Well, one week before she turned 11 months, she stood up on her own for the first time. We were in the "cry" room in church and service had just ended. I was busy helping to keep toys when Daddy said,"Look, she's standing up on her on and she did it 3 times consecutively." Well, my back was facing Sarah so I didn't see it at all and Daddy only called me after the fact. Anyway, that was that. Then, on the day Sarah turned 11 months, I was out and I got an sms from Daddy saying that Sarah took 5 steps on her own when they were in the living room. Yup, Daddy's the lucky one who got to see Sarah taking her first steps. Ever since then, Sarah's been toddling around. She's getting steadier by the day and she walks round the house half the time now.
In the area of communications, she's making some progress. For a period of time, she experimented with sounds like da-da, ba-ba, pa-pa. When she was about 11 months, I was playing a ball with her and all of a sudden she said, "Ball". So I guess that's her first word. Incidentally, that's also Caleb's first word. Perhaps it's coz we've got lots of balls at home. One thing we have learned about Sarah is that she speaks when she's really desperate to be understood. There was a night when she was very sleepy and sitting in her car seat. She wanted me to carry her out and started brawling very loudly. I didn't and after crying for like 10min in the car seat, in between her sobs, she started saying very clearly,"Ma-Ma, Bao-Bao (carry in Mandarin)" She said it so clearly that I wanted to laugh. (Yes, the evil mummy...)
There was this other time when I carried her next to the water cooler and she was so fascinated playing with it. Then it was time to leave so I walked away from the water cooler to wait for Daddy. She was reluctant to leave and kept pointing to the water cooler and going "erh, erh, erh". I ignored her coz it was time to leave and out of desperation or perhaps frustration on her part, she started kicking her legs vigorously, pointing relentlessly at the water cooler and saying,"there, there, there..." very loudly. That was when I concluded, hey this girls speaks during desperate moments. But of course I wouldn't try to frustrate her just to get her to speak la. She would do so in her own time.
Health wise, I've been so thankful that she hasn't fallen sick at all until one week before her birthday. That's the time when our entire family fell ill so apparently the virus was too powerful for her so she fell victim to it as well. Though she was still very active and alert during the time that she was sick, her appetite was quite badly affected and she ate very little and drank very little milk. I was getting quite worried coz to begin with, she's not much of an eater. It's only this week that I see her slowly gaining back her appetite.
Personality. My dear girl has been showing more and more traits of a feisty little chilli padi. This month, we actually saw her giving her kor kor dirty looks when he snatched her toy or pushed her away. Sometimes she even gives out a big, angry yell when what she's holding or wants is taken away. And at such a young age, she's already learned the art of acting blur when she's being scolded. When she does sometime wrong like play with the power sockets and I scold her for it, she actually refuses to look at me and continues to play and sometimes pretend to laugh at her own private joke. Daddy and me both think we'll need to take a tougher stand with this girl when we need to discipline her.
Anyway, I was looking at her old photos and I just have to share with everybody how my baby has grown!
Moment of arrival. My first thoughts then other than than relief that she has finally arrived, was that she's as loud as her brother when she cries.
1st Month. Very scrawny and tiny still. Ya, amongst the cousins, she's really the tiniest one. The only babe born at 2.78kg. Caleb and his cousins were all 3.2kg and above. I remember Yeeyee being amazed that she could fit nicely into clothes that Nic and Nat couldn't even fit in at birth.
2 months old. Looking very alert and the fats are starting to set in.
3 months old. We started to see her patient and gentle personality. The chilli padi side of her came to light a little later...
4 months old. It's the start of her "balding" season. See how fast she's losing hair!
5 months old. Very cheerful and smiley with people whom she's familiar with.
6 months old. Sitting up and starting to crawl...
7 months old. Phase of stuffing everything she can get her hands on into her mouth...
8 months old. Started swimming, and looking very cute in her swimsuit.
9 months old. New found mobility! Standing and cruising a little around the house.
10 months old. Starting to be more socialable and finally, her hair is starting to grow again!
11 months old. Attempting to walk on her own.
12 months old. Standing, walking, interacting, she's a whole load of fun to be with...
Presenting my cheeky girl... (this photo is courtesy of Sarah's Aunty Yoey during our trip to KL)
