Leaps and Bounds before the 18th Month

These are the amazing things that Kai has done/been doing in the last few weeks:

• new words: pwane (plane), tree, boy, girl, pya-no (piano), water (as opposed to wawa), whork (fork), boon (spoon), shock (sock), bra-bra (brush), milk, waffle, crackah (cracker), Chee-o (Cheerio), cookie, towel, mokoko (motorcycle), weady (ready), drive, siong (phone), book, monkey, Almo, boob, table, puter (computer), button, I-da (Lisa), poos (soup), toot, good, food, eat, read, cook, helpy (helping), heppy (heavy), sheet (sit), ro (robe), shower, up, kiwi, orange, bu-bwewi (blueberries), appu (apple), puddle, yum, yucky, and MORE (the word).
  

• has started using phrases, as opposed to only words in isolation. For instance, he says, "Lie down", "Sit here", "Chair. Sit", "Book. Read", "Go, daddy", "Mammy, up", "Weady.... Go", and "Go away".

• understands simple commands such as "pick up something", "bring something to someone", and "help someone do something". Also, he's able to answer yes/no questions with gesture or words.
  

• is able to make inferences. For example, he looks at a picture of a rice cooker and says "Rice". When I told him he had to put socks on, he said, "Cold."
  

• has learned a few more words in Chinese though his pronunciation and tones are hideous: socks (蛙瓦), nose (逼祖), turtle (烏鬼), rabbit (兔祖), wipe (塌塌), wait (ㄉㄣ ㄉㄣ), towel (卯ㄉ一ㄣ), go out (出處), and (strange but not totally surprising) Kafka.

• understands perfectly what I'm saying in Chinese but not always produce words in Chinese (must work on that).
  

• has started to recite the ABCs and 123s. One afternoon, after he played with the Winnie the Pooh alphabet books, Kai walked out of the living room saying, "A." While picking up those books, I answered, "B" and heard Kai finishing it with "C! D!" from the hallway. Numbers in English are all over the place though. Kai knows the number 2 because he always announces with great enthusiasm whenever he has two things in his hands. I haven't heard him say 1, but he has answered 3 when I counted 1 and 2. We've heard Kai say 7 and 8 in Chinese after a toy counted 1-6. Kai would, however, repeat numbers in Chinese whenever we count. He counted 8, 1, 5, 10, and 7 with me once, and I could only assume it was because 2, 3, 4, and 6 are too tricky to pronounce for a 17-month-old.
  

• loves helping around the house and takes pride in his achievements (good for mommy and daddy). I think he has assumed a few things to be Kai's duties. For instance, he has to help me carry the laundry basket back to the bedroom when it's done. He gets upset if I don't ask/want him to help. Also, I must let him put two cups of dog food in Pudding's bowl every morning. When Pudding finishes eating, Kai has to be the one who brings the empty bowl to me to wash.
  

• loves reading. He brings us to his room to read to him, and he has to choose the books he wants to read before bed. He has a few favorites, but his favorites change every week as well. Oh yeah... and he started saying "Again" when he's not quite ready to put the book away.

• is able to "finish the sentence" or anticipate what happens next when reading a familiar book. For example, from the Belly Button book, if I read, "This tiny hippopotamus has something small to say. If we're very quiet now, we'll hear it right away." Kai, "Beebo." In the Chinese story of 7 baby sheep, whenever I read to the part when the big bad wolf is about to come knocking on the door, Kai would make a fist and "knock on the door" on the book. He growls when he sees a picture of a lion/tiger and says either "mao" or kitty when he sees a cat.
  

At about a week short of being 18 months old, this little guy says "hi" to strangers and says "here" when he hands something to you. When he wants your attention, he puts his face right in front of your face and says "Hhhhiiiiii". He dances to music and loves playing the piano (so he dances while playing the piano). He's goofy and loves making funny faces in front of the mirror. He wants to be involved in the decision-making process when getting dressed, and he chooses which pair of daddy's shoes should go with his outfit for the day. He's more than a handful and very willful. His snores are like thunder, and he sprawls out all over the bed when he sleeps. He's a tech-junky but also loves books. He's into cars and anything with wheels. He loves driving and can tell if he's really driving the car or just pretend-driving while the car's parked. Most precious of all (and we're so proud of this) is that he's such a happy and easy-going kid.


Uh-oh! I think I just heard them (back from shopping). Better hide the puter so the little boy doesn't go all crazy over it.