Sophie's diaries: 15 months

Another month has passed - and the first quarter of her second year of life is over. 

There is yet no more heartwarming an experience than to gaze deeply into her eyes just before she falls asleep at night and ask, "Does mummy love you, Sophie?" 

With a cheeky smile, she would shake her head vigorously. No. To that, I would then exclaim in mock horror, "Mummy doesn't love you? Are you sure? Are you sure?" Sophie giggles in anticipation. "Yes, of course mummy loves you. I love you very much, Sophie." 

She nods with a smile on her face.  

She loves this game (as well as hide-and-seek). So do I. It affords such beautiful moments. I pray that she would always remember them. 

It is true that the toddler years present a steep learning curve for parents as well as child.

There is a whole range of new emotions to cope with and express, experiences to make sense of, knowledge to acquire, curiosity to quench, etc. I try my best not to rush Sophie through the learning processes because I want her to enjoy learning - not just while she is a toddler but for life. As for us, the (often clueless) parents, there is always the frustration of falling short of being supermom and superdad; just when you think you've got it all figured out, a new challenge sets up camp to prove you wrong. We are learning not to be perfectionists. Family life is always a work in progress - and living it well is easier said than done. Habits, good and bad, form and set life-long patterns for everybody, and so we learn to be consistent - something that I struggle with consistently because I am not exactly the most consistent kind of person. Haha. Challenges aside, I am delighted for this opportunity to learn and grow alongside Sophie. Cliche as it sounds, I am truly blessed to witness all that God is doing in her life - physically, mentally, intellectually, emotionally, socially, spiritually. Privileged to be part of His much higher ways of raising her up as His ambassador when a parent can only do so much being a human steward beset with limitations and frailty. Miraculously, He stretches the little I can give into things exceedingly and abundantly more than I can ask or imagine.

I pray that Sophie might have the same joy of knowing such great faithfulness if and when she becomes a mother herself.

Well then, she is turning out to be a rather fussy eater - which I hope isn't permanent. (I sure hope that she doesn't take after her mummy.)

My mother-in-law and I crack our brains daily to analyze why she eats like she does. Teething? Food too slimy? Too chewy? Too weird a combination? Too smooth? *Sweat* Sometimes she rejects stuff that she used to eat. Restaurant/ non-home-cooked foods appeal to her the most. She loves to eat what we are having if it's chewable (she only has 4 teeth on each row - just the incisors), slightly salty, and not too dry. She even eats a little "normal" meat when she is out with us. (At home, most of her meats are ground or blended into a pulp or she won't even give them a second look.) Minced meat in noodles? Sure. Fish and chips (minus the chips)? Sure. Chicken chop? Sure - albeit with reservations. Sigh.

What does she eat willingly then? Sophie probably takes after her godma in her enjoyment of chawanmushi (savoury steamed egg custard with a few other ingredients inside - e.g. mushrooms, vegetables, meat, etc.) - so much so that we include it as a staple in her weekly diet. Homemade of course. She also seems to like plain oatmeal, cream cheese, dragon fruit, papaya, organic biscuits, and tofu. Hmmm.

How to make her eat better? She eats better if you feed her with a pair chopsticks or a fork (it is as grown-up as you can get) and so, we often "trick" her into eating stuff that she doesn't normally want to eat by feeding her with a pair of chopsticks! It works. At home, we also distract her with books when she sits in her highchair - or she would want to get off before the meal has even started, and if she is not in her highchair, she won't be eating. Running around the house is more fun (for her) - but I shouldn't be chasing her around the house with a spoon and bowl in hand. That is just not right. Occasionally, I let her feed herself (which usually turns all foods into finger foods and my toddler into a mess) - but it horrifies my mother-in-law to no end, and so, I think I might wait till we are on our own to let her do it at every meal.

Dear God, please let Sophie have a good appetite for the right foods. I really don't know how to feed her.

For the record (and for her family/relatives/godma who might be interested), some new things for the month:

1. Identifying new body parts. 

We play a simple game daily that requires her to identify each body part upon my naming them. It goes something like this. "I use my eyes to see. Where are your eyes, Sophie?" She would blink her eyes. "I use my ears to hear. Where are your ears, Sophie?" And she would point to her ears. Sometimes, I would ask her, "Where is mummy's ...... (neck, elbow, etc.)" and let her point it out on my body. Most of the time, she gets it right. Here is an updated list of body parts she can identify as of today:

Hair
Head
Face

Ears

Eyes (and glasses)

Nose (and wrinkling it to smell/sniff. She learned to blow her nose too!)
Tongue

Teeth (and toothbrush). She connects "crocodile" to "teeth", so everytime I say "crocodile", she would point to her teeth. Crocodiles have sharp, pointy teeth. They need to brush them well - coz a toothless crocodile is a miserable crocodile. Uhuh.

Neck. She connects "giraffe" to "neck" because it has a looooooooong neck.

Elbows
Armpits

Shoulders
Hands
Wrists (She often confuses this with fingers.)

Fingers (and clenching and unclenching them in time to "Twinkle, twinkle, little star"; also making a diamond shape with index fingers and thumbs)
Thumbs

Chest (She sometimes pats her tummy.)

Tummy

Belly Button (Her favourite thing!)

Back
Buttock (I think so.)
Hips
Legs

Knees
Shin

Feet

Toes
Ankles (She can only identify them if they are on mummy - because mummy's ankles are bonier.)

Archilles Tendon (random, I know!)

Heel

I might teach her a bit of anatomy now that she knows most of the important body parts. 

2. Identifying shapes. 

Before this, she only knew "star". This month, thanks to the well-known toy box that requires the child to match blocks to their holes according to shape, she is able to recognise more shapes now. 

Circle/ Round

Triangle

Diamond

Star

Heart

Oval (she calls it "Oh")

Crescent Moon (or known as just "Moon")

She still doesn't get squares, rectangles, and semicircles. Oh well. 

3. Identifying Alphabets. 

Thanks to painstaking repetition, books, magnetic alphabets, a computer keyboard, and her mummy's annoying rendition of a phonics song, here is a short list of alphabets that she can now identify:

A a

B b

C c

O o

Y y

The other day, I asked her , "Where is F-f-fish?" She pointed to the fish stickers on our wardrobe to show me that she understood - and then she pointed to the ceiling fan. I guess that she is aware that "fish" and "fan" start with the same letter. F. So perhaps, that is the next alphabet to teach her. I am not doing it in an alphabetical order yet, although it is important to do so. I suppose that the alphabets song will do the trick someday. 

F is for Flowers too.

4. Knowing what "louder" means.

"Call daddy, Sophie."
"Dada."
"Louder?"
"DADA."
"Louder..."
"DADAAAAA...." *cheeky grin*

Haha. That's our girl.

5. Clasping her hands when we say, "Pray", and making sure everybody else does the same. 

She peeps and nags those who aren't "praying" into the right posture. For doing that, her dad jokes that she will be a pastor when she grows up. Oh dear.

6. Twirling round on the spot. 

360 degrees at least. Not very gracefully yet! Amuses us to no end.

7. Giving us the thumbs-up signal for "good". 

Or "Like" on Facebook.

8. Initiating hide-and-seek games by hiding behind the curtain, covering her eyes, or hiding objects. 

When I say, "Pee-ka..." she will finish, "BOO!"


Well then, may you have another blessed month ahead, sweetheart!