23 months and 3 weeks old – attending a birthday party, small house reno, identifying the Queen

First time attending a birthday party with kids her age!

23 months, 3 weeks old:

Sept 9: Bb has been requesting to eat a banana daily. She actually can finish one by herself! Grandma carved out the skin so she can hold it like a popsicle. She really enjoys bananas lately. The other night, she ate one after dinner and slept from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.! I guess the extra sugar before bed helped her sleep well.
Sept 14: Bb actually started the week playing with toilet paper again. She would rip the toilet paper off of the roll and then put them into the toilet and want to flush it. Luckily, this behaviour subsided as the week went on and she wasn’t interested in it anymore. (So glad that these phases are short-lived and we just have to be patient and ride through them.)
She went through a period where she would love to play with my hair claw clips on my head all the time to a period of not touching them at all. This week, she took an interest in them again. She likes to me to put them on the sides of her hair just like I have mine. She actually broke some of the claws on the hair clip this week too (which is an annoyance as it means I have to replace it sooner rather than later). I was so tired that I was falling asleep on the couch and she was just playing with them. It was my fault, really.
I was the one to put her to nap a couple of times recently. She agrees to go into her room but will roll around and not sleep. I’ve started to just sit on the side against the wall/drawer and close my eyes and not engage with her. If I keep responding to her when she talks, it keeps her animated and unable to fall asleep. I’ll also shush her as well. It works a bit. Last time, I fell asleep before she did. This time, she fell asleep faster (within 30 minutes). I don’t know why it doesn’t work when grandma does it anymore… Bb behaves better with certain guardians..
When sleeping these days, she also likes to sleep right on top of her doll. When she didn’t have her doll this week (as we washed it and it was hung up to dry), she actually found a pair of pants and shoved it underneath herself and slept that way. It’s funny that she found her own alternative and knew that that was how she best slept. She wiggles on top of the doll/pants too. She somehow gets to sleep better that way.
Also a few times this week, she wet herself when she woke up from her heavy diaper. We have to get her overnight diapers soon (or size up to size 5). She also realizes when she wets herself and in the morning will say “sup jor” (it’s wet). She also asked if her doll was wet too. (That’s the reason why we had to wash her doll this week).
This weekend, bb was able to attend her first birthday party (of a child close to her in age — turning 3 years old)! It was so special because it was her first time interacting and seeing so many other toddlers who were all around the same age. The attendees ranged in age from 1.5 months old to 3 months old-ish to 15 months old to 2 years old to 4 years old. It was our first time as parents too attending such a kids’ birthday party and it was such fun and joy.
Bb initially didn’t want to step into the door, but DH brought her in and we took pictures with the newborn 1.5 month old. Bb also gravitated towards the toys on the floor until we took her over to the table for some food first. (Yummy Popeyes chicken and biscuits and pizza and watermelon!)
When she was playing in the playroom afterwards, she recognized the Costco play mat on the floor as the same one that’s in her own bedroom. She pointed at it and said “looks like the sleeping one” (ho chi gow gu la). Amazing memory and nice perspective that she was able to point it out.
Bb wasn’t shy around the other kids and played alongside them. She’s at the stage of parallel play right now where she plays alongside kids but not play with them. She recognized the kitchen play foods right away and took to moving them from one spot to another — the shopping cart toy.
We also recognized the toy beans that bb played with the last time she was here visiting (that she so cutely refused when the older friend offered to her). She was just 13 months old at the time.
Bb was just about to ride a toy goat in the play room when a fellow friend of DH’s came over to say hi. Bb was so nervous and shy that she jumped right off of the goat and curled up against DH.
I loved how the party also had a water table, play car, bubbles, scooter, and bouncy castle for the kids. It was bb’s first time accessing a water table like this and she really enjoyed touching and playing with the water.
Bb was interested in the scooter and we even got her to wear a helmet for it, but she wasn’t physically able to stand on one foot on the scooter and push herself off. She needs more modelling from other kids to see how to ride it first.
When she was able to get into the toy car, the smaller 15-month-old was there too and got into it first. Bb has got to learn that she has the right to play with it first and not just let others ahead of her. I don’t want her growing up in life thinking that other kids (especially boys) can just butt in front of her. It’s not right. (Speaking of which, DH also brought bb over to her cousins’ house this past week to play with them. There was an incident also where bb was the first to the toy car but her older male cousin came around quickly and beat her to it and got into the car first. Bb just let her. I told DH to “scold” the cousin and teach about manners because I don’t want bb growing up just letting others go ahead of her. Luckily, DH can scold that child because it’s a family member. It’s funny because bb even helped the cousin close the gas and car door too.)
Bb also took a turn hitting the pinata, but the bat was too heavy for her to hold. She didn’t really know what was going on either. After the other kids all took a turn at it and the pinata finally fell open with candies, bb was too busy at the water table to know what was happening. We also don’t even give her candy to eat so she didn’t know what it was. There were loot bags available for us to fill up with candy to take home but we really weren’t interested in getting any for her.
Same situation with the bouncy castle. There was an older girl who was wanting to come out from the other side and onto the slide part. Bb was at that spot and she should have gone first. The other girl kind of wanted to push bb aside so she could go first. I told the older girl that she had to wait her turn, but she didn’t listen of course. I did let her go out first because she was quite pushy. I’m not in a place to scold the other child and her parents were also not there at the time. It’s a frustrating circumstance to be in.
Bb did enjoy the bouncy castle though as it was her first time in one. It was nice and not too big as well.
When it came time for them to take a kids’ group photo, I was amazed at how well bb stood in line with the others and waited for the parents to all snap their phones for the photos. She stood so nicely and close to the birthday girl. She is so comfortable with her friend. The group photo is the cutest thing. All 11 kids under 4 years old!
Also, when it came time for the birthday song and cake, bb stood with the other kids at the small table. It was so cute. She enjoyed the ice cream Oreo cake too ^_^
There was a pikler triangle at the party that I would have loved bb to play with, but she wasn’t too familiar with it and there were no other kids modelling it at the time either. She only went up two rungs and didn’t continue climbing.
She did play with the indoor toy slide, however. She climbed up on it herself and slid down. Later, she rolled some toys, balls, and books down of it. It’s like a “science experiment” to see how the items roll down the slide. 🤓
Bb didn’t really want to get into the car when we left. She happened upon a “little library” near the sidewalk and she actually knew how to open the enclosure and take a book out. It took some coaxing for her to return the book and then get into the car (where she passed out from exhaustion).
Bb was so good during the birthday party and so comfortable with the other kids there. We as parents had so much fun too.
On the other hand, when we had a lunch with just one friend the next day, bb was more shy and took more time to be comfortable. I guess when it’s a “forced” face-to-face situation, bb has nowhere to go and also she seems to be more intimidated by adults than by kids her age.
That friend of ours at lunch gave bb a large dinosaur plush toy as a first-time meeting gift. It is the cutest dinosaur and in the nicest tone of turquoise colour too. Bb took to it right away upon arriving at home and had been taking it around the house and hugging it. She has been feeding it too with her baby bottles and a ketchup bottle. This week, she also put out a spread for the dinosaur. There were muffins in the plate, avocado in the pots, etc. What a life for the stuffed animal!
Speaking of muffins, bb this week has been climbing up the learning tower and putting her play food toys inside of our actual oven/air fryer. She also likes to turn the dial just like how she sees us putting in foods to heat up and turning the dial to set the temperatures. I let her do it because it is unplugged and harmless. Grandma gets a bit freaked out though when it happens. I let bb do it because she is modelling after us and how we heat up food. I just have to make sure that the oven is unplugged and that before we heat up any real foods in the oven that all of her play food has been taken out.
Bb was so shy and not warmed up yet when we were having dim sum with family friends this weekend too. It took her more than an hour to warm up and even then she was shying away from the others. My friend was surprised to hear that she is a chatterbox at home. Whatever you see of bb in person in public is not her “true” face, unfortunately. She is usually so uncomfortable in front of people she’s not comfortable with that she doesn’t show how she typically is. And I get defensive about that because bb has such a bright and talkative personality when she is home with us.
Bb loves going to the store and sitting in the grocery carts. She loved it when we went to Dollarama. She was sitting in the cart and taking down packages of napkins when I had her stopped near the aisle. I let her do this because she thinks it’s fun. I just put everything back before we leave.
Bb also behaved well considering that we had to wait for grandma at the bank. There was nothing for her to do. I don’t bring toys out for her to play with. Bb climbed around on the sofa and rolling stools in the waiting area and chattered about.
That same evening when we had to go to Home Depot for some supplies, bb enjoyed the shopping cart experience again. While we were waiting for an associate (and it taking an awfully long time), bb busied herself by playing with the lids of a large bucket. She was out of her seat at that time and took them down one by one from the display and put them into the shopping cart. Again, we let her do these things. We just make sure we put everything back in place before we leave. It’s harmless fun for her. I mean what else can you expect a toddler to do when we’re in a hardware store and waiting around?
Another large project tested bb’s patience this week. Our contractor finally was able to come in to do our floors. It was two rooms on the first floor and one room on the second floor. This tested our patience all day because it was just a one-day project and we weren’t able to leave the house. We couldn’t leave the house (or at least I wasn’t able to take bb out just by myself) because I/two of us had to be around to oversee on certain tasks. The drilling and slamming sounds were a lot to deal with. Bb initially climbed into her high chair herself and sat there motionless with a frustrated face. I then took her outside onto the deck where we spent most of the day (to avoid the noise and dust too). We read books out there. Good thing it was a gloomy day and not too hot or sunny. Bb did really well for those couple of hours.
We couldn’t have her miss her nap though so we took her out on the stroller where she fell asleep in 15 minutes at around 4 p.m. and continued sleeping in the stroller on the driveway for another 1.5 hours. Good thing she was able to get her nap in. There was so much cleaning and dusting we had to do once the workers were finished the work though. Bb kept exclaiming “wun jor day ban” (changed floor boards) afterwards whenever she saw the new floor boards. Bb also noticed that our portrait in the family room was gone and kept asking where it was. I had to keep telling her that daddy would put it back once everything was cleaned up. Bb certainly notices all these details.
These days, when waking up from her nap in the bedroom, she is so cute and just lays there faceplanted and sometimes says “fun dor dee” (sleep more). She smiles a little smile and continues to be face down, and her little face is so cute.
Bb speaks in full sentences these days. She also asks complete questions. Again, I don’t have video of these because she always talks spontaneously and I don’t always have my phone at the ready to film her.
Whenever I take photos of her, bb always asks afterwards to look at it “bey aw tei” (let me see).
She has been watching more of the background TV when we have it on. She likes to identify what’s/who’s on the screen. This week, she has identified who Queen Elizabeth II is as well as King Charles III. She knows and says “wong dei” (king). Sometimes she refers to Queen Elizabeth II as “lo yun ga” (old person) and it’s true. The queen is an elderly person and bb identifies it correctly. So it’s impressive that she is able to identify the king as not just “another elderly person”. I guess the king has a more distinctive look to him than the queen.
This week, bb sometimes sits in her high chair and sometimes she sits in a regular chair. It’s all up to her preferences. I also do notice that when she eats more during dinnertime, she doesn’t wake up at night for a feed. We try our best to feed her more but she will stop when she doesn’t want to eat anymore and we can’t force her.
Other than that, bb does still wake up on average once a night for some milk. Sometimes when she cries, DH shushes her from outside of her room and she falls asleep. So I mean at basically two years old, bb is still getting up once a night for feeds.
Thank goodness I have this platform to dump out all of my weekly thoughts and observations. It’s a lot to want to remember and a lot to experience each week. It’s so helpful for me to release it all out. And if it helps a parent out there relate to my journey, then that’s great too.
This week at the park, bb was able to climb up the chain ladder! Grandma was shocked about this and we thought DH had taught her, but he didn’t! She must have learned it from watching the other kids play in the playground.
To this day, bb still sometimes calls me “peen fok mama” for fun. We weren’t sure where she got it from as it means “bat mom” but we think it’s from the time we visited the ROM and I had worn one of the costumes with wings on it that was for a bat. She remembers it to this day and occasionally will spring that up on us and see our reaction.
Since last week, she’s been saying “Thank you. Ker welcome”. She can’t pronounce the “you’re” just yet. She knows it’s a sign of manners and likes to say it with a smile.
She knows to say “good night” to me after bathtime when DH is putting her to bed. She pronounces it as “gud knit”.
She likes to bring up her kitchen toys to bathtime with her. She picks out certain ones and each day is slightly different. I count down from 20 and she is very willing to get out of the bathtub these days. She also reminds me to count down.
She can sing part of the “brushing teeth” song!
She can now sing more of the alphabet song. She can sing the “Q, R, S, T, U, V” part. It’s not crystal clear but it’s obvious.
Also as of a couple of weeks ago, whenever bb is in the bathroom with me in the morning, she knows my skincare routine. She knows after I wash my face which serum and cream and sunscreen I use to put on 😆. So smart she knows the order of the products.
Also as of a month at least, bb has a phrase she likes to repeat: “chey bo” and then followed with “ho chey bo”. We’re not sure what it means actually but she has fun bringing it up every so often.