Dear Sweet Pea,
The highlight of the month was our first family vacation to London. It was quite a leap to go from no travelling for 2 full years to a 15-hour flight across the Indian Ocean and Ural Mountains. Mummy has dedicated a post to the trip so you could always remember what we did during our first holiday together. We hope this is the start of many holidays trips with you.
Unfortunately for us, we were chaperoned to Pan Pacific Hotel to serve a 10-day quarantine shortly after we got back from London. What luck! When we got out of quarantine, it was close to Christmas so we took the opportunity to bring you down to Orchard Road to soak up the atmosphere. Each year, Tangs shopping centre would display a biblical quote on the front of its building. This year, the quote was "Hold on to what is Good" - 1 Thessalonians 5:21. I hugged you real tight when I saw that verse.
During play time, you started showing good physical and cognitive skills as you solved a block puzzle. You listened to Daddy's instructions to flip and rotate the puzzle piece in order to fit it into the Double Decker London bus 3D puzzle. We were glad that you demonstrated the patience to work on the puzzle until you figured it out. During our quarantine, you tried your hands on dough and loved it. In fact, you seemed more interested in pinching bits off from the dough than building something substantial out of it. We turned to washable markers to keep you entertained and you used them to draw all over your face! You also discovered the camera function on Mummy's phone and started exploring selfies. You loved to trace all our palms and soles on magnetic drawing board nowadays. When questioned, you would wave to the picture and say "Hello foot" or "Hello hand". In fact, you were in the phase of hello-ing everything in sight now.
Bedtime was still slightly stressful for your parents. You were a goofball and would always take a long time to fall asleep. You had trouble sleeping in the hotel's cot in London, so we put you on our bed almost every night to snuggle and sleep together. Since the habit was cultivated in London, you would always insist you sleep in our bed every night when we returned to Singapore. This was exacerbated when we were whisked off to Pan Pacific Hotel to serve out quarantine. You had to get used to another cot again and the simplest solution was to tuck you right between us so you could feel secure enough to fall into slumber. If I needed to go to the washroom, you would remind me to come back to attend to you! This month, you were introduced to "Rock-A-Bye-Baby" lullaby.
Nowadays when I rocked you to bed, you would rest your head on my shoulders and instruct me to "put my face away". Hence, I had to frequently twist my head in the opposite direction as you would keep reminding me to look away. My neck felt sore constantly and I hoped for this phase to end quickly. When it was Daddy's turn to put you to bed and he needed a break, he would tell you to call him if you need him. You would repeat after him each time and say "you need me, you call me" as you have no understanding of pronouns!
You tried licking Lemon at the London Harrods Cafe and did not like it. You could not wait to grow up and start to imitate us by drinking water directly from the cup and not from the straw. Much to our disgust, you loved to spit saliva on the floor and watch our reactions.
We spent a cosy Christmas lunch at Panamericana located on the Sentosa Golf Club. We enjoyed the Peruvian ceviche which was surprisingly refreshing for a tropical Christmas afternoon and the succulent grilled steak that melted in our mouths. This was one of those rare times where you tried beef and loved it! You had an amazing time running around the restaurant with a reindeer headband, like a wild caribou.
This post marked the last blog entry of year 2021. The next letter to you would be written in year 2022. We wished for Covid to end soon and for some normalcy in life to return. We could not wait for another year of adventure with you!
XOXO,
Mummy and Daddy
