Today, I'm starting a new series "Watching Baby Grow" to document the "awww" moments as I watch my toddler learn new things. I'll try to back-track to last month when she started going to play-school and day-care. This first post will include the mile-stones and "awww" moments observed till date during this 30-day period :)
Apr 9, 2012
Baby J starts playschool. She is all excited and enters her school smiling, not even caring to look back at her anxiety ridden parents. All of 19 months and 17 days, she is social and loves dancing to feet-tapping numbers. She waves to all and sundry and tries to speak with her Hindi-speaking classmates in Meiteilon :)
By the end of the week, she's picked up a couple of Hindi expressions: le-lo, akeli, nei. She's also throwing attitude if she doesn't want to eat. She crosses her arms, purses her tiny lips, sniffs, and then says nei in a very stern, no-nonsense manner. But she doesn't cry--not for long anyway. If she starts crying, she'd stop soon after, muttering in Meiteilon kap tounu (Don't cry). My heart aches looking at her although the attitude annoys me to no-end!
Apr 16-22, 2012
Baby J is now well settled in the playschool, and is now ready to start staying longer at the day care. Having forgotten to inform the authorities to take her straight to the day-care unit after play-school is over, she meets her Dad in the school lobby. She experiences separation anxiety, and so does her dad. :(
The next three days are no better--she's bawling every time she sees the school gate and my husband and I are going nuts grappling with separation anxiety. One small relief is that we are told she stops crying after 5 minutes...Friday finally, she waves bye to her dad as her teacher greets her at the school gate. Big sigh of relief...
She's more into solid foods now, and is eager to eat on her own. I'm surprised ah how deflty she manages a spoon with both hands. Hmmm...is Baby J gonna be ambidextrous? She draws with both hands too...
She loves Mama pretending to cry, so she can console with the words kap tounu. She is starting to speak more full sentences, and her command over Meiteilon is increasing. She remembers her grandparents and often says "Bobok ngong paiye, Bobok ayo naye, pha-ro-pha-ro" (Granma's gone on a flight, Grandma's not well, get well soon)
Apr 23-30, 2012
Baby J is now all of twenty months and enjoying school. She tells her dad to take her to school when he comes back home in the evening. When she sees her dad is not around, she's first say Papa ngong pai-ye (Papa's gone on a flight) and when I tell her that her Dad's gone for a walk, she'd say, Waaking chat-se (Let's go for a walk). She's also getting a kick out of seeing Mama freak out when she's about to play with the trash-bin. She goes to the trash-bin, calls out Mama and pretends to touch it, all with an impish smile. And when Mama takes her out to the other room, she's back in no time, and saying Sowi (Sorry) while bowing Japanese-style. At the playground, she loves the slides and the swings, and while she's on the swing, pointing to a bench nearby, she tells Mama, Mama-sit! On the way home, she points at trees, buses and cars, articulating the words in English-- tee, bus, caa...Oh, she has also acquired a new Hindi word, bhaiyya.
She also has three plastic glasses of her size--shot glasses that a thoughtful guest had brought along to have Korean soju. Modified usage as a drinking glass for Baby J, it fits neatly into her hand and she loves drinking water out of it over and over again, even holding it with one hand...she also neatly keeps the glass on the table after her drink :)
May 1-9, 2012
The first three days of May, Baby J was not too well and had to skip play school. All this while, she'd ask her dad to take her to school. She's drawing more, and asks for her notebook and crayons, and she can count...Maan, too, thiii, fO, fai, sik, sa-bhen...sometimes, she gets to eight...I'm impressed.
One evening, she spills orange juice on the floor. She says, Oh noo.. and then mops the mess clean with her towel which she was playing with. After that, she smiles at me. What do you say to that, but say Very good!
Another day, she's in the bathroom and wants to sit on the bath-stool. But it's wet. Without a word, she picks up the towel which is within her reach, wipes the stool dry with her right hand, and checks with her left that it's dry. She then proceeds to sit on it, only after it's totally dry. I watched with my mouth agape.
It's evening and Baby J has had dinner. She wants her crayons and notebook to play. Mama watches her fill page after page with her scrawls. After scribbling something that looks like a circle, she says Saamu yekke-ba ( I am drawing an elephant, I say). After this, I tell her to draw Mama. She proceeds to scribble something all along the length of the page. After that, I say, draw baby. She scribbles something similar beside the original one, only much smaller in comparison :)
Apr 9, 2012
Baby J starts playschool. She is all excited and enters her school smiling, not even caring to look back at her anxiety ridden parents. All of 19 months and 17 days, she is social and loves dancing to feet-tapping numbers. She waves to all and sundry and tries to speak with her Hindi-speaking classmates in Meiteilon :)
By the end of the week, she's picked up a couple of Hindi expressions: le-lo, akeli, nei. She's also throwing attitude if she doesn't want to eat. She crosses her arms, purses her tiny lips, sniffs, and then says nei in a very stern, no-nonsense manner. But she doesn't cry--not for long anyway. If she starts crying, she'd stop soon after, muttering in Meiteilon kap tounu (Don't cry). My heart aches looking at her although the attitude annoys me to no-end!
Apr 16-22, 2012
Baby J is now well settled in the playschool, and is now ready to start staying longer at the day care. Having forgotten to inform the authorities to take her straight to the day-care unit after play-school is over, she meets her Dad in the school lobby. She experiences separation anxiety, and so does her dad. :(
The next three days are no better--she's bawling every time she sees the school gate and my husband and I are going nuts grappling with separation anxiety. One small relief is that we are told she stops crying after 5 minutes...Friday finally, she waves bye to her dad as her teacher greets her at the school gate. Big sigh of relief...
She's more into solid foods now, and is eager to eat on her own. I'm surprised ah how deflty she manages a spoon with both hands. Hmmm...is Baby J gonna be ambidextrous? She draws with both hands too...
She loves Mama pretending to cry, so she can console with the words kap tounu. She is starting to speak more full sentences, and her command over Meiteilon is increasing. She remembers her grandparents and often says "Bobok ngong paiye, Bobok ayo naye, pha-ro-pha-ro" (Granma's gone on a flight, Grandma's not well, get well soon)
Apr 23-30, 2012
Baby J is now all of twenty months and enjoying school. She tells her dad to take her to school when he comes back home in the evening. When she sees her dad is not around, she's first say Papa ngong pai-ye (Papa's gone on a flight) and when I tell her that her Dad's gone for a walk, she'd say, Waaking chat-se (Let's go for a walk). She's also getting a kick out of seeing Mama freak out when she's about to play with the trash-bin. She goes to the trash-bin, calls out Mama and pretends to touch it, all with an impish smile. And when Mama takes her out to the other room, she's back in no time, and saying Sowi (Sorry) while bowing Japanese-style. At the playground, she loves the slides and the swings, and while she's on the swing, pointing to a bench nearby, she tells Mama, Mama-sit! On the way home, she points at trees, buses and cars, articulating the words in English-- tee, bus, caa...Oh, she has also acquired a new Hindi word, bhaiyya.
She also has three plastic glasses of her size--shot glasses that a thoughtful guest had brought along to have Korean soju. Modified usage as a drinking glass for Baby J, it fits neatly into her hand and she loves drinking water out of it over and over again, even holding it with one hand...she also neatly keeps the glass on the table after her drink :)
May 1-9, 2012
The first three days of May, Baby J was not too well and had to skip play school. All this while, she'd ask her dad to take her to school. She's drawing more, and asks for her notebook and crayons, and she can count...Maan, too, thiii, fO, fai, sik, sa-bhen...sometimes, she gets to eight...I'm impressed.
One evening, she spills orange juice on the floor. She says, Oh noo.. and then mops the mess clean with her towel which she was playing with. After that, she smiles at me. What do you say to that, but say Very good!
Another day, she's in the bathroom and wants to sit on the bath-stool. But it's wet. Without a word, she picks up the towel which is within her reach, wipes the stool dry with her right hand, and checks with her left that it's dry. She then proceeds to sit on it, only after it's totally dry. I watched with my mouth agape.
It's evening and Baby J has had dinner. She wants her crayons and notebook to play. Mama watches her fill page after page with her scrawls. After scribbling something that looks like a circle, she says Saamu yekke-ba ( I am drawing an elephant, I say). After this, I tell her to draw Mama. She proceeds to scribble something all along the length of the page. After that, I say, draw baby. She scribbles something similar beside the original one, only much smaller in comparison :)
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