Isabelle is 16 months old, and I have been getting a lot of pressure of weaning her off. My mum insisted that she weaned off breastfeeding during our stay in Penang for these few days. Everything is progressing well and she only nurses for less than twice in 24 hours. However, she still has problem going to sleep without nursing, and will be very fussy at bedtime.

I know the day will come anyway, but I thought of delaying it until she is much older. But since she is showing some positive signs of weaning off, I may as well give it a try. After all, it seems like she prefers chocolate milk over breastmilk now.

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I feel so bad. I don’t have time to measure her today as I was out to my center and busy with the pending offers. When I was free, she’s asleep or playing with her cousins (school holiday) and didn’t want to entertain me.

So, I don’t have her height and weight now. Anyway, I will update her progress again when I’m back from Bali. We are leaving in 2 and a half hours and I’m still blogging!!!

Ok ok, got to get some sleep liao. Cannot stick my butt to the laptop.

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Height: 73 cm

Weight: 9kg

I notice that Isabelle is really petite as comparing to other kids about her age. But she is a big eater and she eats a lot! As long as she sees someone with food, she will ask for a few bites.

I took her to the clinic for her chicken pox jab this morning, and she was a tough cookie. She only cried when she was jabbed, and stopped shortly after. I remembered that Justin would cry a lot when he’s about this age. But all the while, Isabelle has been an easy baby.

She still not talking yet, besides that bababa mum mum stuffs. But she understands very well what we are talking to her about, and she follows most of the instruction correctly too. I love to see her helping us out by putting the books or toys away, throwing her diapers in the bin or putting her clothes in the laundry basket. She looks so cute!

Lately, she has begun to show a deeper interest in nursery rhymes. She likes Jack and Jill, and I sing this rhymes at least 10 times a day! She will bring the book to me and ask me to sing to her. If hubby’s around, she will do the same as well. Besides that, she recognizes a lot of zoo animals like elephant, lion, tiger, monkey, horse, tortoise, owl, crocodile, and many more, on top of the pet animals she knows previously. I guess she learns a lot from the books lately. She likes flashcards too, but since she can’t talk yet, I will ask her to choose the correct picture from a few cards. So far, I think she recognizes about 30 of the cards now.

She is very good at feeding herself with fork and spoon, but sometimes, we need to help her to scoop the food up so that it will be easier for her. But the thing is, Isabelle doesn’t like to be helped. She prefers to eat by herself. It’s a blessed to us when we are eating out because as long as she eats, we can eat too. However, the mess she makes everyday is really a headache to us! But it’s part of growing up. So far, the mess is getting lesser.

When she’s nursing, she likes to practice the different parts of the face with me. I used to hold her fingers and point it to my nose, then her nose, and continue to other parts of the face. Now, whenever she’s nursing, she will point to me and ask me to repeat the parts. If I ask her to point, she can recognize all of them, including some parts of the body.

She knows how to watch TV with Justin, especially Elmo and Barney. It’s a bliss to me when they are watching TV together for 30 minutes because I can do some knitting! Oh ya, before I forgot, here’s Isabelle with her first lollipop given by her paediatrician today. She got one for koh koh, so both of them enjoy the lollipop while watching Elmo on TV.

Yum yum lollipop!

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I’ll measure her height and weight once I get back to Ipoh!

She is getting more and more like me, especially the way she likes shopping and “ban leng leng”. I think she is going to be as vain as the mommy once she grows up!

Her ulcer has recovered, and I’m getting more careful when I’m taking care of her. I don’t want her to fall so badly again and risk herself from the bad cut and bruises, if possible. She’s learning how to run right now, but she is still trying to balance herself when she’s making the bigger steps.

Until now, she only knows how to say papa. Other than that, she uses sign languages like milk, eat, water, some more, hat, comb hair and others. Maybe I’ve always been taking care of her, so I know what she wants when she moves her hands and fingers. I’m trying to encourage her into expressing verbally, but she is still not interested in talking.

Sometimes, I think she plays like a boy as an influence from Justin and hubby. But she has her feminine side too, when she is playing with her baby doll. I will capture the way she plays with her doll one day, but it’s not easy to be done now as she is very conscious with the camera. Once I take out the camera, she will shy away or wants to play with my camera instead. Taking her photos is not as easy as before now.

She likes to pick up smaller stuffs from the floor, but nowadays, she is getting lesser at putting them in her mouth. She will normally gives them to me, or throw them in the laundry basket or waste paper basket. After we changed her diaper, she likes to throw them away by herself. But I’m still very cautious about smaller things in the house. If I see stuffs like Lego, cordless phone battery, pencil leads, erasers, or anything with can go through the hole of a toilet roll, I will definite put them away ASAP.

She is still on breastfeeding, and doesn’t like the taste of formula milk. Sometimes, she will take about 4oz of formula milk when I’m not at home. At other times, she will rather snack on other food and waits for me to come home and nurse her. I am in process of weaning her off by supplementing her, but there is no hurry. We are taking our time in weaning off together as I know I will miss nursing her…

Oh ya, about potty training. Just now, when I was nursing her lying down, she quickly let go and went down from the bed ASAP. Once she got down from the bed, she peed!!!!! Wah! She has beginning to show some signs of being able to hold her urination for a few seconds and aware that she cannot pee on the bed. That is a great progress!

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I’m 13 months old liao!

Weight: Not measured

Height: 73 cm

It’s very hard to snap her smile lately. When she sees the camera, she will either look away, or just stunned. Ha! The last pic was very blur, but it’s the first smiley photo I’ve taken of her after trying for a week. Don’t tell me she’s camera shy? Or maybe she is still young to pose in front of the camera.

She has begun to sign a few baby sign language with me, but she doesn’t talk yet. MIL and my mum were wondering if she’s has tongue because she doesn’t talk. HA! But I’m not worry yet, maybe she’s still not ready. From her signing and her pointing, I noticed that she understands what we are talking to her. She can also follow simple instruction like throwing her clothes in the laundry basket, clean up her toys (but only a few pieces), wipe her mouth and etc. But she will get frustrated sometimes if we do not know what she’s trying to say, and she will sit down and cry.

She snacks a lot, but didn’t gain much weight. Most of Justin’s hand down clothes which he couldn’t wear before 1 year old can still fit Isabelle very well. Some are still too big for her. She’s definitely smaller build comparing to koh koh, and it’s good too, as I won’t have sore arms that easily carrying her around.

Meal time is a mess. She refuses to be fed sometimes, and wants to eat like us, with her own bowl and spoon. But most of the she will feed with her hands. Luckily I have a maid who will clean up the mess while I change her up. If not, I will be insane cleaning up so often. LOL!

Her concentration span is quite short. When she is at Kindermusik class, she prefers to walk around than participating if Justin is not with her. When we are reading together, she prefers to nurse than looking at the book. It’s so amusing as she’s totally different from Justin. I wonder what approach should I take in bring her up?

She knows Justin adores her, and she begins to bully koh koh. When she’s angry, she will bite him or hit him with a toy. So, I have to ask Justin to watch out and run away if she’s hitting him. I’m still trying to lecture her, see when will she stop this act.

She loves gai gai a lot, if she sees us all dress up, she will cling on to hubby or me and won’t let go. I told hubby, maybe she has my shopping DNA, and he said “Better not!”

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Finally, I can “declared” that Isabelle is walking steadily. She’s been walking 80% of the time when she’s on mobile today, and only crawled when she was tired or fell. But I like her spirit, even if she falls, she will stand right up and continue.

This afternoon, she attempted to walk up the steps. Hubby was so confident with her and he just sat on the sofa watching golf! So, she fell and hit her left cheek on the step and of course, crying like hell. After nen nen, she felf better. And guess what? My tough girl went back to the same spot and tried on the steps again! Wa lau…..

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Weight: 8.4 kg

Height: 71 cm

So, we had celebrated her birthday yesterday. This morning, MIL made her red eggs, and Isabelle had egg white for the first time. So far so good, she’s not allergy to eggs! My maid even asked if she should prepare the porridge for her today as she thought Isabelle is old enough to eat like us. But I insisted that she had porridge, not the watery type, but will add our dishes into it, if it’s suitable. She’s not good at chewing certain food yet.

She has started walking unsupported for a few steps unconsciously. However, she refuses to show us how she walks if we ask her to. She’s extremely good at walking by pushing with a stool or small table. Even climbing up and down the sofa or coffee table seems like a piece of cake to her now. She will climb up the staircase too if we don’t watch her. Basically, she’s one active toddler!

Meal time is getting messier. She likes to eat by herself with a spoon. I’ve uploaded a video of her spoon feeding by herself, but still not skillful yet. She likes to eat like us, and willing to try on anything if we let her too. If she has problem chewing or swallowing it, she will spit it out.

However, her speech development is a bit slower. She doesn’t talk yet, and only knows how to make sound when she wants to poo, eat, to be carried, and asking for something by pointing. Sometimes, she speaks in “French” which neither of us understand what she’s talking about! But she knows what we are telling her, and understand English fairly well. She only knows how to do “some more” and “no more” for baby sign language. As for nursing, she refuses to make “milk milk” sign and will rather lift up my tops by herself!

I noticed that she concentration span is longer too. She likes putting things into a container, and pour them out again, and repeat the process a few times. Besides, she likes scribbling, and playing with books. She doesn’t fancy dolls and stuff toys, even Elmo puppet is scary to her. She only like him on TV.

She a friendly baby. Almost anyone can carry her, if I’m there to give her the assurance. But if I walk away, she will cry out loud and not even hubby can handle her! She knows how to differentiate if we are going out and if she’s coming along by the way we dress and the clothes we put her on. If we are going out, she won’t make a fuss when we change her. If we are not bring her along, she’ll yell and cry.

Oh ya, she knows where my nose is, but when I ask her to point to her nose, she will point her tongue!

She’s beginning to show her temper. I gave her a tricycle as birthday present. Both Justin and Isabelle were very excited when I took it out from the storeroom this afternoon. They were eager to try it out….

I told Justin that it’s mei mei’s present and maybe she understands that it doesn’t belong to koh koh, and she wanted to have it all by herself…..

Isabelle began to be annoyed by koh koh

who’s still having his hands on her tricycle

 She got angry and yelled to ask Justin to back off from her bike!

See her fierce look?

Hahaha! It’s all mine!

So, mommy stepped in to offer a solution……..Justin pushed mei mei so that both of them can play together……..

But they only played for less than 1 minute……. 

And went to watch Elmo’s World on Disney Channel 

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 Weight: 8 kg

I started reading Peter and Jane book 1a with her 2 weeks ago. That’s the book I started with Justin too. I was wondering if she likes it just like her brother. At first, she would rather play with the book and that’s pretty normal. But 2 days ago, she crawled to the book rack, “yee yaa yee yaa” pulling me along…

Me: You want a book?

Isabelle: Yee…woof (dog)

Me: Oh, you want Peter and Jane book, with the dog?

I took out the book and she crawled and sat on my lap (she’s good at this now). I started reading with her, and she could follow for 10 pages, then only she started playing with the book. That’s a great achievement to me. And whenever I mentioned the word dog, or she saw the picture, she will point to the dog and say “woof”. So, “woof” is her favourite word now.

She likes to see the chickens and the dogs next door. Almost every evening, I will bring her and Justin for walks round the house, and we will stop by the fence to watch the chickens. She will be very excited when she sees them. Besides that, she likes watching birds too. My maid will place the expired cakes or bread in a big pan, and place it outside the house. The birds have already got used to it, and they will be waiting for her to feed them. Once the birds fly in, Isabelle will wave her hands excitedly, and looks really cute.

She’s still cruising, and likes to to climb onto the bed and sofa now. She knows how to come down from the bed and sofa, but we still need to watch her closely. She fell down from the bed once and scared the hell out of me. But she’s ok, stopped crying after a while and tried again! One tough girl huh?

I reminded my maid over and over again, if I’m not around and she needs to do something, better place her in the playpen. Once, she almost fell off from the highchair as she managed to escape from the strap. Then there’s another time when Isabelle was crawling up the staircase all by herself, while my maid went into the kitchen. See, how can I leave home with a peace of mind?

I think her sleeping pattern improves a lot. She can sleep for 3 - 4 hours then only ask for a feed. Previously, she wanted to suckle all the time. So, I can sleep a bit nowadays.

She’s supplemented with formula a few times this week. I asked my maid to stop frozen EBM for a while, and let her get used to formula milk. But her skin condition got worse after introducing cow milk. I talked to her paediatrician and he suggested Isabelle to take NAN 2 after she’s one year old. She has really sensitive skin and cow milk will make it worse. He doesn’t agree with goat milks too. So, I better forget Karihome then. Mommies, any recommendation? WMD? I was wondering what milk you are using too? Since RE has eczema….

Oh ya, she’s turning one next month. I wanted to have a party, but hubby’s not anticipated. He prefers to have a family home party only. Gee, dunno when will my kids have their own birthday party!

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Weight: 7.9 kg

Teeth: 5, and there’s another one coming out.

My baby girl has very sensitive skin, as diagnosed by a skin specialist. I don’t know if I should be sad about this, as she inherited this from me. The doctor advised us that we should not let mosquitoes bite her, as much as we could help. So, we are protecting her like a porcelain doll now.

She’s taking lesser and lesser milk. In fact, my milk production has gone downhill because of this too. No matter how much I tried to boast it up by nurse and pump, it’s still the same. I think she’s an older baby now, and she’s taking solid food very well, that’s why her milk consumption is getting lesser. But I’m still her pacifier and comforter, she will come to me for a few sucks and leave. At bedtime, I’m still the only one she was to be tucked in with as she needs to nurse to sleep.

She can cruise for a few steps and then continue with crawling. She likes to push the chair like a push wagon and walk. I think she’s gonna walk in another 2 months. She’s very adventurous, and daring too. She’s not afraid of falling down, and even if she fell, she’ll whine for a while and try again. Very tough little girl!

She smiles a lot, after she warms up with the people she meets. She’s eager to play with other kids too nowadays. She doesn’t like dolls or stuffs toys, but prefers to play with Justin’s drawing pad, colour pencils, puzzles, stack blocks and trains. She knows how to scribble with a pencil!!!

When she hears music, she’ll “dance” to it. Sometimes, she’ll “sing”, making sounds and following the tune. I think she’s very sensitive to music, and maybe she can join Kindermusik too.

She knows how to keep the toys in the box, not all, but a few pieces, and claps hands after putting in every single piece to show that she’s a good girl. The more we clap hands to encourage her, the more she will put them in. I should get hubby to capture the way she’s cleaning up the toys and clapping hands with the viewcam!

Lots of people think that she looks like a boy due to her fine and short hair. But what do you think? No matter how she looks like, she will always be my princess, and in fact, she looks like me when I was a baby.

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Maybe she’s a girl, so her development is so much faster. When she started crawling at 7 months old, I thought she’ll be crawling for a few months first, then only start to learn how to walk after 1 year old.

But for the past few days, she likes to stand unsupported while holding things on her hands too. She won’t be standing too long, just for a few seconds. Then, she’ll fall on her buttock, and stand up again by holding on something sturdy. After balancing herself, she’ll release her hands and repeat this over and over again.

Sometimes, she’ll cruise around the coffee table to get around, but for a few steps only. I guess she’ll be walking sooner than I thought!

Not to mention, she’s very adventurous. Even if she falls and gets a few bumps, but she’s still not giving up and willing to try on standing unsupported. Isabelle, mummy is very proud of you!

P/S: All my photos lately are blur as my camera “admitted” into repair shop again!

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