fleeting eleven
Babyhood is so fleeting, and I have felt this several times over the last month, especially when I see younger babies around me. Sometimes I forget that age is just a number, and that The Bun is still really a baby, even if he's not an infant. I've spent the last week or so planning for his birthday party, and the idea that I will soon have a one-year-old feels a bit mind-boggling, even though I rationally know that nothing will change abruptly just because he's one. Age is just a number.
The Bun's personality seems to have taken a big leap forward this month, in the sense that certain traits are so much more in your face than they were previously. He loves being out and about, and will point at everything, babbling away. I love it when he points to something and mutters 'deh' or 'oh' in a serious tone, as if he has made a momentous discovery and is sharing this serious information with us. He kicks his legs when he is happy, and he likes teasing people who want to hold him by playing hard to get. When his cousin (younger by three months) grabs his toy or turns on the waterworks to get her way, he usually gives in, but not without throwing her the evil eye as well. He understands it when we say NO, and usually complies (for now!), but not without some cheeky glances at the forbidden object and at our faces to check our response. I find that he is made of quite sensitive stuff - one night, he was prodding my belly button just before bed, and I pretended to cry in a very dramatic fashion. His mouth dropped open and he stared at my face with huge watery eyes, then suddenly fell face forward onto the bed and started wailing, for real! I only meant to tease, but the poor fellow took it so seriously.
His receptive vocabulary revolves around food, family and toys: RAT, DUCKIE, MILK, CLAP, BYE-BYE, BISCUIT, TOBEY (the family dog), WATER, BALL, BIRD, LIGHT, CAT (or MEOW), KICK, CLEVER BOY (he will applaud himself when he hears this), KONG-KONG (i.e. Grandpa, my father, his favourite person), DADDY, MUMMY, STAR, COME, etc. Now that it's all written out here, it appears that his vocabulary is very similar to Tobey's. No wonder why the poor dog gets so confused whenever The Bun's around. Just earlier tonight when we were having dinner out, our table was next to another family with a fourteen-month-old boy who shared The Bun's name. Every time his mother addressed her son, The Bun would turn towards them and bop his head up and down, smiling broadly. He is most curious about older children (ignoring most babies his age or younger) and will squeal, smile, and wave wildly when he sees them, hoping to interact.
As far as speaking goes, he still largely babbles. The long-awaited 'Mummy' (or right now, 'Mum-mum') is only heard when he is grouchy and wants to be picked up, or if he is looking for me; J is addressed by 'Deh-deh' or 'Bah-bah' and he needs to decide on which one he'd rather use because otherwise The Bun might get confused. I'm not sure if some of The Bun's words, like 'Bah' for bird or ball, happen to be coincidental or if he is really trying to use name the objects he sees, but he is certainly trying to 'talk' more instead of babbling. There's a funny sort of baby gibberish that he uses, with its own set on inflections, tones, and mutterings. It's very funny to watch The Bun examine a new object and talk to himself, or when he 'reads' to himself. The best parts are when he sounds surprised, halfway through a monologue, or when he suddenly attempts to sound stern. If he didn't make a beeline for my camera each time it was aimed in his direction, I would take videos of his chatter, it's so cute. He also mimics the sounds we make and particularly enjoys pretending to cough, and in the last week, has also added fake laughter to his repertoire.
Maybe some people would find it insulting to compare their baby to a dog, but for us we see it as a term of endearment when we refer to The Bun as some sort of puppy. He is very good at begging for food, and if he sees you eating he will clamber up at your knee and stare at you with huge puppydog eyes, beseeching you to give him a taste of whatever you're eating. I usually do give in, because I want his tastebuds to be exposed, so this month he has tried tiny bits of pork floss, red bean ice-cream, molten chocolate cake, miso soup, and tamago yaki. He enjoys his food and is quite enthusiastic about feeding himself. If he can, he will grab food with both hands, and then attempt to scoop up the remainder on the table with his mouth. He still only has two teeth, but those teeth can crunch through biscuits very neatly, and he can even nibble with them.
He is surprising us everyday with how much he understands and how quickly he is learning about his world. He learnt to flick through the photos in my sister's iPhone a few days ago; he soon discovered that pressing a certain button on his Ye-Ye's alarm clock will make a little light come on. He is fascinated by electronic buttons, any sort, as long as it triggers lights and/or music. One morning a couple of weeks ago, I left The Bun standing alone in his crib while I got his bath ready. I only allow him his pacifier when it's naptime or bedtime, so I had removed the bedtime one, forgetting that another one lay on my bedside table, about a foot away from The Bun's crib. (We have a second one lying nearby in case he can't find his pacifier in the middle of the night, and I don't want to turn on the light.) When I returned to get The Bun I found him sitting and sucking on the spare pacifier, bopping his head contentedly, and if I may say, rather triumphantly. He had reached through the crib bars, grabbed the leg of my bedside table to pull it over to him, and then helped himself to the spare pacifier, managing to pry open its cover as well. Good job!
Reading is near impossible right now because The Bun's latest obsession is turning the pages of books, any sort of book. He won't even let me hold the book for storytime and would rather 'read' by himself. So for now 'reading' involves The Bun pointing at a part of the picture in his book, and me naming it for him, sometimes even while the book is upside down. I'm just happy enough that he enjoys being with his books, even if they are more of a plaything at the moment.
I'm not sure if The Bun will walk before his first birthday, but I'm not really in any hurry for it to happen. Everything in its own time, and what's the point in rushing a child just to achieve a milestone? Age is just a number. For now, he's a confident cruiser and can easily navigate corners, cross from table to couch, or from chair to chair, and he does numerous squats daily (hence the rather perky bum), busy dropping and picking up his toys over and over again.
It's funny but whenever I look at The Bun, I can never see The Bun at any point in time except the present. I can hazily recall the way he looked as a newborn or as a younger baby, and I can sort of imagine what he might look like as a toddler, but mostly I can only see him, right here and right now. That's one of the things I value most about him - that he is always in the moment, and when I'm with him I usually forget to worry about the future or brood about the past, taking things as they come because there's really no other way. I am present in the present with him, and being with him is like holding sand in my fist; constantly slipping away, every day that he grows.
The Bun's personality seems to have taken a big leap forward this month, in the sense that certain traits are so much more in your face than they were previously. He loves being out and about, and will point at everything, babbling away. I love it when he points to something and mutters 'deh' or 'oh' in a serious tone, as if he has made a momentous discovery and is sharing this serious information with us. He kicks his legs when he is happy, and he likes teasing people who want to hold him by playing hard to get. When his cousin (younger by three months) grabs his toy or turns on the waterworks to get her way, he usually gives in, but not without throwing her the evil eye as well. He understands it when we say NO, and usually complies (for now!), but not without some cheeky glances at the forbidden object and at our faces to check our response. I find that he is made of quite sensitive stuff - one night, he was prodding my belly button just before bed, and I pretended to cry in a very dramatic fashion. His mouth dropped open and he stared at my face with huge watery eyes, then suddenly fell face forward onto the bed and started wailing, for real! I only meant to tease, but the poor fellow took it so seriously.
His receptive vocabulary revolves around food, family and toys: RAT, DUCKIE, MILK, CLAP, BYE-BYE, BISCUIT, TOBEY (the family dog), WATER, BALL, BIRD, LIGHT, CAT (or MEOW), KICK, CLEVER BOY (he will applaud himself when he hears this), KONG-KONG (i.e. Grandpa, my father, his favourite person), DADDY, MUMMY, STAR, COME, etc. Now that it's all written out here, it appears that his vocabulary is very similar to Tobey's. No wonder why the poor dog gets so confused whenever The Bun's around. Just earlier tonight when we were having dinner out, our table was next to another family with a fourteen-month-old boy who shared The Bun's name. Every time his mother addressed her son, The Bun would turn towards them and bop his head up and down, smiling broadly. He is most curious about older children (ignoring most babies his age or younger) and will squeal, smile, and wave wildly when he sees them, hoping to interact.
As far as speaking goes, he still largely babbles. The long-awaited 'Mummy' (or right now, 'Mum-mum') is only heard when he is grouchy and wants to be picked up, or if he is looking for me; J is addressed by 'Deh-deh' or 'Bah-bah' and he needs to decide on which one he'd rather use because otherwise The Bun might get confused. I'm not sure if some of The Bun's words, like 'Bah' for bird or ball, happen to be coincidental or if he is really trying to use name the objects he sees, but he is certainly trying to 'talk' more instead of babbling. There's a funny sort of baby gibberish that he uses, with its own set on inflections, tones, and mutterings. It's very funny to watch The Bun examine a new object and talk to himself, or when he 'reads' to himself. The best parts are when he sounds surprised, halfway through a monologue, or when he suddenly attempts to sound stern. If he didn't make a beeline for my camera each time it was aimed in his direction, I would take videos of his chatter, it's so cute. He also mimics the sounds we make and particularly enjoys pretending to cough, and in the last week, has also added fake laughter to his repertoire.
Maybe some people would find it insulting to compare their baby to a dog, but for us we see it as a term of endearment when we refer to The Bun as some sort of puppy. He is very good at begging for food, and if he sees you eating he will clamber up at your knee and stare at you with huge puppydog eyes, beseeching you to give him a taste of whatever you're eating. I usually do give in, because I want his tastebuds to be exposed, so this month he has tried tiny bits of pork floss, red bean ice-cream, molten chocolate cake, miso soup, and tamago yaki. He enjoys his food and is quite enthusiastic about feeding himself. If he can, he will grab food with both hands, and then attempt to scoop up the remainder on the table with his mouth. He still only has two teeth, but those teeth can crunch through biscuits very neatly, and he can even nibble with them.
He is surprising us everyday with how much he understands and how quickly he is learning about his world. He learnt to flick through the photos in my sister's iPhone a few days ago; he soon discovered that pressing a certain button on his Ye-Ye's alarm clock will make a little light come on. He is fascinated by electronic buttons, any sort, as long as it triggers lights and/or music. One morning a couple of weeks ago, I left The Bun standing alone in his crib while I got his bath ready. I only allow him his pacifier when it's naptime or bedtime, so I had removed the bedtime one, forgetting that another one lay on my bedside table, about a foot away from The Bun's crib. (We have a second one lying nearby in case he can't find his pacifier in the middle of the night, and I don't want to turn on the light.) When I returned to get The Bun I found him sitting and sucking on the spare pacifier, bopping his head contentedly, and if I may say, rather triumphantly. He had reached through the crib bars, grabbed the leg of my bedside table to pull it over to him, and then helped himself to the spare pacifier, managing to pry open its cover as well. Good job!
Reading is near impossible right now because The Bun's latest obsession is turning the pages of books, any sort of book. He won't even let me hold the book for storytime and would rather 'read' by himself. So for now 'reading' involves The Bun pointing at a part of the picture in his book, and me naming it for him, sometimes even while the book is upside down. I'm just happy enough that he enjoys being with his books, even if they are more of a plaything at the moment.
I'm not sure if The Bun will walk before his first birthday, but I'm not really in any hurry for it to happen. Everything in its own time, and what's the point in rushing a child just to achieve a milestone? Age is just a number. For now, he's a confident cruiser and can easily navigate corners, cross from table to couch, or from chair to chair, and he does numerous squats daily (hence the rather perky bum), busy dropping and picking up his toys over and over again.
It's funny but whenever I look at The Bun, I can never see The Bun at any point in time except the present. I can hazily recall the way he looked as a newborn or as a younger baby, and I can sort of imagine what he might look like as a toddler, but mostly I can only see him, right here and right now. That's one of the things I value most about him - that he is always in the moment, and when I'm with him I usually forget to worry about the future or brood about the past, taking things as they come because there's really no other way. I am present in the present with him, and being with him is like holding sand in my fist; constantly slipping away, every day that he grows.