milestone moment : knowing what is trash and throwing them in the bin

arwen already knows what trash cans are and whenever she sees one directly or in books, or a bag of garbage, she'll immediately recognize them and will pinch her nose to signify 'busuk'. (she also pinches her nose upon seeing dirty shoes).

this morning though, she did something that made me all gleaming with pride. she peeled off a gift card from one of my mom's birthday presents and played with it. and then i told her to put it back where she found it. so she did accordingly, trying to paste the card back onto the gift. but the adhesive had worn off so the thing kept dropping off no matter how many times she tried. i just sat back and observed, waiting and watching what she'll do next. perhaps out of frustration, or maybe she'd figured that the card is now useless, she crumpled it and walked towards the trash bin, opened the lid and threw it in.

i've never taught her how to do that. i mean, yeah there are open dustbins around the house and we have taught her to throw stuff into them, random stuff she picks from off the floor, but fact that she knows what to do when things no longer serve their purpose is amazing.

oh by the way, my joy these days is whenever i say 'hi, sayang' to her when she wakes up, she'll reply me with 'mama!' like as if she's really glad that i'm the first thing she sees when she opens her eyes. with her, love is redefined, everyday.