This is a compilation of the entries I have written in my blog http://hiewchoksien.blogspot.com. Some of the photos have been posted at my blog before, but some not.

Shee Yun likes to play with my boardgames. Often I'll carry her to my boardgame shelf, and ask her which one she wants to play with. She'd point at one of them, and I'd take it out for her, and we'd go to the centre of the bedroom, under the fan, to play. She now knows how to open the game boxes. She holds the box by the sides and lifts it as hard as she can. Once she gets the lid off, she puts it to her left, and then takes the rules and the gameboard out. Maybe she knows she's not supposed to play with those, or maybe she doesn't find them fun to play with. After that she'll proceed to play with the components.

Yesterday she broke the egg alarm of Gulo Gulo (the thin wooden stick). I scolded her. Today she tried to fold some the cards repeatedly. I scolded her and warned her not to do it. Next time I need to be more careful and watchful when playing boardgames with her.

Today when Mei left Shee Yun wanted to go with her. I was carrying Shee Yun and I asked her to wave good-bye to her aunt. She refused and instead kept pointing at the car. She threw a tantrum. Eventually I let her go with Mei for a short drive. Mei's friend Wei Ching held her. She was still not satisfied after one short ride, and we let her go for another. After that she was still not satisfied, but I didn't let her go again. Eventually she did wave good-bye and gave a flying kiss.

When we went to Swensen's for dinner today, we ordered a kid's meal for Shee Yun. It came with an orange juice. When the small glass of orange juice was served, she kept drinking it until she finished the whole glass. When we tried to stop her halfway, she started throwing a tantrum and insisted on having her orange juice. Later when her food arrived and she started eating, she vomited quite badly. Next time we must be more strict with her. Also we suspect it is the orange that makes her vomit. There has been a few times in the past that she vomited after having oranges, or orange juice, or orange flavoured yogurt drink.

When we left Swensen's, I asked Shee Yun to wave good-bye to the manager at the cashier counter. She waved good-bye and also gave a flying kiss. The good-humoured manager also gave her a big flying kiss back. Two other staff at the other bar counter also said good-bye, and I instinctively turned back and happily waved good-bye to them, like I'm the 1.5 year old child. At the time Shee Yun (whom I was carrying) was looking somewhere else.

Today when bathing Shee Yun she kept wanting to play with the red pail. So I let her play with it, and (after Michelle washed it) even let her go inside it. She really enjoyed it. Today, unlike the past few days, she didn't want to come out of the bathroom when I asked her. She even sat down in the red pail, which was one third full of water. Eventually we let her stay in the bathroom while Michelle took her shower, and I only brought Shee Yun out after Michelle had finished taking her shower.

When Shee Yun played with her stickers, she stuck one on her right leg of her pants and another one on the left leg.

A long time ago when Shee Yun was much younger we played "tuka tiku tiki" with her, and every time we said that she'd laugh heartily. Today I played this with her again, and she still found it extremely amusing. She kept laughing every time I (or Michelle) said it. I wonder whether she remembered it from last time, or she just found it funny anyway.

Today I also played many boardgames with her. We played Taj Mahal, then Ticket To Ride and then Domaine. Of course, the word "play" has to be interpreted very loosely here. Each time she was done with one game and wanted to go out to pick another game, she'd come to me and repeatedly pat my shoulder. Michelle said she was very 老水 (in Hakka; roughly translated to "matured beyond her years") when she did that. It was as if Shee Yun was saying "Come on boy, it's time to get me another game." Shee Yun knows how to put the box cover back onto the box, but she can be a bit rough at times and tries to force it down without carefully making sure she gets the position right. So I still have to supervise her closely.

Michelle and I also played Villa Paletti, a dexterity game about building a tall building that I just bought, while Shee Yun watched. She actually behaved well and allowed us to complete a game.

Every night (well, most nights) I write a blog entry, and after I've posted it to my blog, Michelle reads it. This is another routine that we have established. Sometimes Michelle corrects me if I have made a mistake.

In the mornings Michelle and Shee Yun still send me to the LRT station. When a train passes by we stop to let Shee Yun watch the train. Usually she'll wave good-bye at the train.

Shee Yun is learning to talk now. She imitates Michelle in pronouncing single syllable words. Michelle says "bird", and she says "beg". Michelle says "star", and she says "star". Sometimes when Michelle says other things, she also follows. Tonight when Michelle applied baby lotion to Shee Yun's leg, she said "搽" (to apply). And Shee Yun said "搽" too.

Nowadays Shee Yun usually only naps once during the day. These two days she slept at around 12:30pm, for about 3 hours. I guess that's OK. In the evening she sleeps around 9pm - 9:30pm. In the morning she wakes up around 7am, i.e. the same time as me.

When she plays, she wants to have someone accompanying her. Otherwise she can't play with the same toy for long. Maybe she finds it boring to play by herself. She still likes playing with the curtain - hiding behind it, and then revealing herself. Today she came to me and by pulling my index finger, led me to the door. She wanted to go out to get a boardgame to play. Today we played Ticket To Ride Europe. This one I picked for her and she nodded.

Shee Yun is one and a half years old now. She had her check-up today. It seems she has grown a lot recently. Indeed she has been drinking much more milk lately, but she has been eating less solid food also. Maybe it balances out. Or maybe the last time Michelle measured Shee Yun's height and weight the measurement was inaccurate.

At the hospital they met a baby girl whom at first Michelle thought is older than Shee Yun. It turned out that the baby girl was only 15 months old. But she was 12kg. The baby girl kissed Shee Yun on her mouth, and Michelle didn't like it. She secretly wiped Shee Yun's mouth when the baby girl's parents were not watching.

Today Shee Yun played Villa Paletti (well, actually WE played Villa Paletti and she watched) and Lord of the Rings. When we played Villa Paletti we stooped low to look sideways at the pillars and the floors. Shee Yun imitated us in doing that. She also turned her head sideways and stooped low.

Quite a few number of people remembered and wished me happy birthday by SMS, in person, by email, by phone call, by card etc. I'm happy. Also I took one-day leave. So I am giving myself a long weekend as a present.

Today Shee Yun talked a lot, especially when we were at Carrefour. There was a lucky draw thing where we had to insert a piece of paper with a barcode into a machine, and there'd be some sounds and light, and a piece of paper would be printed out to tell you what prize you won. We have been accumulating many of these barcode slips but have not used them because always on weekends the queue at the machine is very long. Shee Yun was very interested when she watched us play the lucky draw. She talked a lot and pointed at the machine. We let her collect the prize slips that came out of the machine. We won a soup mug, and about 18 pairs of chopsticks. We have so many chopsticks that we can save them as Shee Yun's 嫁妆 (dowry?).

We bought a mid-autumn festival lantern for Shee Yun. It is battery powered. The design is old fashioned but it plays music, and the lantern rotates. When the music played, Shee Yun danced along with it. She swayed side to side.

Shee Yun sometimes says "bebet" (female groin area, pronounced as "bare-bat"). This all started in KK when I was bathing her and I told her "now it's time to wash bebet" ("现在洗bebet了"), and she repeated loudly after me "BEBET!". Sometimes Michelle says that and Shee Yun happily repeats it. Because we find it funny and laugh, she feels amused and likes to say it even more. I hope she doesn't make this a habit and go around everywhere repeating loudly "BEBET!".

I like the way Shee Yun pulls my finger when she wants to bring me somewhere (usually to the bedroom door, so that I can go out and get a boardgame for her to play with). It's so sweet. Yesterday Michelle played Lord of the Rings Confrontation Deluxe Version, and Lord of the Rings, and Ra with Shee Yun. Today I played Lord of the Rings Confrontation Deluxe Version with her too. Today when I carried her and brought her to my boardgame shelf, she looked at the boardgames with a greedy smile which I found really funny. I hope she becomes a boardgame kaki just like me.

These few days she liked to play with my chin. More specifically, the stubbles on my chin. Maybe she found it ticklish.

We bought new shoes for her today and she loved it. It is the squeaky type, and she kept stepping and stepping and made a lot of noise. It really was very very noisy. Definitely not something to wear to the library.

Today when I was assembling a new bookshelf (boardgames shelf, to be more accurate) bought from Carrefour last week, Shee Yun was curious and kept wanting to participate and to watch. Michelle brought her away to play with magic colour pens. Shee Yun got her hands very dirty with all sorts of colours, and she kept coming to me to talk to me and to show me her dirty hands.

Lately she doesn't sleep very well. At night she'd make some noise or cry, and we have to comfort her and pat her so that she doesn't wake up. Maybe she is having bad dreams.

Today we brought Shee Yun to the library. She saw two little Malay girls (one probably 2 or 3, and the other maybe 6 or 7), and she brought a few books and went to sit down right next to them. The younger girl was a little frightened, but her elder sister (I'm assuming) told her it's fine and Shee Yun is just being friendly. Shee Yun really likes playing and being with other young children. After a while the younger girl was not afraid anymore. Shee Yun offered her one of her books, and after that she also offered one of hers to Shee Yun. That was so lovely.

Afterwards when we left I asked Shee Yun to wave good-bye to them, and they also waved good-bye to Shee Yun. They were very nice and the younger girl was very pretty with big eyes.

Today we went out for quite long. We went to the library, then to KLCC. We parked at KLCC and took the LRT to the Petaling Street area. We went back to KLCC for lunch and also went to Kinokuniya. Shee Yun was quite tired and when we were at the Pasar Seni LRT station on the way back to KLCC, she fell asleep while I was carrying her. It was such a sweet feeling, feeling her weight, and her head on my shoulder. She woke up when we got back to KLCC when we were about to have lunch.

In the evening Shee Yun was naughty. When forbidden to do something, she threw things in a bad-tempered manner. We scolded her and spanked her hand. She knew she was being scolded, and she cried. Naughty girl. We just let her cry for a while before comforting her. We could tell this was the type of crying which she was just being naughty, not that she was really sad or scared. We could tell the difference. This was the type of crying that she uses as a weapon. We must not spoil her.

She likes to eat by herself now and doesn't like to be spoon fed. But she is still quite clumsy. After her meal there would be food on her shirt, on her trousers, on the table, on her high chair, on the floor. We will have to change her into clean clothes. But it's fun to see how she scoops up food with her spoon and puts it in her mouth. Sometimes she just uses her hand.

Today Shee Yun played with her blue blanket (a gift from my Taiwan friends, meant for newborn babies). We put it on her head, like a hood, and it flowed down her back like a superman cape. She ran around with it happily. It was very amusing.

In the evening she invented a new game. She raised her hands up high and also looked at the ceiling, as if she's worshipping, and then she collapsed onto the floor into a sitting position, or onto all fours. Sometimes she even let herself fall backwards when she knew I was next to her and was able to catch her when she fell. She kept grinning and laughing.

Michelle came to me and gave me a big hug and also kissed my cheek. We hugged each other in front of Shee Yun. Shee Yun found it amusing and also wanted to join us, so we had a big group hug. Sometimes Shee Yun comes close to me (or Michelle), or leans against me, and sometimes even gives me a kiss, without me asking for it. It is so sweet. Michelle says she knows how to make people happy (Malay: ambil hati, Chinese: 讨人欢心)

Nowadays Shee Yun often wants someone to accompany her when she plays. She often comes to me (or Michelle), and pulls me by the finger to wherever she wants to play.

I'm going on a business trip to Singapore tomorrow. Looks like I won't be able to update my blog for some time.

Sometimes I think Shee Yun is very lucky. She is healthy and active and seldom falls sick. If I remember correctly she has only ever really fallen sick once. (not counting those very slight fever she gets after she has an injection) My niece, and also a colleague's nephew, fall sick quite often. It is about once a month they need to see a doctor. Health really is the greatest wealth.

Now that I'm in Singapore, Michelle says Shee Yun feels bored, because they can't go out. I can't be there to bring Shee Yun out for short walks. This weekend when I go back I must bring her out. Poor Shee Yun, stuck at home.

Now that I'm not in KL, I can only find out about Shee Yun's latest developments through Michelle's emails.

On Monday night she didn't sleep well, woke up many times and cried many times. It was very tiring for Michelle. On Tuesday morning she woke up at 5am. It was torture for Michelle. Michelle scolded her and told her to go back to sleep. She talked to herself for a while, and went back to sleep at about 6am. Tuesday night was better. She did wake up a few times but she didn't cry. She just looked for her pacifier and went back to sleep.

Shee Yun can be a very good girl sometimes. E.g. when Michelle let her play with magic colour pens, she can play by herself and not disturb Michelle when Michelle is doing housework or preparing food. But when she is bored, she can be naughty and restless. She'd cry and want to go outside to play.

Michelle tried to cut Shee Yun's hair during her evening bath, but she seemed to be scared of getting a haircut. She kept shaking her head. So Michelle only managed to cut the front part of her hair.

Michelle says Shee Yun misses me. When Michelle did the laundry and hanged up my white pyjama T-shirts, Shee Yun pointed at it and said "Ba Ba". When Shee Yun heard the sound of the gate, she said "Ba Ba". When Shee Yun played with boardgames, she took out the cards and the boards and said "Ba Ba". Michelle told her that Ba Ba disallowed her from playing with the cards or the boards (other more sturdy components like wooden pieces or thick cardboard pieces are OK), else Ba Ba would scold her, and she nodded. Michelle asked her whether Shee Yun sayang Ba Ba, and she nodded. Michelle asked her whether Ba Ba sayang Shee Yun, and she nodded too.

Michelle started trying to potty train Shee Yun. So far it doesn't work. Also the potty we bought is too small.

When Michelle vacuumed the floor of our bedroom, she left the small vacuum head (the one for corners and edges) on the table. Shee Yun saw it, took it, and put it back into the vacuum cleaner storage box (which is outside). Michelle was pleased and impressed. It is good that Shee Yun is learning to put things back to where they belong. I hope she will do the same with her toys soon.

Shee Yun seems to know what "bebet" means. She shouted "BEBET!" again when Michelle was changing her diapers. We need to teach her not to say that in public.

Yesterday morning around 7am Michelle brought Shee Yun to the playground at the flats near our place. It is much closer to the park. Shee Yun was very happy and she climbed the staircase and crawled through the tunnel. There were no other children playing though. After about 20 minutes when she was satisfied, she lead Michelle out of the playground and they went grocery shopping at the Thursday market.

Maybe she played hard in the morning. She slept at 10am, for 3 hours.

Yesterday she played a lot with toys with shapes, like the shapes ball, shapes blocks and shapes book. When she played with the shapes ball, she tried to fit in a shape, and if it didn't fit, she'd look at Michelle and shake her head to tell Michelle it didn't fit. She repeated this a few times, until she got the right shape. Then she'd smile.

Shee Yun likes the Mickey Mouse soft toy that I bought from Singapore. She woke up early and when she saw Mickey sitting on the floor in front of my still yet-to-be-unpacked small suitcase, she pointed at it and asked Michelle to get it for her. She liked to grab Mickey's nose. In the morning when she had her nap she wanted both Tubby and Mickey, and she abandoned Le-Roy (the other yellow soft toy).

We brought her to the park at 7am today. She woke up at about 6am. She pointed at where she wanted to go, and we brought her there. She went to some areas of the playground which are for older children, which she has not been to before. There was a man with his two children. The elder was a boy who could speak well and was probably about 5 years old. The younger was a girl who was probably around Shee Yun's age. The little boy could climb the ladder to a higher place from where he could take a tube slide down. Shee Yun watched him play. When he approach the ladder the next time, she pointed at him and talked loudly to him. The boy turned to his father and said, "The baby is scolding me!" (那个baby在骂我). It was so funny. Later the boy told his father, "She talks just like little sister!" (她讲话和妹妹一样). Michelle had a good laugh.

Since Shee Yun woke up quite early, and also went to the park to play, she napped early today, after Michelle bathed her, at about 9am.

Today when we brought her to Kinokuniya and Isetan at KLCC, she played with books, with pens, and with Lego (at a children's play area). She likes to open the caps of pens, but she doesn't really know how to put them back on yet. So I have to do it every time. But at least she knows how to put the pens back to their compartments. When playing with Lego, there were other young children too, and Shee Yun liked to give them Lego pieces. Sharing is good.

At lunch (also at KLCC) she didn't want to eat when we offered her food. Usually she wants to eat whatever other people are eating. Lately she has been eating less, but drinking more. Sometimes she complains after finishing her milk because it isn't enough, and Michelle has to make her some more.

When we got home today, she still wanted to go out when I was closing the front door. When I carried her in she cried. I was puzzled. Michelled explained that she wanted to play with the umbrella, which Michelle had left outside to dry. Then Michelle gave her another (dry) umbrella to play with and she stopped crying and started smiling.

She has learnt to say thank you (谢谢 - xie xie). That's a new development. Sometimes when Michelle asks her to say 谢谢 she will repeat after Michelle, saying "seh seh".

She really liked watching a Hello Kitty video that my friend Ah Chung forwarded to me. It's a very colourful MTV with lively music and singing. She kept asking me to play it for her again and again. She sat contentedly on my stool while watching. Sometimes she raised her arms to dance. Sometimes she rocked her body left and right, or forwards and backwards. She really liked the video.

Today she slept a lot. She slept for 1.5 hours in the morning and for 3 hours in the afternoon. Nowadays she usually only naps once per day. I guess today she woke up quite early, and also went out a lot to play. It's good that she slept more.

Shee Yun likes giving flying kisses to strangers. Today when we left the mini market she gave a flying kiss to the cashier. She also likes to say bye-bye. Usually when we go out on weekends, we put her in the car, and I reverse the car out of the driveway, while Michelle waits outside and later closes the gate. Usually Shee Yun will wave good-bye and say good-bye to Michelle.

To make her sit still while bathing her, a new game that I've invented for her is to say "yumseng!". She plays with a toy teapot and a cup. She pours water from the teapot into the cup, and I'll raise it high shouting "yumseng!", and then I'll empty the cup into the bath tub or the floor (or the red pail, if she's in the red pail). Then the whole process is repeated. I pour the water out also to prevent her from drinking it. She still likes to drink the bathing water either from the teapot or from the cup or sometimes even directly putting her face near the water and using her mouth. I have to be careful to stop her. Now she also does the "yumseng!". She raises the cup high, pours the water out, and shouts "yeah!". Sometimes she spills the water onto her own face.

Today at the buka puasa pasar malam she kept touching strangers. I was carrying her, and she reached out her arm and touched other people.

She really really liked the Hello Kitty video. I think she probably watched it more than 20 times today. I even burnt it onto a CD so that Michelle can play it for her using the VCD player and the TV, so that I can do my things on the PC. Unfortunately the VCD player in our room can't read the VCD. We'll have to try the VCD player downstairs.

Shee Yun has some Hokkien genes. She sometimes says "bo", which means "no more" or "没有" in Hokkien. We didn't teach her that.

She now knows how to tell the difference between boys and girls. She knows which is "go go" (哥哥) and which is "jie jie" (姐姐). This morning when we met a little boy she said "go go". The little boy attends the kindergarten next door to our home.

She now knows how to open the zip lock plastic bags which I use to store my boardgame components. She loves to pour all the components out and mess them up on the floor. Not good. But at least she knows she is not supposed to play with cards.

Today she played a lot with the magic colour pens. She got her hands very dirty, and even left some colour on her face. When Michelle asked her to show her her hands, she held her hands into fists and didn't want to show Michelle. But when I got home and Michelle asked her to show me her hands, she came to me and showed me her hands.

After dinner we brought Shee Yun out for a walk. We went to the row of houses behind ours, and also went to the back of the Bandar Tun Razak community centre, near the LRT train tracks. We spent some time behind the community centre relaxing and watching trains. Shee Yun walked quite a lot this time. Usually she wants me to carry her. Today she was almost running.

When I play the Hello Kitty video for her, I just turn on "repeat", so that I don't need to go and click play again every time it finishes and Shee Yun wants to see it again. So when she asked for it again, I pretended that I have some magic and I can make it play again but making a gesture and making some noise with my mouth. After a few times, she now thinks she can make Hello Kitty repeat by telling it so. It was funny watching her talk to the computer asking for an encore.

Today at bedtime she played with the mini fan. It has soft rubber-like wings which does not hurt when hit, and it has lights which makes different patterns when the fan is spinning. Shee Yun licked the centre of the fan. I have no clue what gave her the idea to do it.

This morning when Michelle and Shee Yun were accompanying me to the LRT station, I asked Shee Yun where is Mama, and she pointed at Michelle. I asked her where is Baba, and she pointed at me. I asked her where is Shee Yun, and she pointed at her stomach (between her abdomen and her chest, where the centre of her torso is). I asked her where is nose, and she pointed at her nose. I asked her where is ear, and she pointed at her ear. I asked her where is eye, and she pointed at her eye. I was overjoyed and praised her a lot. Usually this only works if I start with where is Mama (or Ah Ma, or Ah Gong etc, i.e. a person). If I start immediately with nose or ear she'd shake her head and refuse to play.

At dinner time we had some green seedless grapes. We peeled off the skin and also tore the grape into smaller pieces for Shee Yun. Shee Yun plucked grapes from the bunch, and fed them to us. I opened my mouth wide and she put the grape into my mouth. She enjoyed it. It was like playing a game to her. At one point she also opened her mouth wide when feeding me. It was a funny expression.

Today Michelle asked Shee Yun where her belly button is (肚脐在哪里？), and to her surprise, Shee Yun lifted her pyjamas and pointed at her belly button. We didn't know she had learnt that.

Last weekend we adjusted Shee Yun's bed. We made it a bit higher, to be the same height as ours, and we replaced one side of it with just a half-fence. Now when we put her bed against ours, she can crawl directly to our bed. In the mornings she always wakes up before we do and she will crawl to us to wake us up. Sometimes she comes to pat me. Sometimes she crawls over me to play with my clock, the new one which glows when you press it.

Our 2nd baby is kicking a lot now, especially in the evening, and especially when Michelle is sleeping on her right side. If Michelle sleeps on her back or on her left, she has no complaints. If Michelle sleeps on her right, she often complains and kicks. I remember when Michelle was carrying Shee Yun, Shee Yun didn't start kicking so early. So maybe our 2nd child will be even more active than her elder sister.

Today Shee Yun used her magic colour pen to draw on the inside surface of her toy tent. She really likes her colour pens. We need to make sure she doesn't draw on everything. She knows how to put the cap back onto the pens, but she still likes to take the cap off. She always gets her hands dirty when she plays with the colour pens. Sometimes she's just clumsy, but sometimes it's because she likes to touch the tip of the pen with her fingers. Today she had a big patch of green on her left palm.

When Shee Yun is being naughty and cries (when she doesn't get what she wants and throws a tantrum), she sometimes lie down on the floor. Sometimes face-down, sometimes face-up. Michelle keeps the floor very clean, so we just let her lie down and let her make a fuss. We are more or less immune to this crying weapon of hers. We know when she's just being naughty and when she's crying for real.

Today Michelle and Shee Yun fetched me from the LRT station when I came back from work. From afar I could already hear Shee Yun's very loud squeaky shoes. They are really really loud. When she saw me, I knelt down, and she ran to me with a big smile and hugged me.

Today when Michelle asked Shee Yun to dance, she turned and turned many times. I think she got a little disoriented after a few spins. But she enjoyed it. She didn't lose her balance or fall down, but it seemed she couldn't walk in a straight line. It was funny.

When bathing her today, she instructed me to play a new game with her. She wanted me to hold out my hands in front of her, like a cup, and then she poured water from the toy teapot into my hands. She kept repeating it. Later when Michelle saw it, she told me it was something she invented and taught Shee Yun. Now Shee Yun was teaching me.

We realised that sometimes when it appears that she is drinking water during her bath, she is actually not really drinking it. She just puts the water in her mouth and then she lets it out of her mouth. Well, maybe that is good for keeping her mouth clean.

Every time near her bedtime, she still wants to go out to take a boardgame to play with. We'd bargain with her saying that this time it will be the last boardgame (最后一个,OK?). We hold out our finger. And she'd readily nod and agree and also hold out her index finger. But I don't think she understands it, because after she's done with the supposedly last game, she still asks to go out to pick another game. Either she doesn't understand, or she makes promises with no plan to keep them, because Baba and Mama are easy to fool.

Today at Carrefour Shee Yun kept taking oranges from the shelf and dropping them into the shopping trolley. She enjoyed herself a lot. When it was time to go, she cried and struggle and made a big fuss. Mei and I went to pay, and Michelle brought her away to play. Later I realised that Michelle had to go and buy orange for her. (70 sen) Only then she was content.

Today she said her own name, twice. She said "Shee Yee" instead of "Shee Yun" though. She said it when Michelle pointed at her photo on my blog. Shee Yun knew it was herself.

It was good to have Mei in town this weekend. Shee Yun likes to play with her, and when they are playing Michelle and I can get some housework done. It's a win-win situation, Mei gets to play with Shee Yun, and we get a break. :-D

Now we've set up Michelle's laptop on our computer desk, so that both of us can use our computers at the same time and access the internet at the same time. Michelle found a website (http://www.starfall.com) which can be used to teach young children letters of the alphabet, numbers, and other things. Now she does the learning activities at the website together with Shee Yun. Shee Yun likes it and watches intently, and sometimes also presses the keys on the keyboard or plays with the mouse. We plan to just let her do the activity for about 20 minutes per day, so that she doesn't spoil her eyes facing the computer too much.

Shee Yun now likes to pick up things and put them on the table. Yesterday was oranges that she dropped into the shopping trolley. Today she took some 100-PLUS and Shandy and put them on the dining table. In the evening she took some keys and put them on my computer table.

Today I had my regular boardgaming session. Han and Jeanne were here, and Mei also joined, so at the max we had 5 player games (with Michelle and I). One of the games we played was Ca$h 'n Gun$, a game which I self-made, because it is a small print-run game and is very expensive. The only online webstore that I know of which sells it has it at about USD46. This is a game about gangsters splitting their loot after a successful robbery. Players get to point guns at one another. Not all guns are loaded at all times, so there's some bluffing. We played 3 games of this, and one of them with a variant where one of the players is an undercover cop trying to call for backup to catch the gangsters. It was interesting, with talk of 无间道 and 二五仔 and 我是警察 (all from the movie Infernal Affairs starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Andy Lau). I wanted to buy toy guns for this game (RM3 for 2 small toy guns at a shop near my house), but Michelle said no guns in the house.

When we ask Shee Yun where is baby she points at Michelle's belly. I'm not sure whether she really knows her little sister is in there, or whether she's just following what we tell her. We hope she will love her younger sister very much.

Today she learnt to say "Sleeping Bird", which is one of the characters in the Pocoyo TV show. It's short a 3D animated show starring Pocoyo, a little boy wearing blue, and his friends, a pink elephant, a duck, and a sleeping bird. Shee Yun couldn't say it accurately, but she was close enough that Michelle could figure out what she was trying to say. She has also learnt to say "cat". This she learnt from the online learning activity that Michelle has been doing together with her. Today she wasn't interested and wanted to do something else. Maybe it was because Michelle still showed her the letter C. Maybe Michelle needs to advance to letter E or F (which Shee Yun hasn't tried before).

Today Shee Yun offered Shandy to the cat behind our house. 醉猫?!

Michelle had her medical check-up today. The baby is doing fine. Her growth is at the normal rate. Her head is already facing downwards now, which is about the right time. Michelle told the doctor that 2nd baby moves and kicks very often.

Today Shee Yun didn't sleep much during the day. Only slept once. In the evening she was tired but didn't want to sleep and kept wanting to play. She cried badly when we didn't let her play and told her it was bedtime. Michelle was frustrated and almost lost her temper, which is rare. Usually I am the one to lose patience. So I accompanied Shee Yun to play a bit more. We played Blokus and then Outrage. She wanted me to play with her. When I told her I needed to go downstairs to do work (I had to bring work home today) she complained and insisted I sit down to play with her.

When she saw the raven on the Raven Card of Outrage, she said "beck" ("bird"), and I praised her.

After she finishes playing with a game, she (usually) knows how to put the components back and put the cover back on.

Today Shee Yun said 爸爸不给 when she was playing with the Outrage boardgame, referring to the cards that I do not allow her to play with (because sometimes she bends or folds or crushes them and spoils them). Today she also tried to say Pocoyo (a cartoon character). Sometimes Michelle reads the alphabets to her one by one and asks her to follow, and she does so. But so far I think they have only reached D, and Shee Yun's pronounciations are not exactly accurate. But at least she is interested to imitate and to learn.

Today they also fetched me from the LRT station after work. When we tried to teach her to say certain phrases she laughed, especially when I tried to make her say 爸爸不给 again after Michelle told me about it.

When she played with Outrage, she knew how to pick the tower (player piece) and flag of the same colour, and ask me to attach the flag to the tower for her. Yesterday when she was playing with it she rolled and threw the metal Yeoman guards and the crown pieces as if they were dice. I had to stop her in case she damaged the pieces. I explained to her only the dice were supposed to be played this way.

Shee Yun can say "fish" now, although it sounds more like "feessss". Yesterday she said it when we were all eating, and she sounded like she was sneezing when she said it, so I burst into laughter. Michelle insisted that Shee Yun was saying it right.

Yesterday (or Tuesday?) Michelle bathed together with Shee Yun. When Michelle splashed water on her own face and then wiped it away with her hand, Shee Yun laughed. Michelle did it in a way like she was playing peekaboo ("jiak"). After that Shee Yun also splashed water on her own face and wiped it away, imitating Michelle. Usually when we bathe her and water gets into her eyes, she'd complain and get upset, so Michelle wanted to teach her how to wipe the water away and not be annoyed by it.

Shee Yun is learning a lot from the online learning website. When learning D and the dinosaur appears and starts roaring, Shee Yun also tries to roar like the dinosaur. When the doll is dancing, Shee Yun also tries to dance (while sitting on the stool). She raises her arms and twists her body left and right. She also learns to pronounce the various alphabets, also her pronounciation is not always correct. But Michelle encourages her and patiently does the activities with her.

Shee Yun can actually say A B C D now, which surprised me. Her pronounciation is pretty much off, but at least we could tell that was what she was trying to say. She said "A B C D" like "eh beh seh deh". And Michelle has also heard her say C after Michelle said A B. I guess the computer learning was effective.

Today we went out at about 9:30am and only reached home about 1:45pm. Shee Yun was active, but when on the way home in the car, she was very tired. While still biting (playing) with the 7-Eleven Slurpy straw, she fell asleep. At first we didn't notice it and Michelle only thought she was biting the straw. Then slowly Shee Yun's head drooped lower and lower, and Michelle looked at her face and realised she had fallen asleep. Michelle had planned to make her just a little milk when we reach home, and then let her sleep. Too late.

Our neighbour has lots of cats, and Shee Yun often plays with them. Michelle often gives them leftover food, especially fish bones (still with a little meat left).

Shee Yun is very clever now and knows how to bribe me with a kiss. When she wants to play a boardgame, or she wants me to carry her, sometimes I tell her "kiss 爸爸先" (kiss Baba first), and she'll give me a kiss on the cheek. Works every time.

Just now she hurt herself. She wanted to sit on my stool at my computer desk, so I lifted her onto it and she happily sat there playing with my mouse and my keyboard (the computer was not on). Then when I was not looking she got off the chair by herself. She didn't fall down or knock herself on anything, but she scratched her right leg on the stool. The beam of the stool is sharp (sharp not like a pointed needle or a sharp corner, but like a long knife edge), and she scratched herself against it. Some of her skin peeled, and after a few moments there was a little blood seeping out from the exposed flesh. She cried a little when she first hurt herself, but soon stopped. Later when we put some diluted Dettol on the scratch to kill the germs (消毒) she cried because it hurt. I tried to put handyplast on it but she refused and shrank away. So we didn't force her. Michelle put on the handyplast later when she was asleep. Poor Shee Yun. She kept looking at her scratch and sometimes she cried timidly. So we had to distract her with the computer learning program or a boardgame.

Our second baby moves a lot, and moves very strongly! Yesterday Michelle showed me. I was actually shocked by how big the movement was. No wonder Michelle said sometimes it's hard to sleep because the baby keeps moving. The baby often moves a lot around 10pm. Shee Yun did not move / kick / punch strongly like this. Our 2nd baby may be even more active than her elder sister.

Yesterday night Michelle's mum arrived in KL. She will be here for one week. Shee Yun wants to be close to her when she is here. Today when her grandma went upstairs just to brush her teeth, Shee Yun cried.

Shee Yun knows how to play the mini games at the computer learning website. There's one game where you are asked to pick up letters and put them into the right group. There are two groups, e.g. "A" and "a", and you are given a group of 4 A's and 4 a's and asked to sort them into the appropriate basket. Shee Yun recognises the letters and knows which should go where. She points at the right basket for me. There is another game where given 3 letters, you need to pick the odd one out. She also points at the right letter (usually). Whenever getting one of the letters right, a star will be awarded and there is some sound effect. Shee Yun likes that and smiles when she gets the award.

She knows how to say Yakult (the yogurt drink). She says "Kuk".

It's always hard to make Shee Yun take a bath. Usually she refuses and we have to use different methods to persuade her to go to the bathroom. Sometimes when she's bad tempered (e.g. when I disallow her to drink the soapy water and I pour it out from her plastic cup), she splashes the water in the bathtub violently. Naughty girl.

She has her preference when it comes to boardgames. Today before her bedtime she still wanted to play a boardgame (even after she has done the computer learning). So I decided to bring her to get Pickomino, which is a dice game with few components. I showed it to her but she shook her head. She pointed at the bigger boardgames. At first I thought she pointed at Ra, so I pulled it out and asked whether this was the one she wanted. She looked at it and shook her head. Eventually she chose Princes of Florence.

One of the animations that Shee Yun sees at the Starfall baby learning website is a dancing doll (under letter D, obviously). Shee Yun imitates the dancing doll (actually a puppet is probably more appropriate). She raises her arms to dance. When the dancing doll stops dancing, it falls limp. Shee Yun does the same. She closes her eyes and droops her head.

Today we received the 3 wooden puzzles that we bought from eBay (Malaysia). It's our first time buying from eBay. When we gave one of them to Shee Yun to play with, she didn't want Michelle to accompany her. Instead, she went to grab Michelle's mum's hand, and pull her to sit on the floor together and accompany her to play.

When I bathed Shee Yun today, she got up from the bath tub and went to stand against the wall. So to wash her clean I splashed water at her using the dipper. I asked her to turn (and she did) so that I can wash her back as well. It feels like I'm a prison guard washing prisoners.

Today is a public holiday for Selangor so I do not need to go to work, although I still had to do some work at home. We went to Borders at Berjaya Time Square. At Time Square Shee Yun kept wanting to take the escalator so I accompanied her to take the escalator up and down and up and down, while Michelle and her mum went to Borders first.

We had lunch at the vegetarian restaurant at Taman Miharja which we call "green green" (青青) but is actually named Tian Yuan (天苑). Shee Yun dipped her finger into the little saucer of tomato sauce and licked her finger. This was the first time she did this. She even dipped her biscuits with tomato sauce.

Shee Yun still spits out her pacifier when we ask her to put it away. Well, not exactly spit, but she lets it drop out of her mouth. If she is standing on the floor, she'll go towards our master bed and then spit it on the edge of the bed. She is just tall enough to do that. The bed is about the height of her shoulder. If she wants to spit it onto her cot, she'll pull away the purple blanket which we use to cover one side of her cot. She lets the blanket fall to the floor, so that she can spit the pacifier through the gaps between the railing onto her bed.

Shee Yun imitates what she sees on TV. Whenever the advertisement of Winter Sonata (a very popular Korean love story series - 冬季恋曲) comes on, she will find someone to hug. It's very sweet. When she sees another advertisement of another series, she shouts "Shaaaa". It's because in one of the scenes the characters loudly count "one two" (一二), and Shee Yun knows the next one is "three" (三). She can't quite say "san" yet, so she shouts "Shaaaa" instead. When she sees the Ali Cafe advertisement, she imitates one of the guy in the ad and raises her arms like a Y shape, pointing with her index fingers and wagging her fingers. There is also one advertisement of Darlie toothpaste, which Shee Yun will imitate the little boy by putting her finger on her lips to make the "quietly" gesture.

Today when she was playing in the sitting room and Michelle and her mum were watching TV, she got up suddenly and walked to me and held my head with both hands, and then talked to me while nodding a few times. I think she said "yo yo yo yo yo", or something like that. I was taken by surprise. I wonder whether it was something she saw on TV.

Today Shee Yun said "zood zood", which means pacifier. It is Hakka, and is a childish way of saying pacifier. Today when Michelle asked Shee Yun what she wanted (when she was complaining), she surprised Michelle by saying "zood zood". In the evening she said it again and I heard it. She said it in a cute way, sounding more like "zut zut" where the U sounds like a U with two dots on top. (like in Hanyu Pinyin, like 居)

When Shee Yun sees the letter G, she makes the "G" (格) sound. ("G" as in "Girl") She learnt this from the Starfall online learning activity.

Yesterday I was tired when I got home after work. So I lay down on the floor to rest. When Shee Yun saw me do that, she also came next to me and lay down on the floor. Sometimes when she is being naughty she also lies down on the floor to cry. She sometimes even rolls on the floor.

Shee Yun recognises the letter "a". Today when she saw it in her book, she said "aaah". When she was doing the computer learning, she tried to imitate saying the phrase "I am a girl". She did have four syllables, but from Michelle's description (I wasn't home yet) she just mumbled through it. I am excited that Shee Yun is learning to talk. I look forward to that. Now she still mainly communicates to us by four methods: 1. nodding 2. shaking her head 3. pointing at what she wants and 4. crying. Well, at least now she can say "zood zood" (pacifier). I'll be very happy the day she starts to say "boardgame".

Today we flew to Kuching. Ah An's wedding is Tue 17 Oct, so we've planned this trip since a while ago. Shee Yun woke up at 6am today. She lazed around a while but got up and also got me to get up at 6:30am. Michelle had already gotten up at 6am to prepare. We left the house to go to the airport at 7am.

We reached Kuching at 11:30am. Shee Yun being a little terror today probably has scared Ah An into having second thoughts about having kids soon after his wedding (if he did think about it). :-D We had lunch before checking in to the hotel. Shee Yun only slept at 3pm. I thought she'd sleep until 6pm or so, but she woke up at about 5pm.

When we reached the hotel in the afternoon, Shee Yun was very excited because of the new environment. She was very active and kept exploring the hotel room, playing with the curtains, opening the drawers, playing with the wardrobe (the lights turn on when the door is open), basically showing no sign of needing her nap. That's why she only slept at 3pm.

After dinner time we went to an ice-cream shop right opposite the hotel, called Scoops. Shee Yun likes ice-cream. She used a small spoon and ate by herself without our help. Of the three flavours that we ordered, apple cream, blueberry yogurt and Oreo, she only liked the blueberry yogurt one. She only scooped that flavour. Unfortunately after we finished, she vomited. Maybe she ate too much. Even her dinner (noodles) came back up.

Shee Yun was a little terror in Kuching yesterday. It was probably because she didn't sleep enough. Yesterday we went to the Sarawak Cultural Village. She slept for about 15 minutes on the way there (by van), and for about 30 minutes on the way back. Michelle tried to make her nap at 3pm, but she refused to sleep even after Michelle tried for 45 minutes. In the evening Michelle tried to make her sleep at about 8pm, because for the whole day she had only napped twice on the van. She refused to sleep and cried very very badly. The last time that she cried that badly that I can remember was during the Melaka trip July last year. She cried for more than half an hour. She wanted to play with the door access card. Eventually we gave up and let her play with it, hoping that after she was satisfied, she'll go to sleep. Unfortunately even after playing with that she still cried. She sobbed uncontrollably. In the end Michelle thought of a new way to play which finally calmed her down. She put Shee Yun by the sink in the bathroom, and turned on the tap, and let her play with the warm water. She put both her feet in the sink too. She played that for quite some time before eventually agreeing to go to bed.

Shee Yun is still afraid of strangers. Yesterday when we went to Ricky's room (they arrived in Kuching yesterday, whereas Chee Seng arrived on Saturday) there were 5 new faces (well, not really new, since she has seen all of them before I think, just that she doesn't remember them) - Chee Seng, Alicia, Ricky, Cin Yee, Ah An. She was afraid of them and wanted us to carry her away. But soon afterwards she was friendly to Alicia and kept giving things to her (envelops and booklets from the hotel desk drawer).

When we played Ca$h 'n Gun$, we had to count 1 2 3, and when I counted to 2, Shee Yun would say 3 ("saaaaa"). It even worked when I said 1 2 in Cantonese.

Michelle had a headache yesterday, not only because Shee Yun has been naughty and restless almost the whole day, but also because she couldn't sleep well the night before. We moved the sofa of the hotel room right next to our bed and let Shee Yun sleep in it. But she kept tossing and turning and waking and making noise, which kept Michelle awake. So eventually Michelle couldn't stand it and put her on the master bed between us. After that Shee Yun slept well. But she kept turning towards me and laying against me. So it was my turn to be unable to sleep well. Shee Yun has "pushed" me almost to the edge of the bed, and also to the edge of the blanket.

Yesterday when we watched the cultural show at the Sarawak Cultural Village, Shee Yun behaved and was quiet. She was not afraid of the darkened environment. Actually she has never been afraid of the dark. After a while of watching the dances, she got excited and also danced along to the music. It was funny to see her do that.

One new game that I played with Shee Yun yesterday is pouncing on me. She came towards me when I was sitting on the floor and used both her arms to push my shoulders or chest. I hugged her and together we fell down onto the floor. She laughed and screamed when we played this. I also played hiding with her in the wardrobe. We wanted to give Michelle (who was having a shower) a surprise. But Shee Yun was impatient and could not sit still for more than 5 seconds. After we've closed the wardrobe door and made sure the automatic light was off, she'd open it again, as if to check that everything was OK. At the same moment that Michelle came out of the bathroom, Shee Yun was opening the door. But Michelle pretended not to see it and walked away pretending to be looking for us. Then she walked back and pretended to be surprised by Shee Yun. And Shee Yun smiled.

Shee Yun has learnt to say "car" (che1). But she says "dje". This morning there was a foot massage shop near where we had breakfast. I taught Shee Yun to say "foot" (jiao3), and she said "jaa". There was a stray cat. I taught her to say "cat" (mao1). She said "maa".

Michelle likes the way Shee Yun says "pacifier" ("ju jut"), so every time before she gives Shee Yun her pacifier she asks Shee Yun to say it.

In the late afternoon today we brought Shee Yun out for a walk along the waterfront of Kuching. We met Teck Feng, Amy and their two children. They just arrived today. We walked together. Later they stopped for coffee and some rest, and we continued. We brought Shee Yun to a place where there are a group of cat statues. The statues or live sized (or maybe slightly bigger than real cats). Shee Yun really enjoyed playing with them and played for a long time. She went to almost each and every one of them and gave them a kiss. She repeated that several time.

In the evening when I was bathing Shee Yun, she only went into the bath tub for a short while before starting to complain and want to come out. I haven't even put shampoo on her hair. We realised she wanted to play with the bathroom sink, like she did yesterday night (when she cried very badly). So we let her sit on the edge of the sink to play with I bathe her. She played for a long time too.

These few days I worry whether we are spoiling her. She has been very naughty these few days in Kuching, whether outside or at the hotel. We've had to give her what she wanted, or bring her somewhere else, or let her play with something else, in order to distract her or calm her down. I worry whether we are spoiling her. But maybe because she is not at home and doesn't have many toys that she can play with, so she is quite restless. Hopefully she'll be better when we are back home.

Today is my old friend from university days Swee Ann's wedding day. I woke up early (6am) in order to join the groom's procession to go pick up the bride. Michelle and Shee Yun continued to sleep, but they got up at about 7am anyway. This is probably one of the most relaxed bride fetching ceremony. There actually weren't any "challenges" issued by the bride's "sisters" (either that or we the "brothers" have been too busy enjoying the food outside that we missed it). The traditions in Kuching are indeed different from KK / KL.

We did eat a lot. Ricky, Chee Seng, Alicia and I joined the morning procession. We ate a little at Ah An's home before going to fetch the bride (about 7am). We ate some at the bride's home (the food was good) (about 8:15am). When we got back to Ah An's home, morning tea, with a lot of kuih, cakes, etc (about 10am). And then about 12noon, lunch.

Michelle and Shee Yun joined for the lunch. I let Shee Yun run around on the lawn at Ah An's home. She really enjoyed it. She walked up and down the small slope. Sometimes she got onto all fours. She even used the slope like a slide. She sat down, and tried to make herself slide down. Her pants got dirty. But I like letting her play like this. I like her to be playful and active, and to be unafraid of getting a bit dirty, to be unafraid of occasionally falling down, to get up by herself and not cry. That's how I like my daughter to be.

At lunch there were two other little girls (probably 4-6 years old) who ate at the same table. Shee Yun watched them eat, and she herself was willing to eat whatever we fed her. We think having older children around helps make her behave better.

This morning when Michelle and Shee Yun had breakfast in the hotel room, Michelle let Shee Yun sit on the table, watching out from the big window over the city view of Kuching. She gave Shee Yun a big cheese bun. Shee Yun enjoyed holding it and taking small bites from it.

Shee Yun always wants people to carry her and is rarely willing to walk by herself. Yesterday when we left the hotel room to walk to the lift, she asked to be carried. I asked her to give me a kiss first, and she gave me a kiss (nowadays kisses are cheap). By the time Michelle had walked a few steps ahead. I asked Shee Yun to also give Mama a kiss. So she walked towards Michelle to give her a kiss. I quick ran forward to a short distance ahead of Michelle. After Shee Yun had kissed Michelle, I told her she needs to kiss me too. So she walked towards me to give me a kiss. At the same time Michelle walked to a short distance in front of me. We repeated this a few times until we are about two thirds of the way to the lift. Shee Yun didn't realise we have tricked her into walking quite a distance. Eventually I carried her.

Last night Shee Yun kicked me in my left eye while I was sleeping. She was sleeping between Michelle and I. It is 8:25am now and she is still sleeping. She is very tired from yesterday. We only reached the hotel from the wedding dinner at about 10am, which is quite late for her already, although that's very early by wedding dinners standards. Actually at 9:15pm I started noticing some guests leaving. The dinner started at about 7:30pm. Definitely people in Kuching are much more punctual than people in KL.

Shee Yun was quite restless at the dinner and kept wanting us to bring her outside or bring her somewhere else to play. She only sat still to eat some fish ball during the first dish. So Michelle and I had to take turns eating and taking care of her. I brought her to the stage and let her play there. She liked it and she danced on the stage (at least it looks like she was trying to dance). She stamped her feet, and also waved her arms and turned a little. She walked off the stage via the stairs (only 2 steps), with my hands holding hers, and then climbed directly onto the stage by herself. She did that quite a number of times.

Oops. Shee Yun just woke up at 8:30am.

Yesterday night I had one very good game of Ca$h 'n Gun$ with Chee Seng, Alicia, Ricky and Cin Yee. We played with the Undercover Cop variant. I was not the undercover cop. At first most of them suspected me. I had a bad start. For a while I suspected Cin Yee. Later I figured out it was Alicia. Ricky and Cin Yee had the same conclusion. At the time the phone had been used twice already. The undercover cop must make 3 calls and survive until the end of the game in order to win. So Ricky, Cin Yee and Chee Seng were all pointing their guns (fingers) at Alicia to make sure she always backed down and had no chance to call police headquarters again. And then on the last round, when Alicia had backed down, and we revealed the phone call card - police HQ was called! We were all caught! The traitor was Chee Seng! Not Alicia! That was very well played. All three of us (Ricky, Cin Yee and I) were totally taken by surprise because we were all positive that Alicia was the undercover cop. Poor Alicia, who knew Chee Seng was the one, but couldn't do anything to stop him. 哑子吃黄连.

Nowadays Shee Yun is sleeping later and later. I remember she used to sleep at 8pm at night. Now she usually sleeps at 9:30pm. She doesn't want to sleep and wants to play, even when she is already sleepy (we can tell because she yawns many times or rubs her eyes). Today we had to turn off the lights in order to persuade her to drink her milk and go to sleep. Sometimes she refuses milk because she knows that milk time means bed time.

She has memorised some of the TV advertisements. There's one advertisement which shows many Hong Kong stars and their past achievements (awards). Today when watching it, Michelle saw Shee Yun put her hand on top of her head. She wondered what Shee Yun doing, and then she saw the TV screen - right after Shee Yun did that gesture, Michelle saw Andy Lau 刘德华 coming up on the screen doing a salute. Later Shee Yun raised her hand and what appeared on screen soon after that is Chow Yuen Fatt 周润发 also doing a similar gesture.

Yesterday Michelle did the computer learning with Shee Yun. Halfway through, I took over from Michelle because she wanted to check something on the internet (using my computer). I only went through a few pages before Shee Yun wanted to come down from the stool. I carried her down, and then she pulled me away from beside the laptop. She didn't pull me towards the door to get boardgames. She just left me a few feet away from the laptop. Then she went to Michelle, and pulled her to beside the laptop. Then we realised that she wanted Michelle to do the computer learning with her, not me. We had a good laught. I guess maybe I was tired and didn't make much sound or talk when I was doing the computer learning activity with her.

Shee Yun can say Baba and Mama now. When I ask her to say Baba, she says Baba. When I ask her to say Mama, she says Mama. Her intonation is a bit different though. She remembers some of the alphabets now too. When we had lunch at Sushi King, Michelle asked her which is S, which is K, which is H etc, and she pointed correctly S and K on the Sushi King plate. She seemed unsure of H though.

Today we did a mini "spring cleaning". We cleaned the "store room" under the staircase, the "cupboards" in the kitchen, and the stack of old magazines on the small black bookshelf in the upstairs sitting room. We threw away a lot of old things and Michelle was very happy with that. We also took some pandan leaves from our front lawn, tied them into small bundles and put them under the staircase and around the kitchen. This is for making sure cockroaches don't come. It is very effective. When we were busy, poor Shee Yun couldn't find anyone to play with her or entertain her. So she cried.

I think Shee Yun is getting more and more naughty and spoilt. Whenever she doesn't get what she wants, she cries. It is not easy to teach and nurture a child. Sometimes I wonder whether we are doing it right, whether we should be more strict, or we should be less strict, or we should be using different approaches. Maybe it is because Shee Yun is in her Terrible Two. Some people say children are especially naughty when they are around 2 years old. Lately we get very frustrated or even sometimes lose our tempers more often than before. I hope when her younger sister is born she won't be so naughty.