Ever So Affectionate

A really heart-warming event happened in church today (or yesterday, given my predilection for working past the Cinderella hour).

There's this girl in church who's a month older than Joey (he's 20 months old now). For security reasons, I won't name her, but will give her the pseudonym of 'Audrey' (as in Hepburn - one of our fav actresses). Now typically 'Audrey' is quite affectionate with all her friends, and she tends to hug and kiss them when she sees them for the first time. But Joey is not quite the hug-and-kiss type - he usually cringes when 'Audrey' does her hug-and-kiss routine.

Today, however, a metamorphosis happened. 'Audrey' did her thing, and Layfong told Joey to 'kiss' her back. And so he did - right smack on her cheek. Big smiles broke out among the three mothers present. Ditto for me when Layfong told me about the 'incident'.

The whole evening after dinner, Joey and me were going 'Audrey, Audrey' and making big smooching sounds ...

Joey's also getting quite kissey with his parents. Before he sleeps, he'd let Mummy kiss him (more than once). For a long time, he teased his Daddy by screaming 'noooooooo!' and turning his face away whenever I said 'Daddy kiss Joey goodnite?'. In the past week, however, he'd decided to condescend (to his otherwise emotionally-scarred dad). And when I'm too far from him, he'd grab my neck so I'd be closer for him to peck me.

Now that's worth pretty priceless in the scale of things, don't u think :-)

Joey & Friends

IMG_0535.JPG, originally uploaded by ZeeRedBaron.

Here's one of my favourties -- Joey with his cousins Sze Hui and Sze Min when they came to Canberra in December.

Come to think of it, Joey has become more extroverted now than before. Previously he didn't really play with other kids, especially since he's usually at home either with his daddy or mummy. And while he just kept quiet and still when other kids snatched his toys away previously, now he can stand up for himself.

He also enjoys himself, particularly with girls who are slightly older than him, since they will 'take care' of him. Older boys tend to think that he can't run as fast, so they proceed on to other things ...

In particular, Joey's got a really good 'girlfriend' whom he gets along tremendously well ... whenever they meet they tend to 'act cool' and not play together ... but then they'd warm up and get along famously i.e. chatting in toddler-speak, opening doors for one another, etc ...

He also gets hugged by some over-affectionate girls who are about his age, but he tends to cringe when he does that. But that's another story!

Yoghurt Mustache

Joey Yoghurt, originally uploaded by ZeeRedBaron.

I just realised that our blog has been inactive for nearly a month! Blame me, coz I had a BIG paper to finish and then present on March 10 ... Thank God I survived!

The photo is of Joey enjoying his yoghurt tremendously. Sometimes I get a mug of yoghurt which I attempt to 'share' with him, but he usually gets to eat most of it :) The same goes for rockmelons too :)

He's actually quite independent now; does his own things e.g. read his books, draws, stacks Lego bricks. His vocabulary is also quite wide now -- 'daddy'; 'mummy'; 'more? (food); 'Tigger'; 'baby'; 'Nooooooooo!'; 'mei you (no more)'.

Have to say we could not have prayed for a better-behaved boy (or r we simply biased?). I mean, when we're at cell group and having a discussion, he's quite content playing his toys by himself. Until the food arrives, that is ... Of course sometimes he wants his own way but both parents quite firm one, so too bad!

We're consistently reminding ourselves to give thanks for what God has provided us here. Our usual gripes are 'it's so quiet!' and 'you can't get laksa/prata/fan choy/etc!'. But Canberra is really quite alright. It's quiet, relatively pollution free, lotsa museums, galleries and carnivals for families. And depending on where you go, the people here are really quite warm and friendly.

Well, my update in 500 words. Pls rmmber to drop some comments so I know who's still reading and get some feedback as well.

Take Care,
Woei Lim