Who's Who in the Zoo?

Until today, Hannah had never been to a zoo. Since Daddy is on leave this week, he decided to give Hannah the ultimate 'animal' experience at Zoo Negara (Malaysia's National Zoo).

Early morning preparation included reading all Hannah's animal books with her - in the hope of priming her vocabulary for the outing. Unfortunately, most of her books cover pets and farm animals, so she was woefully unprepared for 'rhinosaurus', 'hippopotamus', etc. not to mention the world's largest rodent (you know, the 'Capybara') or local animals such as the Tapir and Kancil.

Other preparation involved packing Daddy's backpack with food, water, diapers, more water, and a couple of Hannah's favourite toys. Then 8.30am came, and it was time to get going. The zoo opens at 9am, and even then the day is starting to get hot.

Driving to Zoo Negara took a reasonable 30 minutes using the MRR2. I had already checked the price of tickets online (RM15 for adults, RM6 for children over 3). Disappointingly, it turns out you also have to pay for parking (RM4) on top of your entrance tickets. As I drove in at 9.05am, the large carpark was deserted. I picked my shady parking spot, and gave Hannah an obligatory change of nappy to start us off nice and fresh.

Once inside, I decided to take things easy and hopped on the free train that does regular rounds of the zoo. We sat for 5 minutes, Hannah got fidgety and indicated she preferred a more 'happening' form of transport. So we hopped back off and set out on foot.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised by Zoo Negara. It is bigger and more stocked with animals than I expected. The paths are nicely shaded by very established tree canopies. Some of the exhibitions have seen better days, but generally the animals looked healthy and well looked-after. It was sadly quite empty, even by lunchtime, although a modest crowd of about 50 mostly foreigners magically appeared for the "Multi-Animal Show" (every day at 11am, but don't worry about missing this underwhelming performance).

Hannah was kind enough not to demand being carried everywhere. But still, it was a pretty tiring and sweaty day out. Some respite came from lunch in the air-conditioned fast-food restaurant. I was the first customer of the day at about 11.45am. Then the lunch-time rush came in with, ooooh, 3 other families.

And now for the photos. No great wildlife shots I'm afraid (hey, you try lining shots up with a 20 month old toddler pulling at your arm, or worse still try and get her in the shot with the animals!!!). But I just felt I owed it to Hannah to have photographic evidence of this adventure.

As you can see, Hannah had trouble focusing on the animals.

By the way, the animal vocab priming really didn't work. Anything big was declared a "cow!", while anything bird-like was a "duck". Oh, and Hannah got a fright from a "lamb" (which was actually a goat).

Going Against The Flow

Having been parents for a considerable amount of time, we've learnt that toddlers do the exact opposite of what they are told, most of the time.

Whenever we say "NO!", we realise it is a double-edged sword: she may well obey us, or flash us a cheeky grin and do it anyway, and perhaps do it repeatedly in the days and weeks to come.

In case you are wondering, the following sequence of photographs are in the correct order:

The young adventurer not only discovered that handrails usually accompany stairs, she has discovered how to use them, even if she's not quite the correct height yet.

To her (and our) amazement, Hannah discovered yet another skill - walking up the stairs backwards, all the while holding on to the handrail! No wonder she is a picture of concentration, tongue sticking out and all.

Little Hannah conquers yet another obstacle. It seems as though recently, Hannah has been blossoming into a little girl and leaving her little baby identity far far behind.

Not only has she developed a considerable amount of vocabulary, our little angel seem to be hitting the "Terrible Two's" a little prematurely.

"NO!" is the ruling word in the household - either announced by the obstinate toddler or screamed by the terrified grandparent.

Some of the controversial issues in this household includes:

1. The potty - some time ago, Hannah decided the potty is for playing and not for you-know-what. She happily sits on it, lid closed, diaper on, and proclaims to the whole world that she is, well, sitting. 'Everything' gets caught in the diaper these days. Sigh.
2. Bath water - as the name suggests, water in a bath tub is for bathing. Simple. Our Hannah decides she needs a little alkaline addition to her tummy and regularly drinks it. We've tried taking away her plastic tubs, firmly but calmly reprimanding her, but all to no avail.
3. Pyjamas - Hannah has quite a few lovely body suits given to her, but we've had to pack it away prematurely. One night after we had put the little girl to bed, we popped in to check on her and discovered to our amusement (and horror) that she was soundly asleep, but half naked. Having acquired the skill of undoing poppers, she now takes off any article of clothing that has poppers. She then comes over and dolefully goes "mummy help", and expects me to do up everything just so she can take it off again. Typical, isn't it?

And of course, there's the favourite video, the favourite book, the favourite song etc that Hannah requests over and over again. Recently, she's taken to the Doxology, a song that we sing at the end of our bedtime story and prayer routine. It doesn't take Einstein to figure this one out though - a smart toddler bedtime delaying tactic.

So, our little Hannah has a mind of her own. Whether it is climbing up a flight of stairs, combing her hair or getting potty trained, she decides to do it her way, on her terms. The occasional battle of will ensues whenever parent and child disagrees.

You win some and you lose some.

Who can resist this cheeky face anyway?

Now that we have to sing "Doxology" so often, can someone offer us alternative tunes? The least we could do is to make it interesting if we have to sing it for the umpteenth time.

Recent shots

While we have managed the odd blog with photos here and there over the last few months, you might have noticed a distinct lack of more reflective entries. Nothing very deep and thoughtful. Well, that is mainly because a) Cindy is usually the one who writes those, but b) recently she has been worked pretty hard in her latest hospital department, leaving her very little free time, with c) whatever is remaining being consumed with preparing for some exams coming up next month. You get the picture.

So, I'm afraid you will have to be satisfied with another of those 'odd blogs with photos'.

You might remember a previous blog a few months ago when Hannah won a couple of magazine photo competitions.

You may also remember the blunder on the part of "Mother & baby" magazine who failed to print Hannah's name and age alongside the photo.

Well, as a goodwill gesture they featured Hannah again in their March 2008 edition.

And did they remember to publish her details???

Well, she might be 19 months now, but that will do just fine. Thanks, "Mother & Baby". Do we get more free nappies for this???