Retracting hand after offering

When Marian was around 8 months old, she used to offer things in her hand. But I remember her offering something to me and just as I was about to take it, she retracted her hand and chuckled at me. Is this normal? I am sure no one around her has played this trick on her.

Adjusting grip on Tennis racket

Marian does like to hit the tennis ball with the tennis racket. Yesterday, she was holding the racket very close to the head and tried to hit the ball. She realised that she could not hit it but she managed to hit it by moving her hand down the handle.

Nattou - fermented soybeans

Marian likes to eat nattou (fermented soybeans). This is very smelly and gooey but she seems to love it. I introduced her to nattou a few months ago and we have not had it for many weeks now but she has been asking for it every now and again. We gave her some yesterday and she nearly finished a whole packet.

Looking after her eyes

We have repeatedly told her to watch TV from a good distance away. In the living room, this means the armchair. She has rarely gravitated to the armchair when the TV is on even after telling her to do so.

At breakfast time, I switched on the TV and went to get her breakfast. When I came back, I was pleasantly surprised to find Marian perched on the armchair. It is nice to know that all the hard work of repeating things has not been in vein.

Using handle of spoon

Marian likes to eat without getting any help. A problem she has encountered is that of scooping too much in one go. She does not yet have enough control of the spoon to get the right amount. Yesterday, she held the spoon the other way around so that she could scoop the food using the handle. I don't know this is by chance but she has figured out a way to scoop a more manageable amount.

I love you daddy

She said "I love you daddy" yesterday. I don't think she understands the meaning though. Of course daddy can be replaced by any other word.

On the subject of love, Marian does like to choose the most appropriate moments to kiss people. More often than not, whenever I try to kiss her, she will do her best to avoid it. I am affected most probably because of my beard but it does happen to my wife as well. Even at this age, she does seem to get embarrassed.

Washing machine "too full"

Marian likes to put the clothes into the washing machine. She was more enthusiastic than normal and carried on filling it up until she decided she could not put any more. She then said "too full". We pushed the clothes further in to make more space.

During her helping, I spotted a pigeon in the garden. She appeared to push the clothes in partially and once she realised that they will not fall out, she wanted to be picked up so that she could also see the pigeon. She saw a pigeon and blackbird and told me "two". They look very different but I suppose she know that they are both birds. She has been counting for a long time but not too many. Although she can just about say up to 12, she cannot seem to use that knowledge in counting up to 12. I am not sure why?

Learning to be polite

Marian is such an eager learner that whatever we say, she will try to oblige. We have been getting her to say please when she is requesting something, thank you after something has been done and no thank you when she does not want something.

Just now she used the phrase "can you help" when trying to get in to the walker that we bought in Korea. (I know, she is much too old for that now but she likes to occasionally go in ). This is a phrase we have not taught her. Children absorb so much information and they seem to be able to juggle these words out in the most appropriate way. I wish we could all maintain this kind of capability to learn.

Jumping upwards and forwards

Marian has been jumping up and down for quite some time now. We introduced her to jump forwards and now she cannot get enough of it. I showed her how I can jump from one end of the living room to the other and as I land right in front of her, she giggles her heart out. In hindsight, perhaps I should not have shown her how much I can jump (I used to do triple jumping) because since she cannot jump anywhere near the amount I can, she enlists me to hold her hands. I count from one to three and she jumps. I have to carry her through the jump from one sofa to another. This can get tiring after a while.

I have been concerned about my lack of exercise which I used to get from playing tennis twice a week. But carrying and playing with Marian has at least kept my arms pretty fit.

Tennis and badminton rackets

We introduced her to badminton and tennis during the summer last year. It was difficult for her to connect with the shuttlecock but since the tennis ball is connected to a string, she could hit it as it was hanging from the washing line.

Although it has been cold recently, she does like to hit the hanging tennis ball whenever she is in the garden. She has improved a lot. I wish she shows this kind of interest in using the potty. I fear we missed the chance to get her to use the potty many months ago. She used to request the potty and we used to wait for her to do it. After several failed attempts, she does not bother telling us anymore.

Coping with three languages

Marian is definitely showing signs of using a particular language for a particular person. She tries to say Korean words to mummy, Japanese to grandma and English to grandad. I have been speaking in English and Japanese so she uses both to me.

The difference between the same and the same thing

My wife has been telling me about how Marian distinguishes something similar and something that she wants to do again by saying the same and the same thing respectively.

For example, if she has seen something similar recently, she will say the same or similar. If she has slid down the slide and wants to do it again, she will say the same thing or again.

Past and present tense

Marian has been able to understand the difference between past and present tense at least for the action to look and see. When I am reading a book with her she will use the past tense to tell me that she has seen it before. For instance we came back from the park having seen some ducks. When she spotted the duck in a book, she said seen. When she wants to read a particular book, she will say the present form.

Sung first complete song

Marian has been singing for quite some time now. She can now sing one of the simplest Korean songs about a little spotted cow looking like the mother or father spotted cow. She is almost singing twinkle twinkle little star and a Japanese song about a baby elephant and a mother elephant.

I am hopelessly poor at singing but it appears not to have hindered her progress. I will be happy if she can sing better than me.

Slowly please

I was going through a magazine with her and I flicked the pages too quickly. She asked me to turn the pages more slowly. She does like to express her wishes.

Saying nearly everything except orangutan

Marian appears to be able to say nearly everything. When I ask her to say it, she will do so apart from orangutan. I have been asking her to say it for a few months now but to no avail. I don't just ask her out of the blue. There is a magazine that she likes me to go through with her and there is an advert that has an orangutan. I wonder why she cannot say this? There are plenty of other words that are much harder to say and she has been able to say them once I ask her.

Forgetting juice carton

From a long time ago, Marian collects a juice carton from the storage room whenever the juice in the fridge runs out. Of course, I need to say that I have finished the juice and I ask her to get a new carton. I did this today and off she went but along the way, something arrested her attention. By the time we had finished talking about this other thing, she had forgotten about the carton.

At 21 months, they do not seem to have such a long memory.

Potty training

We think that Marian has been ready to use the potty but we never managed to get her to pee or poo on it. We were close at times. Now she does not even warn us about her impending releases. She tells us when she wants her nappy changed.

I have started reading a potty training book and realised something I should not have been doing. It advises parents not to say that the poo stinks and is dirty. The toddlers feel that it is part of them. I must read through the book and start some form of potty training soon.

Marian and her bath

Marian struggled to have a bath when she was little but she soon became very enthusiastic in having a bath. She would pull my hand towards the bathroom and actively persuade me to have a bath with her. I play this routine where I go in first and say it is very hot and I ask her to come towards the bath so that I can lift her in. She moves away so that I cannot reach her but eventually, her wanting to have a bath is too strong and comes within my reach.

This backfired yesterday. It was apparently too hot for her. Even though it was made cooler, she insisted on the bath being too hot. We agreed that she will have a bath later. I hope she reverts back to her normal enthusiasm.

Wanting other children's ball

Sometimes Marian wants to take a ball to the playground. But if there is another children's ball there, she would rather play with that. I think this is just because there is more to learn from a ball that she is not familiar with.

I may try taking a ball that she is not familiar with and see if she still goes for another ball. She could still go for another ball because she may think that she will not have the opportunity to play with it as much as her new ball.

Unselfish behaviour?

I put Marian on to my shoulders (piggy back) and she was holding my head gently so as not to pull on my hair and hurt me. I gently tilted backwards so that she can be upside down (she likes this). She grabbed my head hard and I told her that she was causing me pain. She at once let go and went upside down. She did decide to look after me than to look after herself.

Lunar eclipse

We were fortunate enough to observe a lunar eclipse. Marian is fascinated by the moon so I was very eager to show it to her. I even sketched out the earth, moon and sun to try and explain the goings on. Although it was not a very exciting lunar eclipse, it certainly left an indelible impression on Marian. I gradually showed her the moon as it was getting eaten up by the Earth. Her expression was not of a gradual increase in wonderment but a worried look descended her and culminated in a crying mess.

She must have felt very scared of the increasing likelihood of her beloved moon disappearing forever from her life. Did I neglect to mention that the moon will reemerge?

Nightmare

I wrote earlier about Marian waking up during the night screaming. I could not fathom the reason at the time but my wife has suggested a very plausible reason judging from what Marian was uttering last night. She was saying "dinner .... me" and "lunch ..... me". She may well have been frustrated at not being able to eat her dinner and lunch by herself. This is the first glimpse into her nightmare.

So this may be the reason why Marian does not want to be consoled by me when she screams. I am the reason for the nightmare. I am going to let her eat on her own as much as possible from now on. I hope we can all get a good night's sleep soon.

Hitting Grandma but "Sorry"

Marian hit her head against something but instead of crying, she lashed out at her Grandma. Grandma explained that it was not her fault and you should not hit someone else and asked for an apology. Marian said "sorry".

This tantrum is a slight worry but it is cute that she said sorry. I have heard her use sorry many times before but never after a tantrum.

Boy throwing plastic bricks at me

Marian was waking up about every two hours. She eventually woke up around 7:30am. After feeding her breakfast, I took her to the playgroup. I was hoping we could stay from 10am to around 12pm but the stay was cut short by this boy who was throwing bricks at me. I tried to stop him but he was very persistent. Another mother scolded his actions (I should have really done this). Then Marian started to cry. I tried to stop her but she would not stop so we had to leave early. My only explanation for this is that she got scared that daddy was having problems protecting himself. I wonder if I strongly scolded the boy, things would have turned out very differently?

To occupy her insatiable appetite for exercise, I took her to the playground instead. There, we played until around 12pm. During this time, she touched some excrement. My telling her not to touch excrements countless number of times was all in vein. Luckily, I brought a wet tissue. Ideally, there should not be excrement in the playground. Toxocariasis (infection caused by the
dog or cat roundworm) is definitely a worry. Dogs should not enter the enclosure. Whilst cats could be kept out by positioning bottles with water around the enclosure. This should reduce the quantity of excrement found in the playground.

I cleaned her hands thoroughly. She had some lunch that my dad prepared. She had unusually a two hour nap (1pm to 3pm). After some milk, I took her to the park again just before 4pm. There is much more interaction with other children. There were three much older girls playing together and Marian followed them around. Got back home just after 5:30pm. She was eager to read some books. My wife came back from work. She fed her dinner. Since she had stayed up to get Marian to sleep, she was very tired. I tried to put Marian to sleep at around 10pm but she would not have any of it. I managed to get her to sleep at nearly 1am. I hope she does not wake up throughout the night. Just after two hours of sleep. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Lack of sleep

Marian is very difficult at night. She normally goes to bed between 10pm and 11pm, and wakes up between 7am and 8am. She will sleep around one hour for her nap. So she sleeps around on average 9 hours. To make matters worse, during the night she wakes up several times. I do envy the children who sleep from 7pm to 7am and a 2 hour nap. Marian has never been like that.

6 month old baby walking

I read today that a 6 month old baby started walking unaided. That is remarkable. Marian started walking unaided when she was 9 months and according to my parents, I started walking unaided when I was 8 months.

What is interesting is that this baby started crawling first. Marian did not crawl. She would prefer to stand up and walk along the wall or anything that could help her balance. I don't exactly know when she started to walk aided though.

Pill? No thank you.

I am ashamed to admit this but Marian found a pill after she woke up (she sleeps in our bedroom). As this was a nap, no one was there. She carried it outside and waited outside the toilet where she knew someone was inside. When my mum came out, she handed the pill over. We have to really count our blessings. I dread to think what might have been.

I asked her where she found it and she took me to the mobile (the toy for babies which goes rotates with music) where she indicated to a hole.

We have to make sure that nothing like this will ever happen again.

This is as shocking as her falling down the stairs after someone had forgotten to close the gate. I was the unfortunate witness of her tumbling down the stairs. We were extremely lucky that she did not injure herself.

Delicious?

Marian has been using the word delicious in Japanese and Korean for quite some time now. She was in the kitchen when my dad sampled a piece of spaghetti. She inquired "delicious?" I suppose all children are like this but they do seem to use words correctly in different contexts. How she managed to use the word to question someone I don't know. Maybe we have used it some time in the past.

Nail clipping container please

I have shown Marian how I cut my nails and her nails quite a few times now. Every time I do so, I get a container ready (either a sheet of paper or something else), and put the clippings inside the container. She has seen me put tip the container over the bin.

This time, I wanted to see if she understood me so I asked her "I want to cut my nails with this pen knife so could you pass me a container?" She brought me a big plastic brick which can be turned upside down to use as a container. When I finished cutting the toe nails, she took the brick and tipped it over the bin.

Rain deduction

I don't know if the following is impressive but I thought so yesterday. We were indoors and I think I was feeding her. My back was facing the window and she was facing the window. She said rain. I could not hear the rain but I could just about make out (through the net curtain) that rain water was landing on the window pane. So she realised the water droplets on the window pane mean that it is raining outside.

A bit about this blog and my daughter

My daughter is called Marian and she is 21 months old. Even though I regret not starting this blog on the day she was born (pretty difficult to do that), I am still a bit hesitant to start one. Probably because I have not got permission from Marian. When she is old enough, I will ask her. So the fate of this blog is in her hands at the moment.

Why start now? Well, primarily because I would like my relatives to keep in touch with her developments. Although anyone else is most welcome to visit and participate.

Her development so far. She started walking at 9 months (before she crawled. In fact I don't think she has ever crawled apart from when she used to crawl upstairs at a very young age.). She loves to climb and I am looking forward to the day when we can climb mountains together. My parents told me she climbed up a ladder when she was about 15 months. They were picking apples in the garden and she decided to go up the ladder. I suppose she had had a lot of experience in going up and down the stairs.

She loves going to the park and the playground. There are swings, slides, rocking animals, horizontal beams, a climbing frame, a roundabout. Since she is there almost everyday, she is comfortable on most of the apparatus. She is getting used to moving her legs on the swing. She will straighten and bend her legs but the timing seems to be off so she cannot keep the swing moving on her own.

I cannot remember when she spoke for the first time. I do remember that she was saying many words when she was 16 months. Probably because we were asked to read through many books each day. She has been understanding us for a very long time but it is only maybe a month or so ago when she started to use short sentences. I suppose she is not speaking more sentences because she is learning three languages concurrently.