DS's 4th Birthday

Unbelievably, in the blink of an eye, DS is 4 years old! Like in previous years, we had a small celebration at home (thankfully too, cos DS was down with a fever) with my parents. Interestingly, DS wanted a Dora cake, which is usually what girls will choose. Hence the pink border. Yep, no Diego, no Thomas the Tank. Just good old Dora. :)


All of us at his "mini" birthday party. :)


Cake cutting after blowing out the candles.


And finally, the part DS was waiting for all day - opening the presents!

We got him a backpack for preschool (he'll be starting preschool next week) - black color, of course, since he has been asking for one to match DH's work bag. We also got him a few storybooks, since he loves to read. Grandpa and Grandma got him a remote control helicoptor and DD got wooden puzzle (since Grandpa and Grandma didn't want her to feel left out). :)

DD's First Words

With DD, we weren't as conscientious about jotting down her first words (I wonder why!). She said her first word a few days before her 1st birthday. Here are her first 10 words, sorta in order of emergence. :)

1. Papa - Perfect pronunciation! Later on, she also started saying "papa" for "grandpa", but in a slightly different intonation.
2. "Bah!" - Meaning "peekaboo".
3. Uh-oh - Again perfect pronunciation. Used when something falls, or spills, etc. Interestingly, this word is repeated many many times a day. Hehe.
4. "Row row" - For calling "Aunty Rose", our domestic helper.
5. "Ro ro" - For when DS sings "row, row, row your boat".
6. "Mama" - For "Mummy". Later on, she used it for "grandma" too, again with different intonation.
7. "Mng mng" - Hmm, it's difficult to spell out that sound, but she uses this to indicate when she wants to go potty. We use it to cue her to move her bowels, but since she can't pronounce "shee shee" for wanting to pass urine yet, she uses "mng mng" for both forms of elimination.
8. Kor Kor - To call her dear brother
9. "Barg barg" - Saying "bark bark" when she hears a dog bark.
10. "War" - For "wash", eg wash hands.
11. "Or or" - For indicating that someone is asleep.

OK, well, that's 11 words! :)

DS's First Words

I was packing a drawer tonight and found a list of DS's first words! He spoke his first word at 18 months old. I was thinking that if he didn't speak by 18 months old, I'll probably have to do some speech therapy with him. Well, he met my deadline and has been a chatterbox ever since. :)

So here are DS's first words, in the order that they emerged:

1. "mum mum" - whenever he wanted to breastfeed
2. "ka ka" - referring to Papa, but within a few weeks, he could pronounce "Papa"
3. "Ti Tee" - referring to Kitty, one of our cats
4. "bar" - for "bus" (my mum always took the bus with him on weekends)
5. "ba ba" - for "bubble"
6. Pour (he loved playing in the bathtub and pouring water from one container to another)
7. "ba ba" - for "bye bye" (yep, I think it sounded exactly like when he wanted to say "bubble")
8. "pao pao" - referring to being full after a meal
9. "pish" - for "fish"
10. Pour away