Toddler Stuff: 21 Months

Dear Bubs,


   Have I ever told you how much I adore your cheeky grin or how your happy giggles sound like bubbles whenever you do something that you know you're not supposed to do? When sent to the naughty corner, you play peekaboo with the curtains in a way that makes it so hard to keep a stern look on my face even though you've misbehaved. You've recently gotten into the habit of pinching people hard and scrunching up your face with all your might as you grip - ouch! You don't like it a single bit when we make you apologise, you'd cry until tears wet your little face, you'd say mai over and over again but after we insist firmly, you'd then hug the person you've hurt, patting them and saying in a very apologetic voice "sah-ree" (sorry)

 
  You've recently discovered the fun and wonder of arts and craft. We've kept it simple to paints, crayons and playdough for the time being. The messier and the more colourful they are, the better you like it. Is this the part where I tell you that Crayola is well worth the money simply because it's washable on all surfaces? You can now recognise most of the colours apart from white, black, pink and brown (mainly because I can't figure out any Sesame Street muppets that are these colours - anyone care to help me out here?)

 Daddy and I suspect that you learned most of the alphabet by playing with your iPod touch. It started when I was trying to teach you some letters by going through an alphabet book that Grandma got you. We've gotten to ABCs. The next day when we were playing with your Cookie Monster Play Dough alphabet set, you were suddenly picking out letters that we've never taught you, like E, F, H, I, X, Y, Z ... From then onwards, whenever you see letters, be it from books, advertisements outside, even words printed on our T-shirts, you'll puzzle out the letters and shout it out loud proudly. I feel a little guilty that you are learning this from screen time instead of from a book with Daddy and I.

  You've started recognising cartoons like Tom & Jerry (you call them cat and mouse), Bugs Bunny (you'd say rabbit) Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck (duck duck to you) and Goofy. Again, more mummy guilt for letting you watch cartoons at such a young age but secretly, a part of me feels happy and nostalgic by watching them with you. The purist in me loves the old, watercolour painted classics that I watched as a kid. Your attention span to the television isn't too great (is that a blessing in disguise?) and you'd get bored easily before wandering away to play on your scooter or other toys.

  You get fascinated with the simplest household chores. One of your favourite things to do is to vacuum even though the handle goes all the way up to your shoulder. You'd often trail behind Daddy, helping him push the vacuum cleaner behind him. Let's hope you can continue doing this well into your teens ;)

  Weirdly enough, your favourite food right now are peas and legumes Anything round, tiny and brightly coloured, you'd devour them. You love helping me make red bean soup by swirling the little beans with your hands, tossing them up and down. Considering the fact that Daddy and I both hate mushy peas, we find it amazing that you finished a bag of frozen peas in a month as you always insist on us adding peas to your food. It's probably a phase but a good one as you don't seem very keen on most of your veggies, especially leafy ones.

Love you lots, baby darling, you're growing up to quickly,
Mummy.