Looking all grown up
On her first and second birthday, she didn't quite understand the meaning of "birthday" and when we celebrated her birthday for her, she appeared quite clueless. This year, however, when I asked her what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday, she told me in a very assertive tone that she wanted a Cinderella cake. So, for the last 3 months, every time she meets Yee Yee, she'll remind Yee Yee that she wants a Cinderella cake for her birthday party. And a few weeks leading to her birthday, she overheard me having a phone conversation with Yee Yee discussing about the flavour of her cake and she immediately tried to interrupt in the background, once again reminding Yee Yee about her specific request. And I was talking to Yee Yee about Cinderella having a blue dress, and again she interrupted and said," No, I want a pink cake, with flowers and butterflies." So, the girl really knows what she wants.
Over the last few months, I've also seen Sarah flaunting her taste for clothes and fashion. She has been coming on rather strongly about which clothing she likes and dislikes and she has been very verbal in expressing her preferences. She would also tell somebody if she likes what they're wearing. On a couple of occasions, she has told her cousins, Nic and Nat that she liked what they were wearing, or that she liked the colour of their clothing, and she would say things like,"I like your dress. It's very cute."
Sarah getting a chance to paint her nails at a birthday party and showing off her painted nails.
One thing that she's been extremely fascinated with is the high heel slippers that are sold in those girlie dress up kits. I bought a dress up kit for Nat for her birthday (upon request from Yee Yee) and it comes with a pair of high heel slippers. When Sarah first saw them, she couldn't keep her eyes off them and kept asking if she could try them on. I wasn't that keen to buy her a pair coz she's so super "hiao"(vain) already and I really didn't want to encourage her in that area. Well, however hard I tried to avoid that, it seemed inevitable that she would end up receiving one of those dress up kits for her birthday. This dress up kit, which came from Mama, had a full set of accessories ranging from a necklace, earrings, bangles, a wand, handbag, a ring, and the glass slippers. The first thing that Sarah did when she saw the present, was to point to the slippers and say, "I want to open that!" And since then, she's been tottering round the house with them everyday.
Her pink high heel slippers
Other than clothes, shoes & accessories, we've also found her to be rather nurturing recently. She seems to have grown into her role as Sophia's big sister and we started seeing her attempt to take care of Sophia and mother her around. She would say things like,"Come, Sophia, come... come to che che...", or "che che help you". In the mornings, when Sophia wakes up and stands at her cot to call for attention, Sarah would scramble up from her bed to go lie with Sophia in her cot. Some days she would try to hug her and pat her like a doll, or she would try to kiss her. If Sophia wants to get off the bed, she would attempt to give her a hand. One thing that she likes to do is to feed Sophia. She'll try to take Sophia's bowl and feed her fruits with the spoon, or she would share her cornflakes with her when Sophia asks for some.
Whatever it is, I'm happy that she's getting into this big sister mode and I can see that she would make a great sister who would take good care of Sophia and whom Sophia can look up to.
Having fun with Sophia
See the motherly side of Sarah, pretending to take care of her baby
Ah, other than Sophia, she's very attached to her Kor Kor, Caleb. He's really her favourite playmate. She wants to play with him all the time and follow him and have all that he has. There are days that the two of them are just laughing non stop and playing rowdy boy games. And there are also days where she'll irritate Caleb till he gets extremely frustrated. This girl can read her Kor Kor quite well and when she's annoyed with him, she knows how to get him exasperated by appearing nonchalant and pretending that he's not talking to her at all. It really gets him very upset when she does that. Somedays, she would even go to the extent of purposely pinching him or using her hand or leg to nudge him again and again just to irritate him. The boy hasn't quite figure out how to manage his sister but hopefully he'll get there some day. Even though she behaves like that with him at home, it's a different story when they're out. She's the princess at home but when she's out, she depends on her Kor Kor to protect and take care of her. As long as he's with her, she'll be ok to be without us. But once he runs off somewhere without her,she would panic and cry. So, she's really quite "gu niang" (girlie) and in need of "protection". Me and ND think that with her behaving like that, she's gonna be twirling a bunch of guys round her finger tips when she grows up!
All confident with Kor Kor by her side
Personality wise, she's growing up to be a very sweet, loving girl who thrives on affirmation and attention. She'll look very pleased and be very agreeable when we tell her that she looks good or that she did very well. Some days she'll just come up to us to express her affections by putting her arms around us to kiss us and tell us that she loves us very much. This girl knows how to work her way around people.
ND with his princess
She's really a joy to have and I really thank God for blessing us with such a sweet and lovable little girl.
Happy 3rd Birthday, my princess Sarah!
PS. In this last photo, there's a photo of a baby in the background, next to Sarah. We just realised that that's Sarah at 1 years old. Look at how she has grown!
