43 Months
So another month has passed. Another fast and hectic one! We are settled in and pretty well adjusted to the new member of our family, and Kak Yaya is doing a great job of being an older sister!
* Mouse over the pictures for additional captions
Yaya is definitely becoming a good big sister. She still loves to pet, touch, hug and kiss her little brother. She even tries to whisper and be quieter while Rafe naps, which is a sweet effort. It's hard for her to remember though, so Adik usually naps upstairs without her. 
She does like to help out, and for her efforts she's rewarded with different activities. This month she has gotten to go to the playground and the pool (also courtesy of the mild winter we have been having). She also finds all kinds of things to do at home as well. Yaya keeps us laughing with all the funny things that she says and all the funny ideas that she has. She loves to use her imagination to pretend to be all kind of things, and have all kinds of things - a big money saver on buying toys when everything can pretend to be all kinds of other things! She always includes her little brother in all the scenarios that we enact (written and directed by Yaya, of course).
Food status: no change. Toastivore to the max. She did go through a good 1-2 weeks of excessive sensitivity to smells - where she refused certain breads due to their smell, even mango had a weird smell. She also claimed that the Dorothy Lane Market, also known as "the black supermarket", that we now regularly shop at (they have a consistent supply of organic whole milk) had a funky smell and would make a fuss forcing Vin to rush through the grocery shopping that they do together. She would even get mad and yell when food was cooked at home, demanding that we "get the smell out of her nose". She seems to have snapped out of it now though, luckily. We think she may have had some kind of mild cold (her nose was kind of runny during this time) and has since recovered.
Potty training status: no change. Diaper-free all day, still wearing a diaper at night. No regression reported.
We are all getting better at finding a balance in paying attention to Yaya as well as her brother, and I'm happy to report that while there are still occurrences of Yaya trying to divert attention away from Adik (all with a negative response, of course), she is starting to understand better how to share the limelight, and we are getting better at not pushing her triggers and defusing the situation before it escalates. The trick is really to divert Yaya's attention to something else and asking her to help. She does like to help out.
I went back to work (from home) part time on February 13 and so even though I have work obligations, I still get to be with the family. I work with Adik in my lap and Yaya running in and out of the office again. It's nice to have the best of both worlds. I have also been given the all clear and can now pick Yaya up and engage in other fun activities with her so that is definitely nice for the both of us.
Yaya is practising her writing skills (the valentine's day card she made for each of us was precious) and loves doing art. She seems to think that anything can be fixed with sticky tape, and everything can be built using glue sticks. She was so upset when her project of glueing a bracelet to her plastic toy frog did not end successfully.
Language-wise, she does seem to have a marked preference for English. She has to be in the mood to speak Malay and Spanish, and mostly resists our efforts now. However, via the iPad, she has been watching all kinds of cartoons on YouTube (Didou, Bali, Peppa Cochon) and the languages vary from French to different kinds of eastern european languages (not Russian). I wish we had more Malaysian cartoons of anthropomorphocized animals that she could watch. She has a DVD of Upin & Ipin (thank you Yope Irfan, Pak Yope and Wan Yong!) and enjoys it sometimes, but it's those cute little animals that get her attention.
Anyway, let's see some pictures of Yaya wearing some funky headgear!
Here are a couple of fun shots from the past month:
It has been a good month. Fun and fast-paced, as always! Thank you for all the laughs and the non-stop chatter that we get from you, darlin'. Happy birthday, baby girl! We love you!!
And to close, my favorite picture from this past month:
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