Scrap Credits
May Morn kit from Carjazi Designs
Stamp Cluster 7 from Lindsay Jane Designs
Romance elements from Valentina’s Creations

Weight

14 kilos (it was 14.3 kilos at the doc’s on Feb 1st)

Height

About 91 cm

Teeth

19 teeth, or almost there… Right now, she has 4 incisors on the upper jaw, 3 incisors bottom jaw;  2 canines upper jaw, 2 canines bottom jaw;  4 pramolars and 4 more back pramolars are making their appearance slowly but surely.

Developmental Milestones

• Can go to sleep on her own at times, but still wakes up at night crying sometimes.  She’ll only want Mommy then.  These few nights she has also been screaming a lot at night.  Hopefully it’s just a phase and will end soon.
• Her favorite position to fall asleep in is with my hand under her body and the other hugging her.  She won’t hesitate to ask “I want someone to hug me”, or she’ll even instruct me to “Sleep straight, Mommy” and then she will position my hands
• Loves going to school and will proudly tell us all her friends’ names and also that she knows her brothers’ friends’ names.  She’ll also tell us what she did in school, and what she ate in school.  And she’ll boast that she’s a “big girl”.

Toilet Training

Toilet training has seen a vast improvement in the recent weeks.  She wears pull-ups when she is in school, which makes her feel like a “big girl”.  And now she will tell us when she needs to go pee pee.  When we are out, she’ll tell me, “Mommy, I need to go pee pee.  I’m wearing pull-ups so I can go.  I can hold, Mommy.”

I’ve told her that if she can keep her pull-ups dry, I’ll let her wear panties

Food and Feeding

Very adventurous in her food, and will try almost anything, as long as it’s not *spicy*

Scrap Credits
Child’s Life Kit from Elo Designs

Weight

13.5 kilos or maybe more!

Height

Actually she was previously about 89cm or 90cm , but I recently took her height measurement, and it was around 91cm.

Teeth

19 teeth, or almost there… Right now, she has 4 incisors on the upper jaw, 3 incisors bottom jaw;  2 canines upper jaw, 2 canines bottom jaw;  4 pramolars and 4 more back pramolars are making their appearance slowly but surely.

Developmental Milestones

• We can carry a decent conversation with Hannah now, and she is a joy to talk to.  She is very inquisitive in nature and asks a LOT of questions, including follow-up ones.

Hannah: Mommy, what are you eating?
Me: Oh, I’m eating tomyam noodles.
Hannah: Is it spicy?  Can I try?
Me: It’s a little bit spicy, Hannah.
Hannah: A little bit spicy?
Me: Yes
Hannah: Why only a little bit, Mommy? Why not a LOT?

• She wants to be treated like a big girl most of the time now, and that has resulted in her rejecting the baby chair or high chair.  ”I don’t need the baby chair now, I’m a big girl!”.  And when taking her to the potty when we’re in the mall, “I can hold my poopoo Mommy, I’m a big girl now.”
• Will ask for permission to do most things. “Mommy, can I drink some chocolate milk, please?” “Mommy, can I watch TV please?”
• Can reason within means.  One recent episode stays in my mind (and will stay there for a long long time).  I was getting the kids to sleep and they both wanted to sleep together on the mattress on the floor.  I was afraid they would kick each other accidentally, so I asked Hannah to let Ethan sleep on his own.  And she replied, “I don’t hit my brother, Mommy…I LOVE my brother.” Awwwww…
• Has an emerging fashion sense (and still learning).  She knows now that dresses go with Mary Janes and shorts go with sandals.  But occasionally, you’ll still see her in red socks and Mary Janes with a floral frock!
• Tries her best to show her independence by feeding herself or dressing up, and when we try to assist her, she’ll protest and say, “No no, I CAN!!!”

Toilet Training

Toilet training for peepee still in progress.  She can more or less tell us when she needs to poopoo and successfully does it in the toilet.

Food and Feeding

Still very much a food lover and is not choosy when it comes to food.  Sometimes does not want the chicken pieces though, but still loving her fish balls and carrots.

Scrap Credits

Natural Freshness Kit from Manue Designs
Boys & Girls Corner Alphas from Nathan Design
It’s Only Natural Alphas from Scrappy Bug

Weight

13.5 kilos

Height

92cm (she has grown!!)

Teeth

I just noticed that her 4 back pramolars have begun to emerge.  So she’s going to get 19 teeth soon.  Right now, she has 4 incisors on the upper jaw, 3 incisors bottom jaw;  2 canines upper jaw, 2 canines bottom jaw;  4 pramolars and 4 more back pramolars are making their appearance slowly but surely.  This would explain the bout of “nightmarish screamings”.

Developmental Milestones

• Hannah is learning very quickly, judging by the amount of questions she asks all the time.  She asks Why, Who, What, Where, How endlessly and is fast becoming a chatterbox.  She is always fighting for “talk time” with her brother.
• She takes pride in her achievements, however big or small they are.  If she discovers a particular pose (e.g. stand on one leg while lifting both hands up), she would do it and proudly and loudly proclaim, “See, I can do this!”
• Hannah is showing a certain degree of shyness with people she is not familiar with or people whom she chooses to be shy with.  If she doesn’t want to verbally say hi, she would be contented just to wave.
• Stubbornness is beginning to show and she has exhibited instances where she adamantly wants to get her own way.
• Loves (jigsaw) puzzles and can occupy herself doing it.
• Loves to point out little girls who “look like her” in videos she watches.  She’ll ask us, “Which one is like me, Mommy?”
• Curious and inquisitive.  When I take her around, she’ll almost always ask, “Where are we going now, Mommy?” or “Where are we going first, Mommy?”, followed by “Then?”

Toilet Training

Very keen on peepeeing and poopooing in the toilet, even when we are not at home.  I need to get her those trainers soon so that she can utilize them properly when we are outside.

As soon as we come home from anywhere at all, she has a habit of going to the toilet and putting her kiddy toilet seat on the toilet bowl, and then she will carry the step stool by herself next to the toilet bowl and climb on it by herself.

Food and Feeding

Still very much a food lover and is not choosy when it comes to food.

Scrap Credits
365 Project Part 6 Collab Kit from Line & Ninie

Weight

13.5 kilos

Height

88cm

Teeth

Still 15 teeth: 4 incisors on the upper jaw, 3 incisors bottom jaw.  2 canines upper jaw, 2 canines bottom jaw.  4 pramolars.  4 more back pramolars have not made their appearance.

Developmental Milestones

• Hannah’s scribblings and drawings are sometimes taking shape.  She would come and show me what she has drawn: sometimes it is a flower, sometimes a tree, sometimes an animal.  Oh, she loves animals!
• Likes to help me around the house.  For example, “Mommy, come, I help you keep the vacuum cleaner!”
• Hannah imitates what we do really really well.  The other day, she watched me make cake pops and then later that evening, she was “serving” me Lego cake pops, all with different flavors!
• Still wants to do almost everything by herself: buckling up her seat belt, putting on her clothes.
• Loves to read and to be read to.
• Can participate in church by singing the “Alleluia!” together with her brother.
• Hannah is still sometimes a little shy around strangers but when we start walking away from them, she’ll immediately ask, “Mommy, who is THAT?”

Toilet Training

Toilet/potty training is still ongoing.  Hannah has shown a really keen interest on going to pee in the toilet and sometimes she would tell me she wants to pee.  Her chart is filling up relatively fast and she has since obtained two rewards (of which I will share in a separate post).

I’m happy to note that poopoo accidents are becoming lesser now, and I was very pleased that she was even able to tell me on one occasion that she had the “poopoo feeling” when she had diarrhea.

Next step: I will be introducing training pants for her soon!  Yay!!

Food and Feeding

Very adventurous when it comes to food, Hannah will ask to “Let me try” whatever we are eating.  She even enjoyed the kiam chye boey I cooked the other day.  She loves dragon fruit now and will eat so fast, we have to hurry up and eat some too, lest we don’t have any left for ourselves.

Scrap Credits
Gourmandise Collab Kit from Sekada Designs & Goldensun Designs
Child’s Life Kit’s elements from EloDesigns
Masks We Wear from Digital Freebies

Weight

13.1 kilos

Height

88cm

Teeth

Still 15 teeth: 4 incisors on the upper jaw, 3 incisors bottom jaw.  2 canines upper jaw, 2 canines bottom jaw.  4 pramolars.  4 more back pramolars have not made their appearance.

Motor Skills

• Hannah can walk up and down the stairs by herself.  When she goes up the stairs, she sometimes alternates her feet as she climbs up.
• Sometimes she can put on her pants and shoes by herself.
• Hannah can draw a (rough) circle and a straight line; she loves to experiment and scribble with color pencils.

Communication and Social Skills

• She is talking really well for her age, and expresses herself clearly.  ”I don’t like that smell, Mommy!” or “Who’s that?” or “I wanna go to sleep!” or “Help me to wash my hands, Mommy!”
• She is showing a keen interest in playing with other kids, but sometimes is not willing to share yet.
• She can wash and dry her hands on her own.
• Loves to brush her teeth on her own, but I will also follow up by brushing for her too.
• She is obsessed with colors and numbers and keeps on asking me what color is this and that and where is this and that number.
• She’s learning some new shapes this month!  For example, she has learnt the hexagon and trapezoid
• She can sing a lot of songs and sometimes will insist on singing them on her own.  The rate at which she picks up new songs amazes me!

Toilet Training

• I’ve started a simple chart to record her potty training progress.  There are still some accidents but we’re getting there..

Food and Feeding

• Hannah is showing a keen interest on wanton mee now.  She loves eating it and even devours the wantons with glee.
• Drinks fresh milk and UHT chocolate and strawberry milk.
• Loves jelly and all types of fruits.

Scrap Credits
Gourmandise Collab Kit from Sekada Designs & Goldensun Designs
Endless Love Alphas from Laurie’s Scraps

Weight

13.1 kilos, from a recent weighing-in in Ipoh.

Height

86cm, also from that same session in Ipoh.

Teeth

Still 15 teeth: 4 incisors on the upper jaw, 3 incisors bottom jaw.  2 canines upper jaw, 2 canines bottom jaw.  4 pramolars.  4 more back pramolars have not made their appearance.

Motor Skills

• Hannah can balance on one foot, with the other foot placed across the thigh of the standing foot…something like the Yoga Tree Pose.
• She can turn the door knob open by herself (on tiptoe).  She can only open the door from outside-in though.
• Wants to put on her clothes and shoes by herself.

Communication and Social Skills

• Hannah can recognize the basic shapes and some of the secondary shapes now.  When we draw the shapes out, she will say “square”, “triangle”, “rectangle”, “circle”, “star”, “heart”, “oval” and even “diamond”.
• She can identify most of the basic colors now, and will also sometimes ask what we get when we mix two colors together.  Her favorite color changes from day to day depending on her mood and what she wears.
• Hannah can identify which is left and which is right.
• She can also differentiate between a boy and a girl.  She can say that she is a girl and Ethan is a boy, and even for the people she has met, like relatives, she can correctly distinguish the gender.
• She’s getting more and more interested in playing with other kids, and frequently names some of her friends in her parent-toddler class.  She is quite the sociable one, this one.
• Loves scribbling and drawing things with color pencils.  It helps to harness her imagination and build her creativity.  She’ll even ask me to take a picture of her with the picture when it’s done.

Toilet Training

• Thought she was about to be toilet-trained for poopoo, but lately Hannah has been having frequent accidents.  I might start a sticker chart soon.

Food and Feeding

• As of sometime near the end of July 2011, Hannah has been 100% weaned from the breast.  She now drinks fresh milk and UHT milk, and also has her dairy intake from cheese and yogurt.
• In addition to chocolate milk, she has begun to show an interest for strawberry milk too

Scrap Credits
I’m Like a Bird Collab Kit from Rena & Paprika
FC_Grunge Frame from Unknown source (pls email me if you are the creator)

Weight

12.5 kilos.  (turns out my estimation of her weight had been wrong all this while, because when she went to visit the doctor recently, she was weighed in at 12.5 kilos only)

Height

Around 86cm

Teeth

Turns out I have been wrong all this time.. from the recent dental checkup, the dentist has counted that Hannah has only 15 teeth now (and not 17 teeth, as I’d thought): 4 incisors on the upper jaw,3 incisors bottom jaw.  2 canines upper jaw, 2 canines bottom jaw.  4 pramolars.  4 more back pramolars have not made their appearance.

Motor Skills

• Likes to pretend she is walking on a balance beam, be it at the side of the bed or on a self-constructed imaginary *beam* made of cards on the floor.
• Still likes to jump on the trampoline.
• Attempting to put on shoes by herself (and being rather stubborn about it)
• Insists on buckling up by herself and shows her *strength* in doing so, by making a “tremendous effort” sound.  Favorite phrase: “Nooooo!!!  I can do myself!  Close the door, Mommy!”
• Learning about textures and smells by sometimes grabbing hold of food and moulding with bare hands.  Gives me a headache, but I try to laugh it off as a process of learning.  SIGH.

Communication and Social Skills

• Hannah has started asking WHY.  ”Why Ethan go school, Mommy?”  ”Why we go home, Mommy?”
  Hannah (pointing to a dot on the crook of her elbow): What’s that, Mommy?
  Me: Oh, that’s a small dot from yesterday, when the nurse took a blood sample from your arm, remember?
  Hannah: But why Mommy?
  Me: So that she can test if you are all right.
  Hannah (makes pitiful face): Painful….

For the record, she did not cry a teeny bit when the blood sample was taken.  So proud of my girl!

• She can use “Thank you” and “You’re welcome” pretty consistently now.
• Says “Sorry” readily when she accidentally causes hurt.
• She loves to hug her blankie to sleep.  It’s a lovely crochet one which was a gift to her when she was a newborn.  She’s had it ever since.
• Hannah loves to role-play now.  She’ll pretend she’s cooking something for us, or that she’s serving us some food.
• She adores her soft toys.  One of her current favorites is a little cuddly giraffe she names Isabella (name given by Ethan, but has stuck since).

• Hannah can also be rather stubborn at times and demands her own ways.  We have had to introduce the “naughty stool” to her on a few occasions, and she has been able to apologize soon after that.
• She can recognize most letters of the alphabet and most numbers now.  If she is not sure, she will ask, “What the that number, Mommy?”
• Has a favorite color, which changes every day according to the color of her shirt/dress.  However, lately she has been telling me her favorite color is GREEN.  Because “Green means GO, Mommy!” (her wonderful teacher Ethan has also taught her that “Red means STOP” and “Orange means Slow Down”)

Toilet Training

• Hannah is about 85% toilet-trained for pooping now.  She is able to let me know when she needs to go poopoo, and can independently sit on the throne till she is done.

Food and Feeding

• Still in the process of weaning completely from the breast at night.  There have been a few nights where she managed to fall asleep by herself (while hugging me) and also slept through the night without the need to wake up for a comfort suckle.
• There are a few non-favorites foods of Hannah’s now, namely spring onions, onions, “brown stuff in food”.
• One of her current favorites now are fish balls.

Scrap Credits
Beautiful Spring Kit from Rena Designs
Photomask #10 from Kylie M Designs
Boxed words from Chantal

Weight

Possibly 13 kilos.

Height

Around 85cm

Teeth

17 teeth: 4 incisors on the upper jaw, 3 or 4 incisors bottom jaw.  2 canines upper jaw, 1 or 2 canines bottom jaw.  6 pramolars: if I’ve counted correctly, it’s 4 on the upper jaw and 2 on the bottom jaw (with 2 more appearing slowly).

Motor Skills

• Likes to skip
• Likes to jump on the trampoline.
• Can be more or less independent on playground play structures and shows no fear sliding down slides, even those tunnel-slides.
• Attempting to work the hula hoop.

Communication and Social Skills

• Hannah’s getting into the hang of asking questions now, but she phrases it rather uniquely when she uses “What”.  She’ll say, “What the that smell, Mommy?” or “What the that animal, Daddy?” or “What the that color, Ethan?”.  We’ll then simply rephrase it for her, by asking her, “Oh, what’s that smell? That’s the smell of durians!”
• She can sing many many songs, her most recent accomplishment is singing the popular A-B-C song.  Last night, I asked her if it’s okay that I record her singing it and she agreed.  Let’s see when I can get a recording to post here.
• Tantrums are also getting regular.  Like any two-year-old, she wants to assert herself and test her limits.
• Hannah is currently being trained to use “Please”, “Thank you” and “Excuse Me”.  Her brother is a very good teacher
• She can count by rote from 1-39.  According to “Teacher Ethan”, Hannah will say “30″ after she counts 39!

Food and Feeding

• Hannah is weaned off the breast during the daytime.  She still needs to be breastfed to sleep though, but now in the middle of the night, she can sometimes be soothed to sleep without the breast.  We use the “hug method” or sometimes the “snuggle next to Daddy method”, the latter of which is not very popular with Daddy.
• She is very curious when it comes to food and wants to see whatever we are eating/drinking and wants to try it, if possible.
• She likes to take cookies, tau sar pneah and her favorite ice cream flavor is “chocolate”, so she tells everyone.

Scrap Credits
Kit “May Part 1” at DMS from Nanine & Mélie.Designs

Weight

12 point something kilos, maybe close to 13 kilos even.

Height

Around 83cm

Teeth

Well, well…she finally cooperated and opened up her mouth long enough for me to count her teeth, and whaddya know?  Our little Hannah has 17 teeth now!  Yep…it’s an ODD number.  She seems to be missing her bottom left canine/incisor though.  Will take her to the dentist next month for a checkup.

Motor Skills

• She is more or less comfortable with her movements now, and can do most of the things her brother does.  She runs a lot though.
• Hannah loves dancing and will move her body to the music when she hears it.
• Hannah can feed herself rather well, with either a spoon or a fork.  Of course, there will be some mess when she self-feeds, but it’s part and parcel of learning.
• Loves to reach and touch the buttons on the elevator.  She can only reach the bottom-most row though, so she can only press G.  But she will still proclaim, as proud as can be, “See? I press G!”

Communication and Social Skills

• Hannah’s competitive streak is beginning to surface.  For example, when a song starts playing, and someone else sings, she’ scream, “Noooo!!! Hannah SING!”  Thank goodness her brother is matured enough to say, “Never mind Hannah, we sing it together, alright?”
• Hannah is becoming curioser and curioser.  She loves to ask, “What are you doing, Mommy?” or “Where are we going now, Daddy?” and when we answer her, she’ll reply with a knowing, “Ohhh…” Or when we tell her what we are doing, she’ll request, “Let me see…”
• She can also express her likes for certain things. For instance, when she hears a song she likes, she will say, “I like this song.  What’s this song?” or when she eats something she likes, she’ll say, “Mmmm…nice.  I like this one.”
• When she does something wrong, or when she accidentally physically hurts me, and I wince in pain, she’ll say, “Sorry Mommy.”  She gets this empathic trait from her brother
• Loves to *socialize*.  When someone is on the phone, she’ll run along and ask, “Say Hello?” and then she’ll say, “Hello Aunty!” or whatever into the receiver.  That’s right.  She’s not shy at all, this girl.

Food and Feeding

• Hannah is weaned off the breast during the daytime.  She will only ask to be breastfed after I have taken my bath at night and when she is ready for bed.  I’ll work on weaning her off her night feeds soon.  Just don’t ask me when.
• She is able to feed herself with a spoon or fork.
• She can drink quite independently with a regular cup or with a straw.
• She is very open to trying new foods, and can eat quite quickly too.  Her current favorites are carrots (boiled in soup) and tuna sandwich.

Scrap Credits
Kit “Child Love” at DMS from Lilas
Color Felt Stitching Alphas from Jada Collectibles

Weight

12.3 kilos as weighed in at doc’s about 4 weeks ago.

Height

Around 83cm

Teeth

She still wouldn’t open up her mouth long enough for me to count accurately, but from what I could see/estimate, Hannah now has 16 teeth: 8 incisors (4 top and 4 bottom), with 4 pramolars appearing on the right side (top and bottom) and left side (top and bottom); also 2 canines starting to appear at the top jaw, and 2 canines on the bottom jaw.  Her 4 other pramolars might have already started growing, but as mentioned, she wouldn’t open up wide enough for me to see.

Motor Skills

• Hannah is a handful when we dine out.  She will sit and eat when she is hungry, but she she is full and restless, she’ll announce, “I’m full.  I wanna walk.”  And then attempt to climb out of her high chair.
• She can put on her sandals by herself (bravo Hannah!), although sometimes it is on the wrong side.
• Hopping and jumping skills have improved.  She can also manage jumping on the trampoline!  Since March, I’ve started taking her to the parent-toddler class once a week, and it has certainly helped to hone her social skills, as well as her motor and creativity skills.  She looks forward to each session and cheerfully participates in all the activities, especially the music and movement ones.

Communication and Social Skills

• Beginning to show more and more of a stubborn personality, no thanks to genes from both Mommy and Daddy.  Uses the words “No!” and “No want!” (don’t want) when she wants to tell us what she wants.  But she also uses “Yeah” and “Yes”, so it’s a healthy balance.
• Can carry on simple conversations with Ethan.  It’s really enlightening to see them communicate.  Of course, they also fight sometimes, but that’s a whole other story.
• Hannah’s vocabulary continues to increase exponentially as she mimics and parrots almost everything Ethan says (especially).  Interesting words and phrases she says are, “Mother Goose!”, “Queensbay Mall!”, “Gurney Plaza!”, “Fatty Loh!” and “I no-no” (I dunno).
• Some of her pronunciation is not that clear and accurate yet, but it’s good enough for us to understand what she means.
• Hannah is also polishing up on her manipulation skills.  Sometimes when we want to lead her away from something, and we hold her hand and guide her away, she will scream at the top of her lungs and say, “Uhhh….my HAND!!!”, as though we are hurting her!

Food and Feeding

• Hannah is more or less weaned off the breast during the daytime.  She will only ask to be breastfed after I have taken my bath at night and when she is ready for bed. 
• She is able to feed herself rice, porridge or pasta with a spoon, and is able to use her fingers to eat breads and buns.
• She can drink quite independently with a regular cup or with a straw.
• Loves oranges and papayas, and all kinds of soup.
• Loves experimenting on new foods.  Once, she saw a small bowl of chilli on the table while we were having dinner, and asked for some.  Hannah said, “Try some, please?”, while pointing to the chilli.  “No, baby,” I said, “That’s spicy.  Maybe next time when you’re older, okay?”  She looked at me and said, “Drink water…” (meaning if it’s spicy, she can always drink water)

Potty Training

• Potty training is still ongoing, and I am not really pushing her.  She understands that poopoo should go into the toilet and she says things like “Icky!” when she poopoos.
• She likes to *pretend* to wipe herself clean, but insists that I wash her butt with water after every poopoo.

Scrap Credits

Boxed words from Chantal

HoldEmUps from Tara Dunstan

Weight

Around 12 kilos or slightly more.

Height

Slightly more than 82 cm, but she certainly appears to be growing taller each day.

Teeth

She still wouldn’t open up her mouth long enough for me to count accurately, but from what I could see/estimate, Hannah now has 16 teeth: 8 incisors (4 top and 4 bottom), with 4 pramolars appearing on the right side (top and bottom) and left side (top and bottom); bottom left pramolar is taking its time to grow!; also 2 canines starting to appear at the top jaw, and 2 canines on the bottom jaw.

Motor Skills

• Hannah can imitate actions (especially those in songs) really well, and can pick them up almost immediately.
• Loves to climb up and slide down a slide, not showing any fear at all.

Communication and Social Skills

• Hannah can communicate really well with us now, and can carry on simple conversations, like when we ask her where she wants to go for dinner, she’ll reply “Pappa Rich!” or “McDonald’s!”
• She adamantly insists that she is not a baby anymore.  When we ask her, “Is Hannah a baby?”, she’ll say, “NO! Toddler..”
• She uses a few phrases rather often: “Don’t want”, “Don’t want anymore”, “Don’t do that!”, “Mommy COME!”, “See?”, “Here?”, “There?”, “Go away!” etc
• Hannah is starting to choose the clothes she wants to wear.  Sometimes when I lay out her jammies, she’ll say, “No Mommy!  Not this one!”  and then she’ll lead me to the chest of drawers where her clothes are kept and wait while I open it for her to choose which one she wants.  She’s also very choosy on the diaper she wants to wear…
• Tantrums are upon us, as she sometimes demands to get her own way.  We’ve had to put our foot (and feet) down on several occasions, with Hannah stubbornly refusing to sit on the naughty stool, kicking and screaming all the way.  Eventually she did calm down and sat on the stool, and said her “sorries”, but we’re anticipating *tough* days ahead.  SIGH.

Food and Feeding

• Although Hannah is still breastfed, I’m in the process of weaning her off.  There have been days when she did not need to be breastfed the whole day, and only needed the breast at night.  There’s still a lot of work to be done, but we’re getting there.  Sometimes when I tell her there’s no more milk left, she’ll quietly obey, look at me and say, “Cup?”  And then I’ll just pour her some milk in a cup to drink from.  She currently takes fresh milk and chocolate milk and also a little bit of GainPlus formula, sometimes mixed with oatmeal.  Hannah is also taking yogurt in her daily diet, as an addition to her dairy supplement.
• Loves all other food.

Potty Training

• She is able to tell us when she needs to go poopoo and can poopoo in the adult toilet using a child toilet seat about 95% of the time.
• Lately she has also started to pull her pants and diaper down by herself when she wants to peepee.  Sometimes she’ll say, “peepee”, and we’ve had success on several occasions.  She’ll smile happily when we hear the peepee trickle into the toilet and she’ll say, “Sticker!” (yes, I’m giving her a sticker for every successful time she peepees or poopoos in the toilet)
• Of course there are times when she asks to peepee or poopoo but it’s just a false alarm

Scrap Credits
Nature Walk QP from Digital Freebies
Sweet Serenity Numbers and elements from Shabby Princess Designs
 

Weight

At a recent visit to the doc’s for her cough and cold, she was weighed in at 12 kilos. 

Height

Slightly more than 82 cm

Teeth

She wouldn’t open up her mouth long enough for me to count accurately, but from what I could see/estimate, Hannah now has 16 teeth: 8 incisors (4 top and 4 bottom), with 4 pramolars appearing on the right side (top and bottom) and left side (top and bottom); bottom left pramolar is taking its time to grow!;  also 2 canines starting to appear at the top jaw, and 2 canines on the bottom jaw.

Motor Skills

• Hannah can jump pretty well for her age, and for someone who is not even 2 years old, I would say that’s no mean feat!
• She’s quite adept at climbing up the stairs by herself, and she even knows it’s safer to hold on to the railings.  But we still insist on holding her hand all the time, of course.
• Also loves to run around, especially with her brother, but sometimes she’ll ask us to “carry” her.

Communication and Social Skills

• Hannah is very very sociable and friendly, and loves to say “hello” or “hi” to everyone she meets.  She also loves to play with other kids and will take the initiative to initiate play.
• She is also very inquisitive, and keeps asking “What’s that?” while pointing at things, or “Who’s that?” when she sees someone she doesn’t know.
• Hannah can count 1-10 by rote.  In fact I am rather surprised by the accuracy in her pronunciation too.
• She can recognize the color “yellow”, “pink”, “purple” and “orange”.
• She can express her opinion, i.e. “don’t want”, or make a choice as to which one of 2 or 3 items offered to her she wants.
• She can say “NO” very very clearly.
• Sometimes she does throw her tantrums and tries to get her own way.  In many ways, Hannah is even more stubborn than Ethan was, and she does not respond with fear to the word “NO” when we say it.  However, we’re glad that she’s learning how to say “Sorry” from her brother, although it might take some time before she actually learns the meaning of it.
• Hannah understands the meaning of *possession*, and can tell which things belong to her, to Ethan, to Mommy or Daddy.  When asked “Whose is this?”, she’ll respond “Hannah’s!”

Food and Feeding

A new snack that she absolutely loves is the arrowroot chips that are so popular during Chinese New Year.  I have to restrict her intake too, as this girl can eat this snack non-stop.

Hannah is still breastfed and she still asks for “milk” especially at night.  Sometimes when she asks for “milk”, I’ll tell her Mommy does not have any more milk.  Her response would be to say “A bit left” (meaning there’s only a bit of milk left) or she would say, “Other side”.

Potty Training

She can successfully poo poo in the potty 95% of the time now, which means less dirty diapers for me to deal with!  Yay!!!  She’ll tell me she wants to “poopoo” and when I take her there, she’ll sit for a while, sometimes fiddling with a paper wipe.  At times, it will be a false alarm, but we’ve had success on most occassions.

As I did with Ethan, I’m putting Hannah straight on the adult toilet with a child toilet seat.  It makes the transition to the adult toilet seamless and it’s also less of a hassle to clean up. 

After she does her “business”, she always requests for me to “wash butt” for her.

Scrap Credits
January kit  from Digiscrap’mania Shop
Stitching from Plentiful kit from Shabby Princess Designs
Brackets from Basic Chipboard Alphas from Dani Mogstad
Sweet Serenity Alphas from Shabby Princess Designs
 

Weight

Have not weighed her since the last weigh-in in December, but she might have put on a little bit more weight now, so maybe 11.4 or 11.5 kilos.

Height

Slightly more than 82 cm

Teeth

15 teeth: 8 incisors (4 top and 4 bottom), with 4 pramolars appearing on the right side (top and bottom) and left side (top and bottom), also 2 canines starting to appear at the top jaw, and 1 canine on the bottom right.

Motor Skills

• Hannah started lifting both feet from the floor and making small jumps a few days ago.
• She loves playing with jigsaw puzzles and will attempt to complete them on her own.

Communication and Social Skills

• Hannah definitely knows more than her expected 20 words for a typical 22-month old (Source).  And she’s stringing words together to make requests and statements too.  She can also answer simple questions, like when we ask her, “Where did Ethan go?”, she’ll say, “Ethan skool”; or “Where’s Daddy?”, she’s reply, “Daddy ofees!”
• She is very musically minded, in that she is able to pick up the tune and certain words of a song, with ease.  Just the other day, I started singing, “Jesus loves me, this I know” to her, and she managed to mimic some of the words and the tune almost immediately.  When I showed her the actions for “God is so good”, she followed me almost immediately.
• She is a pro at requesting for us to sing certain songs for her: “How I wonder” or “Star” refers to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” (in fact she can sing this song almost entirely on her own now), “Baa Baa” is self-explanatory, and so is “E-I-E-I-O”.  There was a time when we were in church and at the point when everyone was quiet, Hannah said, “E-I-E-I-O..quack quack here and quack quack there!”  *faints*
• Just like her brother is a drama king, she is a drama queen.  Lately when we take her out, and if the sun hits any part of her body, she’ll scream, “HOT!”
• She is very affectionate and shows affection readily, be it to her soft toys, or to close family and friends.
• She’s also very stubborn and determined to do things herself.  When we volunteer to help her by saying, “Let Mommy help?”, she’ll shake her head and say, “NOooooo!!!  Hannah help!”  She’s attempting to put her sandals on by herself and buckle up her safety belt by herself too.

Food and Feeding

Hannah continues to show that she loves food.  And whenever she sees us eating something she has not seen before, she’ll say, “Try!”, meaning she would like to try it.  At home, I allow her to experiment and feed herself with a spoon and bowl whenever I can.

Hannah is still breastfed and she still asks for “milk” especially at night.  Sometimes when she asks for “milk”, I’ll tell her Mommy does not have any more milk.  She’ll ignore me of course and insist there is “some more”.

To ease her bowel movement, Hannah is also on an occasional diet of prunes.  She loves them, so I ain’t complaining!  I’m also supplementing her diet with chewable chocolate-flavored Calcium & Magnesium, besides the regular Vitamin C.

Scrap Credits
Enjoy The Life freebie add-on from Laura Emma
Fresh Breeze Alphas from A work in progress
Elegant word art (you make me smile) from Bethany

Weight

11.3 kilos, as measured in doc’s office on Dec 10 2010.

Height

Around 82 cm

Teeth

13 teeth: 8 incisors (4 top and 4 bottom), with 2 pramolars appearing on the right side (top and bottom), also 2 canines starting to appear at the top jaw, and 1 canine on the bottom right.

Motor Skills

• Hannah loves to imitate what her brother does, especially…so it comes as no surprise that she loves to climb: on chairs, our couch, and even tables!!! (gasp!) She’s also starting to learn how to jump.
• She can drink by herself from a sippy cup, sometimes she prefers to drink from a regular cup, but I will normally put just a little bit of water, so she does not get drenched.

Communication and Social Skills

• I’m seriously losing track of all the new words she is learning every day.  Hannah can speak in really short meaningful sentences now, e.g. “Mommy come!”, “Daddy help”, “Ethan, buhbye!”
• She has also begun picking up more and more multi-syllable words, like “rabbit” (although the way she says it makes it sound like “Brad Pitt”), “Jungle Junction”, “small scratch”, “bubble”
• Oh yes….and NOW she can clearly say, “DADDY” (instead of “Dehdeh”) …making Daddy ever so proud
• Because she is parroting a LOT, she has also begun learning how to count 1 - 10, thanks to Ethan.
• Hannah is beginning to exhibit signs of the “terrible twos”.  She will throw a tantrum and scream and cry when she doesn’t get her way.
• She’s also showing a strong sense of determination (much like Mommy :P)
• Hannah loves taking a shower, and will willingly stop doing anything she was doing, when I announce that it’s time to bathe.
• She loves to sing!  We’ve caught her several times, just trying to sing nursery rhymes her own way, like “Old MacDonald”, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, and also the “I Love You” song from Barney.  Oh yeah…her favorite character from Barney is Baby Bop!

Food and Feeding

Hannah likes to feed herself, but she makes a mess most of the time.  Although she seems to take to food very well, there are some times when she just won’t eat, perhaps due to moodiness.  But she will typically take the same type of food we take.  Unlike her brother, who prefers chicken when we have our chicken rice, Hannah seems to prefer the char siew (barbecued pork).  She’ll specifically ask for “pork”.

Hannah is still breastfed and she still asks for “milk” especially at night.

Scrap Credits
Delicate QP from Fly Pixel Studio
Sugar n Spice Alphas from Scrappy Bug

Weight

Around 11.5 kilos

Height/Length

Around 82 cm

Teeth

8 incisors (4 top and 4 bottom), with 2 pramolars appearing on the right side (top and bottom), also 2 canines starting to appear at the top jaw.

Motor Skills

• Hannah can eat by herself and finish her food quite fast too.
• She loves to try new things, especially in the playground.  She loves the slides, but must still be supervised.
• She likes to draw and scribble and paint.  She’ll play with the doodle pad and color pencils and paint (sometimes).  I might introduce her to finger painting soon!
• Hannah loves to climb stairs, but we need to watch out when she is going down the stairs though.
• She can bounce, whether on the couch or the floor; this is the first step towards learning how to jump.
• Hannah can take a DVD, press the EJECT button on the player, insert the DVD, and press the CLOSE button on the player.
• Basically, she will try to follow whatever her brother is doing.

Communication and Social Skills

• Most of the time, we can understand what Hannah wants to convey, be it from her words or from her actions.  Sometimes if we do not understand what she is trying to say, Hannah will lead us by the hand and point to whatever it is she wants or do.
• Her vocabulary is increasing every single day, so much so that I have really lost count of all the words she knows.  I’ll try to list as many as I can:
  • “More” - actually she could already say this word a few months ago, and she uses it when she wants to ask for more food.
  • She knows her animals too, and she can say: Duck, Cat, Dog, Turtle, Cow, Pig, Bird, Bear
  • Three syllable words and phrases: “Mommy Come!”, “Mommy Card!”, “Baby BOP!”, “Chuggington!” and “Bar-wee!!” for “Barney”
  • Last syllable of some two-syllable and three-syllable words: “mote” for “remote”, “Mau” for “Mickey Mouse”, “Lo” for “Hello”, “puh” for “Apple”, “per” for “diaper”, “More..” while making the sign on both her hands for “No More!”,
  • Round
  • Yoyo
  • Wear (she’ll say “wear!” and point to her sandals, asking me to help her wear them)
  • Colors: “Lello” for “Yellow”, Red, “Boo” for “blue”, Green, Black, White
  • “Dai” for “dry”
  • Walk
  • “kau” for “couch”
  • Night - she says this when she wants to say “Goodnight”
  • Numbers she can say: Two, three, four, “fai”, eight, “nai”, ten
  • Ma (for “Ah Ma”), “Kurng” (for “Ah Kong”), “Poh”, “Pek”, “Koko”, “Kor Kor”, “Koo”, “Kim”, “Nah!” for “Hannah”
  • “Barbeee!” for “barbecued pork” i.e. char siew
  • Door
  • Baby
  • “Ka-kai”
  • “Tight” if she wants to tell me something she is wearing is too tight, and “tights” to refer to her tights.
  • “Wet” - she’ll tell me if her clothes are wet, or if she needs be changed (if her diaper is wet)
  • Body parts: Hair, eyes, nose, “mau” for mouth, fingers (she will show us her fingers), toes, leg, knees.
  • “Poo poo” and “Pee pee”
  • …but she still calls “Deh-deh” for “Daddy”
• She can complete the ends of some favorite songs:
  • Mommy: Twinkle twinkle little..
    Hannah: TAR!!! … How I…
    Mommy: … wonder what you…
    Hannah: ARE!!
  • Radio: I got a feeling…that tonight’s gonna be a good..
    Hannah: NIGHT!
    Radio: That tonight’s gonna be a good..
    Hannah: NIGHT!
  • Radio: Every time I close my…
    Hannah: EYES
    Radio: I see my name in shining…
    Hannah: LIGHTS!
  • Mommy: London bridge is falling…
    Hannah: DOWN!
    Mommy: Falling…
    Hannah: DOWN!
    Mommy: Falling…
    Hannah: DOWN!

Food and Feeding

Still going very strong with her food intake, I’m pleased to note that Hannah is very adventurous in trying all kinds of food, even the salad that I make!  However, she loves to eat off my plate!  She also finds joy in feeding herself, either with a spoon or with her fingers.

In addition to drinking fresh milk and chocolate milk, I’ve also recently just supplemented her milk intake with GainPlus formula milk.  She will only drink the milk if it is mixed and cooked with oats though, and she takes about 1 or 2 helpings a day.  

Hannah is still breastfed and she still asks for “milk” especially at night. 

Hannah is also very receptive to the Amway chewable multivitamins I give her, and she can easily consume one tablet herself, just by chewing.

Scrap Credits
Hot Pants for Wenches from Kim B’s Designs
Boys & Girls Corner Alphas from Nathan Design
It’s Only Natural Alphas from Scrappy Bug
Elegant word art (girl magic) from Bethany

Weight

More than 11.2 kilos, and when she struggles while we are carrying her, it feels MUCH heavier!

Height/Length

81cm, roughly a head shorter than Ethan.

Teeth

8 incisors (4 top and 4 bottom), with 2 pramolars appearing on the right side (top and bottom), also 2 canines starting to appear at the top jaw.

Now Hannah wants to hold the toothbrush and brush her teeth herself.  Yeah, she’s in that phase now where she wants to do everything herself.  So I normally will put some toothpaste on my index finger and brush her teeth for her first before she brushes with her toothbrush.  Thankfully, she still allows me to do that

Motor Skills

• Hannah can hold the spoon and fork and eat by herself, albeit not in a very tidy manner.  A good start, though.
• She can run quite well, so it’s quite a task taking both Hannah and Ethan out now, since we have to chase after them. (Yep, she no longer wants to be in the stroller)
• She’s beginning to learn how to jump.
• Hannah loves to empty the contents of boxes and containers all over the floor.  Sometimes she would fill up containers with building blocks and just throw them out on the floor, making a really loud noise!

Communication and Social Skills

• Hannah speaks mostly in mono-syllabic words now, but we can usually understand what she wants to relay to us.
• She uses “UP!” when she wants us to carry her up, and when she sees me putting food on the table for dinner, she’ll say, “Rai! Rai!” (for rice)
• Words she can say now:
  • “Milk”, pronounced correctly as “merlk”
  • “Bag”
  • “Chair”
  • “Park”
  • “Car”
  • “Ball”
  • “Door”
  • “Light”
  • “Two”, “three”, “eight”
  • “Bai!” (for “belly button”)
  • “Hair”
  • “My”, “Me!”
  • …and the start of terrible twos: “NO!”
• She is able to complete the end syllable of some nursery rhymes, like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Baa Baa Black Sheep.
• Claps her hands when she is pleased with herself or when someone does something nice for her.
• If she hurts herself, she will come to us and make a pitiful face and point at the part of her body where it hurts, indicating that we should kiss and make it better. (Yeah, she learnt that from her brother)
• Hannah can recognize faces in photographs.  When she sees our wedding photos on the wall, she will point and say, “Mommy!” and “De-deh!”
• Hannah loves to help out when she can; when she’s ready to bathe, I let her throw her dirty clothes in the laundry bag
• She can *answer* some simple questions using “Me!” e.g. when I ask, “Whose turn is it to bathe now?”, Hannah says, “Me!”

Food and Feeding

Hannah can eat most of our regular food, and she is very willing to try new things.  She’s still being breastfed, and sometimes she will also drink the boxed chocolate milk, fresh milk and Yakult. She can eat both rice and porridge, and even the pieces of chicken in her food. I’ve also tried giving her the porridge with some peanuts in it (which we thought caused her to break out in a rash last month) but this time round, she was all right.

Scrap Credits
Plentiful Kit from Shabby Princess Designs
Elegant word art (she’s adorable) from Bethany

Weight

11.2 kilos

Height/Length

81cm, roughly a head shorter than Ethan.

Teeth

8 incisors (4 top and 4 bottom), with a few more teeth appearing at the back, possibly pramolars. 

Hannah has me brushing her teeth every day.  We try to do it twice a day, morning and night.  And whenever she hears me saying, “Let’s go and brush our teeth!”, she’ll open her mouth, say “Aaah!” and point to her teeth.  Yeah, she’s cute like that.

I’m brushing her teeth with a fluoride-free kids’ toothpaste, and we started with gargle-training using a cup with boiled drinking water (just in case she swallows and drinks it).  After about a week, Hannah can now spit out the water (still working on the gargling), so sometimes I just use tap water.

Motor Skills

• Hannah loves to stomp around and shake her booty to music.  Once we were in the mall and were walking past a music store which started to play some music.  She stopped and started dancing, then fell over backwards!
• She prefers to sit on a chair for her meals and playtime.  We need to find somewhere to store our baby chair now.
• At the restaurants, when she is supposed to be in a baby high chair, she will not sit still, preferring instead to walk around and explore the surrounding areas.
• She could form the thumbs up sign with one hand a couple of months back.

Communication and Social Skills

• Hannah has learnt many new words: “Ko-ko” (for “Ethan Ko-ko”), “Bear”, “Beh” (bag), “Mau” (mouth), “No no no” (I’ve been saying this WAY too much!), “ball”, “boo” (for “book”), “daw” (for “dog”), “burr” (for “bird”), “nana” (for “banana”), “rai” (for “rice”), ”nai” (f0r “nice”), “up”, “down”, “pee pee”, “poo poo”, “eye” (for “ice”), “eye” (for “hi!) and “buh-bye”.
• In Hokkien, she can say “moi” for “porridge”
• She is also very expressive and giggles a lot.  She goes “mmmm” when she tastes something good.
• She has managed to tell me when she wants to go “poo poo” a few times and we have successfully completed the exercise several times too.  Still working on the pee pee.
• She’s very loving, and loves to hug us all.

Food and Feeding

Hannah eats almost everything we eat now, with the exception of herbal stuff which we don’t know the contents of and food high in sugar and salt content.  She eats porridge on weekdays and mostly rice and noodles during the weekends.

As for milk, Hannah is still on 100% breast milk, with a little sampling here and there of chocolate milk and fresh milk.

She took a little bit of porridge with some peanuts in it (she just took the porridge part), and the following day, she had some rashes on her body and face.  Not sure if she’s allergic to the peanuts though, but we’re keeping a close eye.

Scrap Credits
Where Dreams Come True QP from Fly Pixel Studio
Fathers Day Alphas from Stacey’s Scraps

Weight

Heavy!

Height/Length

Growing taller and taller by the day!

Teeth

8 incisors (4 top and 4 bottom), with a few more teeth appearing at the back, possibly pramolars.  I’m cleaning her teeth daily with a special tooth tissue, but when those run out, I will start her teeth brusing regiment. 

Motor Skills

• Hannah can RUN around.
• She can do the down-dog (or downward facing dog) pose.
• She can cross her fingers (both fingers together).

Communication and Social Skills

• Hannah can point to several parts of her body when prompted, e.g. nose, hair, fingers (she’ll cross her fingers), tummy, cheeks.
• Says “Poopoo” quite consistently, though often it’s just a false alarm or she just wants to sit on the throne.  But a few times when she said, “Poopoo” and gave that oh-so-familiar *straining* look, I’ve successfully taken her to the potty and she’d successfully poopoo-ed!
• Calls “Mommy!” very clearly, Daddy is still “deh-deh!” and Ethan is either “Anah!” or *points finger at Ethan*
• She knows her name is Hannah and can call herself “Hannah”.
• Can parrot everything rather well, which resulted in her calling “Mah!” for “Ah-Mah” when my Mom was here for a visit.  Made Grandma pleased as pie.
• Hannah is very friendly and is a very sociable little girl.  She will wave and say “Hi!” to anyone she meets, even strangers, especially so if the person is a child.  And then she will also happily wave “Bye!” when we are leaving.
• Hannah can nod her head (for yes or affirmative answers) or shake her head vigorously (when she means no) and she does so meaningfully.
• Can say “daw” for “dog”, “bur” for “bird”, among others.
• She can scream her head off.

Food and Feeding

Hannah eats almost everything we eat now, with the exception of herbal stuff which we don’t know the contents of and food high in sugar and salt content.  She eats porridge on weekdays and mostly rice and noodles during the weekends.

As for milk, Hannah is still on 100% breast milk, with a little sampling here and there of chocolate milk and fresh milk.

Scrap Credits
Happy Place QP from Fly Pixel Studio
Fresh Breeze Alphas from A work in progress

Weight

We haven’t weighed her lately, but she sure does feel at least 10.5 kilos!

Height/Length

We have not measured her height lately too, but she should be more than 77cm now, because she is able to reach higher and higher areas.

Teeth

8 incisors (4 top and 4 bottom), with a few more teeth appearing at the back, possible pramolars. 

Motor Skills

• Hannah can tip toe around.
• She loves to climb on top of everything: the couch, the naughty stool, the bed, the toy train!

Communication and Social Skills

• Consistently waves and says “Bye!” in a very cutesy high-pitched tone.  And when she is ready to sleep, she will toddle to the room, turn, wave and say, “Bye!”
• Asks for things she wants by using the word “Give!”.  She says “Gheee!!!” and extends her hands, opening and closing her palm, or she will point to the item she wants.
• Can tell me when she has “poopoo”-ed.  She will point to her diaper and go, “Poopoo”.  Sometimes I will be in time and place her on the toilet bowl before she poos but often times it will be too late.  Good start, though.
• Can point up and say “AAh!!” (for Up) and “Down”.
• Point to nose, hair, tummy and teeth when prompted.
• Says “Ah-per” for Diaper.
• *Sings* Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to the rhythm, but without the words, just “ba-ba-ba”.  She loves doing the actions though.
• Hannah can say “boo” for “book”: she says it when she wants us to read a book to her or if she wants to flip through a book.
• She can say “Mamak” for food, and ask for a piece of bun, by saying, “Bah!” and pointing to the bun on the table.  Her favorite is the wholemeal potato buns.
• She can understand “go kai kai” (she will walk to her stroller and wait for us to load her in), “go and wash hands” (she will walk to the bathroom and extend her hands to be washed), go to sleep (she will walk to the room, even though the door is closed, she will wait patiently for someone to open it for her), go bathe/take a shower (she will know how to go to her room and wait to be undressed, and then walk to the bathroom for her shower).
• She understands “Go give Daddy/Mommy a hug” - she will walk/run to us and give us a loving hug

Food and Feeding

Hannah eats almost everything we eat now.  When I cook at home, she will have homecooked food and when we eat out, she will sample the food we eat.  I do try to minimize her salt and sugar intake though.

She drinks a lot of water, and so far is very open and willing to try new foods.

As for milk, Hannah is still on 100% breast milk.  However, there were times when we were out for six hours plus straight, and she didn’t need any milk, so perhaps I will start her on Pediasure or fresh milk soon, just to supplement her milk intake.

She loves chicken rice, chicken, Milo, Cheerios, potato bread, koay teow, kiwi and banana, just to name a few

Scrap Credits
Precious Moments QP from Fly Pixel Studio
Giving Thanks alphas  from Stacey’s Scraps

Weight

10.3 kilos +

Height/Length

About 76-77 cm…or maybe more.

Teeth

8 incisors (4 top and 4 bottom), with a few more teeth appearing at the back, possible pramolars. 

Motor Skills

• Hannah is walking around very quickly now, and sometimes picks up her step and starts running a little.
• She can climb up the couch and the bed, sits there unaided and then climb down again, feet and butt first.  I still want to monitor her when she does that because I’m still wary that sometimes she does stand up on the couch/bed and appears to want to *walk off*.
• Likes to *walk around* in the bathroom when taking her shower.
• Loves to *hang on* to my legs, even when I am walking.

Communication and Social Skills

• Hannah can imitate sounds that are being made, eg. “lalalala..”, “eh…” etc
• Says “Bar-bee” to almost anything, but more often than not, in reference to soft toys and pictures of animals.
• She can *tell* us what she wants to do or where she wants to go.  For example, when she wants to sleep, she will walk to the room and point at the closed door.
• Smiles cheekily when someone holds a camera.
• Screams aloud when excited, frustrated or angry.
• Shows affection by kissing my cheeks.  Also, when Daddy comes home, she screams delightedly and runs to give him a hug. awwww…..
• Can point to nose, hair and tummy when asked.  Not 100% consistent but we are working on it.
• Loves to flip through books.
• Sometimes refers to herself by saying “Nana”.

Food and Feeding

She’s on Mommy’s milk 100% and is still loving every bit of her porridge!  She takes a bit of our every day foods, and is very willing to try new things.  I try to give her foods which are low in salt and sugar though, but I love it that her diet is more varied now.  In fact, our girl will *ask* to be fed new things even though she’s not allowed to have it yet, e.g. when I’m eating ice cream, she will come very close to me and open her mouth. 

New foods she has been introduced to include:

• Wanton noodles (from Old Town coffee shop)
• Chopped celery (in chicken soup)
• Beef balls (from spaghetti in Italiannies)
• Beef stew (from Du Viet)
• Pasta with tomato pasta sauce
• Steamed Fish balls (dim sum) - she had a slight rash on her chest after this, so I’ll probably retry this sometime later.
• Jiu hoo char with lettuce leaves (from Hainan)
• Tau-ewe-bak (little bit)
• Hainanese chicken rice
• Cheerios

We will probably stop cooking porridge for her during weekends now that she can take almost the same food as we do.

Scrap Credits
Spending My Time QP from Mystique Designs
Harvest Spice alphas  from Shabby Princess Designs
Elegant word art (angel eyes) from Bethany

Weight

10.3 kilos (she appears to be a little bit thinner now, but taller)

Height/Length

About 76-77 cm.

Teeth

6 incisors (4 top and 2 bottom), 2 more teeth appearing at the bottom (probably incisors), and 2 pramolars appearing at the bottom too. 

Motor Skills

• Hannah is very steady in her walking now and sometimes, I do realize she is picking up enough speed to start running.
• She can climb up the couch by using her upper body strength to hoist her butt up, first putting one leg up and then pulling the other leg up.
• She is very inquisitive and wants to touch everything and open every drawer or anything that has a handle.  Did I mention she can open the fridge door all on her own now?!!
• She can perform the “fingers crossed” manoeuvre, on both hands.

Communication and Social Skills

• Hannah is a very sociable baby, and does not mind being around anybody.
• Words she uses on an every day basis are “Mamak” (when she wants food), “Baby” (when she points at pictures - don’t ask me why), and my personal favorite: “Mommy!!!”  It’s only fair that she calls Mommy first before Daddy, given that Ethan called Daddy first.  Anyway, Daddy to her now is still either “Dedek” or “Baba”
• Hannah can say “A” and “E”, which sometimes frustrates her brother, who wants her to say the entire alphabet!
• She knows how to lift my shirt/top when she wants milk.
• Hannah is able to imitate/parrot the people around her.  We recently noticed she has been clicking her tongue, and were curious as to how she might have picked that up.  Then she said something like, “Baby, Baby! *click click click*” ; Ah, so she picked that up from strangers who talk to her that way! LOL
• Hannah can shake her head and nod her head.  Of course when she nods, her whole body moves too!  I don’t think she fully comprehends the meaning of shaking and nodding yet, but it’s a whole lot of fun when I ask her, “Hannah, do you want more porridge?” and she either shakes or nods.

Food and Feeding

She’s on Mommy’s milk 100% and is still loving every bit of her porridge!  She can finish quite a lot now, and eats at an amazing pace!  I’ve started giving her a little bit of our every day foods, just so she can soon join us at the dining table too

New foods she has been introduced to include:

• Organic Brown Rice Crunch snack
• French beans (chopped finely and added to porridge)
• The white part of Char Siew Pau
• Siew Mai dumplings, containing chicken and shrimp (she loves this!)
• Pasta (spaghetti and spiral pasta(fusilli))
• Beef
• Prawn Fritters (from Mama’s restaurant)
• Chicken liver

Scrap Credits
An Enchanted World collab kit from Designs by Anita
Every Day Alpha from Jen Yurko

Weight

10.2 kilos

Height/Length

About 76-77 cm.

Teeth

6 incisors (4 top and 2 bottom), 2 more teeth appearing at the bottom (not sure if they are incisors or canines), and I can also see 2 pramolars appearing at the bottom too.  No wonder Hannah has been having sleepless nights for a few weeks now! 

Motor Skills

• Can walk VERY fast all around now, and I can see she will start running very very soon.
• She’s able to bend over and pick up objects very steadily and then return to standing position.
• Can remove both her sandals, by first unfastening the velcro straps and then removing the sandals.  We have to now remove her sandals when she is riding in the car, just so she doesn’t remove them and put them in her mouth or somethin’.
• Can unfasten the velcro tabs on her diaper on her own.  She hasn’t quite mastered the snaps on the snap-style diapers yet, so we are safe for now.  But when I put her on the velcro diapers, I need to remember to put on a pair of shorts or skirt for her, otherwise she’ll remove the diapers on her own!
• Loves to hug my legs, and will cling on for dear life, even though I start to walk around.
• Hannah takes *showers* now and not *baths* - yep, she doesn’t want to be in the bath tub and prefers to stand while being showered.  I still need to support her in case she slips though.
• She’s also learning how to play with the shape sorter, sometimes under the tutelage of big brother Ethan.
• Hannah loves music and loves to dance to music, and will tap her leg while standing and sometimes shakes her booty too!

Communication and Social Skills

• Asks for food by saying “Mamak” (no relation to the mamak stall, by the way).  We think she is saying “Mum mum” though.
• Can very very surely recognize her own name when being called.
• Can understand simple instructions and respond to verbal requests, like:
  • “Come here, Hannah” (she’ll turn and come over to me)
  • “No” (she’ll turn around and check to see if she should really NOT be doing what she is about to do)
  • “Stop” (she’ll stop whatever she is doing…unless she is totally engrossed)
  • “Look Up!” (she’ll look up - I ask her to look up when I am giving her her shower and I want to clean her neck!)
  • “Buh bye!” (waves goodbye)
  • “Flying kiss” (she’ll put her hand to her mouth to give a flying kiss) 
• I thought I heard her saying “baby” and also something like “eh-fer” (for elephant).

Food and Feeding

She’s on Mommy’s milk 100% and is still loving every bit of her porridge!  She can finish quite a lot now, and eats at an amazing pace!

New foods she has been introduced to include:

• Homemade wholemeal bread
• Kiwi fruit
• White bread (which she loves!)
• Tofu
• Foo Kui chye
• Dried scallops, cooked with her porridge
• Regular rice mixed into her porridge

Scrap Credits
I is for I Love You QP from Naturally Expressive by Cheryl
Grungy Stamped Alphas from Scraps by Fashiondeeva

Weight

10.1 kilos, weighed in at the doc’s during her one-year old well-child checkup.

Height/Length

76 cm, as measured at the doc’s too.

Teeth

4 incisors (2 top and 2 bottom).  Next 2 top incisors are becoming more prominent, and the next 2 bottom incisors are also making their appearance.

Motor Skills

• Prefers to walk around, albeit in a quite a *scary* manner, because she does sometimes look like she will fall.  However, Hannah most of the time manages to balance herself quite well, and can move around rather quickly while walking now.
• Can cross her fingers (middle finger on top of index finger).
• Very inquisitive and curious and keeps exploring things.  Her pincer’s grip is very advanced and she can pick up even minute things from the floor.  It’s a good thing too, because it forces me to keep the floor as clean as possible.
• Attempts to climb up the couch by lifting her legs.
• Can stand on tip toe for a while.
• Likes to climb out from her bath tub and stand up while I bathe her.  I have also started using the shower to bathe her.  Soon, I suppose we can do without the tub.
• Can wriggle her arm out from under her seat belt a la Tarzan style, just like her brother did last time.  And she can even do it both arms!

Communication and Social Skills

• Very consistently says “Mameh” or “Momma”, sometimes “Mommy”!  Says “Deh-deh” for Daddy, very consistently too.  Says “Yah”…and recently she said, “PAPAYA”
• Can point to fish in the fish tank when asked “Where’s the fish?”
• Can understand simple instructions like, “Give the block to Ethan”, or “Give Mommy the toy”.  I love the way she smiles as she extends her hand with the toy.  Sometimes though, she teases us by handing us the toy and then NOT giving it to us!
• Throws and tantrum and screams out loud when somebody takes her toy away.
• Has a really good sense of humor and laughs at almost anything, especially what her brother does. 

Food and Feeding

She’s on Mommy’s milk 100% and is loving every bit of her porridge!  She can finish quite a lot now, and eats at an amazing pace!

New foods she has been introduced to include:

• Cod fish
• Pork
• Watercress (I made watercress soup without the salt and fed her with it)
• “Kai Lan”
• Egg yolk
• Wolfberries (”Kei Chi”)

Hannah LOVES to drink water.  When I ask her if she wants to drink water, her face will light up, and when she sees me getting her purple cup and pouring water into it, she will grin excitedly. 

She can also drink a little bit from a straw tumbler now.  When we bought her her first straw tumbler, she didn’t know how to drink from it, but then I tried putting a regular straw into a small cup and from then on, she figured out how to do it.  Besides, she has her big brother giving her all the encouragement.

Scrap Credits
Collaboration kit from Jennysscrapplace
Wonderland numbers from Jessi Calger
Netter’s Alphas from Scarlet Heels

Weight

Probably around 10 kilos, plus or minus.  We do notice that she has become less “round” since she started walking.

Height/Length

Getting taller and taller!

Teeth

4 incisors (2 top and 2 bottom).  Next 2 top incisors are appearing too.

Motor Skills

• Can shake her head left and right.
• Tries to crawl and walk into small tight spaces.
• Able to manipulate an object to get it out of a tight space.
• Can squat and the stand, and then squat again, whilst holding toys in both hands.
• Can do the “wobble-walk”
• Loves for us to hold her by the arms and lead her on walks around the house.
• When she wants to get somewhere fast, she will either use the wall for support, or crawl.
• Throw things and then closes her eyes in anticipation of the loud sound it makes.

Communication and Social Skills

• Says “Mameh”, “Mamma”, Dadeh”, “Baba”, “Mamba”.
• Imitates and responds in a smiliar fashion when we “blow” on her tummy.
• Loves the remote, and will do whatever she can to get a hold of it.
• Can make “pathetic”-looking faces just so we’ll feel sorry and carry her.
• Can “manipulate” us by purposely knocking her head on the wall when she’s in the cot, and then crying so we’ll pick her up.

Food and Feeding

She’s on Mommy’s milk 100% and also LOVES drinking water from a regular cup.  Sometimes I have had to pry her hands from the cup!

New foods she has been introduced to include:

• Heinz Teething rusks, which she absolutely LOVES.
• Red dates (cooked with porridge)
• Organic baby oats (mixed into porridge and sometimes served just on its own with water)
• Regular fragrant rice
• Fish (Jade perch)

When it’s time for her porrdige, she will smile and look very happy.  Then, if she has the mood to eat, she will open her mouth eagerly and wait for me to feed her.  Sometimes if I am a little slow in feeding her, she will pull my arm or shirt!

I knew the moment would come soon.

Any day now, I told myself.

And I was right…

Here’s Hannah, with her newfound confidence at 10 months old! Ta-daaaa…!!!!!!

Scrap Credits
A New Beginning kit from Digital-Crea
Harvest Spice alphas  from Shabby Princess Designs

Weight

Did not measure but should be close to 10 kilos now.

Height/Length

Getting taller and taller!

Teeth

4 incisors (2 top and 2 bottom)

Motor Skills

• Stands unsupported for longer periods of time, sometimes smiling and raising hands in jubilation, a la “Look Ma, no hands!” pose
• Able to take one step and then sits down on butt
• Can pull herself up from seated position to standing and then can very slowly, unsupported, lower herself down again.
• Able to squat.
• Unlike her brother, Hannah has the ticklish massage feeling; when I give her her body massage after her night bath, she will giggle uncontrollably.
• Loves to roll around the bed with her brother.
• Loves to roll around on the bed, suddenly sit up and then very quickly make herself fall backwards with a big PLOP!
• Able to climb up stairs (shudder!).
• Is always trying to *escape* from diaper changes.  I’m running out of toys for her to hold when she gets changed!
• Can shape her fingers into numbers 1 (pointing position), 2, 4 and 5!

Communication and Social Skills

• Can sometimes point to her nose when I ask her, “Where is your nose, Hannah?” 
• Can respond to “Hands up” instructions when I am undressing her.
• Stops whatever she is doing when we say, “No Hannah!”.  She will look at us, and then sometimes she will stop completely or continue doing it (as if to test us)
• Voluntarily claps her hands when she hears some nice music.  Can respond to verbal instructions to clap her hands, in English and Mandarin.
• Blabbering and raspberry-blowing continues.
• Is able to imitate movements. e.g. when we point at something, she will also point at the same thing.
• Hannah is very attached to us, especially to me.  She will cry out when I leave the room, and stop crying when I reassure her.
• Is fascinated when anyone (Ethan, especially) recites numbers.

Food and Feeding

She’s on Mommy’s milk 100% and is having her solids for 2 meals a day now (if I can help it).  Thanks to the fabulous invention of the slow cooker, I am now able to cook her porridge before I head for bed, and have the porridge ready for her by lunch time the next day.  Hannah normally eats more during lunch time.

New foods she has been introduced to include:

• Banana
• Bayam (Heng chye) , of which she didn’t really like
• Millet 
• Brocolli
• …and just a few days ago, CHICKEN!

She appears to love her chicken porridge a LOT!  And of course, she loves papaya too!

I don’t puree food anymore, not even the chicken.  I just steam it and mince it into tiny pieces and shreds and then freeze it into cubes.  And then I use them in her porridge.  Little Miss Bulat loves it!

Oh, and she drinks her water directly from a regular cup (the purple one with her name on it) - of course I have hold the cup for her!

  Scrap Credits
Colchique dans les prés QP from Studio Soval Scrapbook Graphics
Giving Thanks Alphas from Stacey’s Scraps

Weight

Did not measure but should be close to 10 kilos now.

Height/Length

Getting taller and taller!

Teeth

2 bottom incisors, and we can see the *whites* of 2 more at the top!  She is a perfect candidate to sing the song, “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!”

Motor Skills

• Crawling everywhere
• Cruising everywhere, but at a slightly slower pace compared to crawling.
• Slowly beginning to *let go* of the support she uses to stand.
• Likes to arch her back upside down when being carried.
• Can raise one index finger as if in pointing, and sometimes 2 fingers too!

Communication and Social Skills

• Calling “Mommy” more consistently.
• Can clap her hands.  Can clap her hands when being asked to verbally, and also if we show her by action.
• Loves playing with all of Ethan’s toys.
• Smiles a LOT - has a very cute dimple to boot!

Food and Feeding

She’s on Mommy’s milk 100% and is taking a little bit of solids too.  New foods she has been introduced to include:

• Ground red rice porridge
• Spinach
• Pumpkin
• Japanese sweet potato
• Papaya

  Scrap Credits
While Softness QP from Missty Scrap
‘Sweet Baby’ Wordart vol. 2 from Dreams Inspired
Circle Dot Alpha (the number 8) from Laurie’s Scraps

Last weekend, we visited a friend and coincidentally there was also another baby at the house.  I was asked how old Hannah is, and when I said “8 months”, there were gasps all around.  Turns out the other baby is close to a year old, but Hannah looked a wee bit bigger than the baby.

Weight

Did not measure but should be close to 10 kilos now.

Height/Length

Getting taller and taller!

Teeth (yup, she has some growing!)

2 bottom incisors, and 2 more at the top at sprouting, I believe!

Motor Skills

• Can crawl really well now.
• Attempting to cruise.
• Loves to hold on to things for support and stands up, e.g. the couch side, cot side, wooden toy, Ethan’s toy train…you get the idea…
• Casting (throwing) of objects has started.
• Getting harder and harder to bathe her because she will want to stand up or crawl out of the bathtub!

Communication and Social Skills

• She sometimes responds/*talks back* to her brother when he *scolds* her or takes her toys away. 
• More pronounced verbalization of sounds.  I’m hoping she’ll call “Mommy” any day now
• Can wave hi and bye.  I’ve also caught her waving to her reflection in the mirror.
• Can give a high 5, well…more like a low 5.  I offer her my palm and she’ll high/low 5 it!
• She is usually independent enough to play on her own, provided there is someone around in sight.  Will cry if she does not see anyone around.
• Hannah has learnt the art of smiling into the camera when prompted.

Food and Feeding

She’s on Mommy’s milk 100% and is taking a little bit of solids too.  She has a solid meal once a day in the evenings, but it is more for tasting rather than making her full. She takes a combination of any of the following now:

• Rice cereal + EBM
• Pureed pear
• Pureed apple
• Pureed carrot
• Pureed potato
• A little bit of water.

Her favorite right now is Pureed carrot + rice cereal + EBM.  I normally add some rice cereal and EBM to the fruit/vegetable purees to make it creamier in texture.

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’!)

Scrap Credits
Film Star  QP from retrodiva {designs}™
Boxed words from Chantal
Heart button from Doodle-iscious alphas from A work in progress
 Splendid alphas and heart button from Shabby Princess

How time does fly!  Without me realizing it, my little bundle of joy is now an adorable, bouncy little baby girl, achieving milestone after milestone before my very eyes!

Weight

9 kilos!  Dr Jessica had only one word to say, “Wow!”

Height/Length

If I remembered correctly, it’s 67cm - will check with doc and update later.

Motor Skills

• Can support herself with hands straight and on both her knees, as if preparing to crawl.  Then she rocks and pivots her body forward and backward!
• Can also lift up her body so that her butt is high up in the air, and she is on tip toe, something like what her brother did with his downdog.
• Able to sit independently for longer periods of time, her favorite place being the green and yellow playmat.  Her sitting position is still more towards the front, where she needs to support her weight with her arms, but she can go a few seconds without using her arms as support too.
• Can crawl backwards, in backward commando or caterpillar fashion.  Can also move around by using the same method.
• Can hold and grasp objects very steadily and pass them from one hand to the other.
• Will try to grab hold of everything within her reach: drinking cup, plate of rice, etc.
• Can sometimes extend her arms out to ask to be carried.
• Her “breaststroke kicks” are getting stronger and stronger.
• Loves to bounce up and down on our laps when we carry her holding her under her arms.
• Can arch her back backwards when she is sitting or being held.
• Can hold a toddler sippy cup quite steadily and drink from it!

Communication and Social Skills

• Smiles and responds very well when spoken to.
• Blowing a whole lot of raspberries!
• On occasion, I have heard her saying “Momma” or “Memma” when she either wants milk or Mommy.
• Loves to be carried and held.
• Squeals and giggles.

Food and Feeding

Every ounce of milk she takes is Mommy’s milk.  I started her off on rice cereal about 2 weeks ago, but stopped for a while because she had a diaper rash the day after, and then she was a bit unwell, so I am now waiting for a few more days before continuing.

Just several days ago though, she gave me quite a scare because that evening, she totally refused to nurse from the breast, and instead kept biting me!  In the end, I had to express my milk and fed her with the sippy cup, and she eagerly finished 6 whole ounces!!!  She even cried when we took her cup away after 4 ounces to refill an additional 2 ounces.  I was shocked and surprised that she would have weaned herself from the breast automatically like that, and I was worried too that I would then have to express milk by the clock

Pete was all, “Okay what…then you don’t have to resort to using Bonjela!”

But thankfully, that night she was okay with nursing from the breast again, and she’s back to her old self again now.  Whew!

 Scrap Credits
Brown Paper Packages paper from Yin Designs
“Cherry Cheesecake” alphas from A work in progress
Sistafriend freebie frame from Flergalicious

Hannah had her 5-month checkup with Dr Jessica back in Penang.  She took her 3rd dose of the Pneumococcal vaccine too.  Unlike her brother, Hannah laid down quietly on the scales as her weight was being read.

Weight

8.1 kilos.  About 98 percentile on the graph :O  

Height/Length

Not measured, but sure seems like she has grown longer!

Motor Skills

• Able to roll over at 4.5 months!  Ah, the beginning of mobility.  She started to roll just on the right side, but now she can do both right and left and then back again!  Diaper changes are definitely VERY challenging now!
• Hannah has also started to push forward by lifting her butt and inching her way forward (sometimes backwards!).  If she doesn’t succeed in moving forward, she will just move around in circles.
• Head support is quite steady now.  She can now sit comfortably in her Bumbo.  However, just like her brother, most of the time she will treat the Bumbo as her potty.
• She can be amused by hanging toys for longer periods of time now.
• She can play with and hold on to a toy and eventually suck on it.
• She can hold both her feet at the same time.
• She can sit on her own for a few seconds by bending her body forward and supporting herself with her arms.
• She can raise her chest with arm support while lying on her stomach

Communication and Social Skills

• Giggles a lot.
• Loves to watch her brother and laughs at him.  I think she adores Ethan.
• Can more or less respond to her name when called.
• Can recognize faces better now, and is forever looking for Mommy.
• Babbles a lot, and is VERY responsive when spoken to.  She smiles and coos.
• Loves to be massaged.  She gets a body massage after her evening bath, which includes, hands, legs, chest and tummy and her face too!
• Loves to get her hair combed.  Will lie very still and appears to be enjoying every minute of it.

Others

Sleeping through the night more often now, but occassionally still awakes for a feed.

Food and Feeding

She is 100% on Mommy’s milk. Drinks EBM from a toddler sippy cup and refuses the bottle.  Milk intake has increased apparently.

Hannah watches us intently when we eat.  Looks like she is quite ready for her intake of solids milestone next month!

 
Scrap Credits
Little Corner QP freebie from Cardamome
Happy Go Lucky Number 4 from Shabby Princess Designs
Numb3rs Alphas from Sweet Blossom Designs
HoldEmUps from Tara Dunstan

We took Hannah for her 4-month checkup yesterday, just in time for me to post an update on her milestones (yeah, it’s all part of the plan).

Weight

7.569 kilos (16lb 11 oz)

Height/Length

64.8cm (all that stretching paid off!)

* Note: Hannah’s pediatrician commented that Hannah is growing beautifully

Motor Skills

• Our little supported sitter is making more and more attempts to roll over.  If I place her on her back at an angle, she can roll her body over.  Won’t be long now!
• Lifts head 90 degrees when lying on tummy or does a little push up sometimes.
• Making “rasberry” sounds with her lips.
• Grasping objects within her reach with incredible strength: mobile toys, toys given to her by her brother, my shirt, my hair, my fingers.
• Can “bear weight” on both legs when we hold her to a standing position.
• Salivating has increased.
• Brings many objects to her mouth, including our hands!

Communication and Social Skills

• Lots of repetitive sounds, high-pitched squeals and adorable giggles and sounds are made now.
• Very sociable, smiles a lot when spoken to.
• Looks at us very intently.
• Beginning some separation anxiety.  As I am the one who is always with her, she sometimes cries out when she doesn’t see me.  Sometimes she would be happily playing but will cry out when she sees me!
• Ticklish.

Others

Sleeping through the night more often now, but occassionally still awakes for a feed.

Food and Feeding

She is 100% on Mommy’s milk.  Less regurgitation, but of course, needs to be burped after every feed (otherwise she complains).  Hannah is not at all on the bottle, and we are contemplating moving her to the cup right away when she is six months, probably.  We’ll see.

Scrap Credits
Ho Happy Day QP freebie from Nolaé
Earthy Crunchy Alpha from Color With Caryn Designs

Weight

Let’s just say she is growing well and getting chubbier by the day.  I did notice, however, that her waistline has decreased a tad, because I have had to tighten the snaps on her cloth diapers a notch.  She’ll be going for her 4-month checkup early next month, so we’ll get an official weight reading then.

Height/Length

Again, we’ll get her measured for length next month, although I must say that Hannah has been doing a lot of stretching!

Motor Skills

• Hannah’s coordination skills have improved a lot, and she can now finger, touch and play with her toys hung over her head.  Sometimes she would even “talk” to them!
• She loves her tummy time, and being able to look around when on her front.  I have also been allowing her some exercise time, closely supervising her rolling back and forth on a flat and soft surface like the bed.
• She has started salivating a little, and sometimes blowing raspberries.
• Her head support is also getting stronger by the day, although she still wobbles her head a little when we put her in the Bumbo, so we still have to supervise her.
• Very good at kicking and struggling.

Communication and Social Skills

• Eye contact and focus is now better, and you know, I just love looking and talking to her, looking at her big brown eyes!
• Hannah is becoming very sociable, and will smile almost immediately when we talk to her, or sing to her.
• She will giggle sometimes too, and laugh out loud when I tickle her.
• She will turn in the direction her name is called.
• She will sometimes open her arms wide when she senses I am about to pick her up in my arms.
• She likes to make a cooing “rrrrr” sound when I speak to her, as if in reply to what I say.
• And, as is apparent in our family gene pool, she is one persistent baby, with loud and heart-wrenching cries when she needs attention.

Others

Being a light sleeper, Hannah will stir from her sleep at the slightest sound.  But immediately when I carry her in my arms, she will fall back to sleep.  Once, her Daddy managed to calm her down by holding her hands away from her face when she woke up and she slept on for 4 hours straight!  We are trying this method now

Food and Feeding

She is 100% on Mommy’s milk.  Still regurgitating off and on, but hopefully it will be a thing of the past soon.

As we were having dinner yesterday, Hannah was sitting in her infant-toddler seat, quietly playing with the toys hanging over her head, batting at them with her hands and fingers, and cooing softly.

And then suddenly, when Pete and I were in mid-conversation, we heard that oh-so-familiar melody of Old MacDonald coming from Hannah’s direction.  When the cord attached to the little cow in the middle is pulled, the song would play.  Ethan was playing with his fridge phonics in the kitchen at that time, so he couldn’t have pulled it.

I turned to look at Hannah, and her hand was firmly gripping the cord holder, making sweet nursery rhyme music.  That was all it took for me to start applauding.

Scrap Credits
Spring Blossoms: April’s Mega Blog Train freebie from Carjazi Designs
Small stamp frame from Lindsay Jane Designs
Unscripted No. 3 - Simply Put [handwritten word art] from TaylorMade Designs by Amanda Taylor
Paper Alphas  from Oksana
Just Because Alphas  from Shel Belle Scraps
Leaf Swirl  from Lynette’s Photo Art
HoldEmUps from Tara Dunstan

Weight

3.35 kilos (weighed in at 2 weeks’ old during her 2-week pediatrician visit).  She sure feels a lot heavier now!

Height/Length

50.8cm (measured at 2 weeks’ old during her 2-week pediatrician visit)

Motor Skills

• Hannah is able to lift head for a short period of time when placed on her tummy.  I try to give her some tummy time every day just to allow her a different view and also to provide some exercise! … and she LOVES it!
• She can also move her head from side to side, especially when a rattling toy is moved in front of her face.  She will follow the sound intently.
• She has started batting the little toys on her mobile in the infant-to-toddler rocker.
• She makes jerky arm movements, especially when asleep. When there is a loud disturbance when she is asleep, Hannah jerks her hand upwards, and they sometimes remain that way.

• Hannah makes loud throaty sounds all the time, and even more so during the night when everyone is asleep (or trying to sleep).  It could be due to her GER, and I hope it will go away soon.
• She gives the occassional social smile, sometimes when we talk and sing to her, and sometimes she even smiles in her sleep!  In fact, the first time Hannah smiled at me was the first night we spent together in the hospital!
• There are times when Hannah is awake and alert and just observing the world around her, but she will sometimes cry when she feels lonely or thinks no one is around.   She will, however, quieten down and look at people nearby with those huge brown eyes when we start talking or singing to her.
• She sometimes will cry, not out of hunger, but just to be carried and cuddled.
• Hannah can soothe herself to sleep most of the time when placed in the cot. We try to place her in the cot when she is drowsy but not asleep, although sometimes I allow her to fall asleep in my arms and carry her in a sling in a snuggle hold position, which is currently her favorite.  I am not complaining because in the snuggle hold position, I have two free hands!
• She enjoys being clean, and when she cries to be changed because her diaper is wet, she will calm down immediately when I put her on the changing table.  She also loves her bathtime nowadays, and will patiently stay as still as possible while I bathe her.

Others

• Hannah is pooping less frequently now, but some of the poops are MAJOR BIG ones.   In fact, we just had a catastrophic explosive poop on the morning of the day she turned one-month-old.  My whole right forearm acted as a shield for the poop and as a result, I had to clean the carpet, the side table, bottles of lotion, changing table and mat early in the morning.
• Hannah has some pimple-looking rashes on her face and head. I have already removed chocolate and ice cream from my diet, and hopefully it will help the rashes subside. Ethan had rashes too, so perhaps it runs in the family.

Food and Feeding
She is 100% on Mommy’s milk.

Last Sunday, Hannah had her first professional photo session.  It was not by choice, of course… we had to get her passport photos done to register her birth with the Malaysian Consulate in LA and also to apply for her Malaysian passport.

The night before I googled for nearby photo studios that provided this service, and we decided on one that was opened on Sundays.  Little did we know that it would be SO packed!

I had to specially request that the photographer take Hannah’s picture first because we were afraid she would fall asleep soon.  So after a little bit of a wait, the screen was set up, but there was a slight problem.  Because Hannah was only 2 weeks’ old, of course she could not yet hold her head up on her own and so we had to support her neck.  But that would mean the photo would show the hands of the person holding her!

So the photographer got a tiny little round chair and draped a piece of whitish cloth over it.  We then placed Hannah on the chair and tried to make her stay very still and look straight for the photo to be taken.  It wasn’t easy, because she kept turning her head to one side and didn’t look very comfortable.

We finally got a few shots, but when the photographer tried to view them, there was a problem with the memory card.  So he had to retake the shots.

And there we were again, trying to make Hannah *smile* for the camera.  But just as Hannah had the perfectest pose, the photographer had some problem with the camera and had to change the memory card again!

Anyway, we attempted once again, and finally we were able to get a couple of shots.  We paid for the photos and waited for them to be printed. 

What do you think?