Dear Isaiah Monkey,
In the blink of an eye, you are already 12.5 months and a litle toddling creature, rather than that little helpless baby. You're devleoping so fast and furiously that it is sometimes difficult for Daddy and I to catch up with you! Just take this morning for example, you surprised both of us by going 'clock' when you saw the clock on our wall. When we look back at the past 12.5 months, we can't help but feel all warm and cozy inside. Guess this is the indescribable feeling of unconditional love parents feel that we used to hear about?
Little Caitlyn will be joining the family soon and Mummy can't help but worry that you will not take to her and feel left out or jealous of little mei mei. However, in our hearts of hearts, we know that you will eventually grow to love and take good care of her - from the loving way you would stroke Mummy's tummy and lay your head on Mummy's tummy whenever we ask you 'where's caitlyn' or to 'kiss caitlyn'. Looks like Mummy, Daddy and your hearts are going to learn to grow bigger once caitlyn is here.
Well, anyway this post is also for us to remember what are some of the milestones and little achievements you have made in this 12.5 months. We've always been wanting to record it down but have either been too busy or lazy (this is MUMMY lah) to do so. Before our memories turn hazy, here are some of your little achievements in different areas.
Elephant memory - Yupz, this is one thing we think you have. When something strikes you, you will remember it for a long time to come. An example would be the insect in our bathroom - for at least a month after u saw it, everytime u went into e bathroom u would look up at the same spot and 'ask' about it in your own special way, and the tell us that it flew away by flapping ur arms (which is of course wat Daddy told u and u eventually learnt)
Curiosity - U are generally a curious baby and would always go 'oh,'oh' when you see something new and want us to tell you what it is. If we were to ever ignore your 'oh, oh', you would use ur hand to push our head in the direction of the object!
Imitation - u seem to be good at this. U love trying to imitate our funny faces and also do try to imitate certain words and actions. U also love it when we imitate you and would sometimes bait us into copying your actions!
Motor skills - U've been able to cruise around since 10 mth and have started taking your first few tentative steps! U are basically walking around like 'jiang shi' now.. =)
Talking - u can now say words like 'tag', 'bubble', 'door', 'dark', 'por por' (yup, this is the only HUMAN u seem to want to call with meaning), 'boat', 'clock' and 'ball' with meaning. U also sometimes surprise us with moments of brilliance such as the time u went 'jaguar' when you saw the picture of it in one of your favourite books (Daddy is still amazed till this day) and how you went 'go down' when we were about to head out of the house with por por and us (think por por nearly feel backwards in amazement)and how just yesterday, u said something that sounded really like 'ISAIAH' in the lift when Daddy asked you who was the person in the reflection!
You also babble a lot and seem to be chatting with us sometimes but we can't make sense of it yet. Your current favourite sounds to make seem to be 'dat, dat, dat', 'dat-di', 'geng', 'nan-geng' (whatever this means and however you came to make this sound is a great mystery)
Signing - after watching baby signing times since you were a little itsy baby at about 4 mths, you've learnt the signs for many things including 'milk', 'eat', 'water', 'thank you', 'cereal', 'banana', 'more', 'bird', 'cat', 'frog', 'dog', 'shoes' (u do this same sign for trees - we guess it's because in chinese, trees = shu which sounds a lot like shoes?), 'socks', 'hat', 'airplane', 'train', 'bus', 'boat', 'book', and 'hurt'.
You have also your own hand actions accompanied with sound for 'vacuum cleaner', 'helicopter', 'kungfu' and 'how' (this has no sound).
Introducing signing to you had met with lots of opposition for fear it would delay your talking ability, but well, all of us will talk one day rite, so we went ahead with it.. I must say, the first day u signed meaningfully at abt 9 mth +, Mummy had tears in her eyes.
Activities you enjoy - Reading - u now love to flip (and destroy) books and we're glad that you have taken an interest in books! You used to love it when we read to you and could sit around and listen for up at abt 5 books worth. Now, it really depends on your mood, and you'd rather be the one 'reading'. You also have your own preference of books and if we offer to read you a book you are not in the mood for, you would fuss and crawl away.
Frolicking on e bed with Daddy - Daddy and you share special bonding moments on the bed before bedtime everyday where you climb all over him and sometimes treat him as your horsey.
Kisses and hugs - you generally tend to be an affectionate little thing who loves to be kissed and hugged. You also learnt to give big, open-mouthed kisses from when u were a little bb of 4 mth.
Complaining - YES, this is something you seem to have picked up recently and it's something we hope you'll outgrow soon! You would whine and whine in your own baby language. Video attached to show you an example!
Generally, you enjoy playing with toys and people and dislike being left alone for long. That explains the whole hall of toys you have! hee.. Here's Mummy trying hard to justify her buys again.
Objects you can identify - you can point out some objects on your books and puzzles when asked to such as 'aeroplane', 'helicopter', 'police car', 'fire engine', 'ambulance', 'boat', 'jaguar', 'orang utan', 'horse', 'dog', 'cat', 'apple', 'orange' and many more. In fact, for some objects you know them in both mandarin and english many thanks to nai nai who puts in effort to teach them to you! You are also able to point out various parts of the body such as 'toes', 'hair', 'mouth', 'ear' and 'fingers' reliably. There was a special day where u blinked whenever we asked you where your eyes were but 'sadly', your eyes are now ur mouth! see below for evidence1 ;P
Naturally, although Daddy and Mummy think you're a great kid, you have some little quirks we hope you'd outgrow soon. You have developed quite a bit of stranger anxiety since you were abt 10 mth, changing from a little baby who was ever quick and ready to explore new activities and people to a more cautious and 'sticky' one. Hopefully this is a phase you'll outgrow as we hope you won't end up being like us! =) You also tend to be a little on the fussy type at times and would cry and throw tantrums when you can't get what you want - reaching the terrible twos stage at the advanced age of 1?? Well, I guess all of us have our little quirks right? Regardless, we love you all the same, our little monkey!
Oh ya, talking about the nickname you have - 'monkey'. Mummy started calling you this when you were younger as you were always full of energy and somehow just struck Mummy that you would be a little monkey. Daddy was super against the nickname and would grumble and nag at Mummy about it. Guess who's e BIGGEST fan of the nick now? DADDY! He's even going around buying you mnonkey stuff.. As Mummy has always said, she has good foresight! haha
Isaiah monkey, always remember that Daddy and Mummy will always love you regardless of what your achievements are and our greatest hope for you is that you will always be healthy and happy! We love you for everything that makes you who you are and this will never change. We will probably have our little quarrels and tiffs along the way as you grow up, but that doesn't diminish the love we have for you. This love we have is growing greater and greater day by day and we will work to become the parents that will always be there for you when u need us!
Luff,
Daddy and Mummy
