Re-Play "Same" and MUSIC - 17months old

Zo Ee at 17months 2weeks old. (28/9/2009)

Today, Mummy heard some nice music coming from the living hall which caught Mummy's attention. It was little Zo Ee, playing attentively on her keyboard, not the usual noise created by her. Although it was not any particular song, impossible from a 17-months old, but the music was definitely nice to Mummy's ears. Mummy could see that little Zo Ee was paying a lot of attention on it, and was playing like a professional little fellow. It was amazing that she has moved on to another level rather than impatiently pressing the keys randomly or the most is making some high to low or low to high sounds. Little Zo Ee was in no hurry just now, Mummy even noticed that she did press some keys longer and pausing in between too. Was she trying to create some nice music of her own? (Will try to capture one for keep sake.)

Mummy took the opportunity to show little Zo Ee the function of the record and re-play keys. So Mummy played a few notes on the keyboard, showing and telling Zo Ee about the record key while recording it and followed by showing and telling Zo Ee about the re-play key. Mummy repeated this demonstration a few times with different sets of music notes. Each time, Mummy was telling little Zo Ee, "record" before each recording and later "re-play" before pressing the re-play key. And to Mummy's surprised, little Zo Ee was able to notice the same sound being reproduced by the re-play function without being told or explained to. Little Zo Ee was telling Mummy, "same! same!" while pointing at the keyboard during one of the re-play. Amazing, isn't it? Mummy was wondering, "Is little Zo Ee being extra alert or was Mummy's demonstration superb? "

Zo Ee's progress: (ascending order)

1. Only pressing the demo keys, either "1 song" or "FULL" demo.
   
2. Randomly pressing keys, demo key's still her favourite
3. Pressing other function keys like rock, disco, march, etc, but demo key's still her favourite.
4. Knows how to use the "STOP" key to stop the music.
5. Playing the music keys randomly, demo key's still her favourite.
6. Playing the music keys randomly while pretending to be singing the "ABC" song. (imitating a scene from her VCD), demo key's still her favourite.
7. Fully utilized the DEMO mode, between "1 song" demo (can selectively select different songs by repeatedly pressing this same key.) and "FULL" demo (playing all the songs.)
8. Playing from low to high and high to low.
9. In-cooperating two different functions at the same time, eg. DISCO mode while pressing the SNARE drum key, or playing the music keys.
10. Playing some nice music (nice enough for Mummy's ears), usually making noises instead of music.

power of reading - 17months old

Zo Ee at 17months 2weeks old. (28/9/2009)

Conversation 1

Mummy has been telling Zo Ee that we will be taking an aeroplane back to Ipoh soon and we will be meeting po-po, yeh-yeh, mah-mah, gong-gong, gu-jie, gu-cheong, etc.

Mummy: Zo Ee, we will be taking an aeroplane soon. We are flying back to?
Zo Ee: Ipoh
Mummy: We are going to meet?
Zo Ee: po-po
Mummy: and?
Zo Ee: yeh-yeh
Mummy: and?
Zo Ee: silence (she seems to only remember po-po and yeh-yeh)

Upon hearing little Zo Ee's replied, Daddy was curious, wonder does Zo Ee really understand what an aeroplane is. So Daddy asked little Zo Ee,
Daddy: Zo Ee, What is aeroplane?
Zo Ee: Aeroplane flies... zoom....(Daddy was amazed!)
Daddy : Where is aeroplane?
Zo Ee: up sky. (again Daddy was amazed!)

And today, Mummy asked little Zo Ee again,
Mummy: Zo Ee, What is aeroplane?
Zo Ee: fly very fast. (Oh! Mummy was amazed too.)

Mummy has only taught her that we are going to take an aeroplane soon and who we will be meeting there. The rest of the answers given by Zo Ee was from a book that she had read months ago.

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Conversation 2
Mummy: Zo Ee, what is this? (Mummy gave her a cotton ball during diaper time)
Zo Ee: Cotton ball.
Zo Ee: Light and fluffy. Squeeze! Squeeze! (squeezing with her fingers)
Mummy: Where does cotton come from?
Zo Ee: Cotton plant.
Zo Ee: put back (giving the cotton ball back to Mummy)

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Conversation 3
Mummy: Zo Ee, what is this? (Mummy was showing her the dragon fruit.)
Zo Ee: Dragon fruit.
Mummy: Zo Ee, what is Mummy doing? (Mummy was cutting the dragon fruit.)
Zo Ee: Cutting fruit.
Mummy: Zo Ee, what is this? (Mummy was showing her the knife.)
Zo Ee: Scissors. (Ha! Ha! Mummy has not taught her the word knife yet, so little Zo Ee was associating Mummy's action "cutting" with the word "scissors" as she knows that scissors is used for cutting.)
Mummy: This is a knife. Mummy is using a knife to cut the dragon fruit.
Zo Ee: Looking at Mummy in silence.
Mummy: Zo Ee, what is this? (Showing little Zo Ee the knife again.)
Zo Ee: Knife. (Bravo. That's my little Zo Ee, needing only one time teaching now. And she will remember this thing called knife from now on.)

Later, when Zo Ee was eating the dragon fruit, she commented this to Mummy.
Zo Ee: Seeds. (pointing to those black seeds.)
Mummy: Yes, those are seeds. Black seeds, aren't they?
Zo Ee: Many seeds. (again pointing at the seeds.)
Mummy: Yes, many tiny seeds.
Zo Ee: Eating. (Ha! ha! little Zo Ee was telling Mummy that she's eating those seeds.)

And again, Mummy won't be surprised if little Zo Ee were to tell Mummy, "many tiny seeds." when she eats another dragon fruit in the near future. That's how fast little Zo Ee is picking up and familiarizing herself with language nowadays.

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Isn't this amazing? She is able to extract(recall) many answers from various library books that she had read earlier, maybe months or weeks ago. This is truly the power of reading, isn't ?

First Movie (Cinema) - 17months old

Zo Ee at 17months 2weeks old. (26/9/2009)


Zo Ee's first movie at the Cinema; G-FORCE.
Daddy got two free movie tickets and decided to take Zo Ee to watch the G-FORCE today (guinea pigs to the rescue!)


Hanging around the cinema area.

Inside the cinema.

Inside the cinema, little Zo Ee was excited at the new experience. Luckily, we got the whole row on the right (5 seats) to ourselves, plenty of space for little Zo Ee to roam and not worrying that she will get lost in the dark. Little Zo Ee was happily exploring and staring at the big screen. Eventually, she preferred to stand in front of Daddy's seat and watching intensely at the big screen. Was it because of the loud sound effects and the big screen? Guess what? Merely 20-minutes inside, little Zo Ee was already telling Mummy, "tired!" Ha! Ha! Must be too taxing to her little eyes, not an easy task for a little 17-months old toddler to concentrate on such a big screen.

Daddy put her onto his lap while little Zo Ee was still watching the movie occasionally, stopping to ask for biscuits, drink or playing with the drinking straw and paper cup. But she remained seated throughout the 88-minutes without any complain, only commenting occasionally; telling us, "insect! insect!" when she saw the fly and "dog" seeing the dogs in the movie. Mummy even caught her laughing at one funny scene, where the guinea pigs were speeding in their fast mobile round capsules trying to escape from the FBI. She looked excited and happy during this scene.

book-shelf - 17months old

Zo Ee at 17months 2weeks old. (25/9/2009)

Wow! Bravo to my little Zo Ee for putting all her books back onto her little book-shelf during tidying time. She is adapting so well and it takes less than a month for her to comply to this new responsibility. Next step, Mummy will be guiding her to arrange her books accordingly.

Also lately, whenever little Zo Ee sees Mummy, especially when her play area is in a mess, immediately she will tell Mummy, "Messy! Messy! Everywhere. Tidy up. Tidy up." with hands gesture pointing to the mess she had made. "Ha! Ha!" Little Zo Ee is making this comment ahead of Mummy as she knows that Mummy eventually will say that and ask her to tidy up the mess.

................................................................
Then

Unbelievable (17months 6days old)
Putting books back (17months 5days old)
New book-shelf (16months 3weeks old)

Pulling Mummy's leg - 17months old

Zo Ee is 17months 2weeks old. (22/9/2009)

Lately, these are what little cheeky Zo Ee is up to...doing these intentionally just to pull Mummy's leg (or is she trying to get Mummy's attention?)

standing/ walking/running on the sofa

When little Zo Ee is up on the sofa, doing dangerous stunts, immediately she will call out to Mummy before saying these loudly, "Mummy angry! Mummy angry! Zo Ee! Zo Ee! chak chak(imitating Mummy's irritating sound) ", repeating precisely what Mummy would have say. When Mummy interrupted her, telling her not to do so, little Zo Ee replied Mummy, "No. No" explaining to Mummy that she will not fall off the sofa.

Then one afternoon, Mummy caught her standing on the sofa edge with her back facing outward. Mummy almost got a heart attack seeing that as little Zo Ee may have fallen off the sofa and hitting the back of her head. Mummy couldn't control her own emotion, and Mummy screamed at little Zo Ee( although Mummy should not have done so) and this was the first time, Mummy screamed at little Zo Ee. Luckily, although little Zo Ee was shocked and jerked a little upon hearing Mummy's loud voice, she immediately leaned forward (instead of backward) , falling onto the sofa on her stomach. Little Zo Ee knew that Mummy was angry, and thus stayed put (not moving) laying on the sofa. (Not her usual self, as she is always running on the sofa to annoy Mummy.) She stayed quietly for 5-minutes, peeping at Mummy while still laying there, checking on Mummy's reaction. She then tried to make funny faces to amuse Mummy, when there was no response from Mummy, she knew that she really had angered Mummy. She was very quiet and worried until Mummy demanded an apology from her, she willingly apologized saying "sorry mummy". And merely half an hour later, little Zo Ee was seen running on the sofa again.

sitting on the bed edge
When little Zo Ee sits near to the bed edge, she will look at Mummy before saying, "Zo Ee! Zo Ee!" intentionally, imitating Mummy's reaction whenever Mummy seeing her sitting there. She is thrilled in getting an immediate response from Mummy while committing such a dangerous act.

reading books upside down
Little Zo Ee intentionally pretending to read books upside down as never has she read any words upside down since 11-months old but she is doing this on purpose lately. One thing Mummy does notice is that she will only do this to books that she already knows, like a few days old library books. Is she bored with the material and trying to find new challenge by reading them upside down? Or is she seeking Mummy's attention again? Wonder why?

Sitting on her bears
Wonder why she intentionally put her bears onto the floor or sofa or bed before sitting on them as though they were her little stool. Cheeky girl!

Pulling her head through the number mat( number 6)

Little Zo Ee loves doing this trick(pulling this mat through her head - in and out) and finds it amusing. It may be cute to see such an act but this prompt Mummy again, how dangerous play can be to a little curious toddler as we can never imagine any dangerous acts she is up to at anytime.

Swimming again - 17months old

Zo Ee at 17months 1week old. (20/9/2009)


Getting into the splashing pool...


Splash! splash!


Swimming with daddy.


Refused to get out from the pool.

Updated:

If you do look closely at these photos, you will notice Zo Ee's blue lips. This was the result of her refusing to come out of the water, and staying longer than 30-minutes, maybe an additional 10-minutes in the water that day. Mummy didn't join them for the swim that day, and Mummy was calling her out of the water but little Zo Ee was reluctant too. Mummy only noticed her blue lips and her cold hands and legs when Mummy changed her. Mummy quickly kept her warm and gave her warm milk immediately, still her hands and legs remained cold for more than half an hours, even in the hot climate here. Luckily, little Zo Ee didn't fall sick. So lesson learned, never let her swim more than the appropriate time for her age. Moreover, we were swimming at an open pool in the evening, water may be warm but its really chilly when you don't submerge yourself into the water (wind chill).

.................................................................................
Then
Going swimming (last week)

reading with mummy -16months old

Zo Ee at 16months 29days old. (9/9/2009)

Now, 3-months later, Zo Ee's reading and interactive skills improved in loads. Although Zo Ee is not seen reading much here, as this is our usual practice, Mummy never force little Zo Ee to read word by word, as Mummy believe that little Zo Ee will eventually read them willingly on her own. And true enough, Mummy always overheard little Zo Ee reading aloud whenever she is reading alone. But when it comes to our reading session, Mummy will read to her most of the time as this is a knowledge imparting session(facts) and not a "learning to read " session.

...........................................................................
Then

13-months old
Interactive reading

Tired...massage... - 16months old

Zo Ee at 16months 29days old. (9/9/2009)

No doubts, little Zo Ee will never reject any reading session offered to her at any time of the day, as she just loves reading and will never have enough of it. It is also part of Zo Ee's daily routine to have a reading session with Mummy before her afternoon nap. Every afternoon, Mummy and Zo Ee will spend about half an hour reading together , usually until the tired Zo Ee telling Mummy, "tired!" or "tired, nap nap". Upon hearing this, Mummy will put little Zo Ee back to her cot and she will doze off almost immediately. But what surprises Mummy today was, little Zo Ee was asking a massage from Mummy instead. Little Zo Ee was saying, "Tired! tired...massage..."

Better dexterity skill - 16months old

Zo Ee at 16months 28days old. (8/9/2009)

Zo Ee has had been able to sort these shapes and her other shape sorter as early as 14-months old. But she needed a lot of effort in controlling her hands movement and it took her much longer time to be accurate and precise then. Now, two months later, she can sort them at ease with little effort.

Little Zo Ee making cute comments like "Fantastic!" and "Oh! o..." in this video.

Video - 16 months old

Zo Ee at 16months 28days old. (8/9/2009)

Zo Ee saying, "present, stretch, catch (asking Mummy to catch the ball), bee, buzz, jump, sitting, car seat, put on and carry bag."

Milestones - 16months old

Zo Ee at 16months 4weeks old. (10/9/2009)

Motor skill

• Manage to get in and out of her toy car independently. (16months 1week old)
• Sitting on a small stool independently.
• Not afraid of sliding down the slide, show strong interest in this.
• Show interest sitting in a swing with Mummy. (16months 1week old)
• Climb up one step (slide at the playground) while holding onto the side bars independently. (16months 1week old)
• Walk long distance independently.
• Walking or running up/down a long small slope independently (path meant for handicaps usage)
• Walk up/down a small step independently.

Language

• Saying many 2 words sentences : change diaper, eat orange, eat rice, pretty colours, mummy carry, colour pencils, fly kite, watch VCD, walk walk, wash hands, stand up, sit down, open gate, brush teeth, drink juice, choose one. (16months 1week old)
• 3 words sentences: jam and bread (16months 1week old)
• Saying “yes yes” agreeing with the book content while reading a book. (16months 1week old)
• More 2 words sentences : so cute, bye baby, Mummy hug, Daddy hug, Milk...hungry, Messy...everywhere, letter box, Towel wipe, touch feel (16 months 2weeks old)

• More 2 words sentences : please open, please help, Mummy writing, Mummy help, thank you, eating food, carry bag, orange feet, red colour, blue colour, green colour, smelly diaper, twenty-two (16months 3weeks old)
• 3 words sentences : itchy put lotion, Mummy please open, touch feel open, rubber band stretch, Hungry make milk (16months 3weeks old)
• 3 syllables words : colourful, Australia, butterfly, handkerchief, Fantastic
• More 2 words sentences : eat slowly, sit centre, Milky way, bear sitting, going out, train station, orange button, big book, sit Mummy, tidy up, pick up, drop it, cuddle bear, pay money, Mummy nose (16months 4weeks old)
• More 3 words sentences : bear sitting car, smile take picture, Mummy thank you, birthday present remember (16months 4weeks old)
• 4 words sentence: Please switch on light.(16months 4weeks old)
  
• Read long sentences while pointing at each words all by herself. “What shape can you see in this horn?” (8 words) and “Metal can be used to make lots of things." (9words) - (16months 4weeks old)
• Reading 15-18 library books per week, but now these can only last her 3 days. (16mths 4weeks old)
• Improved reading stamina, can read many 3-5words sentences without taking a break, as many as 50 sentences.
• Improved pronunciation

Indicating want:

• Her own choice of food, when Mummy offered eg. apple to her, she will name an alternative of her choice. eg pear, plum, dragon fruit
• Able to express wants verbally: Please open, Mummy help, Please help, Please bao-bao (when she wanted to reach for higher objects), Going out, read book, make milk, hungry, tired, good night (about to fall asleep), take bath, change diaper, come, hold, see crane, touch feel
  

Numbers/maths

• Recite 1 – 20 independently
• Recite 1 - 100 alternately with Mummy

Love

• Love to pretend play – screaming and enjoying playing alone
• Imitate doings with her bear – bear sleeping, bear sitting, bear bouncing (moving bear up and down)
• Love to see herself in the mirror, spicing up with actions and funny faces.
• Love cheesy and creamy food
  

Fine motor skills

• Better control of her fingers; sort shapes into shape sorter easily and effortless
• Playing keyboard from high to low keys and low to high keys and not randomly. (16months 4weeks old)
  

Emotion

• Afraid (cry if alone or hide behind mummy’s back or prefer to sit with Mummy) seeing some fearful animals with sounds effect on the tv, eg-wolf,
• Get agitated when cannot get things done her way, eg. puzzles , she knows the end result but still lacking in fine motor skill (little movement, little rotation), thus she cannot achieve her desire result.
• Proud and want to be a big sister(jie-jie) instead of a baby anymore. (16months 3weeks old)
• WoW expression! (16months 3weeks old)
• Sit with mummy
• Extremely sticky to Mummy, want Mummy to put her to bed, cries if Mummy is out of sight.
• Cries(hem...hmmm... a few short ones) to express her dislikes - to get things her way, when her favourite tv programme ended

Senses

• Recognize food through their smell alone.(16 months 2weeks old)
• Recognize the sound of the crane, thunder, bird chirping,
• seeing details of her surroundings, tiny shapes (circles, triangles)

Memory

• Reciting 1-100 alternately with Mummy (16months 2weeks old)
• Reciting 1-20 independantly. (16months 3weeks old)
• World Map (46 countries)

Intellectual skill

• Telling Mummy that she got, “ 8 teeth, 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 hands, 2 shoulders, 2 legs, 2 feet, one nose and one mouth, ten fingers and ten toes.” (16months 3weeks old)
• Relating book shelf to library (16months 3weeks old)
• Playing independently up to 2-3hours. (16months 3weeks old)
• Observant and seeing details, and able to describe them accordingly.
• Know how to handle a hand puppet (understand concept)
• Get the pillow ready, put it on the floor, getting ready for her milk time, put handkerchief around her neck – doing all these independently without being told
• Sit at the door step, getting ready , waiting for Mummy’s help in removing her shoes.
• Removes her own socks and slot them back into her shoes.
• Humorous
• Saying "please" appropriately (16months 2weeks old)
  

Reading aloud Numbers - 17months old

Zo Ee at 17months 1week old. (19/9/2009)

Little Zo Ee came to join Mummy when she saw Mummy reading the news paper on the floor. As usual, Mummy will point and read aloud some titles to her, limited to those big size letters. Then, out of a sudden, little Zo Ee pointed at some numbers; 100. She was telling Mummy, "one hundred". Wow! Spontaneously, Mummy praised and cheered little Zo Ee. Little Zo Ee felt happy and fun. So she kept on pointing to more numbers found on every pages; 45, 30, 75, 99, 78, 20, 35, etc... and telling Mummy aloud every single number correctly, "forty-five", "thirty", "seventy-five", "ninety-nine", "seventy-eight", "twenty", "thirty-five", etc. Mummy does know that little Zo Ee can recognize these numbers (0-100) but didn't know that she can pronounce them too.

Update on 5/11/2009
Video attached

Unbelievable - 17months old

Zo Ee at 17months 6days old. (17/9/2009)

"Unbelievable!!! Guess what did little Zo Ee do just now?" Little Zo Ee had put a book back onto her little book shelf without being told .

This was what happened; while Mummy was on her way to the master bedroom, Mummy saw little Zo Ee reading her little verb book on the sofa. When Mummy came out of the room later, Mummy was so surprised to see that little verb book was on the book shelf and not being lay off on the sofa like other days. So, my little Zo Ee had put that book back onto her book shelf after reading it. She had done this all by herself! "This is a great step to a 17-months old toddler, isn't it? Mummy is so proud of you! "