Well, over the last 2 months, (as though in preparation to be a big sister), we saw an acceleration in her development. It seemed like overnight her brain became a super absorbent sponge and she started to increase her vocabulary, start speaking in sentences (though not perfect grammatically but she manages to string an almost complete sentence of 6 to 8 words each time). She starts pronouncing words she never could, sing songs to herself, recognise shapes and colours and more amazingly, she started counting 1 to 10. I say it's amazing coz I didn't consciously or conscientiously teach her numbers. I didn't expect her to be able to recite 1 to 10 at 19 months coz Caleb only did that pass 2 years old.
I realised that she knew her numbers when I was changing her one day. She was fiddling with the buttons on her bodysuit and in one of my lame attempts to kick start introducing numbers to her, I counted the buttons for her and said, 1,2 ,3 and I got a shock when she continued and said 4, 5,6, and as I followed after her, I realised she could count up to 10! I thought about it and the most remote "educational" thing that I was doing with her then was sing a few number songs to her. Obviously I was very encouraged and more motivated and definitely thankful that with my limited bandwidth, I was still able to teach her a thing or two. I thank God for that! It reminded me of the bible story of Jesus using the 5 loaves and 2 fishes to feed the crowd of 5000. In my limited capacity, God used whatever little I had to teach my girl and I'm really grateful!
Anyway, back to her transformation into the big sister. After I came back from hospital, I immediately noticed a change in her. She looked bigger, literally fleshier and was evidently heavier! Initially we thought that she seemed bigger coz we're comparing her size with Sophia's but it seems we're not the only ones who thought she's grown. Friends and relatives who visited us all said that she has shot up all of a sudden.
As for her reaction towards Sophia, she understands that Sophia is her meimei. She's very curious about her actually and keeps wanting to touch her and pat her. When we carry Sophia, she'll want to see her and keeps telling us, " I want to see baby." She's also very prompt to report to us that "baby cry" when Sophia starts brawling. The other day, I placed Sophia on her lap and let her "carry" her for a while, she was so intrigued that now she demands that all the time. Each time, she'll say in a commanding tone," I want baby sit my lap!"
I'm happy she seems to be reacting quite positively towards Sophia, but I still need to watch her. I've caught her going to Sophia's cot on her own with a face towel. She cleaned her face and then use the same towel to try to wipe Sophia's face and then I saw her cleaning herself again and move on to clean other furniture. I've also caught her trying to toss a pillow to Sophia in and attempt to place it on her tummy. All very innocent and "nuturing" acts but potentially dangerous for Sophia so for now, I've got to keep an eye on this girl.
The sisters bonding on the bed
Sophia sitting on Sarah's lap
A happy che che and a not so comfortable meimei
Sarah the Big Sister
