Week 85: playing “slide” at home, first downtown outing, new straw bottle and sunglasses

Toddler at the AGO

Week 85:

May 11: I’ve been finding it hard to find time to jot down these weekly notes day by day, so here is all of week 85 in one go again.
We’ve been going to the park every day. Bb usually goes once in the morning with grandma and then we’ll go again out for a stroll after DH is done work and just before dinnertime. Bb loves going out and continues to request “han lo lo” and “chor chay chay” (“walk” and “ride car”).
She’s able to go down the slide by herself now and she really enjoys it.
At home at night, she actually asks DH to “shur wat tay” (slide) so he will sit on the playmat and stretch out his legs and then have her slide down like a slide.
We let her walk on the grass more often now too at the park. There was a day when the kids at the local elementary school were out on their lunch break when we walked past. Bb stood there and watched the kids with lots of interest. Some of the kids noticed her and I heard one little girl say “Oh, so cute”. Bb is a little toddler and I guess she does look cute to the other older kids lol.
As part of Mother’s Day this weekend, we went to have dim sum on the patio with my 100-year-old grandmother. Unfortunately, my uncle tends to be quite rough when speaking and because he doesn’t have much experience with young ones, when he was talking and playfully scolding her, bb actually whimpered and started crying and curled into a ball. This has happened once before when she was much younger and I was scolding her at the table and she burst into tears too. This little girl is really sensitive. It took DH a while to hold her and bring out the nursery rhyme on YouTube to calm her down… After that, she also didn’t want to sit in her booster chair either. 😦
Bb likes watching the Cantonese nursery rhyme songs on YouTube. She requests “tei tum tum zuenn” (watch ” 氹氹轉 “) and it was difficult to get her to stop watching this week because she was obsessed with it. We slowly wean her from not watching the small screen so much though…
Bb enjoyed walking through Dollarama and Shoppers Drug Mart. She asked me to name various items, “nai gor” (this one) repeatedly.
We visited Highgate Park, a new park, since we were in the area. Bb was a little hesitant and shy at first with the older kids playing on the play structure (they were around 4 to 5 years old) but then she was okay to go up on the slides and slide down when the kids weren’t in the immediate vicinity. She also saw some kids playing on the monkey bars and DH helped hold her up to let her reach the bars. She was so happy about it.
Bb had her first couple scoops of McDonald’s vanilla ice cream cone too. Sugar overload but luckily she wasn’t hyper from it.
Our friend visited and gifted bb with a small backpack. I was pleasantly surprised that it fit bb perfectly right now. She loved wearing it and turned in a circle with it. She also played with the zipper and pockets afterwards and I found out that she now knows how to open a zipper. She previously could pull a zipper shut but now she knows to hold a part of the item with her other hand in order to pull it open and shut too. It’s a new skill mastered for her.
She still does that thing where she happens to laugh whenever one gets hurts or drop something… she likes to kick her punch DH while in her high chair sometimes too.
I tried searching on FB marketplace for these items but couldn’t find any so I finally caved and we bought these new from the store. We got her a fork and spoon set (she has so many spoons at home already but no fork), a portable cup with a straw, and toddler sunglasses! I’m especially excited about the last item because it’s so sunny outside now that a pair of sunnies will really help her during our daily walks.
I was afraid she wouldn’t wear them or keep them on, but she enjoyed wearing the sunglasses. I think she notices the difference that it helps protect her eyes when we go out.
We took bb out to downtown Toronto for the first time (and my first time going downtown again since the pandemic started in March 2020). We went to the Art Gallery of Ontario (free tickets thanks to the City of Toronto libraries). It’s actually not the most toddler friendly venue, but any new experience is a good experience for her. She didn’t want to get out of her stroller while we walked around some of the exhibits in the first half but when we got to the Galeria Italia part, she was getting antsy in her stroller. She enjoyed walking around the large windows, sitting on the wooden chairs, and looking down into the street. She liked the Henry Moore sculpture exhibit too because there was so much room for her to roam around. Plus, the large sculptures were easy for her to look at and examine compared to some of the other paintings that were on the wall.
(Side note: The AGO is so clean and spacious that it’s great for toddlers to walk around. The washrooms are so clean too for diaper changes.)
We also went to two restaurants downtown too after the AGO visit. Bb does really well at restaurants. She sits and eats in her booster chair with tray. We haven’t had a problem so far (knock on wood). She likes to get out and walk after a long time of sitting, but otherwise eats what’s given to her. It’s great so far.
Bb had a bit of runny nose and high temperature this morning (38.2) but which quickly went down to a normal temperature. We checked her for COVID-19 and the RAT test was negative. She was active and playing as normal though which makes us think it is just a regular cold that she has. Last time when she had a fever, she was so lethargic and clearly unwell. We think maybe she caught a cold from being in the hot sun yesterday in the stroller but yet there was a strong cold breeze at times too and she didn’t have an extra layer on when we walked to the parking structure.
The other day, I also noticed on the camera that she was breathing by opening her mouth… like a fish trying to get air. We opened her bedroom window for some breeze. It might be stuffy in there now that we turned off the heat in the house and there’s no air coming out from the vents anymore.
Bb learned our Chinese names too and has a great memory. She knows DH’s, mine, and even grandma’s Chinese names and will announce them so proudly when we ask her for it. 😂
I find it hard to reject her requests sometimes and give in before she starts crying big. Sometimes, I’ll try to distract her by pointing her to something else. DH does this well by pointing her to something else or mentioning something else to distract her. We have to coax and encourage her with words so that we steer her away from doing the thing that she initially wanted to do.
She asks for the “yeen fawn” commercial that plays on Fairchild channel. It’s actually the commercial for Bounty Towels but she likes the tune. When it’s not time for it yet, I have to tell her “not yet” or that it’ll be on after 7 p.m.
I finally got a helmet for her! We looked at Walmart and I was shocked that an infant helmet costs $30 before taxes. They would only use it up to three years of age too. I of course searched on FB marketplace too and almost every single one I found at first were manufactured five years ago. 2017, 2016, and some even dating back to 2003… Although there is no set expiry to helmets, I also read online that the plastic for helmets older than five years of age will harden and thus naturally wouldn’t be as protective as the newer ones. I searched high and low and asked so many sellers for the manufacture date and couldn’t find ones that were good enough. I also wanted to buy a gender neutral one. I don’t want her entire wardrobe to be pink and girly. There’s just no need for that. I broadened my search and searched on Kijiji and finally found one. It was a green and blue coloured one, made in May 2020, and only $5! Amazing deal! Sure, we lost two years already but good enough! 😀 (In fact, the helmets I saw at Walmart also had 2020 or 2021 manufacture dates anyway.)
Bb likes using the new bottle with the pop-up straw. She naturally took to it and likes opening and closing the top too. She did encounter some difficulty with swallowing the water that she sucked up the straw because she would open her mouth at the end and then her gulp of water would come back out. But she quickly learned to suck and swallow — this is a skill!
I wanted to get her a bottle with a straw and it was the perfect timing because I realized that the 360 cup that she’s been using to drink out of already is starting to become damaged! I think bb chews on the sides and the thin layer at the top is showing with little holes when I fold it… it doesn’t look healthy to use anymore.
She LOVES eating crackers. She can eat up to 5 or 6 at a time. We break it into bite-sized pieces for her and she goes to town eating them. Such a simple and easy snack.
She hasn’t been sleeping through the night again… there was one night the other day when she woke up three times and cried violently… Not sure why she is unable to sleep through the night anymore suddenly. Perhaps she’s teething? Her bottom canines are slowly coming out. You can see the pointy top part of them.
Even though she has new board books to read from, she still likes to pick from the old pile still. Yay. Glad she is not just choosing the new ones and neglecting or forgetting the old ones.
Of the new books, this week she has been enjoying the “Healthy healthy love love love” book. On one of the pages, it teaches you to wash your hands for 20 seconds with soap and water (how very relatable in our world nowadays) and that you could either count to 20 or sing the “Happy birthday” song. Bb has been obsessed with the “happy birthday” part and says it too. She says it so adorably. She says “HAP pay ber day” but in an odd toddler tone. I have to record it before she starts correcting herself and saying it more “properly”.
Like, for example, she used to say “carrot” in Cantonese as “law bat” even though the full name is “hong law bat”. She has since learned the three syllables and says “hong law bat” now. These small toddler learning-to-speak moments are so fleeting!
She still doesn’t let me help her with her pajamas and sleep sack at night before we bathe her. She’ll say “mm bay ma ma” and then follow up with “ba ba” as in “dad only”. I don’t know why she is like this lol. It’s funny because she lets me help her with her naptime routine but the nighttime routine is entirely for her dad to complete.
She communicates so well now that we understand almost everything she says. Again, I should record more of her speaking but it’s hard to pick up the phone to record in the moment.
She can count by herself when playing by saying “yut, yee san” but hasn’t progressed to number four yet. It’s funny because she should be able to because she consistently can follow and repeat after us — three or four character phrases. She can recite the 氹氹轉 rhyme almost word for word too.
It’s too bad other people outside of our home can’t see her shine or hear her speak because she isn’t comfortable expressing herself or be her true self in public just yet.
When it’s time for bed, she sometimes says “gow ju la” by herself. Then when going up the stairs, she actually reminds me to “law lai lai” (bring the milk). Lol.
She also waves and says bye to her stuffed animals and grandma before heading to bed. She will sometimes say bye to other random objects too like the stairs, the chair, the TV, etc.