16 Months Today

Dear Trevor,

I can hardly believe today is your 16 month birthday. Life has been so busy that I didn’t even get a chance to write and reflect about your first birthday at the end of September last year. I had just returned from a disastrous work trip to Toronto the day before your first birthday and was feeling pretty crummy, but you have an uncanny ability to just wipe away the worries of the world and just let me be your Mommy. I’ll never be able to express how wonderful it was to get out of the car where I had just been bawling my eyes out while on the phone with a colleague, and to enter the house where you greeted me with your toothy smile and big hugs. You have a wonderful way of reminding me what is truly important in life.

We had a lovely little first birthday party for you at home. Po-Po, Gong-Gong, Uncle Tom, Aunt Kimberly and your cousins Riley & Cooper, Grammy and Great-Aunt Regi came up for the party and we had a great time celebrating with your local Aunties and Uncles, too. It was a luau theme, which was surprisingly difficult to find luau-themed decorations in the Fall. Mommy took it for granted that it was a staple in the party supply stores, but since it was so close to Halloween, most of the shelf space was already dedicated to Halloween décor and costumes. Nonetheless, we were able to scrounge up a few things and the party was a huge success. You were a great host roaming from guest to guest and sharing your infectious laughter. You had been walking unassisted by then for a month or so, which was fun to watch as you flitted between people. We let you have your first taste of Asian coconut cake and you were in heaven. You cried and did your sign for “more” when we took the slice of cake away. It was so adorable.

We’re about two months away from welcoming your little brother, Cashew, into our family. You, of course, have no idea what that means yet. I try to point to my bulging stomach and sign “baby” to you, but mostly, you think that means that I will turn on the Baby Singing Time DVD for you, which, incidentally, you love. You ask for it most mornings and sometimes even in the middle of the day on the weekends. Sign language has been a great way to communicate with you. Right now, you know the following signs:

Mommy

Daddy (you do confuse the two quite often)

Grandma & Grandpa (too similar to Mom & Dad to really distinguish)

Baby

Food/Eat

More

Milk

All done

Water

Star

Car

Train

Bus

Dog

Cat

Fish

Bird

Horse

Frog

Rain

Outside

Up

Down

Brush teeth

Wash hands

Bath

Shoes

Socks

Hat

Jacket/Coat

Book

Help

Please

Thank you

Sorry (you sign it the same way as Please)

Ball

Doll

Bear

Apple

Banana

Pear

Grass

Cold

Hot

Your pediatrician told us that children growing up in bilingual homes will have delayed speech, so we’re not concerned that you haven’t really said too many words yet. You do say “Ah ma” (Mom) and “Ah ba” (Dad) when prompted, however. And last weekend, you even started to say “Ah po” (Grandma) but mostly you use the signs you’ve learned or some other form of gestures to get your point across. When you’re in the talkative mood, you will give these long monologues while raising your right hand as if you are decreeing something important. It’s quite hilarious to watch.

You enjoy playing with cars and balls right now. One of your favorite things to do is to take apart this Melissa & Doug Geometric Stacker (http://amzn.to/ehWksO). At first, all you would do is take out the circles and occasionally the octagons, but then, you started to stack them back on the dowels and now, you will interact with all three columns. It’s neat to watch your thought process as you pick up various pieces and decide which piece will go on which dowel and in which order. It seems very deliberate, because you will place a piece on the dowel and then, pick up another piece and just as you’re about to place it on the dowel on top of the previous piece, you decide that you don’t want that other piece on there and you remove it so you can put your new piece in its place.

Another one of your favorite toys right now is the VTech Pull & Learn Car Carrier (http://amzn.to/hE2son) from Auntie Emmi & Uncle Alen. For some reason, you only like to push the cars around when there’s not driver in it and you’ll always remove the driver from the cars and toss them aside as if they have offended you in some way.

When you’re not playing with these toys, you enjoy going through your plethora of books and sometimes ask Mommy or Daddy to “read” them to you. Of course, you have the attention span of a gnat right now, so mostly, you just like to flip through the pages really quickly and peruse the pictures. Oddly enough, you like to flip through the book backwards. I don’t know if that’s because you still seem to favor your left hand. You also like to play with your balls (Play Visions Light Up Wizard Ball http://amzn.to/fGKld0, Edushape Sensory Balls http://bit.ly/g2qyGp, inflatable beach ball). You particularly like to bring the Wizard Ball to the kitchen so that you can bounce it on the linoleum and watch it light up with delight.

Sometimes, we’ll have dance parties in the kitchen with the Stitch doll (from Lilo & Stitch) that Yee-Po brought you from Hong Kong, who sings and shuffle dances and we like to mimic its moves as it shuffles forwards and backwards in its cute little circular moves. We like to make Yee-Po giggle with delight as Mommy shuffles along with the doll and you try to follow along. Those are the moments where you radiate pure joy and it just melts Mommy and Daddy’s hearts to no end.

We’re really enjoying being your parents and are grateful for all the wonderful moments we’ve shared together so far. We know that you will continue to delight us with your charm and amaze us with your growing knowledge.

Love,

Mommy