monthly letter : month twenty six

Dear Arwen,



you turned 26 months old about 3 days ago. quick, give me a kiss now because i manage to write, i mean 'tukis' you a letter within a week's time frame from your actual monthly birthday. what's the story behind 'tukis'? well, i don't know, maybe you'll grow up to be a lexicographer, maybe a writer, maybe a word-coiner trend-designer, or maybe just a regular speech blooper just like both your grandmothers, but at 26 months old, you can already make up your own words that actually make sense. 'Tukis' for example, you coined up because you were confuse between 'tulis' and 'lukis' hence, you say both. time saving, i know, right? ingenious!





we never babytalk to you because we believe in teaching you proper language. so there's no way you'll say words like "bambam" or "mamam" or "babab" but you have a creative way with coining up words like "i lo chi" and sometimes bilingual words such "bola-ball" and "umbaba-payung" that we let you use those words without correcting you and even play along with you because they so are uniquely you. especially "i lo chi" that has become a code word, an inside joke that's only used and understood by only everyone in the house. although lately, you've been saying "i love you" properly and i get torn up bit by bit every time you lose "i lo chi".





i still believe you're more art inclined than anything. your creativity, imagination and cognitive abilities astound me every day. you love playing pretend these days and i love to entertain you, even throwing you a few ideas. sometimes we'd make up games in the backseat of the car while daddy's driving to while the time away and keep you occupied. you love to play princess, that you'd put on your tutu skirt and a necklace as your tiara and danced around saying "Arwen Pinchess!". you also love to play doctor, lining all your stuffed friends on a bolster like a gurney and pulled them around, telling me that you're at a hospital that you're gonna check each and every one of them because they are sick and bleeding. i think Mo has really inspired you. or perhaps it's cause you've been watching all those hospital/medical dramas with me?





you love 'drawing' so much that we've gone through about 10 art blocks since you turned 2. when papers aren't enough, you'd draw on walls, cupboards, carpet, sofa and chairs. i had to repaint walls because i cannot stand it. this is not Elmo's World sayang, this is real world. And in real world, we do not draw on walls. well, unless you're a jobless delinquent, i mean graffiti artist. you used to be able to just doodle chicken scratches but since a few weeks ago, you could make actual shapes that sometimes look like a face, a very Picasso-inspired face. you see things we don't see like heads of ducks on our stove grates, or a chicken on a random shape made from a necklace. you're able to count up to 20 now, and know most of the colours in both English and Malay, and you recognize your name when we write ARWEN down on paper.





you're also able to feel compassion and empathy towards others, or maybe just Elmo. you cried when Elmo can't find his blanket, like as if he died. you cried when Elmo's eyes are droopy because he wants to go to sleep because you think he's going to die. although you find it amusing when Elmo falls down and you'd ask me to rewind the parts where he falls over and over again. i'm quite undecided what to make of you yet.





this month, November, will be a life-changing month. ok, maybe not so dramatic. it's a routine-changing month. Kak Su, one of your favourite persons in life, will be going home to Indonesia. She's been wonderful at helping taking care of you since you were 2 months old and her absence will be hard on all of us. i'm sure she will miss you as much as you'll miss her. Onyang will be taking care of you from on. I hope you'll behave more because i don't think Onyang can handle a robust, demanding and clingy toddler.





This month also, next Monday in fact, i'll be starting a new job in KL. It's a good opportunity with good perks but i'll have to give up on other perks like rolling out of bed with you at 8.00-8.30AM and going to the office after 9.00AM because now i have to wake up by 6.30AM so that i can catch the train by 7.30AM to reach my new job before 8.30AM. which means that i'll be waking up and out of the house before you wake up. I'll miss the times when you'll wake me up by slapping my face and peeling open my eyelids and shouting in one of my ears "Mamma! Wake up! Arwen nak milk dengan Elmo!". But i think, and hope that my new job will not require me to work too late too often so that i can make up for all those lost time with you in the morning.





I Lo Chi,
Mamma.