Three Years and Three Months: A Portrait

It has been a while since we last did a portrait of Noah post (see 2.5 year portrait post ). The main changes since the last of such posts, I would say, are (1) an increased curiosity about EVERYTHING around him, his favorite utterances these days are "pourquoi/why", "comment ca marche/how does it work", qu'est-ce que c'est/what is it (he is definitely in the "why" phase); (2) an increased desire and ability to do everything on his own. His second favorite sentence is "je peux le faire tout seul" or "I can do it on my own" - like pouring his own milk, choosing his clothes and getting dressed on his own, showering himself, brushing his own teeth, wiping himself after pooping, opening bottles, unlocking doors, checking the mail, preparing our breakfast; and (3) he talks a lot more (in quantity), is much more intelligible and is better able to tell stories, recount events and discuss emotions or desires. 

A few remarks on the previous 2.5 year portrait post - Noah seems to be a bit less into the whiny phase, he is more assertive and stubborn but tends to whine less and assert "I want/je veux..." usually food  - and if the wanting happens after his nap or in the morning - he may throw a hissy fit; he is no longer picky about what glass or bowl he wants his food in though sometimes he will ask to have the same cutlery than we have. He no longer wears his uniform to school every day - preferring generally to pick his own clothes.

Noah CAN (abilities in no particular order and in addition to those listed in the 2.5 year portrait post):

• Understand and assimilate what we explain to him - even complex explanations about how light-bulbs work or how electric plants work or or how a dish is made, remember it and bring it up days/weeks later at appropriate times - at school they often tell me how mature he is for his age and I think it is in part because of this - he really seems to understand how things work and how things are connected and will explain it to anybody who is interested;
• Be flexible and eminently portable - His flexibility and portability are not new but I am not sure we ever mentioned them - when he was younger, we would take him out to dinner (even as late as 15 months) and after he ate a bit, we would change him and brush his teeth and then he would just fall asleep in his stroller while we finished dinner and then we could transfer him without waking him up to his bed. He is a very good traveler -  he loves taking planes (he gets to play with the ipad and snack often on planes which does not hurt his like of planes), he is interested in and enjoys visiting new cities, seeing new things and trying new food, he is able to go to bed anywhere between 8:30pm and 10:30pm without getting cranky and then wake up about 10 hours after we put him to bed, he can now walk around for km without complaining and enjoy the scenery (as long as he gets his afternoon snack and if breakfast was early and lunch is late, a morning snack and as long as we are not planning on walking too fast), he will eat ANYTHING that is well prepared - the waitstaff kept taking pictures of him in Vietnam as he ate (with chopsticks no less) spicy Pho and Bun, he can nap anywhere, on a boat, in a car, in a plane, on a bench, in a stroller (though we almost never take the stroller anymore) and even in a bed!;

• Be very very stubborn even when he knows the punishment that will befall him if he does not cooperate (usually going to his room or if it's evening - only having one book read to him instead of two - the second is a bonus for good boys which he usually gets but which can be withheld if he wreaks havoc in the evening) - most of the time though he will adapt if given a good reason for changing his behavior (unless he just woke up);

• Make friends and meet people easily (we mentioned this at the 2.5 year portrait but it really still applies - a few recent examples - we were in a restaurant in Vietnam and Noah spent a good part of the dinner on his own happily playing with a little Vietnamese boy (I think the son of the owner) around the restaurant and a few nights ago, he started talking to our restaurant neighbors and played with them and their two boys for a while and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves;

• Speak French and English using complex grammatical constructions - though he just recently started to use the word that comes to him first whatever the language. For example "Je l'ai serre tight" (I held it tight) or "can we have bread and confiture for breakfast" (confiture is jam or "jelly as I say" according to Noah). He knows the word in the other language and when we point out the language change he rectifies it. Also, since we got back from Vietnam where he had much more English than French, I have noticed that his French is lagging a bit and he uses a few englishisms like "je suis faim", "je suis froid" (in French you use the verb "to have" for hunger and cold and not the verb "to be");
• Pronounce f, s, th and w sounds though he still sometimes reverts to "y" for "w" and sometimes still uses "p" instead of "f" - his pronunciation is still not perfect but he has made great progress in the last month or so. 

• Read basic words/sentences in French like "toto a ri" or the other day he surprised me by reading "tomate" (tomato) and "banane" (banana) rather rapidly - quickly saying the letters and then putting the sounds together - his reading in English is not as good though he can read basic words like "cat" and "hat" and "zoo" and now "pizza" (from a book called Babies don't eat pizza);

• Instantly recognize and name capital and lower case letters (he has been able to recognize and identify most capital letters since he was 16 months old but he is much much faster at it now);

• Write all capital letters legibly  (he sometimes does a mirror image of the "s" or "c") and some lower-case letters (he is learning lower case letters at school and we had started with the capital letters... guess what he learned with us has stuck with him better :) ) - the other day he walked in my room and had written "TOTO" all on his own;

• Give appropriate imaginary or plastic change when we play restaurant - the meal came out to 8SGD and I paid 10SGD - how much do you have to give maman back (we tend not to do anything about 10 at this point);

• Do basic addition and subtraction (especially in connection with counting the number of stops left in the subway - we had 6 stops and did 2 - how many are left)?

• Swim a few feet on his own (this depends on the week you get him - at his best, he was able to swim across the short end of the pool - it's a bean shaped pool but if he skipped a few weeks of lessons he seems to lose the ability and has to restart with a foot or so);

• Climb and descend stairs one foot per stair;

• Stay dry most nights without a diaper (his track record is about one wet night for 16 dry nights - best was over 20 dry nights in a row though this whole diaperless nights is still pretty recent so the data is not entirely in yet) and correlatively travel without diapers (we were VERY excited about our first diaperless trip when we went to Vietnam recently);

• Be a good dinner partner - Seth was away this last 10 days and Noah and I went out to a restaurant the other day - he was a pleasure to be with: friendly and talkative and agreeable; 
• Being very gentle and big brotherly to younger kids and babies - the other day at an outing with friends he asked to feed our friend's 9 month old her carrots and gave our other friend's almost four month old kisses and gentle pets on the head - he helps younger kids up steps or down slides and just seems very attuned to what they want/need;

• Draw pretty recognizable things with very specific details - like the baby in maman's tummy with the umbilical chord or train tracks with the right perspective (not parallel lines but lines that would eventually meet up);

Noah DISLIKES

• Not getting to do something on his own however age-appropriate or not - the other day he absolutely wanted to peel the carrots - I helped him hold the peeler and peel but would not let him do it entirely on his own... he did not like that because "je peux le faire tout seul...";

• Not getting to eat or do or have what the grown-ups are eating or having or doing especially if no cogent reason is given (he now understands that coffee is not for him because it has caffeine which can stunt his growth and make him hyper, that alcohol is not for kids because it can hurt his tummy and will tell you that if you drink one of those beverages);

• Not getting to choose what he will do or when he will do it;

• Not getting milk or juice or whatever food/drink he wants when he wants it (this is probably the dislike that comes up the most along with not getting to do everything on his own);

• Waking up too fast and moving fast in the morning (especially when it comes to eating breakfast).

Noah LIKES (in no particular order - I reiterated certain likes from last time that are still applicable):

• Learning about the world - given that he is going to be a big brother, he is very interested in the whole process of making and growing a baby but he is also interested in well everything - how plants grow, how cement is made, how planes are able to fly, how door hinges work, how printers work, how a certain dish is made (these are all things he has recently inquired about) - he is a very very curious and inquisitive little boy);

• Learning new words - if you say/read a word he does not know, he will repeat it with a question mark or ask for its meaning;

• Taking everything apart to figure out how it works (apparently his dad was like that too... I can't wait till he gets better at putting them all back together again) - this is not a new one but I have to put it here again because he is often at it;

• His pink IPho T-shirt from Vietnam;

• Scotch tape and taping things to other things (sometimes paper but also chairs together like in planes...);

• Cooking real and imaginary food - he has now cooked with us enough that he knows recipes and can coach me when Daddy is not there to tell me what ingredients go in his recipes;

• Sharing his food and toys with us and with his friends - especially younger kids (Noah LOVES food but I guess slightly surprisingly, he is a very good sharer even for things like m&ms without prompting he will share the last two);

• Cuddles, hugs and kisses - he is still a very cuddly boy, he asks for hugs and kisses and gives them unprompted all the time;

• Super Noah - A week or so ago, he started being a little scared of going to bed in his dark room so we started doing "super Noah" - this involves him telling me how to turn Noah into "Super Noah" (for example three kisses on the forehead and a tickle or a lengthened high-five) and then we do the action and to test whether Noah became super Noah he gently pushes my hand which (when it works - sometimes it does not and we have to try again) flies away as if he had put all his strength into it - Super Noah is equipped to fight anything that may or may not come during the night;

• food - Another favorite sentence of his is "I like xxx (today it was spinach) a lot" - and two days ago, we were at the store and he pleaded for me to buy broccoli! He loves vegetables (favorites are red peppers and carrots according to him) and fruit (favorites are  blueberries, pineapple and bananas, apples and durian according to him) but has been increasingly exposed (mostly at school and at birthday parties) to less healthy options (like candy and chocolate and ice-cream) and is also a big fan of those - when I asked him what he liked (I did not specify food) he answered kaya toast...  so that should be added to his food likes; 

• Movies and movie nights - about once a week (though recently less), we have a "movie night" where we watch a bit of a movie with Noah - according to him, his favorites these days are the Lorax, Mulan and Aristocats;

• Going on vacation with maman and daddy (and preferably grandparents/siblings too). As soon as we got back from Vietnam he began asking to go on another trip - he loves discovering new places and foods and... playgrounds (we always try to find a playground wherever we go - Manila and Saigon had some really great playgrounds);

• Planes and plane rides (see above re flexibility and portability): from the first plane he took when he was 2.5 months old, it was our philosophy that planes are a special place where you can do special things - when he was 2.5 months old that meant drinking milk whenever he wanted (the docs had told us not to do that on a normal basis because of his spit-up problems) and now it means he gets to play games on the ipad and watch movies and eat frequent snacks (luckily he loves tomatoes and nuts and fruit so most of them can remain healthyish) - none of which he gets to do much of normally and also play/read with Dad and Mom whenever and however he wants - seems to have worked since the minute he gets off a plane - even a 14 hour plane, he asks when we are taking the next one (and not out of dread but because he wants to take another plane!);

• Books - reading favorites, discovering new books and re-encountering old friends - we have many books in English and French at home and are still getting books from weekly book exchanges with three of our friends and from the library  - he seems to cycle through favorites - as of now, favorites include "Comment on fait les bebes", "Remi et l'alphabet" (a book that has little stories around each letter using a whole lot of words beginning with that letter), Eloise (a library book which we recently took out), "Rainy with a Chance of Meatballs";

• Toy exchange (in addition to exchanging books weekly, we also exchange toys) - all toys are not a big hit but many of them are fun and he loves discovering what that week's exchange has brought;

• Playing "restaurant" - he and I made a menu for his restaurant - which he named "Onaka" after a restaurant we were unable to go to in Singapore as it was closed - some of the dishes are "chicken rice", crepes, eggplant caviar... he has us choose an appetizer from the menu and then and main dish and dessert and then goes about to make the dishes and brings us the food - we then "pay" for it either with imaginary money or with plastic tokens;

• Having long conversations on the phone with Daddy (Seth just got back from a 10 day business trip...) about what he did that day, what Daddy is up to, what he learned, what he ate and pretty much anything else he saw, read did, at or wants to see, read, do;

• Talking to grandparents and aunts and uncles over skype and the phone;

• His playdates and friends (every morning he asks me if he has a playdate that day and if so with whom - I always answer yes and then if it's not with a friend of his I answer "with maman");

• Drawing (see above re abilities also) - we almost always carry paper and/or his "tablette" (magnetic drawing pad) with us so he has many opportunities to draw - these days his favorite things to draw are train tracks, shapes like rectangles, circles and triangles (that's what he said when I asked him what he liked to draw) and letters); and
• Mango and the idea of being a big brother - he talks about mango a lot - what mango likes and does not like, what mango is doing right now, whether he can press on my tummy to make mango move and then about how he is going to make mango his/her purees and hold him/her in his arms (while making cradle and swaying movement) and sing to him/her.

Noah is a happy bubbly boy who is interested in learning about the world around him and already shows a good understanding of how things work and how things are connected. He can also be stubborn little wolf who knows what he wants and will stand by his wishes unless given a good reason to change his mind. A cogent well reasoned argument will usually work though to get him to do whatever it is one wanted him to do (I knew my legal training would be useful some day!). He is friendly and caring and loving and generally a pleasure to be with (in my very unbiased opinion of course).