Reflections at 27 months
Dear Sean,
Happy 2 and ¼ years old, dear boy!
We have had a really delightful month. These days, you are (mostly) good-natured, polite, curious, have a silly sense of humour and are generally such good company to be around.
It's kinda hard to believe just a month ago, you were tormenting us by giving us such a ridiculously hard time with your tantrums!
I am not even sure what we did differently but I guess that just goes to show what an emotional rollercoaster ride it is being a toddler!
Now I think I have an inkling as to why some parents call this the Terrific (not Terrible) Twos.
You are soooo impossibly chatty nowadays.
You are parroting after everything we say (something which you were never very keen to do previously) and because of this, you are picking up new words/sounds at a very impressive rate.
When your father goes away on his week-long work trips, he often comes back quite surprised by how much you have learnt in just a couple of days!
Some new words/phrases this month:
Colours (still your favourite way to describe things): Gay (grey), wed (red) - now you know all your colours!
Family: Siao Yi (to differentiate from Cher Yiyi), Biao Yi (Mummy's cousin)
People (referring to other kids/parents we meet when we go out): Jiejie, Gorgor, Baby, Mummy or Papa (other kids' parents, not us)
Random objects: pey-gow (playground), char-choon (cartoon), xie or shoe (shoes), choong (bugs), bing kan (biscuit), jia or Mount (home), money or qian (change), qui or ball, book or shu
Actions: Si-si (wash), kai (open/turn on), put, a-sa (wan sha or play with sand), shi shi (pee, only after the fact), chou chou (poo, again only after the fact), yang yang (itchy), shopping, swimming, bwow
(blow balloon)
Cartoon characters: Mickey, Macca Pacca (from In the Night Garden)
Animals: Miao (cat), Arr! (for lion, with waggling hands on side of head), qack qack (duck), chortis (tortoise), pingee (penguin)
Everyday phrases: So-ee (sorry), Yee ha!, Woohoo!, Plis (please), Xie xie (thank you), Noo-nite (good night), Eeee! (for anything dirty or things you don't like)
You can have long rambling conversations (sometimes with yourself) about anything and everything. I am quite happy you are speaking a lot of Mandarin (no worries, you will pick up English in school very soon).
Your favourite word is 'No!' - you like to go 'Nononono!' in a very cheeky way whenever we suggest something. And when we reply with a 'Yesyesyesyesyes!', you always chuckle like mad.
You are very well-mannered especially when you want something for us. You give your sweetest smile and go, 'Ah Po, char-choon plis kai! Xie-xie!' (Grandma, please play some cartoons for me, thank you!)
You are getting really smart. We have to be very careful with what we say coz nothing escapes you now. You remember promises, even the empty ones we sometimes make to bribe you to do something (our bad)!
You are getting increasingly opiniated. It can be a bit exasperating explaining why we/you have to do something or negotiating with you about why you have to brush your teeth before bed or put on some pants to go out.
But at the same time, it reminds us you are very much your own little person now and have a mind of your own :)
Plus, it’s very entertaining talking to you coz you make the funniest connections and say the darnest things!
You can recognise our driving routes and know exactly where we are going before we even say so - you'd say 'Mummy eh-ga (yoga), bye!' when you see us approaching the building. You can spot the beach from miles away - Ah-sa! (wan sa or play sand), you'd shout. Monday mornings, as I am nearing Grandma's house, you'd get a bit of separation anxiety and start whining in the back seat: 'Nononono Ah Po jia, go Mimi jia!' (No I don't want to go to Ah Po's house, I want to go home).
This month, you have also learnt quite a few new outdoor tricks.
You finally figured out how to ride the skate scooter Cher Yiyi got for you for your second birthday.
It took you a while to learn how to stand on it with one foot and push off with your other foot. You practiced for a couple of weeks at home and now you can slowly scoot around on your own just fine.
You like to shout 'Yeeha!' or 'Woohoo!' at the top of your lungs when you ride it. Hee hee, very cute coz the scooter is almost as tall as you are!
We always bring the scooter along when we go out nowadays. You like to stand on it with both feet and let me drag you along on it - which I would much rather do than carry all 10.5kgs of you with my growing belly now :)
You are a fearless daredevil at the playground.
(Thanks Aunty M for the cute dino outfit!)
You love running up to dogs (or ‘ow-ow’ as you call them) and don’t flinch even when they growl and try to snap at you.
Other parents always remark how agile and energetic you are for your age.
You shimmy up the monkey bars to the highest rung (which is way above my head!) without looking down once. You see the older kids come down the slide head-first and attempt to do the same all the time. You have also learnt to curl up your legs and lie on your tummy while on the swings, just the way the older kids do.
One thing though, you still suck at saying goodbyes. You absolutely HATE it when other kids leave you to go home - you always chase after them tearfully wailing: 'Jie-jie/Gor-gor/Mummy come-come' :(
At home, you clearly rule the roost.
Nothing is safe from you now. You know how to use your little step-stool to reach for things out of your reach. You know how to open the fridge and all the cupboards and help yourself to snacks, chocolates, drinks, cups, straws.
I even caught you hanging out in front of the stove lifting the lids of pots and pans to check out what Grandma has cooked for dinner a few times. Yeargh - your father is probably installing a child-safety gate for the kitchen as I am typing this!
Your favourite play things/games at home at the moment:
♥ Pretend weapons - You have this scary knack of zooming in on anything that resembles a weapon. Toy knives/swords/saw/screwdriver, water guns, fallen sticks, bamboo poles, chopsticks.
You call them your gun or 'heng' (the sound that swords supposedly make) and you love nothing more than prancing around and swishing them in the air fighting off imaginary bad guys.
You also recently got a Power Rangers handphone that issues robotic commands like 'Prepare for mission, Rangers'. You call it your 'Hallo' (hello) and you always make funny sound effects and flash it at us like some sort of protective shield.
I think you like it coz it makes you feel like an important superhero :)
Ah, there's never a dull day with you!
♥ Play scenes - You like setting up elaborate play scenes. Sometimes Grandma or I will build a makeshift fort or tent for you out of blankets, mattress and pillows. Then you will run around the house gathering stuff and setting them up in your tent.
Quite funny to see you cuddle up with books, oranges, tennis balls, odd bits and bobs, your Power Ranger action figures. And no one is allowed to touch or move anything until you are done playing!
♥ Hide and seek - After so many months, this is still your favourite game with us. I have lost count of how many times I have had to sit huddled with you under the stuffy blanket with a super-excited you scramble like mad to save all your furry friends and pressing one finger to your nose and going ‘SSSSSSS!!!’
It is always Grandma or Papa playing the 'seeking' role. It makes you squeal and laugh so hard when they finally manage to find and 'catch' you.
You would play this game ALL DAY repeatedly if you could. Doesn't get old AT ALL ;)
♥ Activity sticker books - I bought you a whole bunch of activity books a while back but you never paid much interest to them till recently.
Now we use them to occupy you during your meals - you love poring over the pages to look for things (green cup, drums, etcetera), spotting the right stickers and pasting them in the correct places. Grandma is also a stickler for neatness so she makes you re-stick them if they are not straight ;)
You have finally successfully transitioned to one nap a day. You can sleep for a deliciously long stretch of 3-4 hours if it is cool and quiet.
You have also staked your claim on one of our blankets. Mimi pei (blanket), you call it. Now you sleep with your own pillow, bolster and blanket in your own bed like any regular kid - next step will be to move you out of our room into your very own!
This month, you have also shown signs that you are ready for toilet training.
You come up to me patting your diaper and tell me 'chou chou' when you feel the urge to poop. And then, you run ahead to the toilet to sit on the potty (you still need help removing your pull-ups). But after that, you can sit there for a long time but nothing comes out!
But it's a start nevertheless - we are going to keep working on it!
This month, we left you with Grandma for a few days to go for a short trip to HK. It was the first time I was away from you for more than a day and I missed you dearly.
You hardly noticed we were gone and had fun playing with all your Yiyis, Jiujiu, Yi Po and Biao Yi who were visiting - they tell me you were good company and extremely well-behaved at home even though you were not feeling well. You lost quite a bit of weight from being sick (throat infection) for almost a week, refusing to eat and throwing up after every milk feed - it really pains me to see how skinny you are now. Sigh.
Thankfully, your appetite is slowly returning and I am now working really hard on plumping you up again!
So yes, we have had a really full yet fun-filled month. I love being your Mummy - I don't think I tell you that enough.
Kisses and hugs to you, my sweet little one.
Love,
Mama
Happy 2 and ¼ years old, dear boy!
We have had a really delightful month. These days, you are (mostly) good-natured, polite, curious, have a silly sense of humour and are generally such good company to be around.
It's kinda hard to believe just a month ago, you were tormenting us by giving us such a ridiculously hard time with your tantrums!
I am not even sure what we did differently but I guess that just goes to show what an emotional rollercoaster ride it is being a toddler!
Now I think I have an inkling as to why some parents call this the Terrific (not Terrible) Twos.
You are soooo impossibly chatty nowadays.
You are parroting after everything we say (something which you were never very keen to do previously) and because of this, you are picking up new words/sounds at a very impressive rate.
When your father goes away on his week-long work trips, he often comes back quite surprised by how much you have learnt in just a couple of days!
Some new words/phrases this month:
Colours (still your favourite way to describe things): Gay (grey), wed (red) - now you know all your colours!
Family: Siao Yi (to differentiate from Cher Yiyi), Biao Yi (Mummy's cousin)
People (referring to other kids/parents we meet when we go out): Jiejie, Gorgor, Baby, Mummy or Papa (other kids' parents, not us)
Random objects: pey-gow (playground), char-choon (cartoon), xie or shoe (shoes), choong (bugs), bing kan (biscuit), jia or Mount (home), money or qian (change), qui or ball, book or shu
Actions: Si-si (wash), kai (open/turn on), put, a-sa (wan sha or play with sand), shi shi (pee, only after the fact), chou chou (poo, again only after the fact), yang yang (itchy), shopping, swimming, bwow
(blow balloon)
Cartoon characters: Mickey, Macca Pacca (from In the Night Garden)
Animals: Miao (cat), Arr! (for lion, with waggling hands on side of head), qack qack (duck), chortis (tortoise), pingee (penguin)
Everyday phrases: So-ee (sorry), Yee ha!, Woohoo!, Plis (please), Xie xie (thank you), Noo-nite (good night), Eeee! (for anything dirty or things you don't like)
You can have long rambling conversations (sometimes with yourself) about anything and everything. I am quite happy you are speaking a lot of Mandarin (no worries, you will pick up English in school very soon).
Your favourite word is 'No!' - you like to go 'Nononono!' in a very cheeky way whenever we suggest something. And when we reply with a 'Yesyesyesyesyes!', you always chuckle like mad.
You are very well-mannered especially when you want something for us. You give your sweetest smile and go, 'Ah Po, char-choon plis kai! Xie-xie!' (Grandma, please play some cartoons for me, thank you!)
You are getting really smart. We have to be very careful with what we say coz nothing escapes you now. You remember promises, even the empty ones we sometimes make to bribe you to do something (our bad)!
You are getting increasingly opiniated. It can be a bit exasperating explaining why we/you have to do something or negotiating with you about why you have to brush your teeth before bed or put on some pants to go out.
But at the same time, it reminds us you are very much your own little person now and have a mind of your own :)
Plus, it’s very entertaining talking to you coz you make the funniest connections and say the darnest things!
You can recognise our driving routes and know exactly where we are going before we even say so - you'd say 'Mummy eh-ga (yoga), bye!' when you see us approaching the building. You can spot the beach from miles away - Ah-sa! (wan sa or play sand), you'd shout. Monday mornings, as I am nearing Grandma's house, you'd get a bit of separation anxiety and start whining in the back seat: 'Nononono Ah Po jia, go Mimi jia!' (No I don't want to go to Ah Po's house, I want to go home).
This month, you have also learnt quite a few new outdoor tricks.
You finally figured out how to ride the skate scooter Cher Yiyi got for you for your second birthday.
It took you a while to learn how to stand on it with one foot and push off with your other foot. You practiced for a couple of weeks at home and now you can slowly scoot around on your own just fine.
You like to shout 'Yeeha!' or 'Woohoo!' at the top of your lungs when you ride it. Hee hee, very cute coz the scooter is almost as tall as you are!
We always bring the scooter along when we go out nowadays. You like to stand on it with both feet and let me drag you along on it - which I would much rather do than carry all 10.5kgs of you with my growing belly now :)
You are a fearless daredevil at the playground.
(Thanks Aunty M for the cute dino outfit!)
You love running up to dogs (or ‘ow-ow’ as you call them) and don’t flinch even when they growl and try to snap at you.
Other parents always remark how agile and energetic you are for your age.
You shimmy up the monkey bars to the highest rung (which is way above my head!) without looking down once. You see the older kids come down the slide head-first and attempt to do the same all the time. You have also learnt to curl up your legs and lie on your tummy while on the swings, just the way the older kids do.
One thing though, you still suck at saying goodbyes. You absolutely HATE it when other kids leave you to go home - you always chase after them tearfully wailing: 'Jie-jie/Gor-gor/Mummy come-come' :(
At home, you clearly rule the roost.
Nothing is safe from you now. You know how to use your little step-stool to reach for things out of your reach. You know how to open the fridge and all the cupboards and help yourself to snacks, chocolates, drinks, cups, straws.
I even caught you hanging out in front of the stove lifting the lids of pots and pans to check out what Grandma has cooked for dinner a few times. Yeargh - your father is probably installing a child-safety gate for the kitchen as I am typing this!
Your favourite play things/games at home at the moment:
♥ Pretend weapons - You have this scary knack of zooming in on anything that resembles a weapon. Toy knives/swords/saw/screwdriver, water guns, fallen sticks, bamboo poles, chopsticks.
You call them your gun or 'heng' (the sound that swords supposedly make) and you love nothing more than prancing around and swishing them in the air fighting off imaginary bad guys.
You also recently got a Power Rangers handphone that issues robotic commands like 'Prepare for mission, Rangers'. You call it your 'Hallo' (hello) and you always make funny sound effects and flash it at us like some sort of protective shield.
I think you like it coz it makes you feel like an important superhero :)
Ah, there's never a dull day with you!
♥ Play scenes - You like setting up elaborate play scenes. Sometimes Grandma or I will build a makeshift fort or tent for you out of blankets, mattress and pillows. Then you will run around the house gathering stuff and setting them up in your tent.
Quite funny to see you cuddle up with books, oranges, tennis balls, odd bits and bobs, your Power Ranger action figures. And no one is allowed to touch or move anything until you are done playing!
♥ Hide and seek - After so many months, this is still your favourite game with us. I have lost count of how many times I have had to sit huddled with you under the stuffy blanket with a super-excited you scramble like mad to save all your furry friends and pressing one finger to your nose and going ‘SSSSSSS!!!’
It is always Grandma or Papa playing the 'seeking' role. It makes you squeal and laugh so hard when they finally manage to find and 'catch' you.
You would play this game ALL DAY repeatedly if you could. Doesn't get old AT ALL ;)
♥ Activity sticker books - I bought you a whole bunch of activity books a while back but you never paid much interest to them till recently.
Now we use them to occupy you during your meals - you love poring over the pages to look for things (green cup, drums, etcetera), spotting the right stickers and pasting them in the correct places. Grandma is also a stickler for neatness so she makes you re-stick them if they are not straight ;)
You have finally successfully transitioned to one nap a day. You can sleep for a deliciously long stretch of 3-4 hours if it is cool and quiet.
You have also staked your claim on one of our blankets. Mimi pei (blanket), you call it. Now you sleep with your own pillow, bolster and blanket in your own bed like any regular kid - next step will be to move you out of our room into your very own!
This month, you have also shown signs that you are ready for toilet training.
You come up to me patting your diaper and tell me 'chou chou' when you feel the urge to poop. And then, you run ahead to the toilet to sit on the potty (you still need help removing your pull-ups). But after that, you can sit there for a long time but nothing comes out!
But it's a start nevertheless - we are going to keep working on it!
This month, we left you with Grandma for a few days to go for a short trip to HK. It was the first time I was away from you for more than a day and I missed you dearly.
You hardly noticed we were gone and had fun playing with all your Yiyis, Jiujiu, Yi Po and Biao Yi who were visiting - they tell me you were good company and extremely well-behaved at home even though you were not feeling well. You lost quite a bit of weight from being sick (throat infection) for almost a week, refusing to eat and throwing up after every milk feed - it really pains me to see how skinny you are now. Sigh.
Thankfully, your appetite is slowly returning and I am now working really hard on plumping you up again!
So yes, we have had a really full yet fun-filled month. I love being your Mummy - I don't think I tell you that enough.
Kisses and hugs to you, my sweet little one.
Love,
Mama