Turning 1!

Well.. the day has finally arrived. Meera is one year old! I can hardly believe how my little baby has changed in just one year. Now she's walking and talking (her own language,anyway). SO much has changed!

Since she started taking her first tentative steps, Meera's progress has come in leaps (pun intended) and bounds. She walks quite fast now and hardly ever topples over. Recently I notice she hardly crawls anymore and I realise it's cos she can stand up on her own. Previously she always had to crawl towards the wall/ furniture to pull herself up to stand and walk. But now that she can stand by herself its walking all the way. And she's fast too! Luckily I recently put an anklet for her so it helps me keep track of her movements when my back is turned....cos one minute she's sitting and the next her head is in the cupboards! Speaking of cupboards, I have consistently allowed her to open cupboards but not take anything out. Now I'm not sure if Meera has incredible restraint or she just doesn't know any better but till today she hardly ever tries to remove anything from my cupboards. Of course there are days when she disobeys but a firm 'No!' from me will usually stop her in her tracks. As I type this I'm crossing my fingers that I don't have to retract this now that it's out in the open.

I have come realise that I never put up stuff about how good/ easy Meera is simply because I'm terrified that the minute I mention how good Meera is its all gonna come crashing down on me! Like the gods are gonna realise they aren't being fair and give me my dose of 'difficult baby'. But she's turning 1 now and nothing has changed so I guess she was one of those 'easy' babies that parents pray for. Hopefully I can say the same for the coming toddler years!

As for other developments...she can finally wave bye-bye. We still need to work on her timing though....she only waves AFTER the person is no longer in sight. I've continued signing with her but so far I can't really make out if she's signing back. She does a lot of hand gestures but like her speech, it's nothing I can decipher. I am waiting impatiently for her to call me but still no sign of that! Her favorite 'word' is "deh" while pointing at something. So I'm constantly labeling everything. Hopefully something is registering in that head of hers!

She's also started to indicate what she wants by pointing. Like when I'm feeding her she will point to her cup whenever she wants water. Or when she spots something that catches her interest and it's beyond her reach; she will point.

We haven't taken her for her 1 year well visit so not sure about her growth. But I can see her losing a lot of her baby fat. I think she still weighs the same but she's grown taller so the weight has kind of distributed itself a bit.

No 'More'...

When I first came up with the name for my blog, I wanted it to reflect a new passage in my life. Motherhood. And at the time I was silly enough to think that there would be more to life that that. Flash to the present and I have come to realise that there is no more to my life (and this blog) than being a mother. Sad, or so i thought. The truth is, I have relished this past year. Although there are days when I find myself simply staring at the clock willing the hands to move faster, most days I truly enjoy being with Meera. I remind myself that time will go by in a flash and I must live in the moment.

A few days ago my boss got in touch with me to ask if I was ready to come back to work. It got me thinking....am I ready? When I told Jing about the call he asked me how I felt about it. I said, ''I'm ready but Meera isn't''. Truth is I'm the one that's not ready. As for Meera, I think she would survive.

Everyday, I see her growing and changing in so many different ways. From the little bundle that couldn't even focus on me to the toddling child that will look at me with a beaming smile as if to share a private joke with me. In those moments I realise that I don't need anything more.

Ask me again in a few months and maybe I'll have a different answer. I hear the toddler years are hell (on the parents!)...

Updates...

Instead of my monthly update of Meera, I figured I'd squeeze in a mid-month progress report since there's lots to report. *beaming*

A few days ago Meera finally figured out how to clap her hands. It was quite amusing to watch her discover this feat. At first she would tap one finger to her other hand. Then slowly she figured out how to touch both palms together. Could see she was really pleased with herself. Now she can clap on command and every once in a while when I praise her with 'good girl' or clever girl she'll give herself a standing ovation!

She also understands 'arms up' and hubby taught her how to shake hands. Been working on kisses but she doesn't quite get it yet.

Oh....I've also been meaning to mention that I'd been trying out sign language with her and recently she signs milk whenever she sees the bottle. But she also seems to make the sign randomly at other times so I'm not sure if she really gets it or not. Also her 'bye-bye' looks a lot like the milk sign too! Hmmm...

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

or Happy Chinese New Year! This was Meera's first one so it will be a pretty memorable one for me. Although she is still too young to fully realise what's going on I did want us to start a few traditions that we would be carrying out for the following years. This year Chinese New Year fell on Valentine's Day...so we had a different kind of Valentine's this year but special none the less.
Hubby's whole family was back for this festival so it was quite a fun filled time for us. We spent alot of time at Meera's grandparents place. Fortunately she adapted quite well to the change in her daily routine. From the reunion dinner, which went way past her bedtime....




To our one night stay at Shangri-La (courtesy of hubby's brother). I was quite worried that Meera would have trouble sleeping in the hotel room but she did just fine. She actually fell asleep with the TV on!

Ending with our annual open house at the in-laws place which went on till pretty late. We brought along her play pen so she got to sleep a bit. But I guess the whole week of unpredictability was a lot to take in cos she was quite fussy...





We also made a trip up to Penang (as mentioned in my previous post). But by this time I guess we were really pushing it cos Meera fell sick the day we arrived. I guess 15 days of festivities is too much for a baby not quite 1.