Nadine & her friends

Nadine is now so much more interactive, and she also knows how to play "with" other children, rather than to play alongside them. But when it comes to taking photos of her with her friends, it's still a challenge. She still doesn't know how to pose, much less stand/sit still for photos to be taken. But here are some decent photos of her with her friends.

This was the most spontaneous photo - taken when Nadine was "sayang-ing" Ethan.

Nadine with Tara. She sat down for like 30 sec.

This was the most challenging photo to take - 4 toddlers who cannot sit still, and a baby who cannot sit by herself. Check out the looks of distress on all 3 girls' faces, and look of anxiety on Josh's face as he performs his big brotherly duty of holding on to Luanne. Isaac was probably the only person who enjoyed the photo shoot!

Please!

Nadine finally said her 1st "useful" word - PLEASE. She was in her high-chair and wanted to be carried by Daddy. Daddy looked at her and said, "if u want Daddy to carry u, u must say please". She whined for a bit. Daddy repeated the same thing, and then she put her palm to her chest 'PLEASE'!

So fun to be able to communicate meaningfully with her!

Nadine's also started to feed herself, not for her meals. That'll be too slow. Mummy only lets her do that with her snacks. She doesn't do very well with fork and spoon, and would much prefer to use her bare hands. Sometimes, she seems to enjoy squashing the food with her fingers more than eating the food. Ah well, gotta start somewhere.

And since yesterday, she started walking around unaided a lot more. She's also enjoying pushing her car around, and bumping it into the furniture and wall.

The Lee Family Photo

Not a very successful one though, with all the children being so restless, and the adults busy getting the children to look at the camera. But this is the 1st one the family's taken in 5 years. Candid and memorable. The children, and actually, the adults too, will never be this young again.

2nd Chinese New Year

Last CNY, Nadine was a tiny 2-week-old bb. In a flash, this year, she's 13-month-old and can already walk. But her preferred mode of movement is still crawling, 2nd to being carried. Guess it's because when she moves on her own, she can go wherever she likes, until Daddy, Mummy or Bibi catch hold of her and move her to safety (sometimes her safety, sometimes others' safety, including safety of Mummy's precious books and Daddy's precious Star Wars figurines).

Nadine can now sign star, car, bus, leaf, wind, where, hat, book, ball, bear, Dad (always Dad, never Mum) and dog. She signs dog most readily, whenever someone says 'dog', or when she sees the picture of a dog in any books. But instead of patting her thigh, she pats her chest, causing MaMa and Por Por to think that she's scared of dogs. She's not scared of dogs at all. In fact, she was more amused than scared after Uncle Dr Kevin's dog licked her this afternoon.

Anyway, all these words that Nadine can, or is willing to sign, are such "useless" signs. Mummy wants Nadine to sign please, thank you, sorry, more, sleep, water, eat, drink, hurt - words that can communicate something useful and constructive. But Nadine simply refuses, probably just to frustrate Mummy. Sigh!

"Bookworm"

Nadine loves her books, and she's a worm. She cannot stop moving and is constantly crawling, walking, wriggling about, except when she sits down to read. She can sit down and read for 15-20 min at a stretch. She blabbers as she flips the pages. No, she's not interested for anyone to read to her. She prefers to read to herself. So Daddy and Mummy have not been very successful in reading her books and bibles to her. But they're glad she likes books, and is always willing to sit still for a while with a book - providing a bit of rest for Daddy, Mummy and Bibi!

Nadine also likes her flash cards. These, she will happily allow Mummy to read to her. And she seems like she is taking in all that are flashed and read to her. Mummy just wonders when Nadine will repeat those words aloud.