I honestly have no idea why the “18-month-old mark” is often a significant milestone in a baby’s life. Maybe it’s cause there’s so much development between one and two years of age that they had to insert a 1.5-year-old-marker.

Anyway. At the risk of sounding like a boasting mom, K has honestly achieved quite a lot since he turned one (although I’m sure every child progress by leaps and bounds at this age too).

At the one-year-mark, we celebrated K’s birthday with a mega-birthday weekend (as is the norm in our family!), and sadly, had to bid farewell to Hawaii. K got used to Singapore pretty quickly – adjusting without problems to the Singapore “night” and “day”, and eating on schedule (although a lot of this was thanks to my great pre-planning of his feeding, milk, and sleeping times while on our 20-hour flight :D). The one thing that he couldn’t get used to was the weather, and he literally shed buckets of sweat.

(K couldn’t adjust to the heat back in Singapore and spent most of his day trying to keep cool with water play.)

At 13 months and upon our return to Singapore from Hawaii, we started on music lessons and Sunday school, which he enjoyed (and still does) tremendously. He finally took his first unaided steps in music class as well – running towards me proudly with both his hands occupied with the certificate that he had just been awarded. We also started bringing him to the library weekly, which cultivates his love for reading (and minimises clutter in our house from books which we’d otherwise buy!).

14 months was when he started to feed himself, with limited success (higher success rate when the food is something he agrees with). His vocabulary also extended past “Papa” and “Mama” to “bus”, “ball” and “park” (which in his dictionary means “playground”).

 
(K considers how yummy his toys may be – but soon realises they’re kinda inedible.)

When he was 15 months old, we super-tramautised him by packing him off to childcare. We also started to toilet train him with some success, and he can go diaper-less most days (but not nights) now. He started being able to take instructions – from packing his toys, to helping with the laundry (sorting the clothes and putting them into laundry nets). He also started on simple sign language (greetings, goodbyes, “please”, “thank you”, and “sorry”).

His favourite activity was toddling around the house – exploring each and every nook and cranny, drawer and cupboard. He also started to repeat things that we did. For example, my dad once put him on their weighing scale when he stayed over at their house, resulting in him stepping on the weighing scale and instructing my parents to “read his weight” whenever he goes to their house. He also once picked up my comb and started imitating the way I combed my hair.

(K loves music – thanks to good genes :D – and can spend quite some time on Mama’s childhood piano at grandpa’s and grandma’s house.)

At 16 months, his vocabulary started expanding literally exponentially – I guess you could consider this when he started to “talk”. He surprised us day after day with newfound words – both English and Chinese – tumbling out. Sometimes words that we never even taught him to say! Like “开门”, and “there”, and “kakak” (in reference to our Indonesian maid).

 
(No idea what the boys are doing!!)

K’s newfound pastimes at 17 months old include going about the house picking dirt, hair, or other rubbish up and throwing them into the bin, hiding things in corners and pulling us over to “discover them”, playing with water (sitting in his bath tub and pouring water from one container to another), and saying ”Ha Ha” (in a very contrived manner) to elicit a laugh from us, either when we’re scolding him, or just to get our attention.

(K ecstatic at playtime in Sunday School; a sign we don’t have enough toys at home?)

At 18 months, K weighs 13+kg, and is nearly a metre tall! (He’s always kept well at the 95th percentile for his age group in both height and weight.)

Over these few months, K’s character has really started to develop – from a helpless, crying baby to a often laughing and smiley one. He LOVES fruits (will do anything for it!), and is still on a purely home-cooked (i.e. no added flavour – salt, seasoning, sugar, preservatives) diet. His favourite entertainment are books, musical toys (e.g. percussion instruments, or electronic toys that play music), and lego (we haven’t started him on TV and laptops, and use the iPhone very sparingly). He is a stubborn and determined little fellow; it gets pretty hard to persuade or dissuade him from something he wants to do or get.

Like all other kids, he loves going to the playground, and stares longingly at the one we pass by whenever we go from home to car. He also likes drinking water (can drink a full cup every hour), and sweats a lot. Most of all, he loves it best when Papa and Mama come to fetch him home after work – that’s when he’s most excited, points eagerly for someone to help him wear his shoes, and all too soon, is waving ‘Byebye’ and ‘Thank You’ to the grandparents, before tugging at Papa and Mama’s hands, leading them out of the house.

Happy 18th-month-old birthday K! :)