Reflections at 29 months
Happy 29 months, baby boy.
What an eventful month we have had in which you did a GREAT deal of growing up.
It was as if 2012 rolled around and suddenly, you are no longer a babbling toddler but a young boy with so much ahead of you.
Of course, I can't help but be a little sentimental about the transition!
Where did my baby go?
This month, you started school (pre-nursery, 3 hours on weekdays) and it is probably one of your most momentous milestones by far.
Such a big boy now
I have been fretting about it for MONTHS so it was huge leap of faith for all of us.
It took a couple of days for the tears and whining for Mama/Papa to stop but three weeks in, you are nicely settled into the school routine, taking the school bus on your own and all!
Now, for a few hours everyday, you have your own little social life outside of home, apart from us now. I cannot be more proud of you!
Playdate with Sophie
You have always been a social and outgoing creature so school has been really good for you.
I was off the other day so I went to spy on you in school. The gates were locked so I watched you from afar.
You were happily playing with your classmates at the indoor playground, leaping off platforms and running around doing your signature kungfu moves, just like you do at home.
You seemed so happy. I don't think I have much to worry about :)
Walking home from bus drop-off with Mama
I am not privy to what goes on during your school hours because you can't/don't really tell us but I can tell you have been picking up quite a few new things in school:
1) You can now say the names of 'ammals' (animals) and do the corresponding actions/sounds (something you were never interested in learning before) - cow (moo), horse (hee-hee-hee), sheep (mehh), chicken (cuckoo-kah), cat (meow, with your hands spreading out like whiskers), dog (oof-oof), rabbit (you hop around with bunny hand ears on your head, very cute), pig (you pinch your nose and go 'engk, engk'), eh-phant (elephant, you pinch your nose with one hand and the other mimics a trunk), pawwot (parrot), tortoise, di-saur (dinosaur), mouse.
2) You insist on feeding yourself at mealtimes. 'Mimi na (hold)!,' you would say as you wrestle the spoon away from us. Sometimes you sing some tune-less song before you eat (I think it is some giving thanks song you sing in school).
3) You help to clear up your toys and clothes without much fuss (most of the time).
4) You have become really good about minding your p's and q's. Instead of insisting you own everything, you now go around reminding us, 'Must share!' - I think you must hear it a lot in school.
5) Also, you are very quick to apologise with a cute 'Soyee!' when you do something wrong now. Making apologies is a big deal for us because you have notoriously been very proud and stubborn about it!
Feeding yourself
You are SUCH a chatterbox now. You jabber non-stop from the minute you wake up.
Pretending to be an 'ow-ow' (dog)
You love listening to and recounting events/stories.
We saw a little girl lose her helium balloon the other day and you have been talking about it for days, telling me how the 'white bah-loon fei gao-gao (fly very high)' to the 'moon, star and cloud' and how 'Mama and Papa zhuo air-pane fei gao-gao (take an air plane and fly up high)' to get it back :)
You must have gotten the idea of the airplane from your Lego set at home :)
You also really like having imaginary conversations by yourself. You can talk for a good half hour to yourself! Very funny to see you all serious-like and acting out little scenes on your own.
Reading by yourself in the car
Of course, your newfound chattiness also means you say the darnest things sometimes!
For example, Grandma has been trying to scare you by telling you there is 'gui-gui' (ghost) in dark places or when it turns dark outside (so you would stop houding us to bring you out).
So now, you like pointing randomly into dark corners or out of our windows at night and shouting 'GEI-GEI!'!!!
Argh, it scares the crap out of me when it's just the two of us!
BOO!
A fun new development this month: You have been spouting many new Mandarin phrases such as sui jiao (sleep), xing lai (wake up), ke shou (cough), he shui (drink water), hai you (still some more), kai den (kuai dian or faster), lan (broken), yang (itchy), feng (sew), da (big), xiao (small), tung (painful), tang (hot), zhong (heavy), gei gei (gui or ghost), fei
*twist*
So cute to hear you string short little sentences in Mandarin with your slightly off-key pronunciation, like: Mimi jiao Papa xin lai (I will ask Papa to wake up), Oh no, Mimi-O lan! Mama feng! (Oh no, my bolster is torn! Mama fix it!), Yiyi hawwo Ah Po. Ah Po come sui jiao! (Yiyi, call Grandma so she can come and sleep with me).
Showing off your Christmas gifts from Yiyi
I am super thrilled because I don't think your school places a very big emphasis on Chinese and I am all the more determined to keep up our Speak Mandarin campaign at home (though I probably need to go polish up my vocab more)!
Monopolising Mama’s birthday cake
Toilet training is still very much in progress.
You are quite good about using the potty in the mornings when I am at home with you and you are showing more initiative in telling us when you need to go (though not when you are too distracted).
You like to sit on your potty and tell us who you are making your poop for - one for Mama, one for Papa, one for Ah Po and you can go on and on. Ok whatever works for you, dude. HAHA
School has thrown us off the toilet training track for a bit - I am not sure if you know how to use the toilet in school (we use a potty at home) or if you/the teachers even bother. You have been coming home with one less diaper in your bag on most days so I guess you must still be pooping in your pants!
Splashing at our new pool
You have a newfound addiction this month - my iPhone!
You have become very adept at navigating through all the screens to play with all the children's apps I have downloaded. It's a bit scary how fast you pick things up but I try to tell myself it is a good learning tool and you are learning many new things (shapes, colours, puzzles, games) from them.
I still try to restrict your time on them though, just like I do with the TV.
Lots of changes are afoot in our lives now.
You have been quite clingy to your father and me and acting up a lot more than usual. I think it has to do with all the inevitable upheaval in your little world.
In a way, I think you miss your carefree days at Grandma's and the company of all your doting Yiyis and Jiu jiu (they miss you a lot too).
You &heart; your homeys
To make up, your father and I have been trying to make sure you are clocking enough hours of rest every night (we have had to re-jig your schedule quite a bit for school) and are trying to be very patient with you.
Hanging out at our new playground with Papa
I trust things will get better after we move and settle into our new place. I sure hope so.
This is probably the last (or second last) letter I write to you before your little brother is born.
Ever since you could understand Mama is going to have another baby, you have been a real sweetheart.
We have reading lots of books about babies and been doing lots of 'looking after baby' role-plays around the house. You like to close your eyes and pretend to be a baby when we wrap you up in a towel burrito after your bath. You have been talking about playing with Baby and bringing him to your favourite places. You also like to shine the torch on my big belly and shout 'Hello, Baby!' :)
You still don't like it so much when I disappear from your sight or when I tell you I can't carry you for long periods. I think it is going to be yet another big change for you having to learn how to 'share' Mummy with another needy little being.
Just know that you will always be my special firstborn and we love you very much. I am looking forward to spending the few months' break with my two little boys very soon :)
Much love,
Mama
What an eventful month we have had in which you did a GREAT deal of growing up.
It was as if 2012 rolled around and suddenly, you are no longer a babbling toddler but a young boy with so much ahead of you.
Of course, I can't help but be a little sentimental about the transition!
Where did my baby go?
This month, you started school (pre-nursery, 3 hours on weekdays) and it is probably one of your most momentous milestones by far.
Such a big boy now
I have been fretting about it for MONTHS so it was huge leap of faith for all of us.
It took a couple of days for the tears and whining for Mama/Papa to stop but three weeks in, you are nicely settled into the school routine, taking the school bus on your own and all!
Now, for a few hours everyday, you have your own little social life outside of home, apart from us now. I cannot be more proud of you!
Playdate with Sophie
You have always been a social and outgoing creature so school has been really good for you.
I was off the other day so I went to spy on you in school. The gates were locked so I watched you from afar.
You were happily playing with your classmates at the indoor playground, leaping off platforms and running around doing your signature kungfu moves, just like you do at home.
You seemed so happy. I don't think I have much to worry about :)
Walking home from bus drop-off with Mama
I am not privy to what goes on during your school hours because you can't/don't really tell us but I can tell you have been picking up quite a few new things in school:
1) You can now say the names of 'ammals' (animals) and do the corresponding actions/sounds (something you were never interested in learning before) - cow (moo), horse (hee-hee-hee), sheep (mehh), chicken (cuckoo-kah), cat (meow, with your hands spreading out like whiskers), dog (oof-oof), rabbit (you hop around with bunny hand ears on your head, very cute), pig (you pinch your nose and go 'engk, engk'), eh-phant (elephant, you pinch your nose with one hand and the other mimics a trunk), pawwot (parrot), tortoise, di-saur (dinosaur), mouse.
2) You insist on feeding yourself at mealtimes. 'Mimi na (hold)!,' you would say as you wrestle the spoon away from us. Sometimes you sing some tune-less song before you eat (I think it is some giving thanks song you sing in school).
3) You help to clear up your toys and clothes without much fuss (most of the time).
4) You have become really good about minding your p's and q's. Instead of insisting you own everything, you now go around reminding us, 'Must share!' - I think you must hear it a lot in school.
5) Also, you are very quick to apologise with a cute 'Soyee!' when you do something wrong now. Making apologies is a big deal for us because you have notoriously been very proud and stubborn about it!
Feeding yourself
You are SUCH a chatterbox now. You jabber non-stop from the minute you wake up.
Pretending to be an 'ow-ow' (dog)
You love listening to and recounting events/stories.
We saw a little girl lose her helium balloon the other day and you have been talking about it for days, telling me how the 'white bah-loon fei gao-gao (fly very high)' to the 'moon, star and cloud' and how 'Mama and Papa zhuo air-pane fei gao-gao (take an air plane and fly up high)' to get it back :)
You must have gotten the idea of the airplane from your Lego set at home :)
You also really like having imaginary conversations by yourself. You can talk for a good half hour to yourself! Very funny to see you all serious-like and acting out little scenes on your own.
Reading by yourself in the car
Of course, your newfound chattiness also means you say the darnest things sometimes!
For example, Grandma has been trying to scare you by telling you there is 'gui-gui' (ghost) in dark places or when it turns dark outside (so you would stop houding us to bring you out).
So now, you like pointing randomly into dark corners or out of our windows at night and shouting 'GEI-GEI!'!!!
Argh, it scares the crap out of me when it's just the two of us!
BOO!
A fun new development this month: You have been spouting many new Mandarin phrases such as sui jiao (sleep), xing lai (wake up), ke shou (cough), he shui (drink water), hai you (still some more), kai den (kuai dian or faster), lan (broken), yang (itchy), feng (sew), da (big), xiao (small), tung (painful), tang (hot), zhong (heavy), gei gei (gui or ghost), fei
*twist*
So cute to hear you string short little sentences in Mandarin with your slightly off-key pronunciation, like: Mimi jiao Papa xin lai (I will ask Papa to wake up), Oh no, Mimi-O lan! Mama feng! (Oh no, my bolster is torn! Mama fix it!), Yiyi hawwo Ah Po. Ah Po come sui jiao! (Yiyi, call Grandma so she can come and sleep with me).
Showing off your Christmas gifts from Yiyi
I am super thrilled because I don't think your school places a very big emphasis on Chinese and I am all the more determined to keep up our Speak Mandarin campaign at home (though I probably need to go polish up my vocab more)!
Monopolising Mama’s birthday cake
Toilet training is still very much in progress.
You are quite good about using the potty in the mornings when I am at home with you and you are showing more initiative in telling us when you need to go (though not when you are too distracted).
You like to sit on your potty and tell us who you are making your poop for - one for Mama, one for Papa, one for Ah Po and you can go on and on. Ok whatever works for you, dude. HAHA
School has thrown us off the toilet training track for a bit - I am not sure if you know how to use the toilet in school (we use a potty at home) or if you/the teachers even bother. You have been coming home with one less diaper in your bag on most days so I guess you must still be pooping in your pants!
Splashing at our new pool
You have a newfound addiction this month - my iPhone!
You have become very adept at navigating through all the screens to play with all the children's apps I have downloaded. It's a bit scary how fast you pick things up but I try to tell myself it is a good learning tool and you are learning many new things (shapes, colours, puzzles, games) from them.
I still try to restrict your time on them though, just like I do with the TV.
Lots of changes are afoot in our lives now.
You have been quite clingy to your father and me and acting up a lot more than usual. I think it has to do with all the inevitable upheaval in your little world.
In a way, I think you miss your carefree days at Grandma's and the company of all your doting Yiyis and Jiu jiu (they miss you a lot too).
You &heart; your homeys
To make up, your father and I have been trying to make sure you are clocking enough hours of rest every night (we have had to re-jig your schedule quite a bit for school) and are trying to be very patient with you.
Hanging out at our new playground with Papa
I trust things will get better after we move and settle into our new place. I sure hope so.
This is probably the last (or second last) letter I write to you before your little brother is born.
Ever since you could understand Mama is going to have another baby, you have been a real sweetheart.
We have reading lots of books about babies and been doing lots of 'looking after baby' role-plays around the house. You like to close your eyes and pretend to be a baby when we wrap you up in a towel burrito after your bath. You have been talking about playing with Baby and bringing him to your favourite places. You also like to shine the torch on my big belly and shout 'Hello, Baby!' :)
You still don't like it so much when I disappear from your sight or when I tell you I can't carry you for long periods. I think it is going to be yet another big change for you having to learn how to 'share' Mummy with another needy little being.
Just know that you will always be my special firstborn and we love you very much. I am looking forward to spending the few months' break with my two little boys very soon :)
Much love,
Mama