17 Months, 3 Weeks

Baby CP said that this is his "ban", which is short for "hua ban" which means skateboard.  He has also been quite obsessed with pretending that a small pot with a handle is a guitar. It took me a while to figure out what he was doing when he was saying "jin jin jang!" over and over again while moving his hand over the handle.  I guess he's got a good imagination. 

Last night's conversation:
Baby CP: Ma ma!
Me:  Dui, wo shi ni de mama.  Ni shi shei? ("Yes, that's right, I'm your mom.  Who are you?")
Baby CP:  Dong Dong.

I think that's the first time he really understood that he was referring to himself.

18 Months, 2 Weeks

Most of you know that up until recently Baby CP uses one syllable words even if word should have two syllables, but since we hang out with him so much, we know what he's trying to say.  My guess is he knows more than 70-100 words.  Last month, he started to say "bao bao wo" (pick me up), though I don't think he really understood the "wo" part of the command.  A week ago, he connected "choo choo train" and "qian qian shou" (let's hold hands).  Last night, we saw a true intent to connect words, starting with "more more li" and "more more chex" (more pears and more chex), "run run jump" ( a fun phrase from swim class), and a 3 syllable command (!) "wo  yao gan" (I want raisins).

Baby CP decided to self-wean from the bottle.  I was dreading going through the process since Baby CP used to come running to grab his bottle of milk before bedtime.  Last week, he would take the bottle but started acting weird - he'd take a couple sips and then try to dump it out.  There was something about his facial expression that made me realize that he just didn't want the bottle anymore.  It was too slow and he preferred to drink from a cup.  Baby CP drinks less than 8 oz of milk a day now and eats normal food.

He has gotten better about eating things though he does still spit stuff out from time to time, especially if he isn't that hungry.  He usually doesn't like mixed food and prefers that each food be separate.  He likes to eat meat and veggies.  He loves raisins, grape, clementines and rice chex with milk.  We don't give him sweet things to drink, but if he sees a cup with something colored in it, you can bet he'll come clamoring and demanding some.

One other development is that Baby CP knows when something on tv is scary.  We were watching Frosty the Snowman and when the abominable snowman (who has big teeth) appeared, Baby CP demanded that I "guan" (turn off) the television.  I guess that means that he knows these things are only on tv and that simply turning it off gets rid of them, though he might have nightmares.

Finally, Baby CP is getting a little better at brushing his own teeth and lets me get in a few brushes at the end.  We're still not brushing as thoroughly as I'd like, but it's better than nothing.

17 Months Old

Baby CP is into doing some chores...

And driving cars....

At Baby CP's checkup, he received his three booster shots and only cried a little as he was being poked.  One of these days he'll remember that place and cry before they even bring in the needles, but he's still too young to remember well enough.  Baby CP measured in at 33 inches (over 75%) and a little over 24 pounds (less than 50%, but within normal).  I think they're scale just runs lighter than ours at home, but he was also sick with a cold last week so maybe he lost a couple ounces.  We thought he had gone through a growth spurt recently and we were right.

16 Months Old

Baby CP turned 16 months old a couple days ago.  He walks and runs all over the place and is trying to figure out what it takes to jump.  He knows he needs to squat down to get height, but he hasn't quite figured out the timing yet.

Last weekend we took Baby CP to the zoo, but we realized that the logistics of taking Baby CP to places where he will sit for part but get up often (like the zoo and the farmers market) requires something less restrictive than a stroller. I had seen these push buggies around and thought it would be a good idea.

In this video, Mr. CP is putting Baby CP's new car together.  As you can see Baby CP CANNOT wait to get in it.  He is sooo excited.  What I like best about this video is that you see that Baby CP knows that his car should have a steering wheel.  He sits down, thinks about it and then he actually tries to put that part together himself.  I also have a couple other videos of him trying to help put little pieces on the car and trying to use a hammer.  Hilarious!  I don't know how he knows this stuff.

 

15 Months, 2 Weeks

Since my last post, Baby CP has had a few more firsts.  He attended a birthday party at gymboree, but those photos will come later.  He had a lot of fun climbing and crawling all over the place with the other kids.

Baby CP also got his first haircut and made it through without crying, which was a relief.  I was expecting him to shake his head around or demand to be taken out of the chair.

Before

After

Baby CP likes to draw.  We have had to hide all the pens and writing utensils so that he doesn't draw all over the house.  His nanny had a good idea though and suggested we buy a magnetic doodler for him.  He uses his right hand to draw most of the time.

One of Baby CP's early works.

Baby CP's vocabulary continues to grow steadily.  A few of the recently acquired ones are jees (for cheese), pie!, gu (for ku-zi/pants), mut (which is the second half of the cantonese word for glove).  He also seems to be learning some of the hand and arm motions of the itsy bitsy spider.  Baby CP also understands things that are going on around him.  Everyday when I get home from work, within a short period of time, he turns to his nanny and says "bye byeeee."  He knows that it's time for her to go home.  Today, as a conversation about needles was going on around him, he started to whine.  I thought he was just being fussy, but then I realized he was pointing to his arm and saying "gut" which is the Cantonese word for being poked/stabbed with a needle.  He was telling us that getting shots sucks and makes a person cry.

One of Baby CP's favorite places.

Baby CP can reach all but the top drawer now, so we've moved all of the knives up there.  Little trouble-maker.

First forward facing ride.

This week we installed Baby CP's new forward facing carseat.  His former carseat is only for babies up to 30 inches tall and Baby CP is almost 31 inches tall.  I thought he would be excited about facing forward, but he didn't really seem to have any excited or adverse reactions.  It does seem that he falls asleep more quickly though.

Finally, this week is the first time where I have seen Baby CP really watching television.  I've mentioned before that his attention span for television is relatively short and he usually prefers to watch only when some attractive music comes on and afterwards return to his playing.  This week he was introduced to a DVD from his grandparents and he was mesmerized.  He really likes to watch little animals and kids eating fruit.  I limit him to two viewings a day...usually while feeding him lunch because then at least he's pretty cooperative while eating.

14 Months, 2 Weeks

Unfortunately, I left our camera at my brother's place last week, so we have no new photos.  Baby CP caught a cold last week, most likely from me.  It's nothing serious though, just a runny nose.  He was also drooling a TON, but I am not sure whether that was because he had to breathe with his mouth open or if it was due to teething. 

Baby CP received his vaccine for chicken pox last week.  He cried when the nurse stuck him with the needle, but it was quick and stopped crying quickly.  He did learn from his nanny how to say to get pricked in cantonese.  If you ask him where he was stuck, he will point to his thigh and sometimes he says it himself and uses a finger to "prick" his other arm.

We realized that while Baby CP continues to learn new words every couple days, he only really says one syllable words.  So for strawberry, which  is "cao mei", he says "mei" and for rainbow, which is "cai hong" he says "hong".  The only two syllable words he says are two of the same syllables, like "ba ba" and "ma ma".

Someone introduced Baby CP to grapes and raisins last week and he loves them!

14 Months Old

This week, Baby CP will reach the ripe old age of 14 months.  He can now say "dan" for egg, "nai" for milk and can say the "ring" and down" for the beginning and ending of Ring Around the Rosie.  Baby CP continues to be obsessed with "cooking" and feeding his stuffed animals. 

He's been watching the Olympics and gets especially excited to watch the swimming events.  He will flail his arms around to "paddle" when he sees the swimmers in the water.

For some reason, Baby CP's swim teacher decided that he should wear goggles this week.

It's gotten a little more difficult to deal with Baby CP as he has become more mobile.  Not a ton different from when he was crawling, but sometimes he likes to climb onto our bed and stand up.  This makes me very nervous, but as I lunge towards him to make sure he doesn't fall, he smiles and giggles, which makes it seem fun for him...sigh.  It's also hard to keep him out of the kitchen when we're using the oven, so I decided to purchase this safety gate to see how it goes.

First Years Hands Free Safety Gate

He's also tall enough to open the knife drawer as well, so I had to purchase some drawer locks.  I'm hoping they're not difficult to install.

Magnetic Locks

Safety Straps