Her first words
Her very first words when she was about 10 months old sounded very much like Papa'. We kept hearing 'papa papa papa....' all the time, but with different tones and pitches. David was obviously very happy that our daughter has started calling him first before 'Mama'.
Subsequently, she learnt to say 'ber' (bird), 'bor' (ball) 'ba ber ber' (butterfly) etc. Notice all the b-consonents? And of course she did learn to say 'mama' and I think sometimes it is overused. Not only does she calls be 'mama' all photos she sees are 'mama' as well. And sometimes, when she sees something new, that will become 'mama' too. It's like a joker card that can replace any item!
Now she is babbling non stop. Sometimes she really sounds like she's engaged in some serious conversation with you except that it is in a foreign language that no one could understand.
Her first steps
Kaelyn started to walk unsupported about 2 weeks after she turned 1, and right after she recovered from an entire week of virus infection (more about this in subsequent blogs). She is now waddling (yes, just like a duck with her butt sticking out and swaying side to side when she walks!) all over the place.
She's now good enough to climb up and down the stairs in my parents' place, and can climb off our bed by herself. My mum has taught her how to do it safely, by lying on her front and slowly moving backwards till her feet touch the ground. I thought that was rather smart.
Her wits and antics
(1) Catching attention
We were travelling in a car one day and Kaelyn suddenly pointed towards the warmer bag and babbled something. When I didnt really pay attention to her, she hit my arm and shouted louder. Realising she may be thirsty, I reached for the water in the bag and offered to her. But she pushed it away and continued pointing to the bag. This time I took out the milk bottle for her and she happily grabbed it and started drinking her milk. I really was impressed then that she could convey what she wants using her own way.
My Dad was pointing out to Kaelyn that the picture she had on her blouse one day was a Rabbit. And I think that was the first time she ever looked at the designs on her blouses so she was really quite fascinated. She walked to me and tried calling to me. When I didnt respond, she took my hand and placed it on the Rabbit picture on her blouse and said something which sounded like 'you see'. Then I realised that she was showing off her Rabbit blouse to me. She did the same thing to my Mum and when she too didnt respond, she almost cried! It was when she touched the rabbit then she gave a satisfied smile and walked off.
2) The 'little helper' around the house
Kids are really sharp. They are able to spot the tiniest speck of dust on the floor. Kaelyn likes to pick up any piece of tissue, paper, dirt, insect, whatever she thinks shouldnt be on the floor and offer them to us. Sometimes she will just stand by that spot and point and babble, as if she's asking someone to clean the floor. My helper says Kaelyn's her supervisor, checking on whether she has done her job properly!
I was going through a stack of unopened letters one day and asked Kaelyn to play by my side so I could watch over her. After I have opened a few letters, a small hand offered me my next letter to be opened.
(3) Mimicking
Kids love to mimic too. David and I brought Kaelyn to the supermarket today, and we sat her on the seat in front of the trolley. With the shopping list in my hand, we zoomed around to hunt for our purchase. At one point, David had to call our helper to check if we were running out of a certain foodstuff. Before I realised it, Kaelyn grabbed the shopping list from my hand and put it to her ear and said 'ah o ah o'. It took me a while to realise she was mimicking David making a phone call!
Her personality
Her personality didnt change from when we first assessed her in her first month. She's still one independent, stubborn and happy baby.
Independent - she likes to do things herself if she can. She doesnt like anyone to hold her while she was learning to walking, preferring to fall over and stand up on her own again. When we show her which button to push on her toy for the music to come on, she will push our hands away and explore on her own.
Stubborn - she wants everything HER way. If you tell her not to go to a particular area, or ask her to drink her milk or go for her nap when she doesnt want to, she'll really scream, wriggle, push, cry and even attempt to distract you so she can get her way.
Happy - she's always smiling, laughing, babbling happily, except when she's being forced to do something against her will. Then she'll go into the stubborn mode. But generally, I think she's very cheerful and smiles easily. She's on good terms with anyone who plays with her, offering them entertainment and drawing comments like 'she's soo cute', 'she's so happy' etc.
