Sophie and her uncontrollable scenes ~ The latest development milestones

Howdy! Such a long time I did not update my blog. Yeah, I’ve got so many works to do plus more new websites to handle. Every day is such a busy day for me – managing works and life. And Sophie has just gotten new cousin, Aira Nurdamia who was also born in Pusrawi on 31 May 2007. More less to say, in every single week we have so many occasions; from families visit to emergency cases to wedding invitation and thus no time for us quiescent at home.

lil Aira Nurdamia

As fast as time goes by, hey hey hey our lil munchkin Sophie has reached 9 mos old plus. Ok, I intend to write stories about Sophie’s latest development milestones. Cut the actions short, below are her latest achievements, counting from 6 mos to 9 mos old:

1. Sing a song! – Do you remember about my previous entry? I did mention about Cleopatra Stratan song, didn’t I? She is a petite Romanian kid. You never heard the song? Click here for the music. Actually, mamazilla using this song as her caller ringtone and also for her sms ring alert. Sophie must have listened to this song every day. One day, we noted she articulated ‘lalalalalalalaala’ rhythmically before sleep. We once thought, that was her new word for the day. Definitely not only a word, when mamazilla told me that she always tuned the song once Sophie cries. Sophie loves the song! No wonder she sings lalalalalalalalala before sleep. Guess what?? This song turns out to be her lullaby song before sleep, replacing Close to You by The Carpenters!

2. Clap hands – The story began when we went to Emmet’s birthday party. Once we arrived there, Lala, Emmet’s mother took Sophie to her lil Emmet. Lil Emmet kissed Sophie’s cheek and she cried loudly at the same time as Emmet clapped his hands. I saw Sophie looked intently at the way lil Emmet doing the clap hands. So, few days later she could do that. Day by day, she became obsessed to clap hands as she would clap during weaning, bath, happy, and even when she cried. To make sure Sophie knows about the purpose of hand clapping, we taught her the right ways to react. First rule, when clap hands must cheer up. And when sad, must mimic sad face. Haha, truly awesome that now she knows!

3. Shake head – Shake head meaning vice versa of nodding head! So when we asked question “Are you naughty?” she will shake her head. And same goes if we asked “Are you beautiful?” she will shake her head too! Hehe, Sophie seems unable to distinguish the real part of saying NO! NO! NO! Nevermind, this process will take some times. But one thing for sure, she will shake her head once she hears “Are you”, “tak”, “kan”, “no”, “did and do”…

4. Bang fingers sign – We could not figure out where she learns the pistol-sign-fingers and the best part is that she also knows when to show the sign. For example, if she is playing hazardous item (like laptop wires) babah will call her name a bit harsh and she looks back and signs the bang like using a gun! Very hilarious!

5. Stand up for longer time – Several months back, this action was timid! During that time, I was hurricane-ly panic when she simply bumped off herself while trying to move up and cruising. We had to put more pillows, blankets and other support stuffs just in case she falls down. But now, our munchkin has knowing well to balance her body when she stands. Sometimes, she utters her ‘words’ with swinging hands – just imagine a visionary political person giving a speech and that’s what Sophie does!! And she also is mastering the climb up skill! No time to relax, mama!!

6. White teeth are visibly seen! – Few of my friends’ kids (Sophie’s same-age-peers) have teeth by now! Sophie’s turn is kinda late. But it’s ok. Waiting time to teething, Sophie aggressively bites and suckles Mr. Brownie’s ears, hands and feet. Poor Mr. Brownie, he looks older than he supposed to be. We have also put away her emeh-emeh (pacifier soother) and up to date, Sophie has not using it for more than 2 weeks. Bravo Sophie!!

My cliché words are – can’t wait to see her growing up and w.a.l.k.i.n.g!

p/s: will upload Sophie’s photo very soon..

Walking! ~ Do you think your baby has to walk a.s.a.p?

I went to a majlis bacaan Yassin, arranged by people in my neighborhood area. As usual, during Yasin recites, we put some water in a container and put the container in the middle of crowds with a hope to get Barkat from the surah. I went there together with Sophie’s nanny whom now is called Mamazila (not Godzilla) by Sophie. Once I arrived there, people looked at me bizarrely. Yes I knew why, – that was my first time turned up in a feast among these neighbours throng.

I brought Sophie together as I wish her to get used in such situation if happen sooner I’ll be joining kind of event again. These crowd people were gazing at us mother and baby, and started to hugs and kisses Sophie, but she was so bumpy and began crying. Then one of them asked me, how old Sophie is. I told her that Sophie was 8 mos going to 9 mos. She asked me whether Sophie can walk and I said, nope as she could only stand up for few seconds then collapse, nevertheless she could walk if she supported her hands all the way at sofas while cruising.

Then this mak cik with such smugness face pointed to her little 9 months daughter who can already walk when she was 8 mos plus. Zappp, suddenly I felt pity for Sophie that she hasn’t gone to that level as seeing the little girl (even though she was older) was emaciated-petite if compared to my tall-chunky Sophie.

Went back home, I told babah about the scene and we both agreeable to teach Sophie walk using her Stefie (which can be transformed into a roller-pusher if we take out the seat). We once thought that such stimulation would quicker her development milestone. Started from that day, we taught Sophie to make footsteps but she’d rather stood up on her toes.  We couldn’t take even 5 minutes to accomplish the lesson since Sophie would cry for sit to cruising.

Until today I discover the truly things,  I promise myself not to pursue the stimulation again! Thus, I’ve a very important message that I wish to stress to all anxious mommies out there. A myth the-faster-a baby–can-walk-the–better-physical body–and-mind–she-has is totally WRONG!!!

Wanna know why? Visit here www.raise-smart-kid.com

Is baby walker good for baby? – we are in the midst of decision

Hmm, we are actually planning to buy an infant walker for Sophie since she has shown some move up progress, meaning she has ready to stand on her feet (but she still supports her hands to other things around for this move up job). Apparently, I noted baby walker is not a good solution to develop baby’s gross motor skill as many experts said the way a child sits in walker is not good for their spine. Additionally majority therapists and pediatrician were very against walkers. They said by using a walker, a baby could develop all the wrong types of muscles. Other than that walker would delay the steps forward action because babies use different muscles when “walking” in a walker which is extra harm for their brains development. Below is several information that I found while googling tips about baby walker:

The desired infant walker~My Dear brand~ attached with baby step

Question: Is baby walker good for baby?

Experts agree: there is no type of infant walker with wheels that is safe, and parents should avoid them altogether.

A walker is a seat suspended on a circular frame with wheels. Ideally, your child would sit with her feet just touching the floor and be able to get around with little effort. It was once thought that a walker would encourage your child to walk (hence the name) and be a safe place for your child to stay. Unfortunately, neither is true.

Thousands of children per year are injured when their walkers turn over an object or small toy and they spill out onto the floor, down the stairs, or into a pool. The walker also allows the child to travel to places where you might not expect your child to be, such as near a hot stove. Fractures of the skull, arms, and legs as well as burns and cuts have been associated with the use of infant walkers.

The muscles used by a baby to move in an infant walker are different than those used to walk. The movement skills acquired in the walker are not very useful in learning to walk out of the walker. Also, in a walker a baby cannot learn the balance skills needed to walk without assistance and he may not have the motivation to learn mobility when he’s received it from a walker.

As dual working parents, we had to have a walker. It seemed like an essential thing to have because lately it’s a no-no time for us to 100% look after Sophie. Moreover, she is so super active now! I got many things to handle after back from work (I am semi-full housewife).We don’t have a bibik but only temporary nanny. I believe having a walker will be a destruction if we fully depending on it for our baby to moving around. Work wise, it truly accommodates my time to prepare the housework, even rushing to toilet or perform prayer.

I found pro and cons upon buying this item. But, I take the positive side which means, yes we gonna buy it but we are not going to put Sophie in very long duration. 10-15 minutes sort off, will be enough. Hopefully, this is the wisest decision for the sake of our baby’s life.

Sophie, mama trust you can learn walking by yourself! A walker is just a bonus item for you to achieve your goal.(=

Does baby capable telling us what she likes? ~ The wanting of big, bigger and biggest only.

We brought Sophie to Toys R Us yesterday, as Babah planned to buy her some toys. This is a reward token for Sophie since she can crawl quite fast and SIT independently! Yes she can sit already, hehehe (mama is smiling proudly!). Sophie was frantically looking at those kiddy gadgets and she was so fascinated to touch, grab, and grasp everything we showed. We could see the keen and initiative by looking at her moving forward hands and feet! What she couldn’t get enough was a big music roller, where she could press and pull out the toys. This Fisher Price item is so expensive huhu, but because of L.O.V.E ~ money can’t tot up on it . We then decided to purchase the music roller end of this month. InsyaAllah.

Shopping spree time! Buy things for me!

We headed to bears sections later at where all bears were mounted up. Nothing made Sophie smile except few big Brownie Bears! She rounded her eyes with point finger in mouth and salivated, like saying “ Wow, I really want this big bear!”. Her face expression was definitely a sign of ~ she really didn’t care about her tiny Mr. Brownie anymore that moment. (But Sophie, you still need tiny Mr. Brownie on your sleep way.)

Now, she becomes uncontrollable! (Don’t expect us to do vicious circle and catch her, every time she speeds forwardly~ mak tak larat nyahhhh). Hence, our utmost priority is to get a brand new walker. We hope Sophie able to stand on her feet and starts to walk soonest- possible- time. Talking about the walker, Babah also started to show his deep desire of having a brand new plus up to date plus spacious walker for her princess. Sophie seemed agreeable with babah’s choice as she only touched mainly spacious walkers. And in this part, bigger walker is needed!

Now I wanna tell another funny story about how demanding my baby is. The same day as well, we got Jusco voucher worth hundred ringgit and we used it for Sophie’s new mini dress. In choosing the perfect, I showed her every piece to piece of mini dresses that we had picked. All that we could see, was a sour face ~(not interested, maybe?) until I showed a pink color dress. This one, she smiled and yelled hik hik (breath in) and jumping cheerily. Her reaction seemed genuine. We both were astonished with her response and we supposed she liked it. And guess what, that was the priciest dress among all. This case applied on the biggest money! Luckily we had voucher! After arrived home, I showed again the pink dress and she continued the cheer jumpin’.

Hmm, so mysterious …Does baby capable telling us what she likes?? Or is this a coincidence that I heart Himawari’s character and love to read Sin Chan comics during pregnancy? If this is right, OMG, now it’s truly happen to my baby. No wonder Sophie likes glitters and shining things. On the bright side, now I can already spot my future shopping companion and Babah will permanently be the escort!

A six months old baby is now on board!!

Announcing the arrival of ‘half-mature’ month for year 2009~ Yeahhhhh a six  months old baby is now on board! Hehe on 26^th February 2009 and it was equivalent to 6 months that Sophie has mouthful-of-air in this world.

The six months baby ~gotten a lovely kiss from babah..

Howdy! Can we look at her development milestones…? And here they go….

1. Sophie can crawl, but yet can’t move forward energetically (but she still trying!) and she is kind of grouchy when she can’t perform the moving forward action. Adakah mama yang bersalah? No, Sophie you got to try slowly but do maintain your effort!  Finally you’ll be a successful crawler! (Mama whispered to her- like she understands ; p!)

2. The furious fist of Sophie’s hands getting stronger! (kinda d.e.f.i.a.nt). Hmm, accompanying her to sleep for these few recent nights were really tough jobs! I usually pat her but now she’s patting me back. Then who’s cuddling who? Other than scratching, she has also gotten a furious fist that punches any part of our body at anywhere she likes! Beware guys!

3. I don’t have any idea why at present she loves groaning and moaning! Husky voices uttered!

4. The “No-no” words! – Because of her fast grabbing hands, fist punching me, pull out my hair and other aggressive actions, I always say “No, Sophie! It’s hurt! Don’t!” blah blah blah. So I’ve been thinking that is it OK if she is too often hearing these negative words. Do I write sins? I just can’t think the best words to say. Even at this young age, she has picking up on my emotional cues but like always, she rebels and still continuing the trial.

5. She eats fresh and fruity food! A new taste..walla ~  Name the fruits; banana, pear and naval oranges. Name the veges; carrots, potatoes, and pumpkins. Name the juices, apple and pear. Name the cereals; rice with honey, chicken-vege porridge, and Rusk biscuits (cereal ker ni? Ahh boleylah) ..Yey yummy and happy weaning, Sophie!

6. Taller and taller – weeeuuu. Sophie is getting taller. All old outfits were safely-handled and folded into a box. One thing for sure, more moneys keep on accruing out from our pockets to afford Sophie’s new clothes. Huhu.

Can’t wait to see her growing up!

I’m mamababahs’ big girl!

She’s crawling !

Lately, mama constantly watching a funny-witty drama between Sophie and herself, – a deep enthusiasm of crawling! Far aside, I just watched her cranky-smiley-grumpy-happy face of trying harder and harder to stay kneel on her hands and knees. Move on Sophie! ~ Like she speaks to her gusto’s. Even though belum timbang lagik, but I knew she’s getting slimmer – not bony. Hmm, maybe all calories in her body were incinerated due to her current extreme routines. ;p

                                              See, I can crawl ! Yes!

Trying to be a helper, mama got an idea to rally round. The best way to encourage Sophie to crawl is to place Mr. Brownie (the-usual-victim) a little bit away from her – just out from her reach. This encourages Sophie moving around and figuring out how to grab it. How to read the signal? Yes, she makes frowns before reaching the objects. Sophie excitedly moves when I cheer “Go Sophie! Go Sophie! Go Sophie” rhythmically with both hands clap…hehehhe (tak dapat join cheerleaders, cheers kat anak pon boleylah..)

She is too early to start crawling, isn’t she? – (By the time mama writing this entry, Sophie is 5 mos 3 weeks). From my reading, average age for baby to crawl is around 6 -9 mos. However, Sophie still sits supportably. The physical development milestones are differed from baby to baby. Some babies can sit unsupported before they can crawl, some can crawl at 9 months, and some can walk before crawl and in Sophie’s case, she started crawling before can sit independently.

Other than that she has mastering – turning over, rolling body and moving clockwise. =)..What touched mothers’ hearts most are when they see their babies living vigorously smart and active. TRUE – give a yes and always.

Sophie:The EATING and Development Milestones stories..

Mama is not that lazy in paying attention too much on computer screen typing about life..life..and life however there are so many works..works..and works to do. The busiest time ever happen since my responsibility been upgraded. whewww

Last posting, mama told you about Sophie’s tendency that getting very fanatical into tasting food. Right after receiving few sms and comments from the blog itself, mama and babah went to Giant, Kota Damansara bought some food jar and Rusk cookies for Sophie. We did the errands quickly and impatiently. Is any parent out there having the same feeling like us? ~ The really-wanted-to-see-our-baby-eat? After finished shopping, we headed to a ‘noodles restaurant’.

Bon Appetit Sophie!

Guess what, Sophie had her first food in that restaurant, and obviously without a bib! A first to try was corn and pumpkin puree (Aju thanks for the recommendation!). The best part was that, Sophie didn’t spitting out the food when I spoon it in. She seemed so craving and eating like a very-long-time-waiting-sensations. As we never planned to dine in that restaurant, thus no bib, and Sophie kelihatan sangat comot! Haha ..Nowdays, other than formula milk, mama feed her with Heinz Rusk cookies, sometime pear, and apple juices. Sophie likes that. After she reaches 6 months, we plan to buy infant cereals. Wow, that’s her story about EAT-ing!

We went to Langkawi as my sister engaged previous Chinese New Year. This time we drove back to Kedah and no airplane. Seronok juge driving actually but very tiring! On Chinese New Year, Sophie reached 5 months old. Let us see her development milestone at this particular age….

Turning over her body: Ohh, she’s not only turning but also rolling I guess! Sometime Sophie straights up her hands like a chameleon maybe she is trying to prepare herself begin crawling.

Speak!: No more aa , oo, ee sounds but right now we could hear a very clear words uttered by Sophie..atatatata, blebla, muo, weblje buuui,,muuu ~ These are few examples of her “lingua franca” sort of but unfortunately we cannot identified hehehe..

Scratchy-grabby-graspy hands getting strong! : Oh no, her hands are so fast grabbing, grasping and scratching things around. Luckily, she loves touching our face gently. If not, can you imagine how our faces will turn to be?

Smiles to familiars, cries to estranges: Simply to say, she has recognized people. She becomes straightforwardly cries when other people take her up. However, as mama and babah are around, she won’t cry, if anybody holds her as long as in her house, she won’t cry. Phewwwww…Sophie can also smile back to people who smiles at her. She loves smiling. So cutey!

Books are her boo-boo: We have started introducing few books to her and Sophie likes reading, we can tell. Every night before sleep, she grabs her books on her bed, and tries to open one by one. Mama has started telling her a bedtime story as well. Nahhhhh, not a complicated one, but just introducing parts of human’s body. That’s what her book tells..hihi..Another thing is her Mr. Brownie Tells the Time book, which illustrated her Mr. Brownie in it. She loves looking at her Mr. Brownie in the book. Yah, mama should mention another Sophie’s beloved collection~ Gavin Grasshopper Went to a Fancy Party book that has a press button resonance of a grasshopper chirps! She will be doing the press-button job, and we love watching it.

We are planning to buy her some toys soon even though she has few now. Oh, till then..meet me in next entry about Sophie. Okies, continue to OFFICE WORK!

Help…Sophie seems desperately needs solid

Every time we dine, munch, chew, or whatever terms used to translate the “eating” habit, Sophie will stare at us and she ends up salivating. So pity little girl! She just 4 months old plus and maybe not ready to digest any solids since her stomach hasn’t well develops.

Not only that, she also loves to lick her fingers, as well as sucking all her fingers inclusive the thumb in her mouth aggressively. If too long sucking, then she jingles the “ weeeeeeekk” sound of vomiting like a bulimic someone. Wow, she is actually showing the signal of food hankering! In her mind, I can tell she is saying these: “ I’m hungry. I want to eat like YOU DO!”~ Doesn’t she? ; p

I would love to give her some foodstuff to taste but in the end, I’m afraid if anything bad might happen. Hehe, we’ve tried that, and that specific night, she got colic and cried all out unbearable swinging her arms and legs. (Eermm, nothing much as it was just few little drops of fresh grape juice. No sugar! We were definitely guilty weren’t we?) Yeah, I must say I REGRET! .

She was looking at us (eating). Nasib baik ada her Beebee (pacifier).

I’ve put my eyes on few of baby’s articles at where some captions indicate that we could start feeding our baby with introductory blended soft-foods at the earliest age of 4 months old. But still I got doubts to do the effort.

Copy paste from a website, here are some signs to determine whether a baby is ready for cereals.

• The baby holds her head steady and sits with support ~ (check)
• Tries to reach out for food and shows interest ~ (check)
• Opens mouth when she sees food ~ (check)

“Usually, doctors recommend that one can start giving the baby cereals between 4-6 months. Whatever you do, don’t rush your baby into having cereals just because he/she is four months old.”

Ermm, I’ve been longing to buy infant cereals, infant cookies, Gerber food jar, etc but most of these stuffs are actually for 6 months over growing babies. The above statements are very convincing and prove that I could actually try to nourish her with plain solid food at this age stage. Why not give a try? See, if I could buy them pretty soon.

Thank you for reading my posting and if you have any suggestion, opinion or feedback, please leave me some comments about how you feed your baby, food recipes, or is it a must for me to feed Sophie now? Or any other views that benefits. I really appreciate that!

Gracias. =). Astalavista.

Sophie’s latest achievement

Basically, other than her major actions such as cooing, giggling, wiggling, kicking and being parallel on floor (meniarap- help me if there is any suitable words of meniarap in English, I cant find any! My English is so poor hehe) Sophie has become an expert in:

1. Stand up- moves up

She loves trying hard to move up like our actions to wake up after lying down. Unfortunately, she can’t finish doing the stand as her knee still soft. To support her strength-will, we just hold her left and right hand fingers then she moves up herself. Strong bones ya?

2. Understand Cause and effects

Sophie has beginning to understand cause and effect! We actually bought her a mobile fan that could be attached to her stroller. The mobile fan got fancy lights that attracts her glance every time she goes to bed. One day, we put Sophie in her crib and monitor her actions 5 meters away. Sophie was looking at the fan and her eyes crossed. Then she rubbed her eyes and brought her hand to the fan blades (the blades are actually made from soft materials). She was shocked! Few seconds later, we saw Sophie pointed out her index finger to the fan cautiously. SO SWEET! She learnt that if she put her fingers at the blades, she might get hurt and shock!

3. Making Bubbles and chewy-chewy

Yeah these are her recent habits in signs of ” I need a feeding bottle“. She chews like having taste of sweet Spearmint gum. Her saliva is the medium! She loves looking at bubbles soap blew by babah. Using that idea, she’s making her own!

4. The C-turn sleep style

Taking a nap is not a silence routine for Sophie, as she tends to move her body in C figure pattern. The first 5 minutes we’ll see her head on a pillow where else the 15 minutes later the pillow is already at her feet. So naughty wiggling-girl!

5. Cooing before sleep and giggling in sleep

before she sleeps; Sophie coos her own words like she is a Singing Idol contestant. This is not frequent, as she tends to coo when she is truly exhausted. Giggling in sleep is normal to every baby I guess.

6. Smile the extra mile, mimic a pity face

Lovely, she has totally understood to reply a smile back to us. If we smile, she smiles back. If we are making jokes and laugh, she laughs too. If she cries, we mimicking a mercy face, then she follows. Haha..

7. Love watching TV

Truly, television really attracts children. At her 2 to 3 months, Sophie loves watching Disney, CN and Nick channels. She can’t miss watching Jojo’s circus, Bob the builder and Mr. Spongeys and friends. Hmm, mama needs to find a study plan for her soon ya!

8. Support my back, I wanna sit. I’m a big baby

Sophie wants us to treat her like she can sit already. If watching TV, she doesn’t want to be put down, or in lay-down position. She wants to sit like us, so we have to support her back so that she can sit and watch TV. Try putting her down, she will cry to the highest keynote! Huhu..What a demand!

She will turn 4 months another 2 weeks. Hopefully she will be a brilliant- minded baby! Sophie..Sophie…mama and babah love you so much!

Sophie at 2 months old!

Sophie at 2 months old

Sophie has reaches 2 months old today. Her 1 month age was notable while we were in Sandakan. We spent 3 weeks there. Akikah, Majlis Cukur Jambul and Majlis Berendoi Sophie were celebrated there on the 4th day of Eid Fitri. To check out her pictures (not yet completed as other pixs would be uploaded soon), go browse my friendster.

Majlis Cukur Jambul (hair cut ceremony) ~ Sophie 1 month old

At 2 months old, Sophie already knows how to:

1. Call “ma”, “mama” and “babah” – Amazingly, she could call me ma or mama as early at 3 weeks old. I discovered that she would call me ma or mama in desperately needs a hug or milk! The touchable part followed when she reached 1 month old as she could call “bah” which refers to her babah. We are so proud with Sophie. The lesson given had started in the womb.

2. Crying for mama’s hug – This just happen recently. Sophie becomes headstrong at night and I believe other newbie parents do wake up at night like us! No colic, not even wet diapers. She just won’t sleep, constantly crying and tries to break free herself. She stops only when I hug her tenderly and recite zikir or sing a lullaby song. Sometimes these steps are just a hindrance. I got nothing else to do then. T_T. However, she sleeps well in daytime.

3. Following others’ acts - She tends to follow our acts such as waving a “bye-bye” hand, sticking out her tongue, nodding and shaking head. She seems understand our languages (we mix BM and English) and when I sing a song for her, she bends her knees like a moving dance. She is such a fast learner!

4. A big smile does wonders! – Sophie has shown her biggest smile to us! We love it so much.

She has such strength bones. Anlene 4x calcium helped me well, during pregnancy , I guess! I can’t wait to see her crawling, walking and futurecome behaviour ! It must be a memorable experience to us. Syukur Alhamdulillah, in her presence, we are truly bestowed with an enormous-precious living- healthy girl.