ONE

Dear Calista

You turned one yesterday! I visited Aunty K and her new baby boy at TMC yesterday morning, and was struck with amazement at how exactly a year ago, I was at the same hospital giving birth to you. Holding baby K in my arms reminded me of how small you were when you were first born. That day seems so long ago, and yet, I am filled with wonder at how much you have grown since that day.

Your birthday celebration was a quiet affair; what with your maternal grandparents and most of mama’s and daddy’s good friends overseas. Instead of having a big do with people who don’t really care about whether you turn one or not =7 I spent the day in normalcy, and just took every opportunity to stare into your face or plant kisses all over you.

Temper

Yes, you are so adorable even when angry. You frequently WAIL when you don’t get your way these days. Whether it be your brother who placed a gentle hand on your legs to prevent you from moving nearer to him, Mama who took some small object away from your mouth or Ida who tries to put you to bed against your wishes, you let us know what a fireball of fury you can be. Oh but i can’t help but laugh at you even as you wail..seeing that little tiny lips pursed and pouted as you cry the house down at the Injustice you have suffered.. it is so amusing that even your Grandaunt remarked dryly at one such instance “Oh, 你有这么不开心啊.”

Visage

I think aesthetics-wise, you have finally caught up with your brother. The mothers at your brother’s school exclaim that you are a photocopy of him, and my friends say you look just like korkor, albeit with longer hair. You may not be pleased to read this in future, but well, mama is happy to have 2 kids who look like they are siblings, unlike me and your uncle when we were young.

Vocabulary

Your intelligence has also increased…your uncle E laughed when I commented that you are about as intelligent as a puppy now, when he witnessed me trying to teach you to fetch. You can say “ba” for “bus”, “korkor” and “Ada” for “ida”, “meow” for “cat”, “duck”, “even” for “seven”, “ma” for “ah ma”, “yum yum”.

You also understand a lot more than you can say… such as “open”, “down”, “let’s go”, “go downstairs”, “come”, “press/touch”, “give”, “lie down”, “sleep”, “mum-mum”, “no more”, “sayang”, “ball”, “catch”..strangers are delighted when you wave “hello” and “bye”.

Endearment

You warm my heart when you – i) tilt your head and rest on my chest / leg / korkor’s shoulder when we ask you to ‘sayang’.

You brighten my day when i) I see your face light up whenever I pick you up after you demand to be carried / in my lap, and ii) you applaud yourself whenever I say “Yes!” or praise you.

Sometimes you even toss and turn at night before sleeping, and crawl to be near my supine self, before plonking your heavy head on my cheek/shoulder/arm and falling asleep. Sometimes you take my hand, pull it close to your body, sniff at it a little then say “ma-maaa”. Aww..this really reminds me of how your brother was like.

Hands

You made me smile the other day, when you wrapped your little fingers around my index finger and used me as a tool to press the lift buttons and other toys which you did not have the strength to press.

I played “Guess which hand” with you today, and hid your object of desire within a hand, before swapping them about. You could track which hand was holding on to the object sometimes, but you would also be tricked by me and just stare stubbornly at the hand which happened to be in the position you last saw the object. Oh, these are fun times indeed.

You’ve started imitating and pointing to all that you want. The other day, I brought you down to the rice stall to buy lunch. You saw me point to the dishes that I wanted and you innocently started pointing at the dishes too, causing the server to laugh.

Developmental milestones

Well, I think you will take your time to walk, just like your brother did. You are still more fond of crawling, for the simple reason that it is much faster. It is difficult to get you to push your walker around, although we had fun with you pushing an Ikea stool today. =7

 

 

You are trying a greater variety of food and I suspect you are tiring of the porridge that we feed you everyday. Letting you feed yourself will invariably cause a mess, cos you are at the age where exploring textures takes precedence over eating. You enjoyed the birthday cake, watermelon etc that we introduced to you though. You especially like it when your brother feeds you scraps..and will willingly go to him for that.

Everyday is a day of exploration for you..figuring out how things in this world works is certainly an all-consuming affair.

 

We have so much fun with you and your brother around.. I thank God for everyday that I have at home with you. You’ve grown so quickly, and the next 6 months will be another period of rapid growth – you’ll transform from a baby into a bona fide babbling toddler. We can’t wait; and yet we wish you’ll stay like this forever. You’ll understand when you become a mama yourself.

We love you loads, little one. Thank you for blessing our lives with your presence.

XOXO

mama