Dear Emmalyn
Oh yay! We've pulled through another great year!! Look at how much you have changed and grown over the past 12 months. You've transformed from a cute botak big baby to a curious girly toddler.
No words can exactly describe how much we love and treasure you. It felt like yesterday that you'd just turned 1 but you are certainly growing up fast. I'm thankful that you are eating, sleeping and developing well. I certainly miss your baby days but I'm much more looking forward to the coming days. Month after month, Daddy and Mummy witnessed how you've gained independence, knowledge and skills. Your personality started to take form and, sometimes, shine like a little star.
You took your first step before turning 1 and that marked the start of your independency. As much as I would love to hold you tight in my arms, I know I need to give you room to grow. Each fall and bump caused you to be stronger and more resilient. In fact, you've shown high tolerance of pain over the 2 years. You usually just pick yourself up and brush off any dust after small incidents. You now walk, climb, dance, jump, squat and reach almost any places that you like without much assistance. You gave us a shock when we first saw you grinning up on the dining chair.
We have a step down into the kitchen and that's not much of a problem for you. However, your legs aren't too strong yet to get up and down the stairs. You still need to grab on to us or bars but you aren't afraid to keep trying. Your ball kick is still quite gentle but you can sometimes kick us really hard when you are upset.
Your fingers are always busy! Nothing is too challenging for your fine fingers. You loves to peel, pick things, open caps, stick things around, doodle, scratch, tickle, zip, throw and stack. You even open up and poke the straw into a small packet of milk by yourself. You hold on to the utensils well and able to feed yourself.
My heart always melt when you say "I love you" with your sweetest voice. "What's this?", "I don't want", "I want this" and "xx, where?" are you favourite phrases now. You remember names but usually call them after they leave. You speak and sing alot. It's actually very fun talking to you now.
You understand simple instructions like wear your shoes and take/put back things. You express your needs like wanting to drink water/milk, poo, change clothes, take things. Sometimes, you even follow after us and pray out loud together. You recite A to Z and count from 1 to 10 in both English and Chinese. More often than not, you always surprise us with new words and can easily repeat words after us. Other time, we will be trying to make up what you meant with those blabberish words like "pitty". You gave a firm nod and beamed when Daddy figured out that you actually meant pretty.
It's amazing how you could relate things quite accurately. You completed sentences of stories books. When you heard Daddy pouring a cup of water, you told me that he is drinking water. You flipped over your soft toys and said they were sleeping. When it rained, you sang "rain rain go away" and asked for umbrella. You recognise most of the body parts and still love the belly button the most. You loves animals and name many of them. You learnt alot by observing and experiencing. I must say you have learnt a lot from the school while our usual outings and holidays have also opened up your eyes and imaginations.
When you are happy, you are quite contented to play or explore by yourself. You enjoy simple games like sorting, pouring, magnets, playing with soft toys and messing things up. However, you would very much prefer/demand someone (most of the time me) to be by your side to laugh at your silly actions.
Girly dresses, shoes, bags, soft toys and magnets are your favourite items. It's sometimes hard to force you to change out of the pretty clothes and you like to choose what to wear. You enjoy hanging outdoor like shopping malls, playground or open area and always say "我要出去" when you stayed home for too long. There are many characters that you love - like Barney and friends, Elmo and Mickey Minnie Mouse. You also love to watch videos with songs and dance.
I'm sure you are a loving and friendly girl - one who is generous with your hugs, kisses and Hi-5s. You're curious, cautious and observant so you like to take time to analyse the environment and understand the situation. Thus, you sometimes looked like you were in daze. Nevertheless, small little actions would bring some smiles as you are rather easily tickled. We highly suspect that you've slight OCD as you always line things up in order and push back your chairs.
You're determined and pretty stubborn. After 1 year, you haven't fully kick your thumbsucking. Even though you don't look like one, you certainly can throw some big tantrums when you can't get the things that you want. There are just times I need walk away from all the fussing as there's nothing I can do to stop you from crying. Oh well, we both need to learn how to be more patient and control our temper.
You are a picky eater but soups and fruits are always a hit! Long mealtime isn't your thing as you don't like to be sit for extended period. However, an apple for you to snack on would usually do the trick. We know it's just the start of all the fights but let's pray hard that you will learn to preserve on the good things and value instead.
For the 2 good years of blessings and guidance, Daddy and Mummy like to give our utmost praise and thanksgiving. Thank you Lord for granting you as our precious child and watching over our family. Thank you for bringing us so much joy and love. Thank you for teaching us how to be a good parents and challenged us to strive harder. We wouldn't have come so far without God and we pray that our family will walk closer in faith day by day. We pray for renewing wisdom, love and strength to brave the "Terrific/Terrible 2" journey ahead.
Happy 2nd Birthday, Emmalyn!!
With love,
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