23 months - in conversation

just some of the more memorable ones that struck me the first time she said it because it demonstrates her understanding of various concepts that we may not have taught her explicitly but that she somehow picked up through our daily conversations. 

with some leading questions, i also get some news from her on what happens in school - who got scolded, what they ate, who cried and why. all very fun.

she's getting the concept of this/that - "h play with / read this one, mama play with / read that one"

"h cannot reach because h is small. mama is big can reach."

"papa! don't disturb h! don't do that! don't kiss h! don't touch h's face!" in a very naggy sort of way. 

"h pass shee-shee on the floor then wee willy winky step and fall down. h laugh at wee willy winky."

"mummy take that one, h take this one"

"mummy take this blue one, h take the other blue one" - she's getting the hang of "this" and "that" knowing that "that" tends to refer to the object that is further away. same for "here" and "there".

the "my" and "your" concepts are slowly coming together for her too. "mummy take off my trousers" to mean helping her with her bottoms instead of "mummy take off your trousers". :D

"mummy is not an engineer. mummy don't know how to repair (her toy train). h is an engineer, h can repair"

23 months - food

quite soon after her first birthday, we started feeding h whatever we ate at mealtimes. before that, we had been more strict with limiting her salt intake and hence had cooked her meals (i.e. porridge) separately. having her eat table food made life much easier for us, but it also meant that we tended to choose eating places/foods that we knew had foods she would eat. we would also avoid ordering spicy foods as it meant she would not be able to share that particular dish.

her preferences for certain kinds of food came through quite early on. 

lucky for us, she loves her veggies (broccoli, all kinds of leafy veggies, cauliflower, carrot, corn ...) and when she first started school the teacher would tell us that they will usually pass all the other kids' veggies to her while taking her portion of meat for others as she wouldn't eat meat. vegetarian baby...

she's also a Chinese/Asian through and through - rice, noodles (bee hoon, mee sua, udon), rice rolls (chee cheong fun) are all up her alley. she doesn't like breads or steamed buns as much. the only time she'll eat bread is if it is a fruit loaf. so no sandwiches for her (which is usually fine since we don't have sandwiches very often). and she slurps down Chinese boiled soups with so  much enthusiasm that both grandmas try to give her soup everyday. sometimes she's a happy camper just with rice and soup plus any veggies that were used to cook the soup. 

she is ok with seafood - steamed fish or prawns. we've had her wallop 4-5 really yummy large prawns at one sitting ... and sometimes she'll have a considerable amount of fish for dinner.

she has quite a discerning palate. she tends to eat more when the food is good. double boiled soups while we are at chinese restaurants for example, and the very al dente udon from ikeikemaru ... also if the texture of the rice is good she also tends to have more.

as for sweet stuff - she likes most fruits (apples, oranges, banana, blueberries, grapes ... ) and will fight with me for cake/muffins when we buy such baked goods. ice cream too.

22 months - 1st parent-teacher session

we attended our first parent-teacher session at baby's school today. the teachers really took time to share with us about how baby behaves in school and it was good getting insight into how she is like after we drop her off.

that she's a smart cookie and very active was definitely not lost on the teachers. her chinese teacher said it was difficult believing that baby is not yet 2 given her strong understanding of content and instructions. and I think she's one of her english teacher's fave student (not surprising given the genuinely happy smile she gives baby every morning at drop-off). apparently, the teachers use her to demo any new activities because she grasps instructions and things very quickly (after only one time, says the teachers). it then makes it easier for the other kids to follow suit.

oh, and we realised today that she is a rather popular kid among her classmates. the teacher indicated as such in the report book, and it kind of reinforced the warm welcome she gets every morning at drop off ... all the kids will crowd up to the classroom door and keep calling her name while she usually is rather chill about the attention. one of her classmate's mum also mentioned that her daughter would also keep mentioning baby's name at home. heh.

i still wonder why she is so popular though. perhaps she thinks up "creative" stuff that the other kids find fun to copy ... i don't envy the teachers though ... as it probably disrupts the peace/quiet. 

was expecting the teachers to tell us that she doesn't listen to them, but they said she was an obedient kid overall (她会听话) and apparently the school bus auntie told them the same thing.

also, she apparently eats on her own for lunch in school (sigh, we pamper her too much at home because we don't want to clean up the mess) and she is usually to first one to rouse from their mid-day nap. the teachers say that she will usually chill and talk/sing quietly on her own before the others wake up.

i am still getting over the fact that baby had a REPORT BOOK! so it's not really fun and games only ... but they are only just turning 2!! from the comments in the report book it would seem baby is really enjoying school and it's wide range of activities + the teachers enjoy having her around. :)

excerpts:

"a bright and active girl. she has a cheery demeanour that made her a friend to many in our classroom. however she needs constant reminders to be gentle when interacting with her friends. a pleasure to have in class!"

"活泼丶好动丶小脑袋很灵活。喜爱唱歌和音乐律动，户外游戏活动，也能积极投入扮演角色. 若能在上课时专注安静些就更好."

22 months - museum fun

a placeholder for our visit to the national museum during children's season. 

22 months - birthdays

many happy and fun occasions this past week or so. 

we celebrated our birthdays and baby could sing the birthday song in english and chinese very loudly plus blow out the candles for us. i think she has gotten the hang of what birthday celebrations are after having celebrated a few classmates' birthdays so far, and those of her grandparents'. i don't think she really cares at this stage what the cake design is, so long as there are candles and the birthday song sung on loop.

she also had great fun in the pool when we visited the hubby's cousin. this girl had no fear and went down the water slide countless times even though sometimes it meant drinking a mouthful of water. she was probably the youngest kid attempting the water slide on her own. 

22 months - in conversation

"when 太阳公公下山了 all the shops close. in the morning h can go in again."

on which part of the sticker book to put a sticker of a tortoise "cannot put 乌龟 near the crocodile, otherwise the crocodile will EAT the 乌龟!"

she can do the whole 3 little pigs routine, viz. "little pig little pig ... blow your house down", complete with huffing and puffing sound effects.

describing what's going on in the 'wheels on the bus' library book - "the elephant use the trunk to open the door" "tiger, come up the bus and sit here"

"when h wake up and it is dark dark outside, h cannot call mama because mama is sleeping. papa is also sleeping. when 太阳公公 wake up h can call mama."

this is even better ...

"when the sun come out, h can call mama."

"what if mama doesn't come?"

"mama sleep so much. then h call papa."

OH YES! good things must share.