Bye bye

Benja mastered the goodbye wave many months back, around 12 months old. At first it was a simple fling of the arm. Then it was the flexing of the wrist. Now Benja can wave with palm opened and fingers stretched.

Benja verbalised "bye" shortly after he started calling papa and mama. He knew when to use it.

In the evening, at grandma's house, he would say bye once mummy picked him up. To Benja, mummy carrying him is the first step to leave grandma's house.

Sometimes mummy just wanted to pick him up to wash his hands. Sometimes it was just to see flowers in the garden. Benja made the grandparents laugh when he said, "bye." during these times.

Mummy improvised by saying, "走，妈妈带你回家 (come, mummy take you home)。" Benja quickly learnt that 走 means to leave and would say "bye" upon hearing the word even when he was not picked up.

Now, Benja is able to speak in two-word sentences. He would say, "Bye bye, 爷爷。Bye bye, 嫲嫲。"

Last week, grandma taught Benja to say goodbye to non-humans. These are what mummy heard:
- bye bye cat
- bye bye 鱼 (fish)
- bye bye rice
- bye bye soup
- bye bye plants