What's the sign for...?

Fish? Dog? More? Bye-bye? Papa? Sleep? Milk? Banana? Star? Please? Eat? Wash hands? "I love you"? Watching "The Wheels Of The Bus" for the umpteenth time?

(Yes, there's a sign for that! DN created it - waving his hands in circles like, er, the wheels on the bus... it's really a no-brainer!)

To date, that's the list of signs he has learnt. The very first sign he picked up was "banana". Not "Mum" or "Dad", but the sign for a yellow fruit favoured by monkeys.

And to date, the only word he will say is "mum-mum". Not "mum-mum-MOTHER" but "mum-mum-FOOD".

Can you see the trend? It's quite clear what his priorities are. And it's not me or PF! That's gratitude for you, humph. -_-

But teaching him signing has turned out to be a good move because DN is able to communicate with us with those basic, but vital, signs. He can tell us when he wants more food (his favourite sign... go figure!), he signs "please" whenever he wants something (I'm mighty pleased he picked that up), he lets us know when he's tired ("sleep") and when he wants milk. (which is a somewhat embarrassing sign when you're out in public - you open and close your fist, like milking a cow)

The Signing Time DVDs teach American Sign Language and most of the signs are very logical and common sense. For example, to sign "fish", you mimic the movement of a fish in water. "Dog" is patting the side of your thigh, like you would when calling a dog. To sign "banana", you raise your left index finger and with your right index finger, you stroke it down your left. It looks like you're peeling a banana!

Some signs are just weird. "Father" is opening your right hand and tapping your forehead with your thumb. "Mother" is doing the same, but this time tapping your chin with your thumb. DN learnt how to sign "Papa" but refuses to sign "Mummy". Humph.

There are so many more signs we want to teach DN --> thank you, mummy, cat, cracker, mummy, water, drink, bread, mummy, ouch, sorry, shoes, grandpa, grandma, bird and of course, mummy.

Thanks again, Carla, for passing us the 1st 2 Signing Time DVDs! ;)

How domestic!

We have a little Mrs Doubtfire (minus the cross-dressing) at home. Yup yup! DN loves...

• sweeping the floor
• wiping the floor with whatever cloth / tissue he can find
  

DN found the magic-wipe sweeper the other day and refused to let go of it. It became his third arm. -_- "Humph! Fine! Since you want it so much, you might as well do some housework!"

So PF shortened the sweeper, put a wiper sheet on, gave it to DN and off he went, like a little Mrs Doubtfire on speed. Woah Nelly!

He managed to pick up quite a bit of dirt too. Not bad, haha! But I must have a word with him about skipping the corners. Tsk tsk, tardy!

He also likes to wipe things. If he finds a piece of tissue paper or cloth, he'll squat down and start wiping the floor, or walk around and find a table/parent to wipe.

Next up : Training him to bathe the the dog and do the laundry.

How do you spell "narcissistic"? (Part II)

Here are 16 more photos! ;)

How do you spell "narcissistic"?

J-U-N-E and P-E-R-N-G-F-E-Y!

When DN turned 1, we decided to get some photos taken professionally. I trawled the Motherhood forum and finally decided to go with these guys - Funshotz. The package was reasonable, the girl seemed nice and we liked their style.

It turned out to be a good choice because the photos turned out nice and we actually had a fun time! The shoot was scheduled to last 2 hours. It's not long if you're an adult, but it's a real stretch if you're 1 year old. Trust me. To make sure DN would cooperate during the shoot, (tsk, tsk, these divas!) we booked a 12.30pm slot and made sure DN had a lonnnnng nap in the morning. Thankfully he slept well and woke up at the right time. We were only 5 minutes late! Not bad!

And DN was in his element! He was happy, laughing, walking all over the place, pulling things down, trying to climb up a ladder, touch the camera, basically being a little monkey. He enjoyed having 5 adults fawn over him. (2 parents, 1 photographer, 2 assistants... who don't want? Heh.) Halfway through, we took a porridge break and everyone had a chance to rest their legs and voices. (There was lots of jumping, singing and dancing on our part.)

Of course, DN didn't pose for any of the photos. They were all taken as he was walking to the toys / books / rocking horse / the photographer / us, so what you see are really pictures of him IN MOTION. Haha. Even picture number 1. He was walking to the photographer and just 2 seconds after that was taken, he almost pulled the camera to the ground.

I'm so glad (and relieved) it went so well. Money not wasted! Heh. For $208, we got a 2-hour photoshoot, all the photos returned to us on a CD-ROM, a 40-page photobook (half A4 size), 5 credit-card sized prints, 2 A4-sized prints and of course, a chance to be narcissistic!

Here are my favourite shots. :D







































































This is my favourite shot of us as a family. It's so wonky and unplanned!

Shopping Baby

When DN gets fussy / irritated / grumpy while we're out, we give him a plastic bag. He loves them!

(Can you say "AUNTIE"?)

Does DN like hotcakes?

It has been a running joke between PF and I that when we finally have kids, we will leave the baby at home when we go out because we are just so forgetful. Thankfully, we have done no such thing. (His royal highness will make sure of that. -_-) BUT! We have made so many u-turns to go home and get something that it's not funny. We have forgotten the baby's porridge / bowl & spoon / water / pacifier / stroller / baby carrier...

I attribute this absent-mindedness to my brain cells fizzling out, evaporating or exploding during labour (like I had enough to begin with!) because I now have the memory of a fish. (which is a myth by the way because apparently, you CAN train goldfish) That's MY excuse. I don't know what PF's excuse is.

On Sunday, we forgot that we had run out of baby cereal (don't ask) so my idea was to go to McDonald's. Hotcakes seem quite baby-tummy-friendly and DN is always salivating over our food, so he's sure to like the hotcakes. In fact, I was convinced the 2 hotcakes in the Happy Meal wouldn't be enough, so I told PF to bring some of his baby biscuits out. Perfect! McDonald's has high chairs, Happy Meals, toys and lots of serviettes, what could go wrong right?

Damn that Murphy dude. DN hated them hotcakes! :(

DN ate like 5 little pieces in total. Everytime he put one in his mouth, he had this god-awful look on his face. Then he'd stick his fingers into his mouth, dig it out and squish it before ...

... it fell on his t-shirt, high chair, shoes and floor.










This was my breakfast that day, ON TOP OF what PF ordered for me from Toastbox - Kaya Butter Thick Toast and teh-o-kosong. I've turned into a dustbin!