The Teenage-Baby Phase

It’s been a week that it happened- yes a whole week- Ooyah turned EIGHTEEN months, which means 6 more months to the big TWO. *shudder*

She’s been her usual (over)friendly, playful and chatty self. She chats EVERYONE up, regardless of age. In a matter of minutes after the initial quiet scrutiny (she screens everyone first), she’d be drawing the attention of people who are close to her, either engaging them in her baby babble, or playing hide and seek (and yes, people DO oblige- it’s amazing.) If there’s a toddler or child, even better (for her). Before long the place would be filled with laughter, excited, high-pitched screams, and not to mention, things toppling over (not good for me).

She’s beginning to either run or walk VERY VERY fast, I can’t quite figure which, and appetite wise, not much different from what it’s been these past few months. She has some bread for breakfast, rice for lunch (quite a big serving), biscuits (oh we have such a wide array at home!) and fruits (and murukku) for snacks, and rice again for dinner. Of course when we’re out, it’s a whole different story altogether! *read: hor fun, pasta, prata, fish and chips etc. etc….*

She has taken to doodling lately, so we got her lots of drawing paper and crayons to satisfy her need to express herself artistically, and she’s a football fanatic I can tell, screaming ‘GOALLLL!’ everytime she kicks (even though she misses the ball sometimes). I attribute this to the fact that I was watching the World Cup ALL THE TIME when I was pregnant with her.

But one thing’s for certain, we DID notice a behavioural change in her lately- we truly hope it’s just another PHASE. She’s been VERY strong headed, demanding to have things her way. Her favourite thing to do is refusing to have us hold her hand when she walks, and even refusing to be carried or be put in her stroller. What this means for me is- ACTIVITY. Yes. I am moving more than usual, even running after her (although I leave this to her Papa when he’s around), so…. not good.

From the blogs books I’ve been doing research on, I guess this change is normal, and I do expect this phase to last maybe *gasp* a year or so *pant pant*; before the ‘i-refuse-to-walk-chuck-me-in-the-pram’ phase. Can’t wait for that. I call this stage- the Teenage-Baby phase. Yeah. It’s a difficult stage. But it’ll do good (to my patience/body/vocal muscles).

When she finds a playmate outside, it’s hard to tear her away from the scene. We secretly hope that her playmate would leave the scene first because she will gladly wave goodbye to him or her, but sometimes they stay FOREVER so WE have to make the ‘okay-we’re-leaving’ move. Ouh. Hate that.

On top of that, her nap times are getting shorter and shorter, and when I or Ramli’s at home, she refuses to nap AT ALL (knowing there’s a high chance we’re going out!) Because she is extremely sociable, she enjoys going for a morning AND evening walk at the neighbourhood park and from what her Tok Bak tells me, she does have regular playmates who visit the park daily. I think the daily playtime at the park plays a VITAL role in zapping out her energy so she sleeps earlier and longer developing her social and motor skills.

On days when we do go out, she won’t sleep in the daytime no matter how tired she gets. It’s as if she’s afraid of missing out on the fun. And we all know what a TIRED baby is capable of. Yes. Crank it up, baby.

So apart from when she’s running out of fuel and battling off dreamland, she’s pretty much her normal Ooyah self. She’s definitely more entertaining these days, what with her rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the Elmo Song and her all-time favourite, Majulah Singapura (yes, she’s patriotic too!)

We’re keeping our fingers crossed for our Vietnam trip this Friday, hoping that she’d be as manageable and FUN as she was in Phuket.

But of course, she was SEVENTEEN months then. Sigh. Those were the days.

* I’ve added a new page of a list of words that she is able to use, and will hopefully keep it updated as she learns more words. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier *slaps forehead*