Ian's Updates Post Europe

Whoa... Time really flies. Today is the 29th of Feb which also makes Ian exactly 27 months old! Although technically he is considered to be three this year, he turned two just three months ago so it isn't really fair to compare his development to a three year old.

Ian is very chatty. He can really chatter some serious gibberish nowadays. I find it so cute that he really makes an effort to 'talk' to us. Of course, he has picked up some words along the way.

A development that we missed while we were in Europe was him saying "Waitttttt!!!" while holding his palm out in protest, whenever anyone attempts to walk out the door. Due to this, his Datuk always 'cair' and ends up bringing him along in the car to whenever he needed to go. Other than that, my maid also reported that if he is watching TV alone in the living hall and he decides he wants to look for her, he would walk around the house saying "Heyooo? Heyooo?"

However on Jan 5th, just two weeks after we arrived back in sunny ol' Malaysia, he said "Tatak!!!" (Kakak) for the first time. Since then, instead of saying "Heyooo" when looking for the maid, he would say "Tatak!! Tatak!!"

Other than that, his vocab has also increased significantly. He now knows various parts of the body (eyes, nose, hair, hand, ears). However, sometimes he would interchange 'mouth' with 'eat'. He also recognizes basic colours (red, green, blue, pink, yellow, black etc). Here are his other common words:

Abiiii = habis
Tatuh = jatuh
Bot = robot
Bibi = TV
Shu = susu
Tar = car
Bawer = flower
Yuuu = thank you/love you
Atum = welcome (you're welcome)
Main = mine (also used to indicate that he wants someone to play wit him, aka main)

In terms of physical development, he finally figured out how to jump at the end of December. I got a video of him finally being in mid-air... it was quite exhilarating for me to see that he finally 'got it'. I am soooo looking forward to bringing him to Jumpstreet to test out his jumping skills. He can also run quite confidently. Loves to play tag with his brother. Even though he doesn't know how to say it in words, he would do a 'garang' face and growl at his brother.... and automatically Aiden would understand that that's the cue for him to start running and for Ian to start chasing.

Still in the spirit of monkey see, monkey do, Ian wants to do everything his brother does. Everyday, he would request to dress up like Aiden and follow Aiden to school. He would tap on his chest (to indicate that he wants to change into school uniform) and feet (for socks and shoes). Similarly, he would open his mouth and point into his mouth to show that he wants to eat or drink whatever Aiden is holding/drinking/munching. He would even repeat whatever Aiden says, trying as best as he can to replicate the words exactly. Aiden loves to make Ian repeat his favourite line in The Good Dinosaur, "Aa Aa Aa Arlow!" and we would always love hysterically at Ian's version of it! ("Ayy yow")

Ian biggest asset to date, is his unruly curls. It is usually the first thing that people notice about him! Even though his hair looks short (but huge sideways *giggles*), if you pull a single curl down, it actually goes over shoulder length! And the biggest advocate against cutting those adorable curls, is none other than our beloved maid. My maid loves Ian like his own son, and for that I am truly blessed, and thankful.

Not to forget, on the rare occasions that we get angry at Ian, he would wrinkle his nose and wring his hands in (what seems to be) anger, quietly.

A thing that I really noticed about Ian that Aiden didn't have, is the traits of a perfectionist. He loves putting things in a row, and even colour coordinates them. When we were at the JKids ball pit, he took a basket and started filling it with only pink balls. The next round it was blue balls. We would tease him by putting in a different coloured ball or two, and he would immediately remove it out! Similarly, he was doodling with a pink coloured pencil on a page. The next day, he saw the page and requested to continue doodling. I opened the box of colour pencils and handed him a purple colour pencil. He shook his head, took the whole box and rummaged until he found the exact pink colour pencil and continued colouring!

He is also starting to form sentences and questions now. Even though it's usually coupled with a lot of gibberish, but so far we've been able to make up this much:

Weer Daddy? = Where's Daddy?
Ah tat? = What's that? (Aiden's version was Wat tis? = What's this?)
Wat pen? = What happened?
Mummy tar = Mummy's car
Babang, jom naik = Abang, jom naik (let's go up)

That's all for now! I am really looking forward to him forming proper sentences, so that he and Aiden can have a proper conversation. Major love! Happy 28 months old baby!