One year old today!

I get new toys today coz it's my birthday!

Has it been a whole year with little Jo Ern?? My precious girl turns one today! It feels like a blink of an eye. Other times I think, all this time and Jo Ern is still only a baby. I'm happy with that though. Here's to many more happy years together!

No offence to those who send baby to a full-time babysitter, but I wouldn't have missed Jo Ern's first year for the world. Hubby had suggested that option which is common practice on his side of the family. Then there would have been no disruption to our schedules, no crazy daily commuting between our house and my parents' at different ends of the city, no need for a maid, no sleepless nights tending to a bawling sick baby.  But there would also have been less time with our cutie-pie, less bonding, less joy.  I wouldn't be able to look over any time of the night and see my little daughter.  For me personally, it's no contest.

On to the birthday girl:

Skills
New skills seem to come all at once to Jo Ern. One day she can't do something and the next day, she's doing it fine. She can drink from a sippy cup after weeks of coughing on the water flow. Last night she suddenly could climb DOWN the stairs (*faint*). She has been happily wobbling her way up for quite some time now. She also extends her arms to be carried, which makes people melt and carry her more!

Speech
She 'talks' a lot! Her favourite words are 'ai yakk, ah WAKK, ah BEHH, ah DEHH, ah VEHH'. Seems to be practising her consonents, heh. She loves holding objects to her ear and going 'Ai YAKK!! Ai YAKK!!'. Funny, we don't use the phone THAT much... (or do we? :) ) Ah Mah says she's 'calling her friend'.

Character
Not so scaredy-cat already! She allows more people to carry her. Good thing she does get over her fears eventually.  Like she used to be terrified of the green rocking horse at my parents' place, now she rocks on it like a pro.

Weight
Just over 8kg. A full kilo away from the 'standard' of tripling birth weight by the first birthday. The paedi recommended to add butter, cheese and oils to her diet. I am, sparingly and slowly... don't want her to develop a taste for fatty stuff and having a weight problem later.

Food
I started preparing a 'breakfast' of veg soup or oats+fruit, but she got sick shortly after and breakfast mostly ended up in the bin. She's back to two solids a day. But she has bread, sometimes with cheese, in the morning. She gets some food at dinner time too. I'm not up to speed on that yet though - it's ideally something she can eat by herself. Baby biscuits are too sweet and I hesitate to give her bread too often. Sometimes she has oats but then the maid would have to feed her in between her own meal.

She looks up in anticipation whenever she sees others eating. Then she comes over and loudly insists on having some!

Milk
Still being breastfed. I'm thinking of what formula to start her on. Maybe soy milk or Pediasure because of the stories surrounding cow's milk. Then again, cow's milk is supposed to result in bigger bones and Jo Ern has a small frame, so maybe a round or two of cow's milk might do good.

What else...
After a rest at two, finally the third tooth is peeking out. Probably THAT was why she was waking up so many times at night.

She is playful and giggles a lot when she's happy

Gurgles with laughter when chased

Prefers Mummy over Papa at the moment :)