milestone moments : 'helping out' with the chores, trying to dress herself up and understanding passive words

random note : i accidentally posted this particular post up on my show the love blog. that's why i don't recommend managing multiple blogs. you're bound to do silly mistakes like that.  

arwen's proving to be such a busy little bee, trying to help out with chores and all the other stuff. it's really great that she could be asked to do things now, like getting me the remote control, or throwing things into the dustbin, and picking up stuff. but she's also really great at making a mess. like, when i am folding clothes, she'll help me unfold them and she'll pick up the clean unfolded laundry, carry them away from their heap and lay them about in every room, table, sofa, bed on the top floor of our house. that's her idea of helping me with the laundry i guess.

and when i am wiping the floor, she'll pick up a cloth or tissue paper and imitate me wiping. so cute. and when i am sweeping, she'll pick up her fake felt flower and do a sweeping motion with it. so adorable i want to squeeze her till she goes blue. and she's also helping my mom with baking at home. she'll usually pick up cornflakes boxes and stack them up so she can sit on them. she also has been seen to put her small hands in the mitten (that reaches up to her shoulders) and carry it to and from the kitchen to the front door.

and yesterday, her daddy asked her to give her bottle to me because we're getting ready to go out and i was preparing her diaper bag. instead of giving the bottle to me, she proactively put the bottle into the bag and tried to carry the bag out. all of that, without being asked. and she just turned one! such a big helper, she is. makes me want her to grow up even quicker so i can get her to take over some of my chores, yeah!

for a couple of weeks now, she's been trying to put on her own diaper, pants and clothes. she'll pick up any item of clothing from her laundry basket, and will try to put them onto her person in the cutest way possible, sometimes even result to a little fall and bump. she has also been picking up her own clothes to wear after her shower. whichever closest to grab, but it's the effort that counts. next thing i know, she'll be picking up her own clothes at the stores and us picking up the tabs. oh hell, i can't wait!

on vocabulary, she's not talking yet. only some words will randomly escape her mouth. Aryanna and Banana sounds so much alike - Anana. which is why we're calling her Aryanna Banana now. She'll say mama or papa or aba but not really directed at us. it's just out of the blue so my previous posts about how excited i was that my baby is talking were premature. it's just a mom thing - expecting the best from their child.  but passive vocabulary skills are increasing ten folds.

she knows exactly what stuff are when we ask her, like her favourite stuffed monkey (which she can't sleep without) and Elmo, and ball, and baloon, and elephants (dulu it was jaja, now it sounds more like gada), she knows books when we tell her to get it so we can read to her (she'll grab a book and will properly prop her butt inside the nook of our folded legs without being asked to). she'll knock on the fridge door if she wants her calci-yum or vitagen. she'll knock on doors if she wants to get in a room. she knows how to wake up PapaIz (usually slapping his face and throwing slobbery kisses on him or pulling his hair and so far she's the only one successful in waking my brother up without ever raising voices and throwing a fit).

she'll do her little dance when we tell her to dance. she dances when she hear all sorts of music - be it from MTV, the radio, my singing, tv open credits, jingles on commercials, even the ting-tongs of the grandfather clock at home. she'll sortta jump when we tell her to. she'll say 'booooo' when asked how a cow sounds like, and 'eeekkk' when asked how dolphins sound like, and 'baaaa' when asked how a goat sounds like. dolphins, yo! she knows how to play peekaboo now. and recognizes Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, the whole cast of My Friends Tigger and Pooh, Thomas the train, Dibo, and Barney.  and when she hears that 'think. think. think' song from My Friends Tigger and Pooh, she'll tap on her head (to think).

she knows all parts of the face and body, including teeth and toes. when asked if she's pooping, she'll tap her own butt. she can smile on command now too. her favourite facial expression nowadays will be the 'gasp!' which includes a prefect little 'O' mouth, which she'll show every time she hears something weird, like somebody nailing the wall, or the fireworks, or her dad's farts.