Berd, Baerd, Bird

I was not paying much attention to it actually. Jeremiah was all babbling round the clock unless he is sleeping and I got so used to it so it just went in one ear and exited the other ear. Until yesterday, I was clearing up the pile of magazines in the living room and he was standing at the window babbling and yelling again. I heard something that made me sit up.

"BERD! Ahhhhwatishbabababooooo ... AH!AH!AH! BERD!!"

I thought somebody said "bird"?

So I joined him at the window and true enough, there were some sparrows lingering around in the garden looking for food. I pointed to the birds and told Jeremiah,"Yes, these are birds.!"

Again, he responded with "Berd!". Sometimes, it sounds like "baerd".

First step and first word ... many more to come.

More Teeth

Two more teeth making their way out for Jeremiah.

Bad Habit

How do you help her kick this habit when the thumb is stuck to her all the time? It is unlike a pacifier where you can throw it away, burn it, chop it all up and say "That's it! Grow up kid, no more!". The thumb is part of her hand, her body, what should I do?

I tried to make her wear mittens using her socks but the mittens were off by dawn. I threatened with pepper and chili but it only worked while awake and when caught red-handed. In my absence, she would be happily sucking away. I am adamant that Sofia kick this habit soonest possible as we have noticed her lower two front teeth have protruded even more recently. But HOW? She has come up with some clever ideas like hiding under the blanket, not facing me at night so that she can suck without my knowledge.

My worst plan is to rub chili on her thumb regardless she likes it or not every night until she kicks this habit. I know by doing this, it would be a battle with lots of tears and screams before bedtime and perhaps in the middle of the night as well. It may sound cruel but like I said, it is my last resort.

Kuantan

It was long weekend again and we drove up to Kuantan for a short break this time round. It was supposed to be a 3-hr drive but took much longer due to traffic jams on the highway and roadworks as well. As usual, it was a breeze to drive when the two kiddos are sleeping but once they are awake, lots of effort needed to keep them entertained, so that the driver can keep his sanity while driving.

The easiest method is of course the goodie bag, offer a continuous flow of tasty tidbits and that will definitely keep their mouth stuffed. The downside is they will drink plenty of water and we would need toilet break at the pit stop.

Next, music CD. First, 童谣, Jeremiah loves it. Play and sing the whole CD, throw in some silly actions and expressions, they will be hooked. Done. Music CD again. This time, the "Signing Time" CD. This one does not last long because Jeremiah is not familiar with all the songs. After a few songs, he starts to protest and whine. Nobody release him from the car seat and his whining soon turns into shouts and screams. Then WAILING.

Luckily, Daddy covered quite a bit of distance while the action was going on and we had already hit Kuantan town. We were not driving that fast anymore and we decided to release Jerry before we all become deaf.

The weather was fantastic on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia at this time of the year. Bright and sunny, the perfect settings for a day at the beach. To avoid anyone from getting a heat stroke, we played safe and only went to the beach after 530 pm.

Daddy and Sofia had all their tools ready to build a sandcastle but I think Sofia was more interested in playing with sand only. Both of them had a blast, they even went into the sea shortly after. Sofia, for the first time, was hit by the waves and swallowed a few mouthful of sea water. It was a new experience for her and she enjoyed it very much.

On the second night, we had planned to visit the turtle sanctuary at Cherating to watch turtles laying their eggs on the beach. Later we learnt that there was no fixed time the turtles would come and we could spend the entire night waiting and not spot a turtle in sight. That was disappointing, we were so looking forward to seeing the turtles. We visited the sanctuary anyway and we were lucky! The guys there were in the process of releasing some newly hatched baby turtles back to the sea and we were just in time!

The baby turtles were so tiny and fragile but so cute! We laid them on our palms and patted them before putting them back on the beach. It is sad to see how much this animal need to struggle to live now because of poachers who came to take the eggs away for commercial reason. Of course, there have been turtles being abused by people and pollution too.

Nonetheless, we wished these fellas good luck when they disappeared into the deep blue sea. Hopefully, they will be back someday later to lay their eggs on this beach.

Milestones

Jeremiah reached one of the major milestones a week after his 1st birthday - walking. Days just before his birthday, he was still reaching out for chairs and tables for support while on two feet. Shortly after, he took two, three steps on his own. I think he was thrilled and the cheers for everyone gave him great support. So we pushed him further by enticing him to walk a few more steps with toys and food. And there was no stopping.

Before we knew it, he was cruising around the house effortlessly, delighted at his newly acquired skill which enabled him to reach for "new" toys. We started to put more things aside again and had to be more cautious about things we left lying around.

One of his favourite item is the cordless phone that is often left lying around. The backlight gets triggered when he starts punching the keypad and if pressed correctly, the speaker would be on and the "sound effect" will double his fun. I just hope he would not accidentally press "999" again, it had happened once and I was in time to end the call. That was NOT fun for me!