Watch Jacynth grow #9

Weight: 10 kgs 280 gsm

Length: 76 cm

(measured by child health nurse)

Jacynth is 17 months old and she's a little chatterbox now - many times trying to imitate what we say. Half of the things she says are in French though (not the French that anyone can understand). She also loves dancing and doing the actions for all the songs she knows. She's so much fun!!!

Here's an attempt to show how much she has grown in the past year... and it was impossible to get her to sit still for the recent picture!

Agnes and Jacynth Back in Day Care

Agnes was working as a relief staff at the day care while she was pregnant with Jacynth... so, yes, they are back in day care. It was a tough start for both since we have always been Jacynth's only carers. After one month, Jacynth is finally happy to part with us without any crying. On the way out for morning tea and/or lunch, Agnes can now even drop in, give her a hug and a kiss without making Jacynth upset.

So on Mondays and Fridays, Jacynth would spend the whole day with her friends - eating, napping and playing together. Since someone has to pay for the fees, Agnes works in a different room on those days.

Home from day care... if you look closely, you will see a yoghurt-stained shirt...

 Church event after day care... also with a food-stained shirt of course.

Ever since feeding herself in day care, she loves doing it and gets to do it when...

we want to get her to eat something she refuses to...

 we want to see how she feeds herself yoghurt...

we want her to experience eating with a fork...

and when we just want some funny pictures! The true reason is, both of us wanted to eat at the same time and had no time to feed her. ;) By the way, that was her first taste of hokkien mee! However, they don't cook it with pork lard anymore... the restaurant has been halal-ed!

Aunty Audrey and Uncle Justin

Two weeks ago, we hosted Audrey and Justin who were in Perth to attend a wedding. Jacynth was all excited and just wanted to be in the thick of the action.

We went crabbing at Mandurah where Justin also got to try out his new fishing rod. While Kevin and Justin were busy setting up the baits (and Audrey snapping this picture), Agnes was securing Jacynth since we were under a bridge and did not intend to see her go swimming. 

So, she was strapped to her stroller which was locked and tied to a pillar. But, she is not going to just sit quietly, is she? We began by offering her grapes.

When she had had enough of grapes, she watched videos on the player. That lasted a while since she hadn't been given the player for quite a long time now. 

And when she started pressing all the buttons and playing with the player (instead of watching the screen), we knew that it was time to go.

So, Audrey and Justin pulled up the nets for one last time and that concluded our unsuccessful session... (the tackle shop was closed so we made do with baits that obviously did not interest the crabs nor the fish). :(

It was also getting dark and the mozzies were attacking...

After an efficient delegation of duties that saw Kevin and Justin shopping for food and Agnes and Audrey (and Jacynth) packing some other food, utensils, etc from the house, we were all set for our first autumn barbeque by the river. We had the perfect conditions!

By the time we bid Audrey and Justin goodbye, Jacynth could already say "aunty" and "uncle". :)

*all except the first picture are courtesy of Audrey and Justin since our camera was mysteriously missing

Corn on a Cob

Jacynth loves her corn on a cob. Watch her devour the whole cob... all in no more than 10 minutes. It's much more fun watching it live though (well, just in case you are thinking of visiting)... :D

Thank you, Karen, for such a great suggestion!

Some of her Current Obsessions

Unpacking groceries...

Lying/ sitting down with a book and pretending to read (out loud)... 

Drawing... especially 'circles' 

'Putting' her own nappy on...

Sitting on the chair at the study table...

And climbing onto the study table with it...

Climbing onto the dining table chair...

Yelling. This was in the bus to Fremantle 2 weeks ago, at the beginning/ peak of this obsession. Thank God it only lasted about a week and it's only occasional now. Let's hope they stop soon...

Running away if you don't hold her hand tightly!

Trying to wear her socks and shoes (but to no avail yet)...

Putting gold coins into her Noah's Ark piggy bank... She'd clap her hands after the last coin and ask for 'more'. Hmmm... she must have been mistaken and thought we could go pick up more coins from the park. ;)

New Years

New Year's day came, marked our third wedding anniversary, went and then before long, it was Chinese New Year. As expected, it was a quiet celebration for us. If not for our families back home, we would have forgotten all about it! ;) Two days before Chinese New Year, Agnes impulsively made peanut cookies. When Jacynth woke from her nap and saw the peanuts, she started pinching them... not one, not two, but on and on and on... she just could not stop!

She even wanted to steal the whole container away!

All gobbled up in 2-3 days!

For the reunion dinner, Agnes made a simple meal of soya sauce prawn and the special vegetarian dish known as 'jai choy'. All the ingredients symbolise good fortune, long life and prosperity (like everything else Chinese New Year related) but what do we know of that! 

While Kevin and Agnes enjoyed 100plus and A&W root beer (they're special because they can only be found in Asian shops), Jacynth slurped away her first box of kiddy (so bland!) fruit juice. 

On the first day of Chinese New Year, we put on a Chinese suit for Jacynth. She did some stunts as usual... 

Ripped off a button... 

Was disgusted at the thought of pizza and strawberry at this time of the year... 

Then got ready to wish her grandparents 'gong xi, gong xi'!

Christmas with Family in Perth

Kevin's mum and dad visited during Christmas and Jacynth had a swell time with her Yeh Yeh and Ah Ma. She kept going into their room and loved climbing over Yeh Yeh to look at his ipad.

She also enjoyed the nursery rhymes that Ah Ma recited for her... 

We went shopping...

where Jacynth decided to be part of the display as well..

We went to the playground... (often Yeh Yeh brings her out for evening jalan-jalan too)

After Christmas service in church, we were invited to Fiona's house for a lovely tea... 

Then it was time to open the Christmas presents! 

Diving straight into the present from mummy... 

Wanted to help assemble the tricycle from Yeh Yeh...

And while Jacynth was napping, Agnes tackled the turkey... 

while Kevin prepared the glazed ham, the roasted peach, avocado, feta and spinach salad and deviled eggs. 

The turkey was a success! 

We had the leftovers at a picnic the next day... 

We went to Fremantle... 

Jacynth's Christmas presents IN ACTION!

The sketcher from daddy is a big hit!

There are all sorts of ways to enjoy the storage shelf that Ah Ma bought...

The book from Fiona has since became her ultimate favourite!