Hannah

What’s behind a name?  After I did a whole detailed post on Ethan’s name, it’s now Hannah’s turn.

When we found out we were gonna have a baby girl, we had already pretty much decided on the name Hannah.  I have loved the name Hannah since I was a schoolgirl, and it was only apt that I name my daughter as such.  We definitely wanted a Biblical name and one that is meaningful both for us and for her.  And we also wanted a name that’s not too common.  That’s why we chose Hannah, which means Favored (or Favored by God), or Grace.    In Biblical context, Hannah was one of the wives of Elkanah, and she was blessed with six children, one of whom was Samuel, the glorious warrior and judge of Israel.

With the Christened name decided, it was time for the harder part: deciding on a Chinese name.

Thanks to the internet, while we were in the US, I contacted a friend of mine in Penang to ask her hubby to help me ascertain a good number of strokes for Hannah’s Chinese name, based on her birth year, surname and also Mommy and Daddy’s birth year.  This friend of mine was also the one who helped calculate the number of strokes suitable for Ethan’s Chinese name.

She then came back with the results, which stated that based on Pete’s surname, Chua (蔡Cài), there were 4 stroke combinations that would be a good match for the 2nd and 3rd Chinese character for Hannah’s name:

• 7 + 18
• 18 + 7
• 8 + 17
• 18 + 7

So off to the drawing board we went.  Referring to some Chinese name books we had brought along, we wanted a name that had the water radical or water element in it.  I used the internet to list out the various combinations that would sound good and mean good, meeting all the criteria we had set out, and then we gave the list to another friend of ours in Santa Clara to help us decide or recommend.  After a few tweaks here and there, we arrived at a name that we all thought would be perfect for our baby girl.

We chose the name Xi Ling (Xǐ Ling:  禧泠), which is a combination of 17 + 8 strokes.  Xǐ (禧) meant Joy and Ling (泠), which also contained the water radical, carried the meaning “sound of the water flowing“; and together, Xi Ling (Xǐ Ling: 禧泠) means Joy Overflowing, which Hannah is living up to really well, seeing what a happy little baby she is! 🙂

So Hannah’s full name is Hannah Chua Xi Ling (蔡 禧 泠 ~ Cài Xǐ Ling), carrying the meaning of Favored by God and Full of Grace, with Overflowing Joy.  Isn’t that a pretty name for a pretty baby? 🙂

Scrap Credits
Happy Everyday QP from Thaliris Design
 Funny Bubble Alpha from Loloden designs  
 Sun Porch alpha (the number 7) from Shabby Princess

Weight

9.1 kilos.  This month she only gained 100g, maybe because she was ill a few weeks ago.  But her weight is still in the 90-something percentile.

Height/Length

67cm

Motor Skills

• She started with the commando crawl backwards, and now she can crawl slowly by moving first her arms and then lifting (sometimes dragging) her knee.  You’ll see Hannah moving all around the floor, and from one end of the cot to the other.
• Hannah can sit unsupported most of the time, and when she does tumble over to the side, she will assume her crawling position.
• Hannah also tries to do *stunts* like balancing herself on one knee and one elbow.
• Very good and deft with her fingers.  She is able to hold objects very sturdily, transfering them from one hand to the other and back.  She hardly ever drops the objects, unless she is throwing a tantrum.
• Attempting to STAND while being held by her hands.  Gave me a shock!
• Hannah can (for the most part) sit independently in the bath tub when I give her her bath.  She loves playing with water and will kick and squeal with delight.  And she adores playing with the washcloth and a little cup I sometimes give her.  At times she will *protest* when I take her out too soon.   Note to self: time to introduce some cool bath toys to her! 🙂

Communication and Social Skills

• Saying “Mum-mum-mum” when she wants milk or  Mommy.
• Vocalizing many different sounds, “Bababa…”, “ooooh…”, “ahhh…” etc
• Will stop, listen, look at me and smile when I start singing to her.  Her favorite songs: the ever popular “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, “The Wheels of the Bus” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It”.  The actions totally tickle her.  And hey, I have noticed she has also started to try to copy my actions in “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”!
• Absolutely intrigued by Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’s Hot-Diggity-Dog song.  Will stop whatever she is doing, look in the direction of the TV, and smile happily.
• Showing signs of readiness to play with Ethan.  She laughs and smiles at him and is always looking at him, as if *learning* how to behave.

Food and Feeding Every ounce of milk she takes is 100% Mommy’s milk.  She is back on rice cereal and EBM once a day now.  After I stopped her rice cereal for a few weeks, she initially didn’t seem interested in the cereal when I reintroduced it a few days ago.  But when I allowed her to hold her spoon and supervised her feeding herself, she got excited!  Now Hannah looks forward to every evening when I feed her the rice cereal.  I normally will feed her at dinner time (and her brother will want some of his own cereal too!) So rice cereal for Hannah, and a serving of Koko Krunch with fresh milk for Ethan! 😛 (I’m not complainin’!)