Milestone Updates: Approaching the 1 Year mark!

Daddy and Mummy are quite excited about Erik turning 1 pretty soon, exactly 7 days to go. It has absolutely been a beautiful journey growing with our son this year. We really couldn't ask for anything more, to be able to look at his smiling (and sometimes crying) face every day and to tell him that we love him "yesterday, today, and tomorrow, too". SIGH!!

Well, this is just an update on some milestones that Erik has achieved. Mummy tries to "document" as much as possible since short-term memory gap sometimes fade away so fast. It's not so much bragging as in absolute amazement on what a toddler mind can do! Within 1 year of coming into this chaotic world of ours, Erik demonstrates on a daily basis on how much he has learned. Mummy and Daddy wondered if we ever did something like this too?!

NOTE TO SELF: Take more pictures and more videos!

Climbing
On April Fool's Day, Erik figured out how to climb. He's been climbing the stairs for a long time already, since January 2007 (thanks to his little buddy Ryan with an imprompu stair racing). However, tonight, Erik figured out how to climb the ottoman, which is over 1/2 of his height. He applied the concept of climbing stairs with holding onto the edge...and Voila!..he's on top of the world...eh, we mean Ottoman and Erik is just smiling his little mischievous smile and clapping his hands! Hahaha!

This scared the living #@%! out of Mummy and Daddy. As one minute we were happily watching TV and letting our son explore the entire "blocked off" living room...and the next, he has found an escape from the enclosement!!

More Signing
Mummy has been busily signing whatever she could to Erik and Erik really has taken off with the signing bit! He loves animals and just loves his Animal-Themed room (Thanks Daddy!!). As a result, Mummy took those opportunities of play-time into also learning time.

Erik can sign the following now:

• Fish - He's been doing this but now the sign is much more distinct
• Dog - Again, he's been doing it but much more meaningful now...plus he says "DOG" too
• Monkey - This is a new sign as he loves looking into his room and seeing the monkey swinging in the tree, also in his bathroom curtain, and also "Boots" from Dora Dora
• Bear - He does the sign but he insists by saying "Dog"--so Mummy needs to work on this one
• Duck - He used to say "Jer Jer", which means bird in Cantonese; however, now he has come the conclusion that all fowl must be ducks...thus signing and saying "DUCK"
• Turtle - Mummy is very proud of this one because Turtle is quite hard to do because it takes both hands and into a certain gesture but he figured it out on the first try! Erik definitely thinks a lot, which is good. At the same time, Erik also mixes this sign up with Frog...guess its because of the green! Hahaha!
• More - Mummy did more for many many months but it wasn't until Mummy changed it to the modified version that Erik picked it up. Guess it was much easier since he already knew "round and round the garden" and it looked the same to him.

Although he doesn't do the signs back to Mummy or Daddy yet but he does know them when we sign it: Daddy, Mummy, Where, Water, Eat, and Bath. We're trying to introduce more signs to him like Lion, Elephant, Giraffe, Frog, Alligator (basically all the animals in his bedroom), and also things like Cookie, Thank You, Toilet (this one is quite important)..instead of saying the sign in English, we say it in Cantonese....but sometimes, Erik also picks up the English a lot easier...SIGH!

Playing Peek-A-Boo

This one, Erik initiates the play! It is a social achiement that we could be proud of. Once Erik smiles at us with a little hint of twinkle in those eyes...he makes a mad dash to his favorite "hiding place"...the mesh bed side boarder, presses his face to the mesh until his nose is almost flat with his eyes shut...then he'd open those beautiful eyes of his...and expects a "Boo" from either Mummy or Daddy. Oh we had lots of fun playing Peek-A-Boo! Mummy would hide on the side of the bed, and Erik would cruise over to the hiding spot and just smile as if "Haha, I got ya! Now my turn!" He would then do another mad dash to his hiding spot!

Of course, Peak-A-Boo is not limited to just the bedroom and running around. No way! Erik figured out that he can put almost anything over his head (i.e. blanket, towel, ...even a plastic see through plate ...yes...with food in it!) and the game continues!

Playing in the Park

Erik loves the park. He loves walking on the grass and sometimes, he would just sit and explore the grassy meadows. At least he can appreciate nature! Erik also loves swinging in the bucket swing. He's been doing this since about 4-5 months old (with a lovely pillow in the back supporting him). However for the last couple of weeks, Mummy and Daddy have slowly taken the pillow away and Erik figured out how to grab the chains for support! WhooHoo! Again, just amazing how resourceful our little guy can be!

Erik also loves going onto the slides, he goes on this stomach. Sometimes head first coming down or sometimes feet first. We love seeing that toothy grin of his as if filled with amazement at what gravity could do! Hahaha!

Reading

Our son absolutely loves to "read". He loves looking at books and following his tiny fingers over the words. We really hope this behavior follows him through as he grows older since Mummy and Daddy (mostly Daddy) loves to read! Books are really Erik's favorite toys! At times, he'd wake up bright-eyed in the morning signing every word he knows...and to only crawl to his favorite animal book to sit and flip the pages to "read". Really, nothing calms him down more than a good book!