Homemade Training Pants

Ai Ai has been asking to use the potty to "poop" (she uses "poop" to indicate both peeing and pooping).

Since we currently use Bumwear and have lots of the soaker inserts, I decided to make Ai Ai a pair of training pants to see if it can be done.
Plus she hates being laid flat down on her back to have her diapers/Bumwear worn for her now.
This kind of pull-up pants will also train her to pull up and down her own pants by herself.
Unlike Bumwear training pants which have a fleece inner lining that doesn't absorb any wetness (i.e. only the soaker inserts are really wet), training pants made of normal jersey material lets the toddler feel the wetness so that he will feel the discomfort and hopefully ask to pee in the potty each time.

This prototype fits ok for now, but she'll probably outgrow it soon.
I should be making a few more largerpairs once I get hold of more knit jersey fabric from Spotlight!

Acting Queen?

Yesterday Ai Ai's bed foot got caught in the child safety gate which wasn't so safe when it's not locked.
She yelped and wailed (no tears though) a bit, and I quickly ran to her.
Seeing no bruise and that it seems to be a very light "clamp", I just told her it's ok and that we'll put some lotion on it in the night.

When she heard the word "lotion", she kept asking for it.
I repeated that we'll put it in the night and she started to cry.
I decided to give her the lotion.
Asked her to walk into the bedroom for it and she walked with a limp and looked like she was in much pain.
So I carried her, put her on the bed and got the bottle of moisturiser "lotion".
Guess what? The little actress put up her right foot instead of the supposedly hurt left one, and then swiped the lotion to put on her face.

She must have seen me putting my day moisturiser (also opaque white in colour) on my face and wanted to do the same!
Such vanity at this young age!

DIY Weekend!

We got Ai Ai a toddler bed last Saturday after we saw her attempting to climb out of her cot.
She seems quite determined and just needs a little more arm strength and momentum to achieve that feat.

Actually we only got her an Ikea toddler mattress on Saturday morning, but she was simply uncontrollable!
She kept running about in her room and refused to even take her afternoon nap.
Guess she's never had that much freedom with her cot :P

In the end, we had to buy this Ikea bed frame that same Saturday night and Roy fixed it on Sunday morning.
The corner of the guard rail seems quite sharp, so I decided to make her a "bed bumper".

This is the bed bumper I made from scratch. Didn't know it's such hard work to quilt the cloth and cotton stuffing together!

I decided to make it reversible in solid pink in case we need to match it with her bedsheets in future.

This is how she looks when she sees her new bed. She'll keep saying "Daddy built bed".

By the way, I also sewed her fitted sheets.

Ikea cotton toddler sheets can get quite warm, so I made her this fitted sheet from an old cotton sateen bedsheet we had.

The cotton sateen should keep her cool during her noon naps without the aircon.

Mommy's got Withdrawal Syndrome

I tried to give Ai Ai "nan nan" today, but she didn't even suckle... just spat it out, and then gave me her koala bear and asked me to nurse the bear!

I cannot believe she didn't want me to nurse her anymore *sob sob*

Now I sort of wished I haven't weaned her off!

My little girl has grown up!

P/S. Ai Ai did a judo fall yesterday

Forgot to mention that we went to Chinatown Complex to eat raw fish + porridge yesterday morning.
Ai Ai was happily eating her chwee kueh with her plastic fork when she realised that it was quite fun to swing the fork around... and she was swinging from her waist.
Roy told her not to swing it as the fork can be dangerous, but the Ai Ai refused to listen.

Then she probably did a very vigorous golfer's swing, lost her balance, and fell from the hawker centre chair (actually it's those backless round fixed stool).
I watched in horror as she fell in slow motion, and quickly put down my spoon to grab her, but only caught hold of her T-shirt.
Roy seemed to be more engrossed in his food, and almost continued eating his porridge!
She ended up flat on her back on the floor, but didn't cry for long... probably about 3 minutes.

As I comforted her, I could hear the old folks' comments, especially the old aunties and uncles from the Cantonese porridge stall.
I really didn't dare to turn and look at them, as I am sure I will get lots of "Bad Mommy, you didn't watch over your baby carefully" comments.

Roy was more amused by the whole incident, saying that the old folks were probably louder than Ai Ai's cries.
And he wasn't too worried since the fall was a slow motion judo fall which seemed really safe.

Ai Ai's love for clothes, shoes and accessories

Her "celebrity" look

She found this pyjamas and insisted on wearing it.

Pyjamas that she wore when she was 15 mths old


Wearing my new running shoes

We went to Queensway to get me a pair of new running shoes, and she was dying to try on shoes that were her size.

When Roy didn't want her to try them as the soles were pretty stiff, she got all lethargic... hmm... not fair that Mommy is the only one trying the shoes!

Well, at least she got to walk around in Mommy's new shoes when she got home.

Ai Ai's speech development

My current favourite:
fei zhi pad = fever patch

My previous favourite:
ha bu = hot babe

And her own all-time favourite now is "bra" and "potty".

The other day when the interior designer came for a onsite check, I discreetly grabbed my bra which happened to be hanging on the sofa.
And guess what? My little Ai Ai exclaimed "BRA!"
Hmm... so much for my discretion :O

Ai Ai's love for bananas!

Ai Ai has just recovered from a slight viral fever 2 days ago, which explains why I was too busy to post anything recently.

Ai Ai is getting sick of her steamed (albeit healthy) food, so I engaged her in some cooking today.

She stood on a chair on one end of the stovehob while I did a chicken stirfry for her.

It's tough to make sure the food doesn't get burnt while having to watch her to make sure she doesn't get too near.

Towards the end, I simply carried her on my hip so she could get a better view of her food being fried.

She seemed to enjoy her food more now that she is more involved in the cooking process.

In fact, when we finished dinner and she stood next to me at the sink (on a chair of course) watching me wash up, I asked her to smell the pan and she went "Arhmmmm" :)

Cooking for her nowadays is a real trial... attemped onigiri (Jap rice balls) which was a disaster for her as she didn't like chewing plain white rice, even though it was wrapped in her favourite seaweed!

Gotta crack my brains for more ideas... since she is so into bananas and kiwifruit now, I may attempt a banana/kiwi smoothie made with her goat milk just to see if I can increase her daily intake of milk, which is a pathetic 50ml maximum.

Bouldering Ai Ai

A video of how Ai Ai boulders her cot every evening before she goes to bed.

Long Overdue pictures of Darwin

Here are some pictures of Darwin... there're quite a few pictures on birds, so if you're like Roy, not a big fan of live birds but prefers them roasted, you'll have to skip this post :)

A Termite Mound

Sunset

A male Jabiru

(females have yellow eyes while males have black eyes)

Sea Eagle

Sea Eagle in flight

The snout of a crocodile after it has caught some bird.

A saltie (saltwater crocodile) - males can grow up to 6m long

Close-up of a menacing saltie

Wallaby

Bungalow that we booked in Kakadu -

perforated metal walls with a mesh to prevent insects from flying in.

When we sleep, we can feel the night breeze, but it gets really hot in the day!

Close-up of the bungalow at Kakadu National Park

Sungei Buloh

We finally made our way to Sungei Buloh Nature reserve today.
It was a nice walk - we saw some lizards (no idea what kind of lizards they are... probably monitor lizards?), egrets, and some other birds that I can't recognise.

After the walk, we made our way to Mum's place and had lunch with Mum, Dad and Ian.

Ai Ai is normally quite shy with her Uncle Ian, maybe cos she doesn't see him that often.

She'd normally not allow him to carry her, but after he took her for a stationary ride on his scooter, she allowed him to carry her.

Haha... Roy is getting worried!

Old Photo of Ai Ai

I just found this picture while clearing my dresser.
It was in my breastfeeding diary which I will now put away in Ai Ai's Treasure Box.
This was taken for her passport when she was about 2 months old, on 13 April 2007.
Just look at her double chin - she definitely doesn't look like the petite baby she was!
Everyone who saw this picture thinks she was a "fei mui" (fat girl).

I always find this picture hilarious :)

Ai Ai's obsession with the potty

We went to May's home for a little playdate with Issac and Nisha today.
Ai Ai was simply obsessed with May's potty!
She kept carrying it around and sitting on it... hmm, maybe it's really comfortable?

Anyway, I brought her to Seiyu after her nap and got her an exact potty which costs me only $5 after a 20% discount.
Here she is - wiping her brand new potty at Seiyu.

Oh, I forgot to add that Ai Ai loves to help me with wiping and mopping now.
She'd wipe her own highchair at the HongKong Cafe in the mornings, and she'd mop up her soup spills after her meals!
And no... that's not child labour!

Ai Ai while I was in Darwin

No pictures of my Darwin trip yet... I don't know where Ai Ai has hidden my SD card reader!

Here're some pictures of Ai Ai taken with Roy's mobile phone which were MMS-ed to me while I was in Darwin:

A goodbye & we-love-you picture sent to me while I was at the Changi Budget Terminal.

Roy says "Look at that gangster-like face!"

Unfortunately his mobile phone camera is crap, so we cannot really see the expression clearly.

Ai Ai's first bicycle ride with Roy.

More bike rides please!

Back from Darwin!

I got back from Darwin on Wednesday, after a good 5 days of holiday.
It was a good drive and hike holiday, although the weather was really hot at up to 40 degrees Celsius on one of the days.
Wished Roy and Ai Ai was with me though!

Loaned my camera to my friend who was going on to Alice Springs as her camera broken down.
Will post some pictures soon!

Oh, and since I got back from my trip, Ai Ai has not asked for her "nan nan" at all!
Actually we have already weaned her off from all her feeds before my trip to Darwin.
She didn't really make a huge fuss out of it, but had asked for it a few times.
When she didn't get her "nan nan", she'll cry for about 10 seconds, then calmed down, especially after Roy and I explained that she is now grown-up and needs to be weaned off.