Wow. 15 months huh? It seems "they" are right when "they" (whoever "they" may be) say that in watching your child grow, the day crawls by ever so slowly but the weeks and months just fly on by. I'm going to repeat myself again and say - oh my goodness. I cannot believe how fast you are growing!
This time last year, I wrote about being grateful for this time the year before. I guess this is how things will be like now. Looking back at the time that has passed us by and marvelling at how far we have come in such a short time.
But seriously, we HAVE come a long way. More specifically, YOU have come a long way. I mean, this was you this time last year -
Hehe! Too cute ;)
(on a side note, you are still wearing the exact same diapers now. In the exact same size setting. How is that even possible?!)
And this is you, today.
(another note - how can it be that this time last year it was warm enough for singlets and diaper, and now you are in pajamas all day?! crazy Melbourne weather!)
Anyway, I thought you might like to (one day) know that this past couple of week, we have officially retired all your size 1 clothing (up to 18 months typically) and bought you a whole new wardrobe of size 2s (meant for 24 month olds). The fact that you seemed to have shot through another massive growth spurt length-wise, plus the crazy Melbourne weather turning in winter overnight, meant that we had to go scouring through baby markets and departmental stores for bigger and warmer clothing for you. Little man, can you please don't grow so fast? Daddy needs time to earn enough money to keep buying you new clothes! Oh and you need new shoes too. Too fast, little man, too fast.
This month, we felt like all the time and effort we've spent investing in equipping you with various skills and abilities are seriously starting to pay off. In many ways. Let's see what I can recall and pinpoint.
Sign language
I always thought that there are some hand signs that I shouldn't bother using with you at all because it is highly unlikely that you have the dexterity to use them any time soon.
Oh how wrong was I! You put me firmly in my place and reminded me through your actions that I need to stop underestimating your abilities.
You love eating pears and when I give you pears to eat, I would tell you that what you are eating is a pear and occasionally I'd use the hand signs as well. Nothing consistent and I had no expectations of you recognising the sign, let alone use it. One day I took you to the supermarket and you were strapped to my chest in the mei tai carrier as usual. I was picking out pears and you were watching me with great interest. Suddenly you turned to look up at me, got my attention, and repeatedly signed "pear" to me. Out of the blue, just like that. I was shocked!
The same thing happened in the last month with "bird", "duck", "baby", "orange", and "shoes". Surprise, surprise. I now know to not underestimate your abilities, and trust that you are on your own schedule and will display your knowledge when you are ready.
Patience
We all know that toddlers are big fans of instant gratification and without a proper concept of time, patience is not a strong virtue of your kind (meaning, you and your fellow toddlers). Nevertheless, we have been investing a lot of our efforts and patience in trying to cultivate some semblance of patience in you. You, like all other tots your age, want something AND YOU WANT IT NOW NOW NOW!
But I feel that it is an important lesson to learn from a young age that you can't always get what you want when you want it. That mommy and daddy have needs too and they are no less important than your needs. So we have been trying to teach you the concept of "waiting".
For many months now, this has been testing my ever-so-thinly-stretched patience. I never had a lot of it to start with. But I persevered because I know that one day, it will pay off.
And finally, this past couple of weeks, it seems like it is starting to. When you ask us for something, we try our best to get down to your level, connect with you and acknowledge what you are asking for. We let you know that yes, we hear you, but we are busy with something else at the moment, so you have to wait. We look you in the eye and tell you that you need to wait while we (fill in the blank here), and we will come back to you once we can. Or in a minute. Or 5 minutes. Whatever.
You seem to appreciate that your voice is heard and your needs and wants are respected. Most of the time, you nod your head and run off. You seem to appreciate that we keep to our word and come back to you as soon as we can.
It is so much easier and less taxing on our minds to just tell you no. To look over our shoulder from what we are doing and say "what do you want? mummy is busy now, go away". And believe me, many many times, I have almost done that. But I try to remind myself that you deserve to be treated with respect as well, even though you are just a teeny little tyrant (LOL. just kidding, my boy, kidding). So I try my best.
Of course there are times when you get seriously pissed off when we ask you to wait. Then you cry and whine and do the "wet noodle" thing. But then you see that we are not planning to budge and you move on.
I am really hoping that this is something that will carry us through the rest of your toddler years. It would make all our lives so much less stressful! I know our work is not done here... and it likely never will be. But we have made a good headstart, don't you think? :)
Other random stuff
You are still the most social, outgoing and confident little boy I know. I take you for walks regularly (daily if I can help it) and you spend your time either picking stuff up from the ground or waving at passers-by. We would walk pass the cafe downstairs and you would press your nose up against the glass window and wave at the people inside. Most of the time they get a kick out of it and wave back at you. Sometimes we meet people who frown and look at us funnily, and who refuse to acknowledge your greetings. And that confuses you. I can see it in your eyes... the way you would look back at me and seem to ask - why don't they want to say hi to me? Well kid, such is life. Rejection is a part of it and not everyone is like you. I wish you didn't have to learn this so young, but I can't shield you from it without locking you in the house and not giving you the opportunity to face these sort of rejection in the first place. Can I just say though, that you seem to have a preference for waving at the opposite gender. Ahem. A little too young to be charming the fairer sex, aren't you? ;)
Exhibit A:
Last weekend, I put you down to sleep for the night with the fan switched on in the room because you were bundled up in anticipation of the cold night ahead but the evening was rather balmy still. About 2 hours after I left you fast asleep in your room, we heard the fan in your room beep. Like it was switched off. I thought I was hearing things. So I ignored it. Then your daddy turned to me and asked if I had set the timer on the fan to switch itself off. I said no. So I wasn't imagining things! What was going on in your room?! I went and peeped in. You weren't in your bed. Then you started wailing. And we saw that you were standing by the fan. Seems like you felt cold and decided to take matters into your own hands by switching off the fan yourself. And I don't think you were fully awake when you did that, which would explain why you started crying after you switched it off. Probably didn't know why you were standing at the fan in the first place. Haha! Daddy and I were super shocked to say the least. Just a funny story to record for posterity sake ;)
You have been practicing your mad tumbling skills for some time now. You would bend forward and put your head on the floor while still standing up. You are flexible like that. And you have been trying to figure out how to roll forward from that position. I am proud to say that on the 5th of March, sometime around 6 pm in the evening (after a very filling dinner, might I add), you did it! You didn't fall over sideways or whatever, it was a proper forward roll! Although my critical eye would have you tuck your chin to your chest a little more, but who cares!?!? ;) You were mighty proud of yourself too!
Let's see... what else has been happening?
You learned how to blow bubbles in the water when swimming. And have been practising ever since whenever you have the chance to. Bath tub, water in your drinking cup, etc.
You have successfully and smoothly night weaned after one night of protesting, and have been sleeping rather consistently through the night ever since. About once a week though, you decide to have a midnight party by waking up and rolling around, chatting to yourself and your blankies. That usually happens around 1 am and lasts about an hour or more before you would fall back asleep again. Sigh. I guess you have inherited my restless sleeping habits huh?
You still only have 8 teeth. After furiously teething for a couple of months to make up for spending most of your first year of life teeth-less, things have slowed back down again. Weird. Not that I'm complaining or anything. I like the non-teething you :)
You still love your books, especially the ones that allow you to participate in the reading by lifting flaps or pressing buttons.
This month's snapshots:
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| Taking a walk |
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| Super proud of your mad self-spoon-feeding skills |
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| Enjoying the playground |
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| Eating out with mama and papa |
This month's videos:
Oh what a month it has been! In fact, it has been an incredible 15 months so far. Looking forward to writing next month's update with lots more to say about the amazing little man you are shaping out to be :)
I love you lots and lots and lots my little cutie patootie.
Hugs and kisses,
mama <3
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