Video update!

I totally forgot to upload recent videos I'd made of Angel. So here's another post with the videos.

You gotta love those twinkly eyes, they are so full of love and mischief at the same time. You may remember she used to do that little chin jutting out thing when she talked when she was young. She doesn't quite do that a lot now, but has replaced it with this cute giggle of hers, and maybe still a slight chin jute :)

Her hair has grown ever so slightly! FINALLY. For a while there, her hair was so sparse that you'd thought she was going bald. I swear she had more hair when she was born!

Here's the first vid of her babbling away. I got her in a really good mood, just after a nap and good lunch. She's really talkative. The pillow here is her little security blanket that I talked about in the previous post - she has to sleep with it! Here she is trying to reach for a little toy. You can see the determination on her face and then the glee (and a little giggle too!) after she got it!

Here she is again, with that cute little giggle of hers. This is when she's learning to flip to her tummy.

She has a fun game she likes to play right now, dropping / throwing things onto the ground and looking at it. Here she is in her activity exasaucer she LOVES it as she can rock and twist around in it and has loads of activities to keep her occupied for a while.

Little Angel growth

Here’s a quick update on sweet little Angel. It’s been yet another month since the last update (where does the time go) and in this time, she’s progressed a lot more. She’s no longer a ‘baby’ in that her baby auto reflects are no longer there. We had to take her to the A&E over the weekend as she had bonked her head against the coffee table, and then 10 minutes later, her nose started bleeding. Can anyone say, “Mummy panic”??!! Again!!?? Anyway, alls well, nothing to worry at all, and I guess Daddy took her to A&E more so to appease me than anything. That’s when the doctor said that she’s a ‘toddler’ now. And I do notice a big difference. Her head’s no longer ‘soft’, but is a strong firm head. She’s voicing her opinion now very strongly, knowing what she wants and what to do to get it. However, she’s no pushover. She is very strong / determined and proud. Very proud. Unlike Bibou, who’s whiney and will whine / cry to get what she wants, Angel I think is too proud to cry for too long. I’ve recently started to do the ‘cry it out’ at night now, (so that I can get some decent sleep) since she’s no longer (1) jet lagged, (2) teething, (3) has the chicken pox, or (4) sick with the flu (looking back, the poor thing has been through a lot in the past 3 months hasn’t she!!). We were never able to do CIO with Bibou as she would just cry and cry and cry until we gave in. A – the first night, the first time – just 30 minutes (5 minutes, 10 minutes and 14 minutes), the second time, 5 minutes and then after nothing. Once she realizes that I won’t be going to her, she won’t cry for me. Now, most nights, she’d complain just a little, just to see if I’d give in, and if I won’t, she’d go to sleep on her own. She does rely on her pillow (a small bolster which is the one that is with her in the basket) to help her. She does this funny thing with it; she'd grab it and rub it all over her face and has to keep it ON her face (though she'd be facing sideways so she wouldn't suffocate) to fall alseep! (I did give in last night as she was coughing up her lungs – teething and we had to give her some medication). Touch wood, I really hope this will continue.

She’s now going through some ‘separation anxiety’ issues. She will only go into the arms of people she knows and will cry if someone else carries her. We never had this with Bibou, and I think it’s ‘coz Bibou went to the crèche and was used to many different people since young. I hope this will not continue!

True to her Chinese horoscope – she’s a little ‘piglet’! She just gobbles up everything you put in front of her. She’s a very good eater! And with her 7 little teeth, she’s migrated from very smooth purees to eating small morsels. Physically, Angel has been learning to ‘stand’. She is able to stand against furniture like a coffee table for a couple of minutes and the other day at Acrochat, she stood on her own for a good 5 seconds! She’s still haven’t learn to crawl (though she often flips herself onto her tummy a lot now)… she’s able to somehow move backwards though! She’s starting to wave byebye and I think learning to clap hands. Wahoo! Oh and finally, she’s also able to reach out her hands to me to be carried. Awww. That’s a heart melter! Now who on earth can deny your baby asking to be carried??

Another heart dropping scare and a playdate with Dan

Yes, we had another big scare a few weeks ago. Daddy and I were actually just about to catch some lunch together near my office when Daddy received a call on his cell phone. I was parking the car while he spoke to the person on the phone, all the while covering his ear as if it was very difficult to hear. As I approached, he slowly inched away from me, as if he didn’t want me to overhear the conversation. When he completed the call and turned to me, I found out why! Apparently, Bibou, while playing hide and seek with Loa, the new nanny, had gotten her fingers stuck in the gap between the door frame and the door (ie the hinge part). She couldn’t get her fingers out and was screaming bloody murder. The neighbour’s nanny also came to help but to no avail, and they finally called the ‘pompier’ (the firemen / medical emergency) who actually turned up quite promptly (7 minutes after the call). As soon as we got the call, I pop back into the car and drove like mad to get back home. When we arrived, Bibou was ‘released’ already (fortunately, they didn’t have to break down the door, just forcing it open with some tools) and they were getting ready to transport her to the hospital for some check up ‘just in case’. She’d calmed down already by the time we got home ie she wasn’t screaming and crying, but seemed to be a little dazed but she almost tear up again when she saw me. The pompiers were GREAT! They were trying to cheer her up and make her feel at ease. I got to accompany her in the ambulance to the hospital (which is normally less than 5 minutes away, but they seemed to have taken the wrong route and arrived AFTER Daddy who’d stayed behind to do some paperwork and then followed with our car), but if I never have to get into another ambulance again, I’d be happy. At the hospital, Bibou was back in form already (I guess she wasn’t too badly hurt!). And now, being a ‘regular’ visit (she’s been at the A&E thrice already, within the past year), she’s not too frazzled. The doctor / nurses were kind and quietly efficient. Asked a few routine questions, looked at her hand and got her into the X-Ray room and bam, we were done in about 15 minutes. The results were ‘immediate’; all we had to do was walk down the hall to the ‘trauma / consultant room’ and the nurse and us got to see the X-Rays. Fortunately, Bibou didn’t break / fracture any bones, but because it was swollen, and ‘coz she’s a young ‘un with growing everything, they wanted to ensure that they grow properly. Thus she needed a slight bandage around her middle fingers to ensure that there isn’t too much movement. You can see a pix of her banged up fingers here. After that, she even managed to wave goodbye to everyone. What a heart attack! And I do hope that our A&E visits will be slow down or stop for a while (we’ve now been there 5 times this year for the two girls! All fortunately, turned out to be not too serious (but certainly seemed serious enough when we went there).

The following weekend, we met up with Dan and his family for a playdate at acrochat (another indoor jungle gym like ludimax). This is a new place, very spacious, clean and a tad bit more expensive than the other places. And as it was the school holidays (2 weeks!), it was quite busy. We’d arrived after the Bitans and hurried towards them. Dan was already in and having fun. For some reason, Bibou, who was really excited about seeing her friend Dan, began her ‘I’m afraid’ stage, perhaps after seeing how rowdy the place is (not sure why she turned like that, but she did). She got really scared and refused to move! She just didn’t want to go, even when Dan kept pestering her to go with him, insisting that it was gonna be fun. Nope, she wouldn’t budge. It didn’t help that as soon as we got there, the bloody fire alarm was accidentally triggered and it was darn LOUD (we were right in front of it) and it didn’t get turned off for a good 5 minutes. C and I were holding our hands over Seraphine and Yohan’s ears just to protect their delicate ears. Fortunately, the darlings had NO idea what was happening and didn’t seemed to be affected (Yohan in fact slept through it all LOL). Then Daddy had the bright idea of bringing Bibou to the ‘babies’ area, which like Klooney Planet, is a large area for the young ones. They had a little obstacle course to get to a small slide and a pit of balls. Bibou got going on it, and eventually, she warmed up to it so much that when Dan came over to get her, she was all happy to enter the ‘big’ area. And then there was no stopping the both of them. They were both alllll red in the place and sooo happy. Up and down the slides and chasing each other. They didn’t need much supervision after that! And so us four parents were down on the padded floor of the baby’s section with Yohan and Angel. We were on the floor with them, rolling, crawling, sliding with them. It was so much fun. And they were just squealing with laughter. And then, Daddy took Angel to the slide and put her on top. And sweetness! She just sits there with a big grin on her face, wiggled and wiggled her bum, closer and closer to the edge and swish, down she goes! The look on her face was priceless! Unfortunately, I didn’t get any good shots! Well, apparently Bibou and Angel have been practicing together, with Bibou hanging on to her and sliding down with her and the both of them just LOVE it! I need to get some better shots of that.

Lo Hei!

We were invited over for a great chinese new year lunch yesterday at our Singaporean friend's new place, C. They just bought a great big new apartment in Chinatown. Bibou was all excited to be visiting Claire (who’s about 1 year older than she is) and her younger sister. All in all, we had 9 kids and Bibou had a blast! Most of the girls were all dressed up in their Chinese gear, it was just too cute! It was a potluck lunch and we had a scrumblious meal! C made her famous Beef Rendang (and once again, it was as delicious as we remembered it to be!) and a wonderful yu sheng - which, for those who don't know our tradition, is a rather elaborate raw-fish salad, made from strips of well, raw-fish (normally salmon) , and finely shredded vegetables such as white radish, carrots etc and lots of condiments like chopped peanuts, ginger, daun limau nipis (leaves from lime tree), Chinese parsley, toasted sesame seeds, five spice powder and a special dressing sauce mostly made from plum sauce. We eat this during the first 7 days of CNY – it’s really delicious, but it is the preparation and tradition that most important. Everyone gathers round the table with their chopsticks and we toss the salad as high as possible (without making a mess of course!) while wishing each other good luck, prosperity etc for the new year. All the kiddies joined in, even Bibou. MF made some well made makis (we were all saying we need to get some maki session from her), Rani had some stir-fry veggies but it was her gorgeous dessert that hooked me! It was a coconut jelly dessert, made from guala melaka (a kind of sugar made from palm sugar). It had been a long time since I had it, and I was in 7th heaven! I made some fried noodles and a black sauce chicken. Oh we ate and ate and ate.

Poor Angel – by the time we left yesterday, her cheeks were burning up and all red – she’s teething again, her 5th and 6th teeth (top gum) have started to appear. She seemed to be in a lot of pain (yes, I didn’t sleep much the past few nights again – but then, what else is new). The pain, however, hasn’t stopped her from eating. Oh yes, our little Angel loves to eat and gobbles everything in sight. As she has teeth, I’d also begun letting her eat straight from a banana. Boy did she have fun! On Saturday, she even chomped down on some bean sprouts. I think we can make her vegetables less pureed now!

I had a bit of a fright the other day when my cell phone rang and it was Bibou’s teacher. Did I go into panic mode (either Bibou made a bad mistake like beat someone up or something, or she’s hurt!). She was hurt – she had a very slight cut on her eye but because it’s in the eye area, they’d preferred to be more prudent. Fortunately, Daddy was on his way home already(that’s why they couldn’t get hold of him – in a tunnel or something) so off they went to the hospital where they also preferred to give her the tiniest stitch. Have to say that I’m glad that I wasn’t there as I’d be too upset to be of any good! Bibou’s all fine now, showing off her boo-boo.

Seeing the girls together made me so glad that we didn’t stop at one (well, OK, I’m sure that this statement will come back and bite me in the ass in a year or two when Angel is old enough to ‘fight’ with her sister). They just adore each other so much. Now Angel recognizes her big sister’s voice, and when she hears her voice indicating that Bibou is nearing her, she immediately looks around in search of Bibou and would let out a huge peal of giggle as soon as she sees her! Bibou is still a little too rough with her – she wants to hug her to bits!

Here are some videos of the both of them together. I think Bibou’s been celebrating a number of birthdays at school, as she’s taken to singing the birthday song frequently.

Gong Xi Gong Xi!

It was Chinese New Year last week, so we hosted our annual CNY MESSAGE event just this past Sunday. I actually had a lot of fun baking (though was very tired of course!) lots this year. I made some pineapple tarts (I’m guessing I had about 150 pieces of those), some suji biscuits (made with good ole ghee!) – those I’m guessing I had about 200 of, plus I had to give some (unbaked ones) to our cleaning person as we just had too much, made some cat’s tongues that didn’t turn out as nice, as I think it is because of the butter we have here in France. Someone mentioned that the butter / flour is of different consistency here than from home (wherever home is… )… I never quite understood that, thinking it was just some ‘bitchy’ remark about how things are always better ‘back home’… and also thought that well, sometimes my cookies just don’t turn out right because I’m not that great a baker. Well! I now realize that it isn’t me. I had PERFECT suji biscuits (last year, they failed miserably as I’d used ‘normal’ butter) as I had used real ghee! They didn’t spread nor burnt too quickly. They were a great delicious golden color! The cat tongue just spread too much (it tasted great though!).
Our MESSAGE friends started arriving at around 3.00 pm. We got the girls all dressed up in their gorgeous Chinese outfit that mahmah sent over (except Bibou didn’t want to wear the red cheongsum! She wanted to wear pants – which was a surprise as she normally prefers to wear dresses). Bibou had fun playing with all the kids who came. They all also had fun with Daddy, who played on the guitar and sang some songs. Daddy and Bibou did a GREAT duet, the Elephant Song which I regretfully didn’t take a video of! Arrggh! Next time.
Angel is recovering well from her bout of chicken pox. She didn’t scratch much and besides the few big ones on her head and the large one on her forehead, most of her spots were tiny and dried up. So hopefully

she won’t be too scarred. Unfortunately, she’s still not sleeping. W
ell she did while she had chicken pox, and that’s probably ‘coz she was all ‘drugged’ – we’d given her some prescribed an
tihistamine for her itching and that probably helped with her sleeping at night. Last night, we stopped giving her and she was up! From 4.00 am until about 6
.00 am! Arrgh. She’s sitting up very well and can stand (with help). We’re trying to get her to crawl and stay on her tummy, but she still doesn’t like it much. She is able to reach for things and will determinedly stretch and grope for items in front of her that she wants until she gets it. I think she’s also getting into stage where she recognizes the people around her… oh boy, no one strangers carrying her soon I think. On Sunday, though she didn’t complain, she looked a little weary when someone else was carrying her and for the first time ever, she reached out for me! And slide towards me so that she can be in my arms again. She’s also becoming very very vocal! I’ll try and upload videos of her soon. In the meantime, enjoy the photos update. I do like the picture of the two girls in bed together. Bibou loves to have Angel in her bed with her. I think she treats her like a little living doll! She's sweet with her really. And though Angel pulls her hair all the time, and she would complain that Angel is pulling her hair, she'd shrug it off when I say, oh, dear, I'm sure she's sorry. She doesn't mean it. She loves going up to her and 'chat' with her (but all in French, sigh).