[1y 2m] Build up immune system

(photo: Lara sucking on lamb bones)

Lara's busy this month building up her immune system. She was clingy and irritable when she was unwell, but I guess that was expected and unavoidable. She is all well now and a happy little kid again.

This month:

* Lara is more aware of her surroundings. Husband noticed that Lara seldom walked into things now - she walked around toys in her way.

* Lara communicates to us what she wants by pointing and making a demanding "aaaaa" sound. she's particularly impatient when it comes to food. She lets us know when we are too slow in feeding her.

* Lara's understanding of what we say increased dramatically. When we say "birdie", she looks out of the window and points at the sky. If she sees a bird, she points at the bird and laughs in delight. When we say, "wipe your face/mouth", she would dap the flannel over her mouth. She also understands some Chinese words after Mum and Dad came. She know the Chinese word for "eyes" and would point to the "eyes" of her dolls and the Chinese word for "bird". We think Lara knows more than she lets on.

* Lara knows the concept of "pretend-play" now. She pretends to eat off plastic plates, pretends to stir and drink from a cup. She also pretends to read her books in her reading voice (a voice distinctively different to her talking voice).

* Lara also discovered climbing. She likes to climb onto her box of books, and read books inside the box. She also likes to climb stairs when we are out and there's one around.


* Lara copies everything we do. She put things over her head as hats, and next to her ears as phones. She loves to press keys on the phone. It's hard to talk on the phone without her wanting to press everything.

* Lara walks very well. She has several new dance moves. One of them is turning in circles, she varied this a little by something tilting her head, sometimes raise one arm or sometimes have on arm folded across her chest while twirling around. Her other dance move is to do lots of tiny steps while walking, sometimes there was some shoulder movement at the same time.

* Lara loves walking around pushing her baby walkers.