When a Girl Becomes a Woman

As an aunt, I practically watched Alicia grew up from an infant into a 2 years old toddler. And on one fine sunny morning, I woke up to find Alicia all grown up with nail polish on her tiny fingernails!

Ah...the wonders of nature...never fails to amaze me! ;)

The Coming of a Great Artist

Development of the right hemisphere at 1 year, 10 months & 14 days...

Titled: "姑姑的Spiderman Wallet"

Cost: Priceless

Twelve Full Months

Time flies when you ain't counting.

A year has passed since my baby niece joined our small family. Within the short 12 months duration, I have seen her as an infant who lacks the strength to support herself but yet has a pair of immensely powerful lungs to scream for everyone's attention.

She then progressed to melt everyone's heart with that charming smile of hers. At times of anger, everyone would be on their feets scrambling to fulfil her needs. So, she's still the master of the family.

She soon learnt to prop herself on the bed by flipping on her stomach, probably to try to get a view from a different perspective...

As her curiosity grew, it was no longer satisfying to be carried around on her adventure trip around the house. Mustering all her strength, she was fast to use her hands and knees to support her body. Now, she might just be the fastest crawling baby in the entire estate!

Her chubbly feet has since been only a suckling alterntive to her fingers. "Maybe I could try to imitate how the others are using them to move around?" she thought to herself one day .... With the support from a nearby sofa or low table, she was quick to stand up and for the first time, we saw how tall she grew.

She is always fascinated with advertisements. Now that she's on her wobbly feet, her hip simply sways whenever a catchy tune is blaring from the television speaker. But for now, this can be tiring for her as she drops on her diaper support and scrambles away after the poor dog...

And a year later, we gathered together to celebrate her achievements so far. She was shy at first but soon, warmed to the crowd and began the proud display of all she has learned since.

Of course, a birthday party could not be complete without the glorious food! For baby Alicia, it's just strawberries and milk for now. :)

Finger Food - Nachos with Cheese Dip

Sweets for the toothsie...

Tempura Prawns - doesn't taste as good as it looks...

Siew Mai - I gobbled up four, have to leave some for the others....

Artistic view of the fried fish slices

Mixed vegetables

Fried Mee Hoon

Fried Rice - it's actually quite nice!

Longan Almond Jelly - The longan is fine, but the almond jelly can be better!

Cake #1 - Winnie the Pooh theme layered cake

Cake #1 - It is also layered on the inside. The chocolate sponge layer is really dense!

Cake #2 - Winner the Pooh Agar-Agar. Really nice and not too sweet!!!

A Girl Who Celebrates Her Birthday...Monthly

Yesterday, on the 23rd December 2007, Alicia became 4 months old. Since I'm totally immersed in the festive mood lately, I decided to walk (despite the rain) to the neighbourhood mall and see if there's any small cakes on sale at the confectionary.

There were so many logcakes on display and they were all at super affordable prices! I'm not sure if this is the usual "mall" rate or the confectionary was already slashing the prices on pre-christmas eve. Nevertheless, I took my own sweet time to choose a nice cake and after 15 minutes of "umphs" and "erms", I decided on a chocolate logcake - a single cake for dual purposes.

While Alicia was curiously gazing at the lighted candles, the rest of us were simply glad to have it blown out, knife and napkins at the ready.

According to reliable sources, Alicia has been celebrating her birthday on a monthly basis. She's a lucky girl indeed...

I Swear

Alicia has grown so much over the past few weeks. She has learnt to keep her gaze at one moving object, turn her head to look at the sights or respond to sounds around her, mesmerized by the colourful photos in magazines, blabber baby talk when encouraged and most importantly, gesture with her fingers. Of which her favourite would have to be:

I'm not so sure she knows what this gesture means yet....

A Pacifier That Tells The Temperature

Which is your preferred way of measuring the body temperature of a baby or toddler?

(A) Stick the thermometer up their butt hole?
- OUCH!

(B) Place the thermometer under their armpit?
- can't stop them from fidgeting?

(C) Put the thermometer into their mouth?
- worried that they might bite and crack the mercury bulb?

(D) Place the thermometer into their ear?
- worried that they might jerk their head suddenly?

(E) Have them suck on the thermometer willingly without the danger of mercury poisoning?
- sounds too good to be true?


Tah-Dah! Presenting.......the 2-in-1 Thermometer Pacifier!




The usage is simple: pop the pacifier into the baby's mouth, press the red button at the back, the pacifier starts measuring the body temperature and when the temperature stabilizes, it'll issue a soft beeping sound.

Kiss those conventional methods of temperature measurement goodbye!

Digging For Gold

This morning, armed with a small torchlight and a baby-safe pincer, I decided to dig into the root cause of what was causing Alicia to breathe so loudly at night.

I lay her on the bed and waited for her to doze off. Then I shone the torchlight into her tiny little nostrils and I found two HUGE gold nuggets smacked right in the middle of the airway. ROOT CAUSE FOUND!

Next, I tried to aim the pincer at a peeling edge of the gold nugget and tried to wretch it free from the left nostril. The attempt failed as Alicia turned her head away. I tried a second and a third time, but all attempts failed. Then I tried to hold her head so that she would at least give me a few seconds to grab the nugget. Damn...how could a two month old baby be so strong?

I must admit I find it personally very tempting to try to wretch the HUGE gold nuggets from her nostrils. Otherwise, I might not be able to take my mind off it for the rest of the day. So I tried and I tried and finally, I felt something thick between the fingers of the pincer and with a tug, the first piece of gold nugget was released from her left nostril! For a moment, I felt a wave of euphoria. :) It just feels so satisfying, like finally being able to scratch that itchy spot behind one's back! Afterwards, with only a little effort, the second gold nugget was easily wretched free from the right nostril and I have infront of me, two gold nuggets resting on a tissue paper.

Anyone who knows whether such things actually sell on online auctions?

The Little Things in Life

I was wondering in and out of the kitchen this morning with my usual routine. Everything is the same, at their usual places. It's only when I raised my head to look at the sky through the kitchen windows that I noticed these really cute stuffs hanging on the bamboo poles!

I'll be seeing more of these at home. :)

Alicia's First Month Party

According to Chinese tradition, the first month is an important milestone for a newborn. It is believed that during the first month, the newborn is most susceptible (in terms of their health). Therefore, it is a joyous occasion for the Chinese to celebrate the newborn's first month 'birthday'.

The must-have auspicious food item would be the red eggs - hard boiled eggs soaked in an edible red solution - which would then be distributed to friends, colleagues and relatives.

It's quite amazing to observe the fast growth rate of a baby. Just two weeks apart, and Alicia has grown so much! I guess before long, she'll be a toddler scrambling around the house with many people chasing after her. For now, I'm glad she's contented to have just anyone carry her in their arms.

Nice to Meet You!

We welcome a new member to our family - Alicia!
She was born today at 2:38pm, Mt. Alvernia Hospital and weighs 3.795kg with length 51cm.