Kaitlin is 32 Months Old!

Kaitlin is growing up so fast that my once innocent newborn has now become quite the rebel and has even developed a sense of humor.

In the past month..

Kaitlin has been pretty expressive with her emotions, be it frustration or excitement she shows it all
She's able to joke with us
We are able to hold longer conversations with her
She has been using manners like "please", "thank you", "no thank you" and "excuse me". Sometimes prompting is needed, and she would know what she should say.



Able to identify right and wrong actions. Like hitting and kicking is wrong. She does it, but she understands it's not right.
Loves wearing her raincoat
Able to carry an umbrella on her own and shelter herself
Can hold a pencil with a thumb and two fingers
Is able to join dots
Able to draw simple shapes like square and circle



Current favourite fruits: bananas, watermelon, grapes, papaya
Current favourite foods: xiao long baos, buns, noodles, waffles and cake
She is able to recall certain events that have happened even after a week
Did her first tunnel crawl and tunnel slide!
Interacts with kids at the playground
Likes to climb up and downs stairs
Loves bouncing on the bed
Runs very fast and able to avoid most obstacles

Can recognize most upper case alphabets and some lower case alphabets
Understands the concept of now, later, today and tomorrow
Participates in cooking activities together
Is able to crack and peel the shell of hardboiled eggs
Learnt how to peel a banana skin
Able to help herself to drink water in the middle of the night

Kaitlin is 31 Months Old!

Kaitlin turned 31 months old last Friday! My once vulnerable babygirl is now growing up to be more independent and assertive. At the same time, she still has her moments where she wants to be carried and wants me to hold her hand when she goes to sleep. Other than the times when I'm really having difficulty carrying or attending to her, I would say that I still very much enjoy the close bond we have.

Here are some of her milestones this past month:

Kaitlin is able to identify and name fruits, veggies and animals in English and Chinese
She can also identify most uppercase alphabets
Uses adjectives
Describes objects by their colour, shape and size
Knows the difference between more and less
She can count to 20
Able to draw lines to join dots together

Kaitlin can complete 12-piece puzzles
She is able to put her laundry into the laundry bin herself

Plays more independently at playgrounds

Likes to make choices in terms of what she eats, the cup/bottle she uses, what she plays and her shoes

Will point out if we have done something wrong and tell us what we should do instead
Shows sympathy and concern

Doesn't Kaitlin look all grown up :') Not long before I'll have to start planning for her third birthday!

Kaitlin is 30 months old!

Babygirl turns two and a half years old today! Seriously, how did she grow up so fast?! It's making me feel so emotional..like my once newborn is now a toddler, and a very feisty one too.

Kaitlin's been picking up things really fast.
She's getting more rebellious and has a mind of her own
More brave than she used to be
Understands that red light means "stop" and green means "go, can walk!"

Kaitlin likes to count
She's recently been asking "what is ____ in Chinese?"
Pretty good at using pronouns
Describes objects as big or small and by colour
Understands most of what we are saying
Able to communicate that she has a stomachache (one level up from telling us she needs to poop or pee)
Will asks us about how we are feeling after seeing our facial expression like "you sad?"

Remembers and understands familiar stories
Kaitlin is able to control her bladder relatively well
Able to put her clothes into the laundry bin
Can close door gently
She has started learning how to use a knife (we let her use a butter knife)

Only 6 months left till her 3rd birthday! I know I say this all the time, but seriously how did time fly by and how is it that she is turning 3 so soon?! I don't know when her terrible twos phase will end..but I hope it'll be pretty soon..cos sometimes when I think it can't get any worse..it does happen. With that said, there have been many moments of sending Kaitlin to the naughty corner and many moments of seeing her angelic side, like her being helpful and caring. I don't know how one small girl can be so extreme! One moment she's laughing away and the next she is having a meltdown.  Yes, that's mommy life with a toddler. No matter though, at the end of the day I'm still very glad to be able to spend most of my time watching her grow and being by her side, and I much rather deal with the tantrums than not be there with her at all. 

Kaitlin is 29 months old!

Able to give simple instructions, like teach us how to clap our hands
Has started potty training in school, and is doing well with few accidents
Once she tells us she needs to go to the toilet and when told to control and wait before we get to the toilet, she is able to do so.
Has recently liked swimming in the pool again
Likes to describe things/objects as tiny/small/big
Vocabulary is growing by the day and she is communicating more

Enjoys a good tickle and us chasing after her
Enjoys doing table top activities
Likes to complain (e.g. if her daddy taps her, she will come and tell me)
Is more independent, and likes to reaffirm that she is a big girl and can do more things on her own now
Starting to show awareness of other people's feelings
Knows the names of the days of the week
Turns book pages to find her favourite part or picture and explains what's going on



Enjoys doing puzzles
Starting to choose her clothing such as the type of underpants or leggings she wants
Isn't as afraid of sand as before
Starting to use words like 'because' and 'then' to explain
Loves raisins, her baby puffs, watermelon, cheese and yoghurt
Isn't afraid of paints 'dirty-ing' her hands anymore
Starting to be a little rebellious (terrible twos when will you be gone :()
Likes to imitate what we say and the tone used
Able to do a few expressions like happy, sad, shocked and angry
If she wants or needs something like a toy that's high up and she can't reach, she'll push her chair and climb up to get it herself
Loves to run around in open spaces

Kaitlin is 28 months old!

It only occurred to me recently that Kaitlin will be turning 2 and a half years old really soon, and not long later I will have to plan for her 3rd birthday! Pretty exciting but I'm also feeling a little sad that she's growing up so fast. I know I am supposed to be happy, and I honestly am, but she is growing up so fast that I wish time would freeze so that I could enjoy each and every one of her milestones a little longer. It's just a wonderful feeling to see her learn new things and improve on what she already knows.

Honestly, the kid totally amazes me. It's like I read about how fast babies and toddlers learn and to see her do that is just WOW! She might not be the fastest or most advanced amongst her peers, but I think what she is able to do and how fast she learns and adapts is pretty amazing.

Here are some of Kaitlin's more significant milestones:

Able to reply questions

Asks why and what

Drinking more formula milk but prefers fresh milk

Eating bigger portions

Likes to eat watermelon

Able to sing English and Mandarin nursery rhymes

Loves singing and dancing

Likes to read by herself

More independent, doesn't want our help and wants to do it herself, and makes it known to us 

Love to jump on the bed

Enjoys playing with blocks and imagining them to be trains or airplanes

Talks to herself at times

Able to count 1-10 without skipping numbers in between in both English and Mandarin

Likes to paint

Able to draw circles

Has developed a sense of humor, and tries to do things to make us laugh

Able to recount events that happened earlier in the day or even a few days before

Kaitlin sometimes uses a mix of English and Mandarin words together

She speaks some Singlish phrases too, which is pretty funny to hear

Likes to repeat certain phrases that she hears us say and that she finds amusing

Her Mandarin has a slight ang moh accent at times

She has a naughty corner, and at times when she does realize she has not been a very good girl, she'll say she wants to go there

No longer confused with using 'you', 'me' and 'I'

Likes to dance

At times, she is able to find ways to entertain herself

Loves singing ABC and counting 1-10 to herself

Likes to look at other kids e.g. neigbours swimming at the pool

Interacts with her soft toy and engages in pretend play, teaching them what is right and wrong

Does most of her toileting needs at her potty

Able to sleep through the night most of the time. If she wakes up she can usually go back to sleep quite fast as long as I'm around

At times, she is pro-active about keeping her toys after she is down and before moving on to the next activity

Likes to delay nap and sleeptime

Doesn't wake up early on her own on school days, on weekends she'll auto wake up early *sigh*

Understands the concept of now and later.

Is not so afraid of getting a haircut as before

Able to put on and take out her shoes and keep them

Able to wear shorts on her own

Knows her daily routine quite well and will talk about it. When she knows what she is supposed to do next and doesn't want it she will say. E.g. after lunch is story time and after that is shower time. If she doesn't want to shower, straight after story time she'll let us know.

Kaitlin is 27 months old!

Kaitlin turns 27 months old on Tuesday, and wow..this past month we witnessed a significant milestone..and that is that Kaitlin has stopped breastfeeding!

Aside from that, here are some her other milestones,

Kaitlin wakes up lesser times than before. There were a few occasions where she slept at least 7 hours straight. However, recently she has been waking a bit more frequently.
Since she has stopped breastfeeding, Kaitlin's appetite has increased especially in the first two weeks.

Her milk powder intake has also increased but she's not drinking as much as her peers.
Kaitlin's able to play with her blocks and builds them pretty high, she also likes to use them to build aeroplanes. They don't look like aeroplanes, but it's a great use of imagination. She also likes to knock them over at times.
Kaitlin also likes to us to take a look a what she's built.

She's quite into soft toys now. She had this bear which she brought everywhere for almost two weeks, but now she has shown interest in other soft toys. Poor teddy!
She will look after her soft toys, such as clearing their "poop", and getting them to sit properly during story time.
Loves to scribble and colour. Shes's in the drawing circles stage!
She knows how to direct us to the naughty corner when we've done something wrong.
She's been expressing herself abit more by saying "I'm angry" or "I'm sad". I'm not sure if she really feels that way cos sometimes we aren't even doing anything to her and she randomly says it and looks like she is playing and imitating us.
She's into her scooter, but recently she had her first scrape and she wasn't so into it anymore. In fact she was pretty clingy after that..hoping that she'll want to play with again.
Kaitlin is more aware of what's happening and will express that she wants or does not want to do a particular activity, like sleeping or showering, but wants to play instead.

Kaitlin is able to answer certain questions as well, such as what she ate in school.
She's pretty particular and choosy of her utensils and her milk. Some days she'll want her barney spoon or hello kitty spoon, some days she'll want the princess cup for milk and hello kitty cup for water. She'll be specific about it and if she doesn't get it, she won't be too happy. She'll sometimes want fresh milk and when we tell her her powder milk is fresh milk, she'll know it is not and continue asking for fresh milk.
Kaitlin has started to ask 'why', but currently we feel it's more of for the sake of asking than really being curious. In any case, we still reply where we can.
She is able to call for us when she wants to and sometimes will shout when she gets excited
Common words and phrases include "so funny", "lolx", and "i like you"

She has learnt from observation that I like to take pictures of things when I happen to  say it's "so cute" or "it's pretty" so when I do say "oh that's pretty" she would want to take her toy camera and try to take a picture. Sometimes, she wants to take a picture of us, could be using her toy camera or our phone.Though she doesn't really know how to actually take a photo using our phone, but she has fun snapping away.
Kaitlin knows which sign in the lift is for 'close'.
She can recognise certain numbers like '4'.
Kaitlin knows her own English and Chinese name. According to her teachers, she knows the names of her classmates in Chinese as well.
She has taken a liking to her classmate at her weekend class and looks forward to going because of her. K also likes to hold hands with her!

She is able to name actions like "jumping" and "bouncing" and do them.
She has developed a bad habit of throwing things for fun.
Uses different tones when communicating
Can hold short conversations
She is able to sing more songs and nursery rhymes, sometimes in full sentences. She can sing ABC, Happy Birthday, Baa Baa Black Sheep pretty well.
When we walk past an oven, she'll say "for baby and me" because of the nursery rhyme 'Pat a Cake' where the cake is placed in the over for baby.

When she gets frustrated, she would kick or hit us or anything near her. Sometimes, she would start screaming and wailing. Looks like she isn't going to get past the 'terrible twos' stage anytime soon..but it's part of the growing up process. We definitely don't like having to deal with her tantrums but I'm pretty sure every other kid out there at this age would be doing the same. It's already kind of good that she behaves at school so it's only when she is around us, the people who she is most comfortable with that she sometimes behaves this way. We don't give in all the time because we don't condone certain kinds of behaviour, so in a way I guess we are also teaching her what can or cannot be done and that whining or crying doesn't mean that she'll get her way.

The next month is going to be quite an "exciting" one. K's going to going up to Nursery level, that means a new classroom, new teachers and new classmates. Oh, I'm pretty sure there will be tears and she will be feeling insecure..so that's going to be a whole rollercoaster ride. On the other hand, it's also a way for her to learn to adapt and cope with changes. It's not going to be fun dealing with her insecurities and of course I'll feel sad seeing her cry, but I believe that all this will do her some good..and kids really do adapt well so I think she'll do just fine (I hope she does!)

Kaitlin is 26 months old!

This past month has been wonderful seeing Kaitlin progress in terms of her speech and awareness of her surroundings. There's so much more interaction between her and us as she starts to become more vocal and understands what is going on around her.



Kaitlin turned 26 months old yesterday, and in this month's series of photos she's got her princess hand puppet toy with her. As usual, here are some of her more significant milestones:

Kaitlin is able to form three/four word sentences.
She sometimes repeats what we say, and in routine situations she will say what we would usually say such as if we mention it's time to eat. She'll say "wash hands, dry hand, eat, mumum okay"
Likes to imitate sounds, words and actions.
She is starting to convey what she wants/doesn't want to do
She also seems to be able to anticipate what's next.

She still loves nursery rhymes and is able to sing. She usually sings softer than her talking voice. In fact, her class is on the topic of nursery rhymes this term.
Kaitlin is able to build stack her blocks higher and higher on her own and loves to ask us to take a look at it
Enjoys doing jigsaw puzzles

Kaitlin is able to identify her friends in school, her teachers and her godparents.
Able to match animal and their animal sounds like cows moo, sheeps baa etc.
Able to identify colours and some shapes like triangle, square and circle.
She knows the procedure of certain things such as what she should do when she goes home, and would talk about it when we say that we are going home already. For example, she'll say "go home, take out shoes, keep shoes, wash feet, wash hand okay", as that's what we would usually tell her.

Can count 1-10 in Mandarin
She is able to count 1-10 in English, but usually goes "1, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10!"
Kaitlin has recently learnt to pout and loves doing it.
Able to walk on tip toes
Knows how to open/close the curtains (using a remote) and on/off the fan
Able to turn the tap on and off
Likes to splash water when bathing and can tell communicate that the water is too hot/cold

She can get pretty whiny and has quite an attitude, something we definitely need to work on with her.
Understands the concept of sharing but doesn't readily share as she used to
Likes to help out around the house by hanging clothes, helping to take things, closing the door
Gets happy when she sees other babies and children and will sometimes say "Hi" and wave to them on her own

It makes me extremely happy to see Kaitlin grow and progress everyday. It's amazing, and makes me warm and fuzzy all at the same time. Nothing in the world could replace watching your own kid grow up, being there for them and witnessing their "first's" with them. I love you very much my little pumpkin!

Kaitlin is 25 months old!

Five days ago, Kaitlin turned 25 months old. It amazes me how fast it has been, cos it really did feel like we just celebrated her birthday..and speaking of which I'm not even done with posting about it D: 

Well, this month there hasn't been much of any new milestones, but more of Kaitlin improving and basically being a real sponge. She has been absorbing the words we speak, and things we do around the house really quickly which is great of course. I don't know how she does it..but I'm amazed. I mean I've read up that kids below 5/6 years old absorb information really fast, and are quick learners but like to see it happening is really quite cool.

Here's what's been happening the past month:

Kaitlin is particular about whose item belongs to who. Probably learnt from being in a school setting. For example if I am using a pink cup and then Daddy Li drinks from it she will start saying "mama one" indicating that no one else should be using it except me. I guess this is in a way a good thing cos it ensures that no germs are passed.
She's able to play and imagine. For example, she pretends that an ez-link card/block is a train and goes "choo-choo"
Able to turn door knobs
Able to count to six in Mandarin
Can identify the colour orange and purple
She likes to play Ring Around The Roses
Kaitlin is able to name her friends and teachers
Likes to play with blocks and kitchen toys

Enjoys counting and going through the ABCs
Likes to seek our attention. Will call out for us, but for no particular reason.
At times, says 'I love you' and 'I miss you' on her own
Nap duration has reduced
Kaitlin is getting better at climbing and can walk up and down most staircases on her own without holding on to our hands/any railings
So much more active and is very agile
Able to say 'Please' and 'Thank You' at times without prompting
Afraid of sand but loves to walk on grassy areas
Afraid of the pool as we haven't been going recently
Loves to drink fresh milk and eat bread

That's about it..or well..about all I can remember! She's really growing so fast I can hardly keep up, but it's a good thing of course and I'm happy. We just went for her feet/leg check up today and as usual we just have to wait and monitor the situation yearly. For now, I'm just really thankful that it has not affected her physically and that she's able to move around like a normal kid, and in fact is slightly faster than her peers. I just hope that the situation will get better, and even if it doesn't I'll still love and treasure her all the same. Love you always babygirl <3

KAITLIN IS TWO YEARS OLD!

Obviously this post is wayyyyy overdue, but here it finally is!! Kaitlin turned THE BIG TWO a few weeks back, and here are the photos we took on her special day!

Babygirl was ill so she was pretty much a cranky girl, but of course we tried our best to make it a special day for her. But you know how kids are. One moment they are laughing away and the next, they are screaming like you took their favourite toy away. More about how we celebrated in the posts to come (working on it!).

For now, here are some of her milestones!

Kaitlin likes to pretend play - talking on the phone, kitchen play
She likes to play hide and seek (her version), and likes to hide behind places to scare people (learned from us!)
She's gone into a "mine" stage, where she doesn't want to share unless coaxed and thinks that we are trying to take her things. An example, would be trying to take the spoon to feed her and she would say 'mine' like we are stealing it away from her. Probably because she is aware of herself as a separate from others.

Able to instruct us to eat when she's eating. "Eat, eat", "Eat leh", "Makan" She basically observed what we usually say when we are going to eat and now she does it when she observes that it's mealtime.
She's taken more interest in playing with other children and babies especially. When she sees a fellow kid, she'll refer to them as 'friend'.
Loves jumping (off steps) and walking on grass. She's terrified of sand though.
Kaitlin is able to name her classmates, and even objects related to the specific classmate.
Likes to press buttons (lift, traffic light)
Able to wear her socks, shoes and pants herself.
Can stand on tip toes
Can say 'Godma' and 'Godpa'!
Knows how to get on the pram herself.

Able to do simple puzzles.
Can count to ten and say recite the ABC with help.
Able to blow bubbles and candles.
Repeats words overheard in conversations
Sometimes she likes to walk alone, that is, not holding our hands.
Able to give her first name when asked.
Mostly knows how to identify between big and small.
Able to identify most animals, fruits and vegetables.

I'm definitely feeling very relieved that K has met almost all of the milestones she is supposed to meet. Of course some are a little later and the others came earlier, but I think it all boils down to the fact that she is well and I'm just glad for that.

I used to worry about her speech being delayed, but having heard her utter words and now short sentences, I feel so super relieved. She is still a little behind her peers, but everyone grows and develops at their own pace, so I try not to worry about it.

Having celebrated her second birthday with her..I've come to realised that all that really matters is that she is healthy and happy! I mean that's has always been important to me..it's just that with all the things I've read up, and all that expectations, sometimes I kind of forget what's really the most important for Kaitlin.

I'll be blogging about how we celebrated Kaitlin's birthday..just need some time..Meanwhile, if you're interested, here's how we celebrated her first birthday here, here and here!

Kaitlin is 23 months old!

Kaitlin turned 23 months old yesterday! One more month till her big TWO. So happy and I can't wait to celebrate her turning two. We don't have any plans for a birthday party, but I'm just excited that she turns another year older. At the same time, I of course also do feel sad that my baby is growing up so fast. Sometimes I wish I could still carry her like an infant and for her to just let me carry her so I can stare into her eyes. These days she'll barely stand or sit still for me to even wipe her mouth clean. Sigh, grow up so fast :')

Kaitlin's learning more and more new words everyday. She's able to repeat the words we teacher her most of the time.
Whenever Kaitlin learns a new word, she usually says it in a high-pitch voice which so is friggin cute! Then as time passes, it just becomes like normal pitch and tone..and we miss all the cuteness! Examples include 'no', 'sorry' and 'thank you'.

She's also able to form more short sentences to express her needs and wants. For example 'Daddy, orh orh', 'Mummy, come sit' and 'I want more'.
Starting to call me "Mummy' beside the usual 'Mama'. Able to also say 'God Pa','God Ma' and 'Shu Shu'. Pronunciation isn't really there but at least she can say it and knows who is who.

We manage to teach Kaitlin to say 'I love you'! Yayyyy!!!! Pronunciation is not quite there and I'm not sure if she knows what it means, but we are still very happy parents hehe.

We've also been teaching her manners like 'please' and 'thank you'. She usually repeats after us which is great.
Also teaching her 'good morning', 'good night' (she'll usually just say 'night') and 'zao an'.
Kaitlin is able to predict and say what's next. For example we usually teach her to say 'wo ai mama and papa very much' and when we try to get her to repeat after us word for word, she'll skip the word we are asking her to repeat and just say the next word. That's quite good I feel.
Uses the word 'mine'. Think she might be starting to understand the concept of self.
Kaitlin is able to count to 3!

She's more open to our friends who visit, and isn't as shy as before. She also takes a faster time to warm up which is awesome.
Kaitlin's able to walk up and down the stairs confidently when we are outside. She usually holds our hands to climb the stairs if we are not at home so it's great to see that she has more confidence in herself.
Her confidence has also improved in terms of her speech. She is more verbal in class and when there are other people around. She used to only mainly speak when we are at home only when no stranger is paying attention to her. Kaitlin is able to take off and put on her own pants and undergarments. Funny part is she can't really pull her the back of her pants up cos her hands aren't long enough so we help  her pull it up a little and she does the rest herself.
Able to take off her socks and shoes and keep it in the correct place.

She loves to go to the pool although she doesn't really swim and just chills in her float and walks around the pool. She gets super excited whenever we tell her we are going to the pool and will run to get her swimsuit, and she has a favourite one. She knows where the usual objects are placed and where to keep them specifically. For example, certain toys, towels, her swimsuits.
Loves to play with her toy kitchen. Future chef perhaps? Esp since she picked the spatula during her 'zhua zhou' ceremony last year.
Kaitlin can walk on tip toes.
She is able to blow her food.
Can do simple puzzles.
Shows interests in other kids and babies.

Potty training is going good. She is able to pass urine on the potty as well. There are times when she ends up pooping in her diapers but we just remind her to tell us that she needs to go potty if she has to poop. No pressure cos we don't want her to end up hating it.

Is in a throwing phase. Likes to throw things around which isn't a good thing so we've been trying to teach her.
She still has bad tantrums, really hoping that we are able to teach and guide her in the right way.

Terrible Twos can be such a horrible stage to go through, as the name itself suggests. We all hope for it to be over soon, but at the same time I guess it's a good challenge for Daddy Li and myself. We learn to be more patient and deal with each situation/tantrum.

We're happy to see that she's doing well in school, and that she's meeting almost all the milestones for her age. Of course every kid develops at their own pace so there should be no pressure, but this does make me worry less. This last month before she turns two, I'm just gonna spend as much as time as I possibly can with her and just try and remember all of it and spam taking pictures and videos. Afterall, she is only gonna ever be this small and young once.