The Happy Baby

So our dearest Gracie hit the big two ten days ago.

It feels like she has been at the two-year mark for ages though with her hitting all the key milestones at an earlier stage. I suppose it comes from having an awesome big brother to look up to and wanting to keep up with him and all her adopted family day care big brothers and sisters she sees every day.

She still comes in an adorable two-year-old packaging. Coupled with her funny attempts at sophistication, it makes an irresistibly adorable combo.

For example, she likes to mimic forms of adult conversation and start off random sentences with big sounding words such as“Actually…” or “Sometimes…” in a very sophisticated, matter-of-fact tone. The actual content that follows gets a bit hazy after that first big word. Like today she said to me very importantly: “Mummy, you know… SOMETIMES… (important pause)… row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream… Okay? Yah?”

She can get a tad bossy with other children sometimes. Even with older kids. By now I’m used to hearing her little husky voice in the background bellowing out “You come here!”, “Lie down!”, “Listen to me!”, “You sit here!”. But she gets nipped in the bud from time to time when her bossiness gets out of hand.

Food is still something that’s very close to her heart. Sometimes she eats so much I wonder where such a small human can possibly store all that food in one go. And if it’s something especially delicious, she goes absolutely ballistic. She chomps everything down in record time, and when we inform her that it’s all gone (or she can’t have any more), she goes into ultimate meltdown mode. Like it’s the end of the world. It’s hard to believe how such a little person can get so emotional over food.

Nathan remarked candidly one time, “Grace can be a bit crazy sometimes”.

Crazy as she is, there is just something so deliciously irresistible about her. It’s almost magnetic. Is it that lingering baby smell in her hair? Her ginormous puppy dog eyes? That unexpected gap-toothed smile? Who knows? Whatever it is, people just can’t seem to get enough of her.

“The happy baby!” my cousin called her.

Nathan would sometimes be quick to correct us “Grace is not a baby anymore. She’s a toddler”.

Which is right of course.

But even I sometimes can’t help calling her baby.

There is still a baby-ish flavour to her which part of me wants to cling onto for as long as possible.

Because I know once it’s gone, it will be gone forever.

*****

We had a simple family celebration back in Kota Kinabalu with the grandparents. The most important thing to make a birthday a birthday for Grace is the cake. As long as there was cake, we’re good.

We sang “Happy Birthday”, blew out the candles, cut the cake. Grace received her presents and ang-pow, which she promptly tossed aside once we started dishing out the cake.

So here you are at two, baby girl. Mummy is going to keep calling you ‘baby’ for as long as possible. Maybe I always will. Like I said at your last birthday and haven’t stopped saying “You will ALWAYS be my baby”.

*****

P.S. Meeting Grace for the very first time, Grace at one year and her first birthday cake and some funny anecdotes about her quirkiness.

(Top two photos of Grace by my cousin, Suanie at my brother’s wedding in Rasa Ria Resort, Kota Kinabalu)