kid labor (not a toddler anymore)

in less than 3 months, andy will be turning two.  she's become more kid than toddler these past few months.  for one, she speaks a lot and in full sentences.  she copies almost everything that alex and karol say and do. she can also jump on both feet already, etc. etc.

first sentence

andy, talks a lot and understands simple commands. she can also answer simple questions and say niceties. however, sometimes we don't really know what she's saying. sometimes she even just pretends to say something just because alex or karol or both are also telling us something.

one time, andy was playing with alex in the living room. they were probably enjoying so much that when daddy called, "andy, come! let's take bath." very strongly, she said, "no! i don't want bath!"  i almost dropped the dishes i was washing to check if it was really andy talking in a completely composed sentence.  everyone, including alex laughed.

"i want to also"

it's a broken phrase she got from karol.  usually when karol wants to have something he sees from us, he says, "mommy, i want to also eat that." so now, andy says, "mommy, i want to also." whenever she wants to ask for food.

summer time = ice cream.  the first time andy tasted ice cream, she didn't like it.  it was probably too cold for her taste. everytime we go out for ice cream, i try to offer her some but she always says, "i don't want."  early today, we went for ice cream in the old town. as usual, she got her free cone but probably got tired of it and ate just half.  so, i offered to her my mojito ice cream. surprise! surprise! she learned that she actually likes ice cream. after every lick she kept saying, "mommy, i want to also."  well, she ended up finishing my ice cream.

budding artist

it is not a secret that alex likes to draw.  andy copies everthing, so it is also not a surprise that she would "draw" whenever alex takes out paper and crayons. she's actually very good now at holding crayons and pencils, equally with both the left and the right hand. without defying the law of nature, andy's scribbles sometimes ends up in the wrong places. today, it was on the floor.  i caught her in the act, so i tried to give her immediate punishment. see below... 

scene: andy wipes the floor. after some time, 

stands up and tries to do something else

mommy: andy! clean that up!

scene: andy goes back to wipe the floor

totally hilarious! *lol* bad mommy... :D

mommy and tatci

andy is now 18 months.  she likes copying what everybody says, or even does (e.g., mommy crossing arms).  for the last couple of months andy's vocabulary hasn't improved that much.  however she can clearly say "mommy" and "tatci" (read: tatsi).  cool, right?!  don't be fooled though, as it turned out, they don't mean quite the way you think they should mean. :D

for a long time, andy kept saying mommy.  she would sometimes knock on the bathroom or toilet door and say, "mommy?"  as if looking for me when i'm right there by her side.  she calls me in the same tone all the time. as if always asking a question.  she would also come to me whenever she wants something or just plainly need some help with a toy she cannot operate saying, "mommy?!"  my heart was melting with happiness. until..... she started going to daddy and saying, "mommy?!" or to alex saying "mommy?!"

and so, we learned that "mommy" doesn't really refer to me but simply means she needs help with something. :D

this was reinforced when she started saying "tatci!"  she probably hears when alex and karol call their daddy "tatci", which means daddy in slovak.  so she started repeating this.  now, she says "tatci" with very strong emotion as if calling somebody from afar.  almost screaming, or sometimes really screaming.  she started saying this in front of daddy. so again we thought she meant daddy.

as with the word mommy, we learned that "tatci" could mean mommy or daddy.  she says this when she wants to call our attention, or whenever she hears her sibblings say tatci.  i learned this the hard way.  most of the time, it's just the two of us who are left home.  one time, she was a bit cranky and i had to run to the toilet.  she probably thought i went inside the bathroom, which is in a different room.  she then came running after me, went to the bathroom door knocking, and screaming her lungs out calling "tatci!!!" over and over again.  she stopped the moment i came out of the other door, almost laughing.

more words:
"mayl" - smile. says it whenever she pretends to take our photo.
"ma ma" - means she wants to eat.  comes from "mñam! mñam!" or "yumyum!"
"mao-mao" - referring to a cat.  comes from "meow! meow!" but could also mean other animals like dogs or horses :D
"wu-wu" - the sound that a dog makes
"a-play" - airplane

so far these are the standouts.  rest assured that there'll be more. ;)

andy at 16 months

andy got burned with the flat iron.  it was about 2cm on her middle finger.  poor hand was bandaged for over a week.  nevertheless, it didn't stop her from doing the things that she likes, and one of them was playing the piano.

andy playing the piano with bandaged hands

the photos below were taken at the waiting area of her pedia's clinic.  happy andy had no idea she would be vaccinated.  she cried just a little bit.  what a brave little girl!

at the doctor's

at 16 months, andy is 81 cm tall and weighs 10 kg.

the 15-month old andy

these pix were taken on 19th of february. we were having the usual palacinky (crepe) weekend breakfast. andy usually eats just the crepe without anything. this day we decided to put a little bit of nutella and this was the result. :D

the 15-month old andy likes to eat by herself. although i'm very much hesitant to let her due to the clean up, hehehe. but from time to time she gets her turn.

andy also likes to talk and sing a lot. however, no one really understands her. well not totally. some of her favorite words are: hiyo (hello), bye, okies (ok), mommy, daddy, what, aya (we don't have a clue what that means).

eventhough she's totally out of tune, i know she's singing because it's not her usual speaking voice and also because she's doing some action (particularly for twinkle, twinkle). she can also sing old mcdonald had a farm by saying eee-yay-eee-yay-yo for quite some time now. lately, she's added mmm-mmm-mmm for the cow sound. still out of tune though. :D

andy is also very active. she likes to climb everywhere. most of the time she can climb down safely. but when she gets stuck, she would cry for help by screaming.

andy likes toys. specially stuffed toys which she likes to kiss and say mmm-mah, then giggles. she also likes to play with karol's cars and says vrrrrrmmm by doing a shower of saliva. :)) her other interests includes stacking up blocks as high as possible, sorting shapes, pretend talking on a phone (toy or real)...

"hiyo! (a lot of unintelligible sounds) okies!"

then she hangs up the phone. that's our 15-month old andy!

intruder

dear andy,

today, somebody broke into our house and pretended to be you.  i never noticed until lunch time.  i sat her on karol's dining chair and she sat like a normal kid.  this made me suspicious but i fed her still, not knowing for sure.

i gave her soup and she ate it.  then, she also had rice and fish.  all the time she was just sitting very nicely.  i got more suspicious when after finishing her serving of rice and fish, she wanted more. i didn't have enough, so i gave her more soup instead.  she had a few more spoonfuls and then started standing and climbing the table.  that probably meant she's had enough. so i put her down.

i really don't know where she hid you.  please come back soon. i already miss you.

love,
mommy

first haircut

first haircut, check!  done at 1 year, 1 week and 1 day old (21 november 2011) at eurovea's kid hair cut

for 4.50 eur, andy was transformed into a boy! ahihihi! we went to a professional hair cutter for kids to get andy's first hair cut. i didn't have the courage to do it myself. i was afraid to mess up her hair, but it happened anyway. :D

andy didn't really have much hair to start with. but her bangs were already getting in the way of her eyes.  so we asked for her bangs to be trimmed. so now, this is how she looks like. :)

andy is one!

the one year old andy loves walking. you should be ready when she approaches you. she will somehow manage to get a hold of your hand and never let it go until you start walking her. for some weird reason, you should always hold her right hand. don't worry if you don't know which is which, she'll switch hands by herself. if she can't walk or no one is willing to walk her, then she will push chairs and walk on her knees.

andy loves to perform her standing trick. she's been practicing her standing trick more and more. and everytime, she would clap her hands before she goes back to sit. a true performer at her best. never fails to impress everyone, specially her ate alex.

to andy, music and dance go together. andy loves playing with kuya karol's cars, balls and anything she can get her hands on. she crawls to the kids' room all by herself and knows how to pull out the toy boxes of her choice. her next favorite spot however is the living room. aside from the tv, her hobby includes the ball popper, activity table and gum ball machine. all of which she can operate to turn on the music and dance along with.

teething andy now has five teeth. she's a late teether. all this time, we were so focused on her two upper bunny teeth that we almost missed the one growing on her lower left. maybe the rest are also on the way. it's just too hard to see them.

sweet andy loves to hug. sometimes, when andy becomes too happy about something, she starts hugging the person next to her. most of the time it's karol or alex. and she would repeat the act over and over again while everyone else calls "huuuuuuuuuuug!!!" then she wrinkles her nose with joy.

that's our one-year old andy! :)

andy is smart

andy likes to play with the bottles and cans in the kitchen.  she also likes to rearrange them into different shelves.  so we now have to lock the kitchen.

we usually eat together but on rare occasions andy finishes first that we have to leave her out in the living room. otherwise she will get bored and squirm and scream in her high chair.

one dinner time, we had to lock her out of the kitchen.  it so happened that daddy's tool box was out in the living room.  the smart andy, pushed it all the way close to the kitchen gate and voila!

great fun at one

the prettiest one year old
andy really had fun at her first birthday party.
she loved sliding and drowning in the pool of balls.
venue: retro kids

andy's first birthday cake: banana chocolate cake covered in marzipan
white dots on her cake, black dots on her dress :D

.

friends of the party girl

almost one

in two weeks, andy will be blowing her first birthday candle. but before that, let's see what she's up to now....

* at her 11th month checkup she was 76cm tall and weighs 8.55kg (19th oct)
* doesn't like bottled baby food. mommy has to cook it
* wants her drinks and food to be warm (room temperature just doesn't do it)

* wrinkles her nose when she's happy or when she's pretending to be unhappy
* rolls all over the floor (or playpen) when she's really unhappy

* likes to play with cars, pushing them on the floor and tries to make vrrrm sounds as best as she can

* likes to explore into tight spaces

* likes hitting the xylophone and drums
* is growing two upper teeth

* crawls very fast, even while holding a toy on one or two hands
* likes to climb and touch the flat screen tv

* stands on her own for a few seconds
* likes the baby walker and can walk fairly well while being held on one hand

the things that andy can do

the other day, i left andy on the carpet watching tv. suddenly i heard a clapping sound. true enough, andy was clapping. i've been waiting for this since she was six months old (4 months ago). :))

i really had no idea why she started clapping so late. but she can do bye-bye, close open, point, and "where is the light?" a long time before that.

then yesterday, she was again on the carpet playing when i heard the tv turn on. but not just that, she also turned on the transceiver. she knew which two remote controls she needed. so, she watched her program quietly... :))

ten months

i'm writing this while andy is snoring on the swing. takes her some time to fall asleep, but at least, the ten-month-old-two-toothed-andy has a fairly regular schedule.

her day starts between 6 and 7 am. she feeds every two hours, alternating with milk and meals, with naps in between. the cycle goes: milk, breakfast, milk, nap, lunch, milk, nap, dinner, milk, sleep. and another day starts :)))

of course, in between all those major activities is playtime. she moves around the house so much on all fours. cruises on the furnitures on twos. she knows all the parts of the house and her favorite is the kids' bedroom where all the toys are. aside from exploring, her favorite past time is talking. she babbles a lot as if she's really making sense :D sometimes, i wish i could really understand what she says because it really sounds interesting the way she tells it.

oops! have to wrap up now. the piglet is awake :D

8 months

the 8 month old andy is very, very active. she's starting to pull herself up to standing position. without any help whatsoever. a big eater. screams to catch attention, specially when demanding for her next spoon of food. :))

she likes to play in the jumper and does so in a very coordinated manner. somewhat like jumping on a trampoline.

although up to this day, no sign of any tooth coming out. :(

7 months

andy started swimming exercises and totally loves it. we are now on our second month.


she seems to be a small baby, but i think quite tall at 70cm and 6.77kg.

this month, she can totally sit upright and likes playing on her tummy. she can even move forward like a soldier (cum caterpillar). one time, she even surprised us. she was left playing on the carpet when she suddenly screamed. and we just saw her already sitting supported by only one of her hands.

6 months

this is a very delayed post. everything seems to be happening so fast that i didn't really have time to keep track of andy's developments. one thing i'm sure of though, is that at 6 months, andy started eating her solids.

she is the most eager of our piglets to try her first bite. didn't make faces at all. just ate as. if she's been eating her whole life. watch her video and you'll know what i mean. :)

5 months

andy just turned 5 months. her day started with an early morning visit to the pedia. she got her second set of shots. this time i was there, and i almost cried when she cried. :( in the evening, she had slight fever but was gone the following morning.

moving on to the good news, andy's major development this month is rolling over from back to tummy (started around a week after she turned 4 months). she could also roll over from tummy to back (with a little bit of persuasion :D).

andy seems to be the quiet type in the family but she has nicest smile :) she doesn't like to babble so much but sometimes, we catch her smiling at us when we're not really looking.



statistics:
weight: 6.372 kg
height: 66 cm
head c.: 41 cm
chest c.: 42 cm

4-month old andy

last week, a week before she turned four months, andy started turning from side to side; very, very close to rolling on her tummy. at one time, she was even able to roll back from tummy to back by accident. :D she could also turn 360 degrees around the bed if i let her.

developments:
* holds head when upright
* carries weight on legs
* keeps head level with body when pulled to a sitting
* lifts head and shoulders when on tummy
* reaches for nearby objects
* coos more frequently
* laughs out loud (see video)
* turns in the direction of a voice (or tv), most specially alex's voice

is starting to:
* giggle in delight (very hard to make her)
* make wet razzing sounds
* pull to standing position

andy now sleeps in the crib (the same one that karol, alex and daddy used when they babies). we also started to train her to sleep by herself. it's heartbreaking to leave her crying, but she's learning quite fast. sometimes, she can just fall asleep quietly by herself. most of the time, she needs the help of a pacifier (or pacy for short).

yes, she's andy and she's a pacy addict. moreso, i see the making of a "thumb" (mostly fist) sucker in her (just like mommy :D). so far among her sibblings, she's the only one who successfully could get her thumb inside her mouth once in a while. basically, she sucks anything she can get a hold of, which is accompanied by drooling. so, she is probably also teething.

3 months

today andy had her very first vaccination. in fact, three vaccinations; two shots and one oral. i wasn't able to witness it though. but based on hubby's report, she cried hard :(

at 3 months and 3 days
weight: 5.97 kg
height: 62.5 cm
head c: 40 cm
chest c: 41 cm

--oOo--

it seems like it was only yesterday that andy was born. i remember, the first thing i said when i saw her was, "it's alex!" until now, i still think she looks like her ate eventhough her eyes, nose and lips are very much like karol's. but, andy's complexion is very much her own. i think she is really brown. :))

the little andy, seems to have a husky voice. i am just not sure if it's just from too much crying. although she doesn't really cry most of the time. instead, she makes heart-melting, cat-like, pleading sounds.

at three months, she really likes to socialize. she didn't go through the involuntary smile phase. it just happened; one day she just started smiling and cooing. she really can carry on a conversation for quite a long time... even just by herself. just like now, while i'm finishing this post. :)

second month

2nd visit to doctor (22 dec 2010 @ 5 1/2 weeks)
weight: 4.765 kg
height: 58 cm
head c: 37.5 cm
chest c: 37.5 cm


* four days before she had her two months, andy started cooing
* the following day, she responds by smiling
* getting sturdier every day (holds head while standing)
* sleeps most of the time during the day and likes to converse at night



note: in this pic, andy's left eye still has the infection. fortunately it's all better now, except we realized that her left eye is bigger than the right. well nobody's perfect, yet she's still a beauty :D

welcome to christendom!

19th december 2010, sunday @ 12:15pm
st. ladislav church
reception was held at palatin chinese restaurant in the old town

god parents:
eva simekova and michal simek
martie charmaine de borja-macaraeg and joel martinez (not in pic)