Sophie's diaries : 17 months old

Mooncake Festival this year...

Sophie didn't join in any lantern parade - but climbed up a ladder in our home. First, with her daddy's help - and then once on her own.  

Gonna reach for that moon, daddy!

Anyway.

17 months old. My princess is 17 months old. She turned 17 months old 3 days ago.

I am thanking God for all the new progresses this past month:

1. Uppercase letters (out of your typical English Latin 26 alphabet) yet to be formally introduced: J and Z. It's lower case letters after this.

2. We moved Sophie into her own bed some nights ago. Technically, it is an IKEA wooden cot-bed with one side-rail removed and its height adjusted so that it can attach to our queen-sized bed, giving the sense of a much larger bed that the 3 of us can sleep on together. This is not only to ease her into sleeping on her own - but to ease her mama (me) into letting co-sleeping go. Haha! (Ben cheekily suggested, in response to my grief, that it is TIME to have another baby so that I can continue co-sleeping. Right....) Nevertheless, it is nice to see her sleeping so soundly in her special corner. Her parents, on the other hand, are at a loss as to what to do with that space she previously occupied on our bed for more than a year though. The bed seems so..... gigantic now. :'/

3. She climbs up stairs on her own now. On foot. With a hand holding onto the wall/railing for support - or sometimes, not. And then she comes downstairs as if she has wings to fly - with daddy's or mummy's help this time of course. It's kinda scary to watch her still, but it's probably because I am not used to it. I have to literally bite my tongue in order not to nag her to "be careful". Who knows... one day, she might be walking up and down the stairs on her hands. Or sliding down the staircase on a skateboard. In retrospect, status quo might seem like... peanuts.

4. She knocks on doors to be let in - more insistently than ever before. Actually, it's more like: *BANG, BANG, BANG* "Mama! Mama!" And she almost won't take no for an answer. It's a little difficult when I'm showering or using the lavatory when it is just me and her. And so, I am trying to get used to having a scrutinising, gaping audience. "Caaar! Caaar!" (her version of "Scar! Scar!") she would say in glee, while pointing to the C-section scar snaking along my bikini line. Speaking of which, she does ask to see and feel it quite often. I did tell her that that was her entrance to our world at the end of her stay in my tummy. She would shake her head. In disbelief. Scars are everywhere, by the way. She enjoys pointing out our scars to us - as well as her own.

5. BIG, SMALL. She opens her arms wide for "big" and pretends to hold a small ball between her palms for "small". I try to illustrate the contrasting sizes by using common household objects. Umbrellas are currently a hit with her. Opening them up is a thrill because of the way they go SWOOSH BANG! (Previously, she was afraid of the SWOOSH BANG part.) "Um... um... um..." she says, opening her arms wide. She loves sitting under big umbrellas.

6. Opening car doors on her own. We let her open her own door when we arrive at our destinations. (She likes shutting them from the inside too.) Otherwise, we makes sure that all doors are locked... or child locked. I think she might figure out how to unlock them from the inside soon.

7. Washable crayons and drawing "lines". We limit her to scribbling on papers, sketch pads and colouring books. Of course, she can't help colouring outside the boundaries sometimes. Whenever we mention "lines", she would point to the lines on her palms. It is interesting how she made that connection. She also likes removing her crayons from their box and throwing them everywhere but back into the box. Oh well. At least, the crayon box has a sturdy lid that she can't remove too easily - for now.

8. Climbing onto chairs and other pieces of furniture that are below chest height or slightly above - once she gets up, she is able to turn herself around and sit facing forward. Sometimes, she sits facing backward for fun. It is dangerous for her to lean on the backs of the chairs (because they might topple - and she's a little more than 10kg now) and she hasn't gotten it into her head why she shouldn't do so yet, and so, close supervision is needed at all times. I don't allow her to climb onto the dining table though. If she does, it's time-out on the floor, which she hates. After some initial frustration, she doesn't climb onto the dining table anymore. Thank God.

9. Turning round and round and round and round and round...till she is giddy. And happy.

10. Eating with a fork. Eating with a spoon is messy right now - but a fork? She positions the fork just enough to pop food into her mouth now. As long as she closes her mouth right after the food enters, the food gets in fine. Preventing her from spitting out the food after a few chews is a different matter all together. At least, she doesn't spit out the first few morsels. After that, she keeps spitting like it's a sport. In fact, she doesn't seem to enjoy eating that much. She just loves drinking milk *kek sei ngo*. I need divine intervention indeed.

11. Her first play date went quite well. Let me see... they tried to share a stuffed bear, Davin showed us his tortoises, they climbed chairs, and played chasing games. The date ended (hilariously, at least for me) with a big bang - literally. The collision of two small (fore)heads. I am surprised that neither of them cried. However, Sophie kinda made it very clear that she was ready to go home after that. Oops. Anyway, I am thankful for the kind and gracious hospitality of her date's parents - Kevin and Pam. Would love to do play date again.

 12. Some other things here.

You may also read about last month's progresses here and her 15th month's progresses here.