After a loooooong break

Haven't visited this blog for a looong time. A lot, and I mean a lot has happened in these few months.

Firstly, Aly learned to walk at 13.5 months. and then there was a mental leap that got her spitting out words like a bullet train. Till date, she has a vocabulary bank of more than 180 spoken words, and more than 230 understood words. On top of that she's able to answer quite a number of questions with yes or no. E.g. Do you want to take a bath? And she'll say "yesh". I'd really like to list a few words she can say.. but that will have to wait till I can find the time to do so. Oh yes, she's also gotten quite good at 3 words sentences. Like.. baby wear shoes, baby wear shades. etc. She even said a 4 word sentence a few days back, but I can't remember what it was =(

She's also started learning how to count. I'll say 1, 2 and she'll say 3. I'll say 4, 5, 6, 7,8, and she'll say 9 and 10. But she has learned the consequence of saying 9 and 10 means some fun activity will end. So she has learned that in order to prolong fun time, she'll prolong saying 9 and 10.. or just say no when she's supposed to say 9 or 10. =/

She's also learned distraction techniques. Like when I catch her doing something naughty, she'll very quickly "distract" me with her tricks (like pointing to her body parts and naming them.. baby... eyes) or pointing and naming other objects, or asking me to do something for her. =/

At 17 months, her stranger anxiety has skyrocketed. She'll literally claw on to me when a stranger approaches and she's even started showing her "shy" face. Frozen body, very very quiet, her head bowed down. Which is actually pretty cute to watch! Really similar to how cartoons portray shy kids.

She knows every single one of my students by name and face, and she can now say all of their names. All 34 of them. She's also extremely helpful. She'll pick up rubbish when she sees any, and she'll help me deliver test papers to students. I'll go: Baby, give this to koko ____ and she'll do it. =D

She also started referring to herself as "baby" 1.5 months back. She'll say baby this... baby that... she's able to differentiate between what is daddy's and mommy's and what is baby's.

She also learned to walk backwards 2 months ago and she's been learning to run. Trips alot and somehow has learned to blame the floor - a habit I am in the midst of breaking, but I wonder how she got the idea in the first place. That and the idea of stepping on an ant when she sees one! Argg..

Sleep wise, she's getting way easier to settle down now, and I've stopped carrying her to sleep for more than 6 months now. =) And 2 months ago, she started falling asleep in her own cot as opposed to our bed. =) Next step of sleep training is to get her to fall asleep without body contact (patting) and singing.. and finally to be able to fall asleep without me.

She's also been getting extra cheeky, testing and pushing boundaries every hour!And it seems that she more or less knows when she's crossed a line. There'll be this cautious look on her face as she scans my facial expressions and tone of voice.

Sooo.. that's all the updates I have for now. Will try to blog more now that I'm on a long holiday. Hopefully upload some recent pictures of her too!


Ah.. in the mean time.. please keep us in prayers, we've been TTC for 2 months now, but so far, no + signs yet. =( It is disappointing and frustrating.. the whole wait and trying.. wait and trying... But.. that's all that we can do.