We created this entry to serve as Nina's Diary that will document what new things she can do. A new link "NINA'S DIARY" has been created on the top right hand corner of the page and linked to this entry. The entry will be updated with all new things Nina can now do. To start with, here are what Nina has achieved in her first year:
- Nina was able to be on her stomach and lifted her head up when she was two months old
- Nina could smile spontaneously and laugh when she was around three months old. She also started putting her hands into her mouth around this time.
- By four months, she was able to lift her head up 90 degrees while on her stomach
- Nina travelled on a plane for the first time on May 20, 2005, on SQ156 from Singapore to Jakarta
- Nina had her first hair cut when she was four months old in Jakarta.
- Nina did her first roll over on June 2, 2005
- By six months, Nina was able to bear some weight on the legs when we pull her up to standing position from sitting. With our hands supporting her when held upright, she would jump and sometimes push herself up to standing position.
- When she was around five to six months, she would look at the telephone when we said "hello"
- Nina had her first banana and brown rice for her daily meals when she was around six months old
- Nina first crawled on July 14, 2005, but backward. She was only able to crawl forward when she was around 11 months old
- Nina started to learn to sit when she was six months plus. She learned to balance herself when we put her to sit
- By seven months, Nina has been very playful. She would squeal in delight when we played with her. Even calling her name could make her smile, laugh and scream playfully. She started to have the teething sign and had problem sleeping.
- Nina was baptised as a Catholic on August 7, 2005 at the St. Bernadette church, Singapore
- Nina would look at her lamb soft toy when we said "where is the little lamb?" when she was around eight months old
- Nina could clap her hands when we sang "pok ame ame" on October 11, 2005. Couple weeks later, she could also clap her hands when we said "hurray"
- By nine months, Nina has had four teeth, 2 at the top and 2 at the bottom.
- Nina could do a push-up on October 25, 2005
- Nina said 'Papa' on October 29, 2005
- Nina said 'Mama' on November 1, 2005
- Nina went swimming in her first swimsuit on November 3, 2005
- Nina could wave bye bye when she was between nine and ten months old
- When she was around ten months plus, she could say "bear" and "baby" when we showed her the picture of bear and baby.
- Nina could drink using straw by herself when she was about ten months plus
- Nina could look up at the lamp when we asked her in Indonesian "lampu mana?" when she was around eleven months old
- Nina could say "flower" when she looked at the flower when she was around eleven months old.
- Nina could do a 'kiss-bye' when she was eleven months old
- Nina could call her name, but she called it "Nana" when she was about eleven months plus. When we showed her photos to her, she's able to say "Nana". She would also say "Nana" when we asked her in Indonesian "ini siapa?" (who is this?) by giving her a pat on her chest.
- She could say "duck" when we showed her her plastic duck when she was around eleven months
- We started giving her porridge from outside food center when she was around eleven months old
- Nina would touch her hair when we asked her in Indonesian "rambut mana?" when she was almost one year old. Around this time, when she's having her porridge or snack, she could show her thumbs-up sign when we said 'yummy'.
- Other things she could do were to shake hands and to do 'hi five'
- Other words she could say now : turtle, dada and also tata
- Nina has 6 teeth now, 4 at the top and 2 at the bottom
- Nina likes bear a lot. She will squeal in delight when she sees a picture of a bear.
- On her first birthday, she could bring her toy phone to her ear and say 'ha' ... probably for 'hallo'
January 12th, 2006: Nina can look at her piano toy, or will try to look for her piano toy when we say "Do Re Mi". Also, she can answer "Nana" when we ask her "Hello, who is this?". She can also now point using her index finger.
January 14th, 2006: Nina can say "car", "bus" and "star" when she sees the pictures of them on the TV while watching the babyeinstein movie.
January 15th, 2006: Nina looked at herself in the mirror this morning, pointed at her reflection in the mirror using her index finger and called herself, "Nana"
January 17th, 2006:
- Nina went to see dr. Tan at Mt. Alvernia hospital today to have her Hepatitis A immunisation injection. Luckily, she cried for only less than 10 seconds after the shot. dr. Tan checked for lazy eyes symptom and it was negative.
- Nina said 'flower' few times today at the hospital when she saw the flowers there.
Januarty 19th, 2006: Nina flew to Jakarta. It's her third trip to Jakarta. We were on ValuAir VF501 leaving Singapore early morning at 7.30am. We almost missed the flight. She was still sleeping when we carried her to the cab and only woke up when we arrived at the airport.
On the plane, the air stewardess asked her 'where is daddy?' and she pointed using her index finger to me. Then the air stewardess asked 'where is mummy?' and she gave her mummy a pat on her chest.
Arriving in Jakarta, we went straight to my brother's house at Serpong. Nina met her little cousin, Louisa for the first time there. Louisa is now two months old. It's also Nina's first visit to my brother's place.
Nina was on the road to Bandung in the afternoon. It's Nina's first trip to Bandung. Her uncle, Franky, drove the Suzuki Sidekick (aka monty). We took the new highway, Cipularang, that now enables travellers to reach Bandung in one and a half hours from Jakarta. We stayed at I Da and Andy's place. Nina made a trouble there, she could not sleep in the front room on the second floor cause it was noisy since it's closer to the road. There were dogs barking and neighborhood patrol guy making sounds to indicate their presence by hitting the electric pole (this is so the thieves will think twice before breaking into a house). So, I Da and Andy gave up their master bedroom, so Nina could sleep.
January 21st, 2006:
- Nina could say "turtle" when she was given a small rubber turtle.
- She could also 'climb' up and down the mattress which was about 30cm high by herself.
- Nina could show the picture of flower on her t-shirt when we asked her 'where is the flower?'
- Nina's first trip to Dago Pakar and Lembang. She was probably bitten by bugs when we visited a farm at Lembang. She had some infection on her skin.
January 22nd, 2006: Nina could say 'nose' and she could also point and touch our nose when we asked her 'where is the nose?'
January 24th, 2006: Nina said 'satu' for the first time. She was playing with the plastic Number Blocks and her mom showed her the number 1 block and told her it's 'satu' (one in Indonesian). Nina is trained to be bilingual. Hope this works. :-)
January 25th, 2006: Nina can share her snack with us. When we say 'ahh' and open our mouth, she will give her snack and bring it to our mouth.
January 26th, 2006:
- We taught Nina to say 'thank you' when people give her something. We were in the car when her auntie, Pepi gave her a baby biscuit. We asked her to say thank you and she could repeat after us, but not so clear yet.
- Nina can now say 'nose' while pointing to her nose
- Nina can now say 'cilukba' (Indonesian for peekaboo). But, she says it 'lukba'. Three syllables word is still too difficult for her to say.
- Nina seems to have forgotten her rocking chair in Singapore, the one she usually sleeps on during the day. She can take her nap during the day in Jakarta on a bed. She can also sleep easily now when I run my fingers on her back slowly while she is on the bed.
January 27th, 2006:
- Nina can say 'No No No' while moving her index finger left and right
- Nina can look for the face of her cube block that has number 2 on it when we ask her 'where is the number 2?'
- Nina stayed at uncle Aming's place at Alam Sutera for the first time.
- Nina would bring her little bolster to between her chin and her shoulder when we say 'Nina .. Sleep'. She could also put her hand on her chin and lean her head to the side when we said that.
January 28th, 2006:
- Nina can point to the letter 'O' on her floor mat when we ask her 'where is the O?'
- Nina calls her little cousin Louisa, 'Sa'
- Nina can climb up and down the bed at uncle Aming's place. It's about 40cm high. She can lift her legs and push herself up. When going down, she knows that she has to let her legs down first.
January 30th, 2006:
- Nina flew to Bangka, my home island for the first time on Sriwijaya Air flight 072. She was still asleep when we carried her to the car in the morning to go to airport from my brother's place. We took off at around 9.45am. She slept most of the time while in the air and continued to sleep while we were on the gound and in the car that my uncle Ku Sing drove. She only woke up when we reached home.
- Nina met her Bangka's great grandma for the first time in Bangka. She also met Ku Sing, Kim Kim, Li Phing and Kiki. She didn't have problem sleeping in the afternoon and at night. Her first afternoon nap was even 3 hours long. Meme installed a new aircon in the master bedroom for Nina. We usually do not use aircon in Bangka.
- Nina 'dived' herself onto the floor while crawling, face first and of course ... she cried out loud.
January 31st, 2006:
- Nina could move her wrist left and right when we said 'nang ning ning nang ning'
- Nina could say 'gajah' when she saw the picture of elephant
- Nina waved both her arms left and right when we sang the song 'the wiper on the bus go swish swish swish ... swish swish swish ...'
- Nina went to the beach for the first time today. We took her to Pasir Padi beach. We went there with Meme, Ku Sing and Li Phing. The afternoon wind was a bit strong, so we put her jacket on and didn't stay there long as we were afraid she might get sick. She slept on the way back home in the car.
- We noticed that Nina could sleep a lot more now in the afternoon. She could sleep for as long as 3 hours for her afternoon nap. Today, she slept for 2 hours at lunch time and she slept again at about 6pm.
- When asking for something, Nina would open and close her hand while bringing her arm forward
- Nina could touch her leg when asked 'kaki Nina mana?'
February 1st, 2006:
- Nina seemed to understand what the lamp was for. We were in a room and the curtain was closed so it was a bit dark. When I opened the curtain and the room became brighter, she immediately looked up, looking for the lamp. We did twice and he repeated the same thing.
- Nina could say 'meong meong' when she saw a cat. She would also bring her hand forward and put her index finger and thumb together.
- Nina could make 'ckk ckk ckk' sound
- Nina ate three small bananas today. They are those small bananas called 'pisang susu'.
- Nina could say 'hatchi' when she heard us sneeze
February 2nd, 2006:
- Nina could say 'eieio' when we sang the song .. "old mcdonald had a farm ... " and we stopped there. She knew that the next word was "eieio".
- Nina seemed to understand the questions "where is .... ?" and "what is ... ?"
- Nina could say 'cheese' when we videotaped her at Bangka airport while waiting for our flight back to Jakarta
- Nina left Bangka for Jakarta today on Sriwijaya Air SJ075
February 3rd, 2006:
- Nina could say 'truck' when she saw the truck on the road, but she couldn't really pronounced the 'r' well yet
- Nina would move her hand (palm faced up) in a semi circular motion when I made sound of ambulance
- Nina would give me a kiss when I said "Nina .. kiss daddy".
February 4th, 2006:
- Nina flew back to Singapore on Valuair VF506. She didn't have trouble adjusting herself in Singapore and was even able to take her nap on the bed, rather than her usual rocker chair.
- Nina could say 'aduh'
- Nina could say 'car' when she saw the picture of a car on the bedsheet
- Nina could pronounce the letter 'S' when she saw the letter on her floor mat
February 6th, 2006:
- Nina could say 'mummy' and 'daddy' this morning, as an addition to 'mama' and 'papa' that she could already say before.
- Nina could say 'fish' when she saw the picture of a fish
- Nina could say 'eek' when she wanted to poo poo, but of course it's already too late
- Nina could pronounce and identify the letter 'S' on her floor mat
- Nina could say 'mimi' when she wanted to drink
- Nina could identify dog, bear, gajah (elephant) and shoe when we asked her.
- Nina has eight teeth now. The additional two on the lower side just came out.
- Nina could say 'two' when she saw this word on the ground floor of our apartment : EXIT B2
February 8th, 2006:
- Nina could say 'abis' when she finished her milk and would twist her hand, palm faced up, in semi-circular motion
February 10th, 2006:
- Nina could say 'ten' when she saw the number 10 on our apartment floor
February 13th, 2006:
- Nina was ill. She caught flu and cough and needed to be given the nebulizer treatment to loosen and remove her phlegm. It's a medical device that delivers liquid medication in the form of a mist to the airways. But she's okay, it's not asthma and it's not bronchitis.
- Nina could say 'cheese' when she saw my camera, eventhough I was not pointing it at her.
- Nina could say 'bobo' when she saw a picture of her in sleeping position
- Nina could say 'hallo' when she saw the public phone at the Mt. Alvernia hospital.
- Nina called Heidi's name several times today
- Nina met Joanne at Mt. Alvernia hospital, one of the nurses who helped us when Nina was born. It was their first meeting since Nina was discharged in January 2005.
- Nina also met sister Bernadette, the sister from Mt. Alvernia chapel who prayed for us every morning during our stay at Mt. Alvernia hospital
- Nina was taught by Rannie to answer 'Jakarta' if she was asked 'where is heidi?' or 'heidi mana?'. She couldn't pronounce it well yet. She would say 'jakta'.
- Nina could say 'Elmo' when she saw its picture on her Sesama Street's guitar
- Nina could point to the letter 'X' on her floor mat when asked 'where is X?'
February 14th, 2006:
- Nina could say 'pencil' and could also point to the picture of pencil on the bedsheet when asked.
February 15th, 2006:
- Nina could say 'pen'
- Nina could point to the picture of globe on the bedsheet when asked 'where is the globe'
February 16th, 2006:
- Nina could imitate the action of the kids shown on a magazine pictures
- Nina could also mimic what we were doing
- Nina could say 'giraffe', but she pronounced it 'giya', when she saw the picture of giraffe
- Nina could say 'ball', but she pronounced it as 'ba', when she saw a ball or picture of a ball
February 17th, 2006:
- Nina could say 'bobo' when she sees a picture of her in sleeping position
February 22nd, 2006:
- Nina knew her shadow. She said 'Nana' when she saw her shadow on the wall
February 23rd, 2006:
- Nina could say 'tie' when she saw my tie
February 24th, 2006:
- Nina could say 'pita' when she saw it on her mommy's dress
February 25th, 2006:
- Nina could say 'apple' when she saw an apple on TV
March 5th, 2006:
- Nina could say 'moon' and point to the moon in the sky
March 10th, 2006:
- Nina got her chicken pox immunisation
- Nina could say 'lion' when she saw a picture of lion on her cubes toy
- Nina could say 'abis' when any TV program or movie she was watching has ended and showing the list of names on the screen
March 12th, 2006:
- Nina could call herself 'Nina' instead of Nana
- Nina could eat grapes by herself
March 15th, 2006:
- Nina could say 'Elmo' when she saw her Elmo soft toy
- Nina could say 'satu' while showing her index finger
- Nina could say 'sit down' but not so clear yet
March 18th, 2006:
- Nina could say 'bubur' and 'kaki'
March 19th, 2006
- Nina could say 'one' and pronounced the letter 'Y'
March 20th, 2006:
- Nina could pronounce the letter 'D' and was able to differentiate it from the letter 'B'.
March 22nd, 2006:
- Nina could say 'Ophrah' when she saw the Ophrah Winfrey's show on TV, but apparently she also called all the black female actors or singers on TV as 'Ophrah' .. :-)
- Nina could say 'Five' when she saw the logo of Channel 5 on TV
March 23rd, 2006:
- Nina could say 'banana'
- Nina could pronounce the letter 'T'
March 24th, 2006:
- Nina could count 1 to 5 by looking at those numbers on her playing cards.
- She mixed up the word 'banana' with other words having similar sound she created herself. So, when she saw the banana last night, she sometimes said it correctly as 'banana', but she also called it 'namama', 'nanama' .. :-)
April 9th, 2006:
- Nina made her first steps in Jakarta. Not quite there yet, as she still needed some support.
April 13th, 2006:
- Nina was down with flu, coughing and eye infection. We brought her to see her pediatrician and she was given cough and cold mixtures, eye drops and antibiotics. The antibiotics was supposed to be given to her if she did not get better after three days. She did, so we did not give her.
April 20th, 2006:
- Nina can now eat by herself, eventhough it's still very messy. But, she can use the spoon to scoop her meal and bring it into her mouth.
- Her lower mollar teeth have started to come out. She has two now.
- We have started brushing Nina's teeth. Fortunately, she likes it.
April 27th, 2006:
- Nina will cover her nose when we say 'bau'
- Nina can pretend to cough when we ask her, "how's Nina coughing?". She will sometimes give herself a pat on her chest while coughing
- Nina can pretend to cry when we ask her, "how's Nina crying?". She will make the crying sound, "hu hu hu hu"
May 1st, 2006:
- Nina could say 'duduk' when she asked to sit on a chair
May 3rd, 2006:
- Nina was given the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccination at Mt. Alvernia hospital by her pediatrician, dr. Terence Tan. She cried for few seconds after the injection and then started smiling again.
May 4th, 2006:
- Hurray !! Nina walked on her own, finally .. no more support from us. Still raising her hands up in the air, used as a 'balancing stick' but she confidently walked around the house happily. See the photos of her walking here.
May 8th, 2006:
- I forgot to write this one down earlier. It started about 3 or 4 months ago, I believe. Nina would answer 'office' when Rannie asked her, "where is daddy?"
May 18th, 2006:
- Nina said 'door' and 'sini'
- Nina could do her 'flirting' eyes by closing and opening both eyes repeatedly
May 19th, 2006:
- I met up with Nina and Rannie after my work at Raffles City Tower. Nina came with two of her small letters book. The 'A' and the 'B'. Rannie told me these two letters seemed to be her favourite letters. She always looked for these two when playing with her letters book.
May 21st, 2006:
- Nina could say 'panas' when she was eating something hot
- Nina could say 'dingin' when the water used to bathe her was too cold
- Nina could pronounce letter 'L'
May 22nd, 2006:
- Nina could pronounce letter 'U'
- Nina could say 'octopus'. She had two of them, made of rubber.
June 4th, 2006:
- Nina seemed to understand the question 'What's the other one?'
This morning, when I brought her to the Bedok market, we walked passed two HDB blocks. She saw the block number 92 and then she said 'two'. Then I asked her, 'what's the other one?' .. to my surprise she said 'nine'. She answered correctly again when we passed by block 91. She said 'nine' first and then I asked what the other one was.
- Nina was in the bathroom just now with me. She saw the pail we usually use to keep her dirty clothes before we do the next laundry and there was one of her dirty t-shirts on the floor. She walked closer to the pail, she bent down and lifted the cover of the pail. I immediately asked her not to do that and told her it was dirty. But, to my surprise, what she wanted to do was, she picked up the dirty t-shirt on the floor and put it inside the pail and covered it again. :-)
- I forgot to write down this one and wasn't really sure when she could first do this. Nina can now drink water from our glass directly with us holding the glass for her
- Nina can also hold her milk bottle by herself, but most of the time, Rannie does it for her during her milk time.
