Having fun at the playground

Written on 27 May 2007

We found an indoor playground at Arrowhead Mall (the nearest mall from home - about 20mins drive) and Valerie loved it there! She especially love the slides although she's a little wary of sliding down herself. You can see her face just lights us as she slides down.

In this hell heat of Arizona, the city need to build more indoor playgrounds and pools for children. There's alot of outdoor parks, playgrounds and pools, but those are better for the winter months. In the summer, temperatures can go up.... today it's 42C and tomorrow it's forecasted to be 47C.

At the playground... being hentam!

Yes... my darling Valerie was being "hentam"... and Malay word for being "beaten up". We were at an indoor playground at the mall and the busybody went to touch a little girl's shoes. Before she could get her hands on it, the little girl were already screaming at Valerie and shoving her away. Seeing such aggressiveness, I quickly took Valerie to the opposite side of the playground, just to be safe. And as she was playing at this butterfly (picture below), that same little girl came towards Valerie started strangling her!!! OMG!!! I pulled the girl away as fast and as gently as I could (didn't want to hurt the girl as she's probably only 3 or 4yrs old)!!

Got the shock out of my life. It was so unexpected! The mother of the little girl kept apologising and explained that the girl does not have interactions with other children at home, therefore do not know how to behave. Thank goodness Valerie was ok... in fact, she didn't even cry. She was kinda stunned. I don't think there was much force or pain, otherwise Valerie would have cried, but it was the little girl's facial expression that shocked me more. There was such vengence, hostility in that face. I pray to GOD everyday that Valerie will keep that angelic face forever!

Seeing that scene.... I've enrolled Valerie in another kids class - Gymboree Music & Play!! Just to make sure she is exposed to other children and learns how to behave in public. hhaahahaa...

In truth, I believe it is the parent's guidance and discipline that matters most.

Daddy's little girl

Owe it to Paul to post this.

When Paul went to take a shower today, Valerie kept banging on the door calling "Da-da... Da-da..." So, officially, Da-da is exclusively to Paul.
And here I am waiting for my exclusive... When will it be?

These "feet" are made for walking

Almost a month ago I blogged about Valerie taking her first steps and walking a couple of steps at a time. Now, she's going full steam ahead!! She's walking most of the times, but would still fall once in awhile. Especially when she's tired or too excited(the brain must be working faster than her short, fat legs!!). I guess when she's lazy, she'll still crawl a little or her current new trick is to lay on the ground face down and throw a tantrum. Not going to give in, I kept reminding myself.

Besides walking, she's also learning alot of new things. She's been able to say a few words that are specific. We've been teaching her baby sign language.

These are some of the signs that she uses:

*more - as in more food

*thank you - but she adds a "kiss" in the end

*please - only when she wants to

*bathe - she loves doing this

*sleep - won't see this very often!! Hahahhaa...

*no more - it means either there's no more food, or she's dropped something

*pain - she'll do the sign but she hasn't learn how to point to the spot where it hurts yet

She's also been saying some these words:

*muum muum - that's her first word and it doesn't mean me. it means food. Sigh.

*cold - if u give her a cold drink or ice

*wou wou - for dog

Can't remember many of the words she's used. But she does talk alot!

She understands the meaning of these words:

*open/close

*put away - this is very handy when teaching her how to put her toys away

*in/out - especially when I'm folding the laundry

*shoes - she'll get her shoe from the rack and try to put it on herself. I think she has a shoe fetish, cos she tries on every shoes she sees. Even when they are way too big!!

*chair - I got her a chair of her own. it has a little lamp, clock and book on the side.

*sayang - she'll gently touch your hand when she hears this

*kiss kiss - obviously she'll be blowing kisses at you!!

I've probably missed out many more... the brain isn't functioning very well at this hour!! But i'll try to get some down when I remember. This will also help me to remember what she's able to do at this age.

This picture was taken 2 weeks ago at a squadron function. I love the dress! It's a denim dress with a piggy face in the front. Bought it at Gymboree... my favourite brand now. When I first saw it, I couldn't resist buying it but I didn't want to pay the full price. Therefore I waited. And I'm being rewarded for my patience as I finally got it for $20 (and that's already on sale).

This one is by Blueberri. They have very pretty dresses but are mostly cotton/polyster blend. Didn't really like this as the colour is a little washed out. Not bright enough. What do you think?

Splashing fun time

Aren't they just cute? I bought an Elephant inflatable pool for Valerie to play in. Doubt we will have many chances to go swimming in this summer heat, so having the pool, she can actually just jump in whenever she wants.

We invited Jen(mom) & Kiana over one morning and tried the pool out together. Kiana is Valerie's new friend from "The Little Gym" and she's only 8 days older than Valerie. And the amount of hair Kiana has, oh my, Valerie looks like a baldie!! Hahahahahaaha....

Anyways, they had fun (we hope), and got to try out their new swim wear.

Special thanks to Godma Liz for the sexy & retro bikini hat set.

I did it again.

Today I let Valerie cried herself to sleep again.

We were out for activities and it was way past her nap time. She was sleepy (from her half closed eyes) but apparently, like the books said, she was more interested in playing than napping. She would lay down and start to fall asleep, and suddenly, something catches her attention and she'll sit right up and be active again. I laid down in bed with her for an hour and she did that for that whole hour. She'll lay down and roll around, then out of the blue she'll sit/stand up and go around touching things. And she was doing that over and over again. The moment I thought she might be falling asleep (although her eyes were never fully closed while laying down) she gets up and play.

I was so frustrated as I was tired too but can't close my eyes (worried that she might fall). So I had my eyes 1/4 opened, not fully open cos she'll be playing with my face (poke my nose and eyes or stuff her pacifier to my mouth) and not go to sleep.

After that hour, I decided to put her in her crib and went to take a shower. Guess what? 20mins later, she's asleep.

Don't wish to let her cry to sleep, but that might be the way to go.


Took this pic a couple of weeks ago. Cute little top.