Hands Onz!

This a continuation of my previous post on Ya tou's new developments.

We found that she is very skilled in using her hands. Besides having the forte in drawing, Zhirui is able to drink from a glass, use a comb (what a waste of talent as we recently shaved her head! haha..), wipe her mouth. The newest stunt she's mastering now is self-feeding using a spoon.

Ya tou called me

How can I not jot this into my blog?... :)

Two days ago, a Saturday morning just moments after waking up, Ya tou finally called me "Mummy". She said it when Daddy prompted her. But subsequently she short-cut it to "Mimi"-- erm.. eventhough it sounds like some 80's nightclub hostess, it does not fail to melt my heart everytime she says it. (FYI, she called "Daddy" first many months ago. So it is true.. as I read somewhere before that it's easier for babies to say 'da' than 'ma'.)

Despite taking a blog break for nearly a month, things have been very happening in Ya tou's world.. as usual. :)
In terms of language development, she has expanded her vocab to daily usage words like bowl, bread, biscuit, banana, jam, chair, paper, apple, slide, bird, dog, fish, duck, bag, shoes, please, jie jie (sister), nai nai (grannny)...

I notice how intelligent she is in understanding our instructions.. When I told her, "Zhirui, walk on your own.", she would let go of my hand and walk by herself. During bathtime, I need her to stand and hold against the wall. I say, "Zhirui, on the wall please" and she would do as asked.

When it's time for milk, I'd say, "Zhirui, time for milk. Go to the bedroom." She will walk to the bedroom, climb up the bed. I follow and ask, "Where is the pillow?" She points to her own pillow. "Can you help Mummy take the pillow?" She pulls the pillow onto the centre of the bed and lie down, waiting for me to pass her the milk bottle.

Ya tou loves mingling with the kitchen drawers whenever I'm in the kitchen cooking. She would drag the kitchen towels, sponges out and scatter them onto the floor. When I'm done with my work, I'll ask her, "Zhirui, please put the things back." She would then squat down and start picking up the things and put them back into the drawer. "Very good girl. Close the drawers." and she'll push the drawers close.

Paint my love

Have been observing that Zhirui is quite skilled in holding pens. Not long, we let her drew freely on paper with pen or pencil. She loves the activity, many a times bugging me to give her the pen and paper. Well, so far her pieces were meshes of lines and dots. :)

I wondered if she'll enjoy drawing more if there were colours..

So I wreck my brains to think of a way to let her do painting without having to worry that she may accidentally ingest the paint. Ah haa!! I'll get her edible paint! Food colourings! As mooncake festival's around the corner, food colourings are on discounts. Bingo! I got primary colours- red, yellow and blue.

I placed Zhirui on her high chair, put her on a makeshift art apron (actually a plastic bag with holes torn on its base and 2 sides), prepared bowls of the diluted colourings, a brush and paper.

As I handed her the brush with some anxiety and anticipation.. i wondered what can be the outcome?
See for yourself..

She does look serious in working on her virgin piece ya..  :P

Her hands were badly stained by the colouring and faint blotches lingered on her hands for almost 2 days. If anyone has a better way to conduct painting for babies, pls share with me. :)