Looking at the kindergarten play area

24 months, 3 weeks old:

• October 6:  Bb has been able to climb up independently at the usual playground.  She can climb up the ladybug and bee herself.  She liked watching the kindergarteners play and even went up to the fence where they were having recess.  She is much braver than before and isn’t as afraid of others as she used to be.
• October 7:  We took her to the park at Ashton Meadows since she hasn’t played there before but I realize that it’s more of a “grown-up” playground with not many ridable things and only just the slide and swings.  It was nice for bb to explore a new territory though.
• We reassembled our couch again and bb said “sau fa ging fa la!” (The sofa is made again!)
• I’ve noticed that when people try to engage with bb, she doesn’t like it at all and tries to retreat.  But if you don’t engage or show much attention to her, bb actively seeks you out and will want to be part of your circle.
• DH had a friend come over to tour our house and bb didn’t mind going up to them and seeing what was going on.  She even was at the door to say bye when the friend left.
• In comparison when we visited DH’s relatives in Mississauga this weekend, they were trying to talk and engage her, but bb was more reserved and didn’t say much until near the end of the visit when she had warmed up (again, usually an hour).
• During the 40-50 minute drive to the west side, bb behaved so well in her car seat.  She didn’t pass out on the way there but just sat quietly.
• Bb knows that when we are at a restaurant, it takes time to look at the menu and then wait for the food to arrive.
• Bb is always asking these days “been gor mai gah?” (Who bought this?) to almost every single item we have in the house.  She asks about who bought her stuffed animal, who bought the chair, who bought the cups, who bought the sofa, who bought the house even.  She remembers certain things were bought from certain people and constantly regurgitates it.   “Gor gor Sophia jei jei mai gah.” (That was bought by big sister Sophia.)
• When she helps me to massage my feet, she tells me to “ma ma, ying gor shurn sin” (mama, take a photo first).  I sometimes take a photo of her because it’s so cute.  I recently started to not use my actual phone and just use my hands in a camera-like pose.  Bb enjoyed that and kept asking me to do it.
• It’s getting cold out now and bb is okay with wearing her scarf, mittens, and coat.  She doesn’t object to it which makes outings much easier.
• Bb has been saying things taste good for a while now.  She had a phase where she was saying everything didn’t taste good.  Now she says “ho mei” instead of “mm ho mei”
• A big thing now is that bb can open the fridge by herself!  She has found the strength to pull open the fridge door.  She likes to take the milk out.  She took the pizza box out too as well as the box of pie we had recently.
• Bb likes drinking my lactose-free 2% milk recently too.  She prefers to drink it out of my mug for fun.
• Still have to wean her off of the bottle…
• We finally finished her 3.25% milk and will switch her to 2% now.  We were supposed to start two weeks ago once she had the okay from the pediatrician, but DH mistakenly bought two more bags of 3.25% milk so we had to use that up first.
• Another big thing this week is that bb is more aware of her own bodily fluids and when she’s pooped or peed.  We try to encourage her to use the training potty but most times, she’s finished doing her business already.
• However, there were at least three times the past week where in the morning grandma was able to persuade her to use the toilet in the morning and she actually tinkled in it!  Yay!  Hopefully we can get her potty trained by mid-December before the new baby comes but this will depend on her.  I don’t want to force her to do anything she’s not ready to do.
•  Bb likes to put her small trinkets and toys in various boxes.  I had a Samplr box that I would have recycled but decided to give it to her to play with instead.  She is like a little squirrel, collecting items in her containers and transferring them from one place to another.
• We got a new toothbrush for her this week from Amazon.  I noticed that she was getting stains on her teeth that were hard to brush out.  We had still been using the plastic finger brush and I don’t think it’s doing a good job at brushing since it doesn’t have bristles.  Hopefully this new toothbrush will do a better job at keeping her pearly whites clean.
• I keep my pouch of lancets, strips, and testing meter on the top of the fridge.  Bb knows even by the sound of me opening the bottle of testing strips that I’m about to test my blood sugar (for GD).  She says “mama yeem huut tong la” (mama has to test her blood sugars).  So smart that she has identified and remembered the sound.  I keep the pouch completely out of reach from her because it contains small needles and I would never ever let her “play” with that.  Anything else is fine in the house for the most part but this is a big no-no.  Bb knows too that that is out of bounds.
• She’s been passing out in the stroller on walks when she is too tired and we can’t put her to bed successfully in her room.  She slept for over two hours in the stroller one day this week.  (And then DH was able to help me cut my hair.)
• Bb’s been gradually eating more during meals.  However, it doesn’t always mean she sleeps through the night even when she has a full belly.  When is this little girl going to sleep through the night consistently?  DH has been getting up multiple times through the night for over two years now!  What’s interesting is that DH was terribly tired one night this past week.  I was listening to his very loud snores and even tried to nudge him a bit to quieten them down because I couldn’t fall asleep.  My nudges didn’t work.  However, when bb started to whimper and cry, DH immediately stopped snoring and within a few seconds, he was up and going to her room.  How?  How does he sleep so deeply but yet is still able to hear her cry from across the hallway?  It’s farther now than before too.  It’s incredible…
• So glad that DH is able to change bb’s diapers with her standing up.  When we go to restaurants or the mall, sometimes instead of waiting for the only changing room, it’s faster that DH takes her to the men’s room and changes her there.  He can change her while she stands up and it’s quick and easy.  I need help with changing her on the change table.  When there isn’t one, then I require DH’s assistance to change her.  It’s also annoying when I find that there aren’t any change tables in the ladies’ room.  It’s pleasantly surprising when DH sees one in the men’s room.
• Bb is such a big reader.  She always brings books to me and DH to read to her.  Although I may be in the middle of eating, I still try to make time to read to her.  I don’t want to squash her interest in reading.
• Bb can draw scribbles with crayons easily at a table, but she doesn’t know WHAT exactly to draw.  So at this stage, it’s just lines or circles and it isn’t the most fun thing to do yet.  We don’t like to draw too much for her because then she feels like she can’t draw and just wants us to draw for her instead.
• She knows that “dou dou” is instead of my belly and refers to it often.  I just don’t know how much she actually understands that there’s a baby growing inside of my belly just yet.
• We took out the box of newborn clothes again to prep for washing.  Bb understood that those are the clothes for the baby (as well as the box of size 1 diapers that we purchased recently).  Just how much she knows though is still questionable.
• Bb is so fun and cute at this age.
• She walks down the stairs by herself by holding on to the iron balusters and my hand.  She likes to hold me and DH’s hands together too.  When the new sibling comes, we won’t be able to have her be just in the middle anymore.  She won’t be the only child anymore.
• She has a great memory.  She said “lai by yee doe lap sap” (Tuesday, garbage is collected) — Tuesday is garbage day basically.  She repeats these things that she hears from us often.
• She actually says she is “hungry” sometimes.  She says “chun zi yu toe orr” ([her Chinese name] hungry).
•  She’s not a huge fan of playing with grandma since grandma tends to be more disciplinary and authoritative but bb still does well in her care.  But given a choice, bb chooses me or DH to play with instead.
• I didn’t think there was much to write about this week, but I’m already at 1,600 words and counting lol…
• When I took bb to play near the school, she noticed a paintbrush left behind on the windowsill.  When DH brought her to play at the same area, the paintbrush was gone.  DH took a video of her inside the little house and bb was trying to remember the word “paintbrush”.  She kept trying to complete her sentence but couldn’t finish it because she didn’t remember the word.  She finally did though and she said “yau wa, yau yun lor jor” (paintbrush, someone took it).  Another example of her great memory.  She remembered that there was a paintbrush there and then when she visited again, it was gone.  She deduced that someone must have taken it already.
• Again so glad that bb has coped with her new room and there’s been no fuss.  Yay!  Didn’t think that transitioning her to a new room would be so easy.
• I was so excited for her to get the new wooden block toys but I don’t think she knows how to build with them much yet.
• On the other hand, bb can independently build a cube and then build on top of it to create a three-level structure using the magnetic tiles.  It’s amazing to see her learn how to build things on her own.
• Bb was playing a lot with the Lego characters and bricks a couple of weeks ago.  But since her cousin visited and DH doesn’t want her to play too often with these small pieces, he has boxed them away for now.  Bb played well with the Lego actually.  She knows not to put them in her mouth.  As a matter of fact, bb continues to this day to hand us garbage that she finds on the floor to throw away.  She also sometimes like to throw the item out herself.  She asks us to open the cupboard where the waste bin is.
• She likes to pretend to talk on the phone just like we do by holding anything that is rectangular.  “Wai?” (Hello?)
• Bb’s new thing this week is saying that someone isn’t allowed to do something and then they’ll cry.  “Mm bei hui wan, ham” (not letting them play, [and they will] cry).