Happy 1st birthday

Yiu Yiu turned one last Wednesday, November 1. It’s simply amazing how time flies. It's as if it was just not too long ago that she was this scrawny looking 2.5kg being placed in my arms, and now, she's this active little toddler crawling around all corners of our apartment. As with all young children, she never fails to amuse us with her antics. One of her favourite past time is playing hide and seek behind doors so we have to consciously close all doors behind us. Another favourite habit of hers is putting every single thing she picked from the floor into her mouth. Several occasions we caught her chewing on something and upon prising open her mouth (against her fervent protest!), we would find bits of paper stuck in her mouth. We realize that this is really no laughing matter and we ought to be really careful now to ensure the floor is clear of anything that could pose a choking hazard to our little darling.

She can now walk by holding on to furniture and we always encourage her to practise walking by pushing her high chair. Besides waving bye-bye when leaving the babysitter's house, she will also blow kisses to the babysitter and her family. And recently, whenever I sing the song "If you're happy and you know it you clap your hands…", she'll put her hands together and clap. She also moves her hands to mimic the action of twinkling star when she hears "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". She will do that even when she hears the Mandarin version of the song! Another new exploit is pointing to herself when we ask her "Who's Yiu Yiu?" and looking up to the ceiling when asked "Where's the fan?"

Two days ago, she finally learnt to drink with a straw. Yihao has this plastic water container with a soft collapsible straw and she caught me by surprise when she took a sip from it while I playfully offered it to her. Hmmm…looks like it's time to wean her from the bottle. The next step is to train her to drink from a cup independently.

Physically, she's still rather small at only 7.3kg and about 70cm in length. That puts her in only the 3rd percentile of the WHO Child Growth Standards for Breastfed Baby Girls. Her head circumference measures 44cm, putting her at the 50th percentile. She does seem to be really petite for a one year old and many strangers have thought that she's only six or seven months old. Her paediatrician doesn't seem to worry about her petite size so I guess I shouldn't too. Anyway, she doesn't look thin but I guess she's got a small frame, just like mum. As long as she's healthy, I'm happy.

On the teething front, at the ripe age of one year old, she only has two front teeth on the lower gum. The two front teeth on the upper gum are only beginning to emerge. Some people said it's just as well, as the later her milk teeth develop, the later would they fall. This will also result in later development of her permanent teeth and hopefully, she'd have learnt to care for her oral hygiene by then and maintain a nice set of teeth.

I am eagerly waiting for her to be able to stand on her own and subsequently take her first step. As much as I look forward to her growing independence, I can't help but feel a tinge of nostalgia thinking about the times she depended on me totally to fulfill her every needs. But watching her grow day by day certainly brings lots of joy to our lives.