21 months and counting

Dear Amir,

You're 21 mths old now!

At 21, there's so much that you learned and understand. Your vocab has improved dramatically. You are still not able to put 2 words together, but you will say them one by one that it made sense and made it much more easier to understand your language.. well me and Tok Ma la.. the rest still needs translation. Your overuse word now is O'o!.. used aptly when something goes wrong. You also like to parrot us for the fun of it, and the funny thing is it's usually some random Kelantanese words - thanks to 3 weeks of 24/7 exposure to the slang. Your favourite being 'bobebobe..' (translation : the act of blabbing non stop), which Tok Ma used to described you.. hehe. There are a few others that you particularly like to immitate, but i really cant remember. Oh.. you also showed some Kedahan streak in you when you pronounce gatal as 'gatai'.. something that non of us thought pun but came natural to you much to Papa's delight.. hehe.

Your playtime has also taken a different dimension now that you have received lots of 'wisdom and training' from your 3 uncles. You now know how to point your fingers to someone and go 'Bang! Bang!' and replied 'Arkkk..' when they shoot you (play dead). You know how to kick and box. You know how to lift up both your feet to jump. You know how to pretend to race (complete with the ke garisan, sedia, mula! act- so old school la Uncle Cho!). You love to wrestle. You love being out in the sun to wash car. Basically you're a 'trained' little boy now. But despite all the roughplay, when you turn to Yaya to coo at her, your voice will go all mellow and sweet and you'll be veryvery gentle with her. Cair mama..

But on top of all these, there's one development that i found especially amusing this month. You know how to 'act' in order to get our attention. You like to pretend as if your fingers or toes got stuck, normally when someone went out the door leaving you behind or closed the refrigerator door without giving you something that you wanted from it. You'll fake crying and go "Ket, ket.. pet..pet.." (Sakit, sakit, kepit, kepit). You also pretend to fall when you're ignored. Sometimes you yell for help and pretend as if you're about to fall. I guess it all started when the actual event happened and all of us rush to your rescue. So, somewhere in your smart little brain, it registered that these incident is a confirmed attention grabber. Manipulative little guy la.

Amir, you amazed me to no end la these days. From a squirmish clueless baby to a chunky abang, full with tricks up your sleeve. Happy 21st mth dear!

Weighty issue

Dear Amir,

Ever since we stayed at Tok Ma, you've been expanding horizontally at a worrying speed. Most of those who saw you lately said that there's nothing to worry about since you are healthy and just as active as a toddler can be. In fact you're even more active now that you have more space to run about and lots of people to run to. As a person who consistently surpass the standard size since veryvery young, I think it's justified for me to worry. Afterall, your Papa's gene is not of the petite kind either. So, you have it there in your blood like a weight problem fail-proof plan.

What cause this is definitely your food and uh-uh(milk) intake. You drink your milk like every 3-4 hours now.. just like baby Yaya. In fact, i think it was her that might have 'caused' this pattern since you'll demand for milk everytime you see her feeding. I've asked kakak to make half bottle everytime you ask for uh-uh, but you'll throw a fit once the bottle is emptied. So we are diluting your feed now, and so far no complain. I wont be too worried abt this if your food intake is ok, but the problem is, the kitchen/dining area is your main camp site and that means you'll eat and snack constantly. That is not including the main meals that you seems to enjoy especially now that you have learned to like ikan goreng and sup sayur - which is my confinement menu.

Well, 21 mths, 16+ kg and the XL huggies diapers now looks like a g-string on you - I hope they are right and i'm just paranoid.