Yee Sinn turned 11 month last Friday. We're all counting down to celebrating her first birthday - on the first day of Chinese New Year. I'm still thinking of what kind of cake we should get for her special day. (all ideas are welcome!)

At 11 month, my little girl is progressing very fast. Socially, she is able to differentiate different expressions on others' faces. She can sense when we are angry, frustrated, happy etc. She now understands words like -No, Cannot, Sit down, Stand up, Come, "Lai" (chinese for come), Mumm Mumm, Nan Nan, Erng Erng (poop), Kai Kai (Go out). She can also play simple games with us like guessing where are the hidden toys or catching. Yes, catching. She'll walk in circles around the coffee table as you try to catch her, often giggling and running in opposite directions.

She also loves going out - be it to the playground, MRT station to pick up the free papers, or to the nearby NTUC for groceries. She'll todder towards the door or to her stroller the moment she sees any of us opening the door or the stroller preparing to go out. She'll get seperation anxiety when if she sees either me or Grandma Lee leaving her behind. Strangely that doesn't happen when her papa goes out of her sight.

She also likes books. She loves to flip the pages of colourful books mostly borrowed from the library. When either hubby or I picked up a book and start to read it aloud, she'll drop what ever she's doing and plonk herself next to us. We had a few surprises these few mornings. She woke up, crawled to the bedside table, picked up one of her books and started to flip them quitely. Both hubby and I pretended to sleep while peeking from the corners of our eyes. She'll have her quiet time for about 10 mins before crawling to our bedside and start "beating" us to wake us up. That's when she'll say "erng erng" and we'll quickly take the potty and let her poop. Amazing isn't it?

Physcially, she can now todder a longer distance without support. She loves to walk- just like her papa. Her papa can't wait to be able to take her for his long walks on Sunday mornings. She can now easily wave "bye bye", clap hands, kiss papa and mama on their cheeks and can you believe it - blow the toy whistles! We are now going to teach her how to blow bubbles when we take her to the playground. Just need to check out whether our existing bubble solution is still good. We have also been teaching her how to clasp her hands together and do a "Gong Xi Gong Xi" - A very important gesture for the coming Chinese New Year. Unfortunately, she doesn't seems interested at all... all she wants to do is to clap her hands.

My little girl is no longer a smally baby like she used to be. In a fleeting moment, she'll soon be all grown up. But meanwhile, hubby and I will cherish every waking moments we have with her.