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GWTT

Twenty

This month passed quickly in a flurry of outdoor activities for Noah, mainly because the weather has been pretty good, and we wanted to take advantage of it, before it gets too cold to play outside. We also visited Sydney, but more on that in another post. 

We’ve been visiting playgrounds on weekends, and Noah usually refuses to go on the slides, preferring to go on the swing, before running around the playground. Recently, he plucked up the courage to go down the slide by himself, after I went down the slide with him once. I’ve actually been on slides with him before, but he never really enjoyed it much, so we were pleasantly surprised when he asked to be carried up the slide this time.

Sliding down cautiously 


Noah also stomped in some puddles for the first time, much to my dismay. Ever since he started walking, he’s been going out of his way to stomp on random objects. The path can be extremely wide, but if there’s a stray piece of paper lying on it, he makes a point to walk in that direction, and stomp on it. When I saw the puddles that day, I knew he would want to stomp on them, and tried to keep him out of them, but C told me to stop being a helicopter parent, so I held my tongue as Noah stomped happily, and got his socks and shoes wet.

Examining the puddle that he’s standing in


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Happily splashing and running through the puddles 


We go to nearby parks daily, and he made friends with some Japanese girls during one of our afternoon visits. He also hugged and kissed a tree randomly, on a different occasion. I have no idea why he did it, but I guess it’s good that he loves nature and isn’t as afraid of dirt as I am!

Tree lover 


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This little boy is very affectionate, and very generous with his hugs and kisses. He kisses his toys regularly, and kisses the animals in the books that we read together. One afternoon, when we were going out, he ran towards the door with his rubber duckie, and I told him that he had to leave the duck at home. To my amusement, he gently placed it on the floor, then knelt down to kiss it goodbye, before getting up to go out with us. I also love how he slings his arm around my neck when he hugs me, and how he frequently asks me for kisses.

Kissing his duck goodbye 


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Mr Playful also loves playing peekaboo with us, and these days, he hides behind objects, then walks out slowly, and says, “Boo!” It’s quite funny because sometimes, when I’m waiting for him in the spare room to change his diaper, he runs past the doorway, spies me sitting in there, slowly walks backwards, plasters himself against the wall, peeps at me, hides, then reappears to say ‘Boo!’.

Hiding behind the towels 


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Boo!


Noah has been playing with some older children during my ladies’ group meetings, and started showing an interest in pretend play. He watches them ‘cook’ and serve each other the ‘food’ and ‘drinks’, and has been mimicking their actions. He hasn’t quite figured out how to pretend to eat and drink, so he has been happily ‘drinking’ from empty cups, and gnawing on the plastic cutlery. I’m glad that he’s becoming a little more independent, and at the most recent session, he played happily in a separate room with the older boy for relatively long periods. However, he did come out every now and then to show me a car or motorcycle. He also called loudly for me at various intervals, but whenever I went to check on him, he would be playing happily. One of the other mums told me that he was probably just looking for attention, and that I should ignore him the next time he calls for me, so that he would stop doing it. I guess as a first-time mum, I tend to jump at everything, but like she said, if he’s injured, he would cry, instead of call for me.

Helping himself to some toys  


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Pretend play with korkor 


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Pretend play at home 


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Noah learnt to say ‘kor kor’ (older brother) when we met up with my ex-student who’s studying here in Adelaide. I was quite surprised that he repeated the words after me, as he doesn’t often say what I ask him to. He still refuses to say ‘grandma’ or ‘grandpa’, much to my parents’ disappointment. He does say ‘ec-tor’, which is his version of ‘excavator’, and ‘ta-tor’, for ‘tractor’. ‘Car’, however, is still ‘vroom’. He says ‘dig dig dig’ when playing with his excavator, and spends some time daily playing with his growing collection of vehicles. Noah has been quite vocal in telling us what he wants, and says ‘there’, ‘that one’, ‘another one’, and ‘the other one’, very frequently. Most of the time, it’s pretty cute, but sometimes, I get frustrated, because I have no idea what ‘the other one’ refers to, and he says ‘nope’, or ‘don’t want’ at every single thing I point at. He often asks for our ‘arm’, because he enjoys driving his cars up and down our arms, and can be quite specific about which arm he wants, telling us ‘the other one’ if we offer him the arm he doesn’t want. Noah refuses to verbalise the word ‘sorry’, so I taught him to sign it instead, which he does with a smile (which makes C think he doesn’t mean it).

Reading with kor kor 


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Playing with his ‘ec-tor’ and truck 


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I also tried giving him some homemade edible play dough to play with, but he wasn’t very interested in it, apart from prodding it with the rolling pin.

Prodding the play dough


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As a SAHM, I seldom get any me-time, and this month, I actually left Noah with C and his friend, while I popped out to do a bit of shopping. I fed Noah his lunch, changed his diaper, and nursed him for his nap, before rushing out. It was really quite nice being able to shop with a friend instead of a toddler, and I refused to succumb to mummy guilt, even when C sent me a photo of a sad-looking Noah, with the message, ‘Where’s mummy?’ Anyway, Noah survived Daddy Daycare, and I hope he’ll have more of such sessions soon.

Where’s mummy? 


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Daddy Daycare


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Noah has been a little more cooperative during meal-times this month, and he eats either plain pasta, brown rice with broccoli, or salmon and broccoli porridge. I also mix some quinoa and chia seeds into the latter two dishes, and I’m so glad that he doesn’t seem to notice or mind them, because every bit of extra nutrient counts with a fussy eater. He still skips meals occasionally, or be extremely difficult to feed, but I think it’s probably because he’s teething. I’ve spotted quite a few teeth coming out, on both his top and bottom gums, but he won’t let me take a closer look, so I can’t tell for sure how many teeth he has now.

Sleep-wise, Noah has been a permanent fixture in our bed, and dominates the bed quite a bit. He loves snuggling up to C on most nights, and it makes me smile to see the two of them sleeping so soundly together.

Dominating the bed during nap-time 


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Noah took his first selfie the other evening, by kissing the screen. He’s got an extremely large forehead, and we couldn’t help but laugh when we saw that the selfie was basically a photo of his huge forehead.

His first selfie


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Both C and I are hockey players, so it was only a matter of time before we bought Noah his first hockey stick. Noah seems to enjoy playing with it so far, though he does get frustrated when he can’t hit the ball, and picks it up with his hand instead.

First day of hockey training 


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I bought Noah his first backpack, and when he carried it proudly around the apartment, he suddenly seemed more grown up. As I held his hand and walked around, it felt as though I was walking him to school, and I am definitely not ready for that to happen yet! He’s also now able to reach the bottom button on the lift landing when he tiptoes, and that was another reminder that our baby is growing up so very quickly. When we first arrived in Australia, Noah couldn’t even walk, and now, he’s running everywhere he goes, as though he’s constantly in a hurry, even if he’s going from the living room to the bedroom.

With his backpack 


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Pressing the button by himself 


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Happy 20th month, baby! It’s been such a fun-filled month, and I’m so thankful for all the new experiences we’ve had. I love how extra affectionate you’ve been, and I’m going to enjoy all the hugs and kisses you give me now, before you decide that it’s ‘not cool’ to hug and kiss mummy for no reason at all.

Linking up with:


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