More 24 Months Pointers

At 24 months old, I am really very active. In fact, when Aunty Cheyanne saw me a couple of weeks ago, she said I am really active and very different from the children she has seen. She should know because she is doing a course in speech development right now in US.

Talking about speech, I am still very delayed in my speech development but this month, my parents can tell that I seemed to have made some progress though I still babble at times if I even babble at all. My current word is "S" and I started saying it a few days ago. Mama was kind of happy with this "s" I kept saying as her surname starts with S. And it seems that I can say "discs" when I stand before the shelf where my Sesame Street discs are kept.

I have watched the disc Head, Shoulders, Fur and Toes so many times that I seem to have remembered the content of the show and I can follow the games of Ernie Says, which is actually Simon Says in Sesame Street version. And I can recognise Cookie Monster, Grover and Elmo by pointing them out when I see them on toys, on PC screen and so on.

I still love to see the MRT trains go by and I am excited when I see them. I am also interested in unfamiliar places when Papa brings me somewhere new.

Nowadays, I would nod my head continuously when I hear upbeat music. One of my current favourite songs is If You are Happy and I will nod my head when I hear the song. If I hear you sing If you're happy and you know it, stomp your feet, I can even follow.

Then again, I am not always co-operative. This morning, Papa had to firmly teach me what it meant to stand still and wait with my hands by the side and I really stood still on the spot and waited for a good minute or so according to Mama's estimate.

Also, I can be misunderstood at times. There was once when Papa and Mama were about to take me to church when I suddenly turned back from the opened door and headed towards the TV set. Mama thought I wanted to switch on the TV and she said no. It turned out that I wanted to turn off the power before we left the house.

I am also learning very fast when I am interested in something. Last week, we passed by this arcade after dinner and Mama let me try this motorbike kiddy ride machine. Mama used a paper card with a magnetic strip to make the machine move. I had never seen this technology before but when I wanted another ride, I pointed to card-reader in front of the machine. Mama interpreted this as I wanted her to swipe her card once more to get the machine to move. She is really impressed that I am so smart!

Diet-wise, I have recently started to stick out my tongue when Papa or Mama wants to feed me. Papa said this could be my defence mechanism as I was scalded by hot porridge recently when Mama tried to feed me. Initially, Mama thought so too but when Mama gave me sushi to eat this afternoon for lunch, I did the same too which made Mama think that if I was concerned the food might be too hot, there is no reason I should stick out my tongue at sushi. Perhaps, I am using my tongue as an exploratory probe to taste the food and see if it is indeed hot.

Also,I am getting more independent in the area of self- feeding. Many a times, I will want to feed myself and my parents will allow me to do so though sometimes, I get kind of messy. Last Sunday evening, Papa bought an aloe vera with sea-coconut dessert. After some coaxing from my parents, I tried a piece of the aloe vera. Boy, it was really juicy and sweet and I immediately wanted to have more. So I started to feed myself. Papa was so happy with my self-feeding that he exclaimed that the day has finally come!

Yes, I am pretty unadventurous about trying new food and Papa said this takes after him too. Many a times, I would turn my head at some food offered to me and Mama had to coax me a few times to get me to try it. Sometimes, after trying, I decided I like the food and will want more of it by straightening up and indicating I want more. If I decided that I am not eating, I will turn my head away and stubbornly refuse to ingest any. Mama wonders if she will cause me to dislike a particular food for life if she punishes me for rejecting the food. But Mama is of the opinion that I am entitled to my likes and dislikes but I must at least give the new food a try before I decide to reject it.

Still, I managed to put on about 3.6 kg in my second year. When Mama weighed me on my first birthday, I weighed 8.4kg which is about 6 kg heavier than my birth weight. Mama read that in my second year, the rate of weight gain will decrease and I may put on only 2 or 3kg. So she is quite pleased that when she weighed me a few days ago, I weighed 12.0kg and yesterday (or was it this morning), the scale read 12.4kg. Now, it's not that Mama was obsessed and weighs me all day long but it's because I love to stand on her electronic weighing scale and seeing the LCD screen display come on and the figures start moving. So she will sometimes take a look at the reading. Yes, I had put on a good 3.6kg in my second year. Still, that makes me stand at about 30% precentile compared to other kids of my age in Singapore. Well, as long as I am growing and happy, who cares how I compare to national average. ha.

This month, I am also more into shape sorting and building blocks. Kind of delayed development over here again but better late than never. Papa and Mama had agreed long ago that by the age or about 4 or 5 years old when I have to go to school, as long as I can do most of what the kids at that age are doing such as running, jumping, talking and so on, it does not happen which age I start doing it.

Mama thinks it's not so much that I did not like to do shape sorting but I may prefer to do it with a context. She thinks so because though I did not take well to the shape sorter when she first bought one for me, I had been very interested in trying to fit plastic covers onto their respective containers, especially in the recent months.

Maybe in the past, I thought it's pointless to place the blocks one by one into their container by looking for a hole that fits shape of the blocks when you can just turn the container over and throw in the plastic blocks. But now, I am more interested to play with the shape sorter with Mama. It's like silently, I had grown to be interested in doing it. She first discovered this in church school when Aunty Siew Lan brought a shape sorter to keep us toddlers occupied. Mama thought I would not be interested but I actually sat for a while to do it with the jie jie telling me which hole the block should go through.

I am still very interested in Papa and Mama's hand phone. Papa's phone is a touch-screen phone and I will use my index finger to touch the screen. Mama was really impressed by my intelligence and Papa said it was because I had seen him do it many times.

This month, I also got more chances to use the phone as Mama will dial her own hand phone number using the houseline and once, I even got to talk to yeye when Mama was speaking to Papa.

One last thing before Mama forgets, I am also getting used to the bedtime routine. Immediately after my bath and waering my clothes, I will usually go into my room. Sometimes, a bottle of milk is on my bed and I will drink it before I sleep. When I see Mama lying on my bed trying to help me fall asleep, I will bring her the breastfeeding support pillow to prop up her head if she is not already resting on it. Yes, Mama is beginning to see how used I am to seeing her prop her head on the pillow.

Ok, that is about all that Mama can remember at the moment. Thanks for taking time to read so far. God bless you! I will be turning 25 months old soon in a week's time. cheers! :)