Dear Isabelle,
Wow you are two months shy of turning 2 years old, our little honey bunny! Which also means we are two months from Christmas!
You are growing and developing much, must I say. Yesterday morning I caught you singing Edelweiss to yourself when you woke up. You certainly have a few songs under your belt now.
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| Intense concentration at doodling |
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| Playing a matching game at Vanessa's |
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| A selfie with mummy |
Love for ballet
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| Looking mightily pleased in your ballet outfit |
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| Learning moves from YouTube |
So mummy introduced you to the world of ballet by chance, because I was so tired of listening to Baby Shark. One day I wondered what I could play from Youtube which has more soothing music (and less of an ear worm.. ). Suddenly ballet came to mind and hey presto, Ballet by Emma Wiggle came into our lives. You get really excited and to add on to it, mummy started you on a few baby ballet trial lessons and it really caught on! Initially you were very intimidated by the class, especially the older kids and you refused to move in the class. You simply wouldn't budge and clung on to me tightly. However, you observed and learnt through your eyes. The next day I caught you practising "bend and stretch" at home and you looked a bit shy, yet happy, when I pointed it out "oh Isabelle are you doing the bend and stretch exercise from yesterday's class?" Attending the ballet class is also a good time for us to hang out with our Sing and Sign friends, your two best friends. We get to have lunch together after class. To add on to it, mummy went to buy you a ballet outfit (leotard and real ballet shoes) over the weekend and you really do light up, baby girl, when you put on your leotard, tutu and ballet shoes and dance to Emma Wiggle's ballet videos at home. Sometimes that's the first thing you ask for in the morning is to "wear ballet shoes!" Daddy is very worried that mummy is turning you into a very typical girly type of girl.. well, let's see how far this takes us shall we?
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| at ballet class |
Sleep routine
Mummy blogged about this earlier, just because your sleep story deserves a long post on its own, filled with ups and downs. It was definitely a down when we first returned from Singapore, understandably, and we had to really put our feet down to re-train you, after mummy desperately reached out to our sleep consultant again. Letting you scream and cry for a while is part of the process, although mummy knows that this is quite impossible to do in Singapore, because none of our family members would allow it. They say you might be frightened with lasting psychological impact, and so before we can start timing your cries, someone else would rush into the bedroom to comfort you. But don't worry people, so far no studies have shown that crying does any lasting psychological damage to a child. So yep, we couldn't do any sleep training in Singapore. It's hard to listen to your cries, don't get me wrong, but we have to do what we needed to do, because this is an important life skill, baby girl. Mummy and daddy do not want to still be patting you to sleep when you are 7 years old. You need to learn how to fall asleep by yourself again. And you have done it before so we know it is in you already.
As of this week, mummy is so glad to say that you are doing just that! Now, mummy can safely tuck you into bed, kiss you good night, say love you, and God bless you.. you say the same words back to mummy and very happily, mummy can leave the room and you do not fuss at all! You then fall asleep on your own! We are so proud of you baby girl, this hasn't been easy but you have done it. This also means that mummy and daddy can have their dinners on time, rather than spend at least 30min sitting beside you in the dark, just waiting for you to fall asleep. This is definitely a big win for all of us.
Love for food
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| Chomping down a box of biscuits you found in the bag |
This, will always be a category in every Dear Isabelle letter, because by now everyone knows you really love food. These days your favourite breakfast is "Cereals (Rice Krispies) with milk-milk" as you call it. You really love this. I've tried to give you different options - peanut butter toast, toast with ham, oats... but you will always choose Rice Krispies with milk. Often, you will also look out for what mummy is eating and come and hijack my breakfast, before going back to yours. Vanessa your childminder tells me you eat very well at hers too, so this is one department which we really don't need to worry about. Every time I pick you up from Vanessa's, you know by now that I will bring some biscuits for you. You will always try to peek into my handbag saying "mummy, biscuits!"
You can also be a bit selective in what you put in your mouth too, although there is nothing for concern right now since you eat majority of the foods we give you. But the other day mummy cooked a tuna pasta dish and upon the first bite, you shook your head and told me "not nice". And you simply refused to eat! Having no backup dinner option, I gave you your fav "cereal with milk-milk" and you were a happy bunny again.
Singing, Talking
You love to sing and talk when you are in a happy mood, which is most of the time. We can now recognise the songs which you are singing as they are more clearly pronounced than before. You sing Twinkle, twinkle little star, ABC alphabet song, Edelweiss (this was a surprise for mummy), Jingle Bells, and many more. You are talking a lot too, although most of the time we still don't know what you are talking about. But you are definitely picking up words, echoing after us adults. One day soon, baby girl, I'm sure we will be having proper conversations. Everytime I pick you up from Vanessa's, I always spot you running around happily, talking non-stop. The moment you see me, you run to the glass door and jump with joy, grinning from ear to ear. It is such an endearing sight to behold. Vanessa would always give me a quick run down of what you did for the day, and recently she says you love to go to the kitchen and talk to her in your baby language. And if she doesn't acknowledge or answer you back, you will go "Nessa!" to catch her attention, making her laugh. She keeps telling me you are like a sponge, repeating after everyone and she even taught you some Spanish words and how to count in Spanish.
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| You love to help so you were very happy that mummy gave you charge over the shopping trolley at the supermarket the other day |
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| You were fascinated by the live crabs and lobsters |
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| Busy doing grocery shopping |
You are such a darling to all of us Isabelle, and we thank God for such a blessing. Keep smiling and discovering, we love you lots.
Bear hugs,
Mummy & Daddy xxxx
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