” (no idea what this is yet).

Food and Feeding

Most of her diet still consists of Mommy’s milk but she is showing an increasingly keen interest in the food and drinks we take.

Some of the foods she has tried this month:

  • Orange
  • Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (I used EVCO when I made Emma some muffin tots with pumpkin and carrots and she loved them!)
  • Lotus Root (in the form of Lotus Root Soup)
  • Beetroot (from Beetroot Soup; I served her beetroot soup with steamed rice)
  • Red dates (from soups)
  • Blueberries
  • Tilapia
  • Spaghetti (Gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free)
  • Ground beef (tried again, this time in an organic pasta sauce)

 

After procrastinating for so many months, what with the move and settling down and all, we finally managed to arrange for Emma’s baptism last Sunday.  We figured we had better do it now so that she would still “qualify” as an “infant”…after all, it’s called “infant baptism” for a reason, no?

A few close relatives turned up to witness the short and simple ceremony.  This time round, the baptism was held at a different church, one that is closer to our new home.  It lasted about half an hour and thereafter we proceeded to have lunch.

Photo-taking before the baptism commenced:

During the ceremony, Emma was busy blabbering away…  It was definitely an all-new experience for her, and certainly very educational for Ethan and Hannah too.  Ethan had been too young to remember what exactly happened when Hannah was baptised last time, so this time both Ethan and Hannah got to witness everything.

Towards the end of the baptism ceremony, it began to rain very heavily.  However, that did not dampen the ceremony.  It was a very special and meaningful one for us.

May the Almighty God bless us and keep us in his loving arms now and forevermore.

Hannah’s school had their annual Sports Day just over a week ago.  She had been practising very hard for her team event and naturally, she was very excited about the whole thing.  She was very concerned about getting to school on time that morning, so I had to reassure her that we will leave early so we will definitely be on time.

At the start of the Sports Day, the classes had the march past.  Hannah was supposed to hold the sign for her class, but she says the boy in front snatched it from her.

Then the kids provided some entertainment via warm-up exercises:

Doing the class cheer, in English and Mandarin:

“Teacher asked me to hold the sign again…”

Smallest member of Hannah’s cheering squad:

Video-taking responsibilities were delegated to our videographer-in-training:

Hannah’s class event…..see Hannah in action 🙂

She did really well, and we’re all so very proud of her!

 

Scrap Credits
All You Need Is Love QP from Delicious Scraps

Weight

Around 7.3 – 7.4 kilos.  Slowly but surely gaining weight.

Height/Length

Not measured, but I can see she is growing taller because her head is almost hitting the table top when she walks under the table.

Teeth

9 teeth: 4 bottom teeth (4 incisors) and 5 upper teeth (3 incisors and 2 canines).  A few more teeth are sprouting too, as we speak, but she won’t open her mouth long enough for me to examine them.

Motor Skills

  • Emma is still not confident to walk unsupported, probably because of her sleep-n-plays, which she has to wear to prevent scratching.  I’ve seen her take one step unsupported and then sit down. She is very adept at cruising and moving along couches, tables and such.  She also loves pushing toys around and using them as support.  Sometimes I let her wear shoes on top of her sleep-n-plays so that she gets a firmer grip on the floor.
  • She can climb up flights of stairs on all fours now.
  • Very advanced pincer’s grip and she can locate minuscule specks of dirt on the floor.
  • She is a very fast learner.  When I do our nightly prayer sessions with the elder kids, and I say “Let’s Pray”, Emma will quickly put her hands in prayer position.

Communication and Social Skills

  • She waves “buh bye” independently and does it when we are ready to leave a room.
  • Loves to play “chase” with us when we pretend to chase her around the house.
  • Vaguely saying these few words: “dog”, “ball”
  • Reaches out and extends her hands when she wants to be carried.

Food and Feeding

Emma is still drinking mostly Mommy’s milk with an increased love for grapes and homecooked porridge.

Some of the foods she has tried this month:

  • Tortilla
  • Mango
  • Hainanese Chicken Rice (just the rice, without the chicken and soy sauce)

She is also able to use the straw to drink.  I “trained” her using the actual straw and was surprised she was able to use it after a couple of attempts.  She still bites on the straw though .

Earlier this month, we had a scare when I fed her some salmon porridge.  I was quite happy at first when she downed it with gusto, however almost immediately I noticed Emma’s lips were very swollen and she had rashes all over her face.  I quickly attributed it to allergy, and since she had had nothing new that day, it was very possible that the allergic reaction could be due to the salmon in her porridge.  I breastfed her and fell asleep and thankfully after an hour or so of monitoring the swelling subsided and she was back to her old cheerful self.

There’s a high possibility she could have reacted strongly to some kind of preservatives in the salmon we bought because I recently tried with salmon porridge again (this time salmon from a different source) and Emma was okay with it.

(all together now…)

Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do

Several weeks ago, a old friend of ours paid us a visit.  We had not seen each other for yonks, so we had a good time catching up on what’s going on with each other.  We also took this golden opportunity to visit the Heritage Trail in Georgetown together with our friend and his family.  Although we have been living in Penang for so long, it was Pete’s second visit and the kids’ and my first visit.  It was slightly cloudy that day but we managed to cover quite a few key places.

Khoo Kongsi

Obligatory Street Art Photos

Read the rest of this entry »

Scrap Credits
Pink Love QP from Delicious Scraps

Weight

About 7.2-7.3 kilos.

Height/Length

Not measured.

Teeth

7 teeth: 3 bottom teeth (either 3 incisors or 2 incisors and 1 canine) and 4 upper incisors.  I suspect she is teething again because she has been waking up more often at night nowadays.

Motor Skills

  • Emma can squat and stand repeatedly unsupported now.  She is also very pleased with this accomplishment of hers and loves to bask in all the appreciative applause she gets.
  • She loves throwing and dropping things on the floor (i.e. casting), and will giggle when we pick it up and let her repeat the same process.
  • Emma loves to crawl under chairs, through holes and squeeze into confined places.

Communication and Social Skills

  • She waves “buh-bye” quite readily and on cue now, and sometimes says “Babber” or “Baba” when she does that.
  • She gives flying kisses by putting her palm to her mouth and then removing her palm.  Took her like less than a week to get this.
  • Flashes her cheeky grin whenever she gets the chance to.
  • I blogged that she will attempt the actions to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” but I noticed that she actually recognizes the words too.  When I say the words “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” without actually singing it, she will start doing the actions.
  • Likes to say “There!” while pointing.  She uses this method to indicate where she wants to be carried to.
  • She likes to give/hand us her toys or any item she is holding, most times accompanied by “There!”
  • “Deh-deh” for Daddy and “Momma” for Mommy is quite consistently used now.

Others

  • Emma has been able to fall asleep in Daddy’s arms for several nights now.  I find it heartwarming that she is comfortable enough with Daddy that way.  And of course, Daddy’s not one to complain 🙂

Food and Feeding

Emma is still drinking mostly Mommy’s milk with a smattering of new foods introduced here and there.

Some of the foods she has tried this month:

  • Soy Bean Curd, which she absolutely loves
  • Dragon Fruit
  • She’s also become more accepting of salmon now, especially salmon in porridge. 🙂

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