It has been a busy and activity-filled month for our Yaya! And very quickly she turned 44 months old. She has definitely come a long way from the little baby that we brought home from the hospital. She can even successfully blow her own bubbles!
[[image:2012-yaya44month-03.jpg:Mari kita main buih sabun (Let us play bubbles):center:0]]
*Mouse over the pictures for additional captions.
As mentioned above, it has been an action-packed month for Yaya. She has gone to the pool almost weekly (and we are guaranteed a post-pool nap). Otherwise she seems to be giving up the nap, which really is a big change for us. It’s really a shame for Vin who has to give up that one-two hours of peace and quiet that he used to get daily. But, on the flip side, she falls asleep quickly and easily at night! Give and take I suppose.
She is a helpful little girl, and tries to be a good big sister. For the most part she succeeds, including Rafe in all our pretend plays and she likes to make sure he is never without Kiki the Koala. She still loves to touch and hug and kiss him. But one of the more worrying thing is that she has made up the character of “little girl baby” who wails and cries (far more than Rafe actually does), and requires milk and attention. Poor kid. We are trying to be understanding but it is frustrating. Little girl baby is not one of my favorites! 🙂 I much prefer when we play-act other characters (Little Red Riding Hood, Team Umizoomi, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, any of them). But she is still that sweet little daughter of ours underneath it all.
Here is Kak Yaya playing with her brother:
[[image:2012-yaya44month-01.jpg:Let’s stay dry under the umbrella, Adik!:center:0]]
[[image:2012-yaya44month-08.jpg:Up to mischief!:center:0]]
[[image:2012-yaya44month-09.jpg:Saaaaaayang Adik! (Love Adik):center:0]]
Food status: no change. Toast, milk, chocolate soy milk, banana, mango, digestives, potato chips and sometimes orange juice. Despite our best efforts. She still says that when she grows up she’ll eat regular food. We can only hope.
Potty training status: Even her night-time diapers have been dry for a few weeks! Wheee!
For a kid who didn’t talk until she was 27 months old, she sure can talk our ears off now! Everything she does or plays is narrated. She even gets colloquialisms. For example, if I do something to her approval, she praises me by saying “Atta girl, Mama! That’s the way!” She can construct fairly complex sentences, like “if…then” and she does often surprise us with the words that she says. Her vocabulary seems to be growing in leaps and bounds. However, she has slacked off on her Spelling Bug app and is forgetting how to spell things, so we have to keep her on her toes there so there is no regression. Ditto with Malay and Spanish. But this past month has been very physical. She’s gone outside to help Papa do yardwork:
[[image:2012-yaya44month-02.jpg:Weeding:center:0]]
She ended up building a tower of “magic beanstalk” of weeds right in the middle of the driveway. Vin got her some plastic gardening tools which she loves to use. She also gets to go with Papa to the grocery store and other errands, since I’m back to work and it’s difficult to work and mind two kids at the same time. When Vin took the car in to the “wheel store” for an oil change, Yaya tagged along. They killed time at the mall where Yaya got to ride on the rides:
[[image:2012-yaya44month-04.jpg:Happy on Coco the Train:center:0]]
She also had her very first soccer practice for the Itty Bitty Soccer league organized by the local YMCA (Yay!). She wore the Malaysian National football team uniform to her first practise (thank you Auntie Yati)!
[[image:2012-yaya44month-05.jpg:Jumping for the spotty ball:center:0]]
No hands in soccer, Yaya! 🙂
The following are a few pictures of Yaya at play:
[[image:2012-yaya44month-06.jpg:Ballerina with attitude:center:0]]
[[image:2012-yaya44month-10.jpg:Her Lady Macbeth impression:center:0]]
[[image:2012-yaya44month-11.jpg:I’m flying, Mama!:center:0]]
In the above, she tied a balloon around her waist and ran around the house flapping her wings, flying with the help of the balloon. 😀 Quite hilarious and creative. She’s never seen “Up” – maybe she’ll like it.
As always, time flies and I don’t know where it all goes. All I know is our daughter keeps growing and developing and is a source of amusement, amazement, frustration, and endless wonder. She’s such a little darlin’! Happy birthday baby girl! We love you!
[[image:2012-yaya44month-07.jpg:The Thinker?:center:0]]
