23 months

What do you know – Spud is now only a month away from being a 2 year old. And, by now, we know too well that the Terrible Two Stage has been well, well underway!

When she’s not throwing her grand temper-tantrums however, Spud is actually quite a pleasant child to be with. Her megawatt smile is contagious and her hearty laughter warms the heart. 

These days, she’s into helping. She’d want to help vacuum the house when she sees the Nanny vacuuming, and she’d want to help sweep the floor whenever she sees the cleaners at our lobby working with their broom and dustpan. She loves to run little errands when we ask her to and would willingly obliged to turning on/off the fan or the lamps, fetching me my glasses, tidying up her toys (this one with a little bit more encouragement!) and even helping out to change her little brother’s nappy. 

She’s quite the little copycat, and I’ve actually caught her copying my actions – one of which is picking stuff up with my feet! She also plays pretend, and after seeing me cradling her little brother in my bid to comfort him when he’s crying, she also mimics my gestures of cradling, comforting and ssssshhhhhhhh-ing  her little Koala as she walks about the house and pretend to comfort her little toy. Spud even pretends to change nappy for the Koala, taking the new, clean tissues after tissues from our precious tissue box! 

Spud should, by now, be able to feed herself seamlessly during meal times, but for some reason, while she is completely capable of doing so in school (or so we have been told by her teachers), she still refuses to do it at home. (And if we let her, she’ll take 4 hours to finish one meal and creating one hell of a big mess!)

So, honestly, we are in no hurry and we are taking the easy (and lazy) way out – we’ll wait till she’s really ready to feed herself at a more reasonable pace with minimal mess. The same goes with potty training. 

And then there’s the transitioning to the “big bed”.

I guess that can wait too – or at least till she is showing a strong inclination that she is almost capable in climbing out of her cot which could pose a hazard for her own safety. 

At this stage, Spud continues to surprise us on what she retains and how much she remembers things! She’s also beginning to say funny things these days – something I need to remember and journalise just so that I can read back over these comical comments in the years to come!