The Latest Gabe-Trends

Other than the multitudes of expressions I get from my son, the defining thing about gabe at this point in time is his non-stop yakking through the day. He was with my in-laws for quite a few days last week, and my fil came back almost "traumatized" by the chattering, which was described as "a non-stop flow from the moment he wakes up".

The ability to communicate also means that gabe requires much action from his care-givers. "Help!" is requested when the tricycle he's pushing in the living room (almost throughout the day) meets with an obstacle, when he needs to bring a large truck down to the floor, when he finds a speck of dirt or a strand of hair and picks it up for your attention, at playtime, to read a book, etc etc etc. "Outside, please mama" happens every time he wakes, is tired of rolling on the bed. "Make milk milk, wahhhhhhhh!!!" happens in the morning when the parents are trying to stall for more sleep-time and in the occasional nights when he wakes in hunger. "Read book", "again", "open the door"...

He's into counting these days. A few days ago, I heard him complete 1 - 10 in English voluntarily, without assistance. Then a couple of days later, I heard him do the Chinese version but like a broken recorder, kept going at 123. Curious, I helped him with the 4 and he completed the series till ten. Today, possibly in attempt to go faster, he will skip numbers just to get to the ten.

He's been trying to play hide and seek with us. One day after dinner, derod and I were still chatting at the dining table when the boy ran to the nearest corner and stooped behind a chair, only to rise a little later, peeked at us and repeated the action. He'd also take the opportunity to hide behind the kitchen door or the shoe cabinet when I make a quick dash into the kitchen. And you can always count on a cheeky face when you "find" him.

I Know What I'm Eating

Our friend can tell us what he's having for his meal, be it porridge, rice, noodle or soup. And he can ask for more fish, salmon, meat, chicken, carrots, egg.

Looks like we kinda digged a hole for ourselves: can't exactly smoke him on foods he's not keen on in the future. He hates bao.

Stack and Sort

So much has happened so soon and keeping track of it is really rather impossible. But this particular milestone of stacking and sorting ability is one I won't miss. It came to gabe from 14.5 months.

From about 6 months, we got him this set of rings but he was really interested only in tipping all the rings out and gnawing on the yellow rod and the rattling ring.


This set of sorters was a Christmas gift and other than emptying the bucket, he wasn't interested in anything else. At about 11.5 months, when he could identify and say the word "star", he'll pick out that shape and drop it without further interest.


Gabe started stacking his set of 8 cups (not pictured) from 14.5 months, stacking the rings at 15 months, and somewhere in between these two weeks, went from being assisted in dropping the shapes into the bucket, to independently putting circle in, to independently putting all shapes in, though he must be directed which hole to put into.

He can also name all the 5 shapes in the above set, and the 12 that are found in the other shape sorter, though not all the words are well pronounced.

A few days ago, I found that his attention span towards his set of cups has decreased tremendously; he could sit for a half hour or more with them, allowing me to finish up my cooking without any interruption, a change I more than joyously welcomed. Then I discovered the reason. Previously, he'll require help to stack all the cups and rings in correct order, but when I walked out of the kitchen one day, I saw all the cups and rings nicely stacked, just the way I gave it to him.

To be honest, I'm a little taken aback. And that also means that we've got to search for something new and novel to get him back to the state of allowing mummy uninterrupted lunch preparation time.

You've Got a Long Way to Go, Buddy...

I bought a pair of tight fitting Levis at a sale some months ago and as we all know, jeans that are washed and pressed are not the easiest to put on, much less a tight fitting pair.

So in the privacy of my bedroom, I was pulling it up with a little difficulty and resorted to jumping and wriggling. Guess who burst out in giggles and chuckles, followed by hearty laughs at the sight: my dear "spectator" who is confined to my bed every time I change, just so I don't have to go running around catching a little one while trying to get ready to get out of the house.

Buddy, one big lesson to learn: NEVER laugh at a woman trying to get into her clothes.

The Little Destroyer

Years ago, I chuckled silently at a friend calling his son "the little destroyer". I guess it's obvious I'm not getting the last laugh since my very own can now claim the title for himself.

For the last five years, we have managed to keep our furniture in tip top condition. Considering that the house is predominantly done up with wood, I'd say we've done a pretty good job. At the back of my mind, I was even going to the extent of requesting for a high resale price, if the situation ever occurs. But ever since our little friend here started pulling himself to standing, things have not been the same.

The coffee table now sports a bumpy surface, thanks to daily knocks by the taxi and other toys with edges. The legs of the tv console, dining table, dining chairs and day bed are slightly chipped here and there, due to constant crashing of his toy vehicles. Our private sanctuary, the master bathroom, sees a large mirror with its bottom wooden edge disintegrating, with full credit given to our friend's daily splashing of water when we're giving his hands or butt a wash.

The latest to add to the list is the standing fan in the living room. In the twinkling of an eye, gabe has managed to crash the appliance onto the floor, breaking one rotary wing. Needless to say, the unhurt boy got it from his parents.

Argh... I hope to say that this is the last of it, but we all know it's only just begun...

I'm a Scott's Emulsion Kid!

Gabe has been on the original flavour of Scott's Emulsion cod liver oil since he was 13 months old. He's done with the first bottle and we opened the second today. He looks forward to breakfast and the teaspoon of "treat" that comes after it, exclaiming "yooou" (means "oil" in Chinese) excitedly when the bottle is brought before him.

This actually had a pretty psychological beginning. On day one, I opened the bottle, heaped a tablespoon with the thick, white liquid and made derod take a big mouthful, tasted some myself and brought it to the wide-eyed gabe who was eyeing the contents of the spoon with great interest. All this while exaggerating how yummy this thing was. Of course he gave the squirm after tasting it, but when given daily dramatic reminders of how yummy this white thing was, he soon developed a taste for it and today, gives his widest grin when he catches sight of the bottle.

The things I have to do (and the eeky stuff the papa has to endure) to get some vitamins into him. But well, it's worth it :D

The Non-Existent Side of Me

The creative, make-things-with-your-very-own-hands part of me.

But I decided to venture into unknown grounds to try out some things for gabe.

After more than a year since his birth, the mother finally got down to select his photos (0-12 months) and got them printed out. But to slot everything (about 900 of them, in case you're interested) into big fat albums seems like such a shame. So after much thinking and "consultation sessions" with my creative friends, I decided to do up a scrapbook in addition to the big fat album. About three photos a month for the first year of his life to document his growth and to kinda leave him a little something to look back at when he grows up. Upon shian's recommendation, I signed up for a basic scrapbooking workshop with Made With Love. It was fun, and something refreshing as I got to sit among a class of strangers and learn something new. It was there that I was reminded how I managed to fail art class in secondary school. In any case, with my new found skills, I'm about to launch Project Gabe Scrapbook soon. But it'll probably make a church mouse out of me; these things aren't cheap!

So that's one. The other project saw me wandering into Spotlight to grab some textiles and in-fills for a pillow for gabe. As a testament to how un-cheoklet this move is, a friend whom I bumped into at Spotlight exclaimed, "what are YOU doing here?" Point taken. So begins the project to replace gabe's pillow, which is too small to accommodate all his rolling about. And since I don't own a sewing machine, nor do I know how to use one (my classmate had to discreetly help me set up the machine at my home-ec exam!), I stitched the entire thing up with needle and thread.

Well, I think he likes it. *beam*