dearest Wen
You're 22 months today!

this month, your interest in pretend play has grown significantly. You have started to take interest in caring for a baby doll, doing things like wheeling it around in a stroller, pretending to feed it. I'm not so surprised about that, seeing as to how your sisters are always playing with the dolls, you were bound to learn from them. What I have been more surprised by is your interest in your sister's Hello Kitty doll house. You will actually take the 3 figurines of the bear, the Hello Kitty and the puppy and play with them, making them sleep on the toy bed, or pretend to walk up the stairs and swim in the pool. I'm quite astounded at your ability to play this way given how little you still are!

You are now able to stack duplo bricks up and play with them. This month, we've moved beyond the simple peg puzzles towards the jigsaw puzzle type of puzzles. I bought you a box of 6 puzzles ranging from 2-3 pieces each, and after your first few attempts with help from us, you are now able to fit the pieces together quite quickly with minimal help, if any at all. Because some times, we do try and help you and you will push our hands away or grab the piece from us and loudly proclaim, "I do!" You are also interested in fixing your sisters' 24 piece puzzles. You can't do it on your own, but if I pick out a piece and tell you where to fit it, you will sit there quietly to work on it with me. Neither of your sisters were interested in jigsaws till recently so this is again something I'm quite surprised by!

This month, your sisters were opening my drawers when they found their luggage bags, the type that has wheels and can be wheeled around. They promptly took out the bags and began to drag them all around the house as they played their games. You tried to take their bags whenever possible and this resulted in many fights and quarrels. So I had to go out one lunch time, and buy you a brand new luggage bag of your own! Of course, your jie jie Min, upon seeing it, decided that she was going to give you her bag and take your new bag. But you didn't really care one way or another. You were just happy to have a bag to drag around. When we went to Club Med last week, you were very pleased because I had packed you a bag too so you weren't left out.

The other day, grandma was walking you home from her place to ours, and when she stopped at the red light, you saw a cab passing by and stretched out your hand to flag the cab! Grandma was outraged that you could not only recognise a cab but be able to flag it down! When we take a cab, and we drive into our carpark, you are able to point to our lift lobby and tell the driver, "THERE!" That's what comes from not having our own car and taking cabs everywhere. You've become quite the expert on cabs! You do get to ride in ye ye and grandma's cars though, and your favorite spot, unfortunately, is the front seat next to the driver. If we place you at the back, you will, more often than not, wriggle your way out of the seat belt and attempt to climb to the front. I'm looking forward to us having our own car soon, so that I can strap you firmly into your car seat!

You are very clingy to me. I thought this was a phase that would quickly pass, but so far, I'm still your favorite parent/person most of the time, and you need to be in close contact with me all the time. When we were at Club Med, papa and I had the chance to spend a lot of time with you. You are such a cute little thing to be around. I don't think we've spent quite so much one on one time with you before! You loved swimming! The only thing was that you would cling to me for dear life! You love to stand at the side, hold my hand and jump in! You could do this over and over. You especially liked being in the deeper pool, probably because you had more space and it was easier to kick and swim around. In fact, with the yellow arm floats that Club Med lent us, you were able to swim on your own for a good distance. But still, you needed to be very close to me. From time to time, papa would "kidnap" you and drag you away to another part of the pool just so I could get a break from your claws on my skin, but that would result in some yelling and crying always! You could have just swum forever! When we got back to Singapore, we asked you to show ye ye and nai nai and grandma how you swim, and you immediately spread yourself out on the floor and began pushing yourself forward, with legs extended and moving too! Such a sight!

You aren't quite so interested in food any more. But the one thing we can easily get you to eat/drink is soup. During our vacation, you mostly drank the corn/mushroom soups that were served at the buffet, or you would have noodle soups. You are so independent and you are able to sit at your high chair, spoon in hand, and with your bib on, feed yourself mouthful after mouthful of soup. Auntie Linda was quite impressed by you. In Singapore, one of your favorite meals is the corn soup and bread from MOS burger. You are so tall that you are quickly catching up with your sisters. We used to be able to seat two of you on one stroller and push you around. But those days are now ended because you are much too heavy to sit on your sisters. When we do place you on either of them, especially jie jie Min, they will tell us that you are too heavy, or that you are crushing them.
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it's interesting that you are such a sociable creature, but that you need a very familiar face around, even if not next to you, but in the same room, so you can feel comfortable and safe. You've been going to Hannah yee yee's school to play a lot this month. You completely charm the socks off the kids there, and you'll tell Hannah yee yee or grandma that "I want to play with gor gor!" In fact, this past week we were out at a mall, and some of Hannah yee yee's students were there, and when they walked past you, they recognised you and said, "Eh! It's Wen Wen! Where's Miss Yeo?" But if Hannah yee yee leaves you alone with the kids, you'll cry madly. It's the same as when you go to nursery in church and you're very comfortable there now, and can play very well with everyone. But if we leave, you'll be inconsolable! I guess this is what is called separation anxiety.

Blessed 22nd month my boisterous, talkative, ever so cheerful little girl (that everyone thinks is a boy, even when you are in pink!).

Love, Mummy!