of walking around and that thing about camera...

Here is another video capturing two of my little girl's traits: walking around aimlessly and her thing about the camera.

of hair and macam macam lagi...

One thing about our little girl is that she is very curious. Another is her dislike of anything being put on her head. Specifically anything to do with her hair. Well i can't really blame her because she must have freaked out when she came out from wifey's womb and saw that her papa got no hair :)

Anyway, this it about Sophie, so back to her.

Wifey got sophie a few hair clips and when ever we tried to put it on Sophie's hair, 2 things will sure to happen. 1. She will get curious and irritated. then she will pull it off to see what it is. 2. she will sometimes run to the bedroom where the mirror is and look at herself (looks like our girl has got a vain streak in her) and upon seeing something on her hair, will pull it ous to look at it.

not only hair clips she will not even let us put a hat on her.

so you must understand and forgive us when we try to get her to get used to the concept of having her hair done up. hera are some of out more successful attempts.

of the spoon and bowl grabbing stage...part 2...

ok continuing on from the previous part...

Moving up the level is the next method where there might be some dirt or higher chances of contamination on the floor. At this level, there are no documented data on the dirtiness of the floor, but also there is a lack of data to indicate the exact cleanliness. Therefore, in keeping to the cautious side, it is recommended for the parent to employ the method suitable for this level. This method states that for the object that have been dropped, the parent will need to flick the object in the air for a few shakes. The theory behind this is that the movement of the object will cause it’s surface to have friction with the air at the molecular level. This friction will cause of object’s surface to get heated up. The germs, upon feeling the heat will jump off from the object thus making the object free from germs and safe for your child.

Next on the list is the level where a certain level of contamination have occurred on the object and is visible, but unknown risk level. Something like you see some stuff sticking on the object but you don’t know what it is and weather it will pose a danger to you. The method to disinfect for this method is pretty simple. The parent just need to use the finger (usually thumb or forefinger) to wipe the area of the object that touched the floor. It is believed that the action of wiping the surface will rub away any visible contamination on the object thus making it clean, but recent studies have shown that that is in fact not the real reason. Through rigorous testing and experimentation, the actual reason is due to the “good guys bacteria” factor. When the person wipe the object with his/her finger, the “good guys” bacteria will be transferred to the object and these bacterial will go into war with the germs. As we all know, good guys will always win, do the good guys bacteria will eventually kill all the germs and thus disinfect the object.

The fourth method of disinfecting an object that had touched the floor is to rub it against the parent’s clothing. This is normally employed in a situation where the parent have only one hand free (while the other could be holding the child or fending off food splatter from the child). The area of the clothing to rub are mostly (but not limited to) the stomach area of the shirt for normal or round shaped objects (often times ball or bowl) or the side of the shirt, near the hip area for smaller or odd shaped objects (e.g., choot choot/pacifier or spoon). Alternately, the parent sometimes use the thigh area of the pants to clean the object but this is more limited to occasions when the parent is in a sitting position. The rationale behind this is that by rubbing the object to the clothing, the germs will be transferred from the object to the clothing and therefore making the object free from germs. But those goodie two shoes will argue that what will happen to the clothes now that the germs are transferred onto it. Not a problem at all because floor germs will die at high altitude (just like how those folks who climb everest cannot survive for long in the ‘death zone’ – I knew this fact because I watched discovery channel!).

Continuing up the chain, the next method is usually employed in more extreme situations where it is pretty certain that the level of hygiene is confirmed to be low for example, the floor in a Chinese restaurant. The method recommended for this level of contamination is to put the object into the parent’s mouth and lick it. This assures the parent that the object will be disinfected. The mechanism behind is simple. When the object is put into the mouth, all the germs on it are suddenly plunged into darkness. This will send them into a panic mode and when they get licked, they go all beserk and start to attack and kill each other. Eventually all the germs will die, except of course the last lone germ (the last one standing), but don’t worry, it will die too because when the object is taken out from the mouth into daylight, it will see that it had killed it’s fellow germs and could not live on with the guilt thus committing suicide by jumping off. And this leaves us with a clean object! One caveat to this method though, it is only effective if the mother of the child does it and not the father. The reason is really simple, it’s icky for the father to do that.

Finally, there is the ultimate. The mother of all contaminations, a contamination so bad that there is very little hope left. I am talking about the ‘Someone pee’d on the elevator floor’ dirty. For this level, it’s no other choice but to throw the object away.
Oh ya, there is also the part of quickly go out and try to buy back the exact same thing so that your child don’t throw a tantrum and ruin your day.

So there you have it, the “Three aunties and six grandma’s Methods of disinfection”. Use it wisely and don’t say I didn’t tell you…

of the spoon and bowl grabbing stage...part 1...

Sophie have now reach ‘the spoon and bowl grabbing stage’. This is the stage of development where the child will want to grab the spoon (or fork or chopstick) when you have her by the table during your meals. In turn the parents, feeling a sense of incompleteness will hand a bowl or plate to the child to play with. I dunno why, but we do (just like how some people will close the bathroom door when they pee even when they are all alone at home).

So anyway, with all up, there will be downs and with all grabbing, there will be throwing. Our little girl is no exception to that rule and she is at this sub-stage of throwing things on the floor. And again, as parents, we dunno why, but we continue to pick up the stuff and hand it back to the little girl. Thus, the vicious cycle.

That leads me to the topic. As we all know, the floor is full of those nasty icky stuff when the rule of thumb is that whenever an object touches it, the object will be rendered ‘not fit for a child’s mouth’. Therefore the issue here is how do you deal with a child who constantly drop something (that she will eventually put into her mouth) on the floor while maintaining your sanity. This is where the “Three aunties and six grandma’s Methods of disinfection” kicks in. For the uninitiated, this is the tried and true set of methods that has been used (but unproven on its effectiveness) through the generations.
*Since this is a long post and I need you to put high focus on this critically important subject I will post it in 2 parts.*

The first method is for when an object is dropped onto the floor that is fairly clean and pose little risk of contamination. In fact the step is carried through just for show only, so that the child sees that you at least concern for their well being and did something to something that she dropped onto the floor. In this level, the parent will pick up the object and stare at it for a while. The act of staring the object itself does nothing to the object but it was believed that the germs got so freaked out at the sight at someone staring at them that they just drop dead, thus making the object safe. But this method does not have a guaranteed effectiveness due to the fact that some germs might not be paying attention and did not notice someone staring at them (couple to the fact that there might also be some blind germs).
To be continued in part two...

of papaya and kungfu panda...

little girl sitting in her favourite chair enjoying her favourite food...papaya...

of propaganda and death rays...

I have not really put a finger on it yet, but there is something really sinister about that purple-shouederless-thighless dinosaur named Barney. from the first time Sophie see Barney and his propaganda, she was hooked. I mean she will just sit there and watch. and if you know Sophie you will know that she does not sit still. But with barney on TV, she will be hooked. She will even asked for it to be played. I present to you exhibit A.

if you examine closely. the subject seem to exhibit the tendency to move to the instructions presented on the cathode ray tube (i could say CRT - but it sounds more sinister this way). We postulate that this could be due to the invincible death ray emitted from the purplish tint of the dinosaur exterior.