Milestones

Scrap Credits
Film Star kit from retrodiva {designs}™
Curl Page kit freebie filmstrip from Cen’s Stuff
Alpha Black from Digiscrap.ch
Little curly alphas from Amy Sumrall
HoldEmUps from Tara Dunstan
Doodle Me Big doodles from Mikkel Paige Original
Elegant word art (stay little always) from Bethany

Ethan boy is now two-and-a-half years old!

Weight

12 kilos, according to the weighing scale at home.

Height

About 88cm I think, measurement taken with measuring tape while Ethan was sleeping.

Teeth

I think 18 teeth. Bottom 2 canines are still not present though.

Motor Skills

• Can remove his own shoes and loves doing so.
• Still eagerly practising his jumping skills.
• Can do hand stand, by supporting his body with his arms, and using his legs to climb up the wall vertically. Ethan has rather strong arm muscles, I’d say. We’ve seen him supporting his weight with his arms while in his high chair too.
• Can climb up the playground slide unaided using railings, where he needs to hold on to the sides with his arms, and use his legs to grip the railings firmly. I have to admit he almost gave me a heart attack when he first attempted to do it, but now I am proud to say he’s a pro at it!
• Able to gurgle and spit. He will brush his teeth, but will not do it with toothpaste, although strangely enough, he requests for the toothpaste to be placed on his toothbrush. Then he takes some water from the cup, gurgle and then spit when I cue him, “Ptooi!”

Communication and Social Skills

More words … those I can remember. Mostly single words still, and I am in the process of helping him string two words together ( 1 verb + 1 noun).

Body Parts

• Ham (hand)

Animals

• Cat
• Eh-fer (elephant)

Nouns

• Beh (bell) - when he wants to ring the bell to our apartment.
• Tway (train)

Verbs

• Close
• Wa (flush) … the toilet la, what else?

Alphabets and Numbers
Can recognize most of his alphabets, and can even recite them in order. But we’ll need to “fill in the blanks” for those he is unsure of. When he notices letters on our attire, he will excitedly point them out and name them. Even when he is riding in the car, he never fails to surprise us with his observance. He will point out letters as he sees them and clearly say them out loud

He knows the order of numbers from 1-10, and when I first drafted this post about 4 days ago, he will only say “two” (2), “twee” (3), “eh” (8) and “nah” (9). Actually I heard him say “ten” a couple of times already, but it is still inconsistent. I know he knows the order of the numbers because he can correctly place the correct numbers in the right places when he is counting in ascending AND descending order. But my my, look what a difference few days made. Ethan can now say “wa” (1), “four” (4), “fai” (5) also and believe it or not “eighteeeen!!” (18).

Shapes and Colors
Has started to vocalize more shapes, like “har” (heart), “kurkurl” (circle) and “over” (oval).

Food and Feeding

After the deworming exercise, either by sheer coincidence or it really was due to the exercise, Ethan has started taking some chicken meat (willingly). He especially loves Nando’s lemon and herb flavored chicken … and especially so when I serve it to him using those cute flag toothpicks!

Lately Ethan has taken a keen interest in learning the alphabet, quite possibly thanks to the video Michelle loaned me

He now knows most of the letters of the alphabet in the correct order, but those that he does not know, he will say “eh-ya” (which I personally think sounds like “beh-hiao”, i.e. “donno” in Hokkien), and THAT’s the cue for us to fill in the blanks for him. He also loves to have us repeat after each letter he has said, otherwise he will not continue.

The pronunciation of some letters are just spot on but some are still being worked on. Oddly enough, he says “Neh” for the letter J. Don’t ask me why.

In addition to reciting the alphabet, he can recognize the letters we draw/write for him. Another activity we indulge in when we are trying to get him to sit still in the high chair when we dine out.

Yesterday, we took Ethan for his long-overdue haircut.  Daddy also needed a haircut so we thought we’d kill two birds with one stone.

Ethan had to wait for a while before his turn came, and he busied himself checking out what Daddy was getting done to his hair.  He was very intrigued watching Daddy get a haircut and when his turn came, Ethan yet again surprised me by how he has grown.  

Our boy asked to be helped into the salon’s chair and there, he sat down patiently waiting for the hairdresser to give his head a shave.  The hairdresser put on the little kiddy cape for Ethan and he sat still, allowing her to work her magic.  Of course, throughout the entire process, we heaped loads of praises and commented what a handsome boy he is.

When she was 80% done, however, Ethan got restless, so I took him down from the chair and allowed him to roam around.  Then we finished off the front part of his hair with Ethan on my lap.

Such a vast improvement from a year ago, I would say.  My boy is growing into a young man now. Awww…

Here he is requesting us to “ah-purn” the door when he was ready and all set to go home.

Scrap Credits
Kit Freebie June 2008 & “Funny Bubble Alpha” from Loloden designs
Doodle Me Big doodles from Mikkel Paige Original

Weight

During his recent Hepatitis A jab and checkup, his weight was around 11 kilos. SIGH…and I thought he would be heavier.

Height

Didn’t get to measure.

Teeth

I’m very sure he has 8 teeth at the bottom (4 incisors, 2 pramolars and 2 molars); that’s cuz I managed to look this morning. He’s missing the 2 canines at the bottom though, like Daddy. At the top, probably 8 or 10 teeth (still cannot see clearly, especially the back). I’m guessing 4 incisors, 2 canines, 2 pramolars and 2 molars. So 18 in total.

Motor Skills

• Attempted to hop on the trampoline. I was so tickled at the sight, I forgot to videotape it.
• Can pull open the fridge on his own. Note to self: need to get one more child-proof lock for the fridge.
• Can buckle himself up while in the high chair. Discovered this when we were dining in Friday’s. He can’t unbuckle though, which is a good thing.

Communication and Social Skills

• Still quite shy at times, but I’d say it’s selective. He wasn’t shy at all when the parish priest came a-visiting just 2 nights ago. In general, Ethan does not like it when adults give him TOO much attention, like if people stare at him and talk to him in a childish singsong manner. If he is left alone, he will approach you. After all, we too do not like people staring at us, right?
• More new words now, though not stringing into sentences yet. I am very pleased to be able to categorize Ethan’s new words into sections now. The way he says these new words is just so adorable, all of them with an intonation that goes higher in the end.
  Body Parts
  Ethan is able to name some of his body parts now, the rest he recognizes by pointing. He will respond when we ask him, “Where is your <insert body part here>?”
  • Noe (Nose) - He goes “Noe” while pointing to his nose. The other day he did something, and I reprimanded him by saying “No, Ethan!”. He paused for a moment, looked at me, then pointed to his nose and went, “No?” You just gotta laugh.
  • Ah! (Eyes) - He doesn’t point at his eyes (scared of poking them I guess), but he sometimes blinks.
  • Tee (teeth) - points and shows his pearly whites
  • Tub (tummy)
  • Feet - he’ll wriggle his feet
  • Toe/Toes - When we say “touch your toes”, he’ll do so

  And he can point to the following upon request:

  • Cheeks
  • Ear
  • Mouth
  • Tongue
  • Fingers
  • Hand

  Animals

  • Peeg (pig)
  • Cow
  • Go (goat)
  • Hor (horse)
  • Dog/daw-dawg (dog)
  • Bird
  • Baa (sheep)
  • kwuck-kwuck (chicken) - this one cos I tell him the chicken goes cluck-cluck
  • quack-quack (duck) - no prizes for guessing how he learnt this
  • Eh-papa (elephant)
  • Bear
  • But-tah (butterfly)

  Nouns

  • Bah (bus)
  • Car - very good pronunciation, this
  • Doll
  • Cup
  • Bottoo (button)
  • Air-purl/ah-purl (apple)
  • Wee (tree)
  • Book
  • Tahb-ta (truck)
  • Poon (spoon)
  • Key
  • Bowl
  • Wa (clock)
  • Tahb-tahb (drum)
  • Boat
  • Puh-ta (pizza)
  • Hau (house)
  • Botter (bottle)
  • Bank - said while signing “bank”

  Verbs

  • Ah-purn (Open) - he’ll run to the door and go “Ah-purn?”
  • Cook - When he sees me at the stove preparing some food, he’ll go “Cook?” and point that he wants to be carried up so he can see what’s for lunch/dinner.
  • Blow - this one complete with blowing action. He will imitate the blowing action when Barney tells the story of the Three Little Pigs too.
  • Eat
  • Thump (jump)
  • Smile - done with the sweetest smile ever!
  • Kah (cut)
  • Bay (bathe)
  • Ra (run)
  • Tack (stack)
  • Ride
  • Walk
  • Read
  • Play

Pssst….is it obvious that I have been jotting down each and every word as he says it?

Alphabets and Numbers
Still doing a lot of “two” and “two-ah?” but sometimes he will say “twee?”
Alphabet-wise, he is picking up here and there. I think he can pretty much recognize “O”, “T”, “M”, “B”, “P” ; sometimes “V”.

Shapes and Colors
He can recognize and vocalize the “star” and the “square” (single syllable) shapes.  The rest like “circle”, “triangle”, “heart” etc, he can point out upon request.  He says “gwee” (green) when we are stopping at the traffic lights and waiting for it to turn green.

Food and Feeding

• I’m still in the process of finding out ways and means to get him to eat more. Being the active toddler he is, Ethan needs to substantiate this with more nutritious food.

Here’s a darling video of Ethan naming some of his farm animals. They’re from a wooden puzzle I bought for him a while back. He does in fact understand the names of each of the animals, but now, he will only verbally say the names of a few, namely “hor” (horse), “peeeg” (pig) and “go” (goat). He calls the cow “moo” and the sheep “baa”, and although he doesn’t want to say the names of the rest of the animals, he will retrieve them when asked.

Notice how our boy takes the trouble to enunciate the words ever so clearly

And yes, if it ain’t obvious yet, I absolutely ADORE him in his Mr Independent peejays. Don’t you?

Scrap Credits
You are so beautiful add-on kit from Doreen Stolz
Acrylic alphas from A work in progress
Beach Blanket freebie bent frame from Maria LaFrance
Edgy Valentine grungy heart element from Nicole Norcutt
Paper word strips from Sugarplum Paperie

Our three-day holiday weekend came and went in the blink of an eye. But Pete and I are always thankful for those precious moments we get to spend with our darling Ethan, and we know that Ethan loves weekends and holidays as much as we do too.

I have no doubt in my mind that the precious quality time we spend with him is by and by making him more confident and sure of himself, and last weekend I was an even more prouder momma of my little boy when he began uttering more words

Our days and months of showing, telling and teaching him what an apple is finally bore fruit when our boy, who was watching an educational video, suddenly said “Air-puh!” I was pleased, of course, but I wanted to make sure the word is consistently said.

After our Saturday evening walk, I saw Ethan wandering in the kitchen and asked him,

“What are you looking for, darling?”

And our boy promptly replied,

“Air-puh!”

And so, even though we were still full from the dinner we just had, I happily relented and cut him some slices of “air-puh”

There are many more other words which he picked up recently, much to the amusement of Mommy and Daddy, among them “elephant”, which he consistently refers to as “eh-pah-pah-pah….”, a variation of the “air-puh”, methinks.

And also, it thrills me to no end that he has also started asking for “book” when he wants to sit on his throne. Chip of the old block, eh?

Scrap Credits
Mai chez digiscrapbook freebie from Monique Gascon
Dandelion dream alphas from A work in progress
Blue funny bubble alpha from Loloden Designs

Weight

Not much weight increase from last month (I think)…although lately he does appear to be “bigger-sized”.  Must get him officially weighed in at our next visit to the PD (maybe next week).

Height

Haven’t measured yet, but he seems to be able to reach more things now.

Teeth

Sixteen (or maybe eighteen): 8 incisors, 2 canines (upper), 4 pramolars (2 upper and 2 lower) and 2 molars (bottom); maybe 2 molars on the top too. Still salivating a lot.

Motor Skills

• Attempting to jump and hop, especially when watching the kids in the Barney DVDs hop and jump.  Ethan will climb onto the sofa and move his entire body up and down, but both his legs don’t come up at the same time (yet).

Communication and Social Skills

• Yay!  New words, and some old ones too:

  • Buh-bye! (done while waving goodbye) 
  • Daw-dawg
  • Two!!! (It’s happiness for all when he points to the number 2 and says that, but then we realize he refers to ALL numbers and alphabets as TWO. LOL.  Even now when we go to Queensbay Mall, he will run to the big 4 on the fourth floor where we park and say “TWO!!”.  Of course, we’ll say, “No Ethan, that’s FOUR!”  I believe he will catch on soon.)
  • Star (he does this with and without prompting.  Sometimes he would notice STARS we would not even see, and so these days, when we go out, Ethan would sometimes say “Star!” and we’ll start looking for it)
  • Snow (learnt from Baby Shakespeare)
  • Nenno (for milk)
  • Baby (all babies and children and kids are “baby” to him, even those older than him.  He constantly say “baby” now when he sees one of the above)
  • Wee!  (sometimes he will refer to the number 3 as “Wee” but it’s not very consistent)
  • Teevee teevee teevee! (while propping himself on the sofa waiting for the TV to be turned on)
  • Tatai (Baby Einstein)
• Can recognize more body parts and is able to point to them on request: nose, ear, mouth, teeth, toes, tummy, fingers.
• Can point out pictures in his book (flowers, banana, teddy bear and chair)
• Can give a particular animal block when requested. So far, he has mastered the cow, the pig, the horse and the goat.
• Can play “roll the ball” back and forth, but again, it depends on his mood.
• Skills at kicking a ball has improved tremendously. Very accurately done.
• Ethan is slowly engaging into the imitation mode where he copies what is being seen on TV, e.g. runs to the door and tries to knock and open it when he sees someone doing it on TV.

Food and Feeding

• More food going in and less food landing on the floor.

We made an appointment for Ethan to see Ms KE Chia, a speech and language therapist/pathologist at the i-Sports Center in Island Hospital last Friday.  Ethan, now 2 years and 3 months’ old, cannot yet express himself in words, and although some friends have advised that “It takes much longer for boys” and “Soon he will be talking non-stop” and “Just you wait.  One fine day he will start speaking, and you’ll want him to shut up“, we decided to err on the side of caution and bring him in for an assessment all the same.

We chose this speech therapist because when we enrolled Ethan for the parent-toddler class in The Learning Garden, I  noticed that the center was started by Ms Chia’s husband.  Her name sounded familiar, and upon checking the MASH (Malaysian Association of Speech-Language and Hearing) website, I was glad that she is a MASH certified therapist.

We waited for about 20 minutes before the therapist arrived, after which we were ushered into her room.  The major part of the room was filled with toys and books and puzzles, and Ethan immediately went for the ball.  While Ms Chia jotted down some historical details and information from us about Ethan, Ethan busied himself with all the *goodies* that were there.

Ms Chia told us that the first session that day was basically to perform an assessment to ascertain if Ethan was a habitually late talker (which is rather common in boys), or if the speech delay could be due to other factors, of which further therapy would perhaps be neccesary.  She assured us that we had made the right decision in coming over to see her, if anything, to allay our fears and confusion about Ethan’s delay in speech.

Speech delay in kids could be caused by:

• Natural speech delay (more inherent in boys) - no therapy needed, just patience.
• Behavioural issues, of which ADHD was one of the causes - some therapy needed
• Autism - therapy and treatment needed.

She performed a few *tests* on Ethan while playing.  Simple evaluations like calling out to him, and asking him to bring certain toys and also some imitation play.  After the roughly 1.5 hour session, Ms Chia almost certainly ruled out autism, which she said is not likely because:

• Ethan’s other development milestones, such as his motor skills were very good and above average.  She did ask us when he started walking and if he is eating well, all of which was in the “very good” category
• Ethan had fantastic eye contact.  When his name was called, he turned around and looked at her.

However, we will need to test if Ethan is doing things based on situational scenarios or if he really understands it.  For example, if we open the door and say “Ethan, let’s go kai-kai!”, he will run and get his shoes, but whether or not he understands the concept of shoes is a different matter altogether.  What we need to find out is for instance, if Ethan can pick out his shoe amongst a group of other things, if he was asked to do so.

After the assessment, Ms Chia is still inconclusive about her findings on Ethan.  When she asked him to get her the ball while placing the ball and the car together, he doesn’t go and get it.  But he did look at the ball.  Which means he does understand what a ball is.  Why he did not get the ball for her is a mystery.  It could be because he was shy or because of behavioural reasons, i.e. “Why would I want to get the ball for you?  Go get it yourself la!” he might be thinking.

So before we left, Ms Chia gave us a Home Program to try out with Ethan.  It was essential now not to drill the words into him and force him to say it, but to make him understand what the objects really are.  We learnt that speech is something that cannot be forced, but will come naturally when the child is ready.  However, for kids with speech delay, we can do something to intervene and prod them in the right direction by helping them to understand.  For example, if I have a set of pictures of farm animals, and if I ask Ethan to pick out the duck or the chicken, he should be able to give it to me.  He didn’t do it at the session of course, but as I said, we are still not sure if this is a behavioural problem that needs to be addressed.

Anyway, some of the suggestions given for the Home Program are:

To improve listening and attending skills
This includes:

• Bubble play (I bought 6 bottles of bubble solution from Toys R Us last Sunday) - Bubble play will get the kid’s attention and it offers us parents the opportunity to prod him to say words, like “More?” or “Give the bottle to Mommy/Daddy”
• Rolling a ball - “Roll/throw the ball to Daddy/Mommy”.  By the way, Ethan is now beginning to enunciate the word “ball” even more clearly.  He started with “Ba”, then it was “Bor”, and now lately it’s “Ball” (with added emphasis on the L)
• Awareness of environmental sounds - We will need to help him by being his “eyes and ears”. Now whenever I go out and I see/hear birds, I’ll say “Ethan, look at the birds! Tweet tweet!  Can you hear the birds?”  I also sign “bird” when I say it, and I am very happy with the progress, because now whenever Ethan hears the birds singing, he will sign “bird” without my prompting.  And this only after 2 days of teaching him!  Sometimes I don’t even realize there are birdie sounds until I notice Ethan signing “bird”.  This is a positive thing, and it shows that he understands what a bird is, because he is signing it.  Ms Chia was also very happy when I told her that Ethan can sign many words, although he doesn’t say it.  According to her, this shows that he understands and is willing to communicate.
• Finger play - Nursery rhymes with actions, etc.  His current favorite is Itsy Bitsy Spider and One-Two-Buckle-My-Shoe.

To improve imitative skills
Trying to get Ethan to copy what we do.  This is one of the most important steps towards learning.

To improve turn-taking skills
While playing with Ethan, we can take turns doing the same thing.  For instance, taking turns to play the xylophone, and saying, “Okay, Ethan’s/Mommy’s/Daddy’s turn!”  He will have to learn to wait his turn before doing it.  I foresee some difficulty in this one because our boy is quite an impatient chap.  Well, it’s time for him to learn patience then.

To improve understanding of common objects, animals, family members, etc

• Ms Chia suggested making my own flash cards by taking pictures of the objects Ethan often sees. So I will be doing that soon.  Then the options of playing and learning with these cards are endless.  Placing them around the house for a hide-n-go-seek game, matching the cards to the actual objects and so on.
• Wooden puzzles with pictures - The wooden puzzles that Ethan owns now has pictures of animals of which I don’t even know the sounds of (like zebra, hippo, alligator) :P.  So Ms Chia suggested using farm animals instead.  Last Sunday, I bought a wooden Melissa & Doug puzzle with farm animals, and I am currently in the process of training/teaching Ethan to get to know the animals and the sounds they make.  I will say, “Ethan, where is the duck? Quack Quack!” or “Ethan, show Mommy the pig? Oink Oink!” And if he doesn’t respond, I will pick up the correct piece and show/tell him.  So far, after 2 days of education, he is getting the “duck” quite well.  Last night, when I said, “Ethan, give Mommy the duck.  Quack Quack!”  He replied with “da-duck!”

Oh by the way, the understanding and comprehension of objects around the child is more important than say, understanding colors or shapes, which Ms Chia says will come when the child is about 3 years old or maybe 4 (US standards).  Nothing to worry about.

So yeah, I think he is getting there.  Hopefully there will be a vast improvement within the next three months or so.  Pete and I are both very excited about the information we had gained from the therapy session.  Ethan was also tired out after the session, I believe, because he fell asleep in the car on the way back.

Let’s just pray for the best

Scrap Credits
The Promise Collection from Shabby Princess Designs
Little curly alphas from Amy Sumrall
Boxed words from Chantal

Weight

The weighing scale at home shows 11-point something kilos.  His diapers are definitely getting tighter, that’s for sure.

Height

Growing taller, but have not measured officially.

Teeth

I daren’t put my finger inside to see.  Sixteen (or maybe eighteen): 8 incisors, 2 canines (upper), 4 pramolars (2 upper and 2 lower) and 2 molars (bottom); maybe 2 molars on the top too.  

Motor Skills

• Can do the tumble-turn.  He started by doing the downward-facing dog pose first, and soon he extended that to the tumble turn.  I only let him do it under supervision, of course.
• Improvement seen in Learning Garden too, where he will participate by walking around and dancing to the music.  FYI, we are currently in the process of training him how to hop, skip and jump!

Communication and Social Skills

• Some of the new words/sounds he has picked up recently:

  • Ball

  • Baby

  • Wait wait & where where (when we are looking for a parking spot in the mall)

  • Tee-dee (TV)

  • No no no…. & oh no…

  • Wah! & Wow! (imitating his Stand up ball blast toy)

  • Oh ta (we don’t know for sure if he is referring to “Otak” or “Old Town”)

  • Apa! (dunno if he is scolding anyone, or it might be a fluke)

  • Oh two (from Channel 302 Astro On Demand Previews)

  • Nen nen & Mik

  • Daddy & Mommy (getting more consistent; Daddy more so than Mommy *pout*)

• More thick-skinned now.  Scolding him with a firm “NO” doesn’t usually do it, unless we repeat it and show that we mean it.  He doesn’t cry at “NO” like he used to before too.

• Getting more and more sociable.  More willing to wave hi and bye to people he meets.

• Picking up on imitating/copycat skills and can follow and do the actions for certain nursery rhymes when I sing them.  His favorites are: London Bridge, 1 2 Buckle My Shoe, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and lately he is perfecting his actions on Itsy Bitsy Spider!  Of course, it thrills me to no end that all the actions are done with the widest smile ever!

Food and Feeding

• Milk intake has increased, and he can down 6oz (sometimes 7oz) in less than 5 minutes.  Love the way he burps afterward too.

• Able to feed himself with less mess now.  He is quite adept at using the spoon to eat his rice, more so with his right hand, which leads us to think that he most likely is a rightie.  Sometimes though, when he finds that it takes much longer for him to eat on his own, he will manja and ask me to feed him.

Toilet Training

There were a few occasions where he led me to the toilet to indicate the need for doing his big business, and he did so successfully.  Failure rate is getting lower, and we are still working on it.  Not too concerned though, cos he has got so many adorable diapers to wear

***

Oh, by the way, there was a mini, but welcome surprise as Ethan hit 27 months.  He appeared in the Malaysian Women’s Weekly May 2008 edition!  His second appearance in the magazine thus far.  Hehe…can’t help being so proud of him.

Thanks to Anggie and Paik Ling for letting me know!

Scrap Credits
Spring Romantic bonus from Doreen Stolz
Feb 29th blog freebie paper and alphas from miss SCRAP
Handcut paper alphas from Grazieli Niclass
Joy word art from fei-fei’s stuff

Scrap Credits
Rustic freebit kit from Marianne Wåhlberg Designs
Numbers: Alpha Black from Digiscrap.ch
 

Weight

Feels like 11 kilos, though I believe he is only 10.5 or 10.6kilos.  Eats non-stop but cannot put on weight much.  Must have inherited Pete’s genes there.

Height

Haven’t measured him recently, but perhaps about 85cm, at least?

Teeth

Sixteen (I think): 8 incisors, 2 canines (upper) and 4 pramolars (2 upper and 2 lower) AND I recently noticed the whites of his bottom two molars.  No sign of his lower canines yet (another thing he must have inherited from Daddy).

Motor Skills

• Able to walk on tiptoe pretty well.  According to the baby guide book, a toddler is only expected to do this at 2.5 years.
• Running strides are much bigger now, and it is becoming harder to keep up with him.
• Loves to stand up on the high chair after he is *done* with his meal, making it very difficult for us to have a nice quiet meal outside.
• Sometimes he is able to stand on one foot without support.  Still unsteady but getting there. 
• Slowly but surely learning how to handle the fork and spoon without spilling.  Most of the time he makes a mess, but I have noticed a few times when he successfully fed himself.
• Loves to hold the apple and bite on it, just like an adult.

Communication and Social Skills

• Temper tantrums becoming more rampant.  When we are out and if he doesn’t get his way, he will kneel on the ground and start bawling.  At home, when we say “NO” to his demands, he will crouch on his belly and wail pitifully, sometimes to the extent of screaming.
• Knows the signs for the following new words:
  • Dog
  • Bird
  • Fish
  • Cat
  • Fence
  • Mailbox
  • Florist
• Words he has inconsistently said:
  • “Chi-toh” (”play” in Hokkien)
  • Okay
  • “bee” (change channel on TV)
  • Queensbay Mall …. (hehe…okay la, sometimes he says something that sounds like that when we are approaching the mall)
• Can point to at least three body parts when prompted, his favorites being his nose, his mouth and his eyes.  Still loves pointing a lot, as opposed to expressing himself verbally.
• Loves to look at toddlers and children who are older than he is, but is uncomfortable with younger babies.

Food and Feeding

• Ethan is completely weaned from the breast.  Even after I changed his diapers in the baby room in Jaya Jusco, he did not rush into the breastfeeding room like he used to.  Takes about 3 feeds of Pediasure daily, each feed about 5-6oz, eating other solid food too.  I’m so happy his favorite is my homecooked claypot chicken rice!
• Eating a lot lately, hopefully he’ll bulk up a little soon.

Toilet Training

Not toilet-trained yet, but I am starting to try and put him on the toilet seat when I see him straining.  I bought the Bruin padded toilet seat for him and he absolutely loves it!  I’ll be getting one for Mrs Tan to use too.  Yesterday, Ethan successfully did his business while sitting on the throne.  No mess!  And I praised him sky high.  Boy was he delighted!

Scrap Credits
Template 41 from Jill & Jack ScrapDesigns
Emma kit from retrodiva {designs}™
Basic chipboard alphas from Dani Mogstad
Flower glitter from Pineapple Plantation Designs
Raffia stitched heart from Kim B’s Designs

Although Ethan cannot really speak in proper words yet, his communication skills in terms of signing has improved tremendously due to frequent exposure to the Baby Einstein DVD that incorporates signing, My Favorite Places.  He will now eagerly await the part in the program where the instructor or kid makes the sign for the appropriate word and often, he will sign the word even before the word appears on the screen.

As a kiasu concerned mommy who only wants the best for her child, I must admit that I am a tad worried that Ethan is experiencing speech delay.  They are some friends of mine who offer some form of consolidation and reassurance in that their own sons also went through the exact same phase.  It truly appears though that Ethan has lots to say, but it’s just that we cannot yet make head or tail out of what he is saying.  He understands what we say and can respond correctly, but when he needs to say something, he prefers to point or to lead us to what he wants to do.  For example, he will *throw* our hand at the fridge when he wants us to open it, or he will *throw* my hand at the milk bottle when he wants a feed.

I’ve also contacted a speech therapist in KL who recommended that we visit a local speech therapist in Penang.  I am hesitant because I do not wish to subject Ethan to (maybe) weekly therapy sessions.  If I can help it, that is.  Another suggestion brought forward, also by our pediatrician, is to expose him to as many of his peers as much as possible.  So we are currently looking into options for this as well.

Nevertheless, his ability to imitate and sign has spurred me to purchase a baby signing book and DVD.  Coincidentally, a few weeks ago, Pete’s good friend’s sister contacted me (blogging has many advantages you know!) and told me about her unique site, Baby Signs Malaysia.  She assured me that allowing and teaching Ethan to sign will not impair his ability to acquire speech, but on the contrary it would probably pave the way for him.  Just like crawling comes before walking, signing will come naturally before talking.  So I purchased the I Can Sign! Animals book + DVD from her last week (it was on offer at RM40; regular retail price RM60).  It contains a board book and a 20-minute DVD which teaches the baby the signs used for 6 animals, namely dog, bird, fish, cat, monkey and turtle.  I was excited to share this with Ethan, and when I did that evening, he was glued to the TV for the entire duration.  I know he loves animals so this was the perfect DVD for him.  He didn’t take to the signs at first but when I showed him the DVD again the next evening, I was delighted that he could sign dog, cat, bird and monkey.  Sometimes he still needs to be prompted, but to me this was definitely an achievement in itself.

I also bought My First Spoken Words: Babies, which introduces six words too, by playing the word as the baby turns the page.  Ethan took one look at this book, flipped it open and did some fiddling with it, and after a minute, we discovered to our horror that there was no more sound coming out from it!  We had to purposely drop the book on the floor to trigger the sound mechanism again.  SIGH.

Anyway, I really hope that Ethan will complement his signing with his talking soon.  I can’t wait to engage in conversation with this chatterbox of mine!

Scrap Credits
Kit “True Love” from Sueli Colbert
Boxed words from Chantal
Delight Series Red Inked Alphas from Foxy Designs

I knew weaning Ethan would not be an easy thing to do. In fact, I started trying out various weaning tactics when he was about 15 months’ old, but I was not firm with it and he certainly did not seem ready to be weaned yet at that time. No amount of distractions, meal substitutions and coaxing could wean him from the breast, not even when I started him on formula when he was about 15.5 months’ old, and I was afraid the weaning battle would become a stressful, terrible one. One of my fervent prayers to God was to have a smooth weaning process for Ethan, where neither he nor I would suffer, for I really cannot bear to see him wail and cry as if someone were abusing him or something.

Anyway, on our way to Singapore last year, one of the senior flight attendants (who obviously used to be a breastfeeding mother herself too) told me her secret method of weaning her boy when he was 17 months’ old. At that time, Ethan was roughly the same age. She told me she used Bonjela. Applied it to her nipples and after a few rejections from her son, he was off the breast. It was as simple as that.

I didn’t use this method immediately after we returned from our trip though. And I can’t remember when I actually purchased a tube of Bonjela. But when I tried it the first time on Ethan, he made a face when he tasted the minty Bonjela, quietly and (dare I say) obediently walked away. That was during one of the evenings after work. I didn’t try it again after that, because I was pretty confident Bonjela works.

When Ethan was a little older, it became apparent that he was ready to be weaned. He could go without breast milk the whole day long while I was at work but somehow he still “needed” breast milk during the day on weekends. I realized then that I was the one who was not ready to wean him off. I realized that all I needed to do was to be firm with him and hopefully he would comply. Although I used the Bonjela method off and on, I was wishy washy about it and so it didn’t really work as I hoped it would. Sometimes when I used Bonjela during the weekends, and Ethan (the smart fella) would patiently wait till the effects wore off before cuddling up for a feed.

But when Ethan was one month shy of his 2nd birthday, I told myself that if I wanted him to be weaned, nobody could help me but myself. Only I alone can do it. And so I crafted a plan. I religiously used Bonjela, slowly eliminating one feed at a time in the weekends. Weaning him off the morning feeds was easy, but it was an uphill task when I began weaning him from the afternoon feeds. A bottle of Pediasure would usually be ready at hand whenever I used the Bonjela method, so I hoped he would get the idea soon enough.

Well, he was soon able to take his afternoon naps without breastfeeding…which was good, except it took him longer to fall asleep, resulting in a more tired Daddy and Mommy. I so took the ease of breastfeeding baby to sleep for granted, I tell ya. And it was a struggle to get him to sleep without the comfort of breastfeeding.

After he turned two, about a week before Chinese New Year, the Bonjela method had already successfully gotten Ethan off the breast from morning till after his nightly shower. He still needed to be breastfed to sleep at that time, though. He would wait till I had had my shower before he asked for a feed. So I told myself that I would continue with the plan after Chinese New Year, since it was not a good idea to make changes to the routine while travelling. I knew it was gonna be a hurdle to wean him from the breast for his nightly feeds.

But God is good, and He answers prayers. A few days before Chinese New Year, Ethan started to go to sleep without the need to be breastfed. I don’t know how and I don’t know why, but it just happened. Sometimes he would just cuddle up to me, just to be close to me and he would fall asleep on his own. He would still wake up once or twice in the night for comfort suckling though, but that did not bother me, because I knew it would be another obstacle I had to overcome soon. I figured I would cross the bridge when the time came.

However, one of the nights during the Chinese New Year break, he started to sleep through without needing his comfort suckling. He still wakes up sometimes, but he will just snuggle close to me and will fall back to sleep. It happened so suddenly that I didn’t even see it coming.

His last breastfed meal was on the night we returned from our hometowns in Ipoh and Taiping. After his shower, he came up to me with this loving look in his eyes, propped himself on my lap for a feed and after a few minutes, he was done. He gave me a “Thank you Mommy, I love you” look and went about his usual business. It was done in such an endearing manner, that I could not help the tears trickling down my cheeks. It was as if he knew our “contract” had ended and he was saying his final goodbye.

Oh sorry…well actually that was supposed to be his last feed, but I breastfed him again a few days later when he was down with fever… out of pity

Anyway, it has now been a little over a week that Ethan has been completely off the breast. What started out as my labor of love became a loving wondrous journey that lasted approximately two years and a week. I thought I would feel a sense of relief because the weaning was now over and done with. But what I felt was a tinge of emptiness…as if something I had grown to love dearly is now missing from my life. It is a sign that my Ethan boy, my darling Mr Bulat, has grown up somewhat, and I am just grateful that I was able to give him the best nourishment a mother can offer.

At first I had planned to present it to Ethan’s grandparents for Grandparents’ Day last September, but I couldn’t get it ready then.  So I decided to try for Christmas instead.  Well, Christmas came and I was not even close to finishing it.  Then I adamantly targeted Ethan’s second birthday, but because of some hiccups with the file upload and ordering process, I rescheduled the targeted date to Chinese New Year.

Finally the photobooks are ready.  I received them three days before Chinese New Year, and got them wrapped up as presents for Ethan’s grandparents.  I had printed three copies of the photobook - no prizes for guessing who gets the third copy :)  The photobook contained pictures of Ethan which I had digitally scrapbooked with the used of Adobe Photoshop, no glue required.  All forty pages held memories which were dear to us, and I am sure Ethan’s grandparents would be thrilled with the book too.

We presented the photobook to both his Ah Mas and Ah Kongs for Chinese New Year, and I could see their faces light up with pride when they saw what the present contained.  May they enjoy hours and hours of flipping through the book and sharing Ethan’s photos with their friends and visitors :)  Someday Ethan boy will enjoy the book too… I just know it!

Scrap Credits
The Star kit from Digiscrap.ch
Basic chipboard alphas from Dani Mogstad

The inevitable Terrible Twos are upon us, and it certainly looks like Ethan has already taken the cue because he is fast exhibiting more prominence on being his own person and forming a cheeky, naughty personality of his own.

Weight

Feels like 11 kilos.

Height

82-85 cm

Teeth

Fourteen: 8 incisors, 2 canines (upper) and 4 pramolars (2 upper and 2 lower). There are signs that he may be teething soon, because he salivates a lot these days.

Motor Skills

• Can slide down a slide properly.
• Becoming quite the expert at climbing up the stairs and he had a lot of practice during Chinese New Year. He is rather cautious when he comes downstairs though, especially if the steps are steep ones.
• Loves to swing arms around, as if he is exercising or something.
• Can really throw a ball properly, sometimes way better than those footballers doing the throw-in during football matches.
• Can kick the ball really well. Pete will soon be taking him to the field for a one-on-one football match.
• Eagerly takes angpows when he is offered one.
• Can take a balloon and swing it to hit people’s heads. Yes, he is quite violent…

Communication and Social Skills

• We are seeing some progress in the communication aspect. New words he has learnt are
  • “Foo-bor” or “oo-bor” (football)
  • “two”
  • “ee”, “errr” (one and two in Mandarin)
  • “eat-eat” (eat - when we are driving out to dinner or lunch)

• Watching Baby Einstein’s Baby’s Favorite Places has also paid off. Yesterday he amazed me when he signed the following when I prompted him:
  • School - place one palm on top of the other, in the sign of a book.
  • Library - form the letter L with the thumb and index finger and wave it around. (Actually he did the “library” sign before but now it is more consistent).
  • Driveway/sidewalk - points both arms to the front
  • Playing field/playground - waves both arms in the air
  • Garden - clasps both hands together. Actually the actual sign is to make like a blooming flower, but he is still practising.

• Throws a mean tantrum whenever he doesn’t get what he want. For example, when we ask him to go somewhere and he still wants to play outside, he will bang both his hands on the wall or pillar or something in frustration. When we try to carry him, he will kneel down on the floor and protest. Or shake his head vigorously.

• Has developed a preference for certain channels on TV. When the TV is tuned to a channel he finds boring, he will grunt or scream in protest, so we have to change the channel. If the Astro remote is not within our reach, he will bring the remote to us to ask us to change the channel for him. Oh, he prefers Channel V to MTV… don’t ask why.

Food and Feeding

• In the words his Daddy uses, Ethan eats non-stop.

• Ethan is now ALMOST fully weaned from the breast. I no longer breastfeed him in the daytime and in the evenings before he hits the bed, even when I am with him the entire day. He hardly asks to be breastfed too, and sometimes when he does, it is at night, and when I tell him “No”, he will obey. He can also fall asleep without comfort suckling now, which to me, is a great achievement. Immediately after his 2nd birthday, he automatically decided that he could go to bed at night on his own, of course, with me by his side still. Now, the final obstacle is to fully wean him from the breast for the middle of the night comfort sucklings. There were a couple of nights where he slept through soundly too.

• Likes to feed himself. Sometimes he won’t even eat until I put the food on the plate in front of him so he can help himself to it.

• Favorite foods: chicken rice, chicken koay teow, spaghetti, plain white bread, char siew pau, siew mai, Yakult, yogurt, apples and bananas.

I took the second half of the day off from work to spend some time with Ethan on his birthday.  Unfortunately, due to work commitments, Pete could not make it, so it was just my boy and me.   I picked Ethan up from Mrs Tan’s place after lunch and my first stop was at the D’View hair salon.  Ethan was due for a haircut and I figured if there weren’t too many customers around, we could try and see if he could get his New Year haircut then.  Pretty ambitious of me to attempt this on my own, but you know me, stubborn as a mule and determined as ever.  It was Ethan’s first time there, and at first he was a little shy to enter the shop.  But then Cindy the hairdresser offered him a cracker and turned the TV on to the Playhouse Disney Channel and he was hooked immediately.  Smiling away, Ethan allowed me to help him put on the cute little cloak around his neck, to ensure most of the hair wouldn’t fall on his shirt.  Then he obediently sat on my lap while Cindy did the magic.  After a very neat shave, all the while with Ethan munching away happily on the cracker while kicking his legs to the Mouskadance tune, Ethan looked very macho-like with his new haircut.  Well, now we know where to go for a fuss-free, scream-free, struggle-free haircut for Ethan, all for RM10.  See, I could even manage to snap a few shots for proof.

Next on the agenda, Ethan and I went to Gurney Plaza.  He was delighted to play at the children’s playground and today, he finally learnt how to slide down a slide the correct way.  Previously he would climb up the slide and then climb down without sliding.  Today, I showed him how to do it, by putting him at the top of the slide and then pushing him gently down.  That was it.  Over and over again, he would go up and down the slide.

We also made a stop at MPH, where Ethan had a good time playing *catch* with me.  :P  Then we went down to the basement where I bought a drink for us both to share.  Before leaving the mall, we made a final stopover at the children’s playground again.  You know why…

After resting for a while at home, and after he had had some milk, I decided to take Ethan downstairs for a swim.  He got all excited when I dressed him up in his swimsuit, and promptly brought his float to me.  We had a great time swimming, Ethan and me.  Ethan enjoyed the water so much, he even wanted to drink it on purpose, much to my horror!  And me, I managed to get SOME form of exercise done, at least for my lower body.  Heh.

We then washed up and got ready for dinner.  We picked Daddy up from work and headed on to Friday’s.  Ethan had his favorite spaghetti, of course, and everyone could tell he was enjoying himself tremendously.  We didn’t get the servers to sing the birthday song for him though, because Pete was concerned that Ethan might not be ready for their loud singing just yet.

What a fantastic day for all of us!  I’m sure Ethan enjoyed himself very much too, so much that he didn’t even have his daytime nap.  Happy birthday darling Ethan boy!

 
Scrap Credits
Choco-Noisette from Kawouette
Boxed words from Chantal
Delight Series Red Inked Alphas & Let’s Scrabble Alphas from Foxy Designs

Ethan woke up today at about 7:15a.m., yawned and stretched and when he saw me, he sat up in bed, reached his arms out towards me, and gave me a big hug. I put on his Baby Einstein’s Meet the Orchestra for him to watch for a while, and he said “wee wee” (that’s how he says “TV”).

You’re two today, baby…. and your smile will always melt my heart. 

I’m so excited because I have a date with him this afternoon, just the two of us.  I am taking the second half of today off to spend some quality birthday time with my boy.

Happy, happy birthday, Ethan boy, with all the hugs, love and kisses in the world!

It’s Ethan’s birthday today, but we had a small early birthday celebration for Ethan last Saturday. Both his grandpas and grandmas came to shower him with love, together with his godpa, Aunty Pauline, Uncle Patrick and Aunty Christine too. I had made reservations at Sarkies Corner at The E&O for lunch, so we all met up there. Ethan was all ready for his food, but after eating the nasi minyak with carrot soup for a while, he became restless and wanted to go for a stroll by the sea instead. We had to take turns taking him out. So although there was food aplenty, Pete and I could not really sit down throughout the entire meal because our little prince wanted to be an explorer! Well, I did manage to lure him for a moment with the vanila ice-cream and a strawberry (which he threw on the floor), but it was only a matter of time before he wanted to go out again. So my Dad had to take him this time.

After lunch, we adjourned to our condo to have the cake-cutting ceremony. I ordered a birthday cake in the shape of Rocket from Little Einsteins, one of his favorite programs, and I could see Ethan’s face light up in joy when he saw the cake and the two candles being lit.

However, when we started singing the Birthday song, he started wailing, either because it was too loudly sung or he only wanted me to sing it. I honestly don’t know why. I had already prepped him for the singsong session, and had expected him to clap happily after the song was sung. Anyway, after we had finished singing and helped him blow out the candles, Ethan instinctively took the knife to cut the cake. He held it the opposite way though, and well, since it is HIS cake after all, we let him cut it. Don’t worry, it was a very blunt knife, specially made for cake cutting, and baby safety, of course!

After that, Pete and I held his hand to the knife and cut the cake the proper way. The 1.6 kilo cake was a vanila sponge cake with pieces of fruit in it, so that made it less “jelak” to eat. As expected, Ethan was not at all interested in the cake and preferred to play with his toys. I think the only sweet thing he really likes is ice lemon tea…oh, and vanila ice-cream, too!

He also had some presents to open. We helped him make the first tear on the presents and he enjoyed doing the rest.

 
Scrap Credits
Kit “Happy New Year” from Sueli Colbert
Template 32 from Jill & Jack ScrapDesigns
Numbers - Terre de feu alphas from Digiscrap.ch
Winter Wonderland Brown alphas from Perfectly Imperfect

With the New Year 2008 upon us, I can hardly believe that Ethan is now one month shy of his 2nd birthday. How time has flown! Everyone is commenting how “not that bulat” he is now, but you know what? Deep down, he will always always be my adorable darling Mr Bulat.

Weight

10.5 kilos when we visited the pd on Dec 17th.

Height

82 cm.

Teeth

Fourteen: 8 incisors, 2 canines (upper) and 4 pramolars (2 upper and 2 lower).

Motor Skills

• Can climb up the stairs now one leg at a time. He likes to do it without the support of anyone, which scares me.
• Can step on and off the escalators on his own. We will hold his hand and lead him on and off, but sometimes he will insist on doing it solo. Scares me too.
• Can push himself over his cot side, just by using his arm strength and pushing his tummy on the side. Really really scary.
• Is able to complete his wooden jigsaw block puzzle on his own. He prefers the one with the safari animals to the sea creatures one though. Although he does seem to take a liking to the whale…

Communication and Social Skills

• Not speaking a whole lot yet, but not keeping mum either. Has tons of *stories* to tell. People have suggested that we enrol him in playschool to allow him to mingle with kids his age, because that will encourage him to communicate with us. Me? I’m reading Making Chatter Matter and trying the guidelines and methods suggested to prod him towards verbal diarrhoea.
• Can point to his nose when asked “Where is your nose?. But there is a flaw in this still. “Where is your ear/eyes/mouth?” produces the same results
• Can point out and identify where things are. For example, on the way to the sitter’s we will pass by an apartment with 3 aquariums and 1 bird cage. When asked “Where is the fish?”, Ethan will point to the fishes in the aquarium and “Where is the bird?” will prompt him to point to where the bird is.
• I noticed last night that he has learnt to whisper.

Food and Feeding

• More often than not, Ethan will insist on self-feeding. He loves to hold the fork and spoon and try to scoop the rice on his own. I have to admit he is getting pretty good at it too!
• On the weaning front, he will now happily finish 4-5oz of Pediasure immediately when he wakes up in the morning. And I couldn’t be happier. I guess it is just a matter of time before he is completely weaned off the breast.

Scrap Credits
Holiday Inn freebie from ScissorlessMedia
Moody Kit from SweetMade
Harvest Spice Numbers from Shabby Princess

Weight

Should be still around 11-11.5 kilos because he lost some weight during his Rotavirus infection last month. He does feel heavier now anyways.

Height

Not much change from the previous month, I would think, so around 83cm.

Teeth

Twelve in total. I know I mentioned earlier that he had 4 pramolars appearing, but it looks like I was wrong! He now has eight incisors, two HUGE pramolars on the bottom jaw and two canines on the upper!

Motor Skills

• When the music from the Barclay’s Premiership Show starts playing on the TV, Ethan will kick one foot in the air repeatedly.  We do not know if he is merely enjoying the music or if, in fact, he is simulating the act of kicking a football.
• Ethan has mastered the *art* of throwing blocks over his shoulder.
• He can place almost all his shapes correctly in his shape sorter.  He definitely can master the simple shapes like the circle, square, star, flower, triangle and cross.  The tricky shapes in his round shape-sorter like the heart, the “T” or the house-shaped block will sometimes make him frustrated.  Typically he will identify the color of the shape first and then try to fit them into the correct slot.
• He loves to play and pretend to draw and write with a pen or pencil.  Up till today, we still cannot tell for sure if he is a rightie or leftie.  Maybe he is ambidextrous?

Communication and Social Skills

• “Speaking” more with the use of gestures as well.  Ethan especially loves to use both his index fingers to accentuate his “speech”.  Luckily it is the index finger he is using
• Once, when he was watching the “Meet the Orchestra” Baby Einstein DVD, I heard him repeat the word “Bass” after the instructor.
• Consistently says “sssss…” when we drive along a particular stretch on Yeap Chor Ee road, when we drive up the ramp towards the coastal highway and sometimes when we approach Queensbay Mall.  We do not know yet if he is referring to “ssssslope”, “treesssssss” or “Queenssssssbay”. 
• Can understand simple instructions like “clap hands”, “come here”, “come” and also “kai kai”.  Will get upset when we raise our voice and say “NO” in a stern tone.

Food and Feeding

Also known as our very own bottomless pit, he can finish quite a lot of food now.  When we go out, we sometimes have to order enough to feed three.  Ethan can finish about one small bowlful of rice on his own.  He also loves to eat with his hands.

 
Scrap Credits
Slightly Rugged kit from Pam Lefors Designs
Stitched felt frame from Lindsay Jane Designs
Harvest Spice alphas & elements from Shabby Princess Designs

Weight

11-11.5 kilos. Weighed in during last visit to Dr Jessica, Oct 26 2007.

Height

Circa 83cm. Yesterday he was asleep on the bed in a rather straight position, so I took the opportunity to measure him with my measuring tape.

Teeth

Eight incisors, with 4 pramolars fast appearing, all at the same time!

Motor Skills

• He loves to stand on one foot, especially when taking his shower.
• He can sometimes climb up short steps on his own. Scary but true. And I have witnessed it before. In fact, he climbed up 3-4 steps last week all by himself!
• When he wants to climb down a step, and no one is around to help him, he will turn his body round, and go down backwards, i.e. holding the floor and stepping down backwards one step at a time.
• Ethan’s favorite spot in Queensbay Mall is the slope area right outside Fila, just a short walking distance away from Nando’s. He would run up the slope very quickly and then go down the stairs, reaching out for assistance from us. Or he would go up the stairs and then rush down the slope. He now knows the area like the back of his hand and would giggle loudly and run excitedly towards it whenever we are there. Just watching him play really makes our day.
• Ethan can make the symbol “6″ with his hands (i.e. one hand with all fingers open out and the other hand with just the index finger held up). Lately he has also started experimenting with “7″ (i.e. extending the index finger hand to show the thumb AND the index finger).
• Tries to take off his shoes on his own. When he is in his car seat, we always take off his shoes for him, to avoid him from touching his shoes and then his face or his mouth. Now, he wants to help by undoing the velcro on his shoes too.

Communication and Social Skills

• Says “Bah!” when he refuses something, or when he has had enough of something.
• Says “sssh” or “sssss” - for “fish”. Also says it when he sees the view of the sea, or when he realizes we are on our way to Queensbay Mall.
• To Ethan, “Whale” is “loliloliloliloli….”. It must be the “l” pronunciation.
• Keeps repeating some *words*, one of them is “chee-yap” or “chiap”.  We don’t know what that means yet.
• He is learning to say “Baby Einstein”, because every time he requests to watch the DVD, he would point and say something, but I have yet been able to catch what he says, although it is a 4-syllable word.
• Ethan pants excitedly when he is anticipating something he likes, like just before we drive down the ramp after exiting the Queensbay Mall car park.
• Able to give lip-smacking flying kisses to perfection.
• He has also recently learnt how to give me a hug.  When I ask him for a hug, he would reach out both his arms and then wrap them around me, while patting my back affectionately.
• It goes without saying that Ethan is now a very intuitive little boy. When he senses that we are ready to go out, he will run to the door and stand by it, waiting for us to open the door. When we reach the lift lobby, he will stand in front of the doors of the lift and run into the lift when it opens. He will also run out when the lift reaches our floor. We actually need to be very careful just in case he runs out at the wrong floor. Ah, but there was one time, the lift opened at the wrong floor and I asked him to go out (silly me!) and he stayed put. I guess he is observant too, eh?

Food and Feeding

• Ethan is now becoming very adamant about feeding himself. At times, I would start off feeding him and then he would try to grab the spoon and fork and insist on feeding himself. He will make a mess, yes. But I suppose that is the only way he will eventually learn. Some of the food does get in, though.
• We are in the process of weaning him from the breast, but there is not much significant success yet.  Although he can go without breast milk while I am at work (he will lead Mrs Tan into the kitchen to request her to make him a feed of formula), he rejects the bottle whilst he is at home.  When we offer him the bottle, he will take the bottle cap and attempt to close it.
• He loves drinking (especially ice lemon tea) from a straw. He would hold the straw and then imitate the stirring gesture we adults sometimes make, and the drink from it. But just the other day when I ordered carrot juice, I thought the fancy color and cup would entice him to drink it, but nope, I was wrong.  Feeding himself was more attractive then

Scrap credits: Another Boho Love Affair Kit from retrodiva {designs}™

Maybe it took Ethan a little bit longer to master the art of blowing kisses, better known as the “flying kiss”.  Well, maybe he thought it was considered not *macho* to do it then.  Heh.  Well, it takes a real MAN to be able to do it anyway.  And you know what, Ethan can do it amazingly well now.  The wait has certainly been well worth it.

Now he will constantly pepper his goodbyes with a lip-smacking kiss, putting his hand to his mouth, and giving a really loud kiss for added effect.  And when we say the magic word, i.e. “flying kiss”, he will give one in an equally adorable manner.

Even yesterday night, after Dr Jessica had given him his 2nd JE booster jab, and although he cried a little after that, when we were about to leave the clinic, he smiled at the doctor, waved buh-bye and blew her a kiss.  Ain’t that sweet?

Scrap Credits: Urban Kiwi Kit from Shabby Princess

Weight

At least 10 kilos. Cannot carry him for long periods because:

• it hurts
• he will struggle and attempt to break free because he wants to walk around on his own.

Height

Haven’t taken his height for some time now, but he is definitely growing taller. He can reach for stuff on our dining table already.  Sometimes I look at him fast asleep in his cot and am amazed at how much he has grown!

Teeth

Still eight. But he is VERY excited about brushing his eight teeth every day now :)  I taught him to hold the toothbrush under running tap water and thereafter, moving the bristles back and forth in his mouth.  However, I sometimes catch him biting the bristles instead of brushing with them.

Motor Skills

• Can lead us to wherever he wants to go.  For example, if he wants to eat yogurt, he will take us by the hand, and lead us to the refrigerator.  Sometimes, he will even take my hand and place it on the fridge handle. 
• He is able to correctly put in more shapes into his shape sorter.  I have noticed him putting in the red circle, green flower and yellow oval, to name a few.
• Loves running around in wide open spaces.  Ah Kongs and Ah Mas are advised to be cautious because he will outrun them. 

Communication and Social Skills

• Ethan has learnt how to associate certain actions with certain things, to the point of sometimes imitating what we do:
  • If he grabs hold of a key (house keys, car keys), he will walk towards a door and try to put the key into the keyhole.
  • If he grabs hold of a pen or pencil, he will imitate writing on a piece of paper.  Sometimes he will take my little red journal and pretend to write on it.
  • He will take the telephone receiver and put it to his ear, while blabbering away.  When we say “Hello..?” he will take whatever he is holding and place it to his ear. If his hands are empty, he will just put one hand to the ear.
  • He has learnt how to associate the couch and the bed with drinking milk.  When I sit on the couch, he will request for milk. Or he will take me by the hand and lead me to the room when he is ready to sleep.
• He has attained the stage of the Terrible Twos, albeit a few months early.  Some traits we have noticed are:
  • When he is riding in our car, he will start screaming in complaint when the car slows down or comes to a halt.  At times his screams are so high-pitched I have to cover my ears.
  • When we want to carry him when he does not want to be carried, he will try to run away. Other methods of escape he has employed are:
    • Screaming in protest
    • Crouching on his front commando style, so it is very difficult for us to carry
    • Struggling and kicking
• One of the things he is learning is animal sounds.  When I say “The cow goes?”, he will say “Mmmmm” (sounds like Moo).  But when I say “The dog goes?”, he will also say “Mmmmm”.  I need to work on this still
•  He can say a few *words* now.  He is not very consistent in saying them yet, but we are seeing some progress in this arena:
  • Mommy (yesterday morning, I woke up startled when I heard Ethan saying loudly and clearly “Mommy!”  He was still fast asleep and dreaming though)
  • Daddy (last week, he greeted Daddy at the door after Daddy’s futsal game with a cheerful, “Hi Daddy!”)
  • Lolilolilo… (we don’t know what this is yet, but we suspect it is Ethan’s attempt at imitating some singing on TV.  He says this when he hears the StarWorld theme song and also some Indian songs)
  • Pecah pecah pecah… (at first we thought he was saying Pete’s name, but we are still not sure now)
  • Ngam ngam ngam or yum yum yum (when eating something tasty.  Sometimes he smacks his lips too)
  • Buh buh (bye-bye) - said while waving buhye
  • Mai (”Don’t want” in Hokkien)
  • Zebra (of course any other four-legged animal is a Zebra to him too)

Food

Anything and everything except peanuts, shellfish and alcohol.  He loves ice lemon tea and vanilla ice cream, by the way.

Scrap Design from Anita Designs

Last Sunday we were at Jaya Jusco shopping for some clothes for Ethan. We picked out a few nice-looking t-shirts from the babies’ department but unfortunately, they all didn’t come in his size. Even those in 18-24 month sizes looked a tad too small for him. Ethan is wearing 2-year-old sizes now and most of the clothes in the babies’ department only had sizes up till 18 months. Suddenly, a light bulb lit up in my head and I figured we should be looking in the kids’ department instead. And would you know it, we found exactly what we wanted there. There were so many clothes in his size available, that we were spoilt for choice.

So looks like we have to move on to shopping in the kids’ and toddlers’ section now. No more baby clothes for our Ethan Boy!

A vacation to Singapore would not be complete without a visit to Sentosa Island, now would it? I can barely remember my last visit to Sentosa Island, but my Mom tells me I was really young then. I vaguely recall taking the cable car all the way to the island and back though. In fact, my parents had their honeymoon in Sentosa Island. The island must have changed a whole lot since then. For one, we had heard a lot about the Underwater World, and were eager to show Ethan all the underwater life which we knew he would so love.

After our breakfast, we took the MRT from Little India to Harbourfront, which was about 6 stations away. This time, there was no need to change to a different MRT line and it only took us slightly more than 15 minutes to get to our destination. The Harbourfront MRT station is directly connected to VivoCity, the newest, biggest, trendiest shopping mall in Singapore. We’ll get to the shopping later, I thought to myself.

Initially we wanted to take the cable car because we wanted to have a good view from above. We then learnt that a cable car ride would cost SGD11, and comparing that to the monorail, which costs only SGD3, we opted for the latter. The monorail ticket was a return ticket, and it was inclusive of all the bus rides we would need to take on Sentosa Island itself. As it turned out, taking the monorail was a great decision on our part, because not only did we get to take in a spectacular view of our surroundings, the entire journey via the Sentosa Express took only a mere 10 minutes (which is a bonus for Ethan who is prone to getting restless)! From the monorail, we could see the cable cars moving towards Sentosa Island, and comparatively, they were taking forever! Upon reaching Sentosa Island (Beach Station), we took a bus all the way to the Underwater World.

Ethan of course enjoyed free admission, but we adults had no reason to complain either, because we got a 10% discount when we paid with the Citibank credit card

The first stop we made was to touch and feel the stingrays. They felt leathery and slithery! I did not allow Ethan to touch them though and he didn’t complain either because he was more fascinated with the many aquariums on display. He could see the fishes up close and it was apparent he was having a field time doing so.

To keep Ethan occupied and not-so-restless, I had brought along a small box of cornflakes. Learning from the zoo adventure, it was a no-no to allow him to get hungry, so I kept him busy eating and munching on cornflakes Good parenting tip, eh? *wink* So amid the exhibits of crabs, fish, jellyfish seadragons and seahorses, Ethan was happy with his snack and Daddy was happy with his snapping… photos, that is.

I personally felt the highlight of the Underwater World was The Tunnel. Here, we just had to stand on a moving walkalator that took us through a tunnel where we were surrounded by all kinds of underwater life swimming all around us. Fish, sharks, manatees, you name it…. there were many moments that prompted us to go “Ooooooh….” and “Waaaahhh……”, if you know what I mean.

All in all, we really enjoyed ourselves at the Underwater World. After taking lunch, we realized it was drizzling outside when we were about to leave. Since we still had time, we decided to go to the Dolphin Lagoon after that. The entrance to the Dolphin Lagoon had already been included in the admission fee for the Underwater World anyway. So we took a bus there.

Ethan was already