11 Feb 2011

11 Feb 11
Today cell meeting was a potluck gathering. We had been preparing Charlene for this event throughout the whole week, reminding her that she needs to be good so that we can potluck with the rest.

Thank God for answering our prayers. We had a great time this evening with our cell group.  Charlene was absolutely good! She was quiet and smiley and quite contented. We also thank Alicia, Christine and Bernard for "baby-sitting" her. I am very impressed with cell-leader Bernard. He didn't even need to shake or rock Charlene. He merely held her in his arms and speak to her. Amazing...

I am really glad to have a break, to have a chance to Lo Hei, to potluck with fellow brothers and sisters. Our cell has been great support to us and I am sure they also praise God for the good things they see in Charlene. May God's blessings be upon all of them in the year of the Rabbit.

We thank God for our first Lo Hei together as a family. And our first potluck with our cell group.

8 Feb 11

Charlene is very sleepy in school. Despite all her crying, she still got all her tasks completed. She is super fast in expressing her displeasure. Each time, Teacher wants to do something with her, she will start to cry. And when she is being cuddled, she will stop immediately. Really amusing. At the same time, it's also gratifying to see her response improved so much. Just a few months back, Charlene was so slow in her responses that we often don't know what's upsetting her. It's so wonderful to see her improvement. Thank You Lord Jesus for watching over her.

Part of the school routine involves playing toys with Charlene. Last week, Teacher gave Charlene an alligator on her left and a flurry star on her right charlene threw her hand away from the star This week, Teacher gave her 2 toys to pick again; flurry star and a spiky spider. The star was on her left palm and the spider on her right. Charlene almost immediately moved her left hand away. I decided to ask Teacher to perform a little experiment I told Teacher to swap the toys; star on her right and spider on her left. Charlene did not move her left hand away. This means that Charlene was really indicating her preference, not that Charlene can only move her left hand. Praise Lord!

6 Feb 2011

We thank God for the many 'first' that we have with Charlene in the Year 2011.

This morning we went to church and Charlene was awake and listening attentively throughout the whole service. As she did not cry, we didn't have to rush home to feed her milk. We were able to spend some time catching up with our cell group people. Charlene was looking around and got upset when we decided to leave.

Seeing how cooperative she is, we decided to have lunch at 'Wendy's' fast food restaurant. Charlene was so good. We had our first lunch together as a family in a fast food restaurant. Dez and I are very happy. We hope that we can have lunch with our cell group the next time. We also hope to bring Charlene to other places together.

5 Feb 2011

Charlene is in a happy mood today. Daddy talked to her using high pitch voice (like High 5). And she has a lot of response. Daddy is training Charlene to smile. And it does seems to be working. For 30 mins, Daddy will say 'Charlene, pretty smile' and Charlene smiles. Then he will praise her and say good girl, clever girl and Charlene continue to smile happily. Daddy was so excited to see Charlene smile that he forgot to take video (now he can't blame me for forgetting to videotape the last time).

Praise the Lord!  A few months back, we won't have seen Charlene smiling so readily and happily for an extended period of time. It's great that Charlene is learning and we will continue to condition her and pray for her social smile...

Here's the video of Charlene's smile.

3-4 Feb 2011

Chinese New Year
This is the first time we are celebrating Chinese New Year together. Charlene is so good. Despite being overwhelmed by many relatives, she did not cry. We thank God that the button did not leak, it would have been difficult to change it in other people's house.
Many people said that Charlene looks like her Daddy (Daddy is upset). They also love Charlene's hair and complimented her for being so cute.

Our friends, ZS and Jo came to visit us. We really appreciate their thoughtfulness in coming to visit us on the first day of the Chinese New Year.

Poll:- Charlene Fave Pose

We were looking through the photos and realised that Charlene really like to pose, with her right hand on her right cheek.

So we decided to compile all out of it, and invite everyone to vote for your fave picture of Charlene's pose!

Picture 1

 Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

Picture 5

Picture 6

Picture 7

Picture 8

Picture 9

Picture 10

Picture 11

Picture 12

1 Feb 2011

I am totally amused by Charlene today.

I laughed and Charlene smiled.
I played songs sang by Taiwanese band Mayday and she listened attentively.
I sang along, she got upset.
I stopped, she showed the "I am appreciating this music face".

Thank God for the fruitful day that Charlene had in school.
Initially, she cried and puked and refused to turn to her left during physiotherapy. But she stopped crying once she turned to her left.

Teacher gave her 2 toys to choose; a flurry yellow star and a rough rugged alligator. Charlene doesn't respond. But she kind of throw her left hand and hence the star away. Teacher thinks she choose the alligator. Perhaps, cos Charlene smile after hitting the alligator (cos it gives out a squeak, just like her favourite toy squeaky hammer).

For the first time, Charlene was not sleeping. She was looking at the ceiling of the multi-sensory room as the lights went round and round.

I laid her on the textured floor (which is pricky) and she protested immediately.

Charlene cried non-stop but the moment I put her in the bath tub, she stopped immediately.
The moment I took her out of the bath tub, she cry immediately.