Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Teeth

Benja has 10 bottom and 4 upper teeth now.

The lower canines sprouted after Chinese new year in mid February.

No fever this round. Only about 5 days of diarrhoea at the beginning. After taking Domper for 2 days, the diarrhoea went off.

Daddy finally signed Benja up for childcare at 24 months two weeks ago. Mummy finally has a peace of mind. 

Update: 28 Feb. Benja had fever above 38'C from 28/2 to 2/3. It happened to be mummy's office retreat at Sentosa. Daddy brought along many toys and snacks for the beach, but was stuck in the resort room, monitoring temperature, giving medication and lulling Benja to sleep. We'll go back for a staycation next time! ^^

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Cars

For the first time, you fell asleep with something in your hand.

It happened much earlier than what Mummy expected.

You must have observed cousin G playing with with his boxful of Hot Wheels since Day 1 thinking that rolling the cars on the ground is fun. Somehow you understood the rule that he is the owner and you are only allowed to admire them (and him playing) from afar.

On Friday, Mummy assured him that you won't put the car into your mouth and got him to let you hold two of them.

You were a natural talent, holding them between your thumb, index and middle fingers, pushing them back and forth on the floor, making the sound "vroom... vroom.." with a bright spark in your eyes.

Just like when you play with the things you love, you drooled.

Little did you know that Mummy had bought four tiny cars for you at the mall earlier that day. They were such tiny 1" cars, Daddy didn't think you are old enough to play with them. When Mummy described them to cousins Z and G, they exclaimed, "Oh my God, don't tell me it's the Nano!"

And yes, after Mummy passed you the box, you admired those Nanos, pointed at them through the transparent case, and said, "Car, car!" almost a hundred times.

Then you were not happy to just look at them anymore. You shouted, "开!开!"

After we took the cars out, it was cars the whole night till you fell asleep.

That's the power of cars!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Imitating others

There has been an increased number of mosquitoes in the house. Daddy tries to kill them by clapping his hands as well as with the electric mosquito bat.

Benja couldn't understand what daddy was doing. He simply imitated daddy by clapping his hands loudly a few times too. The physical strength and vigorius movements that Benja made caused him to be out of breath. Benja panted loudly after a series of ten huge claps. Haha.. :D
Mummy doesn't like to use this word.

Mummy makes conscious effort to avoid using negative words like many articles that talked about the negative effects of saying "no" and "cannot".

Cannot

Huat

Cough

Twirl

Papa said you twirled round many times at grandma's house today.

How?

Mummy finally saw you twirl one round with your arms stretched out mid-body level before you went to bed. You looked happy after twirling. You didn't turn to mummy for acknowledgement.

Hmm... that is not what babies can do. That is what CHILDREN can do. Wow.. Benja has become a toddler without mummy realising!

How did you learn that? Were you imitating your girl cousins who pretended that they were princesses twirling around all day?

Scared scared

As you approach the 18th month of your life, your ability express yourself grows leaps and bounds.

Last Saturday, during the Soon family 元宵 celebration at Lau Ku's house, you said you were scared of the dog that barked loudly, patting your pounding heart as you said that. Your exact words were, "scared, scared".

The next day, you took a wrong turn to some of our neighbour's corridor instead of the playground at the 7th floor. Finding the place unfamiliar, you told daddy you were afraid. Your exact words were, "scared, scared".

You could remember things too.

On Saturday night, after we returned from the party and bathed. You told mummy that a dog barked loudly and scared you. Your exact words were, "Dog dog. Woh woh. Scared, scared."

You never fail to amaze mummy, Benja. Mummy is very proud that you are learning and growing so well! ^^

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Language development

As you can see from the shape of his mouth, Benja is saying "Ball!"

Benja is at the 'echo' phase where he repeats the last syllable of interesting words.

Benja's wordlist:
Bread
Biscuit
Cheese
Grape
Fish
Ice
Nana (all fruits)
Spoon
Hot
Cold
No
Bag
Ball
Baby
Book
Bubbles
Marbles
痛痛

Kor kor
Chea chea
Dog, woh woh
Car, meow
Bird
Eye
Nose