Elizabeth Barrett Browning (6 March 1806 - 29 June 1861)

My final posting for this month is a tribute to Elizabeth Barrett Browning in view of the fact that 6th March, 2006 marks the bicentenary of the birth of this great Victorian poet who has been widely acclaimed "A Woman of Real Genius". More could be read about her from this link.

One of Elizabeth Browing's most popular works is the sonnet which begins with the well-known line, 'How do I love thee? Let me count the ways’ which was featured in one of my earlier posting.

Another work which leaves a great impression on me is her Sonnet XIV

If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
I love her for her smile--her look--her way
Of speaking gently,--for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of ease on such a day--
For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may
Be changed, or change for thee,--and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheek dry,--
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.

Another Birthday?

Zerlynde's birthday? No, it's just her ogling over Granny's Birthday cake...

Respectable Fathers

The fathers at their more respectable moments at Naomi's birthday party held at Penang Club on 18th February.





Father and daughter enjoying an evening stroll..........

Seductive or What??

These pictures were taken almost 2 months ago when we went for drinks at Bagan. I thought I must post them for obvious reasons!

Vocabulary III

Zerlynde has just turned 19 months.



Her vocabulary has since my last postings of Oct 18th 2005 and Oct 6th 2005 expanded to include the following...

1.Cat 2.Dog 3.Duck 4.Frog 5.Horse 6.Cow 7.Fish 8.Bee 9.Bird 10.Pig 11.Owl 12.Mouse 13.Bear 14.Goat 15.Baa-Baa(for sheep) 16.Tiger 17.Cricket 18.Peacock 19.Rabbit 20.Star 21.Moon 22.Cloud 23.Eye 24.Ear 25.Nose 26.Mouth 27.Tongue 28.Hair 29.Ball 30.Flower 31.Shoes 32.Tree 33.Car 34.Clock 35.Drum 36.Boat 37.Airplane 38.Book 39.Fan 40.Yoyo 41.Pin 42.Tv 43.Jump 44.Clap 45.Kick 46.Open 47.Hug 48.Off 49.Go 50.Wait 51.Blow 52.Cut 53.Eat 54.Drink 55.Juice 56.Milk 57.Cake 58.Apple 59.Orange 60.Banana 61.Bread 62.Cup 63.Spoon 64.Mama 65.Papa 66.AhMa 67.AhKong 68.AhYee 69.Kakak 70.Koko 71.TiTi 72.ChieChie 73.Barney 74.Baby 75.Please 76.Hi 77.Bye-Bye 78.No 79.No-More 80.Big-Big 81.Hot 82.Wet 83.Pain-pain 84.Smile 85.Circle 86.Oval 87.Train 88.Pei-pei(Piggyback) 89.Pau-pau(Carry) 90.Xie-xie(Thanks) 91.Pu-yau(No) 92.Pha-pha(scared) 93.Sit 94.Duduk 95.Egg 96.Square 97.Wash 98.Turtle 99.Train 100.Throw

Barney

I personally think that Barney is unsuitable for a baby of Zerlynde’s age. But my nephew Jonathan can’t survive without his daily dosage of that purple dinosaur, so Barney has inevitably been introduced as part of the family “culture” for the past 6 months.

What is it about Barney that appeals to toddlers? I guess it’s the bright colours and the singing and dancing, and of course, the hopping and the bouncing. When Jonathan was first exposed to this purple dinosaur, we noticed an inclination on his part to climb onto tables to jump and dance on top, in imitation of Barney. Tsk, tsk, bad influence, this Barney is, we thought!

But to be fair, it’s not all bad and no good. Zerlynde seems to pick up a lot of stuffs from watching the endless episodes of Barney this and Barney that. She interacts with the programmes, dancing and wriggling and shaking her bum, and rolling her arms to the song of “The Wheels on the Bus” and clapping away to “If You’re Happy and You Know it”. Also, she sometimes walks on tip-toe in imitation of you-know-who.

The best part of Barney for me is towards the end of most episodes when he starts crooning his signature song “I love you, you love me, we are happy family, with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you, won’t you say you love me too…..”. My little angel will always toddle towards me to give me this great big hug with a loving smile on her face whereupon I will reciprocate by giving her this huge kiss.

So, yes, I do approve of Barney, for personal reasons……….

My Bonnie

More often than not, Zerlynde kicks up a fuss at bedtime. What I normally do is "pin" her to the bed, tickle her a little, then sing her some lullabies. These techniques normally work. On a good day, she dozes off after 5 minutes. On a bad day however, it can take me more than an hour to get her to sleep, in which case, I employ other creative methods like put on a babies' programme on my laptop and let her watch till she dozes off :)

Tonight, it took me more than half an hour to get her to bed. She spent 15 minutes calling out "Ah Ma, Ah Ma", her granny my mum who has been on vacation since yesterday afternoon. Then I "pinned" her down on the bed despite her protests and started tickling her which resulted in her half crying and half laughing. When she calmed down somewhat, I sang her favourite lullaby, My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean. When I came to the chorus bit, I couldn't believe my ears when she sang along with me "Bring Back, Bring Back". I thought I heard wrongly but there's no mistake. I repeated the lullaby a few times and each time when I reached the chorus, she went "Bring Back, Bring Back".

Isn't my Bonnie the loveliest bonnies of all??!

Her other repertoire includes "Happy Birthday to You", "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and the mandarin song "Ke Ren Lai". She only sings the following bits, "Happy..", "to You", "Star", "Are", "High", "Kan Pa Pa", but we are all so proud of her. Won't all parents?

Journey to the South

Hooi Yie, my youngest sister delivered a baby boy last month. So mum and I decided to pay her a visit at her parents-in-law’s house in Pontian where she was recuperating. Hubby drove us down to KL where we stayed for a few days. There, I met up with Janice, Raz and Mee Lin. Also, the MPH warehouse sale was on. So, Kitty and I managed to walk away with some wonderful bargains. Then on Saturday, together with Kitty and my hubby, we took a 3 hour leisurely drive to Pontian.


Zerlynde with her little friend Zara

The new born baby was very beautiful. He’s got big brown eyes, a promising nose, dainty lips and 2 deep dimples on his cheeks. Zerlynde was immediately very taken in by him.


Beautiful Kai Yun, my nephew


Zerlynde playing with her cousin sister, K-Ying

My brother-in-law’s house in Pontian is situated on a very vast ground just beside a river. His family recently built some chalets just 300 metres away from the house, complete with a beautifully landscaped garden at the front. We were given the privilege of staying at “the resort” on our first evening there. And for supper, we were treated to the famous Pontian “red noodle” which is essentially wanton noodle cooked in tomato ketchup. The noodle sure didn’t look very appetizing but it didn’t taste too bad either surprisingly. Apparently, people as far as Singapore comes to Pontian just to satisfy their craving for this red noodle. I wonder why…. Must be an acquired taste.


The "5-star Pontian Resort"

The next day, while Kitty and my hubby drove back to KL, Hau Yee’s father very kindly drove mum, Zerlynde and I to Kluang to visit my mum’s eldest sister. It took us about one and a half hours to reach there. We stayed in Kluang a night to allow mum sufficient time to catch up with her 80 year old sister whom she hardly meets. I also took the opportunity to get acquainted with some of my cousins who were in fact closer to my mother’s age than to mine.


Mum and her eldest sis

We returned to Pontian the following day to stay another night, this time in the main house as we discovered that the mosquitoes at the chalets were ferocious and had feasted on poor Zerlynde during our stay there on the first evening. Then, on Tues evening, we flew back to Penang directly from Senai airport

It was Zerlynde’s first experience flying. We flew Airasia since it allowed us to walk up the steps to the plane which I thought was a great opportunity to introduce Zerlynde to the sight of real aeroplanes at a near distance. She didn’t seem too excited though. I think it’s because she didn’t fully comprehend the nature of our expedition. But while in the plane during take-off, she imitated the sound of the roaring engine which led me to believe that in her own and limited way, she understood the concept of being in motion.


"Bye-bye"


Zerlynde's First Flight

We gave her sugar cane water during take-off and landing to help her equalize. And on both occasions, she threw up in the comfort of my poor mum’s embrace.

My Mother

I sent mum to the Bayan Lepas airport yesterday afternoon. She was flying to KL to stay a night before flying off to Kelantan with Kitty for the weekend.

We asked Meena the maid to bring Jonathan and Zerlynde to the kitchen so as to spare them the pain of seeing their granny leave the house without them. At the airport, dad called mum to tell her that Zerlynde had been crying for her. In the background, Zerlynde could be heard going “Ah Ma, Ah Ma” at the top of her lungs.

I looked at mum. She was in tears herself.