The new Tinto page

You like the new look? This momma here is quite proud of her amateurish attempts at changing html codes. It's a new year, and new developments in Tinto's little life.

Sleeping

She hates it. She almost never sleeps during the day anymore and spends her time playing, trying to climb out of the window, jump off the bed into the laundry basket, chew raisins and spit them out at people. The naughtiest thing you can think of, she's done it already. You'd think she would tire herself out by nightfall. Oh airena! Like last night. She went to bed (or pretended to) at 8pm. At 11.30pm she woke up and stood at the edge of her cot whimpering and holding her hands out to me. I picked her up and tried to put her back to bed. No can do. She cried and kept pointing to the door. Maybe she was hungry. I fixed her bottle and gave it to her. She chewed on the teat, giggled and chucked the bottle on the floor. My patience was fast waning. She pointed to the door again and said "Teti!" I said "Tinto luv, there is no Teti. Teti la e ka'a i kai". Again, "Teti!" I picked her up and we took a visit to the next room and woke up the babysitter. We all went to the front and Tinto played to her hearts content while we watched TV. "Teti" came home at 1am and we were ALL up entertaining the Tinto. She finally went to sleep at 2am. And now I'm at work with a massive headache.

Songs

She loves her music. I hope she'll be ecletic in this area. Everytime she hears a song, she'll dance in the funniest way. Her bottom moves in one direction, her tummy in the other and hands up in the air. The Tinto Hula we call it. Her grandma bought her a cd of Christian children's music. Her favorites are "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" (she claps right throughout the song), "My God loves me" and a few others. Her uncle Ilu bought her some cds of baby's classical music. It puts her right to sleep. Pulili music.

Books

She loves to read. Or being read to, rather. Her favorite times are when grandma brings out a book to read. She's got a book called "Babies" with different pictures of babies in different styles - paintings, sketches, African art and real photographs. Another book is "Dogs" (doks) and in the same kind of style. It will hopefully teach her to appreciate art and literature. She's also got one called "First Words" and each page has a different item - of clothing, fruit, cars, animals etc. They are all lifelike and she's been trying to eat the banana off the page ever since she got the book. It is a real reward reading to her and having her attention last right throughout the story. She giggles and points and looks serious. All her expressions tell us she is intelligent and like all babies, she is absorbing in the information and stimuli and helping her to grow mentally.

Other kiddies

All her life she has been around children. She has 4 cousins (all boys mind you) ages 7, 4, 2 and 8 months. They are a naughty lot which explains her naughtiness. It's excellent exposure for her, having these kids around her, and helps her to learn how to play with toys, share them with the boys, and she captures their speech intonations and it shows in the way she talks. Which is why she will definitely be a fob. Lol. The boys watch her like eagles and take care of their little "sister" very well. When Tinto goes to Siusega, there are no kids around and you can tell she gets lonely. As soon as she gets back to Malie, she literally screams with glee and can't wait to get out of my arms and get on the floor and play with her brothers.

That's all for now. Needless to say, my Tinto is really growing up. As long as her environment remains a happy one, and she knows she is loved, all is right with her little baby world.

Update for 2007

I was browsing through here and realized...OMG...I haven't posted since August!! Haha. I guess things got out of hand and Tinto took up too much of my time for me to update.

So...an update.

Tinto turned 1 on November 18, 2006. We had a nice little party at Malie with the usual family and a few friends and a few dramas and a lot of drinks. I was not too bothered with the birthday because in the long run, Tinto is only 1 and won't appreciate a thing. When she's older and can play with her friends and run around and eat ice cream and cake and get a tummy ache when it's all over, now that will be a party to remember. These 1 yr old ones are really for the benefit of the adults - getting together, having a feast and bbq etc. Tinto really doesn't care about all that. As long as at the end of the day, she has her banana and her chicken soup and her bottle, then all is right with the world. Happy burrday baby girl!!

Tinto can now stand on her own. Nope still not walking. But it doesn't faze her. She goes about her own busy, clinging on to chairs and tables and climbs up and down the stairs. Yes, DOWN the stairs. Ova le fia tuff o la'u girlfriend. We tell her "ku i luga" and she stands up on her own. Fiu e fai aku iai "WALK" ae airena. All in her own sweet time she tells us with her expression. She is 14 months, can't walk and doesn't give a damn. She'll be walking for the rest of her life, so why can't she savour the moment while she can't? Hehe.

What can she say?

"Papa" - Everyone is Papa to her. She calls her dad Papa. She calls everyone who walks by, Papa. She calls the car Papa.

"Teti" - That's Daddy and unlike Papa, this one is specifically for her Daddy.

"Dok" - She points to the dog and says "dok" in the fobbiest way. God help us.

"Gat" - The same goes with the cat. It's her favourite animal and she goes nuts seeing pictures of cats, and strokes the picture as if it were real.

"Chi Che" - This means chicken. Every time she sees a chicken, she giggles and says "chi che".

"E a?" - When someone calls her name, she says "e a?" with an attitude.

She can say a whole lot of mumbo jumbo and of course we pretend we understand. You can tell when she's complaining because she will frown and give you a tirade in gaga googoo. She has her moments, my little widdle girl.

More updates coming soon.