20 month old

Just like what the parenting books say that children develop at different rates and they do not grow or grow up at a smooth rate. They will sometimes seem to stand still and at other times leap ahead. This is certainly the case for Daniel. Daniel's development seemed slow on first year, but second year into his life, he seemed to leap ahead since he was 14-15 month old. The most noticeable is his language development.

he is now use tow-word sentences, increasing to three words; he express recurrence 'more milk', 'more cereal; no-existence 'all gone milk'; attribution' big wheel'; nomination' that book', 'there' etc. His words are clear.
he starts to use pronouns (mine, yours);
he talks about activities if encouraged, when he came back from nursery he would say' baby, Jade, ball...Cohen', he know he is baby because he would point him when he says baby, the translation for his telegraphic sentence would be Jade(nursery staff) played ball with him and Cohen (another tot of same age in nursery).
he can tell us what he wants, e.g. 'milk' (he want to drink milk),'chair'( he wants to sit on his chair); bus (he want to watch the wheel on the bus)
he starts to use verbs ,e.g. 'Mama hover', 'Daddy plant flower'
he knows his name Daniel and he can say his name in Chinese 'Dan Dan'
Daniel's language development ticks the checklists for a two-year-old, reading to him early finally paid off, i think. he loves having books read to him and remembers the stories I read to him many times. Every night he would demand to read eight-night picture books until I have to say 'no more books! Mama too tired!' he remembers lots of nursery rhymes and songs and would joins in action, e.g. dance to it, try to sing... tell me what's it's called, like 'star' mean 'twinkle twinkle little star...' ; ' Spider' mean ' Wincy, wincy, spider'...

he sits at table to eat with us in a normal chair now and can feed himself with spoon although still messy, So I still tend to feed him but he insists on d it for himself. On his progress report from nursery it said he can fed himself without assistance.
he starts to play with other children instead of just playing alongside them. Last Friday I took him out with his playmate Justin and his mum to a farm. Justin is two month younger than Daniel. Daniel seemed to know to look out for Justin as he is his friend. When Justin wandered off, Daniel would point him and say 'Ju..Ju..Ju..'
he can recognize himself in the mirror and laughs..
he ascribes human properties to animals and objects, like eyes, noses, mouth etc..

Sex and City - the Movie

Like many other women I was a Sex and the City fan on TV series. I didn't miss any single episode when it on TV 5 years ago. I went to see the film on Monday evening with a girl friend, who is on the verge of breaking-up with her fiancee. To cheer her up i suggested to see this film with her. Terry agreed to have a boys' night-in with Daniel with Winnie-the Pooh and fish finger dinner.

A great see! a film about relationship and friendship! I like the way it portrait the mordern relationship, the way it deals with real emotional issues that people identify with, but does so with a hearty dose of glamour and sex. It's about addressing the insecurity of modern love and life and moving forward regardless of all these insecurities and risks... the film is also a big metaphor about friendship and loyalty and honesty despite one's limitations and neurosis. But somehow i have a bit dout about this, how true this can be? Miranda dropped the ball of sex in her juggling act of work, kid and husband and home but she has the time to go on an exotic holiday to cheer up her bed-bound friend Carrie while her own relationship with Steve is in breakdown. How can she leave her son behind?

Tagged

So, I have been tagged by Li. Guess i have to answer the questions

1. What did you do 10 years ago?
I was planning the future with my ex-husband decorating our new-bought flat in Kunming

2. Five things from you ‘to do’ list?
Have an early night!
Have an early night!
Have an early night!
Have an early night!
Have an early night!
I normally goes to bed at 10pm, here, what I mean by 'early night' is going to bed the same time as Daniel does (8pmish).

3. Favorite snacks?
Pringles; Nacho with cheese dipping & chili.

4. What would you do if you were a millionaire?
Pay off the house and buy a ski chalet in French Alps

5. Places where you’ve lived?
Kunming (China), Nanjing, Portsmouth, Southampton, Yorkshire.
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Done!!!
I don't have many blog friends and Guess I got no one to tag!

Daniel is feeding ducks

It is an unbelievably sunny day, not the sort of weather you can expect in England, more like the one in Hawaii and it's so hot as well. This morning we took Daniel to Newmiller Dam, a country park not far from us, where we can feed duck and walk in the woods around the lake. there were so shady in the woods and it felt so lovely in such a scorching weather. We took a three-wheeler pushchair with big wheels and suspension, but Daniel didn't bother to sit in it,he was running around in the woods, along the path. He walked quite a bit distance and got really excited when feeding the ducks.

Family Beach Fun

We drove down south on Friday to see Daniel's two sisters in Southampton, we booked Holiday Inn this time and stayed over for Friday and Saturday nights. Friday afternoon on arrival in Southampton we took Daniel to Marwell Zoo to see animals. Daniel was delighted by the road train towed by a trator in the zoo, he kept saying 'more, more...' each time the train stopped.

Daniel's two sisters are certainly approaching the busiest year of their teenagehood with Hanna is doing her GCSE and Charlotte has one more year to go before university. That's why our visit was planned short this time as they were both busy with their study and part-time working. Friday night we had meal at the pub where Charlotte does her part-time waitressing, Daniel behaved very well the whole evening and he even handed in the tip to his sister as she was on-duty that night serving us. On Saturday we took 3 children to visit their grands in littleampton and came back the hotel in the evening. We certainly made the most of weather on Saturday coming back home with bad sun-burns on my shoulders and tan on everyone faces. (I was busy putting lots of sun-cream all over Daniel's face and body I forgot to put some sun-cream on my shoulders.) We spent the day strolling and making sand castle on the beach outside Terry's parents' house and had ice-cream and fish & chips at the sea front. Daniel certainly enjoyed playing in the sea and paddles. He would say 'gone..' with both his hands stretching out flat when the tides gone. He didn't even mind to walk on the pebble bit of beach...