My cheeky girls

Seraphine growing up too quickly, too quickly for my liking. She’s very much like a parrot right now. She just repeats every word you say. And is very capable of making associations already. For example, the other day, her nanny was going to bring her upstairs to change her diaper. So her nanny said that they’re gonna go ‘en haut’. I joined in the fun and said that “Seraphine is going ‘upstairs’’. She immediately turned to Bertine and said “en haut” and then “upstairs” to me, while pointing up the stairs! Most night, we go through her repertoire which grows everyday! My favorite is asking her what different animal ‘say’, esp dog. LOVE the way she says ‘woof woof’ with her rounded lips and cheeks. I do try to teach her a new word or two each time, but have to say that I was simply gobsmacked the other night when I asked her where different parts of her body were. At that point, she knew where her nose, mouth, eyes etc were, but we’d never ventured past those. So I thought I’d teach her… but she knew them already. Head, arms, hands, legs, face, belly button. I guess she’s been listening to us (and storing them in her little head) when we dress / bath her and could point them out to me.

Unlike Bibou, she’s not quite so whiney. She does have her little tantrums, she is going into her little terrible twos stage, but she knows that it just doesn’t quite work, esp with Daddy he just yells even louder. She won’t cry to get her way, she’ll insist or just brush it off and move on to something else. She’s also very much able to fend for herself. She’s such a quick learner, not just picking up words and sounds and just watching and doing herself too. The other day, Bibou showed her a little trick she’d learnt when she was around 2 years old too, on how to put her coat on the easy way. You can watch the video below, but note that this is the VERY first time she’s doing it, just after watching Bibou doing it once. She’s now a pro at it. She simply copies everything her sister does. She loves to grab Bibou’s markers, but unfortunately, she loves drawing up her table and chairs :(! She also wants to brush her teeth, only because Bibou is brushing hers. When Bibou puts on a make-up, she’d want to do so. And like her sister, she LOVES shoes. She loves to put them on, put on other people’s shoes and loves to help you put yours own. Every night, when I return home, the girls will fight to take my boots off and then run to get my slippers to put on my feet. Ahhh.

She LOVES the sound of laughter, ‘coz she loves to laugh to. Whenever someone bursts out in laughter, she’d follow-suit, giving the big belly laugh of hers. I do so enjoy the sound of her laugh, it’s so ticklish and infectious. And downright cheeky. Oh yes, boy is she cheeky. She loves to play tricks with you like running away to hide if you call her, or hiding in a corner of the bed when you’re trying to get her. She’d hide her face behind those cute little pudgy hands of hers and play peekaboo with you. But her biggest fun trick (not for us certainly, but for her) is hiding her ‘right’ foot when it comes to putting on her socks and shoes. She has this thing where she loves to push forward her wrong foot, the one that already has a sock or shoe on and insists that you put the other sock on, knowing it’s not right. She has a right laugh about it as you get more and more flustered (especially when you’re trying to get out the door!).

Seraphine is also fairly headstrong and determined. She’s eating on her own already and doing a really good job (unlike Bibou who probably was only able to eat on her own closer to 3 years old). Sure there is always clean up to be done, but her motor skills are certainly more advanced than kids her age. She’s also a rather good eater: yesterday, she wolfed down a bowl and a half of my curry chicken! Both kids can eat spicy food, like my curry puff which can be quite spicy. They’d be holding a cup of water and a curry puff in each hand, tears rolling down, but they’d still eat them curry puffs! She wasn’t so much into fruits, like apples, but once Bibou started eating them (she’s very much a fruit eater, thank goodness), and she’d eat them, only just because her big sister is. They will then share an apple.

She’s also very intuitive and sensitive. Like I’d mentioned, she knows what doesn’t work and works things to her advantage. However, she’s also very sensitive to her sister’s pain. Whenever Bibou’s crying, mostly ‘coz her Daddy is ignoring her or yelled at her, she’d come to me asking me to go and comfort Bibou. She’d also try to comfort her, though the poor thing, she often gets ‘beaten’ for her efforts (when Bibou gets into this state, she’ll only want her Daddy, but Daddy decides he’s got other things better to do, so she spirals downwards, and lashes out at everyone else). I do hope Seraphine continues to be sensitive and not lose hope or just give up.

Videos

Seraphine putting on her coat on her own. This is the very first time she's doing it, after just watching Bibou.

Being a cheeky monkey.

The girls sharing an apple.