Sunday, February 15, 2009

she had us at long before "hewwohhh" ...


It never occured to me before this. Not when my gynae confirmed the date(s), not when she was born, not over the last 12 months (to the date, almost), not even yesterday. It really only just occured to me some moments back.

Some moments back, I only just realised how our lil girl was born in the month universally known as the month of love. Non-believers (of Valentine's Day) may well argue that every single day is and should be one's day of love. Not just that 14th day in the second month of the year. I myself do not practice and/or celebrate V-day. Back in school, there were the roses and cards and lil gifts, yes. But now, it really is just another day for us.

But that's touching on Valentine's Day. And now that you know we don't celebrate it, there won't be any telling of pretty lil 'romantic' gift or dinner or the likes to report here. It's Baby Z that I'll be mentioning here in this entry, following my 'just realised she's a love-month child' moment.

Love.

Born just 4 days short of becoming a leap year baby last year, our Baby Z has definitely filled our house and lives with a multitude of traits. To say that she's been the easiest of babies to care for isn't quite true. In fact, in a number of instances, she may just happen to be that bit more difficult to pacify and please than her big brother was at this age. But, with Baby Z, you can't not fall for her sweet ways. She's mastered the art of being manja to her advantage. None taught by us, I suppose it comes naturally to her, being a girl.

You can tell her to stop touching/pulling the things she shouldn't be touching - switches, drawer handles, chair legs - and instead of crying or protesting, often, she'd tilt her head one side and give us her wide grin. Determined, confident and sweet all at once. Love.

You jump off the chair when you notice she's 3 steps up the stairs and your heartbeat's racing with time. You call out to her and tell her to stop. To stop going up any further. She turns her cute lil tooshie 360 degrees, looks at you with her signature head tilt, does the Queen's wave and smiles. Just precious the way she does it. Love.
You stroll with her in the mall. Kind passers-by smile a bit too generously at you, you smile back but wonder why the abundance of smile from them. You look down at Baby Z and see the cause of the extra attention. Dressed almost always in feminine pink only, one leg is left happily dangling outside of her stroller and the other sitting prettily on the seat, if we're lucky, OR pulled up to her chest. Quite the acrobat she may be. Quite the pretty in pink doll she may be. But an attitude of sorts she definitely has. Love.

You have some music on. Or you enter a store and the music's playing. Almost immediately, she does this routine with her hands and wrists (mental note: better record this in camera before she passes this phase). It starts with any one hand's turning of the wrist and sometimes both hands together. At times too, a very mild but obvious enough head-banging will follow the wrist routine. That will be Baby Z appreciating the music, nevermind that her dance moves does not come with the slightest twinge of a smile. When she dances, she means business. Serious business, that is. Just moves, no smiles. Love.

You don't think about first words just yet. You walk into a shop, the shop person says "hello", you say "hello" right back. You walk into 2 other shops and the same pattern follows. You walk into the 4th shop and Baby Z says "hewwohhh". You, the shop person, the onlookers, Big Z and Daddy Z all stop and laugh in disbelief. Baby Z understood 'hello' and decided to partake in the greeting when she was just 5 mths old! "Hewwohh" then became her very first word. Love.

:: the signature head-tilt ::


Now, just under 2 weeks to her birthday (and 1st party), there's no doubting the love that we have for her. She's determined, confident, sweet, loving and funny all at once. And she definitely knows what she wants.


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How did your Valentine's Day go then?

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