Dear Sweet Pea,
Your development grew by leaps and bounds this month!
Starting from 11 August, you have been coming back from school and saying that you missed us for the day. Since we have been packing weekends with fun play dates and outdoor playground sessions, it might have seem a lot more enjoyable to hang out with your parents everyday. One of your favourite friend is Jude and he lives 2 streets down from us. Both of you attend the same school and you have often asked to play with him during the weekends.
You started remembering all the promises Mummy made. For example, I did not allow you to eat ice cream after dinner and instead promised you a chocolate during breakfast time the next day. As I was preparing you for school the next morning, you came over and asked me for that piece of chocolate I had promised you.
In order to help you gain independence in eating we had been resorting to letting you watch "Reading Eggs" during meal times for the last couple of weeks. Finally on 10 August night, we could see some progress of you eating on your own at home without looking at the learning App. You were also getting better at riding your 3 wheeled scooter and enjoying the swimming lessons more and more.
By 15 August, your language ability has soared. You were able to tell us what you have done for the entire day. You told us you went swimming on Sunday morning and how your parents fell asleep once we got home. Your poor tired parents! Daddy then drank a cup of coffee in order to drive us to Gladys' house for a play date. You ate with Gladys' Dad and your Daddy before coming home. We were very impressed at the narrative!
On 16 August, I tried to avoid playing you "Ellen the Elephant" before slumber time as I had listened to it every night without fail for the last few weeks. My ears were getting weary hence I told you I have no more battery in my phone. You sat up in bed and asked if Daddy has battery in his phone, because we could then use his!
August has always been a special month. You watched your first fireworks in the month of August when you were barely 1, and this year, you were playing sparklers and swaying with other children to the sound of National Day songs playing on the television. This year we celebrated Singapore National Day at Auntie Cheryl's house. You were quite blown away by the number of toys they have especially the kitchen play set along with toy vegetables, fruit and bakery set! To commemorate National Day, you built a lego house model and exclaimed that, "this is my Singapore flag in Nationry Day"! We adored your confidence alongside all the grammatical and pronunciation errors. My sweet child, we love you to the moon and back.
Daddy went to Perth shortly after National Day and you requested to see him and Nanny on the video call during dinner time. When the video was on, you put on your best behaviour to show them how you could eat on your own, blew them kisses and scored a 100 marks on being a model kid! The reward was a pair of gum boots that you had been requesting for weeks! Daddy got it at a discount in Australia Kmart as it was so hard to find them in Singapore.
Since travel restrictions have been lifted, Nanny has been making a few trips to visit you in Singapore as she has been missing you. Therefore, Nanny came to Singapore again this month! She bought you a new tiger soft toy and also a water colouring book. Nanny also treated to a staycation at Fairmont hotel which was absolutely delightful for you! You got to swim in the big pool safely nestled in your whale float, sat on the sampan along the canal at the Shoppes, Marina Bay Sands and watched the water falling down like a mini fountain from the Rain Occulus. Back in the hotel, you played with Nanny's makeup brushes and snuggled close to her as she read you bedtime stories.
As Nanny was here to spend the weekend with us, we had to defer your swimming to a weekday evening class. I guessed we have not felt such disappointment before! We brought you to a replacement swim class where the swimming instructor wasn't your regular coach, Teacher Nicole. You failed to follow any instructions in class and refused to listen to the coach. It felt like your first lesson in swim class. Hence, when it was time for your lesson the following week, we had a prep talk with you. Being very Asian, I told you if you were not going to pay attention in class and if you were going to continue to do things your own way, fooling around in a dangerous place like a pool, we were going to pull you out of class. We told you firmly there would be no more swimming lessons anymore.
Fortunately, the next lesson was your best ever. You were upgraded to a swimming float and learnt how to hold on it while kicking your legs. You listened to instructions and tried your very best to follow and Daddy and Teacher Nicole's guidance. Despite trying back-float the very first time with a float aid, you completely aced at it! There were no cries nor struggles and you even glided down the slide on your belly without any prompting.
I am drawing my daily dose of laughter from your antics. You were fooling around on the morning of 18 August and knocked yourself into the table and then the chair. It was not that painful but I could tell you were a bit shaken by it so you started crying. As Mummy needed to rush off to work, I quickly prepared your bag and passed you your facial mask. You looked up at me and feeling so pitiful for yourself said that you were still crying and did not need the mask at this moment. Okay!
We were current in this phase of "I could do everything myself", you initiated putting on the seat belt clip by yourself whenever we put you into the car seat. You were also able to take your food or toy out of your school bag and zipped it up after. Your love for fish continued and my proud moment came when you identified and picked out a fish bone from your mouth and told me it was a bone! This has always been my fear ever since I discovered your love for fish. Mummy hates eating fish as I have been traumatised by fish bones stuck in my throat when I was young and often ended up at night clinics to pick them out. Clearly you did not inherit this careless nature of mine!
Each time we told you off for doing something dangerous or inappropriate, you would start the sentence with "No, because..". Your attempts at justifying your actions always leave us in stitches. Slowly, these actions were justified further as they were elevated to become "needs", i.e. "I need to wear the gum boots because my feet is cold at home". You climbed up the dining chairs frequently this month to put your forehead against the mirror, do funny expressions and admire yourself in the mirror. Such a little vain pot you were!
This month was all about flowers. There was an ixora shrub right near our house where we would pass by everyday on our walk to school. You spotted it some weeks back and told me you would like to have an orange flower each morning as we walked to school. Luckily the plant did not belong to someone or I would have to hide my embarrassment at plucking a flower every morning. Later, you discovered some white flowers that were growing on a tree next to the school compound. Of course, we had to get some white flowers. This floral craze continued for a full month as we alternated between orange and white flowers.
What an awesome month we all had! Secretly, I still hope you could learn to self soothe and drift off to bed on your own. This would really help both your praents to get some well deserved rest.
Did you also know that since you were born, Mummy had only managed to trim your nails once? Not only that, it bled the very first time I tried to trim it. Hence, it has always been Daddy who has been trimming your nails every month! However, Mummy cut your hair for the very first time this month!!
Also, someday you are going to find out that playgrounds do not come with closing times. Someday.
XOXO,
Mummy
P.S. Your birthday is coming soon! We asked you what theme would you like it to be and you said farm animals! Let's see what Mummy and Daddy could pull off next month!
