I am 14 months old

Dear all, this week, I turned 14 months old. I am now able to curl my fingers at my own will and I can bid you farewell in this manner. I am also more interested in touching my food. When Mama feeds me, I will grab the feeding spoon and try to feed myself. This has been happening on and off for a while but Mama observed this week that I like to grab the spoon near the part where the scoop is and I will try to touch the food with my thumb, kind of do it sneakily, you know, as if I touched the food by accident. 

Initially, Mama didn't like this as I will get myself messy but now, she allows me to continue with this behaviour so that I can feel with my fingers what the texture of my food is like. A few times, I actually ate the food that is on my hand by placing my food-stained hand to my mouth and eating from my hand. Would you call this self-feeding? Mama thinks it is...

I am now more "chatty" and I babble more. I can say Papa and Mama and mum mum but Mama is not sure if I mean it or these are just meaningless chatter to me. There was one morning when I woke up, walked to my parents' room and when I saw Papa still sleeping, I went up to him and called him Papa. At other times, I can babble to myself saying pa pa pa pa even when Papa was working in his office.... and so, my parents are not decided if I do mean it when I say my Papa and Mama. 

Another thing that pleases my extended family is that I am able to respond to their "who is" question. For example, if you ask, "Who is Daniel?" I will pat myself on my chest a few times.  I can also respond if you ask me the same question in Mandarin. In fact, I first learnt to respond in Mandarin as that was how Mama "taught" me but Aunty Cheyanne tried it out in English and I proved that I can respond in English too!

Actually, Mama didn't really teach me to respond. Rather, she "tagged" me to respond. You see, there were a few mornings when Mama was drying me after my bath when I started to pat myself on my chest a few times. Mama noted it's something new but didn't pay too much attention until one day, she saw me patting myself again and so she asked the question,"Who is Daniel?" in Mandarin. I continue to pat myself and Mama said."That's right." So you see, Mama just tagged on to my natural development and I soon learnt that this is the "right" way to respond when the question of "Who is Daniel?" is asked. The funny thing is, maybe I only learnt the "who is" part and so every question of "who is" will be answered with the same response.

 Eg, if you ask," Who is Papa?" and I will pat myself. Who is Mama?  I pat myself. Aunty Cheyanne asked," Who is Goh Chok Tong?" Again, I patted myself. This "who is" business can go on for a while until I decided I have better things to look at rather than address the identity problems that my folks have.  But Mama and Papa noted that I am a good-natured boy because whatever I am doing, be it examining a toy, on my way to somewhere, as long as they ask me the " Who is" question, I will stop and respond to them. Mama read that boys do have selective hearing and maybe this is a question I have chosen to answer. Haha. ;p

Talking about on my way, I can now walk quite a bit. It probably takes less than 10 seconds for me to walk from my room to my parents' room. This week, I seemed to be regressing in my walking though. Mama observed that I was walkign pretty well last week but this week, I seem to stop more often as I would fall after taking a few steps. Not to worry though, I have learnt to lean forward and break my own fall by using my hands to support my body weight and so I don't really end up falling. Mama wonders which area am I progressing in since I am regressing in my locomotion.

Could it be because I am teething? I now have 2 upper front teeth and 2 lower front teeth and 2 more teeth are cutting through next to the front teeth on my lower gum. By the way, I do have a very strong bite. On a few occasions, Mama was bitten by me when she tried to feed me using her fingers. Boy, I do leave very deep marks when I bite. There was once Mama's finger was bitten by me and there was a small puncture the size of a full-stop (.) on Mama's finger. It was a" red full-stop" because Mama's finger bleed a little after the bite. 

This week, I have stopped my screaming which almost drove Papa up the wall. You see, Papa likes peace and quietness. But I was trying to express myself with my newly developed high- pitched scream and this upset Papa. Mama tried to assure him that I wasn't throwing a tantrum, just trying to make myself heard. Aunty Siew Lan also advised that Mama and Papa will just have to keep telling me it is not right to scream and wait for me to grow out of it. Hopefully, I have outgrown it. 

Last week, Papa and Mama had a heated quarrel. I witnessed it and guessed what did I do? I didn't cry but I took my green storybook titled "Jesus Loves Me" and gave it to Mama. Mama sang the verses in the book for me using the tune "Jesus Loves Me This I Know" and it brought a few tears to her eyes and some encouragement to her too. Don't you think it's so sweet of me?

Ok, thanks for reading so far. It's my sleeping time.. See you again.. :)