Jayden @Hummingbird (August 2011) P1

Pictures say a thousand of words.. Showing some pictures taken at Hummingbird during their playschool session. I love all the pictures and continuously appreciate the teachers' effort to keep parents posted. :o)

Our "Dim Dim Dik Dik" :o)

One more month and Jayden will turn 2. As Daddy is not home most of the time, Mommy gets all the chances to see and experience each and every way Jayden picks up everything.. including words.

It is such a blessing that I can be there for him, to experience and witness every 'first' event in his little life.. Tears fill my eyes now as I am typing this.. I must have done something right in my passed life that God is being so nice to me.. I am so touched and grateful that God has granted such a blessing..

At 23 months, my beloved baby (still my baby!) starts to speak more, in the language that Mommy and Daddy can understand.

Jayden shows extensive interest in talking lately, he will initiate (signal) me to sing some nursery rhymes with him (he doesn't sing yet but he shows his dance move which is unique for each song).. otherwise he will say the keywords of the song he wants me to sing..

For example, he will say 'star' when he wants to hear 'twinkle twinkle little star' and 'ow' (cow) when he wants to hear 'old mac donald has a farm' and so on.. And when he heard the word 'cow', he will say 'ow'.. other words are moo, dog, bark, duck, quack, pig, oink and the list goes on.. He still can't quite pronounce quack, oink, neigh and some others that I added in i.e. meow (cat). Hahaha..

Lately he has been good in responding to me with his favorite 'no', 'ng-moi' (don't want in Cantonese) and 'mou' (no in Cantonese).. He would also follow words that I said which may be new to his vocab such as board, chair, table, fan, fork..... He got some of them right away and some still need to work on for sure.. But Mommy is already very proud of this little baby's skills.. :o)

Alphabets

Jayden can identify not all but some of the alphabets.. sometimes he can get more right by these are the 100% confirmed that he can identify all the time:

A, B, D, E, I, M, O, V, W, X, Y, Z

Talking More..

These few days, Jayden suddenly talks more, in the language that I understand.. It is quite sudden and I am very surprised. And he normally repeats the words after me..

As I forgot to note down words that he learned lately, I can only remember a handful of them..

Words that he picks up:
1. more - when he want something more
2. mou jor (mojo) - means finished in Cantonese
3. bus (ba)
4. cup (ka)
5. Alphabets - A, B, D, E, I, X (sounds more like 'act')
6. fish (sounds like "ish", was it??? I can't really pronounce the way he did)
7. bubble (babu or bubu)
8. hop (he will try to hop whenever he says it)
9. bee
10. butterfly (but)
11. there
12. o' dad (daddy)
13. bag
14. baby (bebe)
15. mommy (mami)
16. next (net)
17. bowl
18. bar co (bicycle)
19. ant
20. doll
21. no
22. moto (motorbike)
23. one more
24. more "things" such as 'more dog', more bus', etc

Trials of Running

As Jayden is becoming more like a toddler than a baby now, he is moving into more advanced physical milestone, like running and jumping.

He hasn't really picked up the skills of jumping yet, though he will try to bend his knee and spring himself however his feet not leaving the ground! Hahaha..

Meanwhile, his running skills is developing quite rapidly and lately he has been running faster and faster. Consequence is....... he has been falling hard (each time) for several of times.

Normally this accident happens when he is very excited.. there were two falls accidents that I remember clearly were:

1. He was running fast to get his shoes put on the moment I told him we were going to the playground!! He fell very hard on the floor, knocked on his knee, then tumbled over and knock on his chin and teeth, causing his lower gum bleeding. Ouch!! :o(

2. We were playing at the playground one fine day and suddenly he saw Daddy's car coming back. Knowing that's "his Daddy", he pointed and said "Dad!!" and then asked to be carried down from the swing. When his feet touched the ground, he ran fast almost tumble over few times, I am not worried about falling over on the grassy-land.. Finally when we the tarred-road, I was rather worried hence gently telling him to be 'careful'. Less than 3 seconds after I said that, he fell!!! Again, knee first then tumbled over and hit his chin on the tar!!! Oh no.. As expected, crying very hard and bleeding on his chin.. Poor baby.. :o(

Falls are piece and parcel of of growing up.. I do understand that statement, however, I guess mommy needs to work harder on preventing hard falls by keep telling him about the danger of not being careful.. :o)

While we were chilling out in the room just now, suddenly Jayden ran to me with both his hands carrying a ball.

When he was right in front of me, he started dribbling (trying hard) the ball and kept repeating 'ber ber ber ber'... I guess he was trying to say 'dribble' and wanted me to join him in his game.. :o)

J the Baker

I guess my little prince learns things really fast now, just by simple observations.

Today he shocked and amazed me with his skills working with the oven, without me guiding and teaching him prior to this. He must have learned it by observing me baking and working with the oven, well, in fact, he is hardly there as I only bake during his nap time!!! The only time he might see me with the oven will be... when I am checking on the cookies/cakes when he woke up early, which is relatively rare.

To cut the story short, what happened today was when Jayden and I were watching his favorite nursery rhymes this evening, the oven went "DING"!!! I was puzzled and confused as I didn't remember that I was baking at all!!

However, doubting my memory and unwillingly taking such risk, I rushed to the oven hastily just to find a water jug sitting in the oven.. Then I found out that Jayden has turned the timer on and put the water jug in the oven..

The relief thing is that I always kept the oven unplugged so it is not as dangerous as it may seem. :o)

Thus, may I present to you the Baker of the day...... Mr Jayden Ong!!!

Puzzles

Lately, Jayden suddenly shows his skills in fixing some very simple wooden puzzle.. I was amazed as previously he shows zero interest at all and all the sudden he can fix them quite easily.. Not just that, he has been showing no interest and lousy tantrums in sorting shapes previously but all the sudden he does it so easily now!!

Hmm.. I guess some children might have just observed and absorbed the skills however not so ready to perform physically.. however they excel when the time is right.. :o)

Repeat After Elmo

Jayden is in love with Elmo's ABCs lately and watching it everyday! He will rotate between Elmo and Barney... Too much TV time? I hope not as he picks up quite a bit from these two shows. :o)

While we were watching Elmo just now, there was a scene where it educates ABC with speech (it works like flash card), and Jayden was trying to imitate the sound with his baby speech. Even though most of the words are wrongly pronounced, I admire his effort and super glad that he tried!! :o)

Own Words

Lately, Jayden likes to say with double pronunciation.. i.e. star = star star, bear = bear bear, bath = bath bath, etc.. though his pronunciation is obviously baby language, I am surprised Mommies are always the only one can understand their babies languages.. Daddy?? Out!! Daddy can never catch what Jayden says!!! :S

Not just that, lately he has been influenced to use the wrong words.. For example, 'dog' which he normally pronounces as 'og' is not being referred to 'wow wow'. Thanks to MIL always speaking incorrect baby language thinking he wouldn't understand. I strongly dislike it whenever she uses baby language which is totally.. argh.. well, I am just not the the position to correct her. :o(

All I can do is to slowly explain to JJ that those words are wrong and tell him the correct words to describe things. Hopefully JJ will get rid of those 'wrong' baby words soon..

One Two Buckle My Shoes

Since last week if I am not mistaken, Jayden has successfully learned to put on his shoes by himself.

Initially, he showed his skills putting on the Crocs shoes which is a pair of slip-on shoes.. It is relatively easy but I still think that's a good achievement.

Today, he amazed me by putting on his shoes which requires him to zap and un-zap! And he did it with perfect skills.. no hardship at all..

I still remember when I was teaching at SAL, none students at Jayden's age (now) can put on shoes by themselves... Even those bigger kids need teachers to help them... Hmmm...

I am a proud mom!! Hehe..

Finance 101: Money Matters

I don't quite know since when Jayden starts to learn about money but I guess it was some time about a month ago.

Whenever Jayden sees his all time favorite rides on a mall, he will pull Daddy to it and start searching his pocket for... COINS!!! Not sure if he knows the value of it but he definitely knows the use of it. :P

On the bright side, Mommy has taught Jayden well! Whenever Jayden sees me with coins, he will bring out his piggy bank and start saving the coins into his piggy bank. His piggy bank is much heavier now! :o)

Good Sense of Directions

Again, I am surprised by Jayden's new-found talent. He has unbelievably good sense of directions.

For example, while going back to our old house, I will normally drive pass a playground in that area, Jayden will say "mama" (grandma). He also knows the route we use to go home as whenever we are about to pass by the playground outside our community, he will try to stand up, look up and point to that playground and say "hah!"

Not just that, when we go somewhere using the common road that I use, he knows exactly where he will be seeing his favorite forklifts (in a few locations throughout the route). He will lift his head up searching for it while his mouth says "bit bit" (forklift).

If I am not mistaken, there were a few times when we were on the way to Daddy's office and I heard him saying "pa" when we were around Daddy's office.. I wonder what landmark that he spotted to identify we're somewhere nearby Daddy's office. Hehe..

Singing

All these while, Jayden likes musics and songs. As he is still not good in talking, I think it may take quite some time before he can really sing. To my surprise, he has been humming songs quite frequently, even though I can never tell what song it is.. Hahaha..

Lately, he can also follow some lyrics - one word from a sentence!! Hahaha.. :P I seriously wonder when my little precious will be able to sing a song to mommy.. Hehehe

Shopping Madness

Shopping has been made extremely difficult with my little monster around. It is almost impossible to go shopping alone with him. Therefore most of the time I reserved my shopping till Sundays so Daddy is around.

The little monster is not just fussy but whenever he eyes on something that interests him, he will go all the way for it. Meaning he will run, crawl, struggle, cry, wail, scream, shout, whatever you may think of.

There was a time that all the crowd diverted their attentions to us just because Jayden was screaming, crying and wailing like someone was kidnapping or torturing him. It was really an embarrassing moment for us. What an experience.. and I don't wish to experience it another time!!!

Soccer Kid

Last month, Jayden has learned to throw a ball overarms. I read that it is a skill that they may need longer to get a hang of so I didn't expect him to be able to do that at this stage. Other than surprised at his physical skills, I am glad that he learned! :)

Currently, Mommy is grooming her little man to be a soccer kid!! Hahaha.. Jayden shows quite an intense interest in kicking balls so I tried to join in his game and we have loads of fun! I am amazed by the skills that he potrays.. he doesn't only know how to kick a ball but he will chase the ball and play defense too!!! Wow... amazing huh!!

Little 21-Month

Suddenly I come to realize that my little fussy man is already 21 months!!! Wow.. No wonder some of my friends are already going for the No.2!! :P

Slightly passing 20th month, Jayden has become a little handyman.. he likes to help around the house.. sweeping, mopping, throwing garbage, arranging furnitures, cleaning up toys, etc.

Not just that, he has been insisting to eat all by himself too. Many times, he refused to eat when I am feeding him. I am glad that he would like to take charge of his own stuffs. :o)

This little fussy man would also choose his own shirts and pants to wear, sometimes I may be able to persuade him to wear what I like. Hehehe.. But I guess soon enough he will be stubborn enough to listen to mommy.. Uh-oh..

He will throw tantrum when he didn't get things done his way, and especially when he wants my attention and I respond to him slowly. Other than that, I respect his preferences and interests as I think this is where his sense of 'self' starts growing. However, I still keep some restrictions on his behaviors that may affect safety.

Not just that, he has been waking up extra early at 7am (he used to wake up at 830am) and goes to bed extra late at 10pm (used to sleep at 830pm). Since he didn't show any sign of exhaustion throughout his routine, I guess he has gotten enough rest. :o)

Perfectionist

Time flies and Jayden is touching 21 months in 6 more days!!! There are a lot of things that I have been missing out.. I seriously don't know what I have missed out as everything seems to be quite normal and common to me.. :P

From the accumulation of some daily incidences, I think Jayden is quite a perfectionist little buddy.. Now, he would like me to finish dressing him properly, meaning with pants.. while waiting for me to get his pants, he will look at his little 'buddy' and then pull his shirt to cover it. Muahaha..

He will push the drawer all the way in whenever he saw any that isn't.. He will pick up rubbish and throw it into the dustbin.. When I check his diaper and he sees the diaper is used (pee stain), he will insist to have a new diaper.. He will throw his used diaper into the dustbin..

Recently, he will take out the broom and sweep the floor too!! :P Oh, nevertheless, he has been eating by himself most of the time, averagely about 95% I'd say.. and so far so good!!! In fact, he surprised a lot of people when we dine out.. and of course, I am very proud of his eating skills too. :o)

Oh one more thing.. considering this is perfect too.. he has a perfect eyesight!! Most of the time I will have to search for what he was trying to tell me.. though he still hasn't been really speaking, but guess only mommy knows what he means.. :P

Perfectionist Baby

Back then to when Jayden was just a few months, MIL has been sharing with us that when hubby was still a baby, he was a bit of a perfectionist.

The story was, when hubby was a little baby, whenever someone gave him any sort of food that was cut into partial, or half (i.e. half banana, partial biscuits, etc) he would accept with a smile, take the food with him, walk to the balcony and and throw the food off the balcony!!

I guess my little buddy inherites the perfectionist thingy from his daddy. Ever since Jayden has turned 1, most of the time, he will refuse any sort of food that is not complete, even if he does, he might put it aside and crush it, put into his mouth and spit it out, or do some other tricks on it.

There is exception, when he is hungry, he wouldn't mind. :P Perhaps this is a little better than his daddy??? Hehehe.. :P

Self Feeding Pictures

Some pix of my little buddy self-feeding.. :o)