17th Month Wonders

My little toddler is growing up at a lightning speed. Reminds me, I need to be on full focus. Suffice to observe her one minute and I'm on for endless sweet discoveries. When I saw her playing with the computer mouse, clicking left and right and scrolling the wheel with her index finger while holding the mouse correctly, I thought it was just a simple game for her. But when I noticed how she was focused on the computer screen observing the changes, it was different. She knew what that little thing was for.

Another wonder is how she maneouvre her toy stroller. She walks from one ramp to another with magnificent ease. To think, I've learnt this technique at 29 years old (by asking a mommy friend how strollers work at ramps, escalators, metros and buses).

Louna with her stroller at the park.

I know she's on for more discoveries and I'd gladly accompany her. I'd love to watch the world through her innocent eyes.

Nature Lover. The first thing she would do upon arriving at home is to smell the tulips at the back of our house. Then she would take her toy stroller and walk around the garden, spending more time on the steps separating the terrace. She loves to climb them up and down.

This weekend, she stopped on the first step of the terrace pointing on something while saying tee tee. I checked on what captured her attention and there, I saw some ants and a bug merrily crawling. I then pointed to the ants and said ants, then to the bug and said bug. She then followed suit, pointing to the ants and said tee, then to the bug and said tee. She looked at me with that delighted and triumphant look so I was forced to clap my hands and say Bravo Louna.

PS: I don't force her anymore to get inside the house. She's an outdoor person. She enters when I announce that it's bath time.

Come Maman. She's got a new style. Each time I tell her anything that has something to do with taking the stairs like bath, potty or bed time, she would take my hand and lead me to the stairs. She's over with the crawling episode and would prefer climbing the stairs standing up with the help of Maman or Papa. Her legs are still too short to climb them alone.

Stair Gates Down. We finally decided to remove the stair gate. Louna knows that she's not allowed to go downstairs alone, too dangerous. She would normally stop before the stairs and call up. She never tried nor dared doing it alone. She climbs up the stairs alone though, but she would close the gate as a security measure upon arriving upstairs. Smart little girl.

Funny anecdote. She would close the security gate of any playground after getting in.

Down to 2 Diapers per Day. The nanny already informed us that Louna is almost potty trained. It's either she would say po to say pot which is pronounced as po in French, or she would take nanny's hand and lead her to the potty chair. Last week, it was no success for us to keep her on her potty chair. I've tried every method possible but she didn't cooperate. This weekend, we tried leaving Tetite (her fave toy) with her. And voila! She did it and she was proud.

Tetite has always been her toy fetish. It helped her crawl and walk. And I think there will always be great adventures coming with Tetite in tow.

Bon appetit. She's an easy-to-please little eater. She eats just about anything we offer her and even ask for more. With that comes her determination to hold her spoon and eat on her own. And she does that tidily. Even picking those tiny little crumbs around her bowl, put them carefully on her spoon before directing them to her mouth. And she even takes her glass of water from time to time to quench her thirst. She also blows her food even when it's not hot. She's a grown up.

Eating in a restaurant is not a problem anymore. She even livens up the discussion most of the time.

Tender Louna. Imagine her on her Papa's shoulder, caressing Papa's head with her tiny hands. That's video perfect. Aside from that, she hugs and she kisses (with sound!). What more can a Maman ask for?

Co-Sleeping Advocate. Ask her where she wants to sleep and she would run directly to our room giggling.

Vocabulary Check. She's learning slowly. She always babble different sounds which are quite hard to decode till now, like walawalawala or gonong gonong gonong. Friends say she speaks Tagalog. She also babbles tatatata melanged to a certain melody when she sings.

Here's some words/phrases which I was able to decode lately:

Ta Tee Tee. Translation: One Two Three. That's when she wants to play jumps. We hold her hands and then carry her forward at the count of three.

Ya pu. Translation: Il n'y en a plus pronounced as il nyona plyu (I'm bad at this one) which means nothing anymore in English. This is accompanied by hand gestures (holding her hands up high and turning left and right).

Be. Translation: Birds. We couldn't miss one. She sees and hears them. Just this evening, she saw a fly on the window. She immediately pointed at it and said be. Now, everything that flies is a be. And boy, I didn't know that a fly could be that amusing!