Half cute toddler, half... monster?

While Natalie was innocently munching on an apple slice the other day, I found these old funny socks at the back of my drawer and decided to put them on her.

Natalie standing there, wondering why I'm laughing so hard.


This is why...


I think they felt funny so she almost didn't want to walk around on them.


Another close-up. These actually fit me, too.

Merry-go-round

This one is a little old (from our August visit to Ocean Park). Watch Video 152 of Natalie not enjoying her first merry-go-round ride. She was a little over-whelmed and just wanted to get off.

Natalie looking anxious on the merry-go-round.

Magnets

Natalie loves to play with the magnets on Lisa Yee-yee's fridge. Every time we go over for a visit, she will spend at least 5 minutes removing magnets, sticking them back on, throwing them around, and re-arranging them.

Natalie wishes she were taller and could reach the magnets higher-up.

Reading together

Today, Por-por (Gramma Tong) and Carol and Lisa with Vanessa and Victoria came over to hang out. We had a nice playgroup together with the babies hanging out and reading together.

Por-por brought new books from Canada and distributed one to Vanessa and one to Natalie. Then they all sat down to read together.


Vanessa is so smart, pointing out the pictures to Por-por and Natalie.


Vanessa and Natalie quietly reading together.


And turning the pages.


Natalie looks up when I call her name.


Vanessa helps Natalie to identify objects in the pictures of her book.


Victoria hanging out in her sling. What a cutie!

Playing the Raisin Game

Like most toddlers, Natalie LOVES raisins. She can eat them all day and becomes very excited when she sees the raisin box. One of her favourite games is "find the raisin" where we extend our hands, fists closed and she will pick a hand one-by-one to find the raisin hidden in our hands. Watch Natalie play this game with Carol Yee-yee and Por-por in Video 151. Yesterday, Natalie learned to play the game herself by closing her little fists, too.

Our 1.5 seconds of fame...

Over the weekend, Natalie, Clark, and I attended the Baby Loves Disco event at Tribeca night club in Wanchai. It was a music-filled and actioned-packed day with a baby dancing competition and spray-painting and balloon animals and bubbles and more! We all had a great time, sipping baby-friendly mocktails and dancing with the other kiddies.

Also present at the event were photographers from local media and very nice articles were printed about the success of the event. Natalie is also in a couple pics... she's famous! Check out the Apple Daily article to see the photos (also below).

Natalie is the little girl in a white dress staring up in amazement at the bubbles shooting out from the bubble machine on the raised platform. That's me standing beside her, making sure she doesn't fall off the stage.


This is the mommy-with-baby dancing competition. Near the back and left of center, you can see Natalie's white dress (red trim on the bottom) and the back of her head. You can also make out Clark who has his hands up in front of him, encouraing Natalie to "Dance, dance!"

Natalie loves her new sofa chair

Lately, Natalie has really enjoyed perching on our knees when we sit with our legs crossed on the floor. Our knees are the perfect height for her because she's not sitting on the floor and she can get up and sit down herself easily.

Yesterday we went to Toys R' Us and bought Natalie her very own sofa. She loves it! She takes books out and will sit on the chair and flip through it and will stand up and sit down and stand up and sit down again. She also uses it as a handy step ladder onto our sofa. Below are some pics:

Natalie seated on her new sofa with book in hand.

She sits down and stands up and sits down and stands up. Hard to get a clear shot.

Here she is sitting down and reading.

Then she abandons her book and examines her chair a little more closely. She tries to move it around (it's made of light styrofoam).

She climbs up.

And up! You can see how happy she is with her new sofa.

Gymboree play

On Thursday, Natalie, along with cousins Vanessa and Victoria went to Gymboree for some free play time. Natalie is just starting to get used to being around other children again and was not very adventurous. She hung out with me alot and did not appreciate it when I tried to "encourage" her to climb up ladders or ramps. She also took the time to watch the other children play and even though she did not play around too much, I'm sure she's learning how-to play by observing.

Eventually, Natalie did wander away from me to... clean up! At home, I've been teaching her to "put back" things and when I point to certain objects, she will happily return things to where she got them.

Natalie spent about 10 minutes wandering around the play area collecting balls two at a time.


She would toddle back to this blue basket and deposit the balls inside. She wandered far and wide to find the balls and collected almost all of them.


Meanwhile, her big cousin Vanessa had a blast climbing and jumping on all the equipment.

Sleepy baby

Poor Natalie has been grumpy again with another molar coming out, this time on the top left side. This brings her teeth total to 10! She hasn't been eating or napping well, but yesterday she improved and was almost like her cheerful self again. She had a nice long nap in the afternoon. Below are some pics.

Sound asleep in her crib with her bum in the air.


It's her signature sleep move.


She likes having bedtime bear in the crib with her. Sometimes, she even hugs him when sleeping.


She's really long now. When she stretches out, she almost fills the length of the crib. We may need to upgrade soon!


Sometimes, Natalie will also take a short rest on her daddy Clark.

Fun at AMC

Natalie and I spent the entire afternoon at the Aberdeen Marina Club hanging out with Debbie and Olivia, Lily and Summer, Annie and Ethan, and little Jonathon. First was lunch at the Deck which was relaxing and great for chatting and catching up, followed by fun in the toddler play area (see below photos), followed by fun in the "big kids" area (fun for mums), and finally followed by a dip in the warm waters of the wading pool. Natalie was exhausted and fell asleep in the short ride home and ate a lot at dinner. Yay!

Yesterday, we had another day out and spent a very chill and relaxing time at Amanda and Becky's place along with Elena and Max, Anna and Noah, and Amy and Moorea. Natalie seems to really like hanging out with her little friends again :)

Natalie loves the ball pit. When I take her out to explore the other play areas, she'll toddle back and ask to be put back in it.


Natalie likes to throw the balls. They land a whopping one feet away from her.


Jonathon and Natalie try to peek over the platform. Air vents cause the balls to "float" leading to minutes of open-mouthed wonder.


Ethan joins in the fun with his cute smile.


Natalie blows a kiss to the camera.


Each of the babies went down the slide a few times... on their own! We lie them flat on their back (so their head won't hit if they fall back) and send them down. Most of them LOVED it... Natalie tried it 3 times, but was undecided.


View from the top of the slide.


After the toddler play area, we went upstairs to the "big kids" play area. Each of the moms jumped on a mat and slid down the big slide. Fun for the whole family!

Baby and her baby

In the mornings, Natalie is happy to be awake and, usually after a bottle, will run around, mess up her toys, climb on the sofa, and shout encouragement for us to play with her. Below are some photos from this morning.

To cut Natalie's nails, I turn on the TV briefly (on the baby TV channel). Here she is totally stoned and mesmerized by the sounds and colors on the screen.


On her lap was a little doll and the lens cap for the camera. We think it's funny because it kind of looks like her... wears pink and no hair!)


When I finally turn the TV off, Natalie grabs her little friend and presses her belly button over and over again (the doll makes gurgling and laughing noises you press her belly button).


Then Natalie tries to feed her baby doll the lens cap. Mmm... yummy!


Then she protects her baby doll from being taken away by her mommy. I just want to look, can't I just look?


After a few minutes, Natalie gets bored, dumps her doll and the lens cap on the sofa and moves on.

Cousins' day at the Park

Natalie is starting to spend more time with her cousins. It's great to get all the babies together for a playdate and funny to watch them interact. Natalie adores her older cousin Vanessa and will watch her and follow her around and try to copy her. Vanessa cries whenever Natalie touches her and will tell Lisa, "Mommy, Natalie touched me!". When I put Victoria on the ground to play with some of Natalie's toys, Natalie takes the toys away one-by-one to play with them herself. Poor Victoria. The small one is always picked on by the older ones. Good thing Carol Yee-yee will have a son soon ...and the cycle begins again.

Below are a few photos from our visit to the park last week.

Lisa is "super mom" watching three kids while I snap a few photos. Here she is mopping Natalie's sweaty head. It was hot!


Now Lisa is wiping Vanessa's sweat head. It's funny how little kids work up a sweat head so easily. And why just the head?


Someone is going down the big spiral slide. Who is it?


It's the cousin with the most hair... Vanessa! She was also able to climb UP the slide.


Natalie tapped on the bottom of the slide and looked at me. She wanted to slide, too, but she is too small and had to stick with the smaller slide.

The independent little artist

After work today, Natalie and I created an original work of art. I passed her the markers and she scribbled on the easel. When I tried to take her hand and draw a circle, she pulled her hand away and was annoyed with me (already, so young). She's very independent now... my little girl is growing up!

Natalie proudly pointing out her work of art.


A close up. It's a masterpiece!

Self-preservation

Natalie is old enough to understand the concept of "self-preservation". When she falls, her arms come out in front of her and she lifts her head to prevent it from banging on the mats. Here's another excellent example of self-preservation, but this time for protecting her eyes...

Geez, Mom, can you please turn that flash down a little please?

Natalie can recognize a lot of objects and animals now. Whenever we go out, she loves to point out the things she knows. Watch Video 150 of Natalie helping Clark sort her animal bowling pins.

Also, lately Natalie has been very grumpy and fussy and clingy. She refuses to eat her congee and prefers eating bread and corn and other "chewables". Just last night, I reached into her mouth and realized her molars (the left ones) are coming out. Poor girl, no wonder she wants things to chew on! And what another milestone for her :)