I know it’s not easy, but I’m glad that Mel can be home to take care of Kaitlyn. One reason is that Kaitlyn benefits a lot from it, at least that’s what it seems to me. I mean, the fact that she learned to walk at 10 months probably has nothing to do with us. But with other things, like holding her own bottle at 4 or 5 months old, that is something that someone has to spend time teaching & challenging her.

Here’s a list of what she can or would do right now, and she learned a lot of it in the past 2 months.

• – say “ma-ma” & “ba-ba”
• – say both “maah-MA” & “paw-paw” (refer to “grandma” on both sides)
• – say “be-Be” (when she sees herself or babies)
• – say “hi” & wave (when she’s been told to or when she sees a friendly face)
• – say “yay” & clap (when she hears people say “yay” or clap, whether in person or on TV)
• – say “bye” & wave (when she sees people putting on coats & jackets)
• – say “nigh-nigh” (means milk)
• – say “ba-bao” (means bread; which should be pronounced “bao-bao”, but she says this basically whenever she sees any kind of food)
• – say “ba-bo” (means she want you to pick her up; which should be pronounced “po-po”)
• – say “mum-mum” (when she wants food in general)
• – say “Dees” (means “George”, but she just can’t say it; whenever she sees “Curious George”, monkeys, or any brown stuffed animals)
• – say “rau-rau-sh” (when she sees dogs or just animals that walk on all fours)
• – say “Ahh-ma, ma, ma, ma…” (means “Amen”)
• – say “tick-ku, tick-ku, tick-ku” (means “tickle”)
• – do a “raspberry”
• – blow kisses weirdly, upon command (using the back of her hand)
• – give people a wet, open-mouthed kiss on the cheek
• – dance (shake her head and/or hip side to side violently & stomp her feet; when she hears music or anything with a beat, even to the beat of trains running over a loose track in the subway station)
• – drink from a sippy cup, a straw, or just a regular cup instead of a bottle
• – play “peek-a-boo” with you
• – play “deem-chong-chong”
• – say “yai-yai” (means “naughty”)
• – say “nah-nah, nah-nah…” (which should be “no, no”; when we tell her no & she doesn’t like it)
• – pretend to give you her finger food & then take it back and then laugh at you
• – point to her nose (when you ask her where her “bei-bei”/nose is)
• – cover her ear & say “hi” (that’s her version of talking on the phone)
• – say “bees” softly with a smile (which should be “please”; when she wants something from you)
• – pat her belly (when you ask her where her “tou-dum”/belly is)
• – lie down on the changing pad when we say to her “fun-dai”/lie down (it’s still a work-in-progress; she usually ended up lying next to the pad; I have more success than Mel does at this point)

So you see, I think it’s quite a list of accomplishment for a 14-month old, and you really can’t say having a full-time mom with her has nothing to do with it!

To further prove my point, here’s a video clip taken by Melanie, with Kaitlyn showing off some of what she can do. She pretty much did whatever Mel wanted, because she just wanted to be picked up. 🙂