23-month old

What difference does two weeks make? When I went to the babysitter's house after I came back from Paris last Thursday, Yiu Yiu was taking her nap. I was a little disappointed as I had wanted to see her before going to work. I chatted with the babysitter for a short while as I passed her the pralines I bought in Brussles. A couple of seconds later, we heard Yiu Yiu calling from inside the room, "Mummy mummy". She had heard us, and quickly woke up from her nap. The babysitter went into the room and carried her out, and I was surprised at how different she seemed to look. It might be because she had just woken but she looked, well, a little more mature. She's almost two anyway, so perhaps it's time she loses her babyish look.

Her physical development is pretty similar to last month. What amazes me most the last few days is her much expanded vocabulary. She knows a whole lot more words, be it in English, Mandarin or Cantonese compared to when I left for Amsterdam. She is also repeating words after us, even multi-syllabic ones, like a pro. I hope she can soon string together simple sentences and hold simple conversations. I think I'm gonna have loads of fun when she can do that.

Hubby also told me that while I was away, she seemed to be going through a growth spurt, and was constantly asking for milk. She's feeding well on solids, and has recently acquired a taste for cultured milk drink, which she didn't like before.

I'm hoping to also take this opportunity to wean her from breastfeeding. While I was away, hubby reported that she didn't look for her nen-nen and happily took the milk he offered her in the bottle. She even seemed to sleep better when I was away and she could sleep throughout the night, unlike when I'm around where more often than not, she'll stir in the middle of the night and look for her fix. The last few nights, she woke up few times and asked for nen-nen and I tried not to give in but simply carried and rocked her back to sleep. She didn’t fuss all that much and went back to slumberland quite quickly. During the weekend, when she asked for nen-nen, we distracted her with something else – a toy, snacks, etc and she quickly forgot about her nen-nen. She only suckled twice over the last few days so I hope I'll succeed this round.