Sleepless in Semarak: Zara's Progress Report

I have been a bad mummy for not updating this blog as often as I'd like. With the media launch of BuggyBabyBoogie.com coming up in less than 2 weeks time and Abang's wedding reception in exactly a week, life has taken a turn to hectic and Zara's joined in for the mad ride!

Despite it all, my daughter at 14 months is a good sport - definitely a very different baby from the one she was at 4, heck,even 6 months ago! She's good natured, friendly (most days, depending on her mood LOL), loves a good laugh and is cheeky just like her Abah.

New Skills & Quirks

Runs everywhere, sometimes holding her hands back as if about to take off! But she is pretty clumsy (gets that from Abah!) and always seems to walk into something or lose balance and fall over for no obvious reason. She wont cry when she falls though - Tok reckons her head must be immune to all the bumps and knocks she's had!

When she's finished with something, like her bath or a meal, she will sign "Sudah Habis!"

Dances a LOT, and especially loves music with a definite beat that she can jig to.

Can pretend to wash her tummy when asked to.

Has now graduated from the baby bathtub to the shower, and loves it too yay!

Loves putting things on her head - boxes, bowls, and anything that will stay there.

Loves sitting in boxes, and will even squeeze into one that she knows is far too tiny for her!

Can sit on a little chair steadily by herself when asked to.

More confident with steps, often stepping straight down or up one level without crouching first.

Can point out things and people she recognises in pictures when asked "Where's.... Nana / Ah Kong / Nanie / Tok / Abah / bee / bug / frog / tiger...

Will go through books carefully, pointing out objects she recognises.

Will sing along to Violet, her electronic toy puppy, 'barking' at the right intervals and even scrolling through songs until she gets to her favourites.

Violet also does a great job of sending her to LaLa Land!

Can finally open the peekaboo doors on her toy airplane!

Is still fascinated with doors, boxes and cupboards, and will spend ages opening and closing them over and over again.

Will select a DVD that she wants to watch and hand it to Mummy.

After discovering several DVDs missing from their cases, I finally found them one day UNDER the DVD player! Soon after, I caught her sliding them one by one under the DVD player... She had been observing us inserting DVDs into the player and was trying to copy us!

I discovered Zara's treasure drawer one day after opening a random one and finding an assortment of strange (and missing!) things in there - a bag of coloured stones, a remote control, coloured bread clips, etc. Seems she had been squirreling away these objects all those times my back had been turned.

Sometimes Zara's stash ends up in my handbag!

Communication Skills

New sounds - Katakatakatakaiiiiiii....! / Begum! / Boh! / Degehdegehdegehdegeh... (no idea what they mean either!)

New words - Maam-Maam (makan). Figures right! No "Mummy" or "Abah" yet, eventhough she knows who is who, boohoo!

Can understand and follow instructions like "No", "Sudah habis", "Wash your tummy", "Give it to Mummy a.k.a. Thank you", "Minum Susu", "Sit", and "Come here".

Interests

Has moved on from Sesame Street's Beginning Together series and started with regular Sesame Street - particularly loves "Playtime with Grover", "Elmo Loves You" and "Elmopalooza". I have spied her jigging away and singing in her seat to particular songs that she likes.

Enjoys being read to with sounds and actions.

Really enjoys running around and playing with her cousins Lara, Ilhan and Mika, especially when they go to KizSports.

Loves sitting on her trike and being wheeled around.

Enjoys playing catching and peekaboo with people.

Absolutely loves slides (both water slides and regular slides).

Fascinated with water and enjoys swimming with Mummy, Abah and Ah Kong.

Feeding

Has 2 main meals a day and one light meal for lunch after a small 5oz bottle of susu or a packet of cold fresh milk.

Breastmilk first thing in the morning and another bottle (8oz) of Enfagrow A+ or Friso at bedtime.

Will eat anything and everything EXCEPT papaya!

Can feed herself bread, bananas (in their skins), and biscuits.

Can drink fresh milk from a straw.

Sleeping

Naptime still once a day, from 2-4pm after lunch.

Night sleep has more or less settled back into her previous routine, with bedtime at 10pm, waking at 6-7am to move into the big bed, and continuing her sleep til about 9ish.

Teeth

Has five teeth, three on the top and two on the bottom, but no sign of any new ones.

New bad habits!

Still slapping mummy hard on the face, even after being scolded many times for it.

Her 'anak burung' impression, where she goes from person to person at the dinner table with her mouth wide open, begging for food!

Loves to water the floor with her sippy cup.

Is a Big Bully and pushes her poor 16mth old cousin Mika around all the time.

Cannot resist tissue boxes and will shred every piece of tissue she can get hands on.

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Looking at this list I've just made, I find it wondrous yet scary at how fast babies advance once they hit the big ONE. They suddenly become these little people that you cannot recall ever having been red, helpless, squirmy grubs that only ever poo-ed and sucked your boobs dry.

Zara now has a distinct personality that I find so enjoyable, and she is a treasure to hang out with, even when she decides to throw a tantrum in the middle of my lunch date with Aunty Sofia. Yes, there are days when I want to run and hide from the little critter, but until she turns TERRIBLE TWO, I am planning on soaking up every fabulous moment with my little BFF*.