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25 Oct '09 - 1403 W, 28 I Allie's 15 Month Birthday

Dadgummit! Time, wings, and all that. Can you believe Allie is now 15 months old? And this time I didn't wait weeks before doing her 15-month blog entry. Heh.

* Mouse over the pictures for additional captions

Allie is fast growing and rapidly developing. New skills are emerging daily, it seems! She walks independently for longer bursts (from one room to another). She's still a little shaky on stopping without falling over which means that when she takes off, either Vin or me have to run after her to make sure when the walk ends and a fall results, we will catch her if there's a sharp or hard object waiting to crack open her tender skull. She easily pulls herself to a standing position using furniture (or conveniently placed parents) and is even working to stand by pushing off the floor. This skill is still a work in progress though.

She still does like having one hand held while she walks although this usually results in her running rather than walking. Vin has a new tool to help him help Allie walk without constantly having bad backaches! You'll see this later. And she has graduated from an infant car seat to a convertible car seat - we mean to keep her safely rear-facing for as long as we can! On the verbal front, Allie says "Cat" (well, or "Tat") when she sees Lily, or photos of cats, or cats on TV. She also barks when she sees a dog (or photos of dogs or dogs on TV), and hoots when she sees an owl. It is all ridiculously cute. She is also communicating via hand signs (some baby signs like "more", "eat", etc.) plus others that she's made up to make her demands. Amazingly, she is already singing (without words right now) the songs that we have been singing to her. She actually sang the "Happy Birthday" song all the way through, pretty much in tune. And this morning she hummed the first two lines of the ABC song in perfect rhythm and completely 100% in tune. We are totally amazed. She will hum Old Macdonald's and even bark in the right places. All kinds of songs from the children's songs we've sung to her all her life, to bits of classical music from her various toys, or even new melodies she hears on the radio or that we might hum. She's just absorbing everything, I guess! It's amazing. Definitely time for Sila to watch what she says in front of Allie or her next new word (after "Cat") will need to be censored.

On the gastronomic front, she's definitely learning to eat food from our hands and seems to have developed quite a fondness for all kinds of bread - toast with butter and jam, bits of bagel, garlic breadsticks, pizza crust, little biscuits, etc. She still only has the two teeth, so that does limit her eating (no steak for her yet), but I do still make all of her food so she eats a good amount of pureed meat mixed in with her veggies, starches, etc.

Here's a sample menu of Allie's daily food intake:

* Breakfast - 2 ounces blueberry puree + 3-4 ounces whole milk + oatmeal cereal; 1/4-1/2 piece of toast with butter/jam, or bits of bagel, etc.
* Elevenses - 2 ounces peach puree + 5-6 ounces whole milk
* Lunch - 3 ounces chicken and veggie korma puree mixed with rice + 1 oz butternut squash + apple + cinnamon puree and 1-2 oz whole milk; with a dessert of 3 ounces pureed still slightly frozen mango (slushy) or 3 ounces applesauce (plus whatever she can mooch off what Vin is eating)
* Tea - 3 ounces fruit (melons usually) + a little bread or biscuit of some sort
* Dinner - 2 ounces beef and veggie puree mixed with stars or acini di pepe pasta and basil pesto or tomato sauce + 1-2 ounces whole milk + a sprinkling of parmesan cheese + 1 ounce sweet potato puree; with a dessert of 3 ounces pureed slushy plums (again plus the mooching)

Also, she is still nursing in the morning and in the evenings (about 3 times a day now). So the girl is definitely doing some eating. She had her 15-month appointment and is growing well! She's taking the road trips for work quite well, and she and Vin have a pretty good routine while I am at work during the day. Luckily for me, we were at home for this birthday, so I got to work from home and see and hear Allie throughout the day! Yayyyy. Here begins the gazillion pictures depicting how Allie spent her birthday:

In the morning, Lily perfects her mind control skills:

And then of course Allie couldn't stay away from Lily:

She stole the camera from Vin and changed the settings etc. in order to take this shot:

After breakfast and a nap, she was ready to go again!

Enter the "Walking Wings" - the device that helps Vin walk with Allie without breaking his back.

Then it was time for her mid-morning snack of peaches and milk.

And while Mama had a telephone conference, Allie and her Papa went outside for a bit of yardwork.

This is how Vin has to walk without the Walking Wings:

Lunch time:

And then when Mama was done working for the day, Mama got to play with Allie too.

Allie makes the above gesture when she hears the phrase "I don't know" or if her answer to a question is "I don't know". I don't know where she learned this from *gestures palms up*

A little game of peekaboo with her after-dinner washcloth:

And then it was bath and bedtime for little Allies. (And her exhausted parents). 

It's been an incredible month! Allie has come so far and is really beginning to be able to express herself both verbally and using body language and hand signals. She asks for Itsy Bitsy Spider by making a diamond with her fingers, and does some of the gestures with us (especially "washed the spider out!"), and crooks her index fingers to indicate she wants to hear "Where is Thumbkin". She's totally amazing and loving and manja (affectionate). And with the beginnings of speech, she has already changed the way we speak. Vin now calls poor Lily "Tat" too! I am sure that as she continues on this path to speaking and articulating her thoughts, she will continue to change us as we try to help her grow and learn.

Happy 15 month birthday, baby! Love you!!!

Until next time, take care everyone! And to close the entry, a family picture taken by Jeanne at our favorite Indian restaurant:

Hey kid. What do you think of your mom’s cooking?

Hisham () (URL) - 25 October '09 - 12:42

Allie is one smart cookie just like her mama. Er and Vin must be too
So musical and what a young bookworm. Aunty Mel jeles all ur colourful books. Nak pinjam bleh?
Mama Yaya must be a Domestic Goddess – Yaya makan sedap nampak.

mewat () - 28 October '09 - 10:41

yope: don’t encourage her!

onyang yati: sikit lagi, ok?

megs: hugs back to all and thanks for the birthday wishes.

lil: allie sure does love her mangoes.

ath: those walking wings are an excellent buy! otherwise, adoiiii… how are things progressing on your end?

wisard: vin is tall hehehe. well she was eating mangoes at the time so not really my cooking.

mewat: meh le, she’s very willing to share her books especialy if you volunteer to read them to her! mama yaya is just a typical tired mama, no goddesses in sight…

chris: time flies, kan? i can hardly believe how big she is now!

zarin: she’s bigger now than lily. outweighs her by quite a bit dah! technically you’re the first to wish her a happy 15 month, a few weeks ago, kan?

jeanie: we hope to see you again soon so you can sing with her too!

selena: heh allie can makan mango pieces but now she’s spoiled and manja and wants her fruits not just in puree form, but in half frozen “slushy” fruit form. i guess it’s still fruit…

sila - 02 November '09 - 05:31