I am 16 months old

Dear all,

I turned 16 months old yesterday but Papa and Mama did not do much to celebrate the occasion for me. Instead, they left me with Ye Ye and Nai Nai from late morning until after dinner. They went to watch Transformers 2 and ate crepes and went to church for a Youth Revival Meeting while I stayed with Ye Ye and Nai Nai but well, this is not so much about them but more about me and so, let's move on. :)

Nowadays, I am learning more things by imitation. The other day, Mama gave me a slice of bread to try eating on my own. She expected me to sink my teeth into the bread but instead of doing that, I tore off a small piece of bread and put it into my mouth. That is how Mama usually feeds me and so I simply imitated her.

Another thing Mama thinks I seems to be imitating is when I hold my foot in my hands. Mama takes that as a sign that I want to play This Little Piggy and she will usually oblige me but she also thinks I take after Papa who likes to hold his foot in one hand and poke it with a pen in an attempt to simulate some foot reflexology.

For the week that just passed, I am starting to laugh at words with funny sounds. Just a few days ago, Mama was trying to teach me to eat with a spoon and I really laughed loudly when she said, "Scoop it out". For some reasons, I just find these words very amusing and I am really tickled by it. The other day, she gave me a small bottle of baby lotion to hold in my hand and she taught me to open and close the cap of the bottle. I was so amused by the words "Open" and "Close". Maybe this is part of my langauge development. Aunty Cheyanne said I will be saying my first word in a couple of months' time.

I am also learning to utter some sounds like "ah", "po", (yes, sounds like apple) and "die" and so other baby utterances. But make no mistake, I have already started to communicate with people around me. For example, if I want Mama to take a toy I am holding, I will hold her hand to touch the toy and when I want to play This Little Piggy, I will also hold Mama's hands to touch my foot too.

Seems like I am an assertive boy and yes, Papa noted that I am beginning to become assertive and he has plans to send me to a playgroup next year for me to learn to interact with other children.

Talking about being tickled, yes, I am ticklish. You just have to know where my soft spots are.

On the spiritual side, Shu Shu has taught me to clasp my hands together when I hear the word pray and now, I will do that when Mama prays or when she says the words, "Dear God" and Mama is teaching me to say Amen. When Mama picked me up from Ye Ye's house on my 16th month birthday, Nai Nai commented that I had clasped my hands together when she prayed with him. If Mama is not mistaken, nobody taught me to put my hands together when she said Dear God. Perhaps God has used the seed sown by Shu Shu to bring on more development.

Physically, I am walking a lot more now and I am really strong. Just look at me lift up the 2 stools.

My finer motor skills are also developing. I am now able to play with the stacking rings Aunty Siew Lan gave me when I was a few months old. I am able to put the rings back to the base stand. I also like to clap my hands when I accomplish some tasks such as putting the toys back to my playpen.

Mama has thought that she does not want to clap for me when I clear up the mess I made because in the first place, it is my responsibility to clear up my own mess and there is nothing to applaud about fulfilling my responsibility. But she will clap for me when I accomplish new tasks and when I am obedient to her.

Occasionally, Mama likes to take me to the playground downstairs while she waits for Papa to come home.
I have also learnt to turn on the electrical switches found on the walls. They would make a click sound and I have been doing it quite a lot. Unfortunately, this landed me in a small trouble. Last Friday, Mama left me to play on my own in the living room and she was washing the milk bottle when she heard me cry. she came to check on me and found me crying with the iron in my hands. I was actually holding it up and my fingers were strangely positioned at the iron.

To her horror, I had turned on the switch and I had probably burnt my fingers. She quickly turned off the switch and carried me in her arms. By the time she was ready to take me to the doctor, I had already stopped crying and was my happy usual self. Still, she brought me to see Dr Loo who told her to observe me for a day to see if any blisters would form. I was pretty ok the next day and she forgot about checking me for blisters. Maybe one did form afterall because Papa found my left ring finger with broken skin and redness and most likely, the blister had burst. Still, I was not too disturbed by it except for the occasional ouch when they tried to wash me. So worry not, I am still my happy self. Hopefully, this will be the last of my childhood injury. I will probably stay away from the iron for a while until I have forgotten about this painful episode and Mama has now kept the iron away in the storeroom.

Ok, will end here. Thanks for reading.. God bless you. :)