Kimberley is 15 months

Before Kim, I used to wonder why parents would reveal their kids' age in terms of months. Why can't they just say, "1 yr 3 mths" instead of "15 mths"? But no, leave us to do the Math. Well, I am almost ashamed to say that I now leave the Math to others where Kim is concerned. Hmmm. I wonder why that is the case? Is it cos parents just speak in such terms? Like, oh, my 17 mth kid can now jump around? Or that my 6 mth old can now sing Baa baa Black Sheep? Is it just easier for making comparisons?

Well, Kimberley has turned 1 year and 3 mths old (15 mths).

Now that she is older (well....slightly), we can actually have short conversations....almost. Because of her sign language skills and her attempts at speech proper, we now understand some of what she says.

Like she only just signed "rain" yesterday and she was really thrilled that she did it and we understood her. Also cos it's been pouring everyday so she has had the opportunity to see and feel rain for herself. When we associate the sign with the actual thing, it's like something clicks in her and a huge smile breaks forth.

She can now sign quite a fair bit, tho' not always accurate:

Dog, cat, flower, water, book, read, eat, open, baby, fish, bird, milk, hat, boy, girl, ball, shoes, star, cry, bike, hurt, please, thank you, play, apple, banana, hot, cold, tree, dirty, grass, cheese, car, where?, sleep, cookie.

As for speech, she is able to say:

Papa,
mama (grandma and mum),
O ho (ah foh - grandma in Hainanese),
baby (real baby, but could be toddler or infant, with no distinction to gender),
baby (blueberry),
baby (belly button),
baby (for Dopey, our other dog),
nyna (for Chyna our dog),
babbit (for her Rabbit toy),
bah (for bear),
oose (for shoes),
booooo (for book),
eeese (for please),
chis (for cheese),
is (for finish),
ere (for where?),
seep (for sleep),
tone (for stone),
wow-wer (for flower),
ar ar (for anything that resembles a four legged animal, dogs mainly),
bir (for bird)
irdi (for dirty)
aaahhhh (for wow)
ikit (for biscuit)
kee (for cookie)
nana (for banana)
per (apple)

The list above is really for our own reference. Peen would ask me from time to time when she was able to sign or say something. And being really bad with dates, I never remember.

Since she got more mobile, she has been experimenting with her motor skills. She would stomp her feet, turn around really quickly and pose strangely. She loves leaning forward with her arms behind her - just like a swimmer ready to take the plunge. And she would smile most cheekily afterwards, very pleased with herself.




Peen would sometimes take her on short walks just along our corridor after dinner before her bath. She would not venture far from our home most of the time. But she loves her shoes and when we are getting ready to go out, she would remind us not to forget her shoes. It's also amusing that when we are about the leave my parents' place, she would pick up her shoes and want to get into position (seated on me) to put them on.



We have been pleasantly surprised lately that she seems to enjoy the company of and interacting with other kids - especially those who are slightly older. Just like today, she really enjoyed hanging out with the bigger girls in the sanctuary after church. She would hold their hands and walk with them. She also amuses them to no end with her funny gestures and noises that she makes.



Kim has recently started (been allowed) to feed herself with a spoon....well, whole items only. I would feed her the main meal and she gets to feed herself cut fruit or cereal after. She has had loads of practise with feeding herself as she plays with her masak masak set. And she copies us and pretends to eat her food while making the noise "yum yum". She really makes us laugh.